Indholdsfortegnelse for 16/09/21 i Autosport

There were conflicting emotions following last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix. On the one hand, it was fantastic to see McLaren – and the likeable Daniel Ricciardo – return to the top of the Formula 1 podium. On the other, seeing Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen again fail to race cleanly was disappointing. As Alex Kalinauckas shows in our report on page 16, Ricciardo stood a good chance of winning even if Hamilton and Verstappen had made it through the first chicane on lap 26. The MCL35M was quick all weekend at Monza, and Ricciardo had track position from the start. The clash between the two championship contenders created more controversy, and one hopes that the penalty handed out to Verstappen encourages him to be a little more nuanced with his…

FORMULA 1 Mercedes is willing to drop the MGU-H from Formula 1’s next engine generation to help facilitate an entry by the Volkswagen Group. F1 held its latest crunch meeting over the upcoming engine formula, which looks set for introduction in 2026, at Monza last weekend. The manufacturers have been discussing options to make a simpler, more sustainable and cost-efficient power unit. One of the most interested parties is the VW Group, which had two of its marques – Audi and Porsche – represented at the previous major meeting at July’s Austrian GP. Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff confirmed that the plan was to drop the MGU-H, used to recover or store energy to and from the turbocharger, but added that there are other areas that need agreement. “There are…

BMW’s new M4 GT3 made what was described by the German manufacturer as a successful race debut in last weekend’s six-hour round of the NLS on the Nurburgring Nordschleife. The car, entered in the SP-X class and driven by Augusto Farfus and Philipp Eng, was running in the top 10 before a planned exercise to run the car out of fuel brought it to a halt at the pitlane entry in the final minutes. The next development race for the car ahead of its homologation and release to customers for next season is set to be the Barcelona GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup finale on 10 October. The Nurburgring race was won by the Manthey Racing Porsche of Kevin Estre, Michael Christensen and Lars Kern from the Dan Harper/Max…

He stood alone in the gathering darkness. All his peers had long since departed, off to debrief and then enjoy an early night ahead of Formula 1’s second sprint-race experience, or perhaps sample what delights of Monza and Milan they could within the current COVID-19 restrictions. But Daniel Ricciardo was still chatting away. Autosport was alone too, standing in the Monza media zone beside the TV pen where Ricciardo was finishing up. Enquiring eyebrows and a small wave towards Ricciardo’s McLaren press attache and then the man himself are enough to persuade them to stop for a chat before joining the rest of the pack in preparing for the two races to come. We notice an interesting steel behind his smiling words. He’s not happy to be so close to…

It was quite a five days for Valtteri Bottas. Monday brought the announcement that, after five years with Formula 1’s leading team, he will join Alfa Romeo for 2022. Then, as the sun set at Monza on Friday evening, Bottas topped 2021 Italian Grand Prix ‘proper’ qualifying. The infuriating decision not to award an official pole statistic to the driver leading the Q1-Q2-Q3 sessions at F1’s experimental sprint-race weekends means one of Bottas’s finest achievements for Mercedes will not get the recognition it deserves, even with his Sunday podium. But what he accomplished in a golden hour on Friday should not be forgotten. It was a fitting reminder of his speed, given he beat statistically F1’s best qualifier to first on the grid for the sprint race. Lewis Hamilton had…

The Ferrari SF21 was not expected to excel at Monza, better suited as it is to the lower-speed circuits on the Formula 1 calendar. But the red cars still managed to grasp a good points haul to minimise the damage from McLaren’s 1-2 in the constructors’ standings. Charles Leclerc benefited from the safety-car period, during which he made his sole stop and emerged in second place, but the Monegasque was unable to fend off a brave pass from Lando Norris at Curva Grande at the restart. He also lost places to Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, but was able to cling onto the rear of the leading pack to assume fourth once Perez’s five-second penalty had been applied. Carlos Sainz Jr had to contend with a wayward Antonio Giovinazzi on…

Lance Stroll avoided a post-race penalty for not slowing sufficiently under yellow flags to keep hold of seventh place at the Italian Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso was certain that the Aston Martin driver gained an advantage when passing yellow flags being flown after Haas’s Nikita Mazepin retired from the race at the exit of the Ascari chicane late on. But following a post-race investigation, Stroll was let off with a warning. As a result, he kept seventh, finishing directly ahead of Alonso, who had chased him throughout the Monza contest. “The yellow flag came out as I was in the braking zone. So, I didn’t get a clear indication that there was a yellow flag before I braked,” Stroll explained. “As soon as I saw the incident, which was after…

Putting ego aside to protect a position for the greater good is a bold call, but that was Sebastien Ogier’s mindset in Greece to boost his hopes of achieving an eighth world title. With this likely to be his last full-time WRC campaign, Ogier chose to focus on securing third place once title rivals Elfyn Evans and Thierry Neuville were significantly delayed by gearbox and power-steering issues respectively on Friday. Ogier admitted it was difficult to witness runway leader Kalle Rovanpera and Ott Tanak pushing hard, but was relieved to finish third and extend his series lead to 44 points over Evans. “It has been my strategy all weekend,” said Ogier. “I think we had a very strong start on Friday opening the road, and we were very close to…

FIA FORMULA 2 MONZA (ITA) 11-12 AUGUST ROUND 5/8 With just three rounds of the FIA Formula 2 season remaining and with his future still unclear, Oscar Piastri made his mark at Monza. The Prema Racing rookie stretched his standings lead at his team’s home race and once again demonstrated his credentials for a seat at the Formula 1 table. The Aussie bagged 39 points in Italy to sit 15 clear of nearest title rival Guanyu Zhou. Piastri snared his debut F2 feature race victory on Sunday to make his latest statement. He converted pole position to secure his first triumph since the second sprint in Bahrain in March, emerging victorious in a race that was interrupted by four safety cars, including one which held the field back to the…

MOTOGP MOTORLAND ARAGON (ESP) 12 SEPTEMBER ROUND 13/18 Seven. That’s the number of attempts Marc Marquez made at overtaking Francesco Bagnaia during the final three laps of last Sunday’s Aragon Grand Prix. All of them were unsuccessful. Ducati rider Bagnaia had already come agonisingly close to victory in MotoGP before he finally converted it last weekend. In front of his home fans at the Emilia Romagna GP in 2020, the then-Pramac rider crashed out of a lengthy stint in the lead. This year’s Portuguese GP in April could well have been the day he broke his duck, but a cancelled lap due to yellow flags in qualifying left him with too much work to do from 11th on the grid. And at Mugello, having felt perfect all weekend, he crashed…

GOODWOOD REVIVAL Ten winners of the Le Mans 24 Hours are among a star-studded entry list for the Mini Cooper race at this weekend’s Goodwood Revival. The contest is celebrating 60 years since the launch of the Cooper version of the classic machine, and is named the Sir John Whitmore Trophy in honour of the driver who won the British Saloon Car Championship in a Mini in 1961. Many of the Le Mans drivers set to take part are Goodwood regulars, including Emanuele Pirro, Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fassler, Benoit Treluyer, Brendon Hartley and Romain Dumas, all multiple winners of the endurance classic. Also due to compete are one-time Le Mans victors Martin Brundle, David Brabham, Neel Jani and Jochen Mass, giving a combined total of 22 overall wins represented on…

BRITISH GT CHAMPIONS Will Burns and Gus Burton’s GT4 drivers’ title wasn’t the only British GT crown sealed at Oulton Park last weekend. Century Motorsport sealed the GT4 teams’ title, its first since 2018, while Barwell Motorsport successfully defended its GT3 teams’ title – claiming the honour for a third year in a row. Father and son pair Stewart and Lewis Proctor (Balfe McLaren) also wrapped up the GT3 Silver-Am class. HOWARD’S CHASSIS BLOW Andrew Howard’s British GT qualifying shunt at Oulton Park required the Beechdean AMR driver to revert to a spare Aston Martin Vantage GT3 chassis that he’d previously raced in 2019. He put his struggles in the races, finishing ninth both times, down to a 10-place grid penalty for race one that left him mired in traffic,…

VSCC The Vintage Sports-Car Club has amended its eligibility criteria and will now allow post-war road-going sportscars built before 1955 to take part in its events for the first time. The proposal was recently put to the club’s membership and passed with a large majority. Cars such as the Jaguar XK120, Austin-Healey 100M and MG T-type are among those expected to now feature at VSCC meetings from next year. Owners of such cars, which must compete in factory specification and be fitted with drum brakes, are now invited to apply to join the club. “We are now ready to extend our appeal to certain post-war cars that will compete against each other,” said club secretary Tania Brown. “The club remains focused on pre-war cars but we have a long tradition…

OULTON PARK BRITISH GT 11-12 SEPTEMBER Five cars remain in mathematical contention for the British GT3 title following two eventful one-hour sprints at Oulton Park. Guesting RAM Racing Mercedes drivers Kevin Tse and Tom Onslow-Cole took a comfortable victory in the opener, the 42-year-old Macanese taking to the undulating Cheshire circuit like a duck to water on his series debut. Michael Igoe and Phil Keen (WPI Lamborghini) then splashed to their first win since the Brands Hatch season opener in the soaking second race. But the biggest winners were Leo Machitski and Dennis Lind, the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini pair extending their championship lead by seven points to 13.5, with 37.5 up for grabs at the finale. The weekend had started badly for 2006 champion Machitski, who shunted out of FP1…

OULTON PARK MSVR 11-12 SEPTEMBER Zak O’Sullivan all but secured the GB3 Championship crown during a highly eventful penultimate round at Oulton Park. The Carlin driver put in his strongest qualifying performance of the season to secure a double pole, and had been almost half a second clear of the field before series debutant Luke Browning closed the gap to just over 0.1s on his final two laps of the session. Browning tried to wrestle the lead away from his former British Formula 4 rival through the first few corners of the opening race but, after resisting the pressure, O’Sullivan set a series of fastest laps to pull clear and take the win by almost four seconds. After his car was found to have excessive skid-block wear during post-race scrutineering,…

BRANDS HATCH 750MC 11-12 SEPTEMBER Ben Short and Ryan Yarrow secured their respective MX-5 Cup and Sports 1000 championships on the 750 Motor Club’s second visit of the season to Brands Hatch’s Indy circuit. As several points leaders hit trouble, other competitors edged closer to titles to be won at Oulton Park, Mallory Park or Snetterton next month. The 5 Club Racing Mazda promotion was a tale of three Bens, for Abbitt scored his first campaign win on Saturday, Short took Sunday’s early stanza, and outgoing champ Hancy matched Abbitt’s feat in the reversed-grid race. When challenger Michael Comber – second in the opener – was beached in the gravel on the rise to Druids in the middle race, marque maestro Short was almost home and dry. Finishing on Hancy’s…

BOOK JOHN HOPKINS: LEATHERED RRP £20 Autobiographies written by ex-racers are 10 a penny these days, and there’s a pretty strong case to be made that a fair few of them aren’t exactly essential reading. That sentiment, however, very much does not apply to Leathered – the autobiography written by ex-MotoGP rider John Hopkins, with help from esteemed bike racing journalist and broadcaster Matt Roberts. ‘A life taken to extremes… on and off the bike’ is an apt subtitle for Hopkins’ book. For those unfamiliar with MotoGP, Hopkins’ career may very easily have passed you by. On paper it fell way short of serving up the results a rider of his talent deserved, Hopkins scoring just four podiums in his time in the premier class. But Hopkins’ tale is one…

The roll call of newly crowned junior single-seater champions was in rude health in the winter of 2015. Stoffel Vandoorne had waltzed to an emphatic GP2 title, Esteban Ocon was top of the GP3 tree, Felix Rosenqvist had added Macau Grand Prix success to his European Formula 3 crown, and Oliver had won the Formula Renault 3.5 spoils. All four were on Mahindra Racing boss Dilbagh Gill’s shortlist when he wanted a replacement for his injured Formula E driver Nick Heidfeld in Punta del Este in December. The German was recovering from minor ligament surgery in his left wrist, after the steering wheel had snapped out from his grip in Putrajaya. “We knew there would be at least one race to give to a driver while Nick recovered,” recalls Gill…

FORMULA 1 Alex Albon will make his Formula 1 return with Williams in 2022, but it needed his Red Bull bosses to help engineer a deal via a temporary split for him to be Mercedes-bound George Russell’s replacement. The Anglo-Thai was dropped by Red Bull at the end of last year in favour of Sergio Perez, and moved into a reserve and test-driver role with the Milton Keynes-based squad, while undertaking a race programme in the DTM. Any hopes he had of a comeback with either of the energy drink giant’s two teams were dashed, with both Red Bull and AlphaTauri electing to stick to their current line-ups for 2022. With bosses at not only the F1 team but Red Bull itself eager to get Albon back on the grid,…

FORMULA E Lucas di Grassi has been unveiled as a Venturi Racing driver for the 2022 Formula E season as the Brazilian temporarily breaks free from the Audi and Abt stable. Although details of di Grassi’s new contract to become team-mate to 2021 runner-up Edoardo Mortara have been kept under wraps, it’s likely that his switch is the equivalent of a football player moving for a season-long loan. Abt wanted to stay in Formula E after Audi’s exit. That plan was kiboshed when an American TV commercial backer reneged on a deal, but Abt boss Thomas Biermaier has confirmed to Autosport that plans are still afoot for the German team to return for Gen3 in 2022-23. If it does come back as intended, di Grassi will return to the fold.…

BTCC A BMW has joined the British Touring Car Championship hybrid development programme as the series prepares for its new era beginning in 2022. The Cosworth Electronics-built hybrid system had hitherto undertaken all its running in a Speedworks Motorsport-built, front-wheel-drive Toyota Corolla. But a desire to see rear-wheel-drive cars represented has led to Ciceley Motorsport preparing its BMW 125i M Sport to run in hybrid trim. Ciceley acquired the ex-Boardley BMW last winter from Team Hard, in part-exchange for its old Mercedes A-Class machinery, in order to get Adam Morgan and Tom Chilton up to speed with rear-wheel drive before delivery of its new-for-2021 330is from official BMW team West Surrey Racing. Ex-BTCC race winner and new driving standards officer James Cole was due to test the car at Snetterton…

OBITUARY Gordon Spice, who has died at the age of 81 following a battle with cancer, was one of the finest tin-top drivers of his era. Spice was best known for winning the top class of the BTCC for six consecutive seasons from 1975-80, and earning four world sportscar championship titles in the Group C2 category in 1985-88. A driver of the old school, he was an accomplished raconteur who was invariably the life and soul of any social gathering. Away from the cockpit he was rarely seen without a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other. His innate sense of fun belied a deadly serious approach when it came to racing. Spice’s London-born father George had humble beginnings as a city messenger boy before becoming wealthy…

Before the start of the 2021 Formula 1 season, the only question mark over Max Verstappen’s championship credentials was whether he could rein himself in. We knew he had the speed, the team behind him, the wet-weather skills, the consistency – everything except the experience of fighting for a title and sometimes not going for a half-gap. After his British Grand Prix clash with Lewis Hamilton, a similar question was raised: can Verstappen learn to look at the bigger picture and give his rivals racing room? If the events of the Italian GP are anything to go by, the answer to both questions remains a resounding no. The Silverstone accident was deemed to be Hamilton’s fault. But more than one ex-F1 driver subsequently told Autosport that they felt it was…

When it selected the 2021 Italian Grand Prix to be its second sprint-race experiment, Formula 1 was no doubt hoping that the 18-lap Saturday event would turn out to be more akin to the 1971 Monza race. But there was no slipstreaming classic, no closest finish in F1 history (for races timed to two decimal places). Once polesitter Valtteri Bottas emerged from the Rettifilo chicane ahead of Max Verstappen, he only had to survive one real moment of danger for the remaining proceedings. Off the line, Bottas’s fellow front-row starter, Lewis Hamilton, had a nightmare. The world champion was “2mm too deep with the clutch paddle”. This meant he got too much torque and so lost momentum with wheelspin after his initial launch, which allowed the chasing Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo…

Lewis Hamilton found Max Verstappen’s reaction to their Italian Grand Prix crash “surprising” after the Red Bull driver walked away from the wreckage without checking on him. Verstappen, who complained about Hamilton’s celebrations after winning the British Grand Prix following their lap-one clash while he was in hospital, hopped out of his Red Bull after becoming stuck on top of the Mercedes. He immediately walked back to the Monza paddock without stopping to see if Hamilton was safe. “I found that a little bit surprising,” said Hamilton. “When we do have incidents, the first thing we want is to make sure if the guy that we crashed into or we collided with is OK.” Verstappen explained that he could already see Hamilton was fine given he was trying to free…

The timezone difference between Central Europe and the USA’s West Coast being what it is, several IndyCar paddock regulars delayed their departure from their hotels in Portland last Sunday morning until 0730. They wanted to see the Italian Grand Prix to its conclusion and check out whether McLaren could really end its nine-year Formula 1 win drought. Satisfied that Monza had thrown up one of its regular surprise outcomes once again, those IndyCar paddock veterans were wondering if McLaren could win on their side of the Atlantic too – and were trying to guess when this was last achieved on the same day. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that the last time a team won a Formula 1 race and an Indycar round in the same weekend, it was again McLaren,…

PORSCHE SUPERCUP MONZA (ITA) 11-12 SEPTEMBER ROUND 7/7 Larry ten Voorde now finds himself in fairly decent company. He joins Patrick Huisman, Richard Westbrook, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Rene Rast and Michael Ammermuller as the sixth person to defend their Porsche Supercup crown. Third place in the opening race at Monza assured him of retaining his title, while a victory on Sunday capped off his successful season in the one-make 911 category. A triumph in the opening race of the campaign at Monaco, the debut for the 992-generation GT3 Cup machine, hoisted him to the top of the standings and the Team GP Elite driver has remained there ever since – having now collected four wins along the way to better his hat-trick of 2020. Ten Voorde’s Italian weekend was ignited by…

EUROFORMULA OPEN RED BULL RING (AUT) 11-12 SEPTEMBER ROUND 6/8 Teenaged Texan talent Jak Crawford scored two ‘home’ wins for the Red Bull Junior programme as the Euroformula Open circus held its Austrian round. Crawford claimed a double pole position and sprinted into the distance in the opener, while title battlers Cameron Das and Louis Foster set to each other in the battle for second. Das had made it an all-American front row, but Foster speared extremely wide at Turn 1, got totally out of shape on the kerb, and somehow emerged in second place. From then on he defended the position all the way from Das. Reshad de Gerus, on his EFO debut following his exit from FIA F3, finished fourth, but a jumped-start penalty promoted Cem Bolukbasi to…

SUPER GT SUGO (JPN) 12 SEPTEMBER ROUND 5/8 Nissan claimed its second Super GT win in succession as Team Impul ended a five-year victory drought in a typically chaotic Sugo race. Kazuki Hiramine and Nobuharu Matsushita both became first-time GT500 winners on board the Calsonic-liveried #12 Nissan GT-R in only their fifth race as a pair. But their path to victory was eased significantly by the misfortune of ARTA Honda crew Tomoki Nojiri and Nirei Fukuzumi, who had taken pole and comfortably led until their race fell apart following a drivethrough penalty for a pitlane infraction. Confusion about whether the penalty could be served under the safety car led to two extra unnecessary trips through the pits, as well as a stop/go for exiting the pitlane under a red light.…

HISTORICS The one-off Ginetta G8 Formula 3 car built in 1963 and raced in 1964 is back on track after a painstaking rebuild by Bill Cowing. The one-litre car managed one race at the end of last season, which was its first time on track for 56 years, and reappeared at the Oulton Park Gold Cup at the end of last month following more work. It was run by the Ginetta factory in 1964 but didn’t get fully developed and was put away before the end of the season. It retains the original fibreglass monocoque, and the rebuild has taken 18 months. It runs a rare one-litre Martin side-draught engine built by Ted Martin in period. “The car was never developed in its day, but it has big potential,” said…

BRITISH GT Jamie Caroline will continue in the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota GR Supra GT4 at the final round of the British GT championship next month, having impressed team boss Christian Dick on his category return at Oulton Park. The 2020 GT4 champion, who has spent this season racing a Mercedes in European GT4, replaced Scott McKenna due to what the team described as “unforeseen personal circumstances”, but impressed on his first time in the car by clocking the second quickest time in qualifying for race two. After the Pro-Am entry he shared with John Ferguson was delayed in race one by a 10-second stop/go penalty for tagging Dave Whitmore’s Mercedes at Old Hall, Caroline took the lead around the outside of poleman Darren Turner in the wet second race and…

BRITISH HILLCLIMB Wallace Menzies secured his second British Hillclimb Championship title when the leading contenders tackled the challenging Craigantlet course in Northern Ireland last Saturday. Menzies’ second title, to back up his 2019 crown, was highly probable before the championship headed across the Irish Sea. Sure enough, Menzies delivered two more stunning performances to score maximum points on the closed-road course near Belfast and finally put the title out of reach of his chief rival Alex Summers. In the first of the two run-offs, Menzies dipped to 39.22s to edge Summers by half a second, while David Uren and Sean Gould were very close behind Summers in third and fourth. Later in the day, Menzies went even quicker and got very close to the hill record with a 39.16s climb…

SMRC The Scottish Motor Racing Club may return to Cadwell Park after drivers gave the thumbs-up to the club’s away round last weekend. Four SMRC series were in action and competitors reported enjoying the technical Lincolnshire circuit. Citroen C1 driver Colin Main had never been to Cadwell before and described the meeting as “an excellent weekend”. “Seeing a new track, and how a new track’s run” was one of the positives he cited, the SMRC traditionally staying at its home circuit of Knockhill. The club’s business development manager Rory Bryant echoed the statements made by drivers. “If we were just to judge everybody’s expressions when they get out of the car, it’s been a success,” he said. No firm decisions have been made about a return visit, but Bryant said…

Century Motorsport BMW pair Will Burns and Gus Burton clinched the GT4 title in style with one round to spare, thanks to taking an unlikely victory in race two. The pair had earlier finished second in the opening race, Burns taking the lead from polesitter Matt Topham’s Newbridge Aston Martin at the start and leading until the pitstops, where a 14-second shorter pitstop for the Pro-Am Aston meant Darren Turner emerged with a healthy margin over Burton’s Silver Cup M4. Richard Williams and Sennan Fielding (Steller Audi) completed the podium, Williams having spent the first stint bottled up behind Will Moore’s Mustang, which was sidelined by a starter motor failure during its stop. With a seven-second pitstop success penalty for race two, the runaway championship leaders didn’t look a strong…

PEMBREY BARC 11-12 SEPTEMBER It was a win each for Andrew Jordan and Endaf Owens in Mini Miglias as car racing returned to Pembrey for the first time in 23 months following the pandemic’s impact on Welsh motorsport. The safety car was out almost straight away in race one, with Jordan leading Owens and Rupert Deeth. From the green flag, Owens piled the pressure on through Spitfires and Dibeni, but couldn’t prise open Jordan’s defence and had to settle for second. Aaron Smith completed the podium, ousting Deeth on the last lap. The second race was restarted after Thorburn Astin crashed at the Crossing. Deeth had the early lead into Hatchets from Kane Astin and Smith, with Owens and Jordan making it a five-car break. Owens was third as they…

CADWELL PARK SMRC 12 SEPTEMBER The Scottish Classic Sports and Saloon Championship’s opening race during the Scottish Motor Racing Club’s away round at Cadwell Park was a battle of survival from the very beginning and was eventually won by Andrew Graham in his Triumph TR8. Mike Connon’s Lotus Seven broke a halfshaft at the start, and Adam Kinmond’s Rover pulled off with locking brakes, while polesitter John Kinmond began building a lead in his Rover 3500. Charlie Cope’s VW Golf also disappeared on the first lap after he accidentally switched off the car’s fuel pump. Within a few laps, leader Kinmond was struggling. He had rewelded the rear suspension on his car after qualifying, but it broke again. Graham cruised away into the distance, despite unknowingly losing a bumper during…

FORMULA 1 The British Grand Prix has shifted forward by two weeks for 2022 and will take place over 1-3 July. F1 is yet to reveal its provisional calendar for next season, but the Silverstone race date is the first to become publicly known following an announcement by the circuit last Friday. The earlier date could potentially open up more space in July for other events to take place. A draft 2022 calendar is set to be issued to teams in the coming weeks, but caution has already been urged by some to avoid the use of triple-headers through the season for fear of the impact on team personnel. Last weekend’s Italian GP completed the second triple-header of the 2022 season, and a third is planned across Mexico, Brazil and…

WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP Rally Monza will replace the recently cancelled Rally Japan as the final round of this year’s World Rally Championship. The Italian event, which takes place on 19-21 November, had been expected to take the slot vacated by Rally Japan after organisers last week confirmed its cancellation for the second consecutive year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Monza stood in as the final round of last year’s COVID-19-impacted calendar and was won by Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier, who secured a seventh world title in the process. Details regarding the formats and stages of the 2021 edition of the rally, which will incorporate the famous Monza circuit, are yet to be announced. Confirmation of Monza’s inclusion on the calendar ensures that there will be three remaining events in the 2021…

IMSA BMW’s first prototype since the Le Mans 24 Hours-winning V12 LMR of 1999 will be developed in conjunction with Dallara. The German manufacturer agreed a long-rumoured deal with the Italian constructor last week to work on a new LMDh hybrid for the IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2023. A statement from BMW explained that it has partnered with Dallara for its “enthusiasm” and “expertise”. BMW M GmbH boss Markus Flasch, whose remit includes BMW Motorsport after it was incorporated into the M division last winter, said: “After speaking to all the possible chassis partners, the decisive factor in our decision was that Dallara, with all its expertise and experience, was enthusiastic about working together with BMW M Motorsport. The chemistry was there between us from the word go. “In Dallara,…

The final 10 candidates for the 2021 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award have been selected. The Award, which started in 1989, aims to find and assist the best junior British racing drivers. There was a hiatus last year due to the pandemic, but the Award is returning in its familiar format. Aston Martin joined the Award in 2019, and the prize for this year’s winner includes £200,000. Finalists have to be mainly competing in a category below FIA Formula 3 or be an FIA F3 rookie, and be 16 years old by the time of the Award tests. They must also be under 24 at the start of the year. This year’s final 10 are Italian and German F4 championship leader Ollie Bearman and his…

We earned it. We were leading. We were putting ourselves in a great position – the team made good pitstops. We put ourselves in a winning position and it wasn’t circumstances. We can sleep knowing that we earned every bit of this.” Daniel Ricciardo was entirely correct in his assessment of McLaren’s 2021 Italian Grand Prix result. The Australian won the race ahead of team-mate Lando Norris, while title contenders Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton controversially clashed twice, the second contretemps putting both out and leaving the Mercedes driver dangerously close to being seriously injured. But, even without that clash at the Rettifilo chicane just before the race’s halfway mark, there are plenty of reasons to suspect that Ricciardo and McLaren would have triumphed at Monza anyway. Ricciardo had gone…

It’s known as the Rally of Gods, and those looking down from on high would have been in awe of Kalle Rovanpera’s devastating display to win the Acropolis Rally, a performance that confirmed the Finn as the World Rally Championship’s brightest young talent. In July, Rovanpera justified the hype that has surrounded him by becoming the youngest ever WRC winner on Rally Estonia. But last weekend’s dominance of the infamous Acropolis – on its WRC return after a seven-year hiatus – was all the more impressive. Toyota driver Rovanpera was relentless and in a different league at times, and left world champions Sebastien Ogier and Ott Tanak reeling in his wake. The 20-year-old won eight of the 15 stages to score a crushing 42.1-second victory over the Hyundai of Tanak.…

Autosport understands that IndyCar is likely to do away with grid penalties for early engine changes in 2022 – and not before time. Twice, the current points leader Alex Palou has been a victim, the Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara-Honda driver losing six places on the grid for the first Detroit race and nine places (because it’s an oval) at Gateway. Josef Newgarden was also sent towards the back for the August race at the Indianapolis road course due to his Penske requiring a fifth Chevrolet unit. There was less sympathy for Rinus VeeKay, whose crash at Gateway took out both Palou and Scott Dixon and also forced the Ed Carpenter Racing team to request a new Bowtie for Portland. But what of Takuma Sato, who couldn’t even complete a proper…

FORMULA REGIONAL EUROPEAN RED BULL RING (AUT) 11-12 SEPTEMBER ROUND 7/10 Versatile Argentinian teenager Franco Colapinto had endured a tough start to the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, but reversed that nicely with two wins at the Red Bull Ring last weekend. Colapinto planted his MP Motorsport car on pole position for the opener, and was able to convert that into an early lead from Hadrien David (R-ace GP), although an early safety car following a backmarker tangle meant the race took time to get going. Once it did, Colapinto wasted no time in putting David at arm’s length, with Prema Powerteam’s Mercedes F1 Junior Paul Aron similarly just adrift in third. Aron, indeed, found himself under intense pressure from Alex Quinn. The Arden International-run Cornishman had jumped ahead…

IMSA SPORTSCAR LAGUNA SECA (USA) 12 SEPTEMBER ROUND 9/12 Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor were a dominant force last weekend at Laguna Seca. Albuquerque qualified on pole and led the early stages before handing over to Taylor, who drove comfortably to the pair’s third win of the season for Wayne Taylor Racing’s Acura team. They now hold a commanding lead in the IMSA SportsCar Championship with only two races remaining for the DPi contingent. For the second race in a row, a strategic ploy by the sister Acura squad, Meyer Shank Racing, failed to pay off. Dane Cameron and Olivier Pla managed to obtain some remarkable fuel economy, leading for lengthy periods in the 2h40m contest and completing the race with one fewer pitstop. But with only one brief full-course…

NASCAR CUP RICHMOND (USA) 11 SEPTEMBER ROUND 28/36 Martin Truex Jr battled back from a penalty to nab a surprise win in last Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup race at Richmond and lock himself into the second round of the championship playoffs. The fourth victory of his season was anything but easy, however, as Truex was immediately penalised by NASCAR for jumping the start. He had to serve a drivethrough penalty and resumed the race in 37th – last on the road. The Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry driver made his way up to third at the end of the second stage, and moved into the lead for the final time on lap 350 of 400 following a round of green-flag pitstops. Truex closed out the win by holding off team-mate…

GB4 Leading Formula Ford 1600 squad Kevin Mills Racing is among the teams to show interest in the new GB4 Championship but single-seater powerhouse Carlin is not planning to enter. MotorSport Vision, organiser of the recently renamed GB3 Championship, announced it would be launching a new entry-level series next year aimed at bringing young drivers onto the singleseater ladder at an affordable price point. GB4 will use use the pre-existing Tatuus F4-T014 chassis and costs for a driver are estimated to be between £120,000-£150,000 per year, with £50,000 going to the inaugural champion. The new category will join GB3 in appearing at British GT meetings, helping to keep costs down while encouraging existing teams to enter cars in both series. Hillspeed has become the first team to commit to running…

MG RELAY RACE CANCELLED The MG Car Club’s planned revival of its traditional end-of-season relay race at Snetterton last weekend was cancelled after receiving fewer entries than anticipated. Last staged in 2017, the relay was traditionally a four-hour race held following the conclusion of the club’s categories. It had been intended to revive the relay under a new 90-minute format for teams of two or three cars. BUTLER’S MG TITLE EMOTION Brian Butler won the Cockshoot Cup for the third time in five years with two class wins in his MGF at Snetterton last weekend, despite a throttle issue. “It’s not often I cry but there was a tear in my eye,” admitted an emotional Butler. “We’ve had a horrendous year with family issues, not COVID-related. And then we had…

The British Racing & Sports Car Club’s National Formula Ford Championship made a rare appearance on the British GT support bill at Oulton Park, and it was well received among the competitors. The series also enjoyed its largest grid of the season, with several invitational entries from the Northern and Scottish championships part of a 24-car field. “It’s been brilliant,” said team owner Kevin Mills. “Lots of people coming and, looking at the cars, for our drivers that have only driven since COVID-19, they are not used to a crowd. It would be great if we could be on it all the time. The connections with the GB3 and GT teams, the drivers are racing underneath the noses of some influential people possibly.” Championship leader Alex Walker echoed the comments…

SNETTERTON MGCC 11-12 SEPTEMBER Ollie Neaves retained his title with a meeting to spare in the MG Car Club’s long-running BCV8 Championship as he remained unbeaten in 2021. Polesitter Neaves was passed by Neil Fowler’s similar B GTV8 exiting the Wilson hairpin at the start of the first race, but spectacularly regained the lead around the outside of Coram on lap two of nine. Fowler was set to maintain the pressure until his challenge was blunted by the loss of third and fourth gears. “It’s a real shame Neil’s had gearbox issues because the last couple of races there’s been potential for a race-long battle,” said Neaves. “We’ve got slightly different gear ratios so there were parts where he was quicker than me, parts I was quicker. But I was…

MONDELLO PARK MPSC 11-12 SEPTEMBER Michael Cullen has dominated the Irish Strykers series thus far in 2021, with six wins from six starts. And, on Saturday, he added two more to his tally at Mondello Park, but only just. Series returnee Jonathan Taylor started alongside the champion-elect and the pair had one of the battles of the weekend. After much swapping of places, and even more swapping of paint, Cullen was ahead when it mattered to take a hard-fought win. Taylor missed second gear off the line in race two and Cullen was away to make it eight out of eight, and claim the 2021 title. Wet qualifying meant Paul O’Connell’s mighty GP2 car started well back in the BOSS Ireland class. In dry conditions, he charged through to dominate…

Thrustmaster’s T150 and TMX force-feedback steering wheels are hugely popular choices in the sim racing fraternity, and the new T248 promises a strong upgrade as well as an LCD dash readout that offers an extra level of immersion and realism. you’re remotely serious about racing games then a force-feedback wheel-and-pedals set-up is a must. Thrustmaster’s Hybrid Drive force-feedback system is a hybrid of belt and gear-driven underpinnings that simulate steering and cornering forces much more realistically than the rumble mechanisms in entry-level wheels. The motor in the T248 is claimed to be 70% more powerful than the equivalent in Thrustmaster’s T150/TMX force-feedback wheel, peaking at 96W. THE PRIZE Thrustmaster T248 steering wheel and T3PM pedal set QUESTION Which of these is the fastest car available in Gran Turismo Sport? 1…