Indholdsfortegnelse for 18/02/21 i Autosport

McLaren has given us the first hint of what Formula 1 2021 will look like with the launch of the MCL35M this week (see page 4). As we discussed in the 4 February issue, it’s a team on the up, and the switch to Mercedes power should allow McLaren to see exactly where it stands, even though installing the engine has provided challenges. But even if McLaren has done a brilliant job over the winter, the main threat to Mercedes this year is likely to come from Red Bull. As team boss Christian Horner reminds us on page 18, the team has been able to fight for wins since the turbo-hybrid era began in 2014. It’s won that contest 17 times, but hasn’t done enough to snatch a title to…

FORMULA 1 Fernando Alonso underwent surgery for a fractured upper jaw last week after being hit by a car while out cycling in Switzerland Just six weeks before he makes his F1 comeback with Alpine, two-time world champion Alonso was involved in a collision outside a Lidl supermarket on the outskirts of Lugano. He was taken to hospital by ambulance after police officers and medics tended to the crash site. Doctors completed a successful corrective operation, allowing the Spaniard to be discharged from hospital on Monday. “He will now have a short period of complete rest before progressively resuming training to undertake preparation for the start of the season,” said Alpine in a statement. While the incident led to some uncertainty over Alonso’s fitness ahead of the new campaign, Alpine…

IMSA SPORTSCAR Mazda has pulled the plug on its participation in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. The US arm of the Japanese manufacturer will end its Daytona Prototype international campaign at the end of this season and will not be entering the LMDh ranks when the new formula comes on stream in 2023. The decision brings to an end a continuous involvement by Mazda in prototype sportscar racing in North America stretching back to 2005. It has opted instead to focus on grassroots racing, including the successful MX-5 one-make series. A curt statement from Mazda Motorsports read: “After five years of participating in IMSA’s DPi series, Mazda is opting to end its programme at the close of the 2021 season. This was determined after an internal assessment of the current DPi…

THE FUTURE… Lotus has revealed a design study for an electric endurance racer of the year 2030. The E-R9 has been designed by Lotus Engineering, the consultancy division of the company, to mark its 40th anniversary by showcasing innovations in aerodynamics and electric powertrains. The car, which incorporates active aerodynamics around a fighter jet-style cockpit canopy, attempts to “push the boundaries of where we are technically today and extrapolate into the future”, according to Lotus chief aerodynamicist Richard Hill. MOTOGP Six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez remains doubtful for next month’s start of the 2021 season as his broken arm continues to heal. The Honda star sat out most of the 2020 campaign following a crash in the season opening Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez. He aggravated the injury by…

This feels like the year when everybody seeks to turn the page and write a new chapter. This is how I imagine the atmosphere in the offices of the FIA and Liberty Media after having miraculously delivered last season in very difficult circumstances. These two main stakeholders in Formula 1 have also defined a new strategy to try to enhance the spectacle of the sport. And this year we will see the outcome of what was initially announced at the end of 2019. The new vision is well-known: ensuring a closer, fairer and more exciting sport. At a very high level we will see significantly less downforce, heavier vehicles and (allegedly) slower tyres. Hence, in absolute value or, for the more technical enthusiasts, the dynamic of the centre of mass…

SEBASTIAN VETTEL RED BULL STATS Starts 113 Titles 4 Wins 38 Poles 44 Other podiums 27 Points 1577 In 2009, Vettel started the 12-year run of Red Bull recruiting only its junior proteges. He still boasts the team’s best record in the tallies that matter most (titles and wins) by a substantial margin, as he helped the team reach F1’s peak between 2010 and 2013. DANIEL RICCIARDO RED BULL STATS Starts 100 Titles 0 (Best: 3rd in 2014, 2016) Wins 7 Poles 3 Other podiums 22 Points 956 Starts 100 Titles 0 (Best: 3rd in 2014, 2016) Wins 7 Poles 3 Other podiums 22 Points 956 DANIIL KVYAT RED BULL STATS Starts 21 Titles 0 (Best: 7th in 2015) Wins 0 Poles 0 Podiums 2 Points 116 Kvyat’s tenure started…

Marshall Sr raced there once in the circuit’s contemporary era, on 19 March 1966. The 24-year-old salesman started employer Martin Lilley’s Barnet Motor Company Lotus Elan third in the 68th Members’ Meeting’s GT race. It wilted after five laps. Thirty-three years later Gerry notched his only Goodwood victory, driving a Lotus Cortina in the 1999 Revival’s St Mary’s Trophy “Despite a fluid leak and a transponder malfunction when I was out, practice was encouraging,” says Gregor. “Matt [Neal] hadn’t tested but qualified 28th. His feedback was clear: ‘It needs more power, better brakes and was too soft’. I started Friday’s race on new rear tyres but was given a black-and-orange flag for leaking fuel. We’d overfilled the tank. After a check, Matt jumped in and we finished 20th – last…

F3 ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIP DUBAI AUTODROME (UAE) 12-14 FEBRUARY ROUND 4/5 Two more wins for Pierre-Louis Chovet extended the French racer’s series lead heading into this week’s final round. Chovet got the jump on polesitter Guanyu Zhou in the opening race. Although the Chinese fought back over the opening few turns, Chovet stamped his authority and soaked up the pressure in his Pinnacle Motorsport car. Patrik Pasma, in turn, shadowed Zhou in third. He’d jumped from seventh on the grid, but was penalised one position for passing off track, promoting Ayumu Iwasa. Kush Maini suffered early gearbox problems. He had new tyres fitted while this was sorted, and rejoined to set fastest lap, earning him pole for race two. Maini fended off Pasma until the Finn made a neat move. Fast-starting…

HISTORIC FORMULA FORD California-raised Englishman Horatio Fitz-Simon will lead Classic Team Merlyn’s attack on this year’s Historic Formula Ford Championship. The 21-year-old aims to emulate reigning champion Pierre Livingston, who had a superb season with Mike O’Brien’s Silverstone-based squad. Fitz-Simon’s post-US-karting experience spans an outstanding debut with CTM at the 2019 Walter Hayes Trophy, where he finished third in the Historic Final in his first car racing event, and fifths in father Ian’s similar Merlyn Mk20A, run by Andrew Tart, at Oulton Park and Silverstone last term. He then ambitiously contested the Festival in a Kevin Mills Racing Spectrum. “This is the drive I’ve wanted,” said Fitz-Simon. “We’ve seen how Mike’s team works at first hand, and was impressed by what he did for Pierre last year. I’m aiming to…

GERRY MARSHALL TROPHY Reynard marque founder Adrian Reynard is targeting the Gerry Marshall Trophy race at May’s 78th Goodwood Members’ Meeting for the debut of a new Rover SD1, which he was inspired to build after an outing in a friend’s similar machine at the 2016 event. Reynard, 69, who won the 1979 EFDA Formula Ford 2000 Euroseries in a car of his own design and construction, also plans to continue competing in Historic FF2000 and Classic FF1600 in Reynard chassis. The Rover’s debut will be just the third saloon car race start in the career of the mastermind behind championship-winning chassis in single-seater categories from Formula Ford to CART. “I didn’t get much of a run in Riorden Welby’s SD1 [in Sanyo tribute livery] at Goodwood in 2016,” said…

Alex Sedgwick is not the only British driver attempting to climb the ladder towards the NASCAR Cup. Keenan Tully is also targeting a drive in the ARCA series later this year and is trying to assemble the budget. The 21-year-old has raced on UK short ovals since the age of 12 and was spotted by NASCAR Trucks racer Jesse Iwuji, who helped Tully make an appearance in the NASCAR Super Late Models series in 2017. “Most drivers in the UK normally go down the karting route, but my family are from California so I’ve always had an interest in NASCAR and racing in the States,” he says. “I started racing in the UK when I was 12 in stock cars and hot rods on short ovals. “When I was 17,…

“They should free up the regulations.” “The only rule should be that the cars have to fit into a box of certain dimensions.” “Modern racing cars look too similar.” These are all common comments about motorsport, particularly Formula 1. Most enthusiasts love the idea of no-holds-barred Can-Am-style competition and the sort of variety exemplified by the Ligier JS5 being on the same grid as the McLaren M23 and Tyrrell P34. But restrictive regulations are needed. Without them, costs would increase and the racing would almost certainly get worse. Can you imagine a six-wheeled, ground-effects machine with free-for-all aero and gizmos such as active suspension and stability control? It would be a technical marvel, but how expensive would it be? And cornering speeds would surely be so high as to make…

BODYWORK As a result of the switch in engines, McLaren has had to fit the full suite of internals that go with the Mercedes components. One area the Mercedes-powered cars had in common last season was a variation of the sloping sidepods, where airflow passing over the top could drop down freely onto the floor. McLaren has drifted towards that here; it’s perhaps not as noticeable as on last year’s Racing Point and Williams designs, but there is that drop-off to help feed the top of the floor with higher-pressure air to increase the pressure difference between that and the diffuser. This can make the marginally neutered diffuser, trimmed back over the off-season, work a little harder. POWERTRAIN The biggest change for McLaren is the move away from Renault engines…

FORMULA E DS Automobiles, which has partnered the Techeetah squad to win the two most recent Formula E teams’ titles, has become the second manufacturer to commit to the championship’s forthcoming Gen3 regulations. A subsidiary of the new Stellantis automotive conglomerate, which combines the PSA Group and FIAT Chrysler Automobiles, DS joins Mahindra in signing up to the new rules package that comes into play for the 2022-23 season. Gen3 is headlined by 470bhp cars that are 120kg lighter, and will run until the end of 2025-26. Following Audi’s and BMW’s decisions to quit FE at the end of 2021, the FIA will continue to charge manufacturers the €300,000 registration and homologation fee per season until the end of the Gen3 cycle even if they decide to exit early. FE…

EUROPEAN LE MANS SERIES Alfa Romeo Formula 1 test and reserve driver Robert Kubica is moving towards a Le Mans 24 Hours debut in the LMP2 prototype class this year. He has signed up for an assault on the six-round European Le Mans Series with the Belgian WRT squad, which has confirmed it will be putting in an entry for the French enduro with the car. Kubica has joined WRT after revealing ahead of his P2 debut with the Danish High Class squad at last month’s Daytona 24 Hours that he was targeting a move into the category alongside his F1 role with Alfa Romeo. He will be part of an expanded LMP2 programme mounted by WRT, which is also fielding a solo car in the World Endurance Championship this…

We need to talk about F1 engines I would love to see a more critical approach towards the new engine regulations in F1 from 2025. They are supposed to be environmentally friendly, sustainable and attractive to new manufacturers. But it’s literally impossible to do all of that without going fully electric. Why on earth would any car manufacturer spend millions on R&D in F1 engine technology that’s going to get banned in European road cars within a decade? Did the FIA sign both their own and F1’s death sentence when they said Formula E was the only electric series for 30 years? Is F1 planning to be purely entertainment and zero relevance for the auto industry from 2025? Even the auto industry is saying the internal combustion engine is dead…

He’s gone from being a protege of Gerry Marshall to a factory touring car driver in the glory years of the British Touring Car Championship, via success in Europe and Australia, and he’s had a long spell as the BTCC’s ‘policeman’. It’s fair to say that Jeff Allam has seen it all. For Epsom-born Allam, the love of motorsport was kindled by his garage-owner father, and their many visits to Brands Hatch and Lydden Hill. From there he got involved in karting, but it was the friendship of his father with ex-McLaren mechanic Mike Barley that kickstarted his car racing career. “My dad had an old part-exchange Vauxhall Viva, and unbeknown to me he and Mike put together a racing car for me,” he recalls. “It was a very crude…

February 18, 2001. Seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, the fearless ‘Intimidator’, was in his element at Daytona International Speedway. While his own DEI team’s cars ran 1-2 towards the finish line, and Daytona 500 glory, his famed #3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was playing rear-gunner to block any late runs from the chasing pack. As the cars tore through Turns 3 and 4 on that fateful final lap, Earnhardt maintained the strongarm tactics that encapsulated his persona… but his actions in those moments proved to be his last. As he threw his final block, Earnhardt’s left-rear corner tagged Sterling Marlin’s right-front fender, getting the RCR Chevy loose. Earnhardt battled for control, his car clipping the apron, unsettling it yet further, and it began to spin clockwise, moving up the…

5 JOHNNY BENSON JR (226) Mark Martin is one of the most respected names in NASCAR, so MBV Pontiac driver Benson Jr’s first Cup Series win at Rockingham (North Carolina, not Corby) in 2002 was made all the more special for fending off the veteran, leading only the last 28 of 393 laps. The champion of the second-tier Busch Series in 1995 never managed another Cup victory, but achieved more success in the Truck Series, winning the 2008 title. 4 DAVE MARCIS (227) The fourth-most experienced driver in Cup history with 883 starts, the indie stalwart had technically claimed his first victory five years prior to his first officially recognised win at Martinsville in 1975. After making his Cup debut at the 1968 Daytona 500 – his first of 33 in all…

FORMULA FORD 1600 W Series non-championship race winner Megan Gilkes will contest this year’s National Formula Ford 1600 Championship at the wheel of a Kevin Mills Racing Spectrum. Gilkes, who won W Series’ reversed-grid race at Assen in 2019, tested with the team last year before focusing on Formula 1600 in her native Canada amid the global pandemic, but returned for the FF Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy. “You don’t really get that close level of racing once you get the slicks and wings, so it’s great for working on your racecraft and running with people,” said Gilkes. Kevin Mills praised Gilkes’s approach, saying: “She’s got a real quiet determination – she just goes away and thinks about it, and gives it a go.” Karting graduate Lucas Romanek, who has…

ARMSTRONG TO PARKER The first driver for Team Parker Racing’s 2021 Porsche Sprint Challenge GB line-up has been revealed. Matt Armstrong, the son of the team’s Carrera Cup racer Justin, will be making the move from karts and, longer term, plans to share a car in endurance races with his father. “I’m going to do some Caterham races before the first round of the Sprint Challenge, and maybe a race in the Cayman too,” said Armstrong Jr. BRYAN HARRIS 1939-2021 One-time World Rally Championship podium-finishing co-driver Bryan Harris passed away last month. He was best known for being Tony Fowkes’s co-driver, and the pair took third on the 1975 RAC Rally together. Harris went on to co-drive for a number of other drivers, including several events in 1979 with Henri…

“If you’re not first you’re last.” While this quote – from the film Talladega Nights, and in keeping with this issue’s NASCAR theme – is perhaps a little on the flat-out side, there’s no doubt that by its very ethos motorsport is competitive both on and off the track. While drivers and teams strive to finish first, national racing clubs are arguably no different when it comes to running a successful business. Every year there is a push by clubs to increase membership. After all, more registered competitors means more income and larger grids, allowing for greater scope to hold bigger race meetings. This in turn generates more exposure for sponsors and – yep, you guessed it – more income. The past 12 months have been anything but normal and,…

BOOK REVIEW NORBERT SINGER: MY RACING LIFE WITH PORSCHE 1970-2004 RRP €75 When vocalist Rob Dickinson set up shop in California to exquisitely reimagine Porsche 911s, he named his company Singer. In part, it tipped the hat to his music career, but it was also a clear nod to the mastermind behind so much of Porsche’s motorsport success: Norbert Singer. The great engineer teamed up with rally reporter-turned-author Wilfried Muller to write My Racing Life with Porsche 1970-2004, which came out last year. And thanks to the translation by Autosport’s own Australian racing guru and former Mainz resident Andrew van Leeuwen, there’s an English-language version of this exquisite book now available. As the cover art of Singer standing proudly over a 956/962 reminds the reader, he’s best celebrated for his…

The Ferrari 250 Testa Rossas driven by Phil Hill/Wolfgang von Trips (#9), Willy Mairesse/Richie Ginther (#10) and Ricardo Rodriguez/Andre Pilette (#17) leave the Lotus Elite of John Wagstaff/Tony Marsh in their wake during the 1960 Le Mans 24 Hours. The V12-powered trio had mixed fortunes as the race played out: Hill/von Trips ran out of fuel only 22 laps in (a fate suffered by the sister works car of Ludovico Scarfiotti/Pedro Rodriguez); Mairesse/Ginther were forced to retire when their works racer’s gearbox packed up on Sunday morning; and Rodriguez/Pilette’s North American Racing Team entry finished runner-up to Olivier Gendebien/Paul Frere’s factory 250TR. The Lotus came home in 14th place. For classic Le Mans DVDs head to dukevideo.com/lemans For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

FORMULA 1 Formula 1 looks set to introduce sprint races at select grands prix in 2021 after teams showed “broad support” for the plan at a meeting last week. After new F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali had put an end to ideas of a reversed grid format, the ex-Ferrari team principal pushed on with the idea of a sprint race to set the grid at three grands prix this year. Under the proposal, qualifying would take place on Friday to set the grid for the sprint race on Saturday afternoon. This would run over 100km – one-third of a regular grand prix distance – and the result would create the grid for the grand prix. All 10 teams showed support for the plan in the F1 Commission meeting last Friday, but…

FORMULA 2/3 Alpine has unveiled a slimmed-down and renamed Alpine Academy, from which five drivers will compete in the Formula 1-supporting FIA Formula 2 and F3 championships this season. Former Renault F1 Juniors Guanyu Zhou and Christian Lundgaard will remain with Virtuosi and ART Grand Prix respectively as they tackle another season of F2, while reigning FIA F3 champion Oscar Piastri’s graduation with Prema Racing to F2 had already been confirmed. In F3, 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup champion Victor Martins returns to the Renault/Alpine fold after a year out, and is joined by the man he beat to last year’s Renault title, Caio Collet. As predicted last week in Autosport, the duo will line up for Dutch team MP Motorsport. Max Fewtrell, who abandoned his 2020 FIA F3 campaign mid-season,…

WORLD RALLYCROSS WRC Promoter, the logically named promoter of the World Rally Championship, has come to an agreement with the FIA to promote the governing body’s World Rallycross Championship from this year. A tender process was opened last October after previous commercial rights holder IMG confirmed its intention to pull out eight years into a 10-year deal. “We are pleased to be aligning with WRC Promoter as we build towards a ground-breaking electric future [for WRX],” said FIA secretary general for sport Peter Bayer. This year, the new all-electric FIA RX2e series will be launched as WRX’s undercard, before the top-flight RX1 cars (formerly known as Supercar) are switched to electric power from 2022. The 2021 WRX season is due to get under way in May at Spa. The round…

The clothes and colours were different; the smile was the same. Daniel Ricciardo made his first full public appearance for McLaren at the unveiling of the team’s MCL35M challenger. The Formula 1 world is reading the opening sentences of the latest chapter in his story, the cuddly ‘Honey Badger’ on display again. It was only two years ago that Ricciardo was settling into another F1 home, but this change will be a little different to the last, given the ongoing disruption of the pandemic. And Ricciardo’s first challenge will be fitting in at his new squad, something he highlighted as particularly important. A good thing, then, that he is who he is, with his former squad Renault noting his ability to lift a room, such is his engaging character. This…

“WE HAVE BEEN THE MOST CONSISTENT CHALLENGER OVER THE PAST SEVEN YEARS. WE’VE MANAGED TO WIN RACES IN SIX OF THOSE YEARS. AND IT’S IMPORTANT FOR US TO KEEP TRYING TO BE BETTER IN EVERY AREA.” CHRISTIAN HORNER knows his stats. In the years since Mercedes ascended to Formula 1 domination in 2014 and a two-tier championship was unofficially amalgamated, his squad has been able to take victories from the Silver/Black Arrows in every year bar 2015. In constructors’ championship placings, however, Ferrari has the second-best record, with four runner-up spots to Red Bull’s three. Then the Italian team’s hard fall from the front last year meant the teams vying for victories was down to two. Off-season noises emerging from Ferrari suggest the team is confident of producing a new…

It takes a special person to follow in the footsteps of a parent who achieved eminence, particularly in the same field. Expectational or aspirational, this apparent gravitational pull is for some irresistible. Not least in motorsport, which is less dangerous than it was but far more difficult to break into. Losing world champion fathers as children did not deter Stuart Graham from taking up motorcycle racing, or Damon Hill (whose Formula 1, Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans-winning dad Graham couldn’t stay away, even after grave injuries) jumping from two wheels to four to chase the same dream, then make history as F1’s first second-generation title-winner. Faced with such a dilemma, other offspring have dabbled at racing then walked away, ploughed their furrows successfully in different directions, or competed for the…

ASIAN LE MANS SERIES DUBAI AUTODROME (UAE) 13-14 FEBRUARY ROUND 1/2 A guaranteed entry into the LMP2 class of this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours is already within the grasp of the #26 G-Drive Racing crew after it claimed a pair of comfortable Asian Le Mans Series race victories at the Dubai Autodrome. The trio of Yifei Ye, Ferdinand Habsburg and Rene Binder crossed the line a full lap clear in the opener and then 45 seconds to the good in the second encounter, despite a stop/go penalty for track limits abuse. Their sister-car team-mate, 17-year-old Argentinian hotshot Franco Colapinto, making his sportscar debut, slotted one of the team’s Aurus Gibson-01s on pole for the first race. As the two G-Drive machines squabbled with Sean Gelael in the Jota car,…

FORMULA FORD 1600 Injured Scottish Formula Ford 1600 driver Colin Turner is targeting a return to racing after undergoing a second leg-amputation surgery following a crash in last year’s Walter Hayes Trophy. Turner suffered life-changing injuries in the crash during the Last Chance race at the Silverstone event, when he collected the spun car of Dean Forward on the pit straight. The 70-year-old former RAF pilot was initially treated at a hospital in Coventry, where surgeons amputated both of his legs above the ankle, before being transferred to Dumfries. Turner, who is a keen cyclist and fitness enthusiast, then underwent a second amputation, which he feels should help him return to his normal physical activity. “After the accident, they couldn’t fit a prosthesis to my left leg at all,” Turner…

ELITE COMPLETES F3 LINE-UP Elite Motorsport has completed its 2021 BRDC British F3 line-up with Mexican Jose Garfias. He competed in the 2019-20 Mexico-based NACAM Formula 4 Championship, finishing fourth in the standings with three wins. “I am very excited for 2021 because racing in Europe, and F3, will be something completely new for me,” he said. Garfias partners Ginetta Junior champion Tom Lebbon and Javier Sagrera Pont for the team’s maiden season in single-seaters. REES JOINS BRITISH F4 FIELD Karting graduate Matthew Rees has become the latest driver to be announced as racing in British Formula 4 this year. The Welsh teenager will drive for the JHR Developments squad, and has spent time over the past year testing with the team and using its simulator. “It’s very different from…

BRITISH GT Multiple F3 Cup champion Cian Carey is eyeing a move into sportscar racing after testing a Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Supra GT4 at Oulton Park last week. The Irishman, who is managed by Ferrari GT ace Matt Griffin, is weighing up British GT and European LMP3 competition. Carey told Autosport that he found the first experience of running with a roof over his head “daunting”, but grew in confidence during the day and lapped close to the times of team regular James Kell. “When you come from a Dallara F3 to a GT4 car, you’re not expecting a whole lot in terms of performance, but I was really surprised by how good the car actually was,” he said. “It’s definitely an option. I really liked how the team operated.…

TRACK ATTACK RACE CLUB The Track Attack Race Club plans to launch a new, low-cost Audi TT Challenge in 2022 for near-standard cars. The series will cater for 225bhp versions of the TT that were built between 1998 and 2006. Initially, cars will form a class within the club’s Deutsche Marques division this year, before the series is properly launched the following season. Club boss Steve Vince says he wanted to add a new series to Track Attack’s offering – which includes the Nippon Challenge and Tricolore Trophy – and feels the TT is a good car on which to base it. “It’s something that has been in the back of my mind for a number of years,” he said. “The series we’re running have been going for quite a…

Take a look at the results from last weekend’s NASCAR Cup season-opening Daytona 500, and you’ll find just one non-American on the list. Only three drivers from outside the US have ever won NASCAR Cup races – and even then, they were either from North or South America. And there has never been a full-time British racer in the series. It’s therefore clear that Alex Sedgwick’s ambition to race in the category is pretty unusual for a European, let alone British, driver. But, as he closes in on a part-season deal in the second-tier Xfinity Series, it’s also clear that he’s determined to make that ambition a reality. Ever since his karting days, Sedgwick has aspired to sample NASCAR machinery in the States, and he finally ticked that box last…