Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Fortec Motorsport had arguably their best weekend of the 2021 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship so far at Donington Park (10/11 July).

The team has been running two cars since the first round at Brands Hatch, with exciting British prospect Ollie Bearman drawing acclaim at the head of the ADAC F4 and Italian F4 Championships.

The 16-year-old took two second-place finishes in Race 1 and 2 in Kent, but will not be in the British F3 title conversation as he focuses his efforts on F4 action in Europe.

That seems an inspired decision to date, with Bearman holding a 41-point lead over reigning F4 British Championship champion Luke Browning in ADAC F4, and a 66-point advantage over Tim Tramnitz, who also contests both series’ this season.

His steller opening British F3 weekend, though, means he still sits 13th in the standings despite missing six of the nine races run so far.

Josh Berry: NASCAR’s super sub.

With Michael Annett out of commission due to a stress fracture in his right femur, JR Motorsports has tasked Berry with driving the #1 car for Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Annett had missed last Saturday’s Atlanta race and the previous night’s Camping World Truck Series event at Knoxville for the same reasons, forcing Austin Dillon and Chris Windom to respectively take over. Dillon finished eleventh in the #1 at Atlanta, while Windom placed fifteenth in the Knoxville event.

According to Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass via the team, Annett had gotten hurt while exercising and it “had been nagging him for a few weeks”, yet he continued to race with it before it proved too much. While the severity was not given, the timing suggests he was racing with the injury when he scored his first top-five finish of the season at Road America.

JRM successfully received a medical waiver for Annett to qualify for the playoffs upon his return. He is currently tenth in points with a 54-point gap over twelfth-placed Myatt Snider who sits above the cut-off line. As NASCAR will have a two-week break following New Hampshire due to NBC’s coverage of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the team expects the pause to give Annett enough time to recover for the next race at Watkins Glen on 7 August.

Berry, who ran twelve races in JRM’s #8 during the first half of the 2021 season with a win at Martinsville in April, will be a substitute driver for the third time this year. In March, he filled in for Truck driver Kris Wright at Atlanta after Wright was sidelined by a positive COVID-19 test. Two months later, he made his Cup Series début at Dover in Justin Haley‘s place while Haley was out for COVID protocols. He was also a replacement driver for Truck team Rackley WAR in June after Timothy Peters was released.

This weekend’s British Grand Prix will mark the start of potentially a brand new era for the Formula 1 weekend format, with the first ever sprint race set to take place at Silverstone this weekend, putting lots of pressure on Pirelli to perform.

A 100km sprint race will take place on Saturday to determine the grid for Sunday’s traditional race, with the usual qualifying taking place on Friday evening to set-up the grid for the sprint race. An exciting prospect for the thousands who will be in attendance this weekend. For the sprint race the teams can choice to start on any tyre whereas for qualifying only the soft C3 compound can be used.

As usual Pirelli have chosen the three hardest compounds to be used this weekend, the C1, C2 and C3 tyres will be in operation. The hardest tyres have to be used at Silverstone with the high speed corners such as Maggots and Becketts, putting a huge amount of force into the tyres. Pirelli will not be hoping for a repeat of last year’s British Grand Prix, where several drivers including race winner Lewis Hamilton suffered dramatic tyre failures during the closing stages of the race.

This weekend will also see a new construction of rear tyre which were tested during free practice at the Austrian Grand Prix. The new tyres weigh the same as the old ones but are at the same time more robust, the tyres incorporate a lot of the features which will be seen on the new eighteen inch wheels next season.

With so much going on this weekend, Pirelli Head of F1 and Car Racing Mario Isola is extremely excited to the new weekend format at what is one of the most challenging circuits for the tyre manufacturer.

The Uralkali Haas F1 Team go into this weekends British Grand Prix with the hotly anticipated prospect of racing on Saturday and Sunday, a brand new challenge for the entire field, not just for Haas rookies Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

This weekend will see the first trial of a brand new weekend format, with qualifying taking place on Friday evening to set the grid for a 100km sprint race on Saturday afternoon. The finishing order of the sprint race will then make up the grid for the main race on Sunday.

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal of the Uralkali Haas F1 Team is looking forward to the experiment and is expecting both of his drivers to race hard in both races, despite this season being all about learning.

“I am looking forward to it because it’s something new and something new always gives opportunity and hopefully we can be a part of that. I think the success will be if the fans like it. At the moment I think it’s a good format but if there’s something we can enhance, and the fans embrace it, that would be good and then I would say let’s do more of it.

“I think for sure the drivers will race hard because in qualifying everyone races hard and this is like a sprint race which defines the qualifying positions. On Sunday, when points are at stake, you want to be in the best position to start the race as you can.

After a week away, both Uralkali Haas F1 Team drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin are looking forward to this weekends British Grand Prix and the brand new sprint race!

Mick Schumacher goes into this weekends British Grand Prix having had a weekend off after the first triple-header of the season, one which showed that Schumacher is making significant strides in the right direction. The German rookie is feeling very positive after the triple-header.

“Mentally and physically I feel great. I was really happy about the triple-header – it’s been great getting to spend so much time with the team. We’ve played football, gone cycling and had a BBQ together. We’ve been getting to do all the things which I would usually be able to do if we hadn’t had COVID. With the pandemic, it’s very restricted how I can get to England, so I’ve got to spend the time I would usually do, here, and that’s been great for us.“

The Silverstone Circuit is one which Schumacher knows well having won at the circuit in the past. Schumacher won at Silverstone in 2018 whilst racing in European Formula 3, he also came second in the Formula 2 sprint race at the circuit last year, narrowly beaten by fellow Formula 1 rookie Yuki Tsunoda. It’s a track he has always enjoyed especially with the incredible atmosphere.

“Silverstone in general is a very interesting track. There’s lots of high-speed places but also it’s a very technical track with the last chicane, so racing is very difficult. We have long corners which makes it difficult to follow, but I’ve always enjoyed going to Silverstone. The fans are great but also the track and the history of it is amazing, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Kurt and Kyle Busch are among the top sibling duos in NASCAR Cup Series history, and the racing deities decided in favour of the elder Kurt in Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  The two battled each other throughout the final stage, but Kurt, with some help from Chip Ganassi Racing team-mate Ross Chastain, was able to get it done and complete the Busch 1–2 finish.

Sunday’s race, the last on the current Atlanta configuration before it is redesigned ahead of the 2022 season, was dominated by the brothers as they led a combined 235 of 260 laps, with Kurt responsible for 144. Georgia native and pole-sitter Chase Elliott was the only non-Busch to lead double-digit laps as he had thirteen to begin the day.

Kyle began the Busch run when he took the lead from Elliott on lap 14 and went on to win the first stage ahead of Kurt, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, William Byron, Martin Truex Jr. (who started at the back after failing pre-race inspection twice), and Kevin Harvick. The lone incident of the stage came on lap 32 when Cody Ware got loose in turn two while running four-abreast with Anthony Alfredo, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Daniel Suárez; Stenhouse and Suárez then made contact and spun into the inside wall on the backstretch, with Alfredo squeezing by to escape damage.

The older Busch dominated the second stage, only briefly surrendering the lead to Aric Almirola; as Almirola led, reports of rain hit the track but did not result in a red flag. Ironically, one would occur anyway at the end of the stage when the aging track surface, which had not been replaced since 1997 and was only changing in 2022 with the reconfiguration, broke off on the frontstretch and a delay was needed to fill it back in. After an approximately twenty-minute pause that incidentally coincided with the full duration of the Euro 2020 Final’s penalty kick shootout, the segment ended under yellow as Kurt took the stage win ahead of Kyle, Bowman, Larson, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon, and Truex.

Stenhouse became the race’s lone retirement when he exited with a suspension failure shortly after the final stage began. Kurt and Kyle traded the lead throughout the segment before the two’s duel encountered lapped traffic; one of these cars was Kurt’s team-mate Chastain, who committed to the high line on lap 236 and blocked Kyle’s progress on Kurt. Kyle was miffed at Chastain’s action, saying in a post-race interview that it “shows you what kind of driver he is.”

António Félix da Costa was delighted to end up with a podium in race two of the New York City E-Prix on Saturday, with the Portuguese driver inhering third place late on after Mitch Evans clipped the wall and broke his left-rear suspension.

The DS Techeetah driver had earlier found his way passed both of the Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team drivers to run fourth, with both Pascal Wehrlein and André Lotterer left fighting behind him in the closing laps.

And when Evans had his mishap, Félix da Costa took full advantage to take his first podium finish since he won the Monaco E-Prix back in May.

“Podium in America! It’s so good to wrap up this weekend with a good result, coming from seventh and climbing through the field to finish on the podium and to be back to second in the standings,” said Félix da Costa.

“The fight will go on until the end. Yesterday evening, we worked very hard with the engineers and the mechanics to improve the car, what an amazing team we have!”

Nick Cassidy secured his second podium finish in three races in Sunday’s second race of the New York City E-Prix, with the New Zealander now firmly involved in the battle for the 2020-21 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship title.

Three-weeks ago, the Envision Virgin Racing driver made a breakthrough as he claimed second place in race two of the Puebla E-Prix, but arguably, his performance around the Brooklyn Street Circuit was even more impressive, with the New Zealander the only driver to be able to keep up with the two Jaguar Racing cars up front of Sam Bird and Mitch Evans.

And when Evans made a mistake late in the race and damaged his left-rear suspension, Cassidy was in prime position to move up from third to second and equal his best result of the season and to move up to fifth in the Drivers’ Championship standings.

“I felt much stronger in the race today, but it wasn’t easy to maintain speed in the right places and overtake the Jaguars,” said Cassidy.

“I am pleased with how I have adapted to Formula E and to the car – I think I have made that transition quite quickly, but there are another 23 world class drivers here so it’s not easy!

Sam Bird became only the second driver to take multiple victories in the 2020-21 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season, with the Briton jumping from thirteenth in the standings to the top after winning race two of the New York City E-Prix on Sunday.

The Jaguar Racing driver started from pole position on Sunday and led all thirty-seven laps around the Brooklyn Street Circuit to become a two-time winner this season, and an eleven-time winner in Formula E.

A day before, Bird recovered from a practice crash and a car rebuild to scrape into the points in ninth, but everything came right for him on Sunday as he moved to the very top of the Drivers’ Championship heading into his home E-Prix in London in two weeks time.

“What a day today! That’s 29 points out of a possibly 30 so I couldn’t be happier,” said Bird, who only missed out on a maximum thirty points thanks to António Félix da Costa claiming the bonus point for fastest lap.  “I’m so delighted and proud of my team right now.

“After yesterday, this is everything we needed and it feels so good. Thank you to everyone at Jaguar Racing and I can’t wait for London.”

Sam Bird took a dominant victory in the second race of the New York City E-Prix weekend to take over at the top of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship standings.

Jaguar Racing returned to form with a vengeance on Sunday, with Bird taking pole position just ahead of team-mate Mitch Evans, and for much of the race, it appeared it would be the same order at the chequered flag.

Evans was running second when, inexplicably, he clipped the wall at the exit of turn six and damaged his left-rear suspension, leaving him easy pray from the chasing pack.  He eventually slipped out of the points and ended a disappointed thirteenth.

This promoted the excellent Nick Cassidy of Envision Virgin Racing to second, with the New Zealander the only driver to have kept tabs with the two Jaguar drivers in the early laps.  Cassidy had passed Evans for second on track during his first attack mode run but slipped behind his countryman when both used their second.

Bird took the chequered flag 4.167 seconds clear of Cassidy to become only the second driver this year to take a second victory – nine different drivers have won inside the first eleven races – and he jumped from thirteenth in the standings to hit the top!

Top Gun Racing have announced via social media that the team will make their NTT IndyCar Series race debut at the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix next month, held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

The team made their first ever attempt at the Indianapolis 500 this past May, and unfortunately rookie R.C. Enerson did not have the pace to qualify. Now, the team will step up to the plate again, this time on the road course, and look to make their name in IndyCar.

The team also confirmed that Enerson would once again be the pilot of the entry. Enerson has road course experience in an IndyCar, driving for Dale Coyne Racing three times in 2016 and once for Carlin in 2019, with a best finish of ninth at Watkins Glen International Raceway in 2016. Enerson also has experience in Indy Lights competition with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in 2015, and a half-year with the team in 2016.

The 24-year-old American is also an accomplished sim racer, and was a top contender in the 2021 IndyCar iRacing Challenge.

Neil Enerson, R.C.’s father, confirmed that the team will test on a road course in July, but not at IMS. Enerson did not state what track the test will take place at.

Promotional rights to the FIA European Rally Championship have been awarded to WRC Promoter. The multi-year agreement, announced on Thursday, starts in 2022. As a result, WRC Promoter now has a large set of projects on its plate. The European Rally Championship becomes the promoters fourth FIA series. The Munich-based company has held rights to the FIA World Rally Championship since 2013 and back in February, took on both the FIA World Rallycross and FIA European Rallycross Championships. The ERC’s support series will all be included in the new agreement, ratified at the World Motorsport Council in Monaco.

This announcement brings international rallying into greater synergy. Back in March, the FIA’s announced a five-tier pyramid structure for rallying. At its peak, the Hybrid Powered Rally 1 vehicles in the WRC. The next step down is The WRC support categories and the European Rally Championship itself. 

This structure gives the ERC a position of paramount importance in the Rallying pyramid. Not only is the ERC a coveted title, but it is now firmly entrenched as a definitive stepping stone to WRC glory for aspiring drivers. This will inform how WRC Promoter chooses to promote both the ERC and WRC, according to WRC Promoter managing director Jona Siebel;

“The FIA has entrusted the group with the commercial rights for another major championship. Having built a strong track record in promoting the WRC during the last nine seasons, we’re in a perfect position to add the ERC to our portfolio,” Siebel added.

“We have a high level of organisational, promotional and broadcast experience in our team and look forward with great confidence to working alongside the FIA to develop the ERC as an integral part of the Rally Pyramid.

Team Abba Racing and Century Motorsport took GT3 and GT4 honours in Round 3 of the Intelligent Money British GT Championship at Donington Park, in one of the most incident-packed races in recent memory.

With seven retirements and two safety car periods in the first 20 minutes, the survivors in a shrunken field had a frantic first stint before handing over to the faster Pro and Silver drivers.

Sam Neary took over from father Richard and managed the gap back to Yelmer Buurman for the team’s first win in the series, with Jonny Adam prevailing in a thrilling late battle for third.

In GT4, Century Motorsport took their second 1-2 finish of the season, with Will Burns and Gus Burton winning by over 30 seconds over Chris Salkeld and Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke.

GT3

There was immediate drama as Michael Igoe spun the WPI Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo after contact with Nick Jones in the Team Parker Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.

Nick Cassidy missed out on his maiden ABB FIA Formula E World Championship victory in race one of the New York City E-Prix on Saturday, although he refuses to lay any blame on Jean-Éric Vergne on the move that saw him fall from the lead to fourth place.

The Envision Virgin Racing driver had taken a superb pole position earlier in the day – his second of his rookie season – and he was able to convert that into the lead at the start.  He was able to maintain his advantage through both of his uses of attack mode, but he was lower on energy compared to the chasing pack, which was led by Vergne.

The move from Vergne eventually came at the hairpin, but the Frenchman ran the New Zealander wide, which not only meant he fell behind the two-time champion but also Maximilian Günther and Lucas di Grassi.  However, although feeling the move from Vergne was a little bit over the top, he felt it was just a part of racing.

“I think we did a good job today,” said Cassidy.  “At the start of the race I felt very comfortable, under control. The full course yellow didn’t fall my way, though – it was when I had my Attack Mode so I couldn’t extend the gap I had and lost time, which I think is ultimately what cost me.

“I was down a little bit on energy to JEV (Vergne) so I knew that he would attack me somewhere and there was a high chance it would happen at turn 10. He lunged me and, unfortunately, he overshot a bit and ran wide, which obviously left me out to dry.

Lucas di Grassi feels he is back in the battle for the 2020-21 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship title after finishing third in race one of the New York City E-Prix on Saturday.

The Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler driver started seventh and made good use of his attack modes to move up the order, with di Grassi in the ideal position to move up into the podium places when Jean-Éric Vergne attacked Nick Cassidy for the lead.

Maximilian Günther may have moved from third to first in the same move, but di Grassi was perfectly placed to get ahead of Cassidy as well, and he ultimately ended third to move up to ninth in the championship standings.

With the 2020-21 season appearing to be one of the closest, di Grassi is only eighteen points behind joint leaders Edoardo Mortara and Robin Frijns heading into the final five races of the season, the first of which is race two of the New York weekend on Sunday.

“Today was a fantastic day in New York and, after the victory in Mexico, it’s already another trophy,” said di Grassi, who now has finished on the podium three times in New York. “Now, I’m also back in the title fight.