Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Luke Browning took his first GB3 Championship win at Oulton Park in controversial circumstances on Sunday, being reinstated into top spot on countback as the race was red-flagged late on.

The Fortec Motorsport man won the 2020 F4 British Championship, and has been a podium-finisher in ADAC and Italian F4 this season, but made his GB3 debut at the weekend.

He moved around the outside of Championship leader, and 2020 British F4 runner-up Zak O’Sullivan into Old Hall on the first lap, and held the lead until Lap 10, when Carlin‘s 16-year-old tried to take the lead around the outside into Hislop’s, a move which had caught Sebastian Alvarez out two laps earlier.

Alvarez’ attempted move on Roman Bilinski nearly resulted in the Hitech GP car collecting O’Sullivan’s team-mate Bryce Aron, but it was O’Sullivan who found himself in the tyres after going onto the damp grass and locking up.

He wasn’t the only title contender in strife. Fortec’s Roberto Faria challenged new team-mate Browning through Old Hall, making contact with the rear of Browning’s car after the pair took opposite lines into the first corner.

The Stadium Super Trucks‘ upcoming race weekend at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will have a little Norwegian flair. On Saturday, sports car racer Mads Siljehaug announced he will make his series début at the street circuit on 24–26 September, piloting a Crosley Brands truck. He will be the first Scandinavian to compete in SST.

“24-26. September this Norwegian ‘farmer’ will fly through the street in Long Beach with over  80.000 spectators,” posted Siljehaug on social media. “Forever grateful for this opportunity.. All thanks to @bolemastus (Crosley Brands CEO Bo LeMastus)!”

Siljehaug mainly competes in the Pirelli GT4 America and 24H GT Series, the former of which saw him finish fourth in 2020 SprintX Silver points alongside Marco Polo Motorsports team-mate Nicolai Elghanayan. Despite skipping two rounds that year, the duo scored three wins at Sonoma and a sweep at Road America. Eight races into 2021 (though they did not run the latest weekend at Watkins Glen), the Siljehaug/Elghanayan combo sits sixth in the Silver Drivers championship, while MPM is eighth in the Teams category, with a class podium in the second race at Sonoma where they finished third.

In the 24H GT’s GTX class, he drives for Reiter Engineering with Eike Angermayr and Horst Felbermaye Jr. The teamhas never finished lower than second in the division in 2021 and are third in the standings with three wins—Mugello, Paul Ricard, and Catalunya—in four starts.
After rising through the ranks in Norway, Siljehaug won the inaugural ADAC GT4 Germany championship in 2019 with Angermayr. He has also raced in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, where he and Reiter notched a runner-up class finish at Silverstone in 2018, and the GT4 European Series, scoring a third overall at Zandvoort in 2019.

The Lillehammer native is just the third driver of European nationality to race in SST, joining Anthony Gandon (French) and Max Papis (Italian). Representation from the continent is fairly rare, which is perhaps understandable as SST has never run a points race there (though the trucks participated at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2015) and the COVID-19 pandemic would have greatly restricted any recent travel opportunities to the American-based series.

Daniel Ricciardo clinched a sensational win at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza circuit in Italy. Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas joined him on the podium in an action-packed race.

Ricciardo has struggled since the start of the season with his new team and it was finally redemption for the Australian to record the eighth win of his career and his first win for the McLaren F1 team.

This is the first win for the McLaren team after the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. The long wait has ended with a McLaren 1-2 on a day when the championship leaders took each other out after their first pit stop.

The race started under hot conditions with the air temperature at 28 degrees C and the track temperature at 43 degrees C at the “temple of speed”.

The Pirelli tyre choice for the race was the white-striped hard compound tyres (C2), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C3), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C4).

Martin Truex Jr. is good at Richmond Raceway. Two years after sweeping the NASCAR Cup Series races there, he led the final fifty-one laps in Saturday’s Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders to win his fourth race of the year and punch his ticket to the Round of 12.

Much like Xfinity Series race winner Noah Gragson earlier in the day, Truex started third while points leader Kyle Larson was on pole; Truex’s Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Denny Hamlin began the night in second. Truex briefly enjoyed a strong start before it turned out to be too good as he was penalised for jumping at the line, forcing him to pass through pit road before rejoining. After six playoff drivers wrecked out in last week’s Darlington event, the streak continued when Kurt Busch spun and slammed into the turn one wall on lap 42.

At the front, Hamlin led all but four laps (Busch led four under competition caution) to win the first stage ahead of Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Larson, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, Truex, Kevin Harvick, and Aric Almirola. All but Chastain were playoff drivers.

The 148-lap Stage #2 ran completely green with Hamlin, Elliott, Truex, and Larson leading significant laps. JGR’s Christopher Bell also enjoyed some time in front during the green-flag pit cycle. During his stop, Elliott backed up under the belief that he was in a lengthy stop, but inadvertently destroyed his crew’s jack and consequently sinking him a lap down. By the green-checkered flag, Hamlin led a JGR 1–2–3 with Kyle Busch and Truex tailing. Larson, Logano, Bell, Chastain, Almirola, Alex Bowman, and Harvick. Bell and Chastain split the playoff racers.

Hamlin kicked off the final stage by continuing to lead. Six laps in, Bubba Wallace‘s brakes failed and he wrecked for what would be the segment’s only caution. As the race crossed the 100-to-go mark, drivers began pitting under green; Michael McDowell, who finished last in the playoff opener, continued to have postseason woes when he was slapped with a speeding penalty for a third time. Another pit cycle came with fifty laps left, during which Truex inherited the lead from Larson as he made his stop. Busch sped on pit road and received a penalty.

Fernando Alonso to start the Italian Grand Prix from tenth place on the grid, after strong performance in sprint qualifying, team-mate Esteban Ocon to start in twelfth.

After a disappointing Friday at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza for the Alpine F1 Team, it was a much better Saturday. Alonso drove a strong sprint to finish in eleventh place after starting in thirteenth. The Spaniard made two places early on after overtaking Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly crashing out ahead.

Alonso was closing in on Lance stroll towards the end of the sprint, however there wasn’t enough laps for the veteran to do anything about the Canadian. The Spaniard will start Sunday’s race from tenth instead of eleventh, as sprint winner Valtteri Bottas will start from the back of the grid after taking an engine penalty.

Alonso enjoyed the sprint and is expecting the point positions on Sunday to be decided by small margins.

“We took two positions today and it means we start a little higher tomorrow so I am happy with that. I would have liked to have gained more, but it was difficult to follow closely here. If I was at home watching as a fan, then I would probably have enjoyed it because you get two days of racing. It’s going to be a race decided by small margins tomorrow, so we have to make sure our pit-stops and strategy are good.”

Lance Stroll will start the Italian Grand Prix from ninth place after a solid sprint qualifying at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team team-mate Sebastian Vettel to start eleventh.

After starting the sprint in twelfth, it was a good afternoon by Stroll who enjoyed a sprint long battle with Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez, in what was one of the highlights of the sprint event.

The pair battled hard but fairly, with Pérez eventually getting the better of the Canadian. The Mexican had initially gotten past Stroll but was forced to give the place back after running off the circuit. In the end Stroll held on to cross the line in tenth, just ahead of Fernando Alonso, the Canadian will start Sunday’s race from ninth however as sprint winner Valtteri Bottas will start from last after taking an engine penalty.

Stroll enjoyed the sprint and is looking forward to the full race on Sunday.

“That was a fun race today. It was not an easy decision to go for the soft tyre over the medium because, while it provides a better launch, degradation becomes a factor later on. We made a good start and gained some places in what was quite a tricky first chicane with all the tyre smoke and loose grass. I then had some good wheel-to-wheel racing with Checo [Perez] later on, too.

Antonio Giovinazzi continued his incredible sudden run of form, with a brilliant sprint qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix, whereas team-mate Robert Kubica had a Saturday to forget.

The Italian driver who is fighting for his Formula 1 career, will start Sunday’s race from seventh on the grid, after finishing eighth in Saturday’s sprint. Giovinazzi had an excellent start at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza after starting tenth, and quickly found himself in eighth after making his way past Sergio Pérez and with Pierre Gasly crashing out ahead.

The Italian’s aggressive start proved crucial, as from then on the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN driver had a relatively relaxed drive to the flag. Giovinazzi inherits a seventh place start for Sunday’s race as sprint winner Valtteri Bottas will start from the back of the grid after taking an engine penalty.

Giovinazzi is very happy with how Saturday went and is confident of repeating his performance on Sunday.

“I am really happy about today’s result, especially in front of our home fans, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We knew we had to be aggressive at the start and we did it, making up two places. We’ve given ourselves a good position to start tomorrow, now we have to finish the job and hopefully gain even a little more.

Scuderia Ferrari lock-out third row of the grid for home grand prix, in what was an excellent sprint qualifying for the team after a difficult morning in Italy.

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr are set to start from fifth and sixth for the Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, after a well controlled sprint qualifying.

It was a strong sprint for Leclerc, the Monegasque driver made an excellent start to climb above team-mate Sainz into seventh, before being elevated into sixth when Pierre Gasly crashed out on the opening lap. From then on it was a cruise for Leclerc, who despite finishing the sprint in sixth, will start the main race from fifth with sprint winner Valtteri Bottas starting from last after taking an engine penalty.

It was a considerably better afternoon for Leclerc compared to his morning, after feeling unwell during free practice two and being monitored under medical supervision. Leclerc now has his eyes firmly set on the race and is hoping to put in a strong performance in front of the Tifosi.

“We had a good Sprint Qualifying and maximized our potential, finishing 6th and 7th. Due to Valtteri’s penalty, we will each move up a place and lock out the third row of the grid, which is the best we could have wished for. I expect the race to be a tough one, because our competitors ahead have had a strong pace all weekend. Our job will be to score as many points as possible, and if we have a perfect race, we can put some pressure on the four cars in front.

The Mclaren F1 Team to start from second and third at the Italian Grand Prix, after magical sprint qualifying for Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris.

Daniel Ricciardo will start the Italian Grand Prix from the front row alongside former team-mate Max Verstappen, after finishing third in the second trial of sprint qualifying. Ricciardo who started the sprint at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in fifth, made a perfect start and elevated himself up to third by the first corner.

Ricciardo was lucky to get through the first corner without a puncture, Pierre Gasly’s front wing made contact with Ricciardo’s rear, leading to an immediate retirement for the Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda driver.

From then on it was a cruise for Ricciardo who inherits a second place start for Sunday’s race, with sprint winner Valtteri Bottas to start from last after taking an engine penalty. Ricciardo is very happy to be back at the front and is ready to convert Saturday’s performance into a strong haul of points on Sunday.

“It’s really nice to be up there. We had a good start, that was important, but I knew we could. Our starts have been great all year, so we had the potential. I tried to get Max [Verstappen] in Turn One. I had a really good run – I was able to brake quite late, but he also had a decent run into the turn, so I tried to hang on the outside and then I could see that I was running out of room, so I had to come out of it.

World championship leader Max Verstappen will start the Italian Grand Prix from pole position, after sprint qualifying winner Valtteri Bottas takes an engine penalty. Team-mate Sergio Pérez to start from eighth at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza.

As the second installment of sprint qualifying came to a close, Verstappen probably couldn’t believe his luck. The Dutchman finished second at Monza and collected an additional two world championship points, unlike Lewis Hamilton who received none. The world champion had a poor sprint and finished in fifth, meaning the British driver will start from fourth spot for Sunday’s race.

This means Verstappen who will start from pole with Bottas starting from the back after taking an engine penalty, goes into the race with a five point lead in the standings. The Dutchman is hoping for a clean race on Sunday and knows just how important it will be to make a gap quickly.

“To be on pole tomorrow at a track like this is a real positive for us, we had a good start and the race went better than expected. We scored a few championship points and it’s great to be starting at the front tomorrow. I was giving it my all to keep close to Valtteri today, but I still expect a tough race tomorrow as Lewis is starting in P4 and they have a bit more pace than us, we know we are slower than the Mercedes here.

“I’m hoping for another clean start tomorrow so I can create a bit of a gap at the beginning, because I will definitely need it later in the race. It’s going to be an interesting battle and we’ll see what happens, we’ll keep pushing and try to make the most out of it.”

How fitting is it that on the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, cars numbered #9 and #11 finished 1–2?

The #9 of Noah Gragson held off Justin Haley‘s #11  on a late restart with seven laps to go to win for the second straight race.

Despite his Darlington win the previous week, Gragson started third as Austin Cindric was on pole ahead of Harrison Burton. Although Cindric and A.J. Allmendinger, the top two in points, dominated the opening stage, Tommy Joe Martins stole the show on fresher tyres when he took the lead with five laps remaining. When it appeared Martins would score his maiden stage win, David Starr—who was on the verge of being lapped while battling a tight car—impeded his progress which enabled Allmendinger to generate enough momentum to overtake him coming to the finish. Martins settled for a still-best second ahead of Ty Gibbs, J.J. Yeley, Burton, Daniel Hemric, Gragson, Spencer Boyd, and Patrick Emerling.

Martins’ race would unravel two laps into Stage #2 due to a spin. Further accidents in the stage took out Jade Buford, C.J. McLaughlin, who was driving Mike Harmon’s #74 normally piloted by Bayley Currey, who in turn wrecked out while new JD Motorsports team-mate Landon Cassill retired with an ignition problem in Stage #3. Gibbs ran in front for much of the segment en route to the win.  Burton, Gragson, Hemric, Cindric, Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Ryan Sieg, and John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the top ten.

Despite a 36-lap run under green that was mainly led by Burton, various wrecks would reduce the next green-flag stretches into the single-digit durations. After Martins suffered terminal damage in a crash, Gragson took the lead on the ensuing restart but additional accidents forced him to stay on the defensive for later resumptions. The final restart came with seven laps to go, and despite an effort by Haley, it was not enough as Gragson held him off for his second win of the year.

Chip Ganassi Racing‘s Alex Palou adds to his weekend of firsts, claiming his maiden NTT IndyCar Series pole position on his first trip to Portland International Raceway for the Grand Prix of Portland.

Palou was fastest in the early practice session even after bringing out a red flag, and was fastest in every segment of qualifying he participated in. After an engine failure and wreck in the past two races, Palou sets him self in the prime position to take his third win of the season.

Group one hit the track first, including the likes of Alexander Rossi, Romain Grosjean, Helio Castroneves and Patricio O’Ward. Marcus Ericsson was the fastest in the group, with Rossi and Graham Rahal right behind, while Grosjean and Castroneves missed out on the top six. Championship leader O’Ward narrowly escaped the session in sixth along with surprise advancements in Oliver Askew and Max Chilton.

Ryan Hunter-Reay was expected to compete in this group, but due to engine issues in the earlier practice session he did not participate as his team performed an engine change. He will start from the back of the field. IndyCar rookie Callum Ilott was also in this group, finishing eleventh for Juncos Hollinger Racing. He will start the race tomorrow in nineteenth.

Post session, race control announced that Grosjean impeded McLaughlin as he was setting up for his next flying lap. While both were outside of the spots to advance, Grosjean will now start twenty-first.

Oscar Piastri took his second Pole position in a row after taking a pole at Silverstone becoming the first repeat polesitter of the season adding four more points to his tally for the season.

Qualifying was again extremely close, Jehan Daruvala achieved his first front row start of the season and was only 0.016 seconds off pole with Piastri’s main championship rival Guan Yu Zhou having to settle for third position but again only 0.051 seconds off pole.

It would be Théo Pourchaire who opened up qualifying, hoping to make the most of the clean air available to him but the Frenchman was down in tenth after the first lot of runs, despite a very quick sector 1.

It was Ralph Boschung the driver who came out last and therefore made the most of a rubbered in track, slotted into first place at the end of the first lot of runs, the Swiss driver registering a time of 1:32.609 to put his Campos at the front.

Championship leader Piastri found his bearings on the next set of laps, stealing first from Boschung by two tenths whilst Ticktum who had lead free practice slotted into third position.

Valtteri Bottas stormed to sprint qualifying victory at the Italian Grand Prix, in what was a mixed afternoon for the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, with Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth.

It was a perfect afternoon for Bottas, the Finnish driver led from the off and never looked back in the second installment of sprint qualifying to pick up three all important world championship points, ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. Unfortunately for Bottas he won’t be starting the main race from pole which is of course the reward for winning the sprint qualifying.

Bottas will start the main race from the back of the grid after taking an engine penalty, meaning that Verstappen inherits pole position.

This is bad news for world champion Lewis Hamilton, the British driver had a sprint to forget after an uncharacteristically poor start. Hamilton was riddled with wheel-spin off the line which saw him tumble down to fifth. Unfortunately that would be where Hamilton would finish, the seven-time world champion failed to recover any places lost, meaning he received zero points from the sprint.

Hamilton goes into Sunday’s main race now five points behind Verstappen and will start from fourth, behind Verstappen and both Mclaren F1 Team drivers. Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff is proud of Bottas’s performance in what was a mixed day for the team, and is hoping that not all is lost on Sunday.

Chip Ganassi Racing‘s Alex Palou has never raced at Portland International Raceway before, and despite bringing out a red flag, the young Spaniard managed to go fastest in practice ahead of the Grand Prix of Portland.

With thirty-eight minutes remaining, Palou ran too wide in turn twelve and spun in the dirt, coming to a stop just before the edge of the tyre barrier. He was very lucky to avoid damage and continue his run to the top.

Before the session began, it was announced that Ed Carpenter Racing‘s Rinus Veekay will be given a six-place grid penalty for an unapproved engine change this weekend that will be enforced after qualifying. Not the birthday gift the now twenty-one year old Dutchman.

With forty-four minutes remaining in the session, Max Chilton brought out the first red flag of the day after he spun in turn two. The Carlin driver used too much curb in the first corner and lost the back end as he came around turn two, stopping on track. He was not the only victim of the chicane, as Scott McLaughlin also used too much curb and went straight into the grass on the outside of turn two as he tried to return to the racing surface.

The one year break from the demanding Portland circuit caught out experienced veterans as well, as Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi and Conor Daly were all reminded how unforgiving the curbs are with brief off-track excursions.