Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Colby Howard might be celebrating his new NASCAR Camping World Truck Series ride with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing for 2022, but until the new year arrives, he won’t have a ride to finish 2021. A day after announcing he had joined MHR, JD Motorsports released a statement saying Bayley Currey will drive Howard’s #15 in Saturday’s Xfinity Series event.

“JD Motorsports welcomes Bayley Currey to the roster this weekend at Richmond Raceway. He will pilot the #15 Chevrolet for the Go Bowling 250 race,” read a statement from the team. “(Team owner) Johnny Davis would like to thank Bayley for coming aboard on such short notice while we continue to figure out the roster for the #15 seat for the remainder of the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.”

After making his Xfinity début with JDM in 2020, Howard was to run the full 2021 schedule. Across twenty-one starts in 2021, his best finish is sixteenth at Phoenix, but he also failed to qualify at Nashville and Road America.

On Thursday, MHR announced Howard will join the team in a second truck for 2022. The news came on the heels of him overcoming an early spin to finish thirteenth at Darlington in his first Truck race since 2019.

“Wont be the #15 anymore. Didn’t have much of a choice,” Howard tweeted after Friday’s development. The wording of his post suggests a less-than-amicable split from JDM, presumably stemming from his signing MHR though his absence from the #15 was noticeable on the starting lineup even before the announcement. Although MHR and JDM compete in different series, the former is a Toyota team while the latter fields Chevrolets.

Cody Ware will skip the next two NASCAR Cup Series races at Richmond Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway after suffering carbon monoxide poisoning during Sunday’s Darlington Raceway event. Garrett Smithley will replace him in the #51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet for Richmond, while a Bristol driver was not immediately announced.

“After being treated in the infield care centre at Darlington Raceway this past weekend, Cody Ware will be sidelined as a precautionary measure for both Richmond Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway,” read a statement by RWR on Friday. “On Monday after being treated, Cody still was feeling adverse effects of Carbon Monoxide. Cody felt that it was in the best interest for the team to have a replacement driver for the next two races.

“Garrett Smithley will pilot the #51 20th Anniversary 9/11 Tribute Tunnel to Towers car at Richmond Raceway this weekend. The driver for Bristol Motor Speedway will be announced at a later date.”

Ware retired from Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 after completing 209 of 367 laps when he started feeling ill due to carbon monoxide in the car. He had been involved in a crash with team-mate James Davison earlier in the race that damaged the crush panels, causing toxic fumes to enter the cockpit. Carbon monoxide poisoning, which forced inaugural Brickyard 400 pole sitter Rick Mast into retirement, also caused Ware to exit the 2019 Sonoma event when it occurred due to a broken air conditioning unit.

Currently in his first full Cup season, Ware’s best finish is twenty-first in the season-opening Daytona 500.

Callum Ilott‘s first foray into the NTT IndyCar Series has received a bump from one to three races. On Friday, Juncos Hollinger Racing announced Ilott will run the final two races of the 2021 season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in addition to his already-announced début at the Grand Prix of Portland on Sunday.

“The entire Juncos Hollinger Racing organisation is thrilled to keep Callum Ilott onboard for all three races to finish off the NTT IndyCar Series season,” stated team co-owner RIcardo Juncos. “We are looking forward to a great debut as a team tomorrow on track and to build on each session throughout the next few weeks.

“Callum brings a great deal of talent, and we have all been working hard together over the past few weeks to build our program, so it feels great to carry this relationship as a team for the rest of the season.”

The 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship runner-up and current Scuderia Ferrari test driver tested an IndyCar at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last Thursday. Besides marking Ilott’s first race in the series and the United States, Sunday’s Portland GP will be the first for Juncos Hollinger Racing under the alliance between Juncos and Brad Hollinger. It was not announced if Ilott will commit to the series in 2022, though receiving the opportunity to run the final three races would be a step in that direction if both parties wish.

“On top of starting my début weekend in the NTT IndyCar Series with Juncos Hollinger Racing, we will also be finishing off the championship together,” added Ilott. “Let’s see what we can achieve in the next couple of weeks at some awesome circuits.”

Valtteri Bottas will start Formula 1’s second ever Sprint Qualifying race from pole position after the Finn topped Qualifying on Friday evening.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team locked out the front row at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza as Bottas led Lewis Hamilton by 0.096 seconds, with championship leader Max Verstappen third, more than four-tenths of a second back.

Q1 – Usual suspects fall amid the Monza traffic

Monza has traditionally in recent years been troubled by traffic during Qualifying, and it was evident again in the opening segment on Friday.  Both Verstappen and Pierre Gasly were forced to abort laps after coming upon traffic heading into the Della Roggia and Ascari chicanes respectively, while queues backing up heading into the final turn were a regular occurrence.

George Russell, fresh off the news that he will be racing for Mercedes in 2022, initially believed he had been eliminated in Q1, but the Williams Racing driver was given a reprieve after Yuki Tsunoda had a lap time deleted for track limits.  This meant that the Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda driver was knocked out of the session.

Also eliminated was the second Williams of Nicholas Latifi, with the Canadian set to start sixteenth for Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying, just ahead of Tsunoda, while Mick Schumacher will start eighteenth in the leading of the two Uralkali Haas F1 Team cars.

The FIA Formula One World Championship rolls into the final part of the third triple-header of the season this weekend, at Pirelli’s home race the Italian Grand Prix.

For the third consecutive season the middle range of Pirelli’s tyres will be in operation, the C2, C3 and C4 compounds at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. This weekend does have a twist however, as the second trial of sprint qualifying will take place this weekend. The teams will only have the red soft tyre available for Friday’s qualifying and will have twelve sets of tyres instead of the traditional thirteen at their disposal across the weekend.

The Italian Grand Prix is usually one of the most exciting of the season due to the circuit’s design of high speed and heavy braking. The race was famously won by Pierre Gasly in 2020, after a red flag stoppage led to a twenty-six lap sprint to the flag which went all the way down to the final lap.

Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Head of F1 and Car Racing, is expecting many strategies to be attempted this weekend, especially with the added element of sprint qualifying.

“We have seen from the past that a number of different strategies are possible at Monza, and with sprint qualifying adding another big variable into the mix, the teams are forced to re-think their entire tyre strategy for the weekend.

The Uralkali Haas F1 Team go into the Italian Grand Prix this weekend hoping for a more successful race compared to a week ago at the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Dutch Grand Prix was a struggle for the bottom-placed team, with Nikita Mazepin being forced into retirement and Mick Schumacher languishing at the back. The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza however represents an opportunity for the team to end the third triple-header of the season on a positive note, especially with the second sprint qualifying trial taking place this weekend.

Team Principal Guenther Steiner is looking forward to what he counts as his home grand prix at Monza, where he hopes the second sprint qualifying trial will be just as successful as the first.

“Monza for me is the closest race to my hometown, so being Italian, it is big emotion. Monza is a great race on the calendar – it’s very historic. My first race there was when we finished third on the podium with Eddie Irvine and Jaguar. I would like to go back to those good old days.

“The sprint qualifying in Silverstone was successful. I think there are always things to learn and how to do things better but there was not one big mistake we made, so we just try to get the whole process smoother and better and try to get the best out of it.”

Max Verstappen says he could not have asked from any more from his Dutch Grand Prix weekend, but the Red Bull Racing driver is already focused on this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.

Verstappen took pole position and dominated the race last weekend to secure his seventh victory of 2021 and retake the lead in the Drivers’ Championship from Lewis Hamilton, but with the battle at the top extremely tight, there was little time to celebrate before heading to the Autodromo Nazionale Monza for the next challenge.

“I couldn’t have asked for more in Zandvoort but now it’s all eyes on Monza,” said Verstappen.  “The Italian Grand Prix is only around the corner and it’s very tight in the championship so the celebrations can wait and some rest between the race weekends will be important.”

Verstappen is expecting Monza to suit the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team better than Red Bull, although he is expecting it to be a much closer battle than it has in previous years thanks to the development of the RB16B and the Honda power unit.

“I expect Monza to suit Mercedes as it hasn’t been our best track for the last few years but this year we are more competitive so you never know,” said the Dutchman.  “If we continue what we have been doing, working well together as a Team, and nail every little detail then we can be competitive but Mercedes might have a top speed advantage on us.

The third triple-header of the season comes to a close this weekend at the Italian Grand Prix, where Mick Schumacher is ready to see all the Tifosi in what will be a challenging weekend for all.

The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza is playing host to the second trial of sprint qualifying this weekend, something which Schumacher is looking forward to, especially with the overtaking opportunities Monza offers.

“I think we can look forward to it. It will be interesting to see what we learned from the first event at Silverstone and be able to cope with it in a different way. For Monza it will definitely be interesting, as racing is always interesting there with a lot of overtaking and the passionate fans in the grandstands.“

For Schumacher it will of course be his first time racing at Monza in Formula 1, and as a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy the German can’t wait to put on a show.

“It means a lot of Ferrari fans – which is great! I know the Tifosi are a great bunch of people who really support the sport and they live the sport, which is nice because I’m a big fan of the sport also. To share that passion is great and I’m really looking forward to it, on top of being a part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, it’s great for me to go there and drive in front of the Tifosi.”

After a solid run in his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start since 2019 on Sunday, Colby Howard has joined McAnally-Hilgemann Racing with plans of fully committing to the series for 2022. On Thursday, the team announced an “agreement has been reached” for Howard to drive a second truck in 2022. A number and sponsorship were not immediately revealed.

Howard is currently in his first full-time Xfinity Series season. Driving the #15 for JD Motorsports, he sits twenty-sixth in points with a best finish of sixteenth at Phoenix. He has competed in the series since 2020, and his highest career run is twelfth at Daytona that year.

On Sunday at Darlington Raceway, he joined CR7 Motorsports for his third career Truck race. Despite a spin in the first stage, he rebounded to finish thirteenth. Howard’s first two series starts came in the final two races of 2019 for Young’s Motorsports, finishing twenty-first and twenty-fourth.

“We’re pleased to have Colby join our team for 2022 as we look to expand our Camping World Truck Series programme,” MHR team co-owner Bill McAnally stated. “Colby comes from a racing family and brings with him an extensive racing résumé. Most recently, he had an impressive run in the Truck Series race at Darlington last week.”

Howard commented in the team release that he is “really excited to be joining a team of this caliber. I feel like it’s a big step in my career. I’m really looking forward to going there next year and working with Bill and all the guys—being competitive and going for wins and a championship.”

After another three week break, the NTT IndyCar Series returns for three consecutive weeks of racing on the scenic west coast of the United States that will culminate with the crowning of the series champion on the streets of Long Beach. The first stop on this road trip is the state of Oregon and the Portland International Raceway for the Grand Prix of Portland.

The championship battle was flipped upside down by the Bommarito Automotive Group 500, as Arrow McLaren SP‘s Patricio O’Ward took the championship lead from Alex Palou who was collected in a crash early in the race. The young Mexican now leads the series into the final stretch of the season with a slim ten-point gap to his rival. Scott Dixon, who was also collected in that wreck, slipped from third to fourth place in the standings behind Team Penske‘s Josef Newgarden. Luckily for Chip Ganassi Racing, they still have three cars in the top five as Marcus Ericsson sits fifth.

This weekend, like many others this season, will see some driver changes, debuts and returns. Oliver Askew makes his return to the grid for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Helio Castroneves comes back to the grid with Meyer Shank Racing and Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN reserve driver Callum Illott makes his series debut with the new Juncos Hollinger Racing team.

Will we see a first time champion in O’Ward or Palou? Will the young guns slip up and let the title fall into the hands of the veteran Newgarden? Can Dixon make history and become a seven time series champion? All these questions will be answered by the end of September and it all kicks off this weekend. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the Grand Prix of Portland.

WHAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR?

Portland was taken off the schedule in 2020 due to COVID-19, so the last race at the track was in 2019. Will Power took his thirty-seventh career win in the series that weekend, holding off a late charge by then-rookie Felix Rosenqvist after a late caution to take the victory.

Sebastian Vettel says the Autodromo Nazionale Monza means a lot to him after his spell with Scuderia Ferrari, and the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team driver is hopeful to have a strong weekend this weekend.

The Sprint Qualifying format returns for its second outing in Italy, and Vettel says he will be looking to make the most of any opportunity that presents itself to him and the team in order to return to the top ten after a disappointing weekend in The Netherlands.

Vettel says the slipstreaming effect at Monza will make Qualifying on Friday evening extremely close, so getting every bit of performance Aston Martin can find will be important.

“Monza means a lot to me,” said Vettel. “The performance gaps between the teams tend to be smaller in Monza because the slipstreaming effect is so powerful, and overtaking is quite straightforward.

“This time, we’re returning to the Sprint format – we learned a lot about it at Silverstone, so we’ll be aiming to make the most of all opportunities in Monza.”

Toto Wolff says the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team did not perform as good as they should have during last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, but the team were happy to be able to extend their lead in the Constructors’ Championship.

Max Verstappen gave Red Bull Racing the victory at the Circuit Zandvoort, but Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas finishing second and third respectively insured Mercedes outscored their rivals in the Teams’ championship standings.

And Wolff, the Team Principal at Mercedes, says the battle between them and Red Bull is only going to intensify as the season goes on.

“We have nine races to go in this Championship fight and the battle is only going to get more intense, but our mission is clear,” said Wolff.

“Last time out at Zandvoort, we simply didn’t put all the pieces together – we took some risks and gave it our best shot, but it just wasn’t enough.

Christian Horner says he was happy to let Alexander Albon join Williams Racing in 2022, with the Team Principal of Red Bull Racing feeling the Anglo-Thai driver has been a ‘hugely valuable asset’ to his team this year.

Albon has been test and reserve driver at Red Bull during 2021 after they opted to replace him in the race seat at the end of 2020 in favour of Sergio Pérez, who has already been confirmed to retain the seat alongside Max Verstappen for 2022.

Red Bull will relinquish their alliance with Albon due to his move to Williams, but they will have options in the future to bring him back into their stable.  And Horner is delighted to see him back in Formula 1 for next year.

“We rate Alex very highly and with our line-up for 2022 fixed, our objective was to help find him a seat in another team where he could gain more F1 mileage and experience and we are delighted to have done that with Williams Racing,” said Horner.

“Alex has been a hugely valuable asset in his role as our Test & Reserve Driver this year, helping bring performance from the simulator to the car each weekend, but for his career it was important not to spend another season out of an F1 race seat.

After a year on the side-lines, Alexander Albon will re-join the Formula 1 grid in 2022 after being signed to race for Williams Racing alongside Nicholas Latifi.

Albon was dropped from his seat at Red Bull Racing at the end of the 2020 season and has been acting as their reserve and test driver for 2021, but he will now find himself back in a race seat for 2022 as he takes the place of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team bound George Russell.

The Anglo-Thai driver has been impressed by the progress made by Williams in 2021, and he is eager to help them continue that development into 2022, when the new aerodynamic regulations come into effect.

“I am really excited and looking forward to returning to a Formula 1 race seat in 2022,” said Albon.  “When you take a year out of F1 it’s never certain you will make a return so I’m extremely thankful to Red Bull and Williams for believing in me and helping me on my journey back to the grid.

“It’s also been great to see all the progress Williams have been making as a team this year and I look forward to helping them continue that journey in 2022.

There will be no return to Formula 1 at the Italian Grand Prix held in the Autodromo Nazionale Monza for Kimi Räikkönen as the COVID-19 infection continues to force the Finn to sit out another Grand Prix weekend.

Räikkönen, who became a very popular driver in Italy after he claimed the 2007 Driver’s Championship title as a Scuderia Ferrari driver, will not get a last chance to race in a Grand Prix weekend at Monza ahead of his planned retirement at the end of the season.

Räikkönen’s team Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN confirmed that the Finn is still in quarantine ahead of this weekend’s competition in Italy. Räikkönen tested positive for COVID-19 before the Dutch Grand Prix last week and he went home after the positive test result. The same reason keeps him away for another race and he will be replaced again by the reserve driver Robert Kubica.

” Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN can confirm that reserve driver, Robert Kubica, will continue to deputise for Kimi Räikkönen at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix,” said a statement from Alfa Romeo. “Kimi missed last week’s race in Zandvoort after testing positive to Covid-19 and has not yet been cleared for a return to racing.

“As per health authority requirements, he is still isolating in his home. Robert, who performed admirably in the Netherlands after stepping in at short notice before FP3, will return to the car alongside Antonio Giovinazzi.”