Indholdsfortegnelse for 02/09/21 i Autosport

Motorsport doesn’t do itself any favours sometimes. In recent months we’ve had drivers escaping bans thanks to rules loopholes, a farcical end to a Formula E contest because common sense wasn’t applied, and now we’ve had a grand prix result declared despite no racing. The disappointing thing about the events of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend are that Formula 1 made the right decision not to run the event. Too many times in the past drivers were essentially told to get on with it, accidents have predictably occurred, and it’s been left to a handful of strong characters, such as Niki Lauda and Alain Prost, to make a point and withdraw from races that shouldn’t have happened. Making the call not to run shows how far safety thinking has come.…

FORMULA 1 The 2022 Formula 1 grid took another couple of steps towards completion last week when Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso were confirmed by their teams. Perez (above) will remain with Red Bull after a solid if unspectacular first half-season with the team, in which he has scored one race win and one other podium. Two-time F1 world champion Alonso agreed to the option for a second year with Alpine to cover 2022. Perez was informed in early July not to look elsewhere for a seat, before the contract was signed last week. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner praised the Mexican for his “seamless” arrival at a squad that has not run the same line-up for two full seasons since 2018. Horner’s next task is to find a…

LE MANS 24 HOURS Jim Glickenhaus has questioned the effectiveness of the Balance of Performance for the Hypercar class at last month’s Le Mans 24 Hours. The American team owner, whose cars finished fourth and fifth in the double-points round of the World Endurance Championship, has suggested that the size of Toyota’s winning margin in the face of fuel problems proved that the BoP was incorrect. “The fact that the Toyotas had issues and still finished miles ahead isn’t right,” said Glickenhaus. “The balance between us and the Alpine was incredibly good, but Toyota was on a different planet. We were we told we would be racing in a BoP category, that everyone was meant to have a fair chance, but what I saw in the race didn’t look like…

Trying to connect the words ‘2021 Belgian Grand Prix’ with ‘celebration’ is an exercise fraught with peril. Really, very little about last weekend was worth celebrating after the washout caused a one-lap ‘race’ behind the safety car. It utterly undid the fine actions Formula 1 witnessed the day before – from polewinner Max Verstappen and his shock front-row companion George Russell. In the aftermath of the abandoned race, the Williams squad still celebrated its first podium since the 2017 Azerbaijan GP, and Verstappen’s Red Bull team wasn’t exactly disappointed to close the gap to Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton essentially for free. Yes, they could have done so by more if full points had followed a full race, but there will likely be extreme dissatisfaction from some quarters if the Dutchman…

What is a fair penalty for cutting the Thruxton chicane? Adam Morgan didn’t get one at all, and was allowed to keep his reversed-grid victory over Colin Turkington despite overshooting the final turns with three laps to go and keeping it lit around the outside. The speedtrap over the following start/finish line tells the story: Morgan was clocked at 109.2mph, compared to his next best of 105.5, and he gained 2.1s on Turkington in that sector. As he explained, he tried to give that time back to Turkington over the following lap – it was 1.7s slower than Turkington’s – but it had given him a little bit of breathing space. Some might say that a 10s penalty, as used to be applied on the old Silverstone GP circuit, would…

FIA FORMULA 3 SPA (BEL) 28-29 AUGUST ROUND 5/7 When it rains at Spa, it pours, as FIA Formula 3 discovered last weekend. But, unlike Formula 1, at least the youngsters got in three races in dire weather conditions. Jack Doohan seemed little affected by the disruptions, scoring his first pole in the series before taking two consecutive race wins. Trident driver Doohan’s Belgian successes mean he has reignited the championship battle, and closed from 63 to 25 points adrift of leader Dennis Hauger. The Australian was embroiled in a fierce battle with Victor Martins (MP Motorsport), who took second place for his fourth podium of the year, during the feature race. Martins pursued Doohan from the safety car start in the wet, and made a dramatic move to pass…

PORSCHE SUPERCUP SPA (BEL) 29 AUGUST ROUND 5/8 It seemed fitting that the ubersuccessful Lechner Racing team should snare a 1-2 on the occasion that the Porsche Supercup celebrated its 300th championship race at Spa last weekend, although Ayhancan Guven and his victorious team-mate Dylan Pereira made the crew sweat as they rubbed shoulders through a sodden Eau Rouge. The anniversary encounter was an uncharacteristic but welcome thriller for the one-make category, thanks in part to the treacherous surface that paved the way for passing lap after lap. Points leader Larry ten Voorde snared pole for Team GP Elite in a session when drivers could only realistically complete one flying run in the spray that made conditions “almost undriveable”. The Dutchman took the start well, but Pereira attempted a move…

MOTOGP SILVERSTONE (GBR) 29 AUGUST ROUND 12/19 When he first joined the grand prix world championship, Fabio Quartararo was touted very much as ‘the next Marc Marquez’. While his early career trajectory may not have taken him to the stellar heights Marquez achieved before entering MotoGP, Quartararo is beginning to truly fulfil that prophecy in 2021. This season has been ultra-competitive, seven different riders taking to the top step of the podium so far, but Quartararo has all season been the class of the field on his Yamaha. Winning on five occasions – the fifth coming at Silverstone’s British GP last weekend in dominant fashion – he’s been dealing hammerblows when the bike allows, while ensuring he’s come away from harder weekends with a good offering of points. And as…

The Motul M1 raced in period by Australian Tim Schenken returned to the track at the Oulton Park Gold Cup in the hands of Steve Worrad, in what was believed to be the car’s first racing appearance since 1978. Worrad ran the 1973 Formula 2 car in Formula Atlantic specification with a BDA engine. “It was a barn find in America,” said Worrad, who has taken two years and around 1000 hours to rebuild it. It is finished in the colours of Tom Pryce, who raced both F2 and Atlantic versions of the Ray Jessop-designed single-seater. “It’s one of eight cars built originally and it was all there when it arrived,” said Worrad, who also has an ex-Henri Pescarolo Motul under rebuild in F2 trim. “The only difference between the…

British Formula 4 title contender James Hedley has switched teams to Carlin, and viewed last weekend’s Thruxton round as the start of a new campaign. Hedley was the early-season pacesetter with Fortec Motorsport, taking four wins and two other podiums over the opening four events, before a miserable Knockhill meeting yielded a solitary point and dropped him to second in the standings. The 2019 Ginetta Junior champion felt he needed a “fresh start” and made the move to Carlin, which had a seat available after Roman Bilinski called time on his F4 racing to concentrate on his switch to GB3. But Hedley’s first weekend in blue was not the strongest. He took a best result of third at his local track, and was caught up in an incident exiting the…

The C1 Racing Club will join forces with the British Racing & Sports Car Club next year for its second season under the ownership of Robin Welsh. The popular endurance series was created in 2017 under the British Automobile Racing Club’s wing and enjoyed instant success, a highlight being 99 cars attracted to a 24-hour race at Silverstone in 2019. Following the death of one of the former series bosses, Meyrick Cox, over the winter, Welsh and his RAW Motorsport operation took control for this year. He has worked alongside BRSCC chief operating officer Paul McErlean in the past. “I’d like to thank everyone at BARC for the support and assistance given to me since I took ownership of the C1 Racing Club, and also for their commitment to the…

The Fortec squad may have endured the disappointment of championship contender James Hedley jumping ship to Carlin, but its two remaining drivers, Oliver Gray and Joel Granfors, showed their own British Formula 4 titlefighting credentials as they sealed their maiden wins in a Thruxton team treble. The success started with Gray snaring a narrow double pole in qualifying over Matias Zagazeta – the Argenti driver being another to have crept into the title picture in recent events. But Gray’s advantage did not last long as Zagazeta powered past on the opening tour before a safety car – with Hedley crashing trying to avoid a spinning Joseph Loake at the Club chicane – halted their battle. Gray did not let Zagazeta escape on the restart and, with three laps to go,…

Thruxton proved to be a happy hunting ground for Adam Smalley in the Ginetta GT4 Supercup as he retook the points lead after a near-perfect weekend. The first two races could not have gone much better for Elite Motorsport driver Smalley, as he won both and key rival Tom Hibbert could only take fourth each time. Josh Rattican shadowed team-mate Smalley throughout both contests, and got especially close in the second, until running wide late on. It was James Blake-Baldwin who was happiest after the partially reversed-grid finale as he claimed his maiden series win. He passed polesitter Joe Marshall exiting Church on the fourth lap and did not look back, building a 9s advantage. And it was Smalley who finished as his closest rival, having benefited from a chaotic…

“That was probably the hardest race I’ve ever been in – it was definitely the best win,” said Callum Voisin after triumphing in the second Ginetta Junior contest at Thruxton. And, given he has won seven of the 16 races so far this year (more than double the next best), he has got plenty to compare it to. Voisin cited the towing effect of the Hampshire speedbowl as a significant reason in that assessment, but he also highlighted another factor. “The slipstream is massive and you can’t get away unless something big happens – I think there was a 10 or 15-car train at one point,” he continued. “But, also, everyone’s massively upped their game.” Voisin has really noticed the competition take strides forward in recent events and highlights the…

BRANDS HATCH CSCC 28-29 AUGUST Decisive overtaking moves and some good fortune handed victory to Mark Smith and Arran Moulton-Smith in the Slicks Series contest at Brands Hatch, as part of the Classic Sports Car Club’s GT World Challenge supporting bill. Father Smith started the duo’s BMW M3 E36 from 1oth on the grid, but had climbed to sixth by the end of the second loop of the Grand Prix circuit, while polesitter Kevin Clarke’s BMW 1M began to build up a sizeable lead over Colin Tester’s M3. The Ferrari 430 Challenge of third-placed Andrew Christopher began to act as the cork in the bottle with a gaggle of BMWs in its wake, prompting Smith to hand over to son Moulton-Smith at the start of the pit window in a…

CADWELL PARK MAZDA MX-5 CHAMPIONSHIP Races 1, 2 & 3 Oliver Allwood MAZDA MX-5 SUPERCUP Race 1 Samuel Smith Race 2 Jack Harding Race 3 James Cossins FIESTA JUNIORS Race 1 Jake Triggs Race 2 Deagen Fairclough FIESTA CHAMPIONSHIP Races 1 & 2 Alastair Kellett (ST180 Turbo) MAZDA MX-5 CLUBMAN Races 1 & 2 Kevin Dengate ST-XR CHALLENGE Race 1 Lee Bowron (ST) Race 2 Simon Robinson (XR2) Race 3 Michael Blackburn (ST150) BMW COMPACT CUP Races 1 & 2 Steven Dailly TRACK ATTACK RACE CLUB Races 1 & 2 Rich Hockley (Honda Civic) BRITISH SUPERKART CHAMPIONSHIP Race 1 Lee Harpham (MS Kart) Races 2 & 3 Sam Moss (Anderson CSK) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com KIRKISTOWN BOSS IRELAND Race 1 Paul O’Connell (Dallara GP2) Leinster Trophy Sylvie Mullins (Gould-Judd…

FORMULA 1 Formula 1 has revealed its updated calendar for the remainder of the 2021 season, which has dropped to 22 races and left a TBC slot expected to be taken by Qatar. F1 started the year planning for a record-breaking 23-race season, only for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent travel restrictions to force a number of changes. Earlier this month, the Japanese Grand Prix joined Canada, Singapore and Australia in officially being cancelled, while question marks have lingered over a number of events in the second half of the season. Following a meeting with team bosses last Saturday morning at the Belgian GP, F1 released its updated calendar of 22 races, one of which is still to be confirmed with a vacant slot on the 21 November. This…

WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP Cadillac will join the LMDh ranks in 2023. No surprise there, given the General Motors marque’s expressions of interest to continue in the IMSA SportsCar Championship after the end of the Daytona Prototype international formula. But it also intends a full World Endurance Championship attack. The LMDh programme was finally announced last week after at least two delays. Cadillac confirmed that from 2023 it will be racing in both IMSA and the WEC, which will take it back to the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time since 2002. Exactly how it will be doing that has yet to be revealed. The Chip Ganassi Racing and Action Express Racing teams, Caddy’s front-line representatives in IMSA with the DPi-V.R this year, were announced as the teams who…

Rain on Sunday, race on Monday? So delayed races can take place the next day in both IndyCar and MotoGP (remember Qatar some years ago? [it was 2009 – ed]), though in Formula 1 they cannot? The governing body gave a vague response to the question on Sunday as to why it couldn’t. It seems remarkable for a sport that is so reliant on exposure and the goodwill of fans who spend hundreds of pounds for premium grandstand seats. F1 needs to look at this in the future, should such a weather event as happened in Belgium occur again, avoiding a lacklustre ‘two and a bit’-lap crawl behind the safety car. The next race is a short drive away in the Netherlands – so it’s not like there was a…

W SERIES SPA (BEL) 28 AUGUST ROUND 5/8 With the W Series weekend at Spa marred by a horrific high-speed six-car smash in qualifying, you could be forgiven for forgetting the action in the race itself. Emma Kimilainen took her second series win on a drenched track, sweeping past championship leader Jamie Chadwick to take her first victory since the Assen 2019 round by over eight seconds. But it was Friday’s dramatic Eau Rouge collision that will remain in the mind. The crash left Ayla Agren and Beitske Visser in hospital, with the remaining four drivers – Sarah Moore, Abbie Eaton, Belen Garcia and Fabienne Wohlwend – visibly shaken after the onset of rain prompted the accident. Moore was first to fly backwards into the barriers, with Eaton following suit.…

NASCAR CUP DAYTONA (USA) 28 AUGUST ROUND 26/36 Thanks to two consecutive victories, Ryan Blaney is now a top contender for the 2021 NASCAR Cup championship title. The Team Penske Ford racer survived a shove into the lead at the start of overtime in last Saturday night’s finale to the regular season at Daytona. While trying to fend off a charge from Chris Buescher, Blaney was assured of the spoils when a six-car wreck at Turn 3 on the final lap forced the race to end under caution. Blaney, who won last time out at Michigan, will enter the playoffs as the second seed behind regular-season points-topper Kyle Larson, who was one of the last-lap casualties. “What a couple of cool weeks, that’s for sure,” said Blaney. “Maybe we’re on…

Motorsport stars came together for a Thruxton kart race last week to raise over £10,000 for Karting4MND – and Autosport joined the challenge. Organised by Racing4Charity, a fundraising programme founded by 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours winner David Brabham and his good friend Bill Williams, after a 10-year hiatus the team came back in style with a two-hour kart race mixing stars against allcomers and amateurs to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Big-name drivers Sam Bird, Will Stevens, Jake Hill and Rob and Ricky Collard joined Brabham on the grid, with the professionals split between the 18 teams taking part, and British Touring Car ace Hill agreeing to be Autosport’s ‘Platinum’ driver for the race With Thruxton bathed in sunshine ahead of the BTCC round later that…

Two-time Carrera Cup GB champion Tim Harvey scored a podium on his return to Porsche one-make competition for the first time in a decade at Thruxton last weekend – and is now targeting more outings. The 1992 British Touring Car title winner has predominantly raced historic machinery since his final Carrera Cup season in 2011 – including finishing as Classic Formula Ford runner-up two years ago – but made his return to a modern Porsche in the Sprint Challenge GB as a guest driver Harvey admitted to making a “rubbish start” in the opener, in which he went on to finish sixth in his Team Parker Racingrun 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport, before taking third place in race two. “The whole thing took me by surprise from start to finish,” said…

Danny Morris took an emotional and popular podium finish in the Special Saloons and Modsports race named in memory of his late brother Ricky Parker- Morris at Brands Hatch last weekend. Parker-Morris had been a stalwart of the series for many years before he died earlier this year due to COVID-19. The brothers rebuilt a Peugeot 309 GTi with which Morris competed on the Brands Grand Prix layout, the home venue of Parker-Morris. Morris started 11th, before battling his way through to second “I had overheating problems with the car, which we have been working on,” said Morris. “I thought it was going to let go, but there was no way I was going to give up because Ricky was known for his determination.”…

SHAW ADDS ELAN TO ROSTER Ex-Formula 3000 racer Mark Shaw has added a Lotus Elan to his historic racing stable alongside his Formula Junior Brabham and ex-Jim Clark Lotus 21 grand prix car. Shaw acquired the Elan from Dean Lanzante and gave it a debut race in the Guards Trophy at Oulton Park, taking second in class. “It’s a work in progress,” he said. “But it’s another chance to race when we go somewhere with the single-seaters.” LENHAM HITS THE TRACK Historic Formula 2 racer Julian Stokes debuted his latest project, a Lenham P70 Spider, in the Guards Trophy at Oulton Park. Previously owned by HGPCA racer Eddie Perk, this was the car’s first run since a full rebuild. Stokes shared the car with Peter Needham, who helped with the…

Theo Edgerton secured the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB title with a round to spare thanks to a double win at Thruxton. The Worcester teenager may have lost out on pole to main rival Jack Bartholomew, but kept his head when it mattered. The duo went shoulder to shoulder into the Complex at the start of race one before Edgerton made his move stick around the outside and, from then, former Lamborghini Super Trofeo driver Bartholomew kept the Total Control Racing ace under fierce pressure. In company with the rest of the field, they both got increasingly lairy as their tyres faded and, when Edgerton went wide into the chicane with three laps to go, it appeared to give Bartholomew a chance. On the penultimate lap Bartholomew ran wide at Noble,…

SNETTERTON BARC 27-29 AUGUST Team 2CV Lion took its second consecutive 2CV win in the annual 24-hour race, with championship leader Pete Sparrow sharing with David O’Keeffe and Gary Adnitt. Sparrow’s was the only 2CV to mix it with the Mini Grande cars vying for overall victory in the opening hours of the race, while there was a terrific scrap for second in class further down between Pork Pie Racing’s Jon Harmer, Rally Racers’ Freddie Martin-Dye and Crisis at Tete Rouge’s Nick Roads. By mid-distance, 2CV Lion had the overall lead too, with Crisis Tete Rouge five laps down in second, from Beacon Downe, Rosie/Walford Racing and Twin Snails. However, a snapped crank forced an engine change for the leaders as dawn approached and gave Crisis at Tete Rouge the…

CADWELL PARK BRSCC 28-29 AUGUST Oliver Allwood boosted his title hopes in the Mazda MX-5 Championship with a hat-trick of wins during an incident-filled British Racing & Sports Car Club meeting at Cadwell Park. Allwood fended off six cars throughout the opening encounter, with his AB Motorsport team-mates Fraser Fenwick and Brian Trott completing the podium, while points leader Jack Brewer passed Steve Foden for fourth late on at Coppice. Fenwick also applied pressure early in race two before Allwood escaped, while Foden initially came out on top in a three-way tussle with Brewer and Trott behind. Brewer gained two places in a lap, with a move on Foden at Park Corner before pouncing on a mistake at The Mountain from Fenwick, who made a second error through Hall Bends…

CASTLE COMBE CCRC 30 AUGUST Ben Mitchell took his first Castle Combe FF1600 victory in a scintillating contest on an oily circuit last Monday. With champion elect Ollie White sidelined by COVID-19 and fellow race winner Felix Fisher absent with a stomach bug, it looked set to be a straight fight between Mitchell, in the Wayne Poole Racing-prepared Van Diemen RF99, and reigning champion Luke Cooper in his Swift SC18. But Tom Mills, son of three-time Combe champion Kevin, had other ideas, vaulting from ninth to third by Quarry after the engine was changed in his Spectrum following a qualifying misfire. Mitchell led Cooper, but Mills drove around the outside of both at Quarry at the beginning of the fourth lap, with Cooper following through to push Mitchell back to…

DONINGTON PARK CTA 30 AUGUST Lewis Kent secured a second consecutive TCR UK title – plus a British Touring Car Championship test later this year courtesy of series sponsor Goodyear – with three measured drives at Donington Park last Monday. Kent, who won the TCR category within last year’s Touring Car Trophy, held the upper hand over the other four TCT title protagonists – all in TCR machinery – entering the season finale. As the ballasted Hyundai i30 N TCRs were largely outshone by the Cupra contingent, Kent’s day started particularly poorly with multiple track-limits infractions leaving his Essex & Kent Motorsport Hyundai at the back of the grid. But calm drives to three top-seven finishes were enough to secure the title. “It was one of the most intense races,…

FROM THE ARCHIVE Francois Cevert’s Tyrrell-Ford 002 receives the ministrations of his team’s mechanics during practice for the 1971 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The Frenchman’s efforts in qualifying resulted in a fifth-place grid slot behind poleman Chris Amon (Matra MS120B), Jacky Ickx (Ferrari 312B2) and the BRM P160s of Jo Siffert and Howden Ganley. What unfolded on race day is now of course lodged in Formula 1 lore, a slipstreaming sensation won by the BRM of Peter Gethin and in which the top five finishers were covered by just 0.61 seconds. Cevert, who had led approaching the last corner, was third. For classic Formula 1 DVDs head to dukevideo.com/f1 For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

FORMULA 1 Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says he has made a decision on whether to replace Valtteri Bottas with George Russell for 2022, but wants to wait until both their futures are resolved before any announcement. The team has been weighing up in recent months who will partner Lewis Hamilton next year, with Williams youngster Russell angling for the seat. Russell and Bottas were coy at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, saying there was “no news to share yet”, with Bottas adding: “Maybe I know something, maybe I don’t.” Wolff confirmed that he personally has made a decision, but added the caveat that he is “not the only one that is involved in this decision” about the seat. “There are stakeholders that are involved that we need to respect…

WRC Teemu Suninen has parted company with the M-Sport Ford World Rally Championship squad with immediate effect. The Finn has endured a difficult season with the British team and has run a split campaign in WRC and WRC2. Suninen released a statement on Friday night confirming his departure, stating that the decision has been communicated to M-Sport. Suninen, who claimed three podiums in M-Sport Ford machinery from 2018-20, was said by Toyota boss Jari-Matti Latvala earlier this season to be among the team’s options for 2022, with seven-time champion and 2021 series leader Sebastien Ogier set to contest a partial campaign. Rising star Adrien Fourmaux is expected to retain his M-Sport seat, but team-mate Gus Greensmith’s future is yet to be resolved. Hyundai’s Craig Breen has been linked to a…

Naturally, Sebastien Loeb didn’t receive the memo that said the section of the 5.4-mile Greenland course that ran down to the lake’s edge was single file. He cutely slingshot the X44 car up the inside of Stephane Sarrazin on his way to the spoils, alongside team-mate Cristina Gutierrez, in the first semi-final race. But in making the pass in the tight confines, his front-right tyre splashed through the body of water and kicked up spray. Having disturbed the natural environment, it drew heated criticism on social media that Extreme E’s racing didn’t quite stack up with its much-touted sustainability credentials. In the eyes of the vocal, it was “tone deaf”. The argument being that not shipping nine cars around the world is of more good than staging a motorsport event…

GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE SPRINT CUP BRANDS HATCH (GBR) 29 AUGUST ROUND 4/5 Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts retained their GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup title at Brands Hatch with one weekend to go thanks to a win and a second place. Yet the WRT Audi duo were the beneficiaries of two slices of misfortune for their nearest rivals heading into the British rounds of the series on Sunday. On another day, Raffaele Marciello and Timur Boguslavskiy might have made a major dent in the points leaders’ advantage. The Auto Sport Promotion Mercedes-AMG GT3 shared by Marciello and Boguslavskiy, who had each snared pole in their respective qualifying sessions, was ahead at the chequered flag in the first of the two races on the Grand Prix circuit, only to…

SUPER FORMULA MOTEGI (JPN) 29 AUGUST ROUND 5/7 Tomoki Nojiri took another step towards Super Formula title glory with a dominant third win of the season at Motegi. The Team Mugen driver was peerless around a track where he had never finished on the podium. He topped Saturday practice and every segment of qualifying before stamping his authority on the race. After making a clean getaway from pole, Nojiri fended off an early challenge from Yuhi Sekiguchi’s Impul car and held the advantage after making his mandatory pitstop on lap 11 of 35, a lap later than Sekiguchi. Ryo Hirakawa, winner of the previous two Motegi races, briefly looked as though he could challenge Nojiri when he opted to leave his stop until lap 26, but he couldn’t pull enough…

Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button is due to make his historic racing debut at this year’s Goodwood Revival, driving a Jaguar E-type and AC Cobra. Since retiring from full-time F1 at the end of 2016, Button has competed in a wide variety of categories, including winning the 2018 Super GT title alongside Naoki Yamamoto in a Honda NSX, racing in the Le Mans 24 Hours in an SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1 and setting up and driving for his own team in Extreme E. But Button’s latest racing foray will take him into the historic arena for the first time, having previously planned to appear at Goodwood in 2018. This year he is due to share two cars with long-time friend and endurance racer Alex Buncombe at the event…

AN EVENING WITH TURNER The British Racing & Sports Car Club will livestream an online ‘An Evening with Darren Turner’ event on its Facebook and YouTube pages next Thursday (9 September). Run in association with club partner runyourfleet and the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, sportscar ace Turner will be interviewed about his long career by David Addison. PINDER’S FIESTA TROUBLE Fiesta title contender Luke Pinder had a weekend to forget at Cadwell Park when a turbo issue left him down on power. After struggling to 10th and fifth in the first two races, Pinder led race three, but an early red flag caused the result to be declared null and void. “After the weekend we’ve had, it’s just the icing on the cake,” said Pinder after missing out on…

Two of Roger Nathan’s innovative Frank Costin-designed GT models of the late 1960s have competed in Historic Sports Car Club events over the years, but the appearance of Christian Hope’s open Astra RNR2 last weekend at the Oulton Park Gold Cup was a first. Hope has owned the ex-works chassis 38 – the first of two examples – that Nathan raced in the 1970 British Airways 1000Km for four years. His outing last weekend in the Guards Trophy, under Gelscoe Racing’s supervision, was to show it before offering it for sale. Sister to Guy Edwards’s period Philips Autoradio entry, the RNR2 is built around a plywood monocoque chassis, a Costin speciality. It is powered by a 1970cc Cosworth FVC engine – currently on carburettors rather than Lucas mechanical fuel injection…

The Club chicane at Thruxton has to be one of the most entertaining places to watch motorsport in the country. You are virtually guaranteed to see plenty of action there, particularly with single-seaters slipstreaming up Woodham Hill or in closely fought categories with huge entries, such as the Mini Challenge Trophy last weekend. But, in well-populated championships where the cars and drivers are evenly matched, the nature of the tight chicane can also create driving-standards difficulties. Drivers entering Club side by side – or sometimes three or four abreast! – have a decision to make. Either try to make it around the corner on track but risk contact with a rival, or hit the tyre stack that sits on the inside, or take avoiding action by cutting part of the…

Whether of the modern or the classic variety, Minis often provide fantastic action at Thruxton and that proved to be the case again with the Mini Challenge Trophy, the lead changing virtually every lap. Charlie Mann, Dominic Wheatley and Louie Capozzoli all had spells in front of the opener but it was Capozzoli who took his maiden win after grabbing the advantage approaching the chicane for the final time. However, it all ended in tears behind. Wheatley was collected and Lewis Saunders and Lee Pearce were caught up in the chaos. Alfie Glenie was second across the line but was given a five-second penalty for also colliding with Wheatley, promoting Nelson King and reigning champion Harry Nunn. Capozzoli then doubled-up after another slipstreaming classic in race two, grabbing the advantage…

The Ginetta Junior formbook was once again turned on its head at Thruxton as scholar Robert de Haan won twice in a thrilling weekend of racing. It was established frontrunner Callum Voisin who initially led the way in the opener before Elite Motorsport racer Will Jenkins seized the lead with a brilliant move around the outside of the Club chicane. His time at the head of the field was brief, however, as Voisin was back ahead on the next lap before storming Richardson Racing driver de Haan picked off Jenkins and Voisin on successive tours and then defended his advantage impressively to the flag. Voisin dropped back after tangling with Josh Rowledge at the chicane, for which he was then penalised down to 22nd, while Jenkins repassed Liam McNeilly on…

OULTON PARK HSCC GOLD CUP 28-30 AUGUST “It was all about patience,” said Matthew Watts calmly, having screamed his stunning March-BMW 782 to victory in Monday’s Oulton Park Gold Cup title decider as glorious Formula 2 cars returned to the wonderful Cheshire venue where works March drivers Niki Lauda and Ronnie Peterson won in 1972. Andy Smith had aced Sunday’s opening leg – red flagged almost immediately when a brush of wheels between Mark Dwyer (BDG 742) and Rob Wheldon (BMW 762) left both Marches stranded with front punctures – by 4.955 seconds from Miles Griffiths (Ralt-BDG RT1), and was therefore a strong favourite for the aggregate result. Griffiths staved Smith off until Miles’s engine cut at the Britten’s chicane on lap six of 16 in race two. As his…

KIRKISTOWN 500MRCI 28 AUGUST The Leinster Trophy went north to Ulster last weekend for only the second time in its 88-year history when it was held at Kirkistown for the first time. Ireland’s oldest and most prestigious piece of racing silverware boasts a stellar list of previous winners, including Mike Hawthorn, David Piper and Ayrton Senna. On Saturday, after a tense 22 laps in warm sunshine, a new name was added to the list when Sylvie Mullins and his Gould-Judd GR37 took the flag in a dramatic finish following the late exit of leader Paul O’Connell with just two laps to go. O’Connell, who had easily won the morning curtain raiser for BOSS Ireland, led from the start in his GP2 Dallara and looked like a certain winner of the…

PEMBREY BRX 29-30 AUGUST Julian Godfrey delivered consistent performances in the third round of the British Rallycross Championship at Pembrey, winning his semifinal and the final. The six-time British Rallycross champion’s 23rd career victory also represented his 10th at the South Wales circuit, while the maximum points haul lifted him to one point off the series lead. Former title winner Ollie O’Donovan finished third and took the advantage in the standings. Having won the opening round of the campaign at Lydden Hill in May, Latvian driver Roberts Vitols returned to race a Doran Motorsport Citroen C4 and the young driver once again impressed. He was hampered by a slow start and contact in the opening corners of the final, but fought his way through traffic after an early joker lap…

BOOK FORMULA E – RACING FOR THE FUTURE RRP £35 The story behind the Formula E championship is fairly well known. The 2011 Paris dinner where the idea was first crystallised on a napkin, the near-financial abyss that meant series boss Alejandro Agag had to personally front the costs for freighting the cars to Miami in 2015 and the vital investments from Liberty Global that kept the series afloat. All this and much more is covered in a new, officially licensed book from Evro Publishing that delivers on its promise of providing behind-thescenes insight into the original all-electric series’ short history up to the end of the 2019-20 pandemic-interrupted season in an accessible, richly illustrated volume of 250 pages. Written by former Autosport correspondent Sam Smith, a beat veteran since…

Do you prefer the McLaren F1 GTR or Panoz GTR-1? Both 1990s cars are now fondly remembered, but you’d probably not have thought twice about which one you’d rather drive heading into the 1997 FIA GT Championship. David Brabham was in that sort of position and it seemed like an easy decision. The short-tailed competition version of Gordon Murray’s F1 had won the BPR Global GT Series in both 1995 and 1996, while Brabham had taken the All-Japan GT title with John Nielsen in their Team Lark McLaren. The Panoz didn’t have the engine in the ‘right’ place… “I remember seeing an article in Autosport about this front-engined GT,” recalls Brabham. “I thought, ‘My dad showed everyone that the engine should be in the back. I’ll never drive one.’” McLaren…