Indholdsfortegnelse for 16/05/19 i Autosport

Back at the Barcelona circuit on which it had comfortably set the pace in pre-season testing, Ferrari was soundly beaten in the Spanish Grand Prix. As Edd Straw’s report on page 16 shows, there can now be no doubt that Mercedes has made more progress and that the W10 is currently the fastest car in Formula 1. While Mercedes must be congratulated for its excellence, its ongoing success is not good for F1. If Autosport’s inbox is anything to go by, there is less patience with domination – which is hardly new in F1 – than there used to be. But what can be done? In the longer term, we must hope the rules change so that more than three teams have a hope of winning. Shorter term, it’s down…

WRC Rally GB needs to find a new home outside Wales if it is to retain the place on the World Rally Championship calendar it has held since 1973 (above). WRC Promoter has told Autosport that moving out of Wales is“key” to Britain’s aspirations of remaining at rallying’s highest level. Any temptation to dismiss such talk as sabre-rattling would be dangerous, especially with two European rounds set to be dropped to make room for the returns of both Japan and Kenya in 2020. The series promoter will deliver a proposed calendar to the WRC Commission in Geneva on Friday. Autosport understands that Corsica and Germany have been dropped from the schedule. Rally Japan is in, as is the Safari – but the African event’s presence is dependent on a successful…

FORMULA 2 The Formula 2 championship may have to retrofit power-steering to its cars after it was announced that the series would run 18-inch tyres in 2020, a year before Formula 1 makes the same switch. It was revealed at last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix-supporting round that F2 will go to 18-inch Pirellis after a test car had run with the new wheels on the Wednesday before the action began at Barcelona. Autosport sources say teams have been told that F2 will investigate the possibility of adding power-steering, while the series itself confirmed that changes could be made to the front of the car after extensive testing. Series boss Bruno Michel said: “The next step is an intensive development programme to ensure that everything is ready for next season, notably…

It will be easier the second time. That was Fernando Alonso’s conclusion after his star turn in the 2017 Indianapolis 500, a race he was in the mix to win until his Honda engine gave up. But that’s not necessarily the case. From the perspective of Alonso himself knowing how the unique half-month of May works, clearly he is in much better shape. He’s completed an Indy 500 (well, 447.5 miles of one), has experienced the vagaries of the track, the crosswinds, the grip changes, drafting, and has proved conclusively that he’s able to cut it against the best oval racing has to offer. None of that was a surprise in 2017. Alonso is a driver with the ability and intellect to turn his hand successfully to any form of…

This was Valtteri Bottas’s weekend, or so it seemed. From the start of practice until the moment the lights went out for the start of the Spanish Grand Prix, he was the faster Mercedes driver and had illustrious team-mate Lewis Hamilton emphatically covered. Then, in a reverse of the start of the Australian Grand Prix, Hamilton made the better getaway from second on the grid and led all but the first 400 metres of the race to head a remarkable fifth consecutive one-two finish for Mercedes. But despite the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya being notoriously difficult to overtake at, there was a little more to this than Hamilton turning the tables by getting ahead and then parking in front of Bottas. In race conditions, Hamilton showed no signs of the kind…

Daniel Ricciardo claims that Renault “underachieved” by failing to score any points in Barcelona. Ricciardo started 13th owing to a grid penalty for reversing into Daniil Kvyat in the Azerbaijan GP, and spent the opening portion of the Barcelona race in 12th, behind the McLaren of Carlos Sainz Jr. Ricciardo did overtake Sainz for position before the pair pitted at the end of lap 24, but emerged on hard tyres and was soon repassed by the McLaren, which now had mediums. Sainz rose to eighth after the safety car, but Ricciardo made no further progress and finished 12th. “I’m frustrated to be honest with that,” said Ricciardo. “I see Carlos was eighth – we had him at the end of the first stint and then we fitted a hard, he…

When Jean-Eric Vergne crossed the line to win last weekend’s ABB FIA Formula E Championship race, he cemented a few pieces of history. Not only did he become the second FE winner in Monaco – Sebastien Buemi had triumphed in the championship’s first two races in the principality – but he had never finished on the podium there in his career. He also became the first repeat winner of the 2018-19 FE season. That final footnote really matters. But first let’s establish how Vergne and his DS Techeetah squad won the race. Monaco, perhaps more than any other FE event, is all about qualifying. The track is actually quite wide by FE standards, even if it looks restrictive when the Formula 1 beasts are in town. The flowing nature of…

Jack Harvey, the 2012 British Formula 3 champion and two-time runner-up in the Indy Lights championship for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, has for too long been proof that the IndyCar Series is simply too densely packed for teams or drivers to concede any ground to their rivals. In 2017, Harvey made his IndyCar debut driving for Michael Shank Racing in partnership with Andretti Autosport in the Indy 500. It ended in a crash not of his making. Later in the year he rejoined Sam Schmidt and Ric Peterson for two races to replace Mikhail Aleshin, and he looked convincingly close to temporary team-mate James Hinchcliffe; with a bit more experience, he could make strides. Last year Shank – with new partner Jim Meyer – entered six IndyCar races in a technical…

BLANCPAIN ENDURANCE SERIES SILVERSTONE (GBR) 12 MAY ROUND 1/5 Ferrari hadn’t won a Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup round for six years when it arrived at Silverstone. And like Porsche at Monza last month, the Italian marque ended its victory drought from a long way down the grid. SMP Racing trio Mikhail Aleshin, Miguel Molina and Davide Rigon snatched the win, Ferrari’s first since Monza 2013, with 15 minutes left. The AF Corse-run Ferrari 488 GT3 emerged from the final pitstops a couple of seconds behind race leader Giovanni Venturini’s FFF Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, spent 20 minutes or so glued to its tail, and then made it past with a neat move into Luffield. Rigon had the benefit of a fresh set of Pirellis, and it ultimately told. Tyre…

PORSCHE SUPERCUP BARCELONA (ESP) 12 MAY ROUND 1/9 Julien Andlauer opened his Porsche Supercup account with a comprehensive victory at Barcelona, crossing the line 3.2 seconds clear of series rookie Ayhancan Guven to kick off the 2019 season. Andlauer got a clean break from pole position, but Guven hustled the leader on the run down to the first corner. The two traded paint, but Andlauer had the upper hand and steamed into an early lead, although Guven followed him closely in the early stages. As Andlauer absorbed the early pressure, the fight for the lead abated with the emergence of a safety car – called for the beached Clement Mateu, who took evasive action at Turn 3 after Michael Verhagen spun. Guven attempted a move on Andlauer at the restart,…

TOURING CAR TROPHY Touring Car Trophy chiefs are confident the new series, which incorporates TCR UK, will grow after a shaky start at Oulton Park last Saturday. Only seven cars contested the two races after Lewis Kent’s Hyundai i30 N was sidelined by engine problems and Darrelle Wilson was forced to withdraw his Vauxhall Astra in the run up to the event. The clashing Britcar meeting at Brands Hatch meant registered TCT driver Tim Docker was missing from Oulton, while ECU problems on Richard Woods’s Super 2000-spec Ford Focus delayed his anticipated TCT campaign. “We’ve got some more cars that are coming for the next round,” said Stewart Lines, whose Maximum Motorsport operation runs the series on behalf of TCR founder WSC. “If we can get to 15 by the…

BRITISH GT RAM Racing team principal Dan Shufflebottom says the team’s British GT Championship title hopes are not over despite a shoulder injury for Ian Loggie that has forced it to pull its Mercedes out of this weekend’s Snetterton round. A cycling accident caused the injury, which has ruled Loggie out of the two one-hour races. Shufflebottom told Autosport that RAM had considered finding another Bronze-rated driver to join Callum Macleod, who has partnered Loggie since 2015, but ran out of time. Loggie is expected to be back for the three-hour race at Silverstone next month and is currently undergoing physiotherapy to return to fitness. Loggie and Macleod are 10th in the standings after a disappointing opening weekend at Oulton Park, where Loggie’s first British GT pole in race one…

MINI 7 RACING CLUB The Mini Se7en and Miglia categories have received bumper entries for when they join the British Touring Car Championship support package at Thruxton this weekend. There will be two races for each of the Mini 7 Racing Club series in Hampshire. Grids of around 30 cars were expected for both series as Autosport closed for press. Along with the category regulars, Historic Formula 1 ace Nick Padmore will be competing in the Miglia category. The club’s commercial manager Colin Peacock says he’s delighted with the interest in the Thruxton races. “It’s amazing how many drivers have come out of the woodwork,” he said. Neither the Porsche Carrera Cup GB nor the Renault UK Clio Cup will compete at Thruxton this weekend, allowing the two Mini series…

GOODWOOD REVIVAL Ex-McLaren and Williams Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya will not compete at this year’s Goodwood Revival due to a clashing IMSA test, but is hoping to be invited back in 2020. Seven-time grand prix winner Montoya is competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship in the US with Team Penske, and the series has organised a set of tests on the same date as the Revival. Goodwood had announced that Montoya would attend the event on 13-15 September last week. “I was going to [compete], but they actually organised a test so I’m screwed,” Montoya told Autosport. “I was going to do the Revival, I was really looking forward to it. I wanted to see if they could get me a Mini or something like that. “I was…

SNETTERTON MSVR 11-12 MAY Jamie Stanley was on form to take the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 he shares with John Seale to the front and victory in the two endurance counters for the GT Cup. Bonamy Grimes won the sprint opener from pole in his FF Corse-run Ferrari 458 Challenge, though the race was red-flagged after an embarrassment at Riches: Richard Chamberlain made a bid to pass Grimes for the lead in his newly rebuilt Porsche 935 on the third lap, it failed, and they collided. A five-lap sprint ensued after the restart, and Seale led the chase of Grimes until Tom Webb’s Super Trofeo Huracan caught him and went by on the outside at Riches. But Seale reclaimed second when Webb spun at Hamilton on the last lap, while third-placed…

PEMBREY BARC 11-12 MAY Paul Rivett arrived in sun-drenched south Wales for the Spring Truckfest at Pembrey having never raced at the circuit nestled in the Carmarthenshire hills. Moreover, his MAN TGA ride in Division 2 of the British Truck Racing Championship was beset with gremlins that had lasted throughout pre-season and the Brands Hatch opener: limited testing, gearbox worries and concerns about the top-end grunt of his machine. So an understated weekend for the four-time Renault UK Clio Cup champion would have been forgiven. But there was not a chance of that happening. From fourth on the grid for Division 2’s second race of the weekend, Rivett made the perfect getaway to dance around the outside of those ahead at Hatchets Hairpin and pull a five-second gap on the…

BISHOPSCOURT BARC 11-12 MAY Like Christmas, motor racing at Bishopscourt comes but once a year – and the County Down circuit, used predominantly for motorcycles, presented a unique challenge to those more used to the tighter confines of Kirkistown and Mondello Park. Its combination of ultra-fast sweepers in the first part of the lap, and a sprinkling of challenging chicanes on the return leg – complete with ever-welcoming gravel traps – proved popular, even if not everybody got it right every time. One who did, though, was Paul O’Connell, whose Nissan V6-powered Dallara took both BOSS Ireland races, setting a new outright lap record for cars along the way with an impressive 103.310mph average. His wins were not without difficulty. Sam Mansfield and his Radical SR8 kept the hillclimb specialist…

SAVE UP TO 63% SUBSCRIBE ONLINE www.autosportmedia.com/offer/as2019 OR CALL 0344 848 8817 QUOTE PROMO CODE PASP19GEN FOR OVERSEAS RATES CALL +44 (0) 1604 251 451 WHY SUBSCRIBE? SAVE UP TO 63% on the cover price ON THE MOVE read on your iPhone or iPad FREE DELIVERY direct to your door IN EVERY ISSUE LATEST NEWS from across a range of series UNRIVALLED STORIES from our award winning journalists EXTENSIVE ANALYSIS of everything Formula 1 Terms and conditions: Offer valid for new UK subscriptions by Direct Debit only. After your first 6 weeks, your subscription will continue at £35.99 every 13 issues for the print and digital bundle. Digital magazines only available on iPhone and iPad. Direct Debit rates are valid for one year after which they are subject to change.…

P16 THE LAST SPANISH GP? FORMULA 1 The Dutch Grand Prix will return to the Formula 1 calendar next year at Zandvoort, but several classic circuits could be dropped, with Brazilian track Interlagos joining the list of uncertain venues. Zandvoort’s return and the revival of the Dutch GP, last run in 1985, was confirmed on Tuesday. As expected, the race will take a May date next year. Zandvoort needs upgrading to be ready in time, but it is in a much stronger position than circuits that have been regular fixtures in recent years. The loss of government funding has hit the Spanish and Mexican GPs hard, while Silverstone remains locked in negotiations to prevent this year’s British GP being its last (for now). The Spanish GP has also felt the…

WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP It’s crunch time for the hypercar concept World Endurance Championship rules. The fate of a category due to come into force for the 2020-21 season could be decided today (Thursday) when the rulemakers ask for firm commitments from manufacturers. The call will be made at a Technical Working Group meeting in Paris by the FIA and WEC promoter and Le Mans 24 Hours organiser the Automobile Club de l’Ouest. It follows their decision to backtrack on the original ideas for a category calling for lookalike prototypes to one also incorporating production-based hypercars. That came back in March at the behest of a group of manufacturers including Aston Martin. But so far no one has said they are ready to join the party with a real hypercar. Worse…

OBITUARY The runner-up in the inaugural running in 1958 of what would become known as the British Touring Car Championship, Tommy Sopwith passed away last week. He was 86. Sopwith was the son of Thomas Sopwith, a famous aviator, America’s Cup yachting competitor and creator of the famous Sopwith Camel First World War biplane. The younger Sopwith began his racing career at Goodwood in the early 1950s in a Jaguar XK120, following in the wheeltracks of his father, who had been one of the early pioneers at Brooklands. Sopwith Jr was also a pioneer in his own right, building his own successful sports-racer, the Sphinx, in 1954, and scoring many wins against the might of the prevalent C-type Jaguars in his Allard J2R-based machine. Sopwith formed his own squad –…

“It only dawns on you when you’re walking down the grid and you see all 30 cars and the teams – not just the quality of drivers, the amount of top teams, it’s really impressive.” That’s Hitech Grand Prix boss Oliver Oakes talking about the new FIA Formula 3 Championship at Barcelona. The defunct Formula 3 European Championship, in which Hitech competed from 2016-18, has merged with the GP3 Series to create the new FIA F3 format, with teams and drivers mixing from the two to create a sort of mega-grid, limited to three cars per team. It was a magnificent spectacle, with 30 cars fighting so closely. Some of the best teams and drivers at this level competing right under Formula 1 teams’ noses. But although the grid size…

Valtteri Bottas’s ninth Formula 1 pole position was probably his best and undoubtedly his most emphatic, since it represented an advantage of 0.634s over Lewis Hamilton. The margin flattered Bottas, but he was undoubtedly the faster Mercedes driver in Spain. The reason for Hamilton’s heavy defeat is to be found in the final moments of Q2. While on a push lap at the end of the session, he hit a yellow flag caused by Carlos Sainz’s off and Hamilton aborted to the pits. That meant he headed out for the decisive first runs in Q3 without a fully charged battery. This is because the battery cannot be charged in the pits, and must be done on track. As a result, Mercedes sent him out at the front of the queue…

Lando Norris and Lance Stroll escaped punishment after stewards ruled their clash during the Spanish Grand Prix to be a racing incident. Stroll and Norris came together while battling over 14th position with 21 laps to go, an incident that forced both to retire on the spot and promped a safety car. Norris had attempted a move around the outside of Stroll into the Turn 1 right-hander and remained to Stroll’s left – which was now the inside line into the left-handed Turn 2 – when the Racing Point driver turned in. The stewards felt that the collision did not satisfy the criteria of one driver being “wholly or predominantly to blame” that would prompt a sanction under F1 rules. Their statement read: “The driver of car #4 [Norris] believed…

Jaguar Racing Brazil took its first one-two finish in the Jaguar I-PACE eTrophy series, as Caca Bueno dominated the Monaco weekend. Bueno took his third pole of the season and that would prove to be crucial considering the bizarre start to the race. On the run to Ste Devote, Stefan Rzadzinski was caught up in a door-to-door battle with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Bryan Sellers, and Rzadzinski then slammed Sellers’s team-mate Katherine Legge into the wall on the exit of the corner. “I just got hit by Rzadzinski,” a furious Legge said. “There are no words really for when you’re racing and trying to race clean and you just get hit from behind and spun around. To me it’s unacceptable.” The sizeable impact caused a lengthy red flag to clear…

Hyundai relied on its resident part-time, nine-time world champion Sebastien Loeb to save its blushes on an event that had promised much. Loeb struggled to find his feet at shakedown, took his time to come to terms with the conditions on Friday morning, and was simply superb thereafter. He got to within a second of Ogier’s second place on Sunday morning, but third was as good as it got for him. Andreas Mikkelsen was miles away (4m39s behind Tanak) and, given that he wasn’t worthy of a mention in team principal Andrea Adamo’s quote on Hyundai’s post-event press release, there’s not really much more to be said. Kris Meeke enjoyed unwanted attention after rolling his Toyota Yaris WRC on SS7 – he was forced to drive the remainder of Saturday…

FORMULA 2 BARCELONA (ESP) 11-12 MAY ROUND 3/12 It’s rare for a driver to say he is“afraid” of his own pace, but Luca Ghiotto is not alone in that – the other teams and drivers in Formula 2 will be wondering how he does it. When Ghiotto and his Virtuosi Racing team finally hook everything up from a good starting spot, domination will surely ensue. Barcelona’s F2 feature race was the second-best dry race since the series introduced a new car for last year – nothing has matched Monza 2018 yet, but what we saw on Saturday had a bit of everything. Ghiotto, forever struggling for budget, has landed the best car in F2 so far this year, and is delivering on the Esteban Ocon-beating potential he showed in the…

WORLD TOURING CAR CUP SLOVAKIA RING (SVK) 12 MAY ROUND 3/10 The World Touring Car Cup’s Slovakia Ring round was, at first glance, a fine example of how to dominate without making the most of it. Hyundais headed both practice and both qualifying sessions, yet not once did an i30 N cross the line first. That assessment may be unfair, though, as the i30 N wasn’t leaps and bounds clear of the rest. So, if the Hyundais couldn’t maximise their potential, perhaps instead this was a weekend that demonstrated just how far the Alfa Romeo operation has come. Team Mulsanne – the name under which car builder Romeo Ferraris races – headed to last year’s Slovakia meeting in a spot of strife. Five rounds into the 2018 WTCR season and…

FIESTA JUNIOR The British Racing and Sports Car Club says it is determined to increase Fiesta Junior grids after just six competed in the opening three events of the season. The category has a number of noteworthy graduates, such as British Touring Car driver Aiden Moffat, while Isaac Smith, straight out of juniors, took a win and a third place at the Silverstone senior Fiestas opener. “BRSCC is fully behind Fiesta Juniors,” said club chairman Peter Daly.“We want to work as hard as we can to bolster the grids, because there’s a lot of credibility when you’re beating 15 or 20 people. “We want to try and put on some taster days, we have a good coordination team. They’ve been very good at organising things with outsiders. It’s not just…

BERNIE’S V8s Former X Factor contestant Sam Callahan plans to contest the majority of the Bernie’s Sports Racing and V8s season after making his racing debut in the series at Silverstone earlier this month. Callahan, who reached the live finals of the TV show in 2013, is the son of versatile club racer Neil. The duo shared a Taydec Mk3, qualifying 12th. Callahan Jr was running as high as fifth before handing the car to his father, but it later suffered a driveshaft failure. “This is the beginning for me, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” said Callahan. “My dad has inspired me – we used to watch Formula 1 and British Touring Car races together – so to be doing it with him is amazing.” Callahan was thrown…

NEW MUSTANG DRIVERS Multimatic Motorsports will change both its drivers in its second Mustang GT4 at this weekend’s British GT round at Snetterton. After American duo Chad McCumbee and Jade Buford impressed at Oulton Park, Multimatic has drafted in experienced sportscar hand Ben Devlin and a yet-to-be-accounced second driver. Gold-rated Devlin was a regular in the IMSA SportsCar series with SpeedSource Mazda until 2016. COOK FAILS IN PITLANE BID British Touring Car title contender Josh Cook made a guest appearance in the Focus Cup at Snetterton last weekend and won the first race. He started from the pitlane in race two, and was into third when the race was stopped early. “It was a bit of gameplay to see if I could win still, but I was robbed as they…

BRANDS HATCH BARC 11-12 MAY Paul Bailey and Andy Schulz were twice victorious in their Ferrari 488 on Britcar’s return to Brands Hatch. In a chaotic first race, they were rewarded for Bailey staying out on slicks during a cloudburst until the pit window opened. This meant a single stop, while early leaders Ross Wylie/David Mason (Ferrari 488) and Paul Rose (Saker) made four pit visits each for tyres, driver changes and drivethrough penalties on their way to fifth and second respectively. Bailey and Schulz beat Rose by half a minute, and the rest were at least a lap behind, with third going to family pairing Sam and Richard Neary (BMW M3). Wylie’s attempted fightback was hampered by a caution period to remove the Alastair Boulton/Grant Williams Praga, off at…

CADWELL PARK BRSCC 11-12 MAY David Nye got his 2019 Fiesta Championship effort into gear at Cadwell Park by winning two of the three races at Cadwell. Isaac Smith was first on the road in the drizzly opener, but was disqualified post hoc for contact with James Waite. Zachary Lucas inherited the win, with Nye classified third. Nye then claimed two imperious wins. The first was set up when he emerged with a clear lead after entering the opening turn on the inside line three-abreast with Lucas and Waite. Nye then won race three from pole. Waite finished second in all three races and takes the championship lead from Smith. “It’s just an amazing feeling,” Waite said. “Bringing the car home wins championships.” Nye added: “It’s a good haul. I’ve…

OULTON PARK BRSCC 11 MAY Ross Martin kept a cool head to bag a first and second place, along with the lead of the National Formula Ford 1600 Championship, as others let opportunities slip in two typically close races at Oulton Park. Second in the opener behind Jonathan Browne, Martin moved ahead in race two when Browne’s Ray ran wide at Island on the first lap, then stayed cool under pressure from the train behind. It was a maiden National win for the double Scottish champion, at the wheel of Team Dolan’s ex-Niall Murray Van Diemen RF99. Browne’s winter training regime paid dividends earlier on with his own maiden win, but in race two he was adjudged at fault for contact that resulted in spins for Neil Maclennan and Spike…

STAT 3rd Best WTCR result for Azcona so far, taken at Marrakech Based along the Arga river between Zaragoza and Bilbao in the north of Spain, the small municipality of Falces – with its population of just 2300 – is a humble place. A couple of tennis courts, a swimming pool and a football pitch suggest a degree of sporting prowess, but its best export is undoubtedly the next big thing in touring cars. Mikel Azcona may not be the most famous name in Spanish motorsport circles. Indeed, the lack of buzz around touring cars in the country is something the 22-year-old is looking to put right after claiming the TCR Europe title in 2018. He beat current WRT Audi driver Jean-Karl Vernay to the title in his PCR Sport…

WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP Thierry Neuville started last week’s Rally Chile on a World Rally Championship hat-trick. And he ended it on crutches. The service park held its breath when footage of the Belgian’s terrifying, top-gear shunt appeared. His Hyundai i20 WRC rolled six times and briefly caught fire following the Saturday morning crash. Despite the biggest shunt of his career and stitches in his left leg, Neuville is back testing this week. He is sure he’ll be chasing back-to-back Rally Portugal wins in Matosinhos at the end of this month, and believes his drop from first to third in the standings could even help him. “We will be fast in Portugal,” he told Autosport. “We have seen on the last events we are constantly improving with the team and our…

DTM Audi has made a big signing for next month’s DTM round at Misano in place of Pietro Fittipaldi – none other than MotoGP Ducati star Andrea Dovizioso. This is huge news for the DTM, which failed to muster much of a crowd on its maiden visit to Misano in 2018. The track is right in Italy’s MotoGP fanbase territory, and hosts the San Marino Grand Prix, which Dovizioso won in 2018. Dovizioso, who had his first run in the car at Audi’s Neuberg test track last week, will get two days of testing at Misano before the race weekend on 8-9 June. It is not his first race on four wheels – he starred in the 2016 Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Final at Valencia, taking a Pro-Am class win…

Help level the playing field I was disappointed that the magazine gave so little coverage to the inaugural race of the W Series (Autosport, 9 May). I understand the arguments for and against a series with only female drivers competing, but am definitely of the opinion it is worth a try. As the adage goes, ‘insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’. When I grew up in the 1960s and ’70s I loved motorsport. I’d rush home from junior school to watch the scrambling on the television, loved the weekend coverage of Minis and saloon cars, and once I was old enough travelled as often as I could to Brands Hatch to see Formula 5000 or whatever was being staged. Nonetheless, never once…

Romain Grosjean led the‘Class B’ pack for Haas throughout practice and qualifying and for much of the race before slipping from seventh to 10th in the final 14 laps. Grosjean qualified seventh, just ahead of team-mate Kevin Magnussen, and held the position at the start. Magnussen fell back to ninth after being passed by Daniil Kvyat in the middle stint, but Toro Rosso’s double-stack pitstop disaster dropped Kvyat back behind. Magnussen then attacked on the restart lap, moving to the inside into Turn 1. He made the pass up the inside, but Grosjean attempted to hang on around the outside. Magnussen’s left-rear made contact with Grosjean’s front-right, sending Grosjean onto the runoff. Although he only lost one place, he was subsequently passed by both Carlos Sainz Jr and Daniil Kvyat,…

EVANS LOSES FRONT ROW Mitch Evans lost his front-row spot alongside Jean-Eric Vergne after he was handed a third reprimand of the season. His infraction in Monaco was for switching to maximum power too early on his warm-up lap in superpole. This did not earn a sporting penalty, but the third reprimand did trigger what Evans later called a “harsh” and “horrible” 10-place grid-drop. Jaguar team boss James Barclay said: “The penalty did not fit the crime in my opinion.” DA COSTA DISQUALIFIED Antonio Felix da Costa was disqualified from sixth place after running in a higher power mode than the standard race 200kW during the final two laps. Da Costa said a collision with Evans at the Turn 5 hairpin meant he “lost the steering wheel and hit the…

Being Simon Pagenaud in 2018 was immensely frustrating. Along with Team Penske engineer Ben Bretzman, he’d found strong set-ups with the manufacturer aerokits of 2015-17 for the IndyCar Series’ wide variety of tracks, set-ups that were‘comfortable’ for Pagenaud and also more efficient in terms of speed, grip and tyre preservation than those of his rivals, even his team-mates. In 2016 Pagenaud was often imperious and, even when he didn’t win, he usually accrued plenty of points and won the IndyCar title quite comfortably. When Josef Newgarden blew in to replace Juan Pablo Montoya, he had the ballsy bravery of youth and beat Pagenaud to the 2017 crown, but still Simon was usually a force to be reckoned with. Then for 2018, the downforce was stripped away as IndyCar reverted to…

FORMULA 3 BARCELONA (GBR) 12 MAY ROUND 1/8 With the same format as the old GP3 Series, the new FIA Formula 3 Championship was never going to feel like a completely different category to its predecessor on a race weekend. But the influx of quality teams and drivers delivered an ultra-impressive grid for its inaugural event at Barcelona. A new Dallara spec car meant learning for the whole field, with the engine and gearbox, Pirelli tyres and DRS from the old GP3 machine, and added downforce reminiscent of the old F3 weapon. Traffic was an issue in qualifying with 30 cars on track, but it was no surprise to see Prema Racing and ART Grand Prix – the dominators of the old F3 European Championship and GP3 respectively – at…

WORLD RALLYCROSS SPA (BEL) 11-12 MAY ROUND 3/10 Three-time European Rallycross champion Timur Timerzyanov scored his maiden win in the World championship on the series’ first visit to the new track at Spa. With wet conditions affecting the running, Andreas Bakkerud started the final from pole. Winless since November 2016, Bakkerud had steered his Audi – run by the EKS team of Mattias Ekstrom – to victory in the first semi-final, ahead of Timerzyanov, whose Hyundai is run by the GRX squad of Marcus Gronholm. Bakkerud had also saved a set of new tyres for the final, but he didn’t make the perfect getaway. Then he ran wide into the first corner and forced Joni Wiman – in the sister Gronholm-run Hyundai to Timerzyanov’s – into the wall on the…

LAMBORGHINI SUPER TROFEO Former British GT4 champion Stuart Middleton made a winning debut alongside ex-BRDC F4 driver Jack Bartholomew as the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe season kicked off at Silverstone last weekend. Bartholomew started the race from fourth and kept that position until handing over to Middleton at the driver-change pitstop. Middleton then profited from contact between Karol Basz and Kikko Galbiati with three minutes remaining to claim victory for Bonaldi Motorsport. “It was a bit of a lucky win, but we still had to be there to capitalise in the end,” said Middleton. “I was catching the two guys in front and I knew they would fight at some point. I am thoroughly happy with the start we’ve made.” Middleton and Bartholomew added a third place in the second…

FUN CUP Four-time Renault UK Clio Cup champion Paul Rivett has added a Fun Cup campaign to the rest of his 2019 schedule. Rivett decided to move away from the Clio Cup this year as it enters its final season and has instead been competing in the British Truck Racing Championship. His new Fun Cup programme begins with the Croft race this weekend, where Rivett will be sharing the RAW Motorsports car with Alex Macleod in place of Macleod’s brother John, who is competing in the Radical Challenge. Rivett has worked as a driver coach for the duo but has only contested one endurance race before, the 2CV 24 hours. “It’s something different with it being endurance racing,” said Rivett. “I’ve always helped John and Alex with a bit of…

FORMULA ATLANTIC The first Formula Atlantic races in the United Kingdom for more than 30 years are set to draw a good grid to Anglesey’s Tom Pryce Memorial Race Meeting on 13-14 July. A representative grid of Formula Atlantics is being assembled for two races, run as part of the Historic Sports Car Club’s first meeting at the Welsh track. The meeting will honour Pryce with a programme that includes the inaugural standalone races for Formula Atlantic as a historic category. Pryce was a star of Atlantic during his early career. “We’ve had such a good response,” said Iain Rowley, the man behind the idea. “We’re getting inquiries from drivers with cars that have not raced for some time. We’ve had interest from all over the world and we’re hoping…

“Do they not race those BMW Compacts here anymore?” was an unexpected enquiry I fielded from an unfamiliar face in the Knockhill paddock during the opening round of the Scottish Motor Racing Club season last month. “Afraid not,” I said. “That’s a shame,” he replied. “I remember when you couldn’t move for BMWs…” The man I was speaking to was making his first trip to an SMRC meeting for nearly five years and it got me thinking about just how much the club has changed in such a short space of time. First, his observation was pretty accurate. There was once a time where a 30-plus grid of BMW Compact Cup cars was the norm. The racing was some of the finest on the bill and often put other championships…

Kevin Riley has been a longtime supporter of the Mosler, having run the US-originated chassis in various championships for 13 years. The current car replaced an earlier one destroyed by a fire in an accident in 2011 and has since raced in the Dutch Supercar Challenge and Britcar. It appeared in the GT Cup at Snetterton last weekend. The Mosler was originally run by Riley’s KRM Motorsport team, and Riley then became allied with Staffs University before forming the National Motorsport Academy team in 2015. In 2018, sharing the driving with his race technician Gareth Downing, they were GT Cup GTO class champions with 11 wins. “During the time we’ve run the car we’ve spent a lot of time developing the engine, as Kevin came to us looking for reliability,”…

PEMBREY BRITISH TRUCK RACING CHAMPIONSHIP Division 1 Races 1, 3 & 4 Ryan Smith (MAN TGA) Division 1 Race 2 David Jenkins (MAN TGX) Division 2 Races 1 & 3 Luke Garrett (MAN TGX)  Division 2 Race 2 Paul Rivett (MAN TGA) Division 2 Race 4 Steven Powell (MAN TGX) SUPER SILHOUETTES Races 1, 2 & 3 Malcolm Blackman (Vauxhall Tigra) PICKUP TRUCKS Race 1 Paul Tompkins Race 2 Reece Jones (above) Race 3 Dale Gent MAX5 CHAMPIONSHIP Races 1 & 2 Paul Roddison (Mk4) WELSH SPORTS AND SALOONS Races 1 & 2 Keith Butcher (Audi R8 GT3) BARC SALOONS, HONDA VTEC CHALLENGE & CLASSIC VWs Race 1 William Casswell (Honda Civic) Race 2 Ashley Shelswell (Ford Sierra XR4i) BRANDS HATCH BRITCAR ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP Races 1 & 2 Paul Bailey/Andy…

GAME REVIEW i GP MANAGER FREE-TO-PLAY Every Formula 1 fan has had the fantasy of being the one in the cockpit, shooting for pole position or going wheel-to-wheel with their heroes for grand prix glory. Just as many will have put themselves in the position of the team bosses, who are as high-profile a part of the grand prix circus as the drivers, calling the shots and making the key decisions that will shape the path to glory. It’s hard to imagine any F1 enthusiast with even the slightest familiarity of gaming who hasn’t turned their hand to a driving-based challenge, but not all will have been tempted to experiment with the immersive grand prix management genre. That’s something solved by iGP Manager, available for iOS, Android and browser, which…

FROM THE ARCHIVE Ayrton Senna (McLaren-Honda MP4/5B) leads from pole position at the start of the 1990 Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, while in the background the Dallara-Ford F190 of Andrea de Cesaris heads for the scenery and retirement after tangling with Jean Alesi (Tyrrell-Ford 018). Senna looked to be in control of the race until lap 40 of 71, when a collision with the lapped Tyrrell of Satoru Nakajima forced him to stop for a new nose, consigning him to third place behind his team-mate Gerhard Berger and the victorious Ferrari 641 of Alain Prost. For classic Formula 1 DVDs head to dukevideo.com/F1 For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

WHO IS THIS? This unique racer set a standard that will probably never be equalled. Born into the scene, he started off by hanging on for dear life before learning his trade in the shadows. He took the fight to an established great, which led to a promotion alongside him. But when the money ran dry he found a new backer he could count on. The son of the wind blew through the classes. His success led to an offer of a change of scene and he was instantly on the pace. He was invited to tame some wild horses, which led to his unprecedented double, but true to form there was a messy falling out. A breakaway project fell flat, and he was lucky to survive a big one.…