Indholdsfortegnelse for 01/07/21 i Autosport

If Max Verstappen and Red Bull weren’t favourites for the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship before last weekend, they certainly are now. An unhindered Lewis Hamilton was 17.2 seconds behind at the Red Bull Ring before pitting to secure fastest lap. Yes, Red Bull has often been competitive at its ‘home’ circuit in Austria, but it has now been the best package for four consecutive races. And pretty much all the major protagonists agree that the gap between the RB16B and Mercedes W12 was bigger in the Styrian Grand Prix than ever (see our report on page 14). Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says the team will stick to its guns in terms of making sure the development focus is on the new 2022 rules and that it’ll just be about…

FORMULA 1 A high-speed banked corner and revamped hairpin section have been revealed as part of multiple changes Abu Dhabi is making to its Formula 1 track. Following a series of dull Abu Dhabi Grand Prix races, plans to change the layout of the circuit were announced recently, and the full extent of the changes became clear last week. At the end of the second back straight, the tight and twisty complex of bends at Turns 11-14 is being removed completely and replaced with a high speed and wide banked corner that Saif Al Noaimi, acting CEO of the race promoter, said could be “iconic”. The chicane before the Turn 7 hairpin preceding the first back straight will be removed, with the width of the track in this area increased…

IMSA Porsche has ruled out a factory return to the front line of GT racing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship next season. The German manufacturer’s long-standing programme in the GT Le Mans class, which was axed for this season, will not be revived on the championship’s move to the GT3-based GT Daytona Pro class in North America 2022. “We will not have a factory team,” stated Porsche head of factory motorsport Pascal Zurlinden. “GT3 is about customers. If a customer comes to us and says, ‘We want to run, do you have factory drivers for us, can you do something?’, we would support it as we do with our customers in GT3 worldwide. GT3 is a customer racing class, so what is important is that it stays with the customers…

EXTREME E Scotland’s Outer Hebrides is among 10 locations being scouted by Extreme E to replace the cancelled Brazil and Argentina rounds for the inaugural 2021 season. COVID-19 put paid to both course recces in South America recently, leaving only an event in Greenland on 28-29 August locked into the schedule. Now the Western Isles have joined Russia and several African nations on the short-list for substitutes. A statement supplied exclusively to Autosport read: “As a result of the postponement of Extreme E’s South American X-Prix races, we are working hard on confirming replacement locations. Those under evaluation include Iceland, Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, Finland, Morocco, Egypt, Italy, Andorra, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Russia.” Autosport understands that Turkey, Sardinia and Marbella had also been initially considered. A visit to Scotland would…

UK START TIMES Friday 2 July FP1 1030 FP2 1400 Saturday 3 July FP3 1100 QUALIFYING 1400 Sunday 4 July RACE 1400 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 BBC RADIO 5 LIVE HIGHLIGHTS CHANNEL 4 1830 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS CIRCUIT STATS Best results Verstappen 1st x 3 Hamilton 1st x 2 Bottas 1st x 2 Raikkonen 2nd x 2 Leclerc 2nd x 2 Vettel 2nd x 1 Norris 3rd x 1 Ricciardo 3rd x 1 Perez 4th x 1 Sainz 5th x 1…

Ferrari recovered to a double points finish in the Styrian GP despite Charles Leclerc’s first-lap clash with Pierre Gasly, which ended the AlphaTauri driver’s race. Leclerc led Ferrari’s efforts in qualifying, taking seventh on the grid as Carlos Sainz Jr was knocked out in Q2, but clashed with Gasly as they went side by side up to Turn 3 on the opening lap. Leclerc clipped Gasly’s rear-left tyre with his front wing, but the stewards deemed it to be a racing incident. After pitting for a new front wing and a set of hard tyres, Leclerc fought back up the order before a switch to the mediums allowed him to battle past the one-stopping midfield runners and finish seventh. “We’ve been incredibly quick, but obviously this first lap basically stopped…

WORLD TOURING CAR CUP ESTORIL (PRT) 27 JUNE ROUND 2/8 Tiago Monteiro branded the loose bonnet that robbed him of a golden chance to open up a big points lead as “not acceptable at this level”, as Attila Tassi spared Munnich Motorsport’s blushes at Estoril by picking up the pieces to score his first win in the World Touring Car Cup. Honda driver Monteiro had jumped to the top of the table by rising from ninth to fourth in the opening reversed-grid race, after Nurburgring race winner Jean-Karl Vernay was eliminated in a first-corner multi-car collision triggered by Nestor Girolami’s Honda Civic, which had sailed far beyond its braking point and crunched into Norbert Michelisz’s Hyundai. Tassi also found himself delayed in the incident. Munnich’s Hondas had qualified a dominant…

PORSCHE SUPERCUP RED BULL RING (AUT) 27 JUNE ROUND 2/8 Two pole positions, two wins and a fastest lap from the opening brace of races in this year’s Porsche Supercup season ensure Larry ten Voorde is seemingly on a missile-guided course to retain his championship crown. When the fleet of new 992-generation Porsche 911s reconvened as part of the Formula 1 undercard at the Red Bull Ring, the Team GP Elite driver came up trumps in qualifying to top the ever-changing leaderboard by a slender 0.074 seconds over Ayhancan Guven – driving for the enduringly successful Lechner Racing squad. But just a further 0.003s in arrears was Dorian Boccolacci. Only 22, the French racer is already vastly experienced having climbed the single-seater ladder up to FIA F2 level before switching…

BRITISH GT Hunter Abbott and 2 Seas Motorsport have yet to decide whether they will contest further British GT events this year following their surprise win at last weekend’s Silverstone three-hour round. Abbott and Martin Kodric placed the team’s new Mercedes-AMG GT3 (below) on pole by nearly two seconds, and led the majority of the race before eventually taking victory. “2 Seas have done a really good job, they are a cracking team,” said Abbott, who last raced in British GT in 2016. “I would love to do more races but I don’t know what’s going to happen.” The 2 Seas squad competed last year in British GT with two McLaren 720S GT3s. Although there were highlights – notably a win at Snetterton – unreliability meant a switch to the…

GINETTA JUNIOR Ginetta Junior rookie Ian Aguilera escaped with just concussion from a frightening Brands Hatch crash last weekend. Aguilera was battling with Joe Wheeler in the second race when the pair tangled at Paddock Hill Bend. As Aguilera’s R Racing machine returned to the track from the gravel, it was struck hard on the driver’s side by Ed Pearson, who was unable to avoid him. The impact briefly knocked the Mexican unconscious before he was eventually able to emerge from his battered car himself and was taken to hospital for checks. “He’s OK – he got discharged from hospital the night of the accident,” said R Racing team boss Jamie Ross. “He’s got a little bit of memory loss and I don’t think he can remember what happened. It…

YORKSHIRE MOTORSPORT FESTIVAL The fabled John Pope Special, debuted in the first official Super Saloon race at Snetterton in 1974, returned to competition in last weekend’s Yorkshire Motorsport Festival’s Wolfstones Hillclimb, 39 years after its last outing when Gerry Marshall raced it in an Aston Martin Owners Club Allcomers event at Silverstone. Built by St Albans farmer Pope on a Vauxhall Magnum coupe shell, the road-registered beast was powered by a 5.3-litre Aston Martin V8 engine mounted in a tubular steel subframe. Twin turbochargers were added for 1975, boosting power to 600bhp. Guest driver John Homewood scored the JPS’s only outright race win at Lydden in 1975. After decades under the radar, the JPS was advertised for sale in 2014. “Fantastic, just my type of race car: noise and smoke…

SILVERSTONE BRITISH GT 27 JUNE Hunter Abbott and Martin Kodric were the dominant force in British GT’s blue riband event, as they convincingly won the Silverstone 500 for the returning 2 Seas Motorsport squad. The part-time entry had already set down a marker in qualifying, placing the team’s new Mercedes-AMG GT3 clear by 1.7 seconds, although its advantage proved to be not as large in race trim. Surprisingly, the three-hour contest ran without any caution periods – which allowed for a new distance record to be set – with a range of different strategies being implemented as all crews were required to make three driver changes at some stage. Abbott led from the outset, pulling out almost a second a lap initially to build up a sizeable lead, while Ian…

SILVERSTONE BRSCC 26-27 JUNE Reece Ushijima announced himself as a genuine BRDC British Formula 3 title contender with two almost faultless wins at Silverstone. Pre-season favourite Ayrton Simmons endured a trying weekend before salvaging some decent points with victory in the reversed-grid encounter, as championship leader Zak O’Sullivan continued his strong form with a pair of podiums. Hitech GP driver Ushijima twice converted pole position into a first-corner lead over O’Sullivan – who started second and third respectively – and was never headed in either race despite the Carlin racer’s persistent pressure. The action largely came behind the leading pair, who might have been challenged by Ushijima’s team-mate Bart Horsten in the opening race if the Australian had cleared Frederick Lubin sooner. The second-row starters diced through the middle portion…

BRITISH FORMULA 4 Rain, British Formula 4 and Brands Hatch is proving a perfect recipe for exciting and unpredictable racing. After last year’s finale ended in dramatic circumstances with late rain having title-deciding consequences, the second race of last weekend’s event was another thriller. Precipitation, of the heavy drizzle form, arrived shortly beforehand and left teams and drivers uncertain over which tyres to use. But, unlike the wet/dry race at Thruxton earlier this year, there would be no clear-cut winning strategy. To begin with, it was advantage to the wet-shod runners. Front-row starters Matthew Rees and McKenzy Cresswell slithered off the line and tumbled down the pack, suffering a lack of grip on their slicks. James Hedley, who had made the right call to win in Hampshire, was on a…

GINETTA JUNIOR Being handed a 70-point deduction last time out, after a technical illegality was found on his R Racing car, could have derailed impressive Ginetta Junior rookie Callum Voisin’s momentum. Instead he delivered the best possible response with a brilliant hat-trick at Brands Hatch. Voisin had to work hard for his win in the opener after losing the lead to Liam McNeilly – who continued his strong form after a breakthrough Snetterton win – around the outside of Paddock Hill Bend. Voisin was all over the back of the Fox machine and eventually made a move stick into Paddock at half-distance. McNeilly just held onto second, finishing 0.027 seconds ahead of Seb Hopkins. Voisin grabbed the lead on the second lap of race two, passing McNeilly on the inside…

The number 250 was a special one for Ginetta at Brands Hatch last weekend, as both of the manufacturer’s championships in attendance celebrated milestones. While Saturday’s first Ginetta Junior contest was the 250th race since the current G40 model was introduced, the more significant landmark was the opening GT4 Supercup encounter being the category’s 250th since it started in 2011. Back then, it replaced the G50 Cup on the British Touring Car support bill and has helped launch the careers of a number of stars over the past decade. And, in a remarkable coincidence, all three BTCC winners over the weekend – Tom Oliphant, Tom Ingram and Adam Morgan – were past GT4 Supercup champions. Among the drivers on the grid this year are two veterans of the category, Reece…

Masten Gregory (Lotus-BRM 24), Roy Salvadori (Lola-Climax Mk4), John Surtees (Lola-Climax Mk4A), Carel Godin de Beaufort (Porsche 718), Tony Maggs (Cooper-Climax T60), Innes Ireland (Lotus-Climax 24), Jim Clark (Lotus-Climax 25) and Graham Hill (BRM P57) are all ears for the drivers’ briefing before the 1962 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Clark started the race from pole position, but was passed almost immediately by Hill, who then put in an immaculate, dominant performance, eventually finishing half a minute ahead of team-mate Richie Ginther, with Bruce McLaren (Cooper-Climax) a further minute down the road in third. Meanwhile, Gregory made it to the finish classified 12th, albeit nine laps adrift, his car stuck in gear. Salvadori dropped out with a broken engine on lap 42 of 86, and Surtees suffered the same fate…

FORMULA 1 Silverstone has announced that this month’s British Grand Prix will go ahead in front of a capacity crowd. Despite a delay in lifting COVID-19 restrictions in the UK until 19 July, the day after the race, F1 officials remained confident of a bumper Silverstone crowd amid talks to include the race in the government’s Event Research Programme. The ERP also means large crowds can attend the Euro 2020 football games at Wembley, as well as the Wimbledon tennis tournament, which will run at capacity for the finals weekend. In a statement released on Thursday, Silverstone confirmed that it had been included in the ERP and that it would be able to welcome all ticket holders to the race. “The Silverstone team will now work closely with the ERP…

FORMULA 1 Formula 1’s fastest pitstops are set to be slowed down on safety grounds from the Hungarian Grand Prix after a clampdown by the FIA. The governing body has addressed complaints that the stops of some teams are faster than can be achieved by following the current rules to the letter. The suggestion is that some stop procedures involve a higher degree of automation than was expected, and this has allowed teams to achieve record-breaking times. F1’s technical regulations contain a reference to pitstops, which states that sensors must act passively. The new technical directive is intended to enforce this more rigidly. From the 1 August race at the Hungaroring, teams’ pitstop procedures must have an inbuilt tolerance allowing for human reaction times in signalling. The figures are 0.15…

MOTOGP Yamaha factory rider Maverick Vinales is set for a shock switch to Aprilia for the 2022 MotoGP season after a breakdown in relations with the Japanese manufacturer. Yamaha confirmed on Monday that, upon request from nine-time MotoGP race winner Vinales, there will be a parting of the ways at the end of 2021 (one year before the end of his current contract) because the relationship between both parties has irreparably soured in recent weeks. Vinales felt that Yamaha’s response to his struggles on the bike in 2021 seemed disrespectful, with the Spaniard’s form on the M1 wildly inconsistent for a number of seasons. Vinales denied reports linking him to Aprilia for 2022, while the Italian marque said it had not entered negotiations, but would be interested in him if…

“we’ll get those points next week.” George Russell made sure to console his Williams Formula 1 crew as he climbed out of his car 35 laps too early at last weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix. It had been a fine weekend overall for both the British driver and his team, backing up what Russell had called his “best ever” race at Williams with his 12th-place finish a week earlier at Paul Ricard. He’d maintained his perfect Q2 progression record in 2021 – he only missed a spot in Q3 by 0.008 seconds – and then been boosted into the top 10 on the grid by Yuki Tsunoda’s penalty for impeding Valtteri Bottas. In the race, Russell was holding his own in eighth behind Fernando Alonso. Then came the call after 16…

At the 2021 Styrian Grand Prix, Formula 1 finally got through a qualifying session without having a red-flag disruption. And the title contenders did things rather differently in Q3. When the green lights came on at the start of Q3, Mercedes had Lewis Hamilton waiting at the end of the pitlane for an immediate run on the softs as the only driver on track. That resulted in a 1m04.208s. Next up was Max Verstappen’s key difference to previous qualifying sessions. A week before, he had explained how getting through Q2 on the medium tyres, as he, Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas did again last weekend, often leaves drivers slightly undercooked come Q3. At the French GP Verstappen’s pole-winning time came on his second Q3 lap, but this time he did it…

Valtteri Bottas was frustrated by the stewards’ decision to hand him a three-place grid penalty for spinning his car in the pitlane in FP2, calling it “quite harsh”. Bottas spun his car while exiting the Mercedes pitbox after attempting to pull away in second gear, an experiment aimed at reducing wheelspin that had cost the team time in the French Grand Prix against Max Verstappen. Although Bottas avoided hitting anyone, McLaren complained to FIA race director Michael Masi because he had spun close to its mechanics, who pushed him back around, and the pitwall. “That’s how it goes,” Bottas said. “Everyone is always trying to screw you over in this sport.” Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was unimpressed by what he described as an “armageddon scenario” call by McLaren. “We should…

The Safari Rally is one of motorsport’s toughest adventures, conjuring up images of rallying’s greatest being tested to their limit in Kenya’s beautiful but harsh terrain. While the event’s long-awaited return to the World Rally Championship after 19 years wasn’t the 1000km marathon of the past on open roads, this shorter 2021 revamp was just as extreme, brutal and rewarding, as Sebastian Ogier will attest. The seven-time champion survived all Kenya could throw at him to etch his name among the greats to have conquered the Safari. “It was a relief after such a crazy weekend,” said Ogier, who produced an incredible comeback to extend his championship lead. “I think everyone predicted a bit of an entertaining weekend and it definitely delivered, so many things happened.” The Toyota driver’s words…

Brands Hatch was a simply disastrous weekend for four-time BTCC champion Colin Turkington. From winning last time out at Snetterton, in Kent he took just one points-scoring finish in his West Surrey Racing BMW 330i M Sport: 14th in the finale. The Northern Irishman carried 57kg of success ballast into the event, and was philosophical that 14th in qualifying was a realistic result. But, while team-mate Tom Oliphant starred, Turkington made little progress in the opener before being spun around by Sam Osborne, dropping him to an eventual 20th once Osborne was penalised behind him. With the ballast off for race two, he laboured to 17th, then picked up 14th in race two by passing Oliphant after Jake Hill, on a mission from the back after his second-race puncture, forced…

IMSA SPORTSCAR WATKINS GLEN (USA) 27 JUNE ROUND 5/12 Mazda Motorsports has been knocking on the door of Victory Lane this season in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. In last Sunday’s traditional Six Hours of Watkins Glen, back on the schedule after skipping a year due to the pandemic, the team made good on its promise by claiming a narrow and hard-earned triumph through the combined efforts of Oliver Jarvis, Harry Tincknell and Jonathan Bomarito. The trio had to start their Mazda RT24-P at the back of the seven-car DPi field following a change of engine overnight. There was more frustration during the early stages when Jarvis found himself trapped behind Tristan Vautier’s JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac. The team’s first slice of good fortune came after 19 laps when a slower car…

MOTOGP ASSEN (NLD) 27 JUNE ROUND 9/19 Seldom do 1-2 finishes for a team yield such unusually varied responses from their riders, but the circumstances surrounding both Fabio Quartararo’s Dutch TT MotoGP victory last weekend and Yamaha stablemate Maverick Vinales’ second led to a bizarre atmosphere in camp last Sunday afternoon. The 2.82-mile Assen track – “paradise” for motorcycle racers, as Valentino Rossi described it – was almost tailor-made for the Yamaha, the Dutch venue’s fast and flowing nature at one with the M1’s agility. And race pace in FP4 suggested top spot would only be stained in one colour. In qualifying Vinales headed Quartararo by 0.071 seconds, but it was the latter in race trim who looked the slightly stronger. A finely poised battle was on the cards for…

BRITISH GT Martin Plowman and Kelvin Fletcher’s Paddock Motorsport outfit has taken over the running of their Bentley Continental GT3 in British GT, following JRM’s decision to cease its racing activities due to financial concerns. JRM, which won the opening 2019 British GT3 race with Seb Morris and Rick Parfitt Jr, has been involved with the championship and other series for a number of years, notably winning the 2011 FIA GT1 drivers’ title with Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr, and finishing sixth overall at the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours. The team ran the Bentley for Plowman and Fletcher at this year’s opening British GT event at Brands Hatch, but the COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on the company, which is now undergoing a restructure and will cease…

BRDC BRITISH F3 BRDC British F3 pre-season favourite Ayrton Simmons will have his chassis investigated by his Chris Dittmann Racing team after struggling for pace at Silverstone last weekend. Understeer consigned Simmons to 14th fastest in qualifying, and he was classified 10th in each of the first two races, before salvaging a reversed-grid win. Hidden damage to the car could be a legacy of Simmons’s clash with Bart Horsten at the Brands Hatch season opener in May. After initially suspecting the dampers, CDR resorted to changing the car’s entire rear end after qualifying. “We haven’t been out since Brands,” said team boss Chris Dittmann. “The budget isn’t there, unfortunately, to test a lot so first time back in the car was Thursday. “After qualifying, we could see a clear issue.…

BRITISH DRAG RACING Following round one’s rained-off start in May, round two of the Motorsport UK British Drag Racing Championship finished unscathed by adverse weather last weekend. COVID-19 restrictions continue to reduce the entry list, with several European regulars still unable to attend. The race nevertheless delivered career-best performances, a little drama and an unexpected finalist. Pro Modified is the championship class. Pro Mods are drag racing’s quickest, fastest ‘doorslammers’, a vernacular term encompassing all full-bodied cars with sprung chassis and functioning doors. These, however, are pure-bred racing machines clad in lightweight replica bodyshells. Any resemblance to road-going vehicles is not even skin-deep. Five-second elapsed times are Pro Mods’ gold standard, and Nick Davies laid an early marker during Friday qualifying with a career-best 6.001 seconds, before breaking the barrier…

MINI CHALLENGE Former British GT4 champion Jack Mitchell made a return to front-wheel-drive machinery in the Mini Challenge at Brands Hatch last weekend and enjoyed an eventful three races. Mitchell, who raced in the Renault UK Clio Cup in 2015 and tackled two Mini events that year before his switch to GTs, used the weekend to explore different options for next season. “The plan was to get me out and have some front-wheel-drive experience,” said Mitchell, who raced a 2 Seas McLaren GT3 in British GT last season. “This year is to get everything ready for next year. I knew it would be a bit strange going back to a front-wheel-drive car and I had been used to all that downforce. I’m really enjoying myself being here and learning the…

Aston Martin stalwart Darren Turner and endurance racing newbie Matt Topham both took their maiden victories in British GT, as they came out on top of an intriguing strategic battle in GT4. The duo, who were driving for the returning Newbridge Motorsport outfit, initially languished down in the midfield as polesitter Richard Williams (Steller Motorsport Audi R8 LMS) led from Will Burns (Century Motorsport BMW M4), with Matt Cowley’s Academy Motorsport-run Ford Mustang moving up into third in the opening laps having started last due to a lack of running in qualifying. Williams was an early stopper, coming in just before the half-hour mark and handing over to Sennan Fielding, as Burns took up the lead and, once the opening stops had been made, Turner had cycled through to second,…

BRDC BRITISH F3 Race 1 (10 laps) 1 Reece Ushijima; 2 Zak O’Sullivan +0.382s; 3 Bart Horsten; 4 Javier Sagrera; 5 Roberto Faria; 6 Sebastian Alvarez. Fastest lap Horsten 1m56.226s (113.38mph). Pole Ushijima. Starters 17. Race 2 (10 laps) 1 Ushijima; 2 O’Sullivan +1.174s; 3 Faria; 4 Frederick Lubin; 5 Sagrera; 6 Horsten. FL Lubin 1m56.450s (113.16mph). P Ushijima. S 17. Race 3 (9 laps) 1 Ayrton Simmons; 2 Alex Connor +0.281s; 3 Faria; 4 Reema Juffali; 5 Jose Garfias; 6 Tom Lebbon. FL Faria 1m56.584s (113.03mph). P Juffali. S 16. Points 1 O’Sullivan 149; 2 Ushijima 143 (below); 3 Faria 90; 4 Simmons 89; 5 Lubin 88; 6 Connor 85. PORSCHE SPRINT CHALLENGE GB Race 1 Jack Bartholomew Race 2 Theo Edgerton GINETTA GT5 CHALLENGE/G40 CUP Race 1 Josh…

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP GB Lorcan Hanafin took victory as the drama ratcheted up in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, with the much-hyped rivalry between Dan Cammish and Harry King resulting in a collision on the second lap. Cammish snatched pole in his Redline car from Team Parker man King and led the first lap, before King tried to dive down the inside at Paddock Hill Bend. Contact was made, spinning Cammish, while King stayed second behind new leader Kiern Jewiss. Jewiss slid wide at Graham Hill Bend on the fifth lap, with King and Hanafin moving ahead. Hanafin never gave up and, when King braked too late at Druids halfway through the race, the JTR driver went for the inside line. As King moved to defend, contact was made and…

KIRKISTOWN 500MRCI 26 JUNE Jordan Dempsey scored back-to-back wins at Kirkistown to move himself to the top of the Northern Irish Formula Ford points table, aided by mechanical misfortunes that sidelined rivals David McCullough and David Parks in the second of Saturday’s two Kirkistown races. But Dempsey did not have things all his own way. McCullough and Parks, plus Alan Davidson, ran him close in race one. In the second it was left to Davidson to provide the opposition, which he did in the early stages, before Dempsey’s Van Diemen took command. Ryan Campbell, who took fourth and third places overall, now heads the Pre-’90 standings from Brandon McCaughan, with Davidson playing catch-up in third after being sidelined in the first two rounds. The burgeoning Irish Legends continue to go…

FILM REVIEW MOSLEY: IT’S COMPLICATED ‘It’s complicated’ could not be any more fitting a title for the biopic of former FIA president Max Mosley, who died in May. Any film that needed to cover ground as wide as Adolf Hitler being at his parents’ wedding, punch-ups at fascist rallies, Formula 1 controversies, the dishing out of $100million in fines and a News of the World sex orgy exposé, couldn’t really be anything else. Yet Mosley: It’s Complicated, which is released in cinemas this month, manages to cover the life of Mosley in a way that not only highlights the convictions that he carried throughout, but also the fascinating conflicts and contradictions that were always with him. The film ebbs and flows around the different chapters of Mosley’s life. His upbringing,…

FORMULA 1 The Russian Grand Prix will leave Sochi and move to Igora Drive, the new circuit built 34 miles from St Petersburg, from 2023. F1 staged its first Russian GP in 2014 at the Sochi Autodrom, but was known to be eyeing a move away from the Black Sea resort in the near future. It was announced last week that Sochi will host its last GP in 2022, but that the race will continue under its existing promoter, Rosgonki. Igora Drive was designed by Hermann Tilke and opened its doors in 2019. The circuit has mainly hosted Russian national series so far, but was due to welcome DTM, W Series and World Rallycross as its first international events last year before the COVID-19 pandemic forced their cancellation. The track…

FORMULA 1 Pirelli plans to introduce a new Formula 1 tyre construction from this month’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone in the wake of the recent Azerbaijan GP failures. The teams will be asked to test the new construction in free practice tomorrow (Friday) for the Austrian GP before final approval is given after the high-profile failures for Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen in Baku. In response, Pirelli increased its monitoring of the pressures with which cars take the start, following accusations that some teams were allowing them to fall during the race. The change of construction was discussed last Friday afternoon at the Styrian GP at a meeting of team bosses chaired by F1 sporting chief Ross Brawn, with Pirelli’s Mario Isola explaining the thinking behind the change. It…

WORLD TOURING CAR CUP Geely Group, the parent company of top World Touring Car Cup marque Lynk & Co, has blasted series promoter Eurosport Events and “suspended its cooperation” with promoting its local round at Ningbo, China, this November over the series’ Balance of Performance measures. Yann Ehrlacher drove a Lynk & Co 03 to the 2020 title, but the Cyan Racing-run machines struggled in qualifying for the season opener on the Nurburgring Nordschleife, with Santiago Urrutia in fifth the best-placed of its quartet, 2.511 seconds off the pace. The Uruguayan scored the same result in the non-reversed-grid race, behind two Hyundais and two Hondas. Prior to last weekend’s second round at Estoril, Geely released a strongly worded statement. “It has been made quite clear that there is no point…

when I retired from Formula 1 at the end of 2016, I decided to dedicate the next step in my career to a greater purpose. Motorsport, and especially F1, can be very ego-driven, so I felt the need to dedicate my new life to helping others. Having always been fascinated by the power of innovation, I developed a keen interest in sustainability and green technologies, and ultimately taking action to tackle the climate emergency. I’ve often felt that motorsport and the automotive industry have been easy targets when it comes to climate change but, truthfully, I am convinced that they can be platforms for positive change. Purpose-driven initiatives within sport, industry, politics and beyond are the future, which is why I co-founded the Greentech Festival – Europe’s biggest sustainability festival…

The two McLaren drivers had contrasting fortunes in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring, with Lando Norris elevated to third after Valtteri Bottas’s penalty, while Daniel Ricciardo ended up languishing in 13th. Norris had a close battle with Sergio Perez at the start of the grand prix, but on laps 10 and 11 did not fight the Red Bull and Bottas hard at Turn 3. Norris elected to settle into maximising his own race fortunes and focus on stretching out his stint on the soft Pirelli tyres. After pitting and taking the hards on lap 31, Norris had a relatively lonely race – he’d dropped well behind the front quartet of cars, but was clear of the following midfield pack. His position was briefly threatened by a resurgent Carlos Sainz…

W SERIES RED BULL RING (AUT) 26 JUNE ROUND 1/8 There were high expectations of W Series on the eve of its second season, with a Formula 1 support slot and FIA superlicence points upping the pressure on its 18 drivers. And it didn’t disappoint. Alice Powell totally dominated the Styrian Grand Prix support round at the Red Bull Ring, scoring a grand slam on the road and bagging her second consecutive race victory. Powell, it will be remembered, also won the 2019 season finale at Brands Hatch on her way to finishing third in the standings. But the all-female field had to skip the 2020 season amid the coronavirus pandemic, meaning a 22-month wait since the previous event. It was Powell’s first visit to the Austrian circuit, so by…

After a year’s enforced absence due to COVID-19, Euro NASCAR roars back onto UK soil this weekend to a soundtrack of throbbing 5.7-litre V8 engines at Brands Hatch’s American SpeedFest. To say that plenty has changed in the world at large since its last visit in June 2019 would be an understatement, but the calibre of drivers competing at the sharp end certainly hasn’t. Its leading light is three-time series champion Alon Day, who notched up his latest title in last year’s pandemic-afflicted season of five rounds packed between September and December, while the returning series regulars include 1997 Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve and Belgian veteran Marc Goossens, who 30 years ago marked himself out as a name to watch by winning a typically frantic Formula Ford Festival…

HISTORICS The famous Galaxy-engined Jaguar E-type, known as the Egal, will be back on a UK race track in the near future after an absence of around half a century. In the mid and late 1960s, the fearsome seven-litre one-off was raced by Chris Summers and Barrie Williams and proved to be a regular winner in club racing. It was later sold to a buyer in the US and only returned to the UK a few years ago. Since then, Chris Keith-Lucas at CKL Developments has been restoring it to period specification and says there are plans to race it once more. The car was originally built by Geoff Richardson for owner Rob Beck, and Williams recalled it being fitted with a Holman and Moody Galaxy marine engine. The E-type…

BRITISH RALLYING Multiple British Rally champion Keith Cronin says he is staying “realistic” ahead of his return to the competition next weekend. The 34-year-old is due to be back for the Nicky Grist Stages and will use this weekend’s M-Sport Stages Rally to reacquaint himself with driving on gravel. Cronin has reverted to a Ford Fiesta – the supermini that landed him a fourth crown in 2017 – for his five-round campaign. “The new Fiesta has had a lot of development work performed on it, especially for UK roads, so it should be competitive,” he said. The 2018 Ypres Rally was Cronin’s last competitive outing, in a Hyundai i20, with work commitments and the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic putting paid to any hopes he had of returning sooner. “Three years is…

BRITISH F4 POINTS TWEAK British Formula 4 has tweaked its points system for its new-for-2021 fully-reversed-grid race. In addition to the top eight scoring, a point will also be awarded for every place a driver gains from their starting position, in order to give a greater incentive to frontrunners circulating at the back. A grid of 19 cars was achieved at Brands Hatch – the category’s highest entry since 2017 – making it tougher for pacesetters to fight through to the top places. JONATHAN MILES 1963-2021 The worlds of historic racing and rallying will be rocked by Jonathan Miles’ death, from cancer, aged 58. Jon graduated from trackdays and built a fine car collection. In recent seasons, he rallied internationally and raced the ex-Alan Mann Racing/Frank Gardner Group 5 Ford…

HISTORIC F2 Three more cars are set to join the Historic Formula 2 grid this season, notably including the ex-Patrick Depailler March 752 now owned by Mark Richardson. Richardson, who also races a Lola T290 in Thundersports, has had the 752 for three years after buying it from Jim Gathercole. It has now been restored to original 1975 specification and put back into period livery. It was also raced by Brian Henton and later Ray Mallock in the 1970s, but is not thought to have raced for many years. After a test at Donington Park last week, Richardson plans to debut the car at the Silverstone Classic. “This is its first time out and I’m very excited to give it a run,” said the garden designer, who first raced in…

GT3 (86 laps) 1 Hunter Abbott/Martin Kodric (Mercedes-AMG); 2 Adam Balon/Sandy Mitchell (Lamborghini Huracan Evo) +7.231s; 3 Leo Machitski/Dennis Lind (Lamborghini); 4 Giacomo Petrobelli/Charlie Eastwood (Aston Martin Vantage); 5 Ian Loggie/Yelmer Buurman (Mercedes); 6 Andrew Howard/Jonny Adam (Aston Martin). Fastest lap Lind 1m59.034s (110.70mph). Pole Abbott/Kodric. Starters 17. Points 1 Machitski/Lind 49.5; 2 Howard/Adam 45; 3 Michael Igoe/Phil Keen (Lamborghini) 43.5; 4 Loggie/Buurman 40.5; 5 Balon/Mitchell 37.5; 6 Nick Jones/Scott Malvern (Porsche 911 GT3-R) 24. GT4 (78 laps) 1 Matt Topham/Darren Turner (Aston Martin Vantage); 2 Richard Williams/Sennan Fielding (Audi R8 LMS) +3.311s; 3 John Ferguson/Scott McKenna (Toyota GR Supra); 4 Will Burns/Gus Burton (BMW M4); 5 Mark Sansom/Charlie Robertson (Ginetta G56); 6 Chris Salkeld/Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke (BMW). FL Turner 2m10.937s (100.64mph). P Williams/Fielding. S 13. Points 1 Burns/Burton 55.5; 2…

As mid-season debuts go, they don’t come much better than Ben McKenna’s in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge. The younger brother of British GT racer Scott, who won the GT5 title in 2019, he hopes to complete the season after claiming two podiums first-time out. McKenna, who turned 17 last Friday and has no karting background, had previously only contested two races in historic machinery – a TVR Grantura in Equipe GTS at Silverstone last October, and an Austin-Healey 100 in Equipe Pre-’63 at Brands Hatch. He belied his lack of experience by qualifying third on his GT5 debut, before finishing second and third in two hard-fought contests. “After watching Scott do it and having [prioritised] working and school, the opportunity came along with a sponsor – they kindly offered to…

MINI CHALLENGE It was not the most encouraging of starts to Dan Zelos’s Brands Hatch Mini Challenge weekend. A lack of pressure in a damper limited him to 11th place in qualifying but Zelos remained optimistic – “it’s Mini Challenge, anything’s possible!”. Sure enough, he made steady progress to seventh in the opener, while Max Bird just resisted returnee Jack Mitchell for the win. Zelos’s words about unpredictability rang true in race two as Bird and Excelr8 team-mate Mitchell again battled. And that tussle came to a dramatic conclusion when Mitchell went for a late lunge into Paddock Hill Bend and succeeded in sending Bird into the gravel. Mitchell was excluded and that promoted Coates to a first win with the Graves Motorsport squad, from Zelos. Zelos then ended his…

GINETTA GT4 SUPERCUP The Ginetta GT4 Supercup wins may have been shared at Brands Hatch, but the main beneficiary was Adam Smalley as he profited from two of his title rivals colliding in the opener. Smalley had been supreme at the opening round at Snetterton, but was denied a potential hat-trick after a tangle with Tom Hibbert. That meant he arrived in Kent third in the points, but his position soon improved when Hibbert was sent spinning at Graham Hill Bend by Josh Rattican, second in the points pre-weekend. Hibbert was in turn collected by James Blake-Baldwin and Steve Roberts and a lengthy safety car period ensued. Up at the front, Carlito Miracco resisted Smalley to claim an impressive maiden series win, while second was enough for Smalley to reclaim…

DONINGTON PARK HSCC 26-27 JUNE It was business as usual for Cameron Jackson on Saturday, as he made it 12 wins from 12 Classic and Historic Formula Ford starts this term, even if the cracks in his defences exposed by teenager Sam Harrison at Cadwell Park deepened. But it was Tom McArthur who stole the show on Sunday. McArthur, in James Hadfield’s Titan Mk4, came close to unseating Jackson on the opening day in the Historic contest but, when the Winkelmann driver popped out of gear exiting McLeans, McArthur could not avoid a collision. He was launched – “I saw his roll hoop under my front wheel” – but landed with little damage, and finished fifth behind Jackson, Callum Grant, Horatio Fitz-Simon and Matt Wrigley. Jordan Harrison was the first…

INTERNATIONAL MOTORSPORT Styrian Grand Prix Formula 1 World Championship Round 9/23 Red Bull Ring, Austria 4 July TV Live Sky Sports F1, Sun 1355 TV Highlights Sky Sports F1, Sun 1900, Channel 4 Sun 1830 IndyCar Series Round 10/16 Mid-Ohio, USA 4 July TV Live Sky Sports F1, Sun 1730 FIA Formula 3 Round 3/7 Red Bull Ring, Austria 3-4 July TV Live Sky Sports F1, Sat 0925, Sat 1635, Sun 0955 W Series Round 2/8 Red Bull Ring, Austria 3 July TV Live Channel 4, Sat 1500 Porsche Supercup Round ⅜ Red Bull Ring, Austria 4 July TV Live Eurosport 1, Sun 1015, Sky Sports F1, Sun 1115 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Round ⅗ Misano, Italy 3-4 July Livestream on Motorsport.tv, Sat 1345, Sun 1245 IMSA Sportscar…

A proven team/car combination that had won titles in two of the past three years, and a returning series champion alongside; the circumstances for Phil Glew to make his British Touring Car Championship debut in 2010 looked on paper to be very favourable. But the graduating 2009 Renault Clio Cup champion’s experience of the tin-top top-flight in a Triple 8 Vauxhall Vectra would only last one round when the team’s main backer withdrew after the Thruxton opener. In its first year without Vauxhall factory backing, Ian Harrison’s team had endured an anxious winter before locking in 2007-08 king Fabrizio Giovanardi alongside Glew for the Thruxton opener, the young Brit bringing sponsorship from WD40 that would feature on both cars. Glew was required to bring half the budget, with the rest…