Indholdsfortegnelse for 04/05/23 i Autosport

So, how did Sergio Perez defeat Max Verstappen to win last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix? And can the Mexican provide a genuine championship threat to his illustrious Dutch Red Bull team-mate? Jake Boxall-Legge tackles the first of those questions in our in-depth report of events in Baku (page 18), which also included star performances from Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton – as well as shambolic pitlane scenes at the end (p4). Alex Kalinauckas takes on the second question on p15. It’s hard to see Perez beating Verstappen over a 23-race season and it should be remembered that he has strong history at Jeddah and Baku – the two circuits he has won at so far in 2023 – but he is also the closest thing Verstappen currently has…

FORMULA 1 Reigning GB3 champion and 2022 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Luke Browning has been snapped up by the Williams Racing Driver Academy. The 21-year-old, who occupies 10th for Hitech GP in the FIA Formula 3 standings, will gain access to a personalised simulator programme and will be embedded in the team at Formula 1 races. Browning, who bagged five victories and a further eight podiums to claim his GB3 crown, said: “I’m really looking forward to being a part of the Williams Racing Driver Academy. A huge thank you to everyone at Williams Racing for the opportunity to shoot for the stars. To be welcomed into the family is a dream come true, the heritage of this team is phenomenal. I can’t wait to…

Kris Meeke claimed victory last weekend on the Rali Terras d’Aboboreira, standing in for the late Craig Breen in the Portuguese Rally Championship. The five-time World Rally Championship round winner was invited by Hyundai Portugal to deputise for Breen, who lost his life in a Rally Croatia testing accident last month, and who won the opening round in Fafe. Meeke, joined by co-driver Ola Floene, drove an i20 N Rally2 car carrying a special livery featuring the Irish flag in honour of Breen and won by 15.5 seconds.…

MOTOGP Marc Marquez’s injury woes continued at last weekend’s MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix when he was forced to sit out his third event in succession while he recovers from a thumb fracture. The eight-time world champion fractured his right thumb in a collision with Miguel Oliveira at March’s season-opening Portuguese GP and underwent surgery immediately afterwards. This forced Marquez to sit out the Argentinian and Americas GPs, but he had hoped to be back for his home round at Jerez. Following consultation with three medical teams, Marquez was advised not to ride in the Spanish GP since he risked doing damage to his hand that could have ended his career. Doctors gave him a recovery time of six to eight weeks after surgery, which should put him on course to…

“We dominated this weekend. We just have to sort out the issues. We cannot have the issues like Melbourne and are in the fight, guys.” Sergio Perez, after winning twice on the Baku streets last weekend, was certain: he believes he can push his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen in the 2023 Formula 1 title fight. Perez, clearly, thinks he can win too. This is the Mexican’s best start to an F1 season, with two wins from the first four grands prix, plus a second place in the season opener. Perez’s Baku weekend was an important milestone for him, but what of the story of F1 2023? In the opening stint of the Azerbaijan GP, Verstappen, for the first time this year, appeared the weaker of the two Red Bull…

It’s not uncommon for drivers to have “their” circuit. Monaco served as such for Graham Hill and Ayrton Senna; Michael Schumacher had the tricky Magny-Cours venue wrapped around his finger; and Lewis Hamilton enjoys demigod status at Silverstone. But Baku is Sergio Perez’s track, and it has been ever since it joined the Formula 1 calendar. For that first race in 2016, Perez qualified second, started seventh thanks to a penalty, and worked his way up to third in an unfancied Force India. He’d won in Baku before, famously benefiting from Lewis Hamilton’s ‘brake magic’ finger trouble on the late-race standing restart in 2021 to chalk up his first victory at Red Bull. He was second in last year’s edition, albeit beaten by Max Verstappen after a slow pitstop allowed…

Alfa Romeo had another difficult weekend as Valtteri Bottas’s Azerbaijan GP hopes evaporated with early contact and Zhou Guanyu retired due to a cooling problem. After Zhou led Bottas in taking 12th and 16th for the Sauber-run squad in the sprint, where the Finn’s gamble on soft tyres didn’t pay off, their positions were basically reversed for the GP grid thanks to Bottas’s achievement in reaching Q2. From 13th, Bottas picked up wing damage in contact with Oscar Piastri at Turn 2 that Alex Albon – inside them both – had caused. He then stuttered and lost drive, which meant being tagged by Kevin Magnussen from behind. Bottas showed no pace with damage thereafter, with a subsequent speculative three-stopper leading the Red Bulls to lap him. Zhou battled Magnussen but…

Ferrari drivers Alessio Rovera, Lilou Wadoux and Luis Perez Companc ended Corvette Racing’s winning run in GTE Am, although the American squad still recovered to finish an improbable second after dropping a lap down early on. Making the correct tyre choice early in opting for slicks kept Perez-Companc in the hunt, although it was during Wadoux’s double stint that AF Corse’s #83 488 GTE Evo came alive. She moved quickly to the front of a four-car group contesting the top spot, twice passing Zacharie Robichon’s Proton Porsche for the lead, before pulling a gap that Rovera extended to 18.653s with a fastest lap 0.369s quicker than anybody. Avenging their defeat to Corvette trio Ben Keating/Nico Varrone/Nicky Catsburg in Portugal was “really sweet”, Rovera explained. Wadoux’s first class win for a…

It’s a true measure of Scott McLaughlin’s standing within IndyCar in this, his third year, that we are no longer surprised at his achievements. Autosport was speaking to a race engineer from a rival team back in March, after the 16-car test at Barber Motorsports Park, in which the driver of the #3 Chevrolet-powered Team Penske entry emerged quickest by two tenths. Asked what he learned from the test, the engineer’s instant reply was: “That McLaughlin is one f***ing quick dude around here.” Then you remembered that McLaughlin won at Mid-Ohio and Portland last year, and even aced the virtual race around Barber, when IndyCar kept us entertained in the early months of COVID-cursed 2020 by hosting online sim racing. Natural-terrain road courses are very much his thing. So it…

FORMULA 2 BAKU (AZE) 29-30 APRIL ROUND 4/14 Ollie Bearman completed a rare Formula 2 double on a sensational weekend in Azerbaijan. The 17-year-old series rookie and Ferrari Driver Academy protege claimed pole before securing both victories in his Prema Racing car for a near-maximum haul of 38 out of 39 points. The waxing was lyrical about Bearman even on Friday. When he swiped the wall exiting Turn 2 on his final flier in qualifying he bent the steering, yet he kept it lit to snatch pole from Enzo Fittipaldi by 0.012 seconds, with Theo Pourchaire and Frederik Vesti also within 0.1s. A three-place grid penalty for Pourchaire, for impeding Kush Maini, promoted Bearman to ninth on the reversed grid for the Saturday sprint race. It was a chaotic race…

TCR WORLD TOUR ALGARVE (PRT) 29-30 APRIL ROUND 1/9 Norbert Michelisz and Santiago Urrutia took a win each in the opening round of the new TCR World Tour, the spiritual successor to the FIA World Touring Car Cup, at the Algarve Circuit near Portimao. The new series takes a travelling group of nine factory-supported touring car drivers to rounds of various regional championships, and the opener was shared with TCR Europe in Portugal, creating a 22-car field. Michelisz, the 2019 WTCR champion, placed his Hyundai Elantra on pole ahead of team-mate Mikel Azcona, while Audi Sport drivers filled the second row, with new signing Rob Huff ahead of marque stalwart Frederic Vervisch. Michelisz led throughout an orderly first race ahead of Azcona and Huff, while Vervisch dropped back and was…

F1 ACADEMY RED BULL RING (AUT) 29 APRIL ROUND 1/7 Former W Series racer Marta Garcia took the lead in the new Formula 4-based series for women thanks to two victories in the opening round at the Red Bull Ring. The Prema-run Spaniard inherited a pair of pole positions when Abbi Pulling, who had been quickest in both wet qualifying sessions, was excluded and banished to the back of the grid along with her Rodin Carlin team-mates due to non-homologated parts on the leading edge of the floor under the sidepods, which the British team claimed was not performance enhancing. Garcia enjoyed an all-Spanish battle for the lead with Nerea Marti (Campos Racing) in the opening race following an early safety car for a three-car shunt. Eventually Garcia got back…

SUPER TOURERS Down under tin-top stars Greg Murphy and Steve Richards are due to head to the UK to compete in July’s Super Touring Power event at Brands Hatch. The Kiwi duo have enjoyed significant success racing touring cars in Australia and have secured nine Bathurst 1000 wins between them. Richards has connections to the British Touring Car Championship from a brief stint as test driver for the Nissan team in 1998. Both have been racing historic machinery increasingly in recent times, including competing in a pair of Nissan Skylines at the Phillip Island Classic earlier this year, and will now switch to Super Tourers. Each raced in the Australian Super Touring Championship in the early stages of their careers, Murphy as a work driver for the Audi Australia team.…

SUPER TROFEO Former W Series driver Abbie Eaton will make her Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe debut this season, driving for Rebelleo Motorsport alongside Daan Pijl. Eaton is the co-founder of Rebelleo, which aims to break barriers and encourage diversity within motorsport. While unfamiliar to the one-make championship, Eaton has raced a Lamborghini with success, taking GTO class wins in the GT Cup at the wheel of a Huracan GT3 in 2021. The Yorkshire driver will contest the full season in the Pro category, teaming up with Dutchman Pijl, a three-time race winner who is dovetailing a campaign in International GT Open with Italian squad Oregon Team.…

A UK TREAT FOR FUDGE American historic racer Chip Fudge made his UK debut at Snetterton last month in the one-off Lightning Envoyette Formula Junior previously owned by Alex Morton. The now 65-year-old Oklahoma driver hopes to compete in several European events this season. He particularly wanted to race at Snetterton because one of his former cars was an ex-Archie Scott Brown Lister, built in nearby Cambridge. “I was a custodian of his former car and I really connect with him,” he said. NO PAIN NO GAIN Morgan three-wheeler ace Sue Darbyshire’s fifth place in last Sunday’s ‘Mad Jack’ pre-war sportscar race at Donington Park was a particularly gallant effort. After watching Duncan Wood bring her 1929 Super Aero up to third, Darbyshire climbed aboard unusually gingerly, later revealing that…

LEGENDS Jack Parker will replace the recovering John Mickel for all rounds of the Legends Elite Cup in support of the British Touring Car Championship this season. Five-time Legends champion Mickel suffered a spectacular crash at Cadwell Park last month, which required him to spend two nights in hospital. Unable to drive due to Motorsport UK guidelines, his place for the Brands Hatch meeting this weekend on the TOCA support bill will be taken by Parker. “That crash was a big one and I’m obviously very disappointed not to be allowed to drive at Brands for such a prestigious event,” said Mickel. “But I am also very grateful that I’m OK and to have been supported by so many fantastic people. It was important for me to ensure my marketing…

SILVERSTONE 750MC 29-30 APRIL The two Alfa Romeo Championship races at the 750 Motor Club’s Silverstone meeting last Sunday both looked like a walkover for Jamie Thwaites’s mighty Giulietta TCR on paper, but that didn’t tell the full story. The opener began with a thrilling side-by-side duel between Ian Stapleton’s Special Saloon-spec GTV6 and Scott Austin’s modified 156, and the two were inseparable, classic versus modern, for the first two laps. Austin did eke out a lead, but a split turbo pipe sapped the 156’s power, sending him to the rear of the field. Just after setting a new class record, Stapleton retired to the pits with water in his car’s engine, which left the way clear for Thwaites – the first driver to enter a TCR-spec Alfa in the…

BRANDS HATCH GT CUP Race 1 James Wallis (Mercedes-AMG GT3) Race 2 Morgan Short (Mosler MT900) Race 3 Hugo Cook (Audi R8 GT3) Race 4 Lucky Khera/Euan Hankey (McLaren 720S GT3) PORSCHE CLUB Race 1 Steve Wood (996) Race 2 Bill Caley (Cayman) PORSCHE CLUB BOXSTER CUP Races 1 & 2 Jonny Lovell RADICAL CUP UK Races 1 & 2 Daryl DeLeon (SR3, below) Race 3 Ben Caisley (SR3) FOCUS CUP Race 1 Jon Baker Race 2 Simon Warr MODIFIED FORDS Race 1 Simon Light (Capri V8) Race 2 Piers Grange (Escort Mk2) MIATA TROPHY Races 1 & 2 Aidan Hills (Mk3) SNETTERTON FERRARI CHALLENGE TROFEO UK Races 1 & 2 Andrew Morrow For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

CRAIGANTLET BRITISH HILLCLIMB 29 APRIL Wallace Menzies has broken free from an early joint British Hillclimb points lead after a visit to Belfast’s Craigantlet course to now sit two points ahead of Matthew Ryder thanks to another win and a third place. A fog-afflicted practice session cleared for Will Hall to win the first run-off and display fine sportsmanship, permitting Scott Moran to use his new-for-2023 Gould-Judd GR59 after the Ludlow man’s car developed a rear-wing issue. Fastest off the line, Hall held a 0.55-second advantage over his rivals’ efforts by the crossroads and, over the high-speed top section of the Belmont Road, Ryder could only pull back a slender 0.04s to sit second. Menzies arrived in Northern Ireland as favourite, having won both run-offs last year and claimed the…

There are certain ways of going about winning a championship. One is to patiently bank points and profit from others’ misfortune. Then there’s the approach taken by Giedo van der Garde in snaring the 2008 Formula Renault 3.5 title, breaking the back of the opposition with morale-crushing early victories. “The way we started off that year was spectacular,” says the Dutchman of his three wins from the opening four races with the Renault World Series’ new-for-2008 Dallara T08, which established the P1 Motorsport driver in a lead that he never relinquished. He followed up his “perfect” Monza double and Spa triumph with wins at the Hungaroring and Le Mans to secure the title with a round to spare. “To start a season like this was just wonderful,” says the 38-year-old,…

FORMULA 1 After effectively marking its own homework, the FIA has promised to take “immediate steps” to avoid a repeat of the shambolic late scenes in last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix when Esteban Ocon had to avoid photographers and local marshals who were released too early into the pitlane. The Alpine strategists had been hoping for a late safety car or red flag in Baku to hand their driver a ‘free’ pitstop since Ocon was still running on his starting hard Pirelli tyres as the tame 51-lap race drew to a close. But with no such event to help his cause, Ocon dived into the pits on the run to the chequered flag to complete a mandatory stop to escape disqualification. But with Sergio Perez imminently about to clinch victory,…

FORMULA 1 Adrian Newey has agreed a multi-year contract extension with Red Bull. The pre-eminent Formula 1 car designer had a deal with the reigning constructors’ champion that was up for renewal at the end of this year. But following a dominant start to the 2023 season that has resulted in a perfect win record, Red Bull and Newey have moved quickly to iron out the finer details of a new agreement. Newey, 64, will continue in his role as chief technical officer, which gives him oversight of the F1 team, Advanced Technology business and fledgling Ford-backed Powertrains division. There has been no official announcement of the new deal, or precise information on its length. But Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has welcomed the commitment from Newey, who first…

LE MANS 24 HOURS Porsche says that the World Endurance Championship Balance of Performance is going to be adjusted before the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. Toyota says it can’t be. Confusion reigns over what’s happening in the Hypercar class with the new BoP system introduced for this season. What we do know is that there was no BoP revision for last weekend’s Spa round of the WEC. That was confirmed to the participating manufacturers on the evening before first practice. A pre-Spa change of the so-called platform BoP – the balance between the Le Mans Hypercars and LMDh machinery that have come together in Hypercar – was the only opportunity for a tweak ahead of the Le Mans race on 10-11 June, according to Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe…

SUPER FORMULA Super Formula chairman Masahiko Kondo has expressed an interest in holding a race as a support to the Japanese Grand Prix. Former racer Kondo, who took over the chairmanship of Super Formula promoter JRP last month and whose Kondo Racing squad competes in Super Formula and Super GT, made the comments in an informal media gathering ahead of the recent round at Japanese GP venue Suzuka. He said that previous attempts to arrange such an event were undone by the series’ unwillingness to race in the shadow of F1. But amid the championship’s drive to increase its popularity, Kondo believes that attitudes have shifted enough to make an agreement with F1 a possibility. “Super Formula is Japan’s top category, so there was a time when the series was…

I‘m not sure that I’ve ever headed to the Le Mans 24 Hours hoping for high temperatures and sunny weather. I’m no sun worshipper and, as a pasty-faced Englishman, too much heat doesn’t make life any easier over the busiest week of my year. But this time I’m praying that the 24 Hours is a hot one. That’s not for my benefit, you understand, but for the sake of drivers’ safety, the workload of the hard-pressed mechanics, and the environment. Some decent temperatures during the night are what I’m really hoping for. The ban on tyre warmers in the World Endurance Championship for this year has created a situation that to my mind is dangerous and doesn’t yield the intended environmental gains. The sight of cars spearing off into the…

Ahead of the final efforts for pole position, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen were all square. Both were tied on a 1m40.445s but had vastly different methods of getting there. Leclerc’s first sector stood out as the best, while Verstappen had the advantage in the second and third sectors. But Leclerc’s efforts in practice had shown that the Ferrari was capable of much more in the second sector, and stood a realistic chance of breaking Red Bull’s monopoly on poles in 2023. But he had to tread lightly to do so around the punishing Baku circuit. The twice red-flagged Q1 had been a particularly messy affair, and the session was only eight minutes old when Nyck de Vries put his AlphaTauri into the wall at Turn 3. Pierre Gasly did…

Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant both emerged battle-scarred from the Baku weekend, although the American’s incident was considerably more costly. Sargeant missed the sprint race because Williams could not rebuild his car in time after he had hit the Turn 15 exit wall hard while coming across the Ferrari pair going slowly early in Q2 in that race’s dedicated qualifying session. In the main race, he lost out big time with a stop before the safety car, and after that first trailed Kevin Magnussen, then Zhou Guanyu, with his inability to slipstream past the Alfa meaning Sargeant lost contact with the DRS train ahead. The F1 rookie defied Pierre Gasly for a time late on, but was eventually demoted to 16th. Albon’s damaging moment occurred very early in the GP…

Haas left Baku empty-handed, with Nico Hulkenberg’s set-up adjustment after the sprint race and Kevin Magnussen’s Friday qualifying electrical issue meaning the pair faced an uphill GP battle. Hulkenberg had faded from 12th early in the sprint with shocking late pace on medium tyres that had “heavy graining” and “were just completely shot”. After this, Haas opted to change his set-up and so he had to start from the pitlane behind Esteban Ocon. A race-long hope for a second safety car or red flag was in vain, and this meant that Hulkenberg was trapped in 17th when he emerged from pitting with two laps left. But he’d already lost contact with Ocon and been passed by the McLarens, Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon as his ancient hard tyres gave up.…

Porsche came within three or so miles of another World Endurance Championship podium, and Peugeot got two cars to the finish more or less cleanly for the first time, but it wasn’t a good weekend for either marque. The events at Spa last weekend did little or nothing to suggest that either manufacturer is going to be in the mix come the Le Mans 24 Hours next month. The most encouraging aspect of the race for the German manufacturer was the pace of Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry over the opening couple of hours. The biggest disappointment was that his 963 LMDh switched itself off 12 minutes into hour three when running second. The team was at a loss to explain what had happened. The sister…

It’s no secret that Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has had a frustrating start to 2023, just like 2022. But while it took until mid-season for the Bobby Rahal, David Letterman and Mike Lanigan-owned squad to turn its fortunes around last year, second-year IndyCar driver Christian Lundgaard took only until the fourth round of this season to prove that there are signs within the team of true progress. He outqualified two Penske cars, two Arrow McLaren machines, two Ganassi cars and three Andretti Dallaras to line up sixth. Electing to run a two-stop strategy, Lundgaard initially struggled on Firestone’s primary compound and fell to 10th by lap four. But as those who had started on alternate tyres lost grip and the three-stoppers pitted, the Dane passed Colton Herta and Rinus VeeKay…

AUSTRALIAN SUPERCARS WANNEROO (AUS) 29-30 APRIL ROUND 3/12 Erebus Motorsport and Triple Eight locked horns both on an off the track across the Perth SuperSprint weekend. The two Camaro squads, which have emerged as the heavyweights early in the Gen3 era, shared the spoils from the three short-distance races at Wanneroo as tensions simmered. The drama started in Saturday’s opening race when Triple Eight’s Shane van Gisbergen ran down the Erebus car of long-time leader Brodie Kostecki. The pair wound up in a wild paint-swapping battle as a slower Kostecki defended aggressively in the closing laps. He was eventually hit with a bad sportsmanship flag right before van Gisbergen forced his way into the lead after making contact at Turn 6. Unhappy with van Gisbergen’s race-deciding move, Erebus lodged a…

INTERNATIONAL GT OPEN ALGARVE (PRT) 29-30 APRIL ROUND 1/7 GetSpeed Performance pair Fabian Schiller and Al Faisal Al Zubair lead the International GT Open standings after two races at the Algarve circuit, but it was another team using Mercedes-AMG GT3s that really starred over the weekend. After spending four years dominating the sister Euroformula Open single-seater series, German squad Motopark decided to expand its efforts for 2023. Team principal Timo Rumpfkeil put himself in an Am class car, and signed Diego Menchaca and Marcos Siebert to target overall honours. Siebert qualified fifth for race one, in a top 15 covered by 0.998 seconds. On pole was David Fumanelli, and he led the 70-minute race aboard Kessel Racing’s Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo until a very late driver change to Frederic Jousset.…

FESTIVAL OF SPEED Four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel will make a return to the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year and is due to drive several F1 cars from his own collection up the hill, including Nigel Mansell’s title-winning Williams FW14B. Vettel, who retired at the end of last season, last appeared at the Goodwood event in 2012 when he piloted the RB7 he took to the previous year’s championship title. As well as the 1992 Williams, he is due to guide his ex-Ayrton Senna McLaren MP4/8 from 1993 up the hill over the 15-16 July weekend. All the cars Vettel drives at the event will be powered by sustainable fuels, following the ‘Race without Trace’ initiative he launched last year at Silverstone when he drove the FW14B using…

116 TROPHY There was a 1990s British Touring Car Championship reunion of sorts at the 750 Motor Club’s Silverstone meeting last weekend, with Matt Neal and Steve Soper joining 116 Trophy regular Tim Harvey on track. Soper was victorious in the second round of the new 120 Coupe Cup, which runs alongside the 116 Sprint Trophy, while Harvey was second in the 116 Trophy enduro in a car entered with Richard Lakey. Neal, sharing with Richard Phillips, was 17th. Harvey also contested the Sprint Trophy, but retired due to car trouble. Soper was initially only at the event to provide some coaching and technical support to a former business associate. “It didn’t really take much persuasion, but I didn’t come to do it,” he said. He spoke highly of the…

Daily Formula 1 demonstrations at last weekend’s Donington Historic Festival turned the clocks back 30 years to the 1993 European Grand Prix. Enthusiasts appreciated Steve Ottavianelli giving his ex-Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford B193 plenty of welly (above). One of Alain Prost’s 1993 championship-winning Williams-Renault FW15s was on static display alongside an ex-Ayrton Senna McLaren MP4/7, while Alastair Davidson demonstrated his ex-Senna Toleman-Hart TG184.…

HILLCLIMBING After seven years of hard work, the P4t car conceived by leading British Hillclimb contender Alex Summers made a successful recent debut at Loton Park. Summers started the initial design for the single-seater in 2016 and finally had the car running at the end of this March. The sleek, low-line machine drew immediate praise from fellow competitors as it ran reliably and set good times on its first weekend of action. Summers has no plans to drive it himself in the BHC and will remain with his Cosworth Indy-powered DJ Firestorm. “It’s a car for my wife Debbie and my mum Lindsay,” said Summers, who wants to use the project to promote women in motorsport. The P4t uses the 2.5-litre Cosworth engine previously fitted to the DJ Firestorm. “We…

DONINGTON PARK MSVR DONINGTON HISTORIC FESTIVAL 29-30 APRIL Four seconds separated the Lotus Elans of James Littlejohn (Simon Evans’s) and Andy Jordan (bookending for John Tordoff) after three hours in Saturday’s Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall Cup contest, the 12th Donington Historic Festival’s racing highlight. Only the fourth-placed TVR Griffith of Ollie Reuben and Harry Barton prevented an all-Lotus top six. Julian Thomas, in Robin Ellis’s Elan Shapecraft coupe, and Evans chased Jordan and Reuben from the off. Reuben led when AJ relayed Tordoff, then Thomas moved in front when Barton saddled the big V8 and was about to lap Evans when they pitted as a safety car was deployed. A charging Littlejohn subsequently reeled Ellis in and led when Thomas was reinstalled in the car. Further cautions, refuelling infringement…

ALFA ROMEO CHAMPIONSHIP Races 1 & 2 Jamie Thwaites (Giulietta) F1000 Race 1 Dan Gore Race 2 Rob Welham BMW CAR CLUB RACING Races 1 & 2 Niall Bradley (E46 M3) TOYOTA MR2s Races 1 & 2 Karl Johnston (MR2 Roadster) ARMED FORCES RACE CHALLENGE Races 1 & 2 Paul Cook (BMW E46 M3) 116 SPRINT TROPHY & 120 COUPE CUP Race 1 Louis Woodward (E82 120i) Race 2 Steve Soper (E82 120i) 116 TROPHY Matthew Highcock 750 FORMULA Races 1 & 2 Ed Pither (PRS 1b) CLIO SPORT Races 1 & 2 Tim Bentley (182, below) CLASSIC STOCK HATCH Races 1 & 2 Stewart Place (Peugeot 205 GTI) MIGHTY MINIS Race 1 Neven Kirkpatrick (Super) Race 2 Greg Jenkins (Super) For full results visit: 750mc.co.uk…

SNETTERTON MSVR FERRARI 29-30 APRIL Ferrari Challenge Trofeo UK launched into 2023 at Snetterton last weekend to its now familiar fanfare of perfectly tuned V8s. Arriving in Norfolk, it would be easy to imagine that the location was Fiorano instead; the venue swathed in banners of red and flags of yellow and, in the heart of the paddock, Pirelli’s tyre trucks, newly arrived from Milan, together with the magnificent hospitality complex, framed by a fine collection of the latest cars and sought-after classics. Polesitter Andrew Morrow was new to motorsport in 2022, yet became a race winner in only his second weekend of competition. Now, along with former Porsche racer Carl Cavers, and series regular Han Sikkens, his focus is the title. Each carries front-row pace but Morrow showed more…

Porsche has unveiled a special livery in which its three Penske-run 963 LMDhs will run at the Le Mans 24 Hours next month to mark its own 75th birthday and the centenary of the French enduro. Each of the 15 stripes fanning out from the nose celebrates the colour scheme of a famous Porsche endurance racer. The orange tips its hat to the JW Automotive 917s of 1970 and the yellow Penske’s American Le Mans Series RS Spyders of the late 2000s. The trio of cars will be distinguished by different coloured dorsal fins: the #5 will be black, #6 white and #75 red.…

IMSA One-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Mike Rockenfeller will be back at the wheel of a Porsche this month. The German, who started his sportscar career with the German marque, will race the JDC-Miller MotorSports 963 LMDh prototype in the remainder of the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship. The 39-year-old German, winner of the French enduro with long-time employer Audi in 2010, will be joined in the GTP class car from its race debut at Laguna Seca on 14 May by Dutchman Tijmen van der Helm. The 19-year-old comes into the line-up after driving JDC-Miller’s LMP3 class entry at the Daytona and Sebring IMSA rounds earlier this year, and LMP2 experience in the European Le Mans Series in 2022 with TDS Racing and this season with Panis Racing. Rockenfeller was…

SPA TO STAY ON CALENDAR Spa’s place on the World Endurance Championship calendar has been confirmed for another five years. The Belgian circuit, part of the WEC since its rebirth in 2012, will remain on the schedule until 2028 and will continue to host a round of the sister European Le Mans Series. MOTOGP DROPS KAZAKH GP The MotoGP calendar for this season has dropped to 20 rounds following the cancellation of what would have been the inaugural Kazakhstan Grand Prix. The Sokol track, which was due to host the race on 9 July, will not be ready in time due to “ongoing homologation works at the circuit, paired with current global operational challenges”. EUROCUP-3 TO KICK OFF The new ‘Formula Regional’-level Eurocup-3 series organised by the body behind the…

UK START TIMES Friday 5 May FP1 1930 FP2 2300 Saturday 6 May  FP3 1730 QUALIFYING 2100 Sunday 7 May  RACE 2030 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 BBC RADIO 5 LIVE TV Highlights CHANNEL 4 0125 (Monday) TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS Drivers Constructors MIAMI STATS Previous winners 2022 POLE POSITION Charles Leclerc 1m28.796s POLE LAP RECORD Charles Leclerc 1m28.796s (2022) RACE LAP RECORD Max Verstappen 1m31.361s (2022) Laps led Max Verstappen 48 Charles Leclerc 8 Carlos Sainz 1…

Leclerc must stay at Ferrari If rumours in some quarters are to be believed, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are to play swapsies in the not too distant future. For various reasons, I cannot help but feel that would be a wrong move for the Maranello Massive. In this hybrid era (and I consider myself something of a progressive hybrid being part Yorkshire and part ardent Tifosi), it’s oft struck me that young Chuck is a once in a generation pedaller. A hybrid honed of the very finest elements; part legendary Gilles Villeneuve and part mercurial Jean Alesi. I cannot feel that his exit would be anything other than a huge opportunity missed. I’ll openly admit that, Michael Schumacher aside, I’m routinely fickle as a ficklestick when it comes to…

When Charles Leclerc plonked his Ferrari on the front of the grid for both the sprint race and the Grand Prix, it underlined the step that the Prancing Horse had taken in qualifying performance this year. The SF-23 in the races, however, has conversely proved something of a problem child, exemplified by Sergio Perez’s effortless play for the lead past Leclerc with DRS in the 17-lap sprint in Baku. Leclerc’s first run in the sprint shootout’s ‘SQ3’ session proved to be enough to beat the Red Bulls to the front of the grid – and a good thing too, because Leclerc unceremoniously binned his second lap when he came off worst in a bout with the wall at Turn 3, breaking off his front wing. But the pair of RB19s…

When Alan Permane, a 34-year team stalwart, says “I can’t compare this weekend to any other”, it highlights how tough Alpine had it across the entire Azerbaijan weekend. Things got off to an awful start in the sole Friday practice session when Pierre Gasly’s engine caught fire following a hydraulics leak and needed replacing before qualifying. Esteban Ocon also missed most of practice due to a gearbox issue. Gasly then crashed in Friday qualifying Q1. Ocon went on to record 12th, but lost it when Alpine subsequently realised that it needed to change his suspension settings to ensure his underfloor plank didn’t wear illegally. This meant breaking parc ferme regulations and starting both races from the pitlane. In the sprint, for which Gasly had qualified 19th, hobbled by an exhaust…

A third Toyota victory in three races and a second 1-2 suggested it was business as usual for the 2023 World Endurance Championship at Spa last weekend. That wasn’t quite the case in the final race before the Le Mans 24 Hours. The Japanese manufacturer admitted that it “didn’t have fantastic pace” on a day when its Italian rival showed real evidence that it will be a threat come the big one next month. Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez took the win aboard the #7 GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar, and on the face of it appeared to have continued Toyota’s domination after the rulemakers opted against taking the opportunity to tweak the Balance of Performance. They led 132 of the 148 laps of an incident-packed event…

EUROFORMULA OPEN ALGARVE (PRT) 29-30 APRIL ROUND 1/8 The Euroformula Open season started with a small grid, but the 10 cars put on some entertaining action. CryptoTower Racing Team’s cameoing Enzo Trulli and Tim Tramnitz topped qualifying, with BVM Racing’s Francesco Simonazzi in third. Trulli won the opener from pole, while Tramnitz lost out early on to Simonazzi and Noel Leon. A mistake by Simonazzi dropped him to fourth, allowing Tramnitz, whose main programme this season is in Formula Regional European, to track down the leading duo. He passed Leon, then pressured Trulli, who will race in the EFO-equivalent Super Formula Lights series in Japan this year, towards the end. Motopark-run ex-GB3 racer Cian Shields had reversed-grid pole for race two, but missed the start with a battery plug problem.…

MOTOGP JEREZ (ESP) 30 APRIL ROUND 4/20 Francesco Bagnaia’s ability to bounce back in emphatic fashion from setbacks remains unparalleled in the MotoGP World Championship. The Ducati rider arrived at Jerez facing questions about his ability to handle pressure after back-to-back grand prix crashes in Argentina and the US had caused him to surrender 45 points, but left with another Spanish GP victory and the championship lead. The beginnings of Bagnaia’s Jerez weekend didn’t look positive. He was locked out of a direct passage to Q2 in qualifying as he battled front-end problems on his GP23. His Ducati team rallied overnight to deliver him what he needed, and he duly put his bike fifth on the grid after coming through Q1 before finishing second in the sprint race. Both the…

GOODWOOD REVIVAL A special race for Porsche 911s running on synthetic fuel is among the line-up for this year’s Goodwood Revival. The Fordwater Trophy contest will celebrate 60 years of the 911, and a grid of 30 pre-’66 Porsches (below) is expected at the 8-10 September event. All will be powered by fully synthetic fuel, the first such race to be held in Goodwood’s 75-year history. Another new addition for 2023 will be a special Rudge Whitworth Cup encounter that will commemorate 100 years of the Le Mans 24 Hours. It is expected to be contested by the Bentleys, Alfa Romeos and Bugattis that were commonplace during the early years of the legendary enduro. It is not just Porsche that has a special one-make race this year – the Lavant…

BRITISH GT British GT is set to feature its largest grid for a decade with 43 cars entered for this weekend’s three-hour race at Silverstone. The field has been bolstered by several guest entries, which will not score points, and is the largest since 48 cars took part in the equivalent round in 2013. Among the crews joining for this weekend is an expanded entry for Porsche squad Team Parker Racing. In addition to its regular Cayman GT4 of Zac Meakin and Dan Vaughan, it will also field two GT3 Porsches – one for team regulars Scott Malvern and Nick Jones, who are primarily competing in Europe this season, and the second for British GT race winner Charles Bateman and Alex Martin. Also joining the GT3 grid at Silverstone will…

RALLYING Motorsport UK is evaluating the creation of a new rally festival to help re-energise the discipline and increase fan engagement. The governing body met with stakeholders last November to devise a new strategy to help grow rallying in the UK and promote the discipline to a new audience. The introduction of a festival was tabled by M-Sport Ford World Rally Championship team principal Richard Millener. While the concept is in its infancy, the idea is to bring rallying to the public through a showcase of historic and modern vehicles, featuring the current WRC Rally1 cars, and to include a competitive stage rally element, held in either an urban environment or at a bespoke venue. “I think it’s unrealistic for the public to come to you so you have to…

GOLD CUP The Historic Sports Car Club has announced its programme for this year’s Gold Cup meeting, with the Thundersports category making its debut at the event. Open to sports-racing and GT cars of the 1970s and early 1980s, the series is one of four HSCC grids set to be at the Oulton Park event on 28-30 July. The others are Historic Formula 3, Historic Touring Cars and Historic Formula Junior. As was the case last year, a number of other clubs will also provide grids at the Gold Cup, including the Historic Touring Car Challenge (from Motor Racing Legends, a new addition for 2023), Gerry Marshall Trophy for Group 1 touring cars of the 1970s and early 1980s (Historic Racing Drivers’ Club), as well as outings from the Vintage…

RAC PALL MALL CUP Simon Evans/James Littlejohn (Lotus Elan) MRL JAGUAR CLASSIC CHALLENGE Graeme & James Dodd (E-type) MRL HISTORIC TOURING CAR CHALLENGE Colin Turkington/Mark Smith (BMW E30 M3) HRDC GERRY MARSHALL TROPHY Michael Whitaker Jr (Rover SD1) MRL WOODCOTE TROPHY/STIRLING MOSS TROPHY Ollie Crosthwaite/Nick Finburgh (Cooper T49 Monaco, below) MRL ‘MAD JACK’ PRE-WAR SPORTSCARS Rudiger Friedrichs (Alvis Firefly Special) HRDC ALLSTARS/CLASSIC ALFA CHALLENGE Michael Whitaker Sr (TVR Griffith) HRDC JACK SEARS TROPHY Mike Gardiner/Josh Cook (Ford Lotus Cortina) FERRARI CLUB CLASSIC Race 1 Gary Culver (328 GTB) Race 2 Tristan Simpson (F355 Challenge) Race 3 James Cartwright (328 GTB) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

BRANDS HATCH MSVR 29-30 APRIL Two decades after Martin Short claimed the British GT title on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit, his son Morgan provided one of the standout stories from the GT Cup round held on the track last weekend by steering his Mosler MT900 to a memorable triumph in Saturday’s pitstop race. Short had already shone in the sprint contest earlier in the day when a superb pass at Hawthorn helped him usurp the McLaren 720S of Lucky Khera for third in the closing stages. Yet Short’s performance was overshadowed by James Wallis, who scored his third win on the trot at the wheel of his Mercedes-AMG GT3 after dominating the race from pole. Second place was taken by the 720S of Simon Orange, who later shared…

CASTLE COMBE CCRC 1 MAY Grand Touring cars spanning 90 years delighted Castle Combe spectators on Monday, the most eye-catching being 25 vintage Bentleys driven by intrepid Benjafield’s Bentley Challenge competitors. William Medcalf and David Little dropped the pack, with Medcalf proud to score landmark victories on synthetic fuel. Peter Little, Nigel Batchelor, Louisa Getley and Andy Buchan were among the standouts. Superb cars and racing atoned for a sparse resident GT championship entry. Poleman Doug Watson started his turbocharged Ferrari strongly and repelled Keith Butcher’s Lamborghini Huracan EVO GT3, which had the Ginetta-Chevrolets of Chris Everill (G55) and Dylan Popovic (G50) in tow at the chequer. Kevin Bird’s Porsche 991 was in the fight until Popovic ambushed him at Folly. Felix Fisher and Luke Cooper finished line astern after…

SANTA POD BRITISH DRAG RACING 29 APRIL-1 MAY The 2023 Motorsport UK British Drag Racing Championship is only one event old yet already a candidate exists for the Pro Modified run of the year. Wayne Nicholson and his Yorkshire team have been stalwart backmarkers in Pro Mod since stepping up to the class in 2008, with just two runner-up finishes to show for their labours – the supercharged, 1963 Corvette-bodied machine has served throughout. Nicholson’s career-best quarter-mile marks (6.082s/234.96mph) would have been frontrunning figures a decade ago but not in today’s 5.8s/240mph-plus world. But there was surprise and joy in equal measure when Nicholson blasted to a 5.889s/243.71mph, not only shattering the team’s previous bests but securing Nicholson a first-ever pole position and the lowest elapsed time of the event.…

Jim Clark (Lotus-Climax 25) leads Bruce McLaren (Cooper-Climax T66), Graham Hill (BRM P57), Jack Brabham (Brabham-Climax BT7) and McLaren’s team-mate Tony Maggs on the opening lap of the 1963 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. In a demonstration of smooth, controlled domination, polesitter Clark went on to lap the entire field to take the second of the seven wins he would clock up in this 10-round season. None of the other drivers pictured made the finish. Brabham driver Dan Gurney was a crowd-pleasing runner-up, fighting back after a fluffed shift off the line dropped him to the back of the field. For classic motorsport DVDs and downloads head to dukevideo.com For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…