Indholdsfortegnelse for 09/05/19 i Autosport

Every now and again a wave of driving talent arrives in Formula 1. Robert Kubica, Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel made their grand prix debuts within a year and a half of each other. Three went on to win world titles and one should have done but for the infamous rally crash that has led to a remarkable comeback. As Edd Straw points out in our cover feature on page 16, the next wave is now arriving. Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and George Russell are leading it and will be aiming to take Hamilton’s mantle at the top of the sport over the next few seasons. Max Verstappen will be in that fight too, of course, though he is already so established as an F1 top-liner that it’s…

FORMULA 1 The negotiations over Formula 1’s 2021 overhaul still have “a few elephants in the room” but are drawing towards an October conclusion in a bid to make things fairer for all teams. Teams have been left to consider the framework for sweeping regulatory, financial and governance changes laid out by F1 and the FIA in a key meeting at the end of March. Although the FIA’s stipulated June deadline is unlikely to be met, with an October compromise looking probable, team bosses believe the end is finally in sight. “It feels like we’re converging,” said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner. “There are still a few elephants in the room. Hopefully over the next few months something can get sorted.” As Autosport revealed earlier this year, teams have…

SUPER GT Audi is making very positive noises about sending its RS5 DTM car to Japan’s Super GT series – if differences in sporting regulations can be ironed out. Audi sports boss Dieter Gass says he is keen to take advantage of the unification of DTM and Super GT under the Class 1 regulations, and that the marque’s Japanese importer wants a programme. But while the DTM runs on control Hankook tyres, Super GT features a tyre war between Yokohama, Bridgestone, Michelin and Dunlop. “The major worry is the tyre situation,” said Gass. “That means if you want to go there and be at a competitive level, potentially you need to do quite some significant testing. Which puts us in a difficult situation with the German regulations, because testing is…

Subjectivity can be a cruel mistress, but it is often the way any driver, or fan, judges their motorsport. In the bumper-to-bumper cauldron of the British Touring Car Championship, who is at fault for incidents can be a moot point. Who was to blame? Why did it happen? But there are steadfast regulations that mean contact is probably better-researched, analysed and assessed than in any other category outside Formula 1. There are a raft of onboard monitors that check a driver’s every move, and all of these are accessible to officials afterwards. The regulations stipulating onboard cameras and the data traces that are available to the BTCC officials make sure of that. But there are also the basics – the rules of combat – that are pointed out to every…

During the past four decades, Formula 1 has been the stage for some hugely significant battles of the young taking on the old. These fights can’t simply be defined by age, for eras aren’t always as neatly divided, but both in retrospect and at the time, these were critical battles for what would ultimately be dominance. But it was never long before a new pretender came along. HAMILTON VERSUS ALONSO, 2007 While there was only three years between McLaren team-mates Lewis Hamilton (22) Fernando Alonso (25) in 2007, this was one of the classic tales of an upstart rookie upsetting an established star. Double champion Alonso had his hands full fighting Hamilton, ultimately leaving McLaren after an acrimonious season. Despite missing out on a rookie-season title, Hamilton did pip Alonso…

Aston Martin claimed a second GTE Pro victory of the season at Spa over a weekend when the British marque proved the pace of the latest Vantage GTE in both wet and dry conditions. Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn took the win, their first, by just less than a second at the end of a race in which all five manufacturers in class led. Martin and Lynn qualified a close second to the Ganassi Ford GT of Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell in the dry, but conceded that the cold and wet conditions forecast for race day were their hope of winning the race. The second-generation Vantage loses out over a second stint on a set Michelin slicks, a hangover from the short development curve with the French manufacturer after…

AUSTRALIAN SUPERCARS BARBAGALLO (AUS) 3-4 MAY ROUND 5/15 The Ford Mustang might have had its wings clipped ahead of the first Perth SuperNight round, but nothing could stop DJR Team Penske’s Fabian Coulthard and Scott McLaughlin from flying to a pair of wins. Amid ongoing discontent regarding the Mustang’s ability to produce mid-corner downforce, Supercars elected to give the car a haircut before heading west. That meant less overhang on the bottom of the rear-wing endplates, a lower gurney flap, and a shorter undertray for the six Fords in the field. Whether it would make a difference on the short Barbagallo Raceway layout was the big question. Friday qualifying answered it emphatically. McLaughlin became the first (and only) Supercar driver to lap under 53 seconds at the circuit, setting a…

FORMULA REGIONAL EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP VALLELUNGA (ITA) 4-5 MAY ROUND 2/8 The Formula Regional European Championship grew to 14 cars for its second round, but celebrations were dampened by torrential rain that caused the third race to be cancelled. David Schumacher won race one from the front – pleasing his dad and team boss, ex-Formula 1 racer Ralf – ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi and Marcos Siebert. It was Siebert’s maiden podium, but a decision to gamble on slick tyres meant he was unable to repeat it in the wet race two, while team-mate Schumacher never looked on the pace. Having won the first three races of the season at Paul Ricard, Prema Powerteam became the team to beat once again as Fittipaldi and Frederik Vesti surged to the front. But first…

HISTORIC TOURING CARS Porsche Supercup racer Tom Sharp is switching to historic racing this season with a pre-1966 BMW 1800 TiSA touring car. Sharp, 27, progressed through Ginettas and the Porsche Carrera Cup GB and then spent the past two seasons in the Formula 1-supporting Porsche Supercup. “We thought we’d try something a little bit different,” said Sharp. “I’ve visited the Silverstone Classic a few times as a spectator and wanted to have a go. The last couple of years have been really good fun travelling the world and racing in the Porsche Supercup. “The time was right for me to move away from the Supercup and maybe do something a bit less full-on and more focused on just the fun of racing. This is back to basics and a…

TOURING CAR TROPHY James Turkington, the younger brother of reigning British Touring Car champion Colin, will join the Touring Car Trophy grid this season in a SEAT Leon Supercopa machine. The Northern Irishman has signed a deal to continue in the car he has raced in Northern Ireland over the last few seasons. The front-wheel-drive car will be tended by established BTCC outfit Ciceley Motorsport, which will field Turkington Jr in all rounds of the five-event series. “I wasn’t sure what I would be doing this year, but this opportunity fits perfectly,” said Turkington. “What with working, it makes a full campaign very difficult in terms of a time commitment, so entering the TCT made perfect sense.” Ciceley will also support the Teamwork Huff operation, which is fielding a VW…

BIKESPORTS Scott Mittell has pledged there is more to come from the new family-built Mittell MC-41R chassis after it took its first outright podium in the third Bikesports championship race of the season at Silverstone last weekend. After a short testing programme, Mittell gave the car its debut at Donington Park on Easter Monday, when an electrical issue ruled it out of race one. Mittell was fifth in race two, improving to third in the Silverstone opener. “The first target was to get it on the overall podium, which we have done,” explained Scott, who works on the preparation of the car with his father Ian. “The next target is to give Josh [Smith] a run for his money and, after that, obviously it is to win it.” Mittell feels…

TVR CAR CLUB Organisers of the TVR Tuscan Challenge anniversary race at Castle Combe are hoping to turn the contest into a regular event. Ten cars took part in the 30th anniversary race on Monday, held to celebrate the popular category (see report, page 72). In response to interest from other drivers, the TVR Car Club would now like to hold an annual race. “Some of the guys who aren’t racing, like [two-time Tuscan Challenger winner] Steve Guglielmi, they’re all making the right noises, saying we should do it once a year, something like that,” said club competition secretary Graham Walden. “The Tuscan Challenge legacy is immense. You see right up to Formula 1, Formula E, World Endurance Championship, there are guys who cut their teeth in the Tuscan Challenge,…

DONINGTON PARK MSVR 3-5 MAY In a weekend of tremendous racing from fine grids, Julian Thomas and Calum Lockie bagged wins in two very different cars during the excellent Donington Historic Festival. The Historic Touring Car Challenge season opener was a fantastic evocation of period touring car racing and the early lead contest was a sight to behold as BMW M3s, Ford Sierra Cosworths and Cologne Capris went at it hammer and tongs. Thomas was right up there in his RS500 until he ran wide at Coppice and got rapidly bundled down the order. Chris Boardman and Colin Turkington set the M3 pace as Thomas worked to recover, and a very slick stop had Lockie out ahead in the RS500. As the M3s dropped away a little, it was Adam…

SILVERSTONE CSCC  4-5 MAY Father-and-son teams won four of the five races on Saturday as the Classic Sports Car Club filled Silverstone’s International Circuit with a 370-strong entry. Top guns were Caterham regulars Nick and Eddie Powell, who made hay in the Swinging Sixties and Classic K events in their pristine John Danby Racing-prepared Lotus Elan ‘26R’. The Powells put the transmission failures of Snetterton behind them with consummate victories from pole. Son Eddie started both races cautiously then, once in a rhythm, quickly picked his way to the front and relayed his father. With little to choose between their pace, rivals found no chinks in the Powells’ armour, and therefore floundered. Jamie Keevill started his hot Elan second for the Swinging Sixties Group 1 encounter, but abandoned the chase…

CASTLE COMBE CCRC 6 MAY Bill Lancashire won the TVR Tuscan anniversary race at Castle Combe in a battle of attrition. Only four of the 10 starters were running at the end and, of those, Martin Short was nine laps adrift after two lengthy pitstops as his ECU didn’t recognise his newly fitted throttle pot. Runner-up Matt Holben was 20 seconds shy, while Graham Walden was a lapped third, suffering from a seized throttle pedal. Dave Mason had built a commanding lead, but dropped out with a suspected gearbox problem. Other likely frontrunners also hit issues: Tim Davis stopped with his own gearbox woes, having changed the unit just before the race. And Perry Waddams, due to start from the front row alongside Mason, started from the back, then retired…

The great and the good from Castle Combe’s illustrious Formula Ford history gathered at the Wiltshire circuit last month to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the circuit’s own championship. Having started in 1969, only two years after Formula Ford itself was created, it has stood the test of time as a rare example of a continuing single-venue category. Combe’s season-opening Howards’ Day meeting provided the opportunity to mark the half century. Nineteen of the 30 living Combe Formula Ford champions attended including the very first, Bryan Sharp. “I don’t know how they tracked me down,” says 1979 champion Geoff Davies. “I now own a hotel up between Leeds and York, and I suddenly got a phone call from reception saying it’s Castle Combe circuit. I’m astounded [they found me] –…

MOTORSPORT.TV BLANCPAIN GT SERIES Last weekend’s Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe season opener at Brands Hatch marked not just the start of a new chapter for the SRO’s sprint championship, but an evolution in the coverage of the series. This year, there’s been a noticeable development in the presentation on the livestream, with a number of changes highlighting the organiser’s shift towards improving the user experience. New, cleaner graphics are the biggest difference. Gone are the rainbow-effect columns and in their place comes a larger, single-coloured list with a font that’s easy to read on screens ranging from the biggest TVs down to mobile phones. The more modern style means timing gaps and longer names – Ezequiel Perez Companc, for example – don’t cause eye-strain as you try to read…

WHO IS THIS? This cheeky chappy was cruelly denied the chance to really show what he could do. He went from burnt wood to smoking tyres in short order, taking on allcomers and prevailing, earning a step up the ladder, which he completed with ease. He was back at the scene of earlier success when fate dealt him a blow. But he defied the odds to make it to the beach on time. Pace disguised his pain and it didn’t last. An avuncular figure brought him back from the eastern, before a fallen giant gave him a safe haven. In between there was an emotional first in the round, before he was recalled by his first love to sit next to a superstar. He was twice in the right place,…

ALONSO GETS SENSORED Fernando Alonso’s thoughts and feelings will be captured during his assault on the Indianapolis 500 this month, with the Spaniard set to wear brain-sensing technology developed by Swiss start-up MindMaze, working in technical partnership with McLaren Racing. Alonso (above) will help to develop its ‘MindDrive’ platform, which is capable of capturing and transmitting key neural signatures from the driver to a trackside medical team in real time in the event of an incident. It will also enable McLaren Racing to gather data and insight on overall driver safety and performance. GEELY APPOINTS RICARDO Geely Auto, a subsidiary of the Chinese group that owns Volvo, Lotus and Lynk & Co, has appointed Ricardo to develop a new advanced transmission for its range of range-extended plug-in hybrid vehicles. Engineers…

There was something different about Team Penske’s IndyCar team at the start of 2019, and it was hard to pinpoint at first. It wasn’t the performance of the cars on track – they remained fast, and the driver and primary sponsor line-up was the same as the year before. But if you studied the Penske garages hard between or during test sessions, it would eventually have dawned on any regular onlooker that there was a notable absentee. Where was that little moustachioed guy, the one who always looked busy, and seemed to avoid making eye contact with anyone not wearing Penske logos? Well, that man was general manager Clive Howell and, despite appearing to have stopped ageing soon after the age of 50, he was 63 when he retired at…

FORMULA 1 The success and popularity of Red Bull Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen is set to trigger the return of the Dutch Grand Prix, with Zandvoort poised to replace Barcelona on the 2020 Formula 1 calendar. Momentum has been building, in the wake of Verstappen’s recent success, for the world championship to return to the Netherlands for the first time since 1985 (above). A senior source has confirmed that a contract has been agreed between F1 and the Zandvoort promoter, but as of last week it had not yet been signed. If, as expected, Barcelona drops off the calendar, it would allow Liberty to put Zandvoort into the early-May slot ahead of Monaco. Barcelona is one of five circuits with expiring contracts at the end of 2019, along with…

WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP Fernando Alonso has insisted that he is only taking a “short break” from the World Endurance Championship. The two-time Formula 1 world champion may be leaving Toyota’s WEC squad at the end of the 2018-19 season, but he’s vowed to return to the series sooner rather than later. “In the medium term and long term, 100% I will come back to WEC, because it is a series I really enjoy,” he said in the wake of last week’s announcement that he will not be staying in the championship for 2019-20. “I like the type of racing here, I like the unpredictability of the racing with all the traffic, and I like the team spirit of sharing a car with team-mates.” Alonso also shed light on his decision…

LE MANS 24 HOURS The giant edifice of the Le Mans pits complex is set to undergo a major transformation over the next four years, with the building redeveloped in time for the centenary year of the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2023. The current structure, built for the 1991 edition of the 24 Hours, is not going to be ripped down. Rather the plan of race organiser the Automobile Club de l’Ouest is to redevelop what exists and, most likely, increase the number of pit boxes. “The plan is to take the existing building, keep the walls and do something new inside,” said ACO sporting director Vincent Beaumesnil. “It would take too long and be too expensive to create a completely new building.” The exact plans have yet to…

LENGTH 2.892 miles NUMBER OF LAPS 66 2018 POLE POSITION Lewis Hamilton 1m16.173s POLE LAP RECORD Lewis Hamilton 1m16.173s (2018) RACE LAP RECORD Daniel Ricciardo 1m18.441s (2018) UK START TIMES Friday 10 May  FP1 1000 FP2 1400  Saturday 11 May  FP3 1100 QUALIFYING 1400  Sunday 12 May  RACE 1410  CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA  HIGHLIGHTS CHANNEL 4 1900 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP Drivers 1 Bottas………………………………… 87 2 Hamilton…………………………. 86 3 Vettel………………………………….. 52 4 Verstappen……………………. 51 5 Leclerc………………………………. 47 Constructors 1 Mercedes…………….173 2 Ferrari……………………… 99 3 Red Bull………………….. 64 4 McLaren…………………. 18 5 Racing Point………. 17 TRACK STATS Previous winners 2018 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2017 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2016 Max Verstappen Red Bull 2015 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 2014 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2013 Fernando Alonso…

Why tinker when you can shake things up? Once again, proposals to alter the format of qualifying are all well and good, but why not do something really radical, rather than make changes for the sake of it? Many agree that short of the old one-hour shootout, currently we have the best format that has been come up with, thus there seems little need to change things. Why not therefore do something different that might give added interest to a race weekend? Run practice as normal and then have a qualifying race on Saturday afternoon. The grid for this could be decided on reversed championship position, practice times or just anything that mixes things up. After every lap of said race, the driver running last is knocked out and the…

The new Formula 3 season, which kicks off in Spain this weekend, is rife with change for junior drivers looking to make the step up to Formula 1. The Formula 3 European Championship, won last year by Mick Schumacher, has disbanded and merged with the GP3 Series on the F1 package, the aim being to simplify the single-seater ladder. FIA Formula 3 is the outcome, although it would probably be better described as GP3.2. The engine, gearbox, most of the rear end and a host of other parts remain from GP3 in the new F3 car, as the new series is run by the same organisation headed up by Bruno Michel, who also runs the Formula 2 Championship. GP3’s F1-support slot remains too so, for the first time in a…

This one had it all. Snow, hail and sleet, multiple safety cars, a rare mistake from Fernando Alonso, and an equally rare (at least in the context of the 2018-19 World Endurance Championship) technical problem for one of the Toyotas. That was the most significant event of last weekend’s Spa 6 Hours, because it handed Alonso and team-mates Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima race victory and a firm grip on the title. Their rivals on the other side of the Toyota garage – Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez – needed a victory in the penultimate round of the superseason to have a realistic chance of taking the title at the Le Mans 24 Hours WEC finale next month. They looked on course do just that, only for…

BLANCPAIN GT SERIES WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE BRANDS HATCH (GBR) 4-5 MAY ROUND 1/5 You needed a Mercedes-AMG GT3 to do well at Brands Hatch in the opening rounds of the newly christened Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe. And to keep out of trouble. A win apiece for rival Mercedes teams Auto Sport Promotion and Black Falcon were the main talking points, but so too was the weather that affected qualifying and the difficulties of overtaking at the narrow Kent circuit, which perhaps contributed to a high level of damage. Race one began with Black Falcon’s Luca Stolz leading from pole, but contact between the Lamborghini Huracan of Andrea Caldarelli and Steijn Schothorst’s Audi R8 LMS led to mayhem behind – in the melee Kim-Luis Schramm’s R8 plunged into the gravel…

W SERIES HOCKENHEIM (DEU) 4 MAY ROUND 1/6 “I got a good start and was away and gone in the lead, and then I went down to Turn 6 and went to brake what I thought was early – but nearly went and ended up in Berlin!” So joked inaugural W Series winner Jamie Chadwick of the moment she lost the lead on the opening lap of the Hockenheim race. It was the only moment her victory seemed in doubt amid a dominant display. After seven months of conversation and debate over the introduction of the all-women racing championship, and five months of intensive selection process to set the grid, W Series got under way last weekend facing wet and windy conditions. Chadwick emphatically stamped her mark on proceedings from…

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BRITISH GT A ninth manufacturer will be represented in the GT4 class of British GT at the next round at Snetterton later this month as Steller Performance will run a new Audi R8 LMS GT4. Steller contested a partial campaign last season with a pair of Toyota GT86s, and 2016 British Formula 4 runner-up Sennan Fielding and former British Touring Car driver Richard Williams will continue to drive for the team this year. The Audi is powered by the same 5.2-litre V10 engine that motivates Audi’s range-topping R8 supercar. Team principal Gary Blackham said: “I have fond memories of my time with the Audi UK British Touring Car and Le Mans programmes. It’s great to be reacquainted with the brand. Audi always builds a competitive and reliable race car, and…

GINETTA GT4 SUPERCUP Ginetta GT4 Supercup racer Fin Green says he’s “more hungry than ever” to take a maiden series win despite being hospitalised following a substantial crash in the recent round at Donington Park. Green attempted a move around the outside of Carl Shield out of the final chicane in the third GT4 Supercup race of the Donington weekend but spun, leaving his car stationary on the track. Nathan Heathcote clipped the G55 while trying to avoid the stranded car, which was then hit head-on by Paul Taylor. Green, 16, who is in his first season of GT4 competition after finishing ninth in Ginetta Junior last year, was taken to hospital in Nottingham. He suffered concussion and heavy bruising to much of his body but didn’t break any bones.…

HISTORIC TOURING CAR CHALLENGE Julian Thomas/Calum Lockie (Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500) JAGUAR CLASSIC CHALLENGE Julian Thomas/Calum Lockie (Jaguar E-type) PRE-’61 FRONT-ENGINED GRAND PRIX CARS Race 1 & 2 Miles Griffiths (Lotus 16) FORMULA JUNIOR REAR-ENGINED Race 1 & 2 Cameron Jackson (Brabham BT2) FORMULA JUNIOR FRONT-ENGINED Race 1 & 2 Peter de la Roche (Lola Mk2, above) HRDC TOURING GREATS Mike Jordan/Andrew Jordan (Austin A40) U2TC Andrew Banks/Max Banks (Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA) WOODCOTE TROPHY John Pearson/Gary Pearson (Jaguar D-type) PRE-’63 GT Jack Minshaw/Jon Minshaw (Jaguar E-type) HRDC ALLSTARS  Leo Voyazides/Simon Hadfield (Shelby Cobra Coupe, below) MAD JACK TROPHY Fred Wakeman/Patrick Blakeney-Edwards (Frazer Nash Super Sports) STIRLING MOSS TROPHY Richard Kent (Lister-Jaguar Costin) HRDC COYS 100 TROPHY Oscar Rovelli/Ambrogio Perfetti (Lotus Cortina) GT AND SPORTS CAR CUP Fred Wakeman/Patrick Blakeney-Edwards…

MALLORY PARK 750MC 5 MAY A large Formula Vee entry, split into three groups, provided three different winners and some of the best action of an entertaining day of 750 Motor Club racing at Mallory Park. Each group had two races and the opening B&C contest was the pick of the bunch. James Harridge’s Maverick powered around the outside of polesitter Graham Gant at Gerard’s Bend on the opening lap to grab the lead. But it didn’t last long. Gant’s WEV was back alongside on Stebbe Straight the following tour but the pair touched wheels, sending Gant off-road and into the Armco. “I got a very good run out of Gerard’s and he just moved across,” said a helpless Gant. This left Harridge in the lead from a squabbling pack…

KNOCKHILL SMRC 5 MAY Mark Geraghty denied Robbie Dalgleish a second hat-trick of Scottish Mini Cooper Cup wins after a closely fought third race around the reverse configuration of Knockhill. Reigning champion Dalgleish headed into the weekend on the back of three race wins at the opening meeting, and duly doubled up with victory in the initial races to make it five from five, despite losing the start in the second outing. “It’s getting harder and harder,” was Dalgleish’s post-race assessment. And he wasn’t wrong, as he could only manage fourth in the final race. Geraghty’s win was superb. Starting fourth, he was immediately up to second after the hairpin, and was soon in first place as Michael Weddell and Ian Bonthorne diced for position. Weddell took up a valiant…

It’s 20 years since the evocative Toyota GT-One and Mercedes CLR last graced Le Mans at the height of the ‘hypercar’ era, and anticipation is growing for its return in the 2020-21 World Endurance Championship. One of the marques that is rumoured to be interested is Ford, with a derivation of its existing GT, following the conclusion of its four-year GTE programme this year. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, since if you were to design the ideal GT car to race at Le Mans, it would probably look something like the Ford GT. Low-slung – like the original GT40, so named for being only 40 inches tall – with aggressively tapered bodywork to limit drag, it delivered on its design brief of winning at Le Mans 50…

Clive Howell, as an enthusiastic 22-year-old Brabham employee, was standing at the pitwall at Kyalami for the 1977 South African Grand Prix when Renzo Zorzi’s Shadow expired on the other side of the track, smoke wisping gently from its engine. A few feet away from Howell, two young marshals responded by running from the pitwall across the track. The one carrying the fire extinguisher, Frikkie Jansen van Vuuren, never made it. They were just beyond the brow of a hill and suddenly four cars appeared at 170mph; one was Zorzi’s team-mate, Tom Pryce, who struck van Vuuren and the extinguisher, the impact killing both driver and marshal. This was one incident that would have persuaded Howell never to get too close to drivers. The one that convinced him he was…

Bathurst 1000 victory is the biggest accolade an Australian Supercars engineer can have on their CV. For many, it’s a career-defining moment, the culmination of years of striving to reach the top of the nation’s most famous series and conquer its most prestigious race, all the while growing their understanding of what makes a car and driver tick. So where do you go once you’ve scaled the heights of Mount Panorama? For John ‘Irish’ McGregor, who last year engineered Triple Eight veterans Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards to their seventh and fifth Bathurst victories respectively, and Dr Geoff Slater, the chief engineer at Tekno Autosports when Will Davison and Jonathon Webb earned the spoils in 2016, the answer to that question was identical. Both have broadened their horizons and taken…

FORMULA 1 The first images of the new permanent facility for the Vietnam Grand Prix, set to make its debut on the Formula 1 calendar in 2020, have been exclusively revealed in Autosport sister magazine F1 Racing. Computer-generated images of the pit building display how the new facility will look. Situated in an area 20 minutes from downtown Hanoi, in the Nam Tu Liem district, work is being undertaken to clear an area and construct a brand-new permanent pit and paddock. Two-thirds of the track will use public roads already in place, while the high-speed twisty final section of the lap and the start/finish straight are being built from the ground up. The circuit is characterised by wide long straights – the longest of which is 1.5km – connected by…

WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP What is it about gravel and electric? They just don’t mix. At least not for now. World Rallycross has failed to secure the necessary support to electrify its future and now the World Rally Championship is, apparently, struggling to meet the looming deadline that is a hybrid 2022 WRC. WRC rally director Yves Matton (right, top) has confirmed that hybrid will be the way forward, and told Autosport he intends to decide technical regulations next month. “It’s too early to tell you exactly what 2022 will look like,” said Matton. “Normally in June we will introduce the first principles and, at the end of the year, the intention is to have a technical regulation published with all the technical principles. After that we still need some time…

BLANCPAIN GT ENDURANCE Aston Martin and the R-Motorsport squad are in bullish mood ahead of this weekend’s Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup encounter at Silverstone as they attempt to pull off a repeat of their victory in the corresponding fixture last year. They believe that the new-for-2019 Vantage GT3 that led the Monza series opener last month should be a more competitive proposition at the British track than its predecessor. Jake Dennis, Nicki Thiim and Matthieu Vaxiviere claimed victory on home ground 12 months ago aboard the outgoing V12 Vantage GT3 contender, which lacked the downforce of its successor. That’s why Aston is hopeful of being right in the mix during Sunday’s three-hour race with the new car after an encouraging outing at Monza. “The V12 Vantage lacked a bit…

Something Lewis Hamilton said after finishing second to Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the recent Azerbaijan Grand Prix was very telling. It proved that, while the Finn has made a strong start to the season, the reigning world champion doesn’t see him as a serious title threat. If – and it’s a big if – he ever does, it will become very obvious. “Selfishly, I could have pushed a lot harder and Valtteri would have lost positions and I would have gained positions,” said Hamilton. It’s true that he could have forced Bottas wide earlier in the first corner and hung him out to dry, which is exactly what he would do to a title rival. That’s why Bottas needs what might be termed his ‘Rosberg moment’. Hamilton will still…

MAX VERSTAPPEN AGE 21 STARTS 85 WINS 5 POINTS 721 GEORGE RUSSELL AGE 21 STARTS 4 BEST FINISH 15TH POINTS 0 LANDO NORRIS AGE 19 STARTS 4 BEST FINISH 6TH POINTS 12 CHARLES LECLERC AGE 21 STARTS 25 BEST FINISH 3RD POINTS 86 ALEXANDER ALBON AGE 23 STARTS 4 BEST FINISH 9TH POINTS 3 ESTEBAN OCON AGE 22 STARTS 50 BEST FINISH 5TH POINTS 136 One of the eternal truths of elite sport is that there’s always someone pushing to usurp you. Every empire falls eventually, and throughout the history of grand prix racing the established top guns have faced down the challenge of the thrusting young superstars bidding to oust them. The aim: to delay the inevitable and stay on top for as long as possible. They will lose…

Of all the new teams that have come on board in F3 for 2019 thanks to the GP3/European F3 merger, arguably the most interesting is HWA. A team that has competed in DTM with Mercedes for years, it’s recently moved into single-seaters, running Mercedes’ Formula E programme before the marque enters under its own name next season. This year marks its first foray into junior single-seaters with its own team, and its performance on track will be intriguing. It has signed Jake Hughes, who contested last year’s GP3 Series with ART, and engineer Christophe Boittin – who steered Anthoine Hubert to the GP3 title – to lead its charge. Alongside Keyvan Andres and Bent Viscaal, Hughes is undoubtedly team leader. He finished eighth in GP3 in 2018 after struggling to work…

Pastor Maldonado produced a bit of the magic he displayed on the way to his only grand prix win at Barcelona in 2012 to seal a first World Endurance Championship LMP2 victory for himself and DragonSpeed. The ex-Williams Formula 1 driver, who shared the Franco-American team’s ORECA-Gibson 07 with Anthony Davidson and Roberto Gonzalez, charged down Nicolas Lapierre’s Signatech Alpine entry in the penultimate hour and drove away to what turned out to be a four-second victory. It was far from plain sailing for DragonSpeed as it followed up on its podiums at Shanghai and Sebring. An airlock in the brakes meant they required bleeding on the grid and then Davidson, who started the car, was tagged by Tom Dillmann in the ByKolles LMP1 early in the race. But it…

DTM HOCKENHEIM (DEU) 4-5 MAY ROUND 1/9 On the face of it, Marco Wittmann made a great start to the new turbocharged era of the DTM to lead the points for BMW after the opening round. And, make no mistake, the new version of the M4 DTM racer is awesomely quick over a single lap. But in reality, the big question for BMW is how to haul in big rival Audi over race distances. After Wittmann’s pole-to-flag win in the wet of Saturday, the RS5 DTMs locked out the podium in the dry on Sunday. That much was hinted at when Audi’s Robin Frijns put in a highly impressive ‘race’ run of 15 laps during FP1 on Friday, which, as it transpired, would be the only dry running before Sunday.…

IMSA SPORTSCAR MID-OHIO (USA) 5 MAY ROUND 4/12 The one ‘intangible’ that stood between Mazda Team Joest and its long-overdue maiden DPi victory in the IMSA SportsCar Championship last Sunday at the challenging Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was the Montoya Factor. That’s as in ex-grand prix driver Juan Pablo Montoya. The experienced Colombian struggled when he relieved Dane Cameron aboard Team Penske’s #6 Acura ARX-05 at the first pitstop after 40 minutes but he more than atoned in the late stages – and particularly at a restart following the day’s only full-course caution with 24 minutes remaining in the 160-minute contest. Montoya romped clear of Tristan Nunez’s Mazda RT24-P before measuring his pace to repeat the team’s success from one year ago. Mazda was left to rue yet another event…

SUPER GT FUJI (JPN) 4 MAY ROUND 2/8 Yuji Tachikawa and Hiroaki Ishiura took their Team Cerumo-run Lexus LC 500 to victory at Fuji last Saturday, claiming their first Super GT spoils since winning the same event in 2017. Tachikawa, the 2001 and 2013 champion, started the wet race seventh on the grid. By lap 13 he had carved his way into the lead. But further heavy rain brought out the safety car, and the race was halted for 30 minutes. After the action resumed, the TOM’S Lexus of Nick Cassidy (sharing with Ryo Hirakawa) and NISMO Nissan of Ronnie Quintarelli (co-driven by Tsugio Matsuda) made it a three-way scrap for the lead. But that soon dropped to two as Hirakawa and the Impul Nissan of James Rossiter touched at…

MOTOGP JEREZ (ESP) 5 MAY ROUND 4/19 Marc Marquez had a point to prove at Jerez, after his golden run of dominance at the Circuit of The Americas in the previous MotoGP round had come to a dramatic end when he crashed out – a mistake blamed on pilot error and a mechanical issue. So bulletproof was he at the venue previously, his mental state was called into question ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. Now the Honda star had to ensure his rivals knew his confidence had not been dented, and that an exploitable weakness had not developed when he hit the Austin asphalt. Wary that the opening 10 laps would be a pack race, Marquez ran with the Petronas SRT Yamaha duo of Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo…

SERIES ELITE The first rounds of the new-for-2019 Series Elite category have been delayed, and demonstration runs of the category’s Jaguar Project 8 cars will take place at Brands Hatch this weekend instead. The British Automobile Racing Club series, which is only open to drivers over the age of 40, was due to have its first races at the Kent circuit. But “delays outside of the series’ control” led to the inaugural round being postponed. Six cars are due to compete at Silverstone next month and organisers hope numbers will grow as Jaguar produces more Project 8s. Instead of the Brands races, there will be four demonstration runs lasting between 15 and 20 minutes. Series founder Graeme Glew said: “Despite some delays outside of our control, I wanted to ensure…

750 FORMULA Ten-time 750 Formula champion Mick Harris made a return to racing in the category for the first time in over three years at Mallory Park last weekend. Harris was competing in the Darvi 597 that his wife Sue usually races and they plan to share the car over the course of this season. “My wife’s been saying I’ve got to try it and this year we decided we would share it through the season,” said Mick. “Qualifying was the first time I’d ever driven it. I last raced three and a half years ago, which was in my car [a Darvi 877] and that was a totally different configuration, so I’m still getting used to it.” Harris qualified fifth and sixth for the races, and finished seventh in…

REPORT CLARIFICATION Autosport’s report of the British GT support races at Oulton Park (in the 25 April issue) incorrectly stated that Adam Smalley collided with Geri Nicosia in the third Ginetta GT5 Challenge race. In fact it was Scott McKenna who was at fault, and was subsequently handed a penalty. Autosport apologises for the error. HIBBERD BACK IN FJUNIOR Michael Hibberd returned to Formula Junior at Donington Park in a front-engined Lola Mk2 he has spent the past two years rebuilding. Hibberd had raced the car previously in Germany on behalf of the owner, but has now added it to his stable and is planning a full season in FJunior with the car. In the first race at Donington, Hibberd just missed the podium but retired from the second race…

Running into Saturday evening, the two-hour GT and Sports Car Cup race was an absorbing contest and ended in a well-deserved victory for the Lister-Jaguar Coupe of Patrick Blakeney-Edwards and Fred Wakeman. This was the first race win for the Lister in the hands of the Anglo-American pairing and could even be the first significant win in the car’s 56-year story. To achieve this landmark result over the AC Cobras, Blakeney-Edwards and Wakeman were handed a decent roll of the safety-car dice, but they still drove impeccably to convert that opportunity into victory. A capacity field of 40 cars streamed into Redgate for a flat-out two-hour charge but there was an early safety-car period when two cars found the McLeans gravel on the first lap. That negated the immediate lead…

SILVERSTONE SWINGING SIXTIES Group 1 Steve & Jack Smith (MGA) Group 2 Eddie & Nick Powell (Lotus Elan 26R) CLASSIC K Eddie & Nick Powell (Lotus Elan 26R) FUTURE CLASSICS Aston & Tony Blake (Porsche 911 RSR, above) TURBO TIN TOPS Andrew Presswell (Vauxhall Astra VXR) TIN TOPS Martin Addison (Peugeot 106 GTi) NEW MILLENNIUM James Little (Lotus Exige V6 Cup R) MODERN CLASSICS David Marcussen (BMW M3 Evo E36) MAGNIFICENT SEVENS Race 1 Stephen Nuttall (Caterham Supersport) Race 2 Tim Davis (Caterham C400) JAGUAR SALOONS & GTs Races 1 & 2 Colin Philpott (XJS) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com MALLORY PARK FORMULA VEE B & C Ian Jordan (Sheane Jordan) A & C Ben Miloudi (Storm GKBM) A & B Graham Gant (WEV FV01) CLASSIC STOCK HATCH Race 1…

CASTLE COMBE TVR TUSCAN ANNIVERSARY Bill Lancashire TVR DUNLOP CHALLENGE Race 1 Darren Dowling (Sagaris, above) Race 2 David Mason (Tuscan Challenge) CCRC FF1600 CHAMPIONSHIP Josh Fisher (Van Diemen JL14) CCRC SALOON CHAMPIONSHIP Adam Prebble (Vauxhall Astra) CCRC GT CHAMPIONSHIP Barry Squibb (Mitsubishi Lancer E9) CCRC HOT HATCH CHALLENGE Sam Stride (Honda Civic) DAVE ALLAN TROPHY Craig Dolby/Nigel Mustill (Nissan GT-R GT3) TRACK ATTACK RACING CLUB Race 1 Clive Haynsford (Mazda RX-8) Race 2 Rich Hockley (Honda Civic) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com KNOCKHILL SCOTTISH MINI COOPER CUP Race 1 & 2 Robbie Dalgleish Race 3 Mark Geraghty SCOTTISH CITROEN C1 CUP Race 1 & 2 Jack Davidson SCOTTISH LEGENDS Heat 1 Duncan Vincent Heat 2 & Final John Paterson SCOTTISH CLASSIC SPORTS & SALOONS Race 1 Alastair Baptie (MGB…

FROM THE ARCHIVE Henri Toivonen threads his Lancia 037 between the houses and the tifosi on the 1985 Sanremo Rally. Like his team-mates, Toivonen had hoped Lancia’s Delta S4 would be ready for Italy. It wasn’t. Worse still, Toivonen was convinced the chassis beneath him was bent, having been rebuilt after two accidents. Despite those frustrations, he still took the podium’s bottom step… albeit eight minutes behind Audi’s Walter Rohrl, who gave the monstrous Quattro S1 E2 its only WRC victory. To enjoy spectacular action from this rally, go to bit.ly/Sanremo85…

The FIA has opened the tenders for standard brake systems and wheel rims in Formula 1 from 2021, as part of its ongoing push to lower costs for teams. It follows a tender issued for standard gearbox cassettes earlier this year, as F1 owner Liberty Media looks to rein in areas where teams spend a lot of money designing, testing and developing parts for minimal performance gains. Two separate invitations have been opened for parties interested in supplying brake parts and wheel rims until 2024. The brake tender is split into two parts: one for brake pads and friction discs, while the other involves a hydraulics system that comprises the front and rear calipers, a master cylinder and brake by wire components. The wheel tender is for 18-inch rims, although…

There was no reference in the owner’s manual to the identity and function of the extra parts in the boot of the special ‘Silverstone’ edition of Alfa Romeo’s 155 saloon when it left UK dealerships. Introduced in 1994, the 2500 examples produced came with a bolt-on adjustable rear wing and an extendable front splitter that customers could fit at their leisure. Their purpose was to allow the marque to homologate its recently launched British Touring Car Championship racer in which ex-Formula 1 driver Gabriele Tarquini would win that year’s title. From that, the revered Super Touring era of the late 1990s was shaped. But it wasn’t without its controversies: when Tarquini earned a clean sweep of the first five races that season, rival manufacturers lobbied organising body TOCA and Alfa…

Since its debut in 2010, British Touring Car Championship stalwart AmD Tuning had only twice managed to finish on the outright podium. So when its cars managed the feat twice on the opening day of this season at Brands Hatch, with Rory Butcher taking the team’s maiden victory in race three, team boss Shaun Hollamby could be forgiven for thinking all of his Christmases had come at once. Even more impressively for a privateer outfit, the success has been masterminded despite using two different cars. Race-one podium finisher Jake Hill and Mark Blundell campaign AmD-run Audi S3s under the Trade Price Cars Racing banner, while Butcher and Sam Tordoff steer ex-Eurotech Honda Civic FK2s. Another strong weekend at Donington Park last time out means both Butcher and Hill sit inside…