Indholdsfortegnelse for 05/07/18 i Autosport

Forget the hydraulics and fuel-pressure problems that put the two Mercedes out of last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix. The team will surely get on top of those issues very quickly. What’s more concerning for Lewis Hamilton is that Mercedes made yet another strategy blunder that had cost him his chance of victory even before his W09 ground to a halt at the Red Bull Ring. When Ferrari started applying consistent pressure last season, it was perhaps understandable that Mercedes didn’t always get it right – it had spent the previous three years only having to worry about the intra-team fight between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. But the fact that it is still making some quite obvious mistakes is surprising and could prove costly if Ferrari (or Red Bull) can stay…

NURBURGRING The long-standing fastest lap time around the 12.94 miles of the Nurburgring-Nordschleife has finally been beaten. The 6m11.13s pole position mark for the 1983 Nurburgring 1000Km set by Porsche driver Stefan Bellof 35 years ago has been obliterated. Fittingly, it was achieved by another Porsche driven by a big fan of the late German driver. Timo Bernhard lowered the unofficial record for one of the greatest challenges left in motor racing to 5m19.546s aboard the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo. That mark aboard the uprated LMP1 car, which incorporates more power, active aerodynamics and side skirts, is nearly 52s quicker than the late Bellof’s time aboard his works Rothmans Porsche 956 Group C car. The five-time winner of the Nurburgring 24 Hours needed just three flying laps aboard the 1100bhp…

SPA 24 HOURS Rubens Barrichello is heading back to Europe for a second time in two years. Little more than 12 months after making his Le Mans 24 Hours debut, the Brazilian V8 Stock Car Championship regular will make his maiden assault on the Spa enduro. The 46-year-old Brazilian, who still holds the record for the highest number of grand prix starts, will race a factory-supported Mercedes-AMG GT3 for the British Strakka squad in the Spa 24 Hours. He will team up with fellow V8 Stock Car driver Felipe Fraga and Mercedes DTM reserve Christian Vietoris in the blue-riband round of the Blancpain GT Series on July 28-29. Barrichello never managed to win the Belgian Grand Prix, but Spa still holds happy memories for him. “It was where I got…

VALTTERI BOTTAS’S FIRST POLE POSITION OF THE 2018 season was greeted with uncharacteristic exuberance by the Finn. Best described as a combination of laughter, ‘woo-wooing’ and shouts of ‘yes!’, this was a deserved reward for a strong but unlucky season. He had to beat Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in a straight fight to do it. But given that the average qualifying gap between the pair is just 29 thousandths of a second in 2018, we shouldn’t have been surprised. The Red Bull Ring is a happy hunting ground for Bottas. It’s where he first led a grand prix and finished on the podium, and he won from pole last year. Bottas was almost half a second clear after the first runs in Q3, ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. This was…

The radio transmissions of Red Bull pairing Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen drew attention during qualifying, with the Australian objecting to being the first driver on track on all three of their Q3 runs. Ricciardo’s radio comments suggested Verstappen had unfairly refused to give him a slipstream in qualifying. Verstappen insisted team protocol was that they alternated who ran first in qualifying from race to race, and that Austria was his turn, leading to him declaring “it’s discipline” over the radio when he refused to pass the slow Ricciardo on their final runs. With team principal Christian Horner stressing that normal team protocol had been followed, Ricciardo backed down after the session and admitted his hopes that the drivers would give each other a tow – potentially worth 0.2-0.3 seconds…

Sebastian Vettel started the Austrian Grand Prix sixth, three places lower than he had qualified, after impeding Renault driver Carlos Sainz in Q2. Vettel had completed a hot lap and was rolling through Turn 1 when Sainz, on a hot lap, closed on him and ended up running wide and clattering over the sausage kerb at the exit of the corner after reacting to the Ferrari’s presence. “It is the belief of the stewards that notwithstanding the absence of a radio call, the driver of car #5 [Vettel], being aware of the issue of rear vision with his mirrors, should not have been so slow and on the racing line, during a slowdown lap in qualification,” the stewards’ verdict read. “Having reviewed all alleged impeding incidents since the beginning of…

MERCEDES LEWIS HAMILTON 8 He was beaten by Bottas in qualifying, albeit narrowly. But before being derailed by a strategy blunder and then a loss of fuel pressure he had the race under control. Perhaps he could have done more to manage the rear tyres and keep Vettel behind him, but he wasn’t at fault for the race unravelling. VALTTERI BOTTAS 8 Continued his strong qualifying form by pipping Hamilton to pole, although he squandered that with a poor start. But partially made up for it by jumping from fourth to second in one move. Other than track position there was little between him and Hamilton while he lasted. FERRARI SEBASTIAN VET TEL 7 In many ways, this was a decent performance from Vettel, and his bold move to pass…

PORSCHE SUPERCUP RED BULL RING (A) JULY 1 ROUND 3/9 Shortly before cheering demonstration runs by Austrian racing legends Niki Lauda and Gerhard Berger at the Red Bull Ring, the home crowd celebrated a home victory from a rising star of its next generation of racers. And Lechner Racing driver Thomas Preining’s battling victory was well worth the ovation he received from the grandstands. The 19-year-old took his first pole position by 0.210s ahead of fellow Porsche junior Julien Andlauer. But Andlauer got the jump at the start and got up the inside into the first corner. Preining ran wide, and came under attack from Florian Latorre. By the time the safety car was deployed to clear up Roar Lindland’s car, which was pitched into a low-altitude spin at the…

IMSA SPORTSCAR WATKINS GLEN (USA) JULY 1 ROUND 6/12 English-born, South African-raised Stephen Simpson celebrated his first American Independence Day holiday weekend since becoming a US citizen by overtaking reigning series champion Jordan Taylor (Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac) and Juan Pablo Montoya (Acura Team Penske) in one brilliant opportunistic manoeuvre at the final restart with 40 minutes remaining. He then maintained his advantage to win a thrilling Six Hours of the Glen for the tiny JDC-Miller Motorsports team. Simpson shared the spoils with Canadian-domiciled Russian Misha Goikhberg and American Chris Miller, who had kept their ORECA-Gibson in contention throughout a blisteringly hot day. Colin Braun, sharing CORE Autosport’s similar ORECA with Romain Dumas and Jon Bennett, snatched second from Montoya and Dane Cameron at the final corner after the Acura…

RACING STEPS FOUNDATION MAT TIAS EKSTROM’S POST-DTM LIFE He’s probably the least recognisable of the most significant figures in British motorsport of the past decade. The philanthropy of Graham Sharp, a wiry, bespectacled 58-year-old Lancastrian, has taken seven talented-but-underfunded young Britons to professional racing careers (six on four wheels, one on two), and has aided countless more. He’s always stayed in the background, rarely attending races – except to watch his stepson, reigning Blancpain GT Sprint champion Stuart Leonard – yet without him the UK racing landscape would look vastly different. Sharp was the money man behind the Racing Steps Foundation, which was managed from its inception in late 2007 to its close at the end of ’17 by Derek Walters, a genial chap in his mid-seventies from a marketing…

“WHEN I HEARD HE WAS STOPPING I WAS SURPRISED. I DIDN’T SEE IT COMING AT THE TIME” JAMIE GREEN It’s fair to say that Mattias Ekstrom should have won more than two titles during his DTM career. While his recent 2015 miss was particularly disappointing, and the following year he switched his focus to gaining the World Rallycross Championship title by missing the final round, there were several other notable misses. Ekstrom does not agree that he peaked in his title-winning years of 2004 and ’07, and points to ’11 as his best campaign. That was the year when his Audi stablemate Martin Tomczyk made the most of a weight advantage in the older-spec A4, combined with a run of four races without a podium for Ekstrom early on. The…

BRITCAR ENDURANCE The Britcar Endurance Championship could host its first overseas meeting since 2016, with a non-points-scoring round at the Algarve International Circuit being considered for next season. Although the date is yet to be confirmed, a slot in August or September 2019 on the support bill of the European Le Mans Series has been offered. Depending on the size of the entry list, the race could run for either two or four hours and, so long as cars run to 2019 regulations, international entries will also be eligible to compete. Britcar managing director Claire Hedley said: “We were offered the track time for a very reasonable price. The feedback so far has been, ‘I’ll bring two cars’, ‘I’ll bring four cars’, etc, etc.” “I’m going over there in October…

Fresh from winning the GTE Pro class at the Le Mans 24 Hours last month, the ‘Pink Pig’ 911 RSR GTE will be among Porsche’s selection of cars appearing at the Goodwood Festival of Speed next week. The car raced in the special retro livery to commemorate the German manufacturer’s 70th anniversary. Two of the winning car’s drivers, Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre, will be at Goodwood and may drive it up the famous hill. The sister Rothmans-liveried car will also be on static display.…

The epic struggle between Ben Mitchell, Cameron Jackson and reigning champion Richard Tarling for the Historic Formula Ford title passed half way with another combative weekend at Brands Hatch embroiling capacity 38-car grids. A clash between leaders Mitchell and Jackson at Sheene Curve on Saturday gifted Tarling his second maximum of the season, but Jackson and Mitchell escaped the gravel to salvage second and third respectively after what they deemed a racing incident. “I was extremely surprised that they got out,” said Tarling. Twelve points ahead of Jackson entering the fifth of nine double-headers, top qualifier Mitchell bounced back to eke another point’s advantage with a hard-earned fifth win from 10 races in a Merlyn Mk20. Jackson rounded poleman Mitchell to lead at Paddock, but 2013 champ Sam Mitchell and…

SNETTERTON MSVR JUNE 30-JULY 1 Gareth Downing claimed two GT Cup victories from three races at Snetterton, though he was cruelly denied a clean sweep by a deflating tyre. Downing cruised to his pair of sprint-race wins, and an extra alternator belt ensured there would be no repeat of the battery problems that hobbled his Mosler in the previous round at Spa-Francorchamps. GTO championship leader Nigel Hudson finished second in race one in his Aston Martin Vantage GT3, and likely would have repeated the result in race two. But he spun twice on old tyres, enabling GTC winner John Dhillon finish ahead in his Ferrari 488. In the following day’s pitstop race, Downing built-up a 27-second lead over Hudson, knowing his minimum pitstop time would be 15s longer and Hudson…

“IF YOU CAN MASTER IT, YOU GAIN PRESTIGE” For most, simply lapping the infamous Nurburgring is enough of a challenge. With a staggering 170 corners when the Nordschleife and Grand Prix circuits are combined, it takes countless hours just to memorise which way the 16-mile lap snakes next, let alone to master it. Then throw into the mix another 160 cars across 30 classes fighting for the same asphalt, and repeat it for nine endurance races over a season. For its oddball brilliance, the VLN – Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nurburgring – is a delightfully compelling experience. “I think the races are so special because the circuit is unique, it’s huge and dangerous,” says Bradley Philpot, who shares a Peugeot 308 Cup car in the VLN. “It’s got extreme elevation change and…

WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN? WHO IS THIS? This influential national hero was the champion of his local circuit series before graduating to the national top flight, where he was the five-star class of the field. With the power of dreams behind him, he was ushered onto the main stage, where he was paired with a legend in waiting. Another triple champion joined him for his second season, although in difficult conditions he was able to show his speed down under. An avuncular chief took him onboard, where he would be paired with yet another rising star. After hanging up his helmet he returned home to set up his own team, which fought with great success on two fronts. Despite his famous brand loyalty, his racing progeny took the opposing route…

All talk pre-season centred around Penske and Joest entering the fray, but any concerns the newcomers would blow the competition away were dispelled immediately as Cadillac and Nissan shared the opening three rounds between them, prior to Acura’s breakthrough win at Mid-Ohio. Filipe Albuquerque opened Cadillac’s account at Daytona for Action Express and took another victory at Long Beach (right, top) to head the standings after the most recent round at Watkins Glen. “We want to win and we want to win against the best – whenever we win, it’s more tasty,” he says. “Joest is a team with a lot of history and knowledge about endurance racing and Penske is the Ferrari of the United States. “But it’s great as well to see that these big teams join up…

NEWS ANALYSIS DEBATE CONTROVERSY OPINION FORMULA 1 Formula 1 lacks the sort of silly season that has erupted in MotoGP in 2018, but whatever chance it has of enjoying a driver merry-go-round appears to rest with Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton. A new contract between Mercedes and Hamilton should be a given. The two parties have won three drivers’ and four constructors’ titles in four seasons, they work well together, and have both effectively described it as a formality to continue beyond 2018. Hopefully, Hamilton’s inking of a new deal with Mercedes will have a domino effect. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner believes Red Bull will not be able to confirm it is keeping Daniel Ricciardo or make a call on Carlos Sainz Jr’s future until Hamilton is announced at…

WRC The World Rally Championship calendar looks set for an overhaul, with the potential for three new events in the next two seasons. Chile’s place on the 2019 schedule is all but certain, but Autosport’s sources have revealed that Japan will also join, provided its November candidate rally runs without any major issues. Rally Japan’s WRC return for the first time since 2010 (above) would mean that five of the anticipated 14 rounds next season will be long haul. Chile is the 14th round for 2019, and Japan is tipped to replace an existing European counter, with the most likely loser tipped to be Corsica. A further European round is likely to be jettisoned to make room for the Safari Rally, which is highly likely to be back for 2020.…

UK START TIMES FRIDAY FP1 1000 FP2 1400 SATURDAY FP3 1100 QUALIFYING 1400 SUNDAY RACE 1410 LIVE ON SKY SPORTS F1 & CHANNEL 4 BBC RADIO 5 LIVE 1400 DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP AND CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP SO FAR 1 Sebastian Vettel 146 2 Lewis Hamilton 145 3 Kimi Raikkonen 101 4 Daniel Ricciardo 96 5 Max Verstappen 93 1 Ferrari 247 2 Mercedes 237 3 Red Bull 189 4 Renault 62 5 Haas 49 TYRE ALLOCATION TRACK STATS LENGTH 3.660 miles NUMBER OF LAPS 52 2017 POLE POSITION Lewis Hamilton 1m26.600s POLE LAP RECORD Lewis Hamilton 1m26.600s (2017) RACE LAP RECORD Lewis Hamilton 1m30.621s (2017) PREVIOUS WINNERS 2017 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2016 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2015 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2014 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2013 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 2012 Mark Webber Red Bull…

Lauda talks sense, but only on his terms I agree with Niki Lauda when he said in your interview with him (Fifth Column, June 28), “for me this is the most important thing – the drivers should have total freedom to drive: no restrictions. If we live in a world of ‘stewards’ investigations’, in the minds of these guys you slow them down: ‘If it try to pass and I hit him I’ll get penalised…’. All these stupid rules have to disappear – these guys are the best, so let them race, as they did in the past.” I do not agree with him when he said, after the first-corner incident in France when drivers were on cold tyres and brakes and Sebastian Vettel made an error without any deliberate…

‘Ominous’ is the word that springs to mind while watching free practice one from the first turn of the Red Bull Ring. At least it is when either Lewis Hamilton or Valtteri Bottas goes past in the heavily revised Mercedes W09. From the first lap the car allows both to commit on the brakes, turn in earlier than most, carry the speed mid-corner and not compromise their exits. Usually, on a green track at the start of the weekend, cars appear less well-planted, but with a host of new aerodynamic parts the Mercedes absolutely looks the part. By contrast Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari is squaring off the corner, turning in later with a little less speed. This eliminates his wild rides over the yellow sausage kerb at the exit…

Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly’s Austrian Grand Prix was more “rallycross than F1” thanks to damage sustained when he was hit by Stoffel Vandoorne at Turn 3 on the first lap and suffered bent suspension. Gasly dropped out of the points with just under six laps remaining having been passed by the Saubers of Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson, as well as Fernando Alonso’s McLaren, in the closing stages. “It was one of the toughest races I’ve ever had because after the contact in Turn 3 with Stoffel the rear suspension was bent and it took half of the floor on the rear out,” said Gasly. Vandoorne stopped at the end of the first lap and spent the rest of the race at the back before pulling into the pits…

FORMULA 2 RED BULL RING (A) JUNE 30-JULY 1 ROUND 6/12 For the first time since the opening round of the season, the Formula 2 Championship has a new leader. That’s a result befitting the most dominant performance of any driver over a single weekend so far this season: George Russell at the Red Bull Ring. The reigning GP3 champion’s pedigree was never in doubt but, despite two feature-race wins and a sprint success before arriving in Austria, mechanical, set-up or on-track issues had robbed him of a truly brilliant all-around weekend. Until now. The 20-year-old ART Grand Prix star is in potent form and showing above all else that, in a field packed with Formula 1 juniors, he is the standout. It may seem obvious, but that hasn’t always…

Along with its six graduates on four wheels, the Racing Steps Foundation had a further 12 beneficiaries in car and kart racing, and provided sizeable multiyear funding of the MSA Academy to help youngsters in all disciplines of cars, from karts to rallying. As well as that, the RSF entered motorcycle racing in 2010. Fraser Rogers and Wayne Ryan were the first of six riders to carry the red, white and blue livery, initially in the British Superbike-supporting 125GP category and then the Spanish CEV 125/Moto3 ranks. But it was John McPhee who became the RSF’s sole graduate on bikes, winning the 2016 Czech Grand Prix in Moto3. The RSF’s creed here was to drag youngsters out of the production bike-centred comfort zone of UK racing and into the MotoGP…

MSVR LMP3 Cup and GT Cup series organisers have ruled out the possibility of the two series combining grids to become a World Endurance Championshipstyle multi-class event. A recent survey released by GT Cup aimed at drivers and teams included a question on whether it should be combined with the sister LMP3 Cup series. United Autosports boss Richard Dean earlier this year suggested combining the grids, but Chris Haynes, the managing director of series organiser Bute Motorsport, has ruled it out. “We wanted to know [in the survey] what they thought, but they’re confirming what we think, which is that those things should be kept separate,” said Haynes. “They’re happy to do the odd race where it’s appropriate, where the circuit can cope with it – Spa for instance, and…

PEMBREY 750MC JUNE 30-JULY 1 Ford Fiesta XR2i driver Marcus Ward scored two Classic Stock Hatch wins at Pembrey to make it four in a row, putting him in title contention as the season reached the halfway point. Pete Morgan claimed pole for both races in his XR2, but Ward grabbed the initiative at the start of the first. Morgan remained a thorn in his side until his engine failed on the penultimate lap, promoting the Vauxhall Nova of Ted Cooper and points leader Lee Scott (XR2i) onto the podium. After replacing a valve overnight, Morgan was back on song on Sunday but, pushed hard by Ward – who found another half-second despite carrying an extra 25kg of success ballast – he repeatedly exceeded track limits and had 15s added…

When the news broke last July that Team Penske would be making its long-awaited return to sportscar racing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship with Acura, after almost a decade away, it set many a tongue wagging in the Autosport offices. One week later, Mazda announced that it would be starting again from scratch with Le Mans specialist Joest Racing after a disastrous start to the season, signalling that IMSA’s new DPi platform was truly on the up. While its first year was a tale of Cadillac domination as Wayne Taylor Racing won five in a row to open the season, and then cruised to the title, 2018 has been highly unpredictable, with five different winners from six races. Only one of those was an Acura, while Mazda is still waiting…

Figures released by brake manufacturer Brembo reveal that stopping distances in Formula 1 have been reduced by 22% and that deceleration has increased by 12% in the past decade. Using data gathered from this year’s Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, set against the same race 10 years ago, the trend shows a clear improvement in efficiency despite vastly increased demands on the brakes. In 2008, the average amount of braking required per corner was 371ft, which has come down to 289ft this year. On the approach to the final chicane and the infamous Wall of Champions, cars travelled an average 322ft while braking, compared to 384ft at the same spot 10 years ago. Braking time has not reduced at the same rate as stopping distances, but still…

A revised Handford device was fitted to the CART cars at the turn of the millennium as the key to a new aerodynamic package. The Handford MkII, as it was commonly called, replaced the original and the ‘superspeedway wing’ used in short-oval competition during 1999. “I went on to create a derivative to the superspeedway Handford device that did something similar to slow down the short-oval lap speeds,” explains Mark Handford. “But it created a significant upwash [because it created downforce] and was abandoned aft er only a couple of races.” The updated MkII was slated for use on all small and intermediate ovals, as well as the Road America road course, and it was expected to lower development costs and wing inventories by being a ‘spec’ part. There were…

Thriving surface engineering company Sandwell UK was only ever meant to be a fallback option in the event that Jackie Stewart’s efforts to launch a grand prix team for 1997 didn’t come to fruition. That’s just one of the startling revelations from a frank chat with its founder and technical director Colin McGrory about his career in Formula 1, which spanned more than 20 years before he grew tired of the internal politics at Jaguar and left to focus on his growing business, which today services almost every F1 team on the grid. So named because McGrory “wanted something positive in the name”, Sandwell’s success is the result of a single-minded fixation with finding solutions and optimising them, a passion held since a young age when, as a 14-year-old, he…

Even for the most stringent technology sceptic, the benefits of simulation in motorsport are by now well-known. As on-track testing is increasingly limited in the name of cost control, the benefits of a well-optimised simulator with strong correlation to the race car can make all the difference between challenging at the sharp end and languishing in the mid-pack. But short of spending thousands of hours gathering data on individual component testbeds, modelling all the components that make up a modern Formula 1 powertrain and all the settings on every knob and dial to ensure it exactly matches the real car – until the next race when a minor modification renders it void – how do teams get the most from sim set-ups? The answer can be found in Graz, at…

FORMULA 2 Formula 2’s clutch problems led to the series adopting safety car starts for last weekend’s Red Bull Ring round, and they will continue for this week’s British Grand Prix support slot at Silverstone. The series managed to arrange extra time on the end of its practice session in Austria for standing starts. After stalls for two drivers – Nicholas Latifi and Louis Deletraz – the decision was made to implement starts behind the safety car. As part of its announcement, F2 stated: “FIA has decided that for safety reasons the Formula 2 formation laps of rounds six and seven at Spielberg and Silverstone will start behind the safety car and follow procedures set out in article 39.16 of the F2 sporting regulations.” But using ‘safety reasons’ is an…

AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX FORMULA 2 GP3 IMSA WORLD RALLYCROSS MOTOGP AT TEN PAST THREE LAST SUNDAY AFTERNOON, MERCEDES LOOKED SET FOR A SCENIC stroll to a one-two, having annexed the front row with a car featuring a heavily revised aerodynamic package on top of the engine upgrade introduced at the previous weekend’s French Grand Prix. Seventy minutes later Mercedes had thrown away the lead and parked both cars, while Max Verstappen took a wonderfully executed victory on Red Bull’s home circuit. Mercedes shot itself in the foot spectacularly through a combination of unreliability, tyre blistering and, most significantly, another strategic blunder. No wonder team boss Toto Wolff described it as Mercedes’ “worst day”. The inexplicable decision not to call leader Lewis Hamilton into the pits under the virtual safety car,…

GP 3 SERIES RED BULL RING (A) JUNE 30-JULY 1 ROUND 3/9 Entering the Red Bull Ring, two British drivers who had been expected to fight for honours had almost been forgotten about in the title chase. Leaving Austria, Callum Ilott had the points lead and Jake Hughes had his mojo back after a tricky start to the season. ART Grand Prix remains the class of the field, and its drivers are always going to be in the conversation for poles and wins. But Ferrari Academy prospect Ilott’s session topper on Friday was the first ‘real’ GP3 pole of 2018 for the squad, and with it heaped pressure on his team-mates – especially Anthoine Hubert, the pre-weekend points leader and the man tasked with fighting through the field thanks to…

MOTOGP ASSEN (NL) JULY 1 ROUND 8/19 A glance at the results of this year’s Dutch TT could fool you into thinking it was just another ordinary MotoGP race. After all, clear pre-race favourite Marc Marquez converted pole into win number four of 2018, doing so by a little over two seconds. The reality could not be more different. While Marquez had the pace to break away on his Honda in the closing stages, the Assen race was an instant classic, with no fewer than five different leaders and more than 100 overtakes packed into 26 thrilling, spellbinding laps. Although the identity of the winner was expected, this race had it all, evoking memories of an equally chaotic encounter at Phillip Island in 2015. Marquez was victorious then too, and…

NASCAR CUP CHICAGOLAND (USA) JULY 1 ROUND 17/36 “If you don’t like that kind of racing, don’t even watch.” That was Kyle Busch’s opinion of his final-lap showdown against Kyle Larson at Chicagoland. Busch never troubled the top of the timing screen in stage one, claimed by the Stewart-Haas Ford of Aric Almirola for the first stage win of his career. Larson’s progress was swift in the first 80 laps, his Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet rising to second. In stage two it was Busch’s turn to make a move. Quick work in the pits got his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota back on track in 10th place ahead of the 107 laps that made up the final stage of the race. It boiled down to second-stage winner Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas), Busch,…

While the opening salvos of the 2018 DTM season were fired at Hockenheim back in May, it was unusual to have Mattias Ekstrom down in 17th and 16th in the two races – and for it not to matter. No, he wasn’t “saving the environment” like he claimed he was when he turned his engine off at the Red Bull Ring in 2011 after becoming frustrated at running 16th. Instead, this was a touring car career farewell for the Audi hero. “You spend so many years somewhere,” he says of his exit to concentrate on his World Rallycross Championship exploits as a team boss and driver. “On the one side it’s hard, on the other side it’s also the end of a chapter and it always starts a new one.…

BRDC BRITISH F3 BRDC British Formula 3 race winner Jordan Cane has quit motorsport with immediate effect. Cane cites the ever-increasing budgets and the risks associated with racing as the reasons behind his decision. Writing on social media, he said: “After a lot of thought, I have come to the difficult decision to not continue my racing career. The reason for my decision is that I’m just being realistic – motorsport more and more is about money and not talent, and the only chance of a good career is to buy it, not earn it. “My problem is not just about the money, it’s about the risk versus the reward. I’m not scared of racing but I do feel it’s not worth risking serious injury or worse when the odds…

HISTORIC 750 FORMULA Former British Sprint Championship frontrunner Simon Boulter stunned Historic 750 Formula regulars by taking two victories on his racing debut at Pembrey last weekend. He had acquired the ex-Mike Dorsett Time 3B that former British Touring Car ace Anthony Reid took to victory at Anglesey last summer to make the switch onto circuits, carrying out extensive work on the car and lightening it significantly. “It’s basically a completely new car,” he said after taking his first win by a narrow margin over the experienced Christian Pedersen. “The fact that Historic 750 Formula is a control formula, with control tyres and a control cam, appealed to me.” The second win came in Boulter’s favoured wet conditions. He knew Pembrey from his sprinting days, but the next round is…

BRANDS HATCH HSCC JUNE 30-JULY 1 Tom Bradshaw’s stirring Classic Formula 3 victory, from the back of Sunday’s 27-strong amalgam of British and French competitors, was deservedly the talk of the Historic Sports Car Club’s swelteringly hot Legends of Brands Hatch Superprix. An electrical short circuit had silenced the ex-Thierry Tassin Argo JM6’s Toyota engine on Saturday, but the blinding consistency and breathtaking corner-speed carried by Bradshaw – the 2008 Formula Palmer Audi runner-up – elevated it to 13th on lap one and the lead within eight laps. “I had to be patient working my way through, but the car was stunning. It never missed a beat,” he said. David Shaw (ex-Nelson Piquet Ralt RT1) won the bizarre opener. “I’ve never known a race like it,” he said. “I started…

For motorsport enthusiasts in one of the world’s smallest and most densely populated countries, the opportunities to compete are limited – which is why the joint leader of the 750 Motor Club Hot Hatch Championship, Rodren Vella, travels from Malta to the UK to race. “Motorsport is very popular in Malta, especially drag racing and hillclimbs. It’s just the race tracks that are missing,” says Vella, a web designer by day. “My father used to race go-karts. Back in those days there were temporary tracks for karting, but they went away so I couldn’t do that. I started to go to Sicily, competing in Time Attacks there.” Vella’s desire to put his motorsport activities on a more professional footing led to him making his first foray into racing in the…

The runners and riders muster for the 1925 BARC Whitsun Bank Holiday meeting at Brooklands. Top to bottom: #4 Glen Kidston’s Bugatti, #5 Major CG Coe’s 30-98 Vauxhall ‘Vixen’, #6 Woolf Barnato’s 3-litre Bentley, #7 Felix Scriven’s Austin 20, #8 A Lanfranchi’s Alfa Romeo, #9 JC Douglas with ‘Razor-Blade’, #10 HL Aldridge’s Alvis, #11 Dr Dudley Benjafield’s Salmson, Francis Samuelson’s Austin and AY Jackson’s 12-50 Alvis. FOR MORE GREAT PHOTOGRAPHS, VISIT MOTORSPORTIMAGES.COM…

One-hundred-and-thirty teams from more than 30 countries will contest the 20th anniversary edition of Formula Student at Silverstone next weekend (July 13-15) as the University of Cardiff seeks to defend its crown. Staged annually by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers since 1998, the competition to design and build a single-seater for autocross or sprint racing has served as a popular launchpad for young engineers to gain practical experience and is supported by leading industry figures, including Formula Student patron Ross Brawn. Cars are tested in static and dynamic categories, which are then totalled to rank the teams. Static events are judged on cost of the car, presentation and design – against a remit of being affordable, easy to maintain and reliable – while dynamic events consist of a figure-of-eight skidpan…

If ever there was a time CART’s Indycar races resembled NASCAR, it was during the early years of the Handford device, with 63 lead changes the headline feature of its dramatic debut at Michigan in 1998. Forsythe Racing’s Greg Moore managed to finally break the tow – “a stroke of genius”, reckoned Dario Franchitti – to win the race in the final laps, but the mercurial Canadian and the Chip Ganassi Racing duo of Jimmy Vasser and Alex Zanardi had perfectly demonstrated what could be expected from the Handford device. The slipstreaming would launch a car into a closing-speed advantage of 10-15mph, which made breaking clear difficult. “IT WAS STRANGE HAVING TO FIGHT SO HARD NOT TO LEAD. IT GOES AGAINST EVERY PRINCIPLE YOU’VE LEARNED” Walker Racing’s Gil de Ferran,…

Founded by racer Ron Simons, from whom the company takes its first two initials, RSRNurburg offers keen drivers a chance to rent performance-based cars and push them as their engineers intended on some of the world’s most revered circuits. With workshops at the Nurburgring and Spa-Francorchamps, RSRNurburg sees all manner of drivers, cars and indeed mistakes take place on its doorstep. On the big compressions and bumpy surface of the Nordschleife, simply lowering a road car doesn’t mean it’ll work on track. In fact, with the wrong set-up, a modified car can be more unforgiving through the corners and over the crests, and as a result be more likely to spit you into the barriers. That’s why RSRNurburg has launched its new ‘Standard vs Modified’ YouTube series. The videos follow…

FOR ENGINEERS ▪ Get varied experience. That way you learn more and become a better designer. ▪ It’s not only about brains and qualifications. Being bloody-minded and absorbing all the time, from day one, is crucial. Look at what others have done and learn from it. ▪ Learn to delegate. It’s a thin line between letting people do enough to feel they own it, but ensuring they’re not doing anything that you wouldn’t.…