Indholdsfortegnelse for 27/07/23 i Autosport

Qualifying gave the impression that the Hungarian Grand Prix could be close, but there was only ever going to be one winner last weekend. Once he had overcome polesitter (for the 104th time) Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen was in total control at the Hungaroring. While all but the most hardcore of Red Bull fans would surely like to see more Formula 1 competition at the front of the field, Red Bull deserves its new world championship record of 12 consecutive victories. Not only has it produced a brilliant car, its work in the pitlane shows that it has all bases covered, with the possible exception of the second car. Despite a combative race drive, Sergio Perez once again finished third in a car essentially on another level to the rest…

WEC The future of the Glickenhaus Racing squad in the World Endurance Championship appears to be in doubt after a decision to skip the next round at Fuji in September. Team founder Jim Glickenhaus has stuck to his vow not to continue in the series this year with his Pipo-engined 007 Le Mans Hypercar without sponsorship. No funding was forthcoming before the freight left by sea last week for the Asian leg of the WEC comprising the Fuji 6 Hours on 10 September and then the eight-hour fixture in Bahrain on 4 November. Glickenhaus hasn’t ruled out airfreighting his solo full-season entry to the season finale, but he appeared pessimistic that sponsorship can be found in time. “I’ve said that unless we find serious sponsorship that would allow us to…

NASCAR CUP Supercars stars Shane van Gisbergen and Brodie Kostecki will join Jenson Button and Kamui Kobayashi on the NASCAR Cup grid at Indianapolis next month. Three-time Supercars champion van Gisbergen will return following his debut victory in Chicago earlier this month (above), rejoining Trackhouse Racing for the 13 August event. Current Supercars title contender Kostecki will make his series bow in the same race, driving a third Richard Childress Chevrolet (below). Rumours persist that van Gisbergen, who currently lies fourth in the Supercars standings – two spots behind Kostecki – could make a full-time switch to NASCAR in 2024 or 2025. “I never dreamed this could have all rolled out this way,” said the 34-year-old Kiwi. “Just getting to race in NASCAR is an opportunity I never thought I…

Records are meant to be broken eventually. It was probably inconceivable for many that a team could beat the 11-win streak that McLaren managed in 1988 with its MP4/4, especially after Mercedes’ dominance in the mid-to-late 2010s could not match it. But Red Bull has achieved the unthinkable. Max Verstappen’s win at Abu Dhabi last year began the streak, which has persisted in the first half of the 2023 season to bring the Red Bull squad up to 12 wins on the trot. And it managed to do so among one of the most competitive fields for years, where Red Bull’s RB19 has been tested, and sometimes beaten, in qualifying. But how does the RB19’s dominance stack up against that of some of F1’s greatest cars? For that, the supertimes…

The outcome of the Hungarian Grand Prix all boiled down to one event: what happened in the first corner. Largely dormant since 2021, the Lewis Hamilton-Max Verstappen rivalry resurfaced as the two locked out the front row, where Hamilton claimed his first Formula 1 pole since the two did battle amid the final year of the previous generation of cars. If Verstappen suffered a repeat of his opening salvo in the British Grand Prix two weeks prior, Hamilton could theoretically employ the solid race pace present in the Mercedes, and realistically make life more difficult for Red Bull. Conversely, should the Dutchman get the upper hand into the tight opening corner, his hopes of delivering a 12th successive win for the Red Bull squad to break McLaren’s record-holding 11-race streak…

A penalty for speeding in the pitlane earned Charles Leclerc an extra five seconds, which when applied post-race boosted Mercedes driver George Russell to sixth – capping the Briton’s impressive rise from his lowly 18th on the grid. Leclerc was the quicker Ferrari driver on Sunday, despite having early pressure from soft tyre-shod team-mate Carlos Sainz. Leclerc, on the mediums, eventually pulled away in stint one but couldn’t stay with Lewis Hamilton ahead in fourth. When a wheelgun problem delayed the change of his left-rear medium by seven seconds, he emerged in net seventh behind Sainz. He caught his team-mate, with both Ferraris now on the hards, then was given the first of their second stops and undercut ahead. But as he came in late on the brakes he was…

Fernando Alonso suggested the recent change of tyre construction by Pirelli has hurt Aston Martin’s form, as the green team recorded another low-key result of ninth and 10th last weekend in Hungary. Alonso had what he called a “lonely race with no threats behind” after losing contact with the Ferrari drivers chasing Lewis Hamilton in stint one. He then had to be waved through by team-mate Lance Stroll, who’d gained with an early undercut stop to swap the softs he’d used to pass Valtteri Bottas with an aggressive outside-line move at Turn 4 on lap one. Stroll eventually claimed the final point, with both Aston Martins headed by George Russell’s recovering Mercedes early in the final stint. While the Briton spent the rest of the race catching the Ferraris, Alonso…

INDYCAR IOWA (USA) 22-23 JULY ROUNDS 11&12/17 Josef Newgarden once more displayed his ‘Mr Iowa’ credentials by scoring two comprehensive wins in the double-header at the 7/8-mile speedbowl, situated among the cornfields in America’s heartland. Team Penske’s Newgarden extended his streak of oval victories to five, adding this pair to his 2023 Texas and Indianapolis 500 wins and Gateway last year (he also won the first race at Iowa 12 months ago, but crashed out of the second with suspension failure while leading). The lap-leader scores for this weekend spoke volumes: Newgarden: 341; Power: 149; the rest: 10. “Very gratifying,” he said of his win double. “When you show up with a car like this, you’ve got the pressure to execute and get the job done. And if you don’t,…

WRX LYDDEN HILL (GBR) 22-23 JULY ROUND 4/8 The World RallyCross Championship’s return to Lydden Hill for the first time since 2017 was overshadowed by a paddock fire on Friday morning that caused all track running for the RX1e cars to be cancelled. Investigations into the blaze that destroyed both Special ONE Racing cars of team boss Guerlain Chicherit and Sebastien Loeb, plus a team transporter, were ongoing as Autosport closed for press. No one was injured, but the team will be unable to participate in the final four rounds of the World RX season. The decision to call off Saturday’s RX1e races was made on Friday, before an announcement the following evening that Sunday’s running could not proceed until investigations launched by the FIA and supported by battery supplier…

NASCAR CUP POCONO (USA) 23 JULY ROUND 21/36 Denny Hamlin scored an important but unpopular win at Pocono after moving one of his friends out of the way to do it. After a final round of stops, Kyle Larson and Hamlin – who both took just two new right-side tyres – battled for the lead on a restart with seven of 160 laps to go. Hamlin lined up behind Larson in the outside lane and, as the two entered Turn 1, the Toyota dived to the inside of the Chevy. Hamlin then drifted up the track and nudged his rival into the wall, knocking him off the pace. With the lead in hand, Hamlin then held off Tyler Reddick – who had taken four new tyres – until a last-lap…

HISTORICS The Historic Grand Prix Cars Association tops the bill for this weekend’s Oulton Park Gold Cup meeting, which is set to feature more than a century’s worth of cars and will showcase the Cheshire venue’s greatest champions across a three-day programme, starting on Friday. From Maserati 250Fs of the type in which Stirling Moss won the first two Gold Cup events in 1954-55, through Formula 1 Coopers and Lotuses of the race’s Jack Brabham and Jim Clark era to British Touring Car BMWs of the 1990s, a feast for enthusiasts is assured. The HGPCA double-header has been accorded the Historic Gold Cup title. A wondrous entry (plus reserves), encompasses everything from John Gillett’s ex-Prince Bira 1934 MG K3 to 1.5-litre V8-engined F1 chassis and powerful pre-1966 Tasman cars. Pre-event…

BRITISH GT Team Parker Racing and Elite Motorsport have formed a combined effort for the rest of the British GT season with Elite’s McLaren Artura GT4 replacing Parker’s Porsche 718 Cayman. The partnership between the two multiple champion squads had its first race together last weekend in Portugal, fielding one of Elite’s Arturas from European GT4, but still with Parker pair Zac Meakin and Dan Vaughan driving. Team Parker has had technical woes with the Porsche. The Artura ran strongly, qualifying third in GT4 then running in that place early in the race. However, the car was seriously delayed when held at a pit exit red light under a safety car and finished eighth. Parker boss Stuart Parker said: “Two teams came together in essence to create one, and everything…

DRAG RACING Rain washed out last Saturday’s three Pro Modified qualifying sessions for the fourth round of the Motorsport UK British Drag Racing Championship, as a single-shot qualifier on Sunday morning set the field for eliminations. Bobby Wallace’s ascendancy has developed a routine quality that belies the intensity and expertise demanded of the small family team, as he has now reached six consecutive Pro Mod finals and won four of them. His defeated final round opponent, Wayne Nicholson, was contesting his third final this season, having reached just two in the preceding 15. Retired two-time champion Kevin Slyfield, making a one-off return, actually beat Nicholson to the finish line but grazed the track wall on the way, earning disqualification. Andy Robinson’s forlorn season continued, meanwhile, as Wallace delivered the event’s…

ALGARVE BRITISH GT 23 JULY They say it’s calm in the eye of a storm, and last weekend’s British GT three-hour away-day in Algarve was indeed a stormy affair. Numerous incidents and three safety car interruptions – one of which lasted half an hour – jumbled the order, yet out the other side came the most likely of winners who, amid all the drama, put in a typically calm and classy performance. Even as the mayhem was going on, the 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG of championship leaders James Cottingham and Jonny Adam was favourite for much of the way, even if the crew had to overcome a 15-second success penalty from the previous round. The stats underline their status as British GT3’s class act this season. It was the pair’s third…

KNOCKHILL BRSCC 22-23 JULY With two wins out of three, Carl Boardley enjoyed almost the perfect weekend as TCR UK returned to Knockhill for the first time since 2018. Coming into the weekend 29 points adrift of Bruce Winfield at the top of the standings, Boardley knew he needed to turn in a strong performance, particularly with Winfield weighed down by having to carry an extra 40kg for the trio of races. He duly delivered with a dominant 11-second victory in Saturday’s opener before charging through the field in the second race from 10th, only to be denied victory by a track-limits penalty. Having taken pole for the final bout, Boardley stayed true to form to complete a near-perfect outing. “I’m pretty speechless at the minute to be honest, we’ve…

SNETTERTON BRSCC 22-23 JULY Aidan Hills added two more wins to his burgeoning Mazda MX-5 Supercup tally at Snetterton last weekend to further extend his championship lead. Hills escaped from a three-way battle for second in race one to reel in early pacesetter James Cossins. “I got him into Riches after he had gone sideways through Murrays,” said Hills after leading from lap four of eight. Cossins held onto a clear second, with Patrick Fletcher and Fraser Fenwick completing the top four. Tom Griffiths had escaped from a quartet battling for second when rain arrived in race two. But Ali Bray soon broke clear and managed to oust Griffiths from his lead, before both aquaplaned off at Brundle, handing Hills the advantage from Fletcher and Cossins. Three laps behind the…

BOULEY BAY & VAL DES TERRES BRITISH HILLCLIMB 19 & 22 JULY Wallace Menzies continued his inexorable progress towards a fourth straight British Hillclimb Championship title with a commanding performance across the annual Channel Islands events. Menzies and his Gould GR59 won three of the four championship run-offs, sharing the Bouley Bay glory with Scott Moran and then doing a double three days later at Val des Terres. With 11 wins and nine other podiums from 20 rounds to date, it is increasingly hard to see anyone coming between the Scotsman and another crown. Bouley Bay was its usual slippery self despite a warm and sunny day last Wednesday. This is a hill where power is not the be-all and end-all and the search for grip was evidenced by traction…

BOOK TYRRELL: THE STORY OF THE TYRRELL RACING ORGANISATION Richard Jenkins RRP £90 After its 30-year tenure gracing the Formula 1 grid, the Tyrrell team faded away after a buyout from British American Tobacco in 1998, but its legacy still remains, and its successor evolved and finally delivered success as Mercedes. Although the Tyrrell name was hardly imbued with the romance of Lotus or Ferrari, it remains just as evocative. On the front cover of Tyrrell: The Story of the Tyrrell Racing Organisation, a photo of Jackie Stewart’s tartan-lined helmet peeking out of a Tyrrell 003 sits atop Jean Alesi’s anhedral-winged Tyrrell 019. An image of the six-wheeled P34, piloted by Ronnie Peterson, sits on the rear cover. When you think of Tyrrell, perhaps you consider one of those three…

FORMULA 1 Engine equalisation could return to Formula 1, with teams due to discuss the need to resolve any performance disparity between powertrain manufacturers. This topic – along with the potential ban on tyre blankets, further changes to the sprint race format and whether the FIA should adjust cost cap exclusions to allow teams to upgrade their infrastructure – is on the agenda for the F1 Commission meeting at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix. The FIA has conducted analysis of the competitiveness of the engines, which has largely been fuelled by concerns from Alpine that its Renault unit is a not a match for rivals. That’s despite Viry engineers targeting power, at the expense of durability, with the 2022 powerplant knowing that only changes to improve reliability would be permitted…

INDYCAR IndyCar and its technical partner Dallara have provided an update to improve the overall strength and retention of wheel hubs following Kyle Kirkwood’s flying wheel incident at the Indianapolis 500. The updated rear-wheel bearing retaining nut was distributed to all IndyCar entrants for last weekend’s double-header oval event at Iowa Speedway, where its use was mandatory. The strength of the part has increased by 60% over the previous design. Revisions to the component came after a review of the Indy 500 incident, where the left-rear wheel assembly of Kirkwood’s Andretti Autosport car became detached, after he clipped Felix Rosenqvist’s spinning Arrow McLaren entry at high speed, and flew over the debris fencing. It didn’t hit anyone, but the wheel did inflict serious damage to a road car in a…

WRC Sunday format changes, a new points structure and even a fan grid walk are among the ideas being discussed by the World Rally Championship and FIA that could be introduced next year. The WRC is currently undergoing an extensive review in a bid to improve its appeal following recent criticism from drivers, teams and fans. A list of ideas put forward by stakeholders has been collated following several meetings over the past two months. The WRC Promoter and FIA are now working on a proposal of changes for 2024 to be tabled to the FIA World Motor Sport Council later this year. Improving its Sunday format is at the top of its agenda as crews are often cruising to save tyres before the rally-ending Power Stage, where bonus points…

GT/TCR Audi has come under fire for its decision to heavily curtail its customer racing activities from 2024, including the end of factory-supported programmes in GT3 championships. Audi’s customer racing division will be downsized next year, with the German manufacturer ending the production of R8 LMS GT3 and other racing models within its range, as well as disbanding its pool of 14 works drivers (Autosport, 20 July). Teams that are accustomed to receiving financial support from the brand will also be affected. A number of teams have reacted poorly to the news, with heavy criticism being directed at Audi CEO Markus Duesmann, who is understood to have directed all of its resources to its upcoming Formula 1 project in 2026 at the cost of its existing motorsport programmes. Former boss…

UK START TIMES Friday 28 July FP 1230 QUALIFYING 1600 Saturday 29 July SPRINT QUALIFYING 1100 SPRINT 1530 Sunday 30 July RACE 1400 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 BBC RADIO 5 LIVE TV Highlights CHANNEL 4 1830 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS Drivers Constructors SPA STATS Previous winners 2022 POLE POSITION POLE LAP RECORD Lewis Hamilton 1m41.252s (2020) RACE LAP RECORD Valtteri Bottas 1m46.286s (2018) Laps led Michael Schumacher 259 Ayrton Senna 211 Lewis Hamilton 180 Kimi Raikkonen 153 Sebastian Vettel 133 Juan Manuel Fangio 111 Jim Clark 101 Alain Prost 85 David Coulthard 60 Alberto Ascari 58…

On 30 March 2023, Autosport published a feature article, An Embarrassment of Riches. The article includes statements that impute that Welch Motorsport, Dan and John Welch are deliberate cheats. After publication, we received information that shows that those statements and imputations are false and insupportable. As a result, Autosport removed the online version of the article from the website and digital version of the magazine. Autosport acknowledges the serious harm to the reputations of Welch Motorsport, Dan and John that the article may have caused. John is a former British and European Rallycross championship driver and British Rallycross champion, who went on to establish as owner and principal the Welch Motorsport racing team, with Dan as a driver. Together, Welch Motorsport, John and Dan have participated in seven British Touring…

“Even though it’s my 104th, it feels like it’s the first. It’s hard to explain just how special it feels,” Lewis Hamilton declared, having roared to a slightly unexpected pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix at the expense of Max Verstappen. Amid the new ‘alternative tyre allocation’ rules that were being trialled at the Hungaroring – hards being mandated for Q1, mediums for Q2 and softs for Q3 – each layer of qualifying was presented with a thick dollop of drama that culminated in a thrilling three-way shootout for pole at the death of the session. Verstappen had thrown down the gauntlet with his first flying lap in Q3, setting the benchmark with a 1m16.612s for the other nine runners to beat once the last-orders bell had sounded. It…

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer said the Turn 1 incident that eliminated his drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon from the Hungarian race was “like bowling”, with the incident kicked off by Alfa Romeo driver Zhou Guanyu. Zhou, a qualifying star starting fifth on the grid, had a shocking getaway from well ahead of the Alpine pair. Zhou reported his initial problem in the car as a clutch issue that Alfa later claimed was really brake software trouble. Then he outbraked himself at Turn 1 and tapped Daniel Ricciardo into Ocon, who in turn was sent climbing over Gasly – at this point attacking nicely in the other A523 on the right-hander’s outside. All four cars escaped the run-off, with Zhou and Ricciardo apparently suffering minimal damage. The former was…

Finnish rally legend Markku Alen once uttered the words “I feel if I want to win the stage, I will win the stage” during a period of World Rally Championship dominance 36 years ago. The saying steeped in rally folklore was revived by the WRC’s latest flying Finn Kalle Rovanpera, who repeated those famous words en route to the most crushing victory of his career to date at Rally Estonia. There was no arrogance behind Rovanpera’s delivery of Alen’s words, just pure fact backed up by the timing screens, and an astonishing streak of 13 consecutive stage wins that left his rivals trailing in his wake. The 22-year-old raised the bar to new heights to become the youngest ever world champion last year, but in Estonia, he and co-driver Jonne…

FORMULA 2 HUNGARORING (HUN) 22-23 JULY ROUND 10/13 Jack Doohan put on a masterclass in Hungary to claim his first win of 2023, bouncing back from a difficult start to the season to dominate the feature race. The Virtuosi driver led from pole position for the duration, breaking the DRS gap to Frederik Vesti (Prema) by lap seven before building a five-second lead ahead of Vesti’s pitstop. Doohan followed suit two laps later and emerged in front, eventually building a nine-second cushion for his first win since the Belgian round last year. Championship leader Vesti finished second to extend his advantage to 11 points over ART’s Theo Pourchaire. Vesti fended off a late challenge from Victor Martins (ART), who took his seventh podium amid a stunning rookie season. There was…

INDY NXT IOWA (USA) 22 JULY ROUND 7/12 Christian Rasmussen won the Indy NXT race at Iowa Speedway last Saturday evening by just 0.1227 seconds, taking the championship lead after title rival Nolan Siegel spun. Jacob Abel led the 16-car field from pole for the 75-lapper around the 7/8-mile short oval, but Rasmussen took little time in passing him for the lead on lap two. As he scampered clear, an epic fight for second broke out as they hit lapped traffic. Siegel grabbed second from Abel, who tripped over a lapped car and also lost third to Hunter McElrea. Rasmussen’s lead was now more than 10s as McElrea charged up to challenge Siegel for second. But they touched wheels at Turn 2, sending erstwhile points leader Siegel spinning. He made…

FORMULA REGIONAL EUROPEAN PAUL RICARD (FRA) 22-23 JULY ROUND 6/10 Mercedes Formula 1 junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli leads the Formula Regional European Championship after victory at a scorching Paul Ricard. Local lad Alessandro Giusti claimed a surprise pole position for himself and G4 Racing, with then-points leader Martinius Stenshorne sharing the race-one front row with him. Antonelli and Esteban Masson qualified fifth and sixth, with practice pacesetter Santiago Ramos down in 14th on the grid. Giusti converted pole into victory on Saturday, winning by 2.155 seconds over MP Motorsport’s Sami Meguetounif. MP had returned to the grid having missed the previous round after Meguetounif’s team-mate Dilano van’t Hoff died in a crash at Spa. Meguetounif passed Stenshorne into Turn 1 on the opening lap, and on lap two Charlie Wurz…

BRITISH GT British GT championship leader James Cottingham is optimistic that co-driver Jonny Adam will race in the Donington Park finale if the GT3 title is up for grabs. The Pro-Am pair now lead the standings by 28 points with two races remaining, the 2 Seas Motorsport crew having won last weekend around the Algarve circuit. The victory was the Mercedes-AMG drivers’ third of the year, having also won the season-opening Oulton Park race and at Donington Park, with the success in Portugal Adam’s 19th in British GT – putting him equal with Phil Keen’s outright record. Despite the pairing’s success, Adam – who is an Aston Martin factory driver – is set to be replaced by Keen for October’s Donington finale as the four-time overall British GT champion is…

BRITISH RALLYCROSS Reigning champion Patrick O’Donovan dominated the fifth and sixth rounds of the British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy at Lydden Hill last weekend to climb back into the series lead. Having won twice in the opening double-header of the season at the same circuit, O’Donovan missed the second event of the year at Mondello Park due to a clash with European Championship commitments. Having won the Euro RX round in Sweden, O’Donovan returned to the national series and laid down a marker amid a record-breaking 18-car field. Fastest in every session on the opening day, the event was turned into a double-header round on Saturday evening, with the headline World Rallycross category unable to run at the event due to the fire that destroyed the Special One Racing…

The British GT4 race at the Algarve circuit had even more twists and turns than in GT3, with the dynamic of the race lending itself to Pro-Am duos – their minimum pitstop time 14 seconds shorter than Silver Cup rivals at each of the three scheduled stops. And so it proved as Michael Johnston and Chris Salkeld took a freshman win in their Century BMW. Salkeld is in his third year of British GT and this year he’s been joined by his friend Johnston, with whom he has a mentoring relationship. They’ve been quietly effective during 2023, and in Portimao they were rewarded with the first British GT win for both of them. The GT4 pit strategies largely split down the middle during the three-hour race, and it was left…

TCR UK Races 1 & 3 Carl Boardley (Cupra Leon Competicion) Race 2 Alex Ley (Hyundai i30 N) CIVIC CUP Race 1 Dan Thackeray Race 2 Liam McGill Race 3 Max Edmundson FIESTA ST240 Race 1 John Cooper Race 2 Alastair Kellett Race 3 Matt Luff FIESTA ST150 CHALLENGE Races 1 & 2 Chris Grimes Race 3 Sam Beckett FIESTA JUNIOR Race 1 Ben Mulryan (Zetec S) Race 2 Jacob Hodgkiss (Zetec S) BMW COMPACT CUP Races 1, 2 & 3 Steven Dailly (below) AUDI TT CUP Race 1 Ross Makar Races 2 & 3 Richard Forber KMSC MODSPORTS Races 1 & 2 Gordon Duncan (Radical PR6) BRSCC EVOLUTION TROPHY Races 1, 2 & 3 Tommy Gilham (VW Golf Mk5) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

Arguably no driver is as closely associated with the Ford Cosworth-powered Lola B02/00 Champ Car chassis as Sebastien Bourdais. In its five seasons of competition in the US open-wheel series, the Frenchman won three titles in a row and made Formula 1 realise it had missed a trick. In his 59 starts from 2003-06 with the Newman/Haas Racing-run Lola, which “fitted my driving style incredibly well”, Bourdais racked up 23 wins from 42 top-five finishes, 25 poles and 26 fastest laps. He was competitive on all types of track in a car he notes “was somewhat less sensitive to ride height than most flat-bottom cars”. No wonder its place as his favourite car is cemented. “I had some really magical moments,” recalls Bourdais, now a staple of Cadillac’s GTP programme…

FORMULA E Porsche has committed to the Formula E championship until the end of the 2026 season. The German manufacturer first joined the all-electric championship in 2019 with an initial plan to remain in the category for five years, taking its involvement up until the end of the 2023-24 season. But on Monday it was announced Porsche would extend its commitment to the championship for at least an additional two years, up until the end of the 2025-26 campaign. “We want to showcase innovative technologies and more sustainability in motor racing and be on the leading edge of new developments,” said Thomas Laudenbach, vice-president of Porsche Motorsport. “Formula E plays a major role in this. The competition in this series is exceptionally high and enables us to provide important impetus…

No, a mechanic hasn’t knocked over a tin of flow-vis. This is the special livery that Alfa Romeo will use to decorate its C43 for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix. The neon green flashes on the front and rear wings, sidepods and wheel covers come courtesy of a 2023 partnership with gaming live-streaming platform Kick. Drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu will hope the recent Silverstone upgrade package, which helped both cars progress into Q3 last time out in Hungary, will be similarly effective at Spa to lift the Sauber squad beyond ninth in the constructors’ standings.…

BTCC Team Hard last week made its second driver change of the British Touring Car summer break, and it’s the Kent squad’s highest-placed driver in the standings who’s now gone. After winning last year’s Jack Sears Trophy title, Bobby Thompson had been further increasing his reputation this season with strong drives in his Hard Cupra Leon, enjoying the association with his new engineer, ex-Team Dynamics technical chief Barry Plowman. But the requirement to bring in more funding than Thompson was originally tasked with finding has ended his campaign. “It’s the ever-growing costs in touring cars up and down the grid – what we’re going through in the real world, it’s hard to bring that money in,” said Thompson, who stressed that he had stayed up to date with his financial…

It was nearly the most underwhelming ending to a story that had captivated the Formula 1 news cycle for almost two weeks. Daniel Ricciardo back racing at the top level of single-seaters. Following its role in the Zhou Guanyu-caused first-corner melee, the remarkably undamaged AT04 was still stuck behind Logan Sargeant on lap 13 of 70, when the Williams pitted for the first time. This was Ricciardo’s first chance to run in clear air and it marked a turning point for his race. But then AlphaTauri pitted him in turn at the end of lap 18 to switch from medium tyres to hards, which put Ricciardo back into the train behind Sargeant and right at the back of the field. The undercut’s power was clear and, with Ricciardo coming in…

The TV cameras don’t quite do the elevation change around the Turn 2 left-hander justice. Autosport parks up at the second corner of the Hungaroring circuit, clutching a coat in the event that the heavy grey clouds dump their payload around the circuit 20km north-east of the historic city of Budapest. The first takers to the track draw closer after the tight Turn 1 and load up on downforce to sweep into the next corner. Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo has subtle aero rakes, while the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon seem to bottom out slightly as they bounce through the corner. The AlphaTauris and Red Bulls then emerge, the Honda-designed turbocharger whining as they disappear into the distance to take the fast-right Turn 3. One of them, Sergio…

The FIA will review engine-change penalty regulations in the World Rally Championship following Ott Tanak’s sanction at Rally Estonia. Under the current regulations, WRC teams are restricted to two engines per chassis across the season as part of cost saving measures with the Rally1 regulations that were introduced last year. The rules also stipulate that if an engine change is required on-event, even if there is still one more power unit in the season allocation, the competitor will receive a five-minute penalty regardless of the timing of the switch. Tanak is now utilising the second engine of his allotted pool for the season, which will now have to last the remaining five events of the campaign. A further change, if required, will result in another five-minute penalty. The FIA has…

FORMULA 3 HUNGARORING (HUN) 22-23 JULY ROUND 7/9 Zak O’Sullivan led a Prema 1-2 to claim a triumphant fourth win of the season in the Hungaroring feature race and jump to second in the standings. The 2021 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year was supreme in Sunday’s shortened race, leading from pole position to beat rookie team-mate Dino Beganovic by 2.3s. It lifts him to 43 points behind leader Gabriel Bortoleto (Trident) with two rounds to go, at Spa and Monza. The race was shortened by five laps – from 24 to 19 – for “safety reasons” after a Pirelli recommendation due to the level of tyre wear experienced in Saturday’s sprint race. The top 10 remained unchanged off the line in a relatively sedate start by…

IMSA LIME ROCK PARK (USA) 22 JULY ROUND 7/11 The Heart of Racing Team found the perfect way to celebrate English-born, American-based team principal Ian James’ 50th birthday last Saturday at Lime Rock Park. Buckinghamshire’s Ross Gunn and Spaniard Alex Riberas bounced back from a disappointing start to their IMSA season to control almost all of the GT showcase event in their GTD Pro Aston Martin Vantage GT3, while team-mates Roman De Angelis, from Canada, and Swede Marco Sorensen combined to secure their second victory of the season in GTD. With overtaking notoriously difficult on the challenging 1.474-mile circuit, track position was critical as the two-hour-and-40-minute race unfolded. Gunn provided the springboard by snatching a surprise pole position on Friday afternoon. Despite trailing the slim but extremely competitive five-car GTD…

PORSCHE SUPERCUP HUNGARORING (HUN) 23 JULY ROUND 4/7 Harry King bounced back from a pair of disastrous results in Austria and Britain to put his Porsche Supercup challenge back on course with a lights-to-flag victory. Even with two safety car interventions across the shortened 15-lap distance, Lechner Racing’s King proved unflappable. CLRT rookie driver Benjamin Paque made an immediate impact from fourth on the grid and challenged the leaders in the opening stages, making early gains before dropping back by the end of the opening lap as the first safety car intervention came. This interruption was caused by incidents involving Giorgio Amati, Ghislain Cordeel, Gianmarco Quaresmini and Lucas Groeneveld, with the latter pair left stranded on the track. Dorian Boccolacci tried every trick in the book to distract leader King…

BRITISH GT British GT frontrunner Dan Harper described the 30-second stop/go penalty he received at the Algarve circuit for overtaking under the safety car as “very harsh”. Harper was fighting for victory in last weekend’s race in the Century BMW M4 he shares with Darren Leung, but was judged to have passed two GT4 cars that had just exited the pits during a safety car period. The BMWrecovered to finish fifth, but Leung/Harper, who sit second in the standings, lost ground to championship leaders James Cottingham and Jonny Adam. Harper said: “We were trying to push as hard as we could to catch the safety car queue. I was doing 270km/h [170mph], we met just at the apex of Turn 1 and I went round the outside of them. “It…

Derek Warwick was reunited with the 1989 Arrows A11 he raced in period during a get-together organised by the car’s owner Jean-Lou Rihon at Donington Park last week. Warwick (centre above) completed a few laps of the Grand Prix circuit, alongside Nick Padmore (right) in the sister chassis, originally raced by Eddie Cheever. Also in attendance were the A11’s designer Ross Brawn along with Arrows team co-founder Jackie Oliver (far left). “It was my first time in an F1 car since I retired – it was a lovely experience, really enjoyed it and the team have done a fantastic job with the cars,” said Warwick.…

CIVIC CUP Civic Cup frontrunner Jack Harding was back in action last weekend at Knockhill, six weeks after a season-threatening accident left the Leeds driver heavily concussed. A fundraising effort totalling nearly £3000 enabled Harding and his Ben Sharpe Racing team to repair his car for the trio of races in Scotland. “It’s fair to say that without the help of everyone chipping in, I wouldn’t have been able to race this weekend, and maybe for the rest of the year,” said Harding. “There was extra motivation for me to come back out because I wanted to repay the support everyone has shown.” Harding didn’t have the best of luck at Knockhill, as he fell ill on Saturday and could only manage a best finish of 10th in race two.…

HISTORICS Classic Nostalgia at Shelsley Walsh underlined its position as one of the leading events of the genre with a fine weekend of action. Once a year, the historic Worcestershire hillclimb venue celebrates its heritage and that of the sport in general. Last weekend’s edition drew rave reviews from a bumper crowd, who battled Saturday’s rain and enjoyed Sunday’s sunshine. A big effort from organisers delivered the event’s best competition entry to date with a raft of classes to cover a range of pre-1970 cars. But Classic Nostalgia is not just a competitive hillclimb. A tremendous array of race, hillclimb and rally cars were on hand, with some doing demonstration runs to delight the audience. The noise, spectacle and speed of some absolute gems being put through their paces on…

In the post-COVID-19 era of motorsport in the UK, the grassroots scene has perhaps never held as much importance as it does today. New championships have come and gone as budgets have shrunk, while some have barely made it off the drawing board. Trying to sell a five-car series to prospective drivers has therefore become something of an impossible task, but the British Racing & Sports Car Club has devised an innovative way of encouraging new blood without breaking the bank. Launched at the start of this year, the BRSCC Evolution Trophy is a multi-class category that allows emerging series to simultaneously find their feet before eventually developing into a standalone grid once entry sizes increase. “It’s a fairly unique concept we have come up with, based on a history…

CADWELL PARK BARC 22-23 JULY Freddie Slater was denied an early chance to seal the Ginetta Junior title despite taking two more wins at Cadwell Park last weekend. Having lapped almost two seconds faster than anybody else in qualifying, Slater lined up on pole for Saturday’s race – the series’ first at the Lincolnshire venue since 2008. The R Racing driver built a 13s advantage in treacherous conditions before spinning off at Gooseneck. He rejoined with a 2s lead, which he doubled by the finish for his 15th win ahead of team-mate Mikey Porter, who passed Alisha Palmowski for second. Slater’s nearest rival Hugo Schwarze gained from excursions for Chase Fernandez and Elite’s new signing Finn Harrison to finish sixth. Slater scored another lights-to-flag triumph in Sunday’s dry race two…

DONINGTON PARK BARC 22 JULY Oppressive low clouds and rain welcomed a subdued crowd to Donington Park for Britcar’s 6 Hour race last Saturday. Although the wind held fast, the rain eased during a qualifying session in which the Track Focused KTM GT4 of Mike McCollum and Teddy Wilson stamped its authority, half a second ahead of the 13-car field. Yet, come the rolling start, it was a closer story and Bobby Trundley at the wheel of the Team Brit McLaren 570S GT4 took the fight to the KTM. He eventually grabbed the lead into Redgate after 20 minutes, only for the KTM to regain its position at the front after the first round of pitstops. Meanwhile, the Sport77 Ginetta circulated in a lonely third place while behind it a…

Roger Williamson (3) draws alongside Patrick Depailler in the Monza Lottery round of the 1973 European Formula 2 Championship. Williamson, driving a Wheatcroft Racing March-BMW, had beaten Depailler’s Elf Coombs Alpine-Ford in the first of two heats. In the second, he went off with Vittorio Brambilla at the start, recovered to pass Depailler, spun again, then surged back past the Frenchman, even though second place would have been enough for honours on aggregate. Williamson, a huge talent, would lose his life a month later, on 29 July 1973, in a fire after crashing in the Dutch GP – 50 years ago this week. For classic motorsport DVDs and downloads head to dukevideo.com For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…