Indholdsfortegnelse for 30/05/24 i Autosport

Autosport had mixed feelings following last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix. On the one hand, it was fantastic to see Charles Leclerc emotionally end his ‘jinx’ at his home circuit, particularly given the remarkable fact that he’d not won a GP since July 2022. But, on the other, it was hard not to think that the Monte Carlo streets are not an appropriate setting for a Formula 1 race, so limited was the action. In this issue, Alex Kalinauckas explains how Leclerc was able to score his long-awaited victory (page 14), and explores how the Monaco GP could be improved to create a better spectacle (p12). It was a bumper weekend of motorsport events and, despite its delayed start, the Indianapolis 500 didn’t disappoint. Josef Newgarden pulled off a last-lap pass…

FORMULA 1 Formula 1 is discussing a $600million dilution fund for new teams as part of the next Concorde Agreement. Talks have begun between teams and F1’s commercial rights holder about the terms of a new deal that will define all key commercial aspects of F1 from 2026. Sources have revealed that, as part of the draft proposals sent to teams as a starting point for the Concorde Agreement, the dilution fund idea has been proposed to help offset any loss current competitors would face from sharing their commercial rights income with an 11th team. In the proposal, the current $200m payment that would be shared among the current teams would be replaced by a formula that will work to compensate the current competitors over a set period – believed…

BMW will field one of its M Hybrid V8 LMDhs run by the WRT team at the Le Mans 24 Hours in the latest of a long line of ‘Art Car’ liveries. The 20th special colour scheme from the German marque is the work of New York artist Julie Mehretu, known for her abstract landscapes, and will grace the #20 entry to be shared by Robin Frijns, Rene Rast and Sheldon van der Linde in the double-points round of the World Endurance Championship next month. The livery unveiled at the Pompidou Centre in Paris last week was described by Mehretu as a “performance painting”.…

FORMULA E Porsche announced ahead of last weekend’s Shanghai E-Prix that it has committed to Formula E throughout the Gen4 regulations, taking its involvement in the championship up to the end of the 2029-30 season. The German marque has been involved in Formula E since the 2019-20 season, and over the past five campaigns its works team has taken eight victories across Gen2 and Gen3 eras. While the factory effort has only achieved a best result of fourth in the teams’ standings, Porsche’s powertrain propelled Jake Dennis to the drivers’ title last season for customer squad Andretti. “We are on some kind of journey together, everybody together, but of course before you sign you have some talks, you want to clarify some things, you talk about conditions, you talk about…

5 FULVIA (1965-73) The Fulvia guided Lancia back into motorsport through the crucible of rallying in 1965. The eye-catching, V4-engined coupe enjoyed success on home soil, winning the Italian Rally Championship on its debut, the first of eight national titles and two European crowns. The Fulvia also secured the 1972 International Championship for Manufacturers, the precursor to the WRC, scoring three wins from nine rounds. 4 DELTA S4 (1985-86) Epitomising the beasts that spawned during the WRC’s famous Group B era, this mid-engined S4 combined turbocharging and supercharging. The result meant its 1.8-litre Fiat twin cam engine delivered more than 500bhp to its four-wheel-drive system. The S4 scored four wins and, along with the Peugeot 205 T16 Evo 2, was the ultimate Group B monster before the FIA scrapped the…

“I realised I was struggling to see out of the tunnel. I had tears in my eyes. And I was like, ‘F***, Charles, you cannot do that now, you still have two laps to finish’.” As if the task of navigating a Formula 1 car through the legendary streets wasn’t hard enough, Charles Leclerc had much weighing heavy on his heart and his shoulders in the closing stages of 2024’s Monaco Grand Prix. At this stage, on lap 76 of 78 of his emotional first victory at home in Monte Carlo last weekend, Leclerc’s thoughts had drifted. As he threaded his Ferrari SF-24 between the barriers, his sixth F1 career win long since secure, he thought of his late father, Herve. Leclerc is nearly seven years on from Herve’s death,…

Max Verstappen spent his entire Monaco Grand Prix sandwiched between the two Mercedes, with all three hampered by the red flag following their decision to start on the hard tyres. The trio switched to the medium compound to spend the first half of the race in lockstep, as George Russell backed off to save his tyres in a bid to get to the end of the race. A gap began to open between the seventh-placed Lewis Hamilton and Yuki Tsunoda in eighth, offering the Briton a chance to trade his mediums on the 51st lap for the hard tyres on which he’d started the race. Verstappen responded and came in for his starting tyres a lap later, but Hamilton was not informed that his out-lap was “critical”, so didn’t attempt…

YUKI TSUNODA RB DRIVER Quite a long race with so few pitstops… Yeah, it’s a very long race. I have to always respect the strategy that we planned and we didn’t want any single space so that other competitors use that opportunity [to undercut]. We always wanted to manage the tyres and the pace, make sure we always prepare for any situation. The last three laps, I enjoyed it because I got told I could push flat out, but until then it was fine tuning that to make sure I don’t be too greedy and manage the tyres. Are you ahead of Aston Martin now [on performance]? I would say we’re a little bit ahead if we see the last couple of races. I think we separate the top five…

Formula E went full circle last weekend, returning to China a decade on from its inaugural race in Beijing, and five years since its previous race in the country. Now the all-electric series has ‘grown up’, and was let loose on the Chinese Grand Prix permanent circuit. Nick Cassidy entered the Shanghai E-Prix double-header as points leader, failed to take a win in either race, but still came away with an extended lead in the standings. He also experienced a range of emotions over the weekend. Frustration had come in the opening contest, where the Jaguar driver had to play second fiddle to team-mate and fellow Kiwi Mitch Evans, who claimed his second victory of the season after surviving a post-race investigation. Evans and title protagonist Pascal Wehrlein dominated the…

FORMULA 2 MONTE CARLO (MCO) 25-26 MAY ROUND 5/14 Zak O’Sullivan pulled off a remarkable smash-and-grab maiden Formula 2 win in Monaco over a furious Isack Hadjar thanks to an audacious strategy worked perfectly by the ART Grand Prix team. Red Bull Junior Hadjar and Campos Racing appeared to have their third successive feature race victory in the bag when Joshua Durksen, after pitting late on the alternate strategy, parked at Casino Square on lap 40 of 42 with damage from moving over on Zane Maloney after exiting the pits. ART had gone all in on a gamble for a late safety car intervention, but instead it was the timing of a virtual safety car to remove the Paraguayan’s stranded car that paid off. It’s illegal to pit under the…

FORMULA REGIONAL EUROPEAN SPA (BEL) 25-26 MAY ROUND 2/10 Ferrari protege Rafael Camara has opened out an enormous lead in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine season after winning twice at Spa to add to his Hockenheim victory. Qualifying for race one was wet. While Enzo Peugeot led Alessandro Giusti and Camara in the slower first group, Roman Bilinski secured pole by beating Noah Stromsted to the fastest lap in the later session. James Wharton had a big crash on the Kemmel straight, which meant he missed the race. It was three-wide for the lead at the start, and French F4 graduate Peugeot got ahead at Les Combes before going off. Bilinski then led Zachary David and, as they fought for the lead, Stromsted and Camara joined the battle…

MOTOGP BARCELONA (ESP) 26 MAY ROUND 6/21 Francesco Bagnaia closed the book on a mixed Catalan Grand Prix weekend with one of his most important wins. Having been thoroughly bested by Ducati stablemates Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez at the preceding French GP, the reigning MotoGP world champion needed to bounce back at Barcelona. At a track where the factory rider hadn’t escaped the opening two corners in a grand prix in the previous two years, all was on course for a sprint win on Saturday. But in a race that featured five different leaders, two had already crashed when Bagnaia went down on the final lap at the Turn 5 left-hander. This gifted Aleix Espargaro a “fairytale” win at his home track 48 hours after the Aprilia rider announced…

MINI CHALLENGE Lydia Walmsley made Mini Challenge history at last weekend’s Snetterton event when she became the first female driver to take a podium in the series since the current top-class JCW machine was adopted in 2015. Walmsley had been in the thick of the podium fight in the second of the four Mini races in Norfolk, which she started down in ninth, when contact between Max Hall and Lewis Selby ahead left Hall taking to the grass at Nelson and she was able to capitalise by passing Selby through the Bomb Hole. Walmsley said she was “very proud” of the result at her local circuit since she is the sole entry for her small, family-run team and is competing against far larger, multi-car operations. “I got my first ever…

CASTLE COMBE GT Tom Walpole intrigued the Castle Combe paddock when he campaigned a KTM X-Bow Evo GT4+ at last Monday’s meeting, before it was badly damaged in a crash. The GT4+ had never been raced in the UK and, after receiving the car six weeks ago, Walpole had only raced it once before at the Classic Sports Car Club’s Spa Summer Classic meeting. “Marc Kemp is my driving coach and he’s driven KTMs quite a bit,” explained Walpole. “As he recommended Reiter Engineering, we decided to go for it.” The GT4+ features upgrades over the standard GT4 model. It produces 440bhp instead of the original 360bhp, and has a larger splitter and rear wing, as well as a lighter floor. Walpole plans to get the car out in the…

JIM CLARK RALLY BRC 24-25 MAY Keith Cronin is one of the most successful drivers in the history of the British Rally Championship with four titles to his name. Yet, after two rounds of this season, your money would have been placed elsewhere for the destiny of the 2024 crown. But the Irishman and his Ford Fiesta Rally2 were back on form at last weekend’s Jim Clark Rally, bagging a crucial victory and ensuring Cronin’s hopes for a fifth title remain firmly alive. Cronin entered into a battle with Chris Ingram from the outset, and it was the Volkswagen Polo driver who edged away over the opening loop on Friday. But, when the darkness descended, Cronin pounced. The Cronin of old, which lay dormant in the first two rallies, was…

RADICAL CUP UK Anyone who thought Chris Lulham’s brace of Radical Cup UK wins at Donington Park last month might be a one-off was left in no doubt of his ability at Snetterton – especially after his display in the wet fourth race, where he triumphed by a remarkable 40 seconds in a 20-minute contest. The one blemish on the Esports star’s otherwise perfect event came in the opener, which was the race postponed following the Donington deluge. Lulham was immediately on a charge in his Valour SR3 from seventh on the reversed grid but went straight on at Nelson on the first lap in the wet conditions, for which he was given a mid-race drive-through penalty for gaining an advantage. Lulham was baffled and a safety car period meant…

DONINGTON PARK BRITISH GT 25-26 MAY Sandy Mitchell and Alex Martin claimed the British GT points lead after staging a late comeback to win a frantic three-hour contest at Donington Park last weekend. The Barwell Motorsport duo triumphed from pole position, but it was never plain sailing because all four weather seasons practically hit Donington, leading to two red flag stoppages and seven safety car periods. Barwell’s #78 car lost its lead early on before dropping as low as seventh during the middle stages, until others’ retirements and mega pace helped Mitchell/Martin retake first in the final minutes. “I can’t believe we just won the craziest race,” said Mitchell, who now has a 9.5-point championship lead after four rounds. “On paper, when we look back, it says pole and win,…

DONINGTON PARK BRSCC 25-26 MAY Despite leading at the end of all three of last weekend’s Ginetta Junior contests, Chase Fernandez came away from Donington Park with just one victory, while Henry Joslyn scored a double triumph to claim the series lead. Fernandez was involved in an opening-race skirmish with Joslyn, who received a nudge from Charlie Hart behind to draw alongside the R Racing driver for the lead into Coppice. A door-banging squabble followed before Joslyn was pushed off the road and, after finishing 2.4 seconds clear, Fernandez was given a post-race penalty and demoted to second behind the Preptech UK racer. Joslyn led a damp sequel, while Fernandez slipped to third at the start behind Hart before the safety car was deployed. After running wide and slipping to…

MASTERS RACING LEGENDS FOR 1966-85 FORMULA 1 CARS Races 1 & 2 Matt Wrigley (Tyrrell 011) MASTERS ENDURANCE LEGENDS Races 1 & 2 Keith Frieser (Ginetta-Zytek 09S) MASTERS PRE-’66 TOURING CARS Sam Tordoff (Ford Falcon Sprint, below) GERRY MARSHALL TROPHY Mike Whitaker Jr (Rover SD1) MASTERS SPORTS CAR LEGENDS Races 1 & 2 Paul Cope (March 75S) GENTLEMEN DRIVERS Dan Eagling (Ginetta G4R) MASTERS GT TROPHY Race 1 Craig Wilkins (Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo) Race 2 Neil Glover/Aaron Scott (Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

From a career spanning four decades, including Le Mans 24 Hours success and two stints in Formula 1, David Brabham says that it’s from his time racing alongside Jan Magnussen that he has the fondest memories. While Brabham was racing in F1 for Simtek during 1994, Magnussen was dominating British Formula 3, taking 14 wins from 18 starts. After his own spell in F1 with McLaren and Stewart Grand Prix, the rapid Dane has since enjoyed a decorated sportscar career, which started with a successful stint alongside Brabham at the unfancied Panoz squad in the American Le Mans Series. “If I was to say the team-mate I had the most fun with, the most competition with, it was Jan Magnussen,” says Brabham. “When he came to Panoz, he’d just come…

FORMULA 1 Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei has added South Korea and Indonesia to Thailand on the list of countries in South East Asia that could host a Formula 1 grand prix in the coming seasons. With F1 satisfied that its three races in the United States – in Austin, Miami and its latest addition in Las Vegas – are enough to cover that market, attention has shifted to other regions to capture a growing worldwide interest in the series. Speaking at an F1 in Depth event at last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, which was co-hosted by Autosport Business, Maffei said that the successful return of the Chinese Grand Prix showed what was possible. “We’re lucky that we were able to get a Chinese race this year after four years,”…

Simon Pagenaud drove a tribute lap at the Indy 500 last weekend in honour of his friend Gil de Ferran, who died last December of a heart attack. The 2019 500 victor, who drove for de Ferran’s American Le Mans Series team, was at the wheel of the Brazilian’s 2003 500-winning G-Force-Toyota, which has been in the care of Penske Restoration. “Gil de Ferran has been my role model, not only as a racer but also as a father,” said Pagenaud. “I got to be very close to him, [wife] Angela, [daughter] Anna and [son] Luke through the years.” The Frenchman is recovering from injuries from a Mid-Ohio crash last July. HEDLEY’S F3 DEBUT Two-time GB3 race winner James Hedley made a last-minute F3 debut in Monaco last weekend. The…

Imagine that Max Verstappen had led all 78 laps of Formula 2-like pace in dominating last Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix. What saved the weekend was Charles Leclerc’s emotional dream-sealing, wrapped in the tension of historical Ferrari failure there. The home hero did all he could and more. And the instant red flag removed any chance of a botched pitstop or strategy call thwarting him once again on the streets he knows so well. Leclerc’s “ultimate dream” Monaco win gave Formula 1 a third feel-good story of 2024, following the lurid scandal of its start amid yet more Red Bull domination. Carlos Sainz’s remarkable post-appendectomy win in Australia kicked off the trilogy, and Lando Norris finally breaking his F1 duck in Miami continued it. But Leclerc’s story can only happen once.…

Finally, the streak was ended at the Monaco Grand Prix. For the first time in 2024, someone other than Max Verstappen secured pole position. The Red Bull driver was undone by the rear of his RB20 snapping left as he traversed Ste Devote on his final run, and a hefty brush with the barrier on the outside was enough. But his absence from the pole fight was already expected. Not only was Red Bull grappling with further kerb and bump-riding problems, like in Singapore last year, but Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was once again leading the way on his home streets against the clock. His commanding 0.188-second and 0.197s margins in FP2 and FP3 left him aware that anything but pole would leave him looking “completely stupid”. Then came what Leclerc…

Esteban Ocon invoked the fury of usually placid Alpine team principal Bruno Famin with his first-lap assault on team-mate Pierre Gasly at Portier, a hubristic move that resulted in his own retirement and almost caused an early exit for Gasly in the process. Ocon tried to barge his way past despite Gasly already being halfway through the corner and, on the exit, their tyres made contact to lift Ocon into the air before coming back to earth with a shuddering halt. It caused damage to Ocon’s car that could not be repaired in the 40-minute red-flag hiatus, while Gasly’s suspension damage and puncture were fixed in time for him to re-assume 10th place for the restart. Famin was incensed when speaking to Canal+: “Esteban’s dive was completely out of place,…

Josef Newgarden outlasted the rain and pulled off a dramatic last-lap pass on an extremely hungry Pato O’Ward to triumph in the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500. The 33-year-old Tennessee native became the first back-to-back winner of ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’ in 22 years, with Helio Castroneves the last driver to accomplish the feat in 2001 and 2002. Both drivers’ repeat victories came for legendary team owner Roger Penske, and Newgarden’s latest gave ‘The Captain’ a record-extending 20th win in IndyCar’s crown jewel event. The battle for the lead during the final sprint to the finish originally appeared to be between Newgarden and Alexander Rossi, O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren team-mate. But Rossi’s bid was abruptly halted by a stern pass by the similarly Chevrolet-powered Arrow McLaren entry of O’Ward…

East Anglia may be renowned for its flat topography, but last weekend a small area of Norfolk became notable for an almost insurmountable Hill. The Laser Tools-emblazoned BMW 330e M Sport of Jake Hill was invincible through qualifying and the first two races at Snetterton, bringing the West Surrey Racing squad’s diminutive Kentishman right back into the hunt for the British Touring Car Championship crown after a miserable weekend on home soil at Brands Hatch. He drove absolutely brilliantly in a car he described as “quite honestly, perfect all weekend”. And for all its flat terrain, Snetterton also featured a weekend of ups and downs for the three other ‘big guns’ of the BTCC – Hill’s title rivals Ash Sutton, Tom Ingram and Colin Turkington. Much of that was down…

FORMULA 3 MONTE CARLO (MCO) 25-26 MAY ROUND 4/10 Gabriele Mini proved himself a master of Monaco once again last Sunday. Two of his three Formula 3 career wins to date have come from start-to-finish feature race successes on the Monte Carlo streets. Mini’s victory with Prema Racing completed a double for Alpine F1-backed drivers, after Nikola Tsolov had triumphed with ART Grand Prix in the sprint race. The Bulgarian’s and Sicilian’s wins mean it’s eight different drivers to have won across the first eight races of the season. Tsolov converted reversed-grid pole into the lead, and had to survive two safety car restarts to make it count. The first came after the weekend’s most chaotic moment, when Arvid Lindblad swung left to take the racing line into Casino Square,…

NASCAR CUP CHARLOTTE (USA) 26 MAY ROUND 14/36 It seems only fitting that Christopher Bell’s chaotic season now includes victory in an abbreviated version of what should be the NASCAR Cup Series’ longest race. A round of severe thunderstorms halted last Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 after 249 of the 400 laps, but NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway were determined to try to complete the 600-mile event. After nearly two hours of track-drying efforts, NASCAR was finally forced to call the race official when it became clear that the final 151 laps would not be completed until the early hours of Monday morning. Bell, whose Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was leading at the time the final caution was displayed for rain, was declared the winner, which handed him his second victory…

BRITISH GT Several British GT drivers were left stunned over how long it took for a red flag to emerge once chaos descended at Redgate during last weekend’s Donington Park round. A heavy downpour suddenly hit 45 minutes into the three-hour contest, causing many slick-tyre runners to skid off at Turn 1 in quick succession due to areas of standing water down the start/finish straight. Race control first signalled for a safety car before waving a red flag 12 minutes later, during which time marshals and a tractor had begun recovery work in the gravel trap under the caution. RAM Racing’s Raffaele Marciello posted on social media: “After Jules [Bianchi’s] crash [at Suzuka] the lesson is still not learnt… tractor on track, drivers on slick on wet track… and no…

MINI CHALLENGE Former British Touring Car driver Josh Price made an instant impression on his debut Mini Challenge event when he took a double pole at Snetterton for his first race outing for nearly five years. Price had not competed in cars since the conclusion of his 2019 British GT campaign, when he finished 12th in the GT4 standings in a TF Aston Martin. Before that he spent a season and a half in the BTCC, piloting a Subaru Levorg, and was a Renault UK Clio Cup race winner in 2016. The 25-year-old defied his lack of recent experience to top Mini qualifying by nearly half a second to land a double pole, although a clutch problem hampered the first of his races and he fell to seventh in the…

BRITISH GT Team RJN’s Simon Watts missed another British GT round at Donington Park last weekend because of a compression fracture caused by his crash at the Silverstone 500 last month. Watts oversteered into the barriers at Stowe during Friday testing for the Northamptonshire round, causing RJN to withdraw his McLaren 720S GT3 (below) from the weekend. The injury is now set to keep Watts sidelined until at least July, meaning he will skip the campaign’s fourth event at Spa next month. “I’ve had better starts,” said Watts, who also missed the Oulton Park season-opener for family reasons. “I wish I could jump into the car today because I feel OK, I’ve just got pain – the risk is too high. It’s out of my control now so, there’s no…

GINETTA GT CHAMPIONSHIP Sportscar racer Jack Manchester made a one-off appearance in the Ginetta GT Championship at Donington Park last weekend as series organisers try to increase their small grids. Manchester, who last raced in the European Le Mans Series LMP3 class in 2023, was one of three guest entries to join the Ginetta field. He scored a best result of sixth in race two for Pace Performance, despite being hampered by mechanical issues throughout the weekend. “It wasn’t planned, it was a last-minute thing,” said Manchester. “Ginetta reached out to my manager, and they gave me the car and the entry. I was looking to test in sportscars this year, but this was quite a good-value thing to do. It was like a test weekend for us but with…

MONDELLO PARK BRX 25-26 MAY Reigning British Rallycross champion Patrick O’Donovan extended his lead in the 2024 standings with back-to-back victories on the series’ visit to Mondello Park last weekend. O’Donovan reverted to his title-winning Hansen Motorsport-built Peugeot 208 Supercar for the second instalment of the campaign, with Irish rally legend Andrew Nesbitt taking the wheel of O’Donovan’s Ford Fiesta for his return to competition. O’Donovan overcame a series of sub-optimal launches in the qualifying heats on the opening day, forcing him to battle through the field in a packed entry for the amalgamated British and Irish event. Regardless, he set the fastest time in each heat, won his semi-final from the front, and dominated the final to beat local Fiesta drivers Derek Tohill and John McCluskey to the finish.…

MINI CHALLENGE Thunder, lightning and torrential rain all featured at Snetterton last weekend, but it was Dan Zelos who produced a storming performance on track as he came within half a second of clinching a quartet of Mini Challenge wins. The reigning champion was in blistering form around his local circuit and the pick of his triumphs came in the dry third contest, his 100th series start. This featured a partially-reversed grid with Zelos fifth, but he soon slipped to seventh. “I made it very difficult for myself as I bottled the start,” admitted the Excelr8 driver. “But I got my head down and passed them one by one.” On lap one his victim was Josh Porter, around the outside of Coram. On lap two he profited from Bradley Gravett’s…

PORSCHE SPRINT CHALLENGE GB Seb Hopkins and Max Coates laid down early markers in the opening Porsche Sprint Challenge GB event at Snetterton as they shared the spoils. Coates only qualified third for the first race but was into the lead out of Riches as Will Jenkins made a very slow getaway from the front row and Coates dived ahead of Hopkins. But the Graves Motorsport driver’s lead did not last long after a safety car period as he ran slightly wide at Oggies and Hopkins needed no second invitation. Behind, Ethan Hammerton made a similar move on Toby Trice to complete the podium. Coates also jumped into the lead at the start of race two, but this time was able to stay there while Hopkins fell to fourth. He…

Zac Meakin and Jack Brown overcame their 20-second success penalty at Donington Park to seal a surprise second British GT4 victory on the bounce. The Optimum Motorsport duo had strong pace throughout, but benefited from mistakes and retirements elsewhere to add to their Silverstone 500 win. It moves the McLaren Artura pair into the championship lead, as their title rivals suffered as Donington threw all kinds of obstacles into the mix. “Pretty impressive,” said Optimum boss Shaun Goff, whose drivers now hold a 26-point advantage. “It was an amazing result and unfortunate for some of our rivals who had a much more difficult race. So it really stuck us out in the championship and that’s mega going into the next round at Spa.” Stuart Middleton and Freddie Tomlinson pipped Optimum…

CASTLE COMBE CCRC 27 MAY A tense opening Formula Ford race was a true highlight of Monday’s Castle Combe Carnival event. Alex Walker’s Van Diemen RF01 led from lights to flag, but that doesn’t illustrate the battle he had on his hands keeping Felix Fisher (Ray) and Luke Cooper (Swift) at bay. Cooper got close, especially on the opening lap when he tried to pass Walker around the outside of Quarry, but the British GT driver held him off in decisive fashion. It was reigning champion Fisher who finished second and, although he made his own attempts to unseat Walker at Quarry, his focus then shifted to not losing out to Cooper behind. Cooper had to settle for third even though he tried his hardest to retake second, as evidenced…

VIDEO GAME REVIEW F1 24 EA Sports/Codemasters PC (Steam, Epic Game Store, EA App), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S) RRP: £59.99 (Standard Edition), £79.99 (Champions Edition) F1 24 is the latest entry in Codemasters’ and EA Sports’ long-running Formula 1 game series and features all the teams, circuits, drivers and cars from the 2024 season, alongside a full suite of 2023 Formula 2 content (the 2024 F2 grid will arrive in a post-launch update). The developers have stuck with Codemasters’ proprietary Ego game engine for F1 24, so players shouldn’t expect radically improved visuals, despite long-overdue graphical overhauls for tracks such as Spa-Francorchamps. There are still disappointing rough edges on older track models such as Monza and the Hungaroring, with occasional screen freezes cropping up during…

FORMULA 1 Andretti Cadillac has recruited ex-Formula 1 chief technical officer Pat Symonds as it ramps up its aggressive bid to join the series. Symonds held the F1 position for seven years, playing a crucial role in contributing to F1’s technical regulations for 2022 and 2026. With the chassis rules for 2026 all but finalised, he decided to leave the organisation, as had long been under consideration. Symonds joins Andretti Cadillac in the role of executive engineering consultant. The 70-year-old will work from the team’s recently opened UK base at Silverstone following a gardening leave period. “We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Pat to the Andretti family,” said Michael Andretti. “Pat’s keen understanding of aerodynamics, vehicle dynamics and Formula 1 power units will be instrumental as we continue to…

FORMULA 1 The FIA has abandoned the idea of fitting wheel covers to Formula 1 cars in extreme wet conditions following its latest test. Ferrari recently helped the FIA with the evaluation of a more complete wheelguard concept during runs at Fiorano to see whether it could help reduce spray. The design was much more dramatic than the original idea tried out at Silverstone last year, but the benefit was still marginal, and there remains a tremendous amount of water thrown up by the diffuser. Speaking exclusively to Autosport, FIA single-seater chief Nikolas Tombazis said: “We went to the maximum just to see what was the best we could achieve from the wheel covers. And while they do have a bit of an effect, they don’t have a significant enough…

MACAU GRAND PRIX Formula Regional cars will replace F3 at the Macau Grand Prix for 2024. The FIA announced the switch for the single-seater classic last week in a statement that, according to Far East sources, came as something of a surprise to local organisers. Under the late Barry Bland, the race brought together the leading contenders from national and regional F3 championships from 1983. It continued in this format until 2019, when GP3 was renamed FIA F3 and the cars from this single series were used. The COVID crisis forced the organisers to run the event for Chinese F4 cars from 2020-22, before the return of FIA F3 last November. FIA F3 organiser Bruno Michel’s lack of interest in the Macau GP is well documented, and FIA single-seater strategy…

INDYCAR McLaren CEO Zak Brown has stated that Callum Ilott is in the running for a seat with his IndyCar team for next season. The Briton has been called upon on three occasions this year, including this month’s Indy 500, by Arrow McLaren after David Malukas was sidelined by a wrist injury. Ilott’s World Endurance Championship commitments also allowed an IndyCar debut for reigning FIA Formula 2 champion Theo Pourchaire, who will drive the car for the rest of 2024. Asked whether Ilott is on his shortlist for 2025, Brown replied: “Yes. He did a really good job. We wanted to see him on an oval; plus Theo having never driven an oval, he’s now done a test in St Louis.” Brown stressed that the team is not viewing it…

Origins of a Star Club Car It’s been brought to my attention your article on the Firenza ‘droop snoot’ still raced by Tony Davies (Star Club Car, Autosport, 16 May). I’m Phil Clarke, and with my team constructed the car in the summer of 1973; yes, it was a DTV shell built as an ‘Old Nail’ spare, but they were making ‘Big Bertha’ (Ventora) so my luck was in to have this released from Shepreth to fit my ‘deceased’ Viva GT engine and gearbox and for my team to fit the body panels and bespoke throttle pedal/dash, etc. First raced in October 1973, and pre-‘droop snoot’; that was added in 1975 with a fuel-injected 210bhp engine, and had three race wins that year at Snetterton. Acquiring a Scottish Firenza (16v/ZF…

The Aston Martin drivers are not having a good time. It’s FP1 for the Monaco Grand Prix, and we’re at the Loews hairpin. The sun is shining early on, but the clouds will build up and drops of rain will even threaten proceedings much later, around the red-flag stoppage to clear away Zhou Guanyu’s debris deposited elsewhere. Every time Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll squirt down the hill towards Autosport’s vantage point it happens. From our perspective on the outside of the corner, the green cars are having to traverse F1’s slowest corner as if it’s a 50p piece – hands a blur at the wheel. Stroll is really wrestling his AMR24. Unlike the Ferrari drivers – although mainly Charles Leclerc, bar his first time through here bringing him shockingly…

The peeling stickers on Monaco’s Armco barriers caused sufficient consternation among the drivers for the FIA to remove a handful of them in time for the race, with Lando Norris and Sergio Perez among those who complained that the sticky remnants had caused performance issues during qualifying. “The hoarding came off and got stuck under my car, which then cost me the tyres,” Norris said. “It was a bit of a mess and that shouldn’t happen in Formula 1. They need to come up with a better solution than just stickers.” The errant advertising was stripped from the Ste Devote exit and on the apex of several corners, including Casino Square, Ste Devote and Rascasse. Perez partly blamed his Q1 exit on the appearance of dislodged stickers at Portier, along…

DTM LAUSITZRING (DEU) 25-26 MAY ROUND 2/8 Audi racer Kelvin van der Linde and Porsche’s reigning champion Thomas Preining scored a race win apiece on the DTM’s visit to the Lausitzring to grab the top two spots in the championship. Van der Linde’s victory came in a Saturday race that started in dry conditions but soon turned into a proper wet-weather contest. Race control had to wave the red flag twice because of the treacherous conditions, and it wasn’t until 6pm, an hour after the original start, that the action could resume again. When it did, Abt driver van der Linde held his nerve against the Winward Mercedes of Maro Engel, who had jumped from 13th to second position by making an early switch to wet-weather tyres before the red…

BRITISH GT The British GT paddock praised race control for solving the tracklimits problem that plagued the opening two practice sessions at Donington Park last weekend. There was a total of 427 track-limits violations before qualifying, with most occurring at the second part of the Esses chicane, which resulted in a black flag for five cars across both practice sessions. A judge of fact was originally monitoring offenders, and marked the cars via a camera, leading to concerns that some violations were missed because of how many drivers went through at once. Barwell boss Mark Lemmer said after second practice: “The guy has got an impossible job. Clearly, the problem with this system is that they can’t keep up. “Therefore, the drivers don’t know which lap they’ve done it, therefore…

BRITISH F4 British Formula 4 racer Bart Harrison is facing a Motorsport UK disciplinary hearing following a parc ferme altercation with Mika Abrahams at Snetterton last weekend. Chris Dittmann Racing driver Harrison had been battling the Hitech GP racer for second place in race two when an ambitious move from Harrison at Murrays sent Abrahams spinning. The South African was angry with Harrison and, according to officials, approached him in parc ferme after the race and “verbally abused” him. This provoked Harrison, who is said on the clerk of the course’s report to have begun “pushing and striking” Abrahams. Harrison was immediately disqualified from the entire weekend and had six penalty points applied to his licence. The stewards later opted to also suspend Harrison’s licence for 14 days and refer…

HISTORICS Historic Sports Car Club single-seater and sportscar racer Steve Seaman will attempt to drive his 1927 Bentley on a lap of every circuit in England and Wales over the next week to raise funds for charity. Seaman is raising money for the Race against Dementia charity in memory of his late father, who died two years ago from Alzheimer’s Disease, and across six days plans to visit 16 tracks and relevant venues with the Bentley 4½ Litre. As well as all 14 active circuits in England and Wales, he also plans to visit Brooklands and Llandow in South Wales, on a journey starting tomorrow (Friday) and finishing at Oulton Park on 5 June. “I wanted to do a charity event for my late father who died two years ago,”…

SANTA POD BRITISH DRAG RACING 25-27 MAY Rain took the honours at Santa Pod, axing the fourth Pro Modified qualifying session on Sunday and interrupting eliminations throughout Monday, before curtailing the contest as the semi-finals approached. The event featured two Pro Mod rounds in a single race: the opening round of the FIA European Championship combined with round two of the Motorsport UK British Drag Racing Championship. A month earlier, Andres Arnover had made his intentions clear. The Estonian brought his turbocharged Mustang to the opening British round to treat it as a test session towards his true goal, the FIA crown left vacant by triple conqueror Jan Ericsson’s retirement. Arnover, reeling off 5.8s/252mph career-best figures before rain ended that race too, laid down an early-season marker to continental opponents…

BRITISH F4 Another British Formula 4 round produced another controversial moment involving title protagonists Deagen Fairclough and Alex Ninovic. After their Brands Hatch clash left Ninovic in the Clearways gravel, it was points leader Fairclough in the wars this time at Snetterton. Ninovic initially held the lead of the dry finale but ran slightly wide at Turn 3 and Fairclough sensed an opportunity to pounce. But the Rodin racer was robust in his defence, moving across the track and Fairclough took to the grass and smashed into a Kwik Fit board, which damaged his Hitech car’s rear wing. Surprisingly, it was deemed a racing incident. “I got a bit wide – from there, I could come across to defend the inside line,” said Ninovic. “I think Deagen got a bit…

MINI CHALLENGE Race 1 (9 laps) 1 Dan Zelos; 2 Jamie Osborne +2.966s; 3 Dominic Wheatley; 4 Nathan Edwards; 5 Bradley Gravett; 6 Max Hall. Fastest lap Osborne 2m20.673s (75.97mph). Pole Tom Ovenden. Starters 19. Race 2 (9 laps) 1 Zelos; 2 Nelson King +3.611s; 3 Lydia Walmsley; 4 Osborne; 5 Hall; 6 Josh Porter. FL Zelos 2m04.694s (85.71mph). P Josh Price. S 22. Race 3 (10 laps) 1 Zelos; 2 King +0.193s; 3 Hall; 4 Osborne; 5 Wheatley; 6 Walmsley. FL Wheatley 2m05.192s (85.37mph). P Hall. S 21. Race 4 (9 laps) 1 Hall; 2 Zelos +0.445s; 3 Wheatley; 4 King; 5 Osborne; 6 Gravett. FL Zelos 2m18.424s (77.21mph). P Price. S 20. Points 1 Zelos 450; 2 Hall 304; 3 Wheatley 297; 4 Osborne 294; 5 King 266;…

BRANDS HATCH MSVR MASTERS HISTORIC RACING 25-26 MAY Back behind the wheel of the ex-Michele Alboreto Tyrrell 011 he first raced at Paul Ricard earlier this season, Matt Wrigley recorded a superb double win in the pair of Masters Racing Legends contests held at Brands Hatch last Sunday as the series for 1966-85 Formula 1 cars thrilled the crowds at the circuit’s annual Masters Historic Festival meeting. Wrigley, who competed in a March 721G and Penske PC3 at the Monaco Historique a fortnight ago, may have claimed a lights-to-flag success in the opener but Japanese driver Yutaka Toriba, having his maiden outing in a Williams FW07C, never allowed Wrigley any time to relax. Less than a second separated the pair at the flag. Third place was taken by Simon Fish…

Autosport has occasionally ridden in an Uber with a driver who believed they had missed their calling as a racing driver. But unlike most such individuals, Nicolas Costa had a valid case in 2015. The Brazilian, now racing for McLaren partner team United Autosports in the World Endurance Championship, was then facing the prospect of his motorsport dreams hitting a dead end – and not for the first time. He’d rebounded from losing his biggest sponsor after winning the 2012 European Formula Abarth championship (from future F2 race winner and recent IndyCar debutant Luca Ghiotto), getting back into single-seaters and winning a Pro Mazda race in 2014, but a deal to continue what he calls “an unbelievable experience” collapsed. “I had a seat [for 2015] but I lost it because…

Niki Lauda (Ferrari 312B3) heads the grid before the start of the 1974 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch. The Austrian led from the off and looked set for a dominant win when, with 20 laps to go, he felt his handling deteriorate due to a slowly deflating right-rear Goodyear. He soldiered on, but was forced to pit for new rubber on the last lap – then when he tried to rejoin, which would have resulted in a fifth-place finish and two points, he found his way blocked by milling crowds and a Ford Cortina course car. Ferrari’s Luca di Montezemolo did not hold back in his resulting tirade and neither did Autosport editor Ian Phillips who, aghast at the “ludicrous” situation, wrote a coruscating leader lambasting officials “who didn’t…