Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The upcoming Porsche Visit Cayman Islands Sprint Challenge GB round at Thruxton will see the most successful driver in Porsche Carrera Cup GB history, Tim Harvey join the grid in a guest appearance for rounds 9 and 10.

It’s been 10 years since the 1992 British Touring Car Champion’s last Porsche race, but his feats in the Carrera Cup GB have not been matched, still leading the way for the highest number of race wins (36) and highest number of overall podium finishes (108) along with his 2008 and 2010 championship titles.

Since his retirement from racing, Harvey has gone on to play a key part in ITV’s coverage of the British Touring Car Championship and the Porsche Carrera Cup GB races.

“I’m 60 years old in three months and a proud Grandfather nowadays, but I’m as excited as a teenager looking forward to their first race! I can’t thank Porsche enough for this opportunity as I’ve wanted to race in Sprint Challenge GB since it was first announced and I tried the car briefly at the Silverstone taster day in 2019.” said Harvey.

“I may only have raced historic cars for the last few years, but I spend many days behind the wheel of a Porsche either on trackdays or driving my own cars, so my passion for driving and Porsche in particular is immense. Hopefully old age and experience and a love for the Thruxton circuit will see me competitive over the weekend and I can’t wait to sit in the car for testing on Friday!”

Esteban Ocon says winning the Hungarian Grand Prix has now begun to sink in, but his focus now is on doing his best during this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

The Alpine F1 Team driver was the surprise winner at the Hungaroring after capitalising on the first lap crash that eliminated a number of front runners and then Lewis Hamilton’s failure to pit at the restart following the red flag.

Ocon acknowledges it was a surprise for him to take the win in Hungary, but after enjoying the moment and the subsequent summer break, he is ready to get back into the cockpit and back to business this weekend in Belgium.

“I was not expecting to be entering this race after the summer break as the latest Formula 1 race winner!” said Ocon.  “It’s still an incredibly special feeling and it was very well timed as I’ve spent the last couple of weeks relaxing with family and friends letting it sink in… I can tell you, it definitely feels real now!

“Now the time is to focus on restarting the season and that begins in Belgium. We enjoyed the moment in Hungary and, of course, repeating that feeling would be fantastic, but we will remain realistic and do our best for a strong result.

Charouz Racing System have announced a double driver change with Enzo Fittipaldi and Reshad De Gerus being replaced by Hunter Yeany and Zdenek Chovanec who will be racing alongside Logan Sargeant for Round 5 of the championship at Spa Francorchamps.

Yeany who has been competing in the Formula Regional Americas and Indy Pro 2000 with Velocity Racing Development will step up to the series at just sixteen years of age to be the second American driver for the Czech team. Even though Yeany is just sixteen years of age the young driver is no push-over already a US Formula 4 Championship with fourteen podiums seven wins and a pole position.

Hunter Yeany is excited to make his first foray into European racing with Charouz, even though it’s a big step-up from what he has been racing the American has been working really hard with the team to ensure that he is as prepared as he can be for round 5 of the championship.

“I’m really excited to be joining Charouz for the remainder of the season, It’s a big leap for me but it’s also a great opportunity. I know the learning curve in FIA Formula 3 and on the tracks will be high, but the team has worked very hard to make sure I’m prepared.”

Like many young drivers, it has been Yeany’s dream to race in Europe and he wants to thank everyone who has made his dream possible.

Carlin Buzz Racing Driver Kaylen Frederick will miss the up and coming FIA Formula 3 round at Spa-Francorchamps with Carlin choosing not to replace the driver and instead only running the two cars of Jonny Edgar and Ido Cohen instead of the usual three.

It has been an incredibly unlucky season for the American driver who missed the last round in Budapest after undergoing surgery after a large piece of bone was pulled off the metacarpal following an injury to his UCL ligament at the Austrian round. After working so hard to make it back in time for the Spa – a circuit which the drivers look forward to driving round it is a huge disappointment to have tested positive and the American is understandably devastated.

Kaylen Frederick is understandably heartbroken having to miss two rounds in a row in what was already a very short season in terms of rounds, the thought of racing at a circuit like Spa had accelerated his recovery so to have now tested positive is agonizing after how excited he had been.

“I’m absolutely heartbroken, aside from being painful, the injury in Austria was such a blow as it meant I would miss Hungary.  Thinking about being back for Spa really helped push me through the surgery and physio, all of which was designed to accelerate my recovery.  To now have tested positive for COVID-19 is just agonizing.“

Most importantly the American is not feeling too bad, with the young driver conceding how frustrating it will be to just be sitting at home watching all of his colleagues battling it out wheel to wheel.

Christian Horner says Red Bull Racing’s relationship with engine partners Honda has gone ‘from strength-to-strength’ in the two and a half seasons they have been together, and it is credit to the Japanese engine manufacturer that they are in contention for both titles in 2021.

This weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix marks the fiftieth race since Red Bull and Honda united together, and in that time, they have taken eleven race wins and thirty-two podium finishes.

Horner, the Team Principal at Red Bull, says the team are ‘enormously’ proud of what they have achieved in such a short amount of time with Honda as their engine supplier.

“Our relationship with Honda has grown from strength to strength since we started working together at the beginning of the 2019 Formula One season,” said Horner.  “We are enormously proud of our joint success to date, delivering 11 wins and 32 podiums from 49 race starts.

“Spa will mark our 50th race together and this is a great moment to reflect on what we have achieved so far, build on that success and also thank everyone at Honda for their extraordinary effort and commitment, which has enabled us to be in the position to fight for a championship this year.”

Max Verstappen is hoping the summer break has given him the re-set he needed to attack for the 2021 Formula 1 Drivers’ World Championship after he lost the lead in the table to Lewis Hamilton after a disappointing Hungarian Grand Prix.

Verstappen was caught up in the first lap crash caused by Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s Valtteri Bottas, and with a heavily damaged RB16B, the Red Bull Racing driver could only take ninth place at the Hungaroring, while Hamilton took second place.

The Dutchman sits just eight points behind his rival despite the disappointment of Hungary, while he has also lost significant points thanks to retirements in the Azerbaijan and British Grand Prix. 

Verstappen says he is well prepared for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, which is his favourite track on the calendar, and he is also excited by the prospect of running in front of a lot of Dutch fans who will make the short trip across the border to support him.

“I am of course excited to go back to Spa, it’s my favourite track and it’s really cool to drive with so many high speed corners and elevation changes,” said Verstappen.  “I’m also looking forward to seeing all the fans who will be coming to support us, and it will be cool to see so much orange in the grandstands again as they couldn’t be there last year.

Dylan Lupton will make his return to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in a top-tier ride. On Wednesday, Kyle Busch Motorsports announced Lupton will drive the #51 Toyota Tundra at Darlington Raceway on 5 September.

Lupton has eleven career Truck starts in 2016 and 2019–2020, driving for Young’s Motorsports, DGR-Crosley (now David Gilliland Racing), and the since-shuttered Athenian Motorsports. He scored four top tens with a best finish of fifth at Kentucky in 2019 for DGR. In 2020, he ran three races with DGR and notched an eighth at Texas.

He has never raced at Darlington in a truck as the speedway only resumed hosting Truck events in 2020, though he finished thirtieth in his lone start there in the Xfinity Series for JGL Racing in 2017. In thirty-five career Xfinity races, Lupton had one top ten at Mid-Ohio in 2015. He also ran four Cup Series events in 2016.

While Darlington will mark his first NASCAR national series start of 2021, he ran the ARCA Menards Series West race at Sonoma in June. Making his series début, the California native finished second to Cup driver Chase Briscoe.

“The opportunity to drive the top-notch equipment that Kyle Busch Motorsports prepares is a dream come true,” said Lupton. “The #51 team always prepares fast Tundras and I’m extremely excited to get to Darlington and be able to showcase my talent.”

Sebastian Vettel will be hoping for better luck than he had during the Hungarian Grand Prix when the 2021 Formula 1 season resumes this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.

The Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team driver had thought he had clinched his second podium finish of the season at the Hungaroring, but the German ran out of fuel after the chequered flag, which meant there was not enough in the tank for the FIA to use post-race to test.

Vettel was subsequently disqualified from the results, and Aston Martin opted not to appeal the decision after a couple of weeks of uncertainty.

However, Vettel is looking to rebound this weekend in Belgium a track he has fond memories of having won there for both Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Ferrari during his illustrious career.

“I think every driver on the grid enjoys racing at Spa and it is definitely one of my favourite places to drive a Formula One car because of the layout and the special combination of corners,” said Vettel.

Andreas Seidl says it was important for his McLaren F1 Team to down the tools and relax during the summer break, particularly as the team are embroiled in a tight battle for third place in the Constructors’ Championship with Scuderia Ferrari.

Both McLaren and Ferrari are equal in points after the first eleven races, although the Italian outfit have the advantage due to second place finishes for Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc.  Lando Norris has three podium finishes this year but has only a best finish of third.

Seidl, the Team Principal of McLaren, says they will need to hit the ground running in the second half of the season if they are to beat their long-time rivals in the championship, starting with this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

“Following a rest period over the summer shutdown for the team to rest, recharge and get ready for the second half of the season, we’re soon ready to go racing again,” said Seidl.  “We’re currently in an intense battle with our closest rivals in the Constructors’ Championship and we know we’ll need to hit the ground running in Spa to keep up the pressure.

“The circuit at Spa is a really unique and exciting track and presents an interesting challenge for both our engineers and drivers.”

Lando Norris saw his points-scoring run end on the opening lap of the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the Briton getting caught up in the accident instigated by Valtteri Bottas heading into turn one.

Up until the race at the Hungaroring, the McLaren F1 Team racer had scored points in all ten races of the season, and fifteen races in total.  It was the longest run of points scores by a McLaren driver in the teams’ history.

Norris is looking to bounce back this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, one of the Briton’s favourite venues on the calendar, and he is excited to resume racing after conclusion of the summer break.

“I can’t wait to head back to Spa to get the season back underway,” said Norris.  “After a bit of a break to unwind and prepare for the second half of the year, I’m looking forward to getting back into the car.

“The Belgian GP is a special race. Firstly, it’s one of my favourite circuits on the calendar with a really flowing and high-speed layout. The Radillon and Eau Rouge sequence is one of the most exciting on the entire calendar, and it’s really cool to take these corners flat out in a modern F1 car.

Roman Bilinski will take no further part in the 2021 FIA F4 British Championship, instead focusing on finishing strongly in the GB3 Championship, Carlin has announced.

He has been one of the shining lights of the newly-rebranded GB3 Championship since his debut in July, taking five podiums and two wins to date.

The Polish driver replaced Frederick Lubin at Donington Park and Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, rejoining the Arden Motorsport outfit he competed with in British F4 in 2020.

For several rounds, he split his time between GB3 with Arden and his sophomore F4 campaign with Carlin, taking top-five finishes in each of his first nine races at the higher level.

His impressive start in the championship, despite having missed testing and the first two rounds of the season, has thus far yielded wins in Race 1 at Spa and Race 3 at Snetterton 300.

Toto Wolff feels the opening eleven races of the 2021 Formula 1 season have been amongst the most intense seasons he can remember, and he knows the battle between the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team and Red Bull Racing is likely to go on across the remainder of the year.

Lewis Hamilton’s second place finish in the Hungarian Grand Prix moved him back to the top of the Drivers’ Championship, while Mercedes overtook Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship at the same time.

Wolff, the Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport and Team Principal of the Formula 1 team, says the team went into the summer break on a positive note, but it was good for everyone to relax ahead of the next set of races, which begins this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.

“This has definitely been one of the most intense F1 seasons that I can remember, so far,” said Wolff.  “The battle is far from over and after a few weeks away from the track, we’re all really excited to get back to work.

“The shutdown is such an important time for the entire team. The chance to relax and recharge is invaluable, especially with such a busy second half of the season coming up, and the fight we have ahead of us. We’re all racers at heart though, so while we enjoyed the well-deserved time off, we’re also eager to get back to doing what we love: racing!”

Pierre Gasly says taking a positive result in the Hungarian Grand Prix was the best way to go into the summer break, although on reflection he acknowledges he was out of luck at the Hungaroring, at least at the start.

The Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda driver qualified an excellent fifth on the grid in Hungary, but this meant he was forced to take avoiding action around the chaos ahead of him at turn one that left him trailing towards the back of the pack.

Gasly recovered to finish fifth – with the added bonus of taking an extra point by setting the fastest lap – and it meant he could go into the break happy to be eighth in the standings.

“As a driver you can reflect on your last race result until it is time to get back on track,” said Gasly.  “So, the result in Budapest was the best way to end the first half of the season, as I could enjoy it through the summer break.

“We had a really good Qualifying, fifth fastest, so first of the “rest” behind the top two teams. In the race, once again I was out of luck, dropping back to avoid the chaos at the first corner. It meant we couldn’t really make the most of our Qualifying performance.

Landon Cassill is back in a NASCAR Cup Series car for the first time in two years. On Monday, Gaunt Brothers Racing announced he will drive the #96 Toyota Camry in Sunday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway and at Talladega Superspeedway on 3 October.

Cassill last made a Cup start in 2019 when he ran the full schedule for StarCom Racing. He has competed in the division since 2010 and was a regular between 2011 and 2017. A journeyman driver, he raced for multiple Cup teams including Front Row Motorsports; FRM and StarCom are the only teams still active today for whom Cassill has driven (Circle Sport‘s owner Joe Falk shares a charter with Live Fast Motorsports). His best finish is fourth at the 2014 fall Talladega race for Circle Sport.

He currently races full-time in the Xfinity Series for JD Motorsports, his first full Xfinity campaign since he ran every race in 2014 with JDM. After twenty-two races, Cassill sits twenty-second in points with a best run of twelfth on two occasions (Daytona Road Course and Darlington).

“Landon and I have often talked about finding a way to work together,” said GBR owner Marty Gaunt. “He’s a scrappy, determined racer and I’m thrilled to finally have him in our race car. Daytona and Talladega are two tracks where it’s supremely important to stay out of trouble and be there at the end for any chance at success, and that’s one of Landon’s strong suits. Being able to bring Landon back to the Cup Series while introducing Carnomaly to our sport is something we take a lot of pride in.”

Carnomaly, a blockchain and cryptocurrency brand aimed at automobile owners, will sponsor the #96. The company has close ties to Cassill and former GBR driver Parker Kligerman by sponsoring the two’s sim racing programmes. With cryptocurrency dominating the online hemisphere in recent times, Cassill is no stranger to the topic as Xfinity sponsor Voyager exclusively pays him in Bitcoin.

Alpine Academy Director Mia Sharizman has heaped praise on both Victor Martins and Caio Collet as the duo attack their first seasons of FIA Formula 3 in 2021.

Both Martins and Collet are racing for MP Motorsport this year having both graduated from Formula Renault Eurocup, and both have shown well at times during the opening four rounds of the season.

Martins started the year with three podium finishes in the opening five races, but his five most recent results have seen him drop away from the top of the standings – he sits seventh heading into this weekend’s round at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.  Collet has also found his way onto the podium twice and sits tenth in the standings.

Sharizman says Martins has shown himself to be a top competitor this season and Alpine have been justified in bringing the Frenchman back into the academy after he was dropped from it – when it was called the Renault Sport Academy – in 2020.

“Victor is the highest placed Rookie in the Championship and by mid-season has cemented our belief in his talent,” said Sharizman.  “The season started well for him in Barcelona and Paul Ricard.