Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

BMW will pull out of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship as a works team after this weekend’s Berlin E-Prix, but the German marque have everything crossed both Jake Dennis and Maximilian Günther will have strong weekend’s at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit.

Dennis sits fourth in the standings after a victory and a ninth-place finish in the London E-Prix, and although Günther is down in fifteenth position in the standings, he still has a mathematical chance of taking the title, albeit a small chance.  BMW i Andretti Motorsport sit fifth in the Teams’ Championship, only twenty-two points off Envision Virgin Racing at the top.

Stefan Ponikva, the Vice President Brand Communication and Brand Experience BMW Group, has thanked everyone within Formula E for allowing them to be a part of the exciting championship, and he is pleased that BMW are giving their name to the finale of the season, the BMW i Berlin E-Prix.

“BMW i has been a partner of Formula E from the outset, and we are delighted to conclude this unique partnership, after seven successful years, with another highlight, the title sponsorship at our home event in Berlin,” said Ponikva.

“I would like to thank Formula E and, on behalf of the whole organisation, Alejandro Agag, Alberto Longo and Jamie Reigle. The BMW i Berlin E-Prix will be the highlight of the season for us. 

Dilbagh Gill, the CEO and Team Principal of Mahindra Racing, is hoping for another strong weekend in Berlin this weekend to cap off what has been a strong season for the team in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season.

Alex Lynn took Mahindra’s first victory of the season in the London E-Prix, while both Lynn and team-mate Alexander Sims have stood on the podium during the 2020-21 season.  Lynn sits sixth in the standings heading to the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit, while Sims is a lowly eighteenth. 

However, Lynn sits only seventeen points behind championship leader Nyck de Vries, while Sims is mathematically still in the hunt, though he would need a minor miracle to take the title.  Mahindra are seventh in the Teams’ Championship but only thirty-three points off leaders Envision Virgin Racing.

Gill was delighted Mahindra were able to take their first victory since Jérôme d’Ambrosio took the chequered flag first in the Marrakesh E-Prix back in the 2018-19 season, and he hopes the team can build on the London result this weekend across the two races to end the season in Berlin.

“After an incredible ‘home race’ weekend in London our attention turns to the season finale in Berlin,” said Gill.  “We are looking forward to returning to Berlin after last season’s epic six races in nine days finale where the team came away with five SuperPole appearances and five points securing finishes.

Alex Lynn goes into the season finale in Berlin this weekend high on confidence after moving himself into championship contention with a podium and a victory in the London E-Prix last time out.

The Mahindra Racing driver finished second on the road to Lucas di Grassi at the Exhibition Centre London circuit but was promoted to victory when the Brazilian was penalised for an illegal pit stop.  It meant the former GP3 Series champion took his maiden ABB FIA Formula E World Championship victory in his fortieth start to move up to sixth place in the standings.

Lynn says the weekend in London was ‘incredible’, and the British racer is eager to continue that momentum this weekend at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit in Berlin.

“London was incredible, and a very special result for the whole team,” said Lynn, who is only seventeen points behind championship leader Nyck de Vries heading into Berlin.

“I’ll be giving my everything in Berlin to give the team something to smile about when the flag drops.”

Sebastian Vettel will remain disqualified from the Hungarian Grand Prix, after the FIA denied the review requested by the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team after they presented new evidence to support their case.

Vettel who initially finished second at the exhilarating Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring, was disqualified after the race as the FIA were unable to take a one litre fuel sample from Vettel’s AMR21. This is a requirement set out in the Formula 1 technical regulations.

However Aston Martin asked the FIA to review their decision, after the team found evidence in their data that Vettel did in fact have more than a litre of fuel remaining. The review took place on Monday but unfortunately for Aston Martin it was to no avail.

The FIA deemed the evidence provided by Aston Martin wasn’t relevant to the regulation which was broken, as a result the right of review was denied.

Aston Martin Team Principal and CEO Otmar Szafnauer is disappointed by the FIA’s decision but that it won’t stop the team from appealing Vettel’s disqualification.

Bob Jenkins, a legend in the motorsports world for his announcing prowess on radio and television, has died after an eight-month battle with brain cancer. He was 73 years old.

Jenkins is a name that defined racing broadcasts for many fans through the 1980s and 1990s in both IndyCar and NASCAR. Working for ABC and ESPN, the latter of whom hired him as one of its first employees in 1979, he served as the play-by-play announcer for the networks’ coverage of NASCAR alongside Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett, a trio that aligned with the nationwide boom in stock car racing’s popularity and thus served as the voices for many fans’ childhoods. Jenkins was also the announcer in the first EA Sports NASCAR games, including the acclaimed début edition NASCAR 98.

From 1990 to 1998, he was the lead announcer for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network, and also worked as lap-by-lap commentator for ABC on the Indianapolis 500. He first worked for the IMS Radio Network in 1979 as the backstretch announcer. Jenkins remained involved with the network for later editions as public address announcer, a position he held until 2020.

He announced in February that he was diagnosed with tumours in his right temple. His wife Pam had died in 2012 of cancer herself. Although he did not return to the broadcast team for the 2021 Indy 500 in May, he visited the track and received the Robin Miller Award, given to a racing figure who “brings unbridled passion and unrelenting work ethic to enrich the sport.”

“I am a race fan who got lucky,” Jenkins said upon receiving the award. “I got lucky because there were jobs in radio and TV available, and I took them. Because of public exposure, people think it’s a big deal.

With the FIA Formula 2 Championship‘s next round at Monza not until September, Christian Lundgaard will dabble in the NTT IndyCar Series. On Monday, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced Lundgaard will make his IndyCar début in the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course on Saturday, 14 August. He will drive the #45 Honda.

“I’m super excited to try IndyCar next week,” said Lundgaard. “I’ve been very fortunate so far in my career to drive some incredible race cars and I’m looking forward to officially adding IndyCar to that list. In preparation for this race, I tested the car and it felt pretty awesome and I’m sure it will feel even better at a race weekend in race conditions alongside all the hugely talented drivers in the field. There’s been a lot of work to make this happen and prepare as best as possible and I’m feeling ready for the challenge.”

Lundgaard is currently in his second full season of Formula 2 competition for ART Grand Prix. After four rounds, he is twelfth in points with two podiums in sprint races (second in Sprint 2 at Bahrain and third in Sprint 1 at Silverstone). His first year saw him win two sprints at Austria and Mugello as he finished seventh in the standings.

Since 2017, he has been a member of the Alpine Academy. In his first year with the Alpine F1-led junior programme, he won the SMP F4 and F4 Spanish Championships, which he followed with a runner-up in the 2018 Formula Renault Eurocup standings. He finished sixth in his lone FIA Formula 3 season in 2019 with a feature win at Hungary.

In July, Lundgaard participated in a private IndyCar test with RLL at Barber Motorsports Park. Although the academy is intended to breed future Alpine F1 drivers, Lundgaard and the programme’s members have considered looking elsewhere for racing opportunities as the F1 side’s lineup of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso appear set for the immediate future.

The Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler team will say goodbye to the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship after this weekend’s Berlin E-Prix, and Allan McNish is hoping the team go out on a high.

Audi have been a part of Formula E since its inception but will bow out after Sunday’s second race at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit having taken thirteen wins, the last of which came earlier this season in the Puebla E-Prix for Lucas di Grassi.

Di Grassi has been an ever present at Audi since the 2014-15 season and took their one and only Drivers’ Championship in season three, while the Team won the Teams’ Championship in season four.

McNish, the Team Principal at Audi, says di Grassi and current team-mate René Rast are aiming to end the year with two positive results in Berlin, with both drivers still in contention for the championship.

“We’re coming to Berlin to say goodbye to Formula E and to our fans with our heads held high,” said McNish. “Lucas and René have competed in many races in Berlin and have both been on the podium.

James Barclay, the Team Director of Jaguar Racing, says he is proud that the team are still fighting for both ABB FIA Formula E World Championship titles heading into the season finale at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit this weekend.

Sam Bird currently sits third in the Drivers’ standings after the opening thirteen races of the season, with team-mate Mitch Evans only six points but five places back in eighth.  As a team, Jaguar are sitting third, only nine points behind championship leaders Envision Virgin Racing. 

They have taken two wins during the 2020-21 season with Bird being victorious in the Diriyah and New York City E-Prix weekends, while Jaguar as a team have taken five additional podium finishes this year.

Barclay says the team has continue to improve year after year in Formula E and it is pleasing to see them still in the fight for the titles, but he knows the unpredictability of the championship means that anything could happen this weekend in Berlin that could cause an upset or two.

“I’m very proud of the progress we have made together as a team this season,” said Barclay.  “Year on year we have improved and we have established ourselves as a title contending team down to the expertise, dedication and hunger of the whole team.

Sam Bird says he will head to Berlin for the final two races of the 2020-21 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship focused on clean races after retiring from both of his home E-Prix in London last month.

The Jaguar Racing driver comes into the final two races of the season at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit sitting third in the Drivers’ Championship standings, just fourteen points behind current leader Nyck de Vries of Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team.  He will also be in group one of Qualifying for Saturday’s first race.

Bird, the only driver in Formula E history to win a race in every season, admits going off in that first group on Saturday will make for a difficult weekend, but he will be eyeing up two strong results as he bids to become champion for the first time.

“Entering the final weekend of a Formula E season sitting third in the teams’ and drivers’ championship with Jaguar Racing is a great place to be,” said Bird.  “Saturday will be tough from group one and with the penalty so I will be focused on a clean race.

“After the intensity of London, I am just going to enjoy my racing and take each session as it comes. It has been a great first year with Jaguar and we are all aiming to end on a positive.”

After his tear in June in which he won three straight points races, fans wondered when Kyle Larson would finally take the NASCAR Cup Series championship lead. This question became reality on Sunday when he dominated the final stretch of the Go Bowling at The Glen for his fifth win of the year and a share of the points lead with Denny Hamlin, with Larson’s victories giving him the tiebreaker over his winless rival. It is his first win at Watkins Glen International and second of 2021 on a road course.

Brad Keselowski started on the pole in the first race in two weeks alongside Team Penske team-mate Joey Logano, though both drivers would experience misfortunes throughout their day beginning with Keselowski spinning from the lead on lap nine. Although Logano won the opening stage, Keselowski accidentally took him out in a spin in turn one during the final stage.

Larson finished second in the first stage ahead of Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, and Erik Jones. Elliott, who won the last Watkins Glen event in 2019, and Christopher Bell, who won at the Daytona Road Course in February, had started the race at the rear due to inspection failures.

James Davison produced the lone caution of the second half when his car stopped on track due to electrical issues. Martin Truex Jr. dominated the stage en route to the win ahead of Bell, Kevin Harvick, Larson, Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, Matt DiBenedetto, Hamlin, Logano, and Busch.

Truex continued to lead as the final stage began. Hamlin took the lead on lap 57 before Kurt Busch led a lap of his own. Larson assumed the top spot on lap 65 and would have pulled away had it not been for lapped traffic. Larson navigating through such cars enabled Elliott to narrow the margin on his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate, but Elliott could not make up enough ground as Larson drove off to his fifth win of the year and second on a road course. He is the first driver to win at Sonoma and Watkins Glen—long the only road courses on the Cup schedule until 2018—since Kyle Busch in 2008.

The NTT IndyCar Series descended upon Nashville for the inaugural Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, but chaos in turn descended upon Sunday’s race. Nine cautions and much confusion took place over the eighty-lap race as drivers battled through the tight confines of downtown Nashville, with Marcus Ericsson having an especially tumultuous experience as he went from flying through the air to winning for the second time in his career.

The first quarter was marred by numerous incidents almost immediately. Dalton Kellett‘s car stalled after just one lap to produce the first caution, while lap 13 saw Ericsson hit Sébastien Bourdais in the rear and briefly go airbourne; despite the hang time and landing, Ericsson remained in the race while Bourdais’ day came to an end, though Ericsson received a stop-and-go penalty for avoidable contact. Josef Newgarden also made contact with Graham Rahal and suffered toe damage, beginning a stroke of misfortune for Team Penske.

Penske would be involved in the next two yellow flags beginning with Scott McLaughlin getting spun by Ed Jones on lap 16. Further compounding the organisation’s woes was a wreck on lap 20 in which Will Power collided with team-mate Simon Pagenaud and sent him into the tyre barrier, causing as many as ten drivers including Jimmie Johnson to come to a stop. A red flag was deployed to facilitate cleanup, during which Johnson was disqualified for working on his car during the delay.

Rinus VeeKay‘s crash on lap 31 resulted in another caution but also further chaos on pit road as pole winner Colton Herta, who had dominated the event up to this point, exited pit road in second due to the pace car being slowed down but restarted fourth as Ericsson had beaten him to the blend line that determines the leaders. Ericsson therefore became the leader for the restart with an Andretti Autosport quartet of Herta, Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchliffe, and Alexander Rossi in tow.

As the race finally reached the halfway point, Power once again collided with a team-mate as he sent McLaughlin into the wall and Kellett was unable to avoid him. Adding to the calamity was a tyre barrier springing a leak, lengthening the delay.

Robert Stout has been grinding in his first year of Stadium Super Trucks competition, and his work was finally rewarded this weekend at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix with a victory. A day after scoring his first series podium and 100th of his racing career, he held off newcomer Jacob Abel to win his maiden race.

After finishing last in Race #1 on Saturday due to a spin, Ricky Johnson started on the pole ahead of fellow Crosley Brands trucks Abel and Bo LeMastus. Stout, as the third-place finisher in said race, began his day in eleventh with winner Matt Brabham in last.

Johnson led the first lap before Abel passed him on the trip across Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge. As Abel braked for the next corner and consequently surrendered the position back to Johnson, the latter’s race fell apart when LeMastus tried a pass for the lead on the inside, but the move backfired as he drove into Johnson’s side and sent the two into the tyre barrier. A lengthy caution to clean up the track and separate the trucks followed, and LeMastus eventually rejoined the race without his hood.

The race eventually resumed with Abel as the leader, while Stout quickly shot through the order into fourth. Stout caught Abel and passed him for the top spot on lap five. Behind them and third-placed Arie Luyendyk Jr., Brabham took fourth from Jett Noland on lap six and the competition caution came out later on the circuit.

Stout continued to lead at the restart. Brabham entered the podium range by passing Luyendyk on the inside in turn twelve, resulting in bumping that nearly pushed Luyendyk into the tyres. Max Gordon also slipped by to take fourth.

The Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team have requested a review of Sebastian Vettel’s disqualification from the Hungarian Grand Prix after initially finishing second at the Hungaroring.

Vettel was disqualified from the race after the FIA were unable to take one litre of fuel from the car after the race had concluded. It is a requirement set out in the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations, that a litre of fuel must be taken from the car after the race. The team believe that in no way did Vettel receive a performance advantage from allegedly breaking the technical regulation, and that the act was not done deliberately.

According to Aston Martin’s data which it will use in it’s appeal to the FIA which is set for Monday 9th August over video call, Vettel’s AMR21 car did in fact have a litre of fuel remaining, with the data showing that there was actually 1.74 litres left in the tank.

The entire team will be hoping that their appeal on Monday will be successful and that Vettel’s brilliant second place can be reinstated.

McLaren Racing have announced that they will take a 75-percent majority stake in Arrow McLaren SP, furthering their commitment to the NTT IndyCar Series.

The purchase is set to be completed later in the year, taking majority from team founder Sam Schmidt and co-owner Ric Peterson, the “S” and “P” in the team’s name. Schmidt has been a part of IndyCar as a team owner since 2001 with Sam Schmidt Racing, and partnered with McLaren in 2020 to form the team we know today.

The name of the team and base of operations in the United States are expected to remain the same, while McLaren are expected to add personnel and engineering resources to the team. They will also put together a five-person board to oversee the program, headed by McLaren F1 CEO Zak Brown. Schmidt and Peterson will have seats on the board, as well as maintaining their 25-percent stake in ownership.

“Today’s announcement is a strong signal of our long-term commitment to IndyCar as both a racing series and a marketing platform for McLaren Racing and our sponsor partners,” Brown said according to RACER.com.

“I want to pay tribute to Sam Schmidt and Ric Peterson who, together with the commitment and support of Arrow Electronics, have built a formidable team for us to keep growing and fulfill our common ambition of consistently challenging for wins, Indy 500s and series titles.”

Roman Bilinski took his second win of the season as the GB3 Championship‘s weekend at Snetterton 300 came to an end.

Mikkel Grundtvig started on pole, ahead of Reema Juffali, Bilinski and Douglas Motorsport newcomer Tommy Smith.

Smith was turned around at Turn 1 after contact with fellow debutant Branden Lee Oxley in the Chris Dittmann Racing car, dropping him to the back of the field from fourth on the grid.

Grundtvig ran wide at the same corner on Lap 2, allowing Bilinski to take the lead as the Fortec Motorsport drivers of Roberto Faria and Race 1 winner Oliver Bearman put Championship leader Zak O’Sullivan under pressure.

O’Sullivan went on the offensive on Javier Sagrera to try and get away from Bearman who had moved past his team-mate on the previous lap, but compromised his line as Bearman found a way past the Carlin driver.