Indholdsfortegnelse for 30/09/21 i Autosport

We’ve got used to Lewis Hamilton setting records in Formula 1, but becoming the first driver in history to win 100 world championship grands prix has to stand as one of his greatest on-track achievements. So we’ve decided to mark the occasion with a traditional green cover and a bumper issue that includes all of Hamilton’s F1 wins (see page 32). With points systems having changed over the years, many factors playing in to who gets fastest lap and now F1’s daft definition of what counts as a ‘pole position’, there aren’t many reliable metrics to measure success. Race wins (and wins/start ratio – Hamilton’s is 35.6%) and titles are surely still the best. On one hand it was fitting that Hamilton should reach the milestone in a rain-affected contest.…

FORMULA 1 Former McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh is to return to a role in Formula 1 as the new Group Chief Executive Officer of Aston Martin Performance Technologies. Whitmarsh is best known for his lengthy spell at McLaren from 1989 to 2014, which included his role as CEO as well as team boss from 2008. Since leaving F1 he has been involved in various projects, including being chairman of technology start-up business BAR Technologies and Offshore Wind Growth Partnership. He was also heavily involved in The Hamilton Commission. Whitmarsh has been drafted in by Aston owner Lawrence Stroll in a bid to diversify the marque’s F1 and road-car technology across key industry sectors. “Lawrence intends Aston Martin to win F1 world championships, plain and simple, and I would not…

Aston Martin claimed victory in the penultimate round of the NLS on the Nurburgring Nordschleife last Saturday with a factory Vantage GT3 shared by Nicki Thiim and Maxime Martin. Martin took the lead in the penultimate stint of the four-hour race, and Thiim was able to record a first outright victory for the marque in the Nurburgring Langstrecken Serie by 13.9 seconds from the Phoenix Audi R8 LMS GT3 shared by Frank Stippler and Vincent Kolb. The Prodrive-run Aston Martin Racing squad took part in the race to show off the Vantage to potential customers looking to race the car in the NLS.…

OBITUARY Nino Vaccarella wasn’t just a three-time winner of the Targa Florio road race in Sicily. The Palermo-born driver, who has died aged 88, was a legend of the event and the idol of the fans who lined the 45-mile Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie. They daubed his name on the asphalt and the unyielding walls around the public roads that made up the course, in their support of the local hero. Three times they didn’t go home disappointed: Vaccarella claimed victory with Ferrari in 1965 and with Alfa Romeo in 1971 and 1975. Vaccarella’s successes were born of his knowledge of the roads and a temperament that made him one of the top sportscar drivers of his day: he also won the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Sebring 12…

Think back to the start of Formula 1 2021. Despite the delay to the design rules reset and the current machines entering a bizarre carryover year thanks to the pandemic-disruption cost action from F1, the FIA and the teams, there was still plenty of change to consider. Mainly in the driver line-ups. Four switched teams over that winter, with Fernando Alonso also returning to the F1 fold after two years away, and Mick Schumacher, Nikita Mazepin and Yuki Tsunoda making the step up from Formula 2. An additional cost-saving measure impacted these drivers more than those who had stayed put from 2020. The testing reduction meant every driver making a fresh start in 2021 had just one and a half days of official, full-speed action in their new car over…

There are three British drivers in Formula 1 and all were central to the Russian Grand Prix qualifying story. Lewis Hamilton led the way in Q1 and Q2, which were rather marred by the absence of the drivers taking engine-change grid penalties – Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Nicholas Latifi. But Q3 was a thriller. The shootout runners all left the pits on intermediate tyres, which had been the best compound in the damp-but-drying first segments. While the rest had saved a set of fresh inters, Williams’s George Russell had needed all four available sets to guarantee reaching Q3. A dry line became clear in sectors one and two, but the twisty third sector remained slippery, and Williams made its call on “whether to go for it or not”, according…

Valtteri Bottas dropped from qualifying seventh to 16th when Mercedes changed his engine for reliability reasons, Antonio Giovinazzi actually started one place higher than he qualified, despite taking a new gearbox, while Nicholas Latifi, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen brought up the rear of the grid after all took new engine parts beyond the allotted three for the season. Latifi started ahead after completing sectors in Q2 when Leclerc didn’t, while Verstappen only briefly appeared in Q1 and so started last.…

Star quality shines through: Lewis Hamilton could only qualify his Mercedes W08 in fifth place for the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix, even though he said he had squeezed everything he could out of the car, while points rival Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari SF70H) stormed to pole position. Then a spectacular crash at the start changed everything. According to Autosport’s report, crucial to Hamilton’s victory was his “virtuoso performance. He didn’t put a foot wrong in the race… The reward was a victory snatched from the jaws of defeat, and the biggest championship lead of the season.” For classic Formula 1 DVDs head to dukevideo.com/f1 For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE SPRINT CUP VALENCIA (ESP) 26 SEPTEMBER ROUND 5/5 Toksport WRT Mercedes duo Maro Engel and Luca Stolz secured second place in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup standings after a dominant double victory in the season finale at Valencia. By contrast, it was a nightmare weekend for the already crowned Team WRT Audi pairing of Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor, who failed to score in either of the one-hour encounters. Engel and Stolz arrived in Spain 42.5 points adrift of Weerts and Vanthoor but finished up just 8.5 behind by the end of the weekend. Proof, if any was needed, of just how costly three non-scores in the opening six races of the year had been for the pairing. The fact that Circuit Ricardo Tormo…

FORMULA REGIONAL EUROPEAN VALENCIA (ESP) 25-26 SEPTEMBER ROUND 8/10 Argentinian Franco Colapinto proved the most effective of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine fraternity at Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo. The MP Motorsport racer bagged a clean sweep of pole, race win and fastest lap in the opener before taking the runner-up spot in the second bout behind Michael Belov. But with just two rounds of the season to run, Gregoire Saucy retains a crushing championship lead. Colapinto was super-aggressive off the line in race one and cut across the road to hold first place ahead of Prema Powerteam’s David Vidales. Vidales was able to briefly take the lead at the exit of Turn 1, but Colapinto struck back when the Spaniard ran wide at the next corner, and he…

BRITCAR Czech manufacturer Praga is to launch its first one-make championship in the UK next season, running a new series in partnership with Britcar. Praga has viewed the UK as a key market for its updated R1 prototype machine and, after Pragas first began running in the Britcar Endurance championship in 2019, a dedicated Praga class was created within the series for this year. Now Praga has taken the collaboration a step further by launching its own series – a year earlier than originally planned – which is set to feature at six UK Britcar meetings in 2022 along with a non-championship European event. Praga has already committed to ensuring there will be at least 16 cars at the inaugural round of the Praga Cup UK category and, in addition…

RALLYDAY Crowds flocked to Castle Combe last weekend for the popular Rallyday event, which was returning after a COVID-19 hiatus in 2020. The event attracted stars such as works Hyundai driver Craig Breen and former co-driver Nicky Grist. The 20th anniversary of the late Richard Burns’s World Rally Championship title victory was celebrated, and a special Subaru Impreza RB320 tribute road car was piloted by his sister Jo. Castle Combe managing director Graham Marshallsay said: “We really couldn’t have wished for a better return for Rallyday. It’s been the perfect day. The quality of the cars we’ve had here has been quite unbelievable and to have Craig Breen stopping in to catch up with everybody on his way to Rally Finland next week was incredible. “Rallyday is all about a…

HALL SHARES MENZIES’ CAR Will Hall finished his hillclimb season sharing the championship-winning Gould GR59 of Wallace Menzies at Loton Park last weekend after his own Force hit technical problems. “It’s a very kind offer and the car felt lovely as you’d expect,” said Hall. For Menzies, it was payback for Hall from 2014 when Menzies was set to miss the Loton Park final after a couple of accidents. “Will offered me his car for the last event seven years ago and that debt’s finally being repaid,” he said. SCOTS TO ANGLESEY IN MINI Scottish Formula Ford 1600 racers Neil Broome and Ross Howe will take part in the Race of Remembrance at Anglesey in November aboard a Mini Cooper Cup car, alongside racing novice Scott Armstrong. The car, which…

HISTORICS The GT & Sports Car Cup takes centre stage amid a mixed programme at Castle Combe on Saturday, as the Autumn Classic event reverts to its usual one-day format. Incessant rain wiped out the second half of last year’s circuit 70th anniversary celebrations, but there is much to enjoy across a six-race timetable. Local competitor Mark Williams (AC Cobra) will take some beating in the 90-minute GTSCC race. A 26R-spec Lotus Elan won in the wet last October, and drivers of the calibre of Dan Cox, Clive Richards and Historic F2 star Matthew Watts should make them ultra-competitive again. Wet or dry, Austin-Healey 3000 aces Jeremy Welch and Jack Rawles guarantee entertainment in a strong field containing Simon Orebi-Gann’s Morgan SLR and John Davison’s svelte Lotus Elite. The 500cc…

BRITISH F4 Matias Zagazeta entered Silverstone with a five-point lead in British Formula 4 – and he left with a slightly extended 17-point advantage. But that does not tell the story of an incident-filled weekend where all of the championship protagonists struggled. The Peruvian’s improved position was largely down to him converting pole into a win in the opener. It looked like closest rival Matthew Rees would threaten the Argenti driver after passing Aiden Neate, but Rees never got close enough to challenge and then drifted further back late on. Things did not go as well in the other two races for Zagazeta, who tangled with Zak Taylor in race two and was restricted to 11th, before then being collected by David Morales at Brooklands in the finale Fortunately for…

A first appearance on the TOCA support package at Silverstone last weekend was a significant moment in the history of the fledgling Ginetta GT Academy series – a category that is successfully building momentum in its first season. Being launched with a brand-new car in the middle of a pandemic meant the entry-level championship was thrown in at the deep end and one of the first challenges it had to overcome was the manufacturer getting the new G56s built in time for the start of the season in a world where Brexit and COVID-19 made car building difficult. Yet that curveball was tackled and the series has attracted healthy grids in the high teens throughout its inaugural season – which, prior to Silverstone, had been focused on the British GT…

KIRKISTOWN 500MRCI 25 SEPTEMBER Fifteen years after he won the first Martin Donnelly Trophy at Kirkistown, Ivor McCullough returned and did it again using the very same Van Diemen RF01. His success last weekend was actually his third ‘Donnelly’ victory – the second came in 2012 – but this time he did it in spectacular style, having started from the back of the grid after missing qualifying due to work commitments, and it also happened to be his first race of the year. McCullough was helped in his quest when brother David and Jordan Dempsey tangled at Colonial after just a handful of laps. Also, Alan Davidson was tipped into a full 360-degree spin at Debtor’s Dip and Darwin Smith went gardening at the same spot, while Brandon McCaughan and…

TRACKROD RALLY BRC 24-25 SEPTEMBER The battle for top spot on round four of the British Rally Championship was over as quickly as it started, before reigning champion Matt Edwards cruised to a comfortable half-minute Trackrod Rally victory. Edwards and navigator Darren Garrod pulled out an incredible 17.3-second lead on the first stage, the 11.23 miles of Dalby, which was played out in the dark on Friday night. That proved unassailable for the chasing pack, with the performance more than making up for the pair’s non-finish at last month’s Grampian Forest Rally, where a misfiring engine forced them into retirement. “Our backs were against the wall coming here and we pulled the rabbit out of the hat when we really needed to,” said Edwards, who added that the teething problems…

While perhaps not as famous as Babs, one of Owen’s other restored machines certainly stands out just as much and has the history to match. While attempting to establish FIA papers for his Kurtis 500S sportscar with someone in Houston, Texas, the opportunity to buy a unique bit of American history proved too good an opportunity to ignore. “The guy I was speaking with said, ‘While you’re on the phone, you don’t know anybody that wants an Indycar?’,” says Owen. “And he described this Indycar and it wasn’t for me, and then he described a second Indycar that was for sale and said, ‘You’ll much more like this because it did Monza in 1958’.” The car in question, a Kurtis-Offenhauser, had been driven in the Race of Two Worlds, an…

FORMULA 1 The inaugural Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix will take place in early May 2022. The race will take place around the Hard Rock Stadium, home to the Miami Dolphins NFL team, on a purpose-built track known as the Miami International Autodrome. Construction is already well under way. With a 23-race F1 calendar set to be finalised by the World Motor Sport Council next month, the Miami race organisers announced last week that their race would be taking a 6-8 May date slot. It will be the first of two races to take place in the United States next season, the second being the established grand prix at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, which will take place in the final quarter of the year. “We’ve worked…

BTCC The British Touring Car Championship’s development hybrid car earned a fastest lap on its race debut at Silverstone last weekend after disappointing form in qualifying. The Cosworth-developed hybrid system has been tested in conjunction with M-Sport – supplier of the new-for-2022 customer TOCA engine – and Toyota Corolla team Speedworks Motorsport. Andrew Jordan, the 2013 BTCC champion, has done most of the driving and was behind the wheel for the Silverstone ‘showcase’. The car was running as a guest entrant ineligible for points, and started each race from the pits. While series boss Alan Gow had predicted that the power from the hybrid should mean that the car led the way in qualifying, a water-pump issue in free practice delayed progress, and Jordan qualified down in 20th position. “We…

INDYCAR SERIES Simon Pagenaud has departed Team Penske’s IndyCar line-up after seven years to join his former team-mate Helio Castroneves at Meyer Shank Racing, while 2020 Formula 2 runner-up Callum Ilott has secured a full-time drive in the series. It is understood that 2016 IndyCar champion and 2019 Indy 500 winner Pagenaud – like Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya before him – was given the option of continuing with Penske as an Indy 500-only driver in open-wheel racing and developing Penske’s Porsche LMDh programme before joining IMSA and the World Endurance Championship in 2023. The attraction of continuing to run the full IndyCar schedule and participating in IMSA enduros with MSR’s Acura team proved irresistible, and could lead to Pagenaud (main pic) being part of Honda’s assault on Le Mans…

YOUNG DRIVER OF THE YEAR The four finalists who will contest the 2021 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award have been selected. German and Italian Formula 4 leader Ollie Bearman, FIA F3 racer Jonny Edgar, Euroformula Open title contender Louis Foster and GB3 championship favourite Zak O’Sullivan are the finalists. None have been in the Award before. The Award, which aims to find and assist the best junior British drivers, has returned after a hiatus in 2020, and last season’s results were taken into consideration. There will be fitness and simulator elements before a two-day test at the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in MotorSport Vision Formula 2, BBM Sport Ginetta LMP3 and Garage 59-run Aston Martin Vantage GT3 machinery. Prizes for the winner, who will be…

The 2021 IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou has often commented on the huge part that Dario Franchitti has played in his development in 2021, while the four-time champion himself has clearly loved working with such a burgeoning success story. At the recent Laguna Seca round, he admitted to Autosport that he was initially shocked at the scale of Palou’s potential. “We thought he was good, that’s why we signed him,” said the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner, who scored three of his series titles at Ganassi. “We thought he had raw talent and it would be a process with him, and then of course he goes and wins the first race!” Since Palou is so “veteran-like” and “complete”, phrases that Scott Dixon and Chip Ganassi have used to describe the 24-year-old…

Fernando Alonso was one of the big losers in the late rain shower after suddenly being in position to score the first podium of his Formula 1 comeback with Alpine. Alonso was the leading driver to start the race on the hard tyres, which allowed him to go all the way to lap 36 before eventually pitting for mediums after cycling through to run second. The double world champion emerged from the pits in seventh, but passed Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo before the rain hit. He eventually dived into the pits for intermediates one lap after race winner Lewis Hamilton, having slipped ahead of Sergio Perez to run third, but the extra lap on the slicks meant he was among those dropping down the order, and he finished sixth.…

Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes MP4-22) is calm, composed and utterly in command en route to his maiden Formula 1 victory in the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, having the previous day secured his first pole position ahead of double world champion team-mate Fernando Alonso. “It’s just really hard to grasp everything, it just keeps getting better and better,” said F1 rookie Hamilton. “Going into this weekend I really didn’t think it would be my time. But I just had to knuckle down, keep focused and keep my mind clear and that’s what I did.” For classic Formula 1 DVDs head to dukevideo.com/f1 For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

“I’m bored now,” grumbled Jason Plato after the final race at Silverstone. “I’m not racing, I’m merely circulating.” The Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astras of Dan Lloyd and Plato sat on the front row for the reversed-grid finale. A chance for all-time BTCC wins record holder Plato to move one step closer to his magic century? Within 100 yards of the start it appeared not. He was instantly passed by Jake Hill, and finally dropped to sixth. A new engine had gone into the Astra for Sunday, but Plato reckoned it hadn’t made much difference. “We’re shit on the straights,” he continued. “As soon as I’m behind anyone else, it affects the charge temperature and I lose 15 to 20bhp. I’m just looking in my mirrors. And if I make…

IMSA SPORTSCAR LONG BEACH (USA) 25 SEPTEMBER ROUND 10/12 Ironically, Saturday’s Acura-sponsored Grand Prix of Long Beach IMSA SportsCar race was controlled by a trio of Cadillac DPi-V.Rs. Felipe Nasr qualified on pole and led for most of the opening stint for the Action Express Racing team. The ex-Formula 1 driver then handed over to fellow Brazilian Pipo Derani, who took the chequered flag over 10 seconds clear of the similar Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac of Kevin Magnussen and Renger van der Zande. French pair Loic Duval and Tristan Vautier completed the podium sweep with JDC/Miller MotorSports. The leading prototype contenders made it to the finish with just a single pitstop during the 100-minute race, and all were obliged to save fuel. For the third race running, Meyer Shank Racing’s…

McLEOD’S DEBUT F4 PODIUM Australian Formula Ford driver Cameron McLeod made his debut in British Formula 4 at Silverstone last weekend with Arden. He was slowest of the 17 drivers in qualifying but this netted him pole for the fully reversed-grid race and – despite a fuel spill on the initial start – he was able to hold on to finish second when the delayed race got under way. He was then eighth in the finale. GINETTA JUNIOR ROOKIES Four drivers joined the Ginetta Junior grid for the first time at Silverstone last weekend, bringing the field to 28 cars. Luke Watts (R Racing), Thomas Jack Lee (Race Car Consultants), AJ Rock (Team Hard) and Haydn Chance (Preptech UK) all entered the fray for the first time. It was Watts…

BRITISH HILLCLIMB The 2022 British Hillclimb Championship calendar has been revealed and features a further slight reduction in the number of events on what has traditionally been an extensive schedule. The annual visits to the Channel Island hills of Bouley Bay and Val des Terres are back on the calendar, while Barbon Manor is being missed out for a year and Loton Park is pegged back to a single event – the championship finale in late September. Only Prescott, Harewood and Shelsley Walsh now feature twice in the 13-event season, down from 14 this year. “I think it’s a good calendar, it’s good to try different things,” said 2021 champion Wallace Menzies, acknowledging that the previous 16 or 17-event schedule was a daunting one for competitors to fit around business…

HISTORICS Two of Belgium’s greatest drivers, Marc Duez and Eric van de Poele, star on a capacity entry for Saturday’s Spa Six Hours race, back on the international historic calendar after a year’s enforced absence. Five-time Spa 24 Hours victor van der Poele, who turns 60 today (Thursday), once again shares Ford CEO Jim Farley’s GT40, one of 12 in the pack. Duez, 64, who has three 24-hour wins at the venue to his name, will co-drive a Shelby Cobra with Jacques Castelein and Kurt Dujardyn. German Audi ace Frank Stippler, who won the 2012 Spa 24 Hours, reunites with 2018 historic race winner Marcus Graf von Oeynhausen (GT40), while Fred Bouvy, twice victorious in the modern classic, saddles Christophe van Riet’s Cobra. The dynamic of the pre-1966 GT field…

GINETTA JUNIOR Even for a series with a reputation for close racing, the finish to the final Ginetta Junior contest of the Silverstone weekend was remarkable. Points leader Aston Millar crossed the line just 0.01 seconds ahead of Robert de Haan to take the most dramatic of victories. Even without the photo finish, it had been a thrilling race, with Will Jenkins, Millar and de Haan all taking turns in the lead. Jenkins made the early running before de Haan, briefly, and then Millar worked their way to the front. De Haan then retook the place on the final tour on the grass exiting Copse but Millar was not to be denied, getting a super run out of the final corner to go around the outside of his Richardson Racing…

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP GB Given Harry King’s superlative performances in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB last year, more of the same was expected this season. But, for a variety of reasons – including stiffer opposition – he has been unable to replicate that form this time around. And that meant it was difficult to believe King’s victory in the opening race at Silverstone was just his second of the 2021 campaign. The Team Parker ace grabbed the lead with a typical Harry King move, a brilliant dive down the inside of Lorcan Hanafin at Brooklands. Hanafin had little time to fight back as the race – which had already suffered an incredibly long safety car period after Micah Stanley spun into the barriers at the pit entry – was red-flagged…

ANGLESEY CSCC 25-26 SEPTEMBER The Classic Sports Car Club made a welcome return to the Anglesey International layout, with double-header day races and night battles, too. More than 250 entries took part, with dry, mild weather and smiling faces, despite a scramble to find fuel out on the roads. Saturday’s Future Classics 1980s encounter was won convincingly by Stuart Daburn (TVR Tuscan) despite a diff housing cracked in four places! Fellow Tuscan pilots Aston and Tony Blake won on Sunday. The 1970s group was nip and tuck, Geoff Beale (Sunbeam Lotus) crossing the line just 0.9 seconds behind the returning David Burke/Brian Saunders (Porsche 911 RSR). Nicholas King’s immaculate DB4 finished a creditable second, ahead of more modern machinery, behind Burke/Saunders on Sunday. A number of Modern Classics drivers picked…

SNETTERTON MSVR 25 SEPTEMBER Tom Murphy waited until the last Racing Saloons round of the season to score his maiden win in the first contest. Murphy, who has been competing on and off for 10 years, put his Ford Sierra Cosworth in front of Nigel Innes on the final lap. He’d trailed the BMW M3 for most of the race, before hunting Innes down in time for a dramatic finish. Murphy had also been struggling with a gear-selector problem, and spent the whole of the second race holding the gear lever in place and steering one-handed. Innes was the winner this time, with Murphy having to settle for second. BMW Z4s made up the podium on both occasions, with Chris Murphy claiming the first and Callum Bates the second. Elsewhere,…

KNOCKHILL BRX 25-26 SEPTEMBER British Rallycross returned to Knockhill for the first time since 2014, and it was two drivers making their first appearances at the Scottish venue that came away with the victory spoils. After winning the season opener at Lydden Hill in a prize drive for claiming the Super1600 category title last year, Roberts Vitols has remained in the British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy’s top division and, after being left on the line in the final of Saturday’s round, he set a blistering pace once under way. The Latvian then capitalised when others ran into trouble, including polesitter and early race leader Ollie O’Donovan, who spun in the opening stages in damp conditions, and Steve Hill, who succumbed to a broken CV joint from the lead later…

BOOK CRASH: FROM SENNA TO EARNHARDT, HOW THE HANS HELPED SAVE MOTOR RACING RRP £30 In the wake of the collision between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in this year’s Italian Grand Prix, the incident was unsurprisingly reshown multiple times from just about every angle. Replays of the incident from one perspective in particular – and in slow-motion – showed how Hamilton’s head had been clipped by Verstappen’s rear wheel when the Red Bull was launched on top of the Mercedes, illustrating how the halo had likely saved him from serious injury or worse. The benefits and life-saving potential of the head-protection device were never in doubt – the culmination of years of research – when it was introduced to F1 at the start of the 2018 season, despite protestation…

Rene Arnoux (Ferrari 126C3) explores the limits of his Goodyear wet-weather tyres’ adhesion in an inclement blip during practice for the 1983 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, the hastily scheduled 14th, and penultimate, round of the season. He qualified in fifth place and was holding that position when he spun off on lap 20 of 76, rejoining at the back of the field, then crossing the line a lapped ninth. His failure to score pretty much scuppered his world championship chances, which were sunk completely by engine failure at the Kyalami finale, although Ferrari did secure the constructors’ crown. For classic Formula 1 DVDs head to dukevideo.com/f1 For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

FORMULA 1 Formula 1’s next generation of cars must be designed to race in the rain to avoid a repeat of the Belgian Grand Prix washout, says FIA president Jean Todt. Last month’s wet race at Spa had to be abandoned after three laps behind a safety car because conditions were not good enough to allow the current generation of cars to race. The high levels of downforce produced by the latest F1 machinery, plus wider tyres, means more spray is thrown into the air in wet running, leading to poorer visibility. Todt says this needs to be addressed, and reckons that when the next major rules overhaul is planned, most likely to coincide with all-new power units from 2025, wet-weather running needs to be factored in. “There were many…

Audi’s new Dakar Rally contender has completed two weeks of testing in Morocco. The RSQ e-tron, which features an electric drivetrain and MGUs from Formula E and an engine from Audi’s Class 1 DTM contender, was put through its paces by Carlos Sainz Sr, Stephane Peterhansel and Mattias Ekstrom. Sandstorms and high temperatures provided problems on the test. “As expected, some new problems arose in the high temperatures, which repeatedly caused interruptions to the testing and needed to be solved before the next test,” said team boss Sven Quandt. “We expect much lower temperatures at the Dakar Rally. Nevertheless, we deliberately went to Morocco to test our concept under the most extreme conditions.”…

FORMULA 2/3 The FIA Formula 2 and Formula 3 championships are abandoning their new-for-2021 format after just one season. Fewer rounds and tripleheaders were introduced for this year, with the two series running on separate F1-supporting weekends. For 2022, both categories will once again compete on the same bill, with two races per event. Friday qualifying will determine the grid for both races, with Saturday’s sprint race starting with top 10 qualifiers from F2 and the top 12 from F3 reversed. The feature races, as in 2021, will be on Sundays. The 2021 format has come under fire, with each series running two-thirds of its races from reversed grids. Furthermore, the reduction of the F2 schedule from 12 rounds to eight, and the lengthy gaps between them, means that the…

OLLIE BEARMAN Aged 16 1st in Italian and German F4 with Van Amersfoort Racing “Since the Award was called off last year it wasn’t in the front of my mind, but I saw [2019 winner] Johnathan Hoggard got his F1 test run and it’s a pleasant surprise to be in the final four. I’m looking forward to the GT3 because in F4 a lot of the time we support GT3 series, and I drive a lot of GT3 in iRacing and sims.” JONNY EDGAR Aged 17 18th in FIA Formula 3 with Carlin “Last year the Award didn’t run and in the past you couldn’t do it if you were in FIA F3, so I hadn’t really thought about it. It was good when I was in the final 10…

Sebastian Vettel said being tagged twice by Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll during the late rain chaos at the Russian Grand Prix was down to a “misunderstanding”, while Stroll was also penalised for hitting Pierre Gasly a lap later. Stroll was one of the race’s early stars after making a brilliant start, nipping past eventual winner Lewis Hamilton ahead of Turn 2 on the first lap. He ran fourth in the opening phase of the race but couldn’t find a way past George Russell’s “slippery” Williams. He was therefore the first to stop, on lap 12, in a successful undercut attack, and Stroll chased early leader Carlos Sainz Jr from there after the Ferrari also completed a short stint on the medium tyres. Stroll had just been passed by Charles…

Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc both lost shots at good results in the late rain drama at Sochi, with the Red Bull driver saying “it destroyed our chances of the podium”. Perez, who led during the middle phase of the race as one of the leading hard-tyre starters, had just taken third from Carlos Sainz Jr when the rain came down. Perez was passed by Fernando Alonso before heading to the pits on lap 50, and was overcome by five rivals who had taken intermediates earlier. He finished ninth. Leclerc was the last driver to move from the slicks because “we were competitive” against rivals including Perez when the rain started. But choosing not to come in when Alonso and Perez did, just as Max Verstappen was swooping past on…

A moment of profound emotion as reality sinks in for Lewis Hamilton – he’s just won the 2014 Formula 1 season finale, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and the Mercedes driver is now world champion for a second time. “This is the greatest day of my life,” he said. “2008 was a special time; the feeling I have now is way, way past that. It’s the greatest feeling I’ve ever had. This has been an incredible year, I cannot believe how amazing it has all been – coming to this team, when people said it was the wrong choice, and the steps we took last year and this year is unbelievable. This is like an outside-the-body experience.” For classic Formula 1 DVDs head to dukevideo.com/f1 For more great photographs, visit…

1 2007 Canadian GP Montreal Car McLaren MP4-22 Starting position 1st Winning margin 4.343s Second Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) 2 2007 United States GP Indianapolis Car McLaren MP4-22 Starting position 1st Winning margin 1.518s Second Fernando Alonso (McLaren) 3 2007 Hungarian GP Hungaroring Car McLaren MP4-22 Starting position 1st Winning margin 0.715s Second Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 4 2007 Japanese GP Fuji Car McLaren MP4-22 Starting position 1st Winning margin 8.377s Second Heikki Kovalainen (Renault) 5 2008 Australian GP Melbourne Car McLaren MP4-23 Starting position 1st Winning margin 5.478s Second Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) 6 2008 Monaco GP Monte Carlo Car McLaren MP4-23 Starting position 3rd Winning margin 3.064s Second Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) 7 2008 British GP Silverstone Car McLaren MP4-23 Starting position 4th Winning margin 1m08.577s Second Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) 8 2008 German GP Hockenheim Car…

FIA FORMULA 3 SOCHI (RUS) 24-26 SEPTEMBER ROUND 7/7 The 2021 FIA Formula 3 season ended just as it had begun, with impressive form from Dennis Hauger. The Prema Racing star, who won the opening feature race of the campaign at Barcelona in May, wrapped up the drivers’ championship in style last weekend at Sochi. The Red Bull Junior didn’t even need the whole weekend to take the title, which makes him Prema’s 10th champion in 11 years. The first of the two races – one was scrapped due to the bad weather – was all he required, as second place moved him an unreachable 55 points clear of closest rival Jack Doohan. But Doohan also enjoyed his share of success at the seventh round when he won the feature…

NASCAR CUP LAS VEGAS (USA) 26 SEPTEMBER ROUND 30/36 Denny Hamlin’s two victories so far this NASCAR Cup season have arrived at the most opportune moments. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver managed the 26-race regular season without a triumph, but following his win in last Sunday night’s contest at Las Vegas Motor Speedway he has now earned a victory at the start of each of the first two rounds of the playoffs. With Sunday’s success, Hamlin now advances to the semi-final round of the Cup playoffs regardless of how he finishes in the next two bouts – this weekend at Talladega and then on the Charlotte ‘Roval’ course. The Toyota Camry pilot led the most laps in Vegas (137 of 267), won the second stage and, with the final 107-lap…

GINETTA GT4 SUPERCUP The Ginetta GT4 Supercup has become the latest leading national series to announce that it will be introducing a new car for next year, having decided to add the G56 to the championship. The top class of the category has been for the G55 since 2011, but that will now change for next season with the addition of the new-for-2021 G56. While being visually very similar to the G55, the G56 is vastly different under the skin, including featuring a much more powerful 6.2-litre 500bhp engine – the current motor is 3.7 litres. A G56 has been racing in British GT this season, a late puncture denying it a maiden win at Brands Hatch, and a down-rated version of the car has formed the basis of the…

BRITISH FORMULA 4 Chris Dittmann Racing will expand into British Formula 4 from next season, attracted by the introduction of a new car for 2022. British F4 will introduce a new Tatuus chassis next year featuring a halo head-protection device and powered by an Abarth engine, while Britain’s governing body Motorsport UK has taken over the promotion of the championship. CDR is the second team to expand into the category after Hitech GP. It already competes in two single-seater series – GB3, where it sits second in the drivers’ standings with Ayrton Simmons, and in F3 Cup. “We’ve been looking at British F4 for a while as something that we might expand into,” said team boss Chris Dittmann. “We’re doing very well in GB3, but you have drivers coming through…

DRAG RACING Pro Modified veterans Nick Davies and Kevin Slyfield went head to head for the Motorsport UK British Drag Racing Championship last weekend at Santa Pod before Slyfield emerged on top. The pair have battled all year, with first Slyfield ahead, then Davies. Entering the National Finals, less than a single elimination round of racing divided the pair. In Saturday’s qualifying, Slyfield took pole at 5.992s with Davies second at 6.001s, setting course for a final-round match of the season that would decide the title chase. Slyfield’s prospects rose when his opening opponent, Dutchman Michel Tooren, could not repair engine damage sustained during qualifying, gifting Slyfield and his supercharged Ford Thunderbird a solo pass into the semi-final. Davies beat Jon Webster in an all-turbo first-round match with a hefty…

MINI CHALLENGE TROPHY The Cooper class of the Mini Challenge fought out three frenetic slipstreamers at Silverstone. Dominic Wheatley claimed a deserved title in the final contest – despite not having won a race, his consistent high finishes in such a competitive series as this have been extremely impressive. Wheatley was one of four in serious contention for the crown, along with reigning champion Harry Nunn, Matt Hammond and Louie Capozzoli, and it was Nunn who was first to fall. He’d qualified second to Wheatley but, after the early battling, Capozzoli established himself in front. Nunn ran briefly through the Luffield gravel while fighting Wheatley, before disaster struck. A nudge from Joe Wiggin sent Nunn smashing into the pitwall, prompting red flags and a Capozzoli win. Nunn was given dispensation…

GINETTA GT ACADEMY The inaugural season of the Ginetta GT Academy series has been all about two drivers. It was therefore fitting that Toby Trice and Angus Whiteside should wrap up their respective GTA and rookie crowns a round early when the category joined the British Touring Car support bill for the first time at Silverstone. But, while the pair did enough to provisionally seal their titles, their stranglehold of the series did end in the opener. Trice was already on the backfoot after setting just one timed lap in qualifying before being stranded in the Luffield gravel, and he had to start down in eighth. Whiteside, however, seemed well-placed to extend his recent run of wins by taking pole but the want2race driver’s opener was just a brief contest.…

DONINGTON PARK BRSCC 25-26 SEPTEMBER There was plenty of last-lap drama and title rival tensions during the British Racing and Sports Car Club’s visit to Donington Park. The opening Mazda MX-5 Championship race, which was one of the most dramatic of the weekend, provided both as Sebastian Fisher took his first-ever car racing victory after Oliver Allwood collided with chief rival Jack Brewer. Points leader Brewer led away from pole, as fellow front-row starter Zak Oates was swamped off the line. Allwood rose from fifth to challenge Brewer on the opening lap, as Fisher lost ground at the Fogarty Esses. After conceding the lead to Allwood at Fogarty, Brewer regained the advantage one lap later at the Melbourne Hairpin. Having recovered to third, Fisher rejoined the lead contest after Allwood…

LOTON PARK BRITISH HILLCLIMB 25-26 SEPTEMBER After a season of highs, the final day of the British Hillclimb Championship delivered with a truly stunning day of competition in the parkland setting of Loton Park. The bare facts show that newly crowned champion Wallace Menzies added two more run-off wins to his tally to take it to 17 (and 10 other podiums) from 27 rounds. In the process, he headed a wholesale decimation of the hill record, only set in June by Sean Gould in a similar Gould GR59. Menzies’s best time of the weekend, a 41.76s in the first championship run-off, slashed a massive 1.42s from the record, a margin almost unheard of in modern-day hillclimbing. But Menzies was not alone in blitzing the old record, with a total of…

UK club racing is home to a plethora of unique and wonderful machines, each with its own stories that have in some way played a part in the history of motorsport – no matter how big or small. Many will have spent decades hidden from view though, left to rust in garages or undergone crude modifications making them almost unrecognisable from how they raced in period. And many would have fallen further into disrepair were it not for the hard work of restorers, who spend hundreds of hours fettling these machines, meaning they can return to track action with most in original specification. Geraint Owen is no exception, and it’s little surprise that the 53-year-old Welshman has become a historic restoration stalwart, having followed in the footsteps of his father,…

It’s hardly surprising for a recently retired three-time Le Mans winner to have “absolutely no regrets” when recalling their time in motorsport. Marcel Fassler’s top-level racing career spanned 20 years, contesting the DTM in the first half of the 2000s before a switch to sportscars yielded a Spa 24 Hours win with Corvette. That was followed by his most successful spell at Audi, and he concluded his contemporary career at the end of 2020. While the trio of Le Mans triumphs alongside Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer will be rightly remembered, it was during his sophomore DTM season a decade prior when Fassler realised a childhood dream. The amiable Swiss had been offered a Formula 1 test by Peter Sauber should he win a DTM race, and Fassler duly delivered…