Indholdsfortegnelse for 18/04/19 i Autosport

The 1000th world championship race wasn’t the best event, but the Chinese Grand Prix last weekend did at least tell us a few things about how the 2019 season is likely to develop. First, and most importantly, Ferrari is still struggling to get the best out of its SF90. Events at Shanghai suggest that Ferrari’s underwhelming performance in the Australian GP season opener wasn’t just an anomaly. It would seem that it is now Ferrari that has a ‘diva’ on its hands, so it will need to work out its idiosyncrasies quickly, just as Mercedes did with its difficult W08 in 2017. It also looks as though Valtteri Bottas will be a factor in the championship battle, but Lewis Hamilton once again underlined that he is favourite. On a weekend…

FORMULA 3 When you’ve got Ferrari Driver Academy prospects at Prema Racing, Renault F1 juniors at ART Grand Prix, and a smattering of Red Bull Juniors dotted around the field, it’s logical to look no further for the likely pacesetters in the new-for-2o19 FIA Formula 3 Championship. But the unaffiliated 20-year-old Roman Leonardo Pulcini has other ideas. His career to date hasn’t been meteoric, although he was a rival of Lance Stroll’s in the 2014 Italian F4 campaign, and crushed Ferdinand Habsburg and new IndyCar star Colton Herta as he romped to the 2016 Euroformula Open crown. After a strong 2018 in GP3 – fourth in the points – he has been quick in F3 testing and topped both days of last week’s pre-season running at Barcelona. Pulcini (right, top)…

W SERIES A final pre-season three-day test for the new all-female W Series has taken place this week at the Lausitzring, with two weeks to go before the series gets under way at Hockenheim. The final grid of 18 drivers – who were picked from an intensive selection process – had the opportunity to further familiarise themselves with the Alfa Romeo-powered Tatuus F-318 Formula 3 car they will race in the inaugural season. The drivers, who include recently crowned MRF Challenge champion Jamie Chadwick and ex-GP3 points scorer Alice Powell, had previously driven the car as part of the final selection test at Almeria last month. Each car is operated by Hitech GP, with the Lausitzring test giving each driver the opportunity to work closely with her allocated engineer. Series…

Qualifying is rarely cited by fans as an aspect of modern Formula 1 that needs fixing, yet for the second time in recent years a major revision is being mooted, the plan being to increase the session from three to four segments. Given what happened in 2016, when the disastrous and ill-thought-through elimination qualifying format was hastily introduced, met with derision and then axed after two races, the phrase ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ springs to mind. But there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with F1 trying to tackle what it understands to be weaknesses. The main criticism of the current qualifying format is actually one of its strengths. During Q1 and Q2, the real action surrounds those competing to avoid elimination rather than the top teams’ battle. This is…

Lewis Hamilton’s victory ahead of Valtteri Bottas in the Chinese Grand Prix means Mercedes has started what should be its most challenging season in years with a hat-trick of 1-2s. But the 1000th world championship race wasn’t just about the Silver Arrows dominating – it also cruelly exposed three key weaknesses for a chastened Ferrari team. Firstly, Ferrari was not fast enough in China, even with its straightline-speed advantage carrying over from Bahrain. Secondly, Ferrari was indecisive in how it managed its drivers and should have either ordered Sebastian Vettel past Charles Leclerc earlier or let the battle between the pair play out rather than doing a bit of both. Thirdly, its strategy with Leclerc was questionable, ultimately costing him any chance of beating Max Verstappen’s Red Bull to fourth…

FRUSTRATION FOR BIRD Sam Bird finished 11th after his car was hurriedly repaired under the red flags, for which he lauded his Virgin mechanics for their swift work. But it was a frustrating day for Bird, who had to contend with running a practice tyre in qualifying after getting a puncture on his quali set in FP1. VERGNE PENALISED Jean-Eric Vergne recovered to finish seventh at the flag following his time spent underneath Gary Paffett’s car during the early pile-up. But the reigning champion was punished for overtaking Antonio Felix da Costa under the full-course yellow and was dropped to 14th, which enraged him as he felt similar moves had gone unpunished in Mexico. STRICTER RACING RULES Autosport revealed ahead of the race that the FIA would take stricter action…

MOTOGP AUSTIN (USA) 14 APRIL ROUND 3/19 Honda’s Marc Marquez was aiming for a magnificent seven at Austin, but all he received was a taste of true grit. A stunned Austin crowd gasped in unison as he tumbled from his Honda while leading, spoiling his spotless winning record there and opening the door for Suzuki’s Alex Rins to claim his first MotoGP victory. It had all been going to plan before Marquez’s front wheel folded beneath him at less than 50mph at the Turn 12 hairpin, sending the five-time champion sprawling ignominiously into the runoff. There, he attempted to remount several times, but the bike steadfastly refused to restart – and he even managed to fall off it again in comedic fashion, which was his cue to give up and…

SUPER GT OKAYAMA (JPN) 14 APRIL ROUND 1/8 In a truncated season-opening Super GT race hit by terrible wet conditions, Takuya Izawa guided the Aguri Suzuki-run Honda NSX-GT to victory to earn maximum half-points for himself and Tomoki Nojiri. A drenched track caused no fewer than four safety cars and two red flags before the organisers ended the race on lap 32 of the scheduled 82, before most of the crews had changed drivers. Ronnie Quintarelli, who had qualified the NISMO Nissan GT-R on pole, led right after the safety car peeled off track at the end of lap three. But after only two tours it was back out once more because of a first-corner shunt that needed four laps to be cleaned up. At the restart, the two NSXs…

NASCAR CUP RICHMOND (USA) 13 APRIL ROUND 9/36 Martin Truex Jr scored his first victory for Joe Gibbs Racing after holding off Joey Logano and Clint Bowyer at Richmond. It was the 2017 NASCAR Cup champion’s first top-level race win on a short track in 81 attempts. Truex was challenged by Bowyer for the final 70 laps. Although the Stewart-Haas Ford driver had a much stronger car in traffic, he faded late on. That allowed Stage 2 winner Joey Logano to close and pass for second with just three laps to go. Polesitter Kevin Harvick dropped back fairly early on and finished fourth ahead of Denny Hamlin, who was one of eight drivers sent to the rear of the field at the start for failing pre-race inspection. Austin Dillon claimed…

There’s an air of change around the British GT Championship paddock in 2019. Of the 14 cars from seven manufacturers entered in GT3 – the biggest field assembled since 2016 – only two have competed in the championship before, while last year’s championship-winning triumvirate of Jonny Adam, Flick Haigh and Optimum Motorsport has been split up. Haigh won’t be defending her title, while Adam returns to the TF Sport squad with which he won the 2016 title and will race alongside Graham Davidson, a race winner at Spa last year. After seven years of service, the Aston Martin V12 Vantage that Adam has raced to each of his three British GT crowns has been replaced by a new V8 turbo-powered model, while series stalwarts Derek Johnston – the 2016 champion…

British F4 graduates may be in the spotlight this year, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be the only drivers challenging for the title. One of the highest-profile names to move into the championship is former Red Bull Junior Neil Verhagen. The 18-year-old American will drive with Double R – which has won two of the past three British F3 championships – having spent two seasons in Formula Renault Eurocup. “It’s a good series with a proven car, which was not something that was available in other series,” he says. “For me it’s all about learning, building up more experience and improving. I definitely want to learn as much as I can.” Other compatriots joining the series include former USF2000 driver Kaylen Frederick with Carlin, and Danish-American US F4 ace Benjamin…

GT5 CHALLENGE Ginetta G40 Cup champion Tom Golding has graduated to the GT5 Challenge for this year. Golding only began racing in 2017, taking five victories in the Ginetta Racing Drivers Club series before establishing himself as the dominant force in the G40 Cup last year. He will remain with the Assetto Motorsport squad that powered him to the title last season. “I’m extremely grateful to the team, friends and my family for their support in every way, without them 2019 simply wouldn’t be possible,” said Golding. “I have been working harder than ever during the winter in order to make the grid this year. I have the best mindset I’ve ever had, and I believe that I have one shot at this.” Another driver on the grid for the…

MORGAN CHALLENGE A year after his 99th Morgan Challenge race victory, Keith Ahlers finally achieved the landmark ton last weekend during the VSCC’s meeting at Silverstone. Not only that, but Ahlers doubled up over the course of the weekend in his Morgan +8. “I had two DNFs last year, a broken leaf spring and a blown engine, and a deserved whipping from Olly Bryant at Silverstone, so it’s taken a while,” said Ahlers. “I’ve owned the +8 from new in 1993 and did 106,000 miles before rebuilding it into its current pure racing guise, with full cage, glassfibre wings and 4.6-litre John Eales Rover V8 engine. Fundamentally, though, the centre section and ash frame are as they were.” Ahlers made his race debut in 1997 and scored his first victory…

YOUNGEST FUN CUP WINNER Riley Phillips became the youngest ever Fun Cup winner when he shared the winning DespatchBay.com car with Andy Bicknell and Marcus Clutton at Oulton Park last weekend. Phillips, who will be 17 in May, will be sharing the car again with Bicknell at the next round at Croft, where the previous youngest podium finisher Harry Mailer joins them. CORRECTION Last week Autosport printed a photo caption of Alex Taylor’s Mazda RX-7. This car is owned jointly by Taylor and his father Trevor, and was converted for circuit use by Taylor Sr. It was never raced in Australia. RODNEY GOOCH 1946-2019 Rodney Gooch, Castle Combe’s long-time inspirational marketing director, died last week having battled cancer for two years. A keen motorcycle racer, Gooch joined the fabled Aerosigns…

DONINGTON PARK MSVR 13-14 APRIL Richard Chamberlain’s hat-trick of victories in the opening GT Cup weekend of the 2019 season was nearly two years in the making. His distinctive orange Porsche 935 was “absolutely destroyed” in a fire at Silverstone in 2017, triggering a repair job that took 20 months and was only completed three weeks before the Donington Park curtain-raiser. Two wins from pole on Saturday hinted at a possible clean sweep, but Chamberlain faced renewed threats on Sunday. Last year’s GTO champion Gareth Downing was anonymous on the opening day after a three-car squeeze at Schwantz Curve in practice resulted in a broken steering column on his Mosler. But a close qualifying tussle on Sunday morning ended with Chamberlain delivering a 1m04.569s benchmark to narrowly beat Downing’s time…

BRANDS HATCH 750MC 13-14 APRIL Lewis Hamilton’s old karting adversary Colin Brown was the star of the opening event of the 750 Motor Club’s 80th anniversary year at Brands Hatch. Brown, who reached Euro 3000 in the early 2000s, returned to the cockpit in the F1000 series. He raced into the distance in the first and third races and finished a strong third in the reversed-grid contest. Dan Gore was victorious in race two after absorbing last-lap pressure from Paul Butcher. A standout performance from Matthew Booth in his first F1000 event bodes well for his season after he took two second places; the same goes for Robert Welham, who showed strong pace but suffered a broken driveshaft on Saturday and an exclusion for an underweight car in the next…

SILVERSTONE VSCC 13-14 APRIL Organised by the Benjafield’s Racing Club to celebrate the marque’s centenary, the spectacle of 40 vintage Bentleys thundering round Silverstone immortalised the Vintage Sports-Car Club’s 85th Anniversary season opener. From the first Le Mans-type running start in the UK since 1962 to a 1.26s margin of victory, it was a magnificent tribute. For victors Richard Hudson and Stuart Morley, who deposed Ewen Getley/Robin Tuluie after a thrilling full-blooded duel, it was unforgettable. In a field spanning 1919 to ’31, graced by a 1925 Le Mans team car, Bentley tuning wizard Getley set a punishing pace to the pitstops, chased by Morley’s brother James, Hudson and Randal Stewart. But German physicist-turned-Bentley uber-engineer Tuluie was hounded down by Stuart Morley, who squeezed ahead seven laps from home. Tuluie…

FILM REVIEW OTT TANAK: THE MOVIE The star of Ott Tanak – The Movie? Simple. His grandma. No contest. The very concept of a fly-on-the-wall-style documentary about Tanak caused much mirth in the Autosport office. The Estonian is, after all, famous for his lack of tolerance of the media. “I haven’t been the easiest guy to work with,” says Tanak with a wry smile. “They told me what they wanted to do and I didn’t want to do it. I did it because Markko [Martin, fellow Estonian world rally winner, early mentor and now very good mate] said it would be a good idea.” Martin laughs at the memory. “It’s true,” he said. Would you have done it? “No… but it was good for him.” And very, very good for…

FORMULA 1 Sebastian Vettel believes that Ferrari has been a victim of “poor journalism” amid ongoing scrutiny of the team’s use of team orders in Formula 1, which Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has warned could “open a can of worms”. Under new team principal Mattia Binotto, Ferrari has attempted to set a clear policy on team orders after suffering from indecision in recent seasons. Binotto has identified Vettel as the priority in “fifty-fifty” situations because the four-time world champion is considered a better title bet compared to his young, new team-mate Charles Leclerc. Early in the Chinese Grand Prix, Ferrari told Leclerc he would be asked to move aside for Vettel if he could not pick up his pace. He was then asked to let Vettel past, because Leclerc seemed…

WORLD ENDURANCE Ford won’t be on the World Endurance Championship grid with a full-factory team in GTE Pro beyond the end of this season. But an evolution of the Ford GT could be racing at the front of the field in the hypercar concept ranks come 2020-21. The US manufacturer has admitted that it is evaluating how its carbon-chassis GTE car could become a hypercar WEC contender after the rules were opened up last month to incorporate road-going supercars to race alongside the lookalike prototypes for which the class was conceived. The admission came at the same time as Ford finally confirmed that there would be no overt factory programme with the GTE car beyond the end of the 2018-19 WEC and the 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship. “It was a…

WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP World Rally Championship contender Ott Tanak has lined up his post-driving future by taking a stake in MM Motorsport, the team set up by fellow Estonian rallying hero Markko Martin. While Tanak’s star remains very much in the ascendancy, he is laying the foundations for life beyond the WRC in joining Martin on board at the Tallinn squad. “This sport comes from the inside – I have known it all of my life and I don’t want to work outside of it,” Toyota star Tanak told Autosport. “When I lost the drive with M-Sport in 2012, I told myself it was all over and I would go and set up my own team to run other cars. I did that and I will do it again. “We…

In 2005, Fernando Alonso won the Formula 1 World Championship and inspired a Spanish nation that had previously seen little beyond MotoGP with a new passion for four-wheeled motorsport. Interest reached such levels that Spain even briefly had two grands prix as Valencia joined Barcelona on the calendar, and ticket sales for events on the Iberian peninsula rocketed, as did grassroots participation. In 2004 Alonso came fourth in the first-ever Chinese Grand Prix for Renault, and a five-year-old native was also inspired. Now driving for Renault and a member of its Formula 1 junior programme, Guan Yu Zhou could just do for Chinese motorsport what Alonso did in Spain a decade and a half ago. Born in Shanghai, Zhou – known as Joe or Joey by most – lived in…

In the build-up to the final stage of qualifying, Valtteri Bottas seemed to have the edge on Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Faster on Friday by 0.707 seconds, in Saturday practice by 0.859s and in Q1 by 0.457s – even Hamilton’s advantage in Q2 was the result of having a second crack on mediums as he tried to get on top of the car. It was a sign that Hamilton was making progress, but Bottas responded to the pressure brilliantly, putting in two laps good enough for pole position in Q3 – just. On his first lap, a mighty first sector gave him 0.131s over Hamilton straight away. He eked out a few more hundredths in the middle sector, but Hamilton’s rapid run through the final sector meant he closed to…

Nico Hulkenberg suffered his second successive MGU-K-related failure when he retired after 16 laps with a software problem. Renault was forced to produce a new-specification MGU-K after McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr suffered a failure in the Australian Grand Prix, with the works team running it for the first time in Spain after a double retirement in Bahrain. “We had to push massively on production, which meant we had to fast-track some of the process and sign-off that we do,” said Renault F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul. “Something was triggered that we had not had the time to properly sign off.” Hulkenberg started eighth and ran ninth in the early stages after slipping behind the fast-starting Sergio Perez. He was 15th after an early first pitstop when he retired.…

There must be something in the Roman air that Mitch Evans likes. He shone during the ABB FIA Formula E Championship’s first visit to the Italian capital last year before dramatically running out of energy late on. And this time he made history for Jaguar with a first FE victory. There was a second similarity between the two Rome races. Not only was Evans again in the thick of the action up front, but he was also joined by Andre Lotterer, who again eclipsed his DS Techeetah team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne on his way to a podium finish. But this time around it was a gripping, gladiatorial two-chariot race. While the race start was rather slippery due to an earlier shower, the main action was dry throughout. The same could not…

If you thought Alexander Rossi’s performance at Long Beach in 2018 was dominant, you’d be right. He led 71 of the 85 laps, and was able to pull away whenever he was threatened. But his latest performance at America’s classic street race was something else again. As last year, Rossi started his Honda-powered Andretti Autosport car from pole, his advantage over his closest competitor reduced from 0.35 seconds in 2018 to 0.27s this year – but his pace advantage on race day appeared to have increased by at least the same amount, and this time he led 80 laps. Once or twice during an IndyCar season, the race winner makes it look easy, and this was one such day. To take nothing away from Rossi or the sixth win of…

BLANCPAIN GT ENDURANCE CUP MONZA (ITA) 14 APRIL ROUND 1/5 A marque that hadn’t won in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup since 2012 combined with a team making its championship debut to take an unlikely victory at Monza last weekend. The Porsche 911 GT3-R run by the Italian Dinamic squad wasn’t one of the pre-event favourites, but Klaus Bachler, Zaid Ashkanani and Andrea Rizzoli prevailed at the end of a rain-affected race hit by three safety cars. It would be wrong to say that the team, a stalwart of one-make Porsche racing, was lucky, though it benefited from others’ misfortune. But in the crucial middle hour of the race, Ashkanani had the pace to propel the car from just outside the top 10 after the first round of pitstops…

IMSA SPORTSCAR LONG BEACH (USA) 13 APRIL ROUND 3/12 Joao Barbosa and Filipe Albuquerque claimed victory in their Action Express Cadillac DPi-V.R after an enthralling 100-minute race. The Portuguese pair’s second consecutive win on the Californian streets came as the result of patience, a touch of good fortune and a fine effort from Albuquerque to hold off Ricky Taylor (Acura Team Penske) in the closing stages. Taylor’s Brazilian team-mate Helio Castroneves confirmed his undiminished skills by securing the pole at a new record speed of over 99mph. It was the three-time Indy 500 winner’s fourth pole position start in five years at Long Beach, following consecutive IndyCar qualifying successes between 2015 and 2017. began early when Jon Bennett clipped the inside wall at Turn 6 and buried his CORE Nissan…

EUROPEAN LE MANS SERIES PAUL RICARD (FRA) 14 APRIL ROUND 1/6 DragonSpeed was back on the top step of the European Le Mans Series podium at Paul Ricard, thanks to the trio of Ben Hanley, Henrik Hedman and James Allen, which delivered the squad its first spoils since Spa 2016. Allen’s opening stint defined the ORECA 07-Gibson crew’s race, as he climbed from fifth on the grid to take the lead. When the order finally settled after the final round of pitstops, the car maintained a near-17-second advantage to the flag. The four-hour race ran without incident – not so much as a safety car or full-course yellow – meaning the Idec Sport Racing crew of Nicolas Jamin/Pierre Ragues/Richard Bradley weren’t offered a late joker to close the gap. The…

The 2018 GT4 class title battle was a series of ifs, buts and missed opportunities that contributed to a thriller, which remained open until the final lap of the season. If 2019’s record-equalling 23-car grid can produce anything like the spectacle of last year, where the top three crews were separated at season’s end by just two points, then we’ll be in for a treat. Early indications from media day – held before Balance of Performance testing – were positive, with four marques in the top five, headed by the Team Parker Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of reigning Pro-Am champions Scott Malvern and Nick Jones. But it’s the car that ended up second, driven by Formula 4 graduate Seb Priaulx, that will be the object of close scrutiny this year. As…

GT CUP Ex-Jaguar Formula E driver and A1GP title winner Adam Carroll made his return to the GT Cup in the championship’s season opener at Donington Park last weekend. The Northern Irishman, who carried Team Ireland to the 2008-09 A1GP title, had not raced competitively since driving for the Jaguar squad in the 2016-17 FE season. Carroll, 36, contested a GT Cup race for the first time since 2015 last weekend, sharing an FF Corse Ferrari 488 Challenge with Laki Christoforou. The pair claimed a best result of fifth overall plus two GTC class wins from the four races. “I’m excited to return to FF Corse,” said Carroll. “It’s a team I’ve achieved success with in the past in British GT, and even more so at a time when they’ve…

MINI CHALLENGE The Mini Challenge JCW championship has achieved a bumper entry for its final season before joining the British Touring Car Championship’s support bill. The series begins at Oulton Park this weekend and will continue to feature on the British GT undercard for the majority of its rounds this year. It will then replace the Renault UK Clio Cup on the TOCA package for 2020. Thirty-three drivers have registered, although not all will compete at the Oulton opener. The category is therefore likely to beat its previous record grid of 31 cars during the season. Drivers to sign up in recent weeks include 2010 Clio Cup runner-up Lee Pattison (below) who returns to the series from Clios, competing as a privateer. “The numbers for this year are very strong,…

SILVERSTONE A third June Silverstone club race meeting has been cancelled by the circuit’s bosses to allow resurfacing work to take place. Last month it was revealed that both the MG Car Club’s MG Live event and a two-day 750MC meeting had been axed by the circuit. A two-day MotorSport Vision fixture on the National Circuit has now also been canned so that resurfacing can be carried out. The 29-30 June event was due to play host to the GT Cup, one of MSVR’s most popular categories, along with the F3 Cup, Heritage Formula Ford, Elise Trophy, Radical SR1 Cup, Trackday Championship and Focus Cup. MSVR is looking at alternative options but will not run a meeting at Silverstone on a different date. An MSVR spokesperson said: “We have huge…

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CROFT BARC 13-14 APRIL Scott McIntyre won both Junior Saloon Car races at Croft from pole to seize the championship lead, despite race-one gearbox problems that meant he had to swap units between races. McIntyre had a couple of strokes of good fortune: in race one he dropped to eighth place after struggling to get third gear after the start, but was able to resume his pole position after an early red flag. Also, the man he replaced at the top of the points table, Lewis Saunders, qualified far down the grid for both races after suffering understeer caused by the wrong length of part being fitted after his drive flange broke. He recovered to take third and second-place finishes. “It’s going to be very close throughout the year,” McIntyre…

MONDELLO PARK IMRC 13-14 APRIL Erik Holstein starred at the opening meeting of the season at Mondello Park, the former champion show jumper romping home to take race-one victory on his Fiesta ST debut. This earned him a sixth-place reversed-grid spot for race two. No doubt buoyed by his earlier glory, Holstein swept round the outside of the Murray Motorsport trio of Alex Denning, Michael Cullen and Dave Maguire at Turn 1. He subsequently displaced Barry-John McHenry for second and closed down leader Graham McDonnell. McDonnell put up a stern defence, though, and when Holstein eventually managed to get around the outside at Turn 1, the resulting contact dropped McDonnell way back, while Holstein rejoined in third behind Cullen and Denning. As Denning grabbed the lead into Turn 1, Holstein…

OULTON PARK BRSCC 13 APRIL The DespatchBay.com trio of Andy Bicknell, Riley Phillips and Marcus Clutton came out on top of a tremendous Fun Cup four-hour enduro, after a late safety-car deployment bunched the field when there were still 13 cars on the lead lap. It was the Truman’s car of Colin Kingsnorth and Jonathan Hoad that led much of the race, but Kingsnorth lost out to Bicknell when the track went green with 16 minutes left on the clock. DespatchBay.com had enjoyed spells in the lead and always been among the frontrunners, and Bicknell timed his charge perfectly. He was second into Cascades and snatched the lead into Island. JPR Uvio’s Fabio Randaccio and JPR Axiametrics’ Kristian Rose moved into second and third. After briefly surging clear the leading…

FORMULA 1 Monza “urgently” needs €60million for the renovation work it wants completed for its 100th anniversary and to secure its Formula 1 future. At the end of last year it emerged that Monza bosses were planning major changes to the famous Italian circuit for its centenary in 2022, including removing one of its chicanes. But the Italian Grand Prix does not have an F1 deal beyond the current season. Angelo Sticchi Damiani, president of Italian federation the ACI, has now said it is “urgent” that it gets €60m of the estimated €100m renovation budget. “The ACI is involved in the payment of the hosting fee to Liberty Media and cannot spend money on the very urgent renewal of the circuit,” he said. “The right way to arrive at this…

SUPER FORMULA A new era in Japan’s Super Formula series kicks off this weekend at Suzuka. The new Dallara SF19 – halo included – makes its competition debut in place of the much-loved SF14, while the series’ silly season has been more volatile than ever. Honda’s reigning champion Naoki Yamamoto switches teams from Team Mugen to Dandelion Racing, while his close runner-up Nick Cassidy has secured what is ostensibly a promotion from Kondo Racing to flagship Toyota squad TOM’S – but actually steps into a team with a lot of work to do following its dreadful season in 2018. Following a pair of two-day pre-season tests at Suzuka and then Fuji, Yamamoto (below) is looking good for another title attack as he bids for his third crown. “I think he’s…

DTM Pietro Fittipaldi, grandson of two-time Formula 1 world champion Emerson, is edging towards a season in the DTM. The Haas F1 tester and sometime IndyCar driver is being given a tryout in the WRT Audi squad this week in what is likely to be a precursor to a full-time drive in one of its customer RS5s. Fittipaldi was due to drive the solo car WRT is allowed to enter in the pre-season test at the Lausitzring on Wednesday and Thursday this week. Team boss Vincent Vosse explained that the reason he was driving the car was because a deal was in the offing. “Pietro will be in the car for the test and we are working as though he will be in the car for the full season, but…

A milestone to be celebrated Congratulations to Formula 1 on the 1000th race, world championship event or whatever it actually is. If last weekend’s rather forced celebrations have done one thing, they have reminded me just how wonderful this amazing sport can be. Sadly, the Chinese Grand Prix was a huge statement about everything currently wrong with the sport. A race dominated by teams controlling their drivers’ pace and strategy, with so little action that one of the ‘highlights’ was a double pitstop. A race played out on a sterile Tilkedrome, a place we only visit for commercial reasons, a track built for the corporate empires of the car manufacturers who wield too much power in our sport. Still, 1000 races is a milestone to be celebrated. If I have…

Rome’s circuit proved tricky for overtaking in the Jaguar I-PACE eTrophy, putting the emphasis on the drivers’ efforts in qualifying. Jaguar Brazil Racing and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing were the teams to beat, but only one half of each line-up was smiling after qualifying. Sergio Jimenez took pole for Jaguar Brazil, while team-mate Caca Bueno suffered a puncture and qualified seventh. To Jimenez, “the difficult part” was done. His RLLR rivals thought those words would come back to bite him, with its driver Bryan Sellers on the grippier side of the track on the front row, while Sellers’s team-mate Katherine Legge started fourth after losing free practice to a puncture. Team Asia New Zealand’s championship leader Simon Evans, brother of Rome E-Prix winner Mitch, qualified third. Jimenez made a great…

Some may still snigger at the idea that the Grand Prix of Long Beach was originally devised as the US’s answer to the Monaco Grand Prix, but that notion is leant some credence by the fact that its 1.968-mile layout doesn’t offer abundant passing opportunities, yet seemingly limitless chances to damage your race car. Naturally, therefore, rookies have a hard time attaining consistency. Just a week after veterans Takuma Sato, Scott Dixon and Sebastien Bourdais mounted the podium at Barber Motorsports Park, this year’s highly talented IndyCar rookies had their lack of experience highlighted again by the narrow margins of the second most famous street course in the world. Patricio O’Ward (below), who had never before competed here, qualified a highly commendable ninth fastest for Carlin, but clouted a wall…

FORMULA RENAULT EUROCUP MONZA (ITA) 13-14 APRIL ROUND 1/10 It’s debatable whether Ugo de Wilde’s Formula Renault Eurocup victory at Monza on Saturday should be described as a rookie win. The start of a new era for the long-running series with the Tatuus regional F3 chassis, turbo engines and Hankook tyres means everyone is starting afresh. But there was no doubting the dominance of the youngest driver on the grid. The 16-year-old Belgian, runner-up in last year’s French Formula 4 title race, got the jump on pole winner Lorenzo Colombo at the start and was never headed on the way to a 1.5-second victory. He controlled the gap to his JD Motorsport team-mate Leonardo Lorandi through the 17-lap race, which included a quickfire safety car thrown in before the end…

AUSTRALIAN SUPERCARS PHILLIP ISLAND (AUS) 13-14 APRIL ROUND 4/15 It might have ended with a pair of 1-2s for the dominant DJR Team Penske squad, but the Phillip Island Supercars round still managed to throw up a few surprises. Scott McLaughlin winning Saturday’s first race certainly wasn’t one of them. Equipped with the new Ford Mustang – perfectly suited to the fast and flowing circuit – the expectation was two wins for the runaway points leader. Saturday followed the script perfectly. McLaughlin made it seven Island poles in a row in qualifying, before he and team-mate Fabian Coulthard cruised to a Penske 1-2 in the race. Behind the Penske Mustangs, things got a little bit interesting. Rather than a queue of Fords, there were flashes of speed from the unfancied…

FORMULA REGIONAL EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP PAUL RICARD (FRA) 13-14 APRIL ROUND 1/8 Frederik Vesti took two wins to claim an early series lead in the inaugural Formula Regional European Championship. Only 10 cars assembled for the first round of the FIA-blessed European take on the Regional F3 concept, and it was Prema Powerteam trio Vesti, Enzo Fittipaldi and Olli Caldwell who shared the poles after rain-affected qualifying. Fittipaldi had pole for the opener, but he and Caldwell ran wide at the Mistral chicane on the opening lap as they fought for first position, allowing Vesti into a lead he never looked like losing. Igor Fraga was the revelation of Ricard – the Brazilian, an Esports champion and ace in US and Mexican single-seaters – ran second for DR Formula before he…

For the first time since the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship was created in 2016, the top three drivers from the previous season’s British F4 standings are graduating into the category. Not only that, but all three are British and it’s the clearest indication yet that the UK once again has a viable single-seater ladder. Previously, drivers would often move into series in Europe, especially the Formula Renault Eurocup, or turn their back on single-seaters altogether in favour of GT racing and what was perceived as a more viable career route. But the situation in Europe has been unclear, specifically over the FIA’s new Regional F3 concept and the confusion between Formula European Masters and Euroformula Open. Thanks to British F3’s affordability and competitiveness, the home series has capitalised and…

VW RACING CUP Volkswagen Racing Cup title-winning squad Team Hard has withdrawn from the series and will now place its drivers in other championships. The Kent-based team was planning to run up to eight cars in the series this season, but has instead decided to focus on other areas of national racing. Team boss Tony Gilham said: “Unfortunately, the evolution of the championship over the past couple of years has made it increasingly difficult for it to work commercially for us, our drivers and our partners.” Gilham added that a calendar change, which meant that the VW series would race at Croft instead of at Brands Hatch’s Deutsche Fest event on 7 July, was a major blow. “Several of our drivers are based locally to Brands Hatch and losing that…

An extraordinary centrepiece race celebrating 100 years of Bentley made the Vintage Sports-Car Club’s 85th anniversary season opener – which also marked 70 years since the club’s first race meeting at Silverstone – a very special weekend. While I’m not convinced that the Formula Vintage branding of recent times has achieved its aim of engaging younger generations of fans – most of whom are hooked in by family devotees or friends who compete, or have spectated for decades – the cars and characters in the paddock have always been compelling to me. I have attended many spring events, and that excitement in anticipation of quality motorsport still sustained me as I set off at 0600 en route to the circuit, which I first attended as a baby in August 1958.…

DONINGTON PARK GT CUP RACE 1, 2 & 3 Richard Chamberlain (Porsche 935) RACE 4 John Seale/Jamie Stanley (Lamborghini Huracan GT3) CHAMPION OF BRANDS FF1600 RACE 1 Rory Smith (Medina Sport JL18) RACE 2 Oliver White (Medina Sport JL17) HERITAGE FORMULA FORD RACE 1 & 2 Oliver White (Van Diemen RF89) FOCUS CUP RACE 1 Paul Donkin RACE 2 David Rowe PRODUCTION BMWs RACE 1 & 2 David Graves (BMW 320i) MONOPOSTO MOTO 1000/CLASSIC/1400 RACE 1 & 2 Jason Timms (Dallara F301) MONOPOSTO MONO F3/2000/1800/1600 RACE 1 Kevan McLurg (Dallara F399) RACE 2 Mark Harrison (Dallara F397) RACING SALOONS RACE 1 & 2 Marcos Burnett (BMW E36 M3) Z CARS RACE 1 & 2 Edd Giddings CROFT JUNIOR SALOON CARS RACE 1 & 2 Scott McIntyre MINI MIGLIA RACE 1…

INTERNATIONAL MOTORSPORT Super Formula Rd 1/7 Suzuka, Japan 21 April UK MOTORSPORT Donington Park MSVR 20 April Porsche Club, Classic Restoracing, Historic F3, GT Challenge, AMOC GT4/Inter Marque, Jack Fairman Cup Pembrey BRSCC 20-21 April Mazda MX-5s, Mazda MX-5 Super Series, Fiestas, Fiesta Juniors, Welsh Sports and Saloons Snetterton BRSCC 20-21 April National FF1600, FF1600 Triple Crown, Porsches, Mazda MX-5 Super Cup, Alfa Romeos, Civic Cup Oulton Park MSVR 20 & 22 April British GT, F4, Ginetta GT5, Ginetta G40s, Radical SR1s, VW Racing Cup, Mini Challenge Brands Hatch BARC 20-22 April Clubmans, Pickups, Legends, Hyundai Coupes, Pre ’66 Touring Cars, Pre ’83 Group 1 Touring Cars, Pre ’93 Touring Cars, Pre ’03 Touring Cars, Pre ’05 Production Saloon Cars, Blue Oval Saloons, Classic and Historic Thunder Saloons, Tin Tops,…

Phil ‘Red’ Shafer strikes a slightly lonely figure as he conducts his Buick-powered Shafer Special through the majestic – and in this instance meteorologically unbecoming – Eifel landscape during the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring on 19 July 1931. Des Moines, Iowa native Shafer – who made seven Indianapolis 500 starts, finishing as high as third in 1925 – was forced to retire with a suspension problem after 13 laps. The race was won by Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes-Benz SSKL. For a DVD charting the genesis of Formula 1 head to bit.ly/BirthofF1 For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

WHO IS THIS? From a renaissance hotbed, this hard-charger was also capable of great artistry behind the wheel. After a typically patriotic start he was bitten by a scorpion, before he was adopted by a wolf to buck the trend. He stayed with the pack as it made an unlikely graduation to the great wide open, but there was little to howl about. An opportunity to fail was grabbed with both hands, and there were unexpected opportunities to shine as he received new motivation. A berth with a fallen great was a hiding to nothing, while a raging bull had blunt horns. This led to a shift of focus and rich reward as he led the charge for a reinvigorated icon. An unexpected recall brought success in dark times, although…