Indholdsfortegnelse for 6/16/2022 i Autosport

A Red Bull victory around Baku and Toyota dominating the 90th Le Mans 24 Hours weren’t exactly surprising results last weekend, but there were a few unexpected moments along the way. In Azerbaijan, Ferrari’s (or should that be Charles Leclerc’s?) pace was strong around the high-speed street circuit and, as Matt Kew reports in our analysis (page 14), a strategy gamble gave Leclerc an opportunity to snatch a win against the run of play. As we show on p12, Max Verstappen probably would have won anyway, but a fighting second place (and 18 points) on a track that was expected to favour Red Bull wouldn’t have been bad for Ferrari. Another failure, so soon after Leclerc’s Spanish Grand Prix retirement and Ferrari’s Monaco GP strategy blunder, is quite another matter.…

FORMULA 1 McLaren boss Andreas Seidl (above) has admitted that his team is expecting to breach the Formula 1 cost cap by the end of the season. Several top teams have indicated that staying within the cap will be impossible as a result of inflation and rising freight costs, leading to talks with F1 and the FIA about increasing the budget cap accordingly. Ferrari has already confirmed that it is unable to stay within the $140million cap for this year. “For us as a team that was planned to run at the cap at the beginning of the year, with all these unexpected costs that came up, we are at a position where we can’t make the cap anymore,” said Seidl. “I’m still hopeful with all the conversations that are…

FORMULA E Porsche and Jaguar have conducted their first shakedowns of the Formula E Gen3 machinery that will be used from next season, with Pascal Wehrlein and Sacha Fenestraz conducting the rollout sessions for their respective teams. Wehrlein had a “good first impression” of the new Porsche (right), which was shaken down at the marque’s Weissach test track, albeit not at the full 350kW power available in the new generation of car. The new motor arrangement pairs that 350kW drive motor with a 250kW standard-spec regen motor on the front axle, yielding 600kW of regenerative power. “It was a very interesting day and an awesome experience to drive our new Gen3 car for the first time,” said Wehrlein. “It feels great and I’m excited to test it at full power…

When Charles Leclerc’s engine went up in smoke in Azerbaijan last weekend, so too did the chances of a thrilling climax where he might have battled Max Verstappen for the spoils. “It’s a shame it didn’t play out, because we did have a very quick race car,” said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner. “With that eight or nine-lap overlap, that would have been a sufficient advantage to hopefully make a pass on [Leclerc].” But was Horner right to be confident? Leclerc, helped by Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz stopping with a hydraulics failure to trigger a virtual safety car, was 13 seconds ahead when disaster struck. What’s more, for the eight laps prior to his retirement, he’d been up to 1.2s faster than his Dutch rival. As team principal Mattia…

Charles Leclerc visibly crossed his fingers after buzzing over the line for the final time in Q3. He celebrated his 1m41.359s flier but then came a message: “One moment, we are waiting for Perez.” The Ferrari driver’s reply: “Oh shit!” But he soon found out that he had indeed done enough to overcome the straightline supremacy of the Red Bulls to snare a sixth pole of the season and fourth on the trot. Leclerc was third behind the RB18s in Q1 and second behind Perez in Q2, before Carlos Sainz stole the early march after the first Q3 runs. The Spaniard swiftly abandoned his final effort owing to oversteer and a couple of missed apexes. That left it to Leclerc to lead the Ferrari charge. His first sector was impressive…

Sebastian Vettel took Aston Martin’s best finish of the season with a battling drive to sixth, which might have been better had he not gone off while fighting Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. Vettel used his considerable prowess on the Baku streets to make Q3 for the second time in succession (having not done so before in 2022), which meant he started ninth on the grid. The veteran is also benefiting from Aston further understanding its ‘Green Red Bull’ redesign, which he says means the team is now “pushing the limits of this car”. At the race start, Vettel muscled past AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda at Turn 4 on lap one, then ran just behind Lewis Hamilton in what was a short first stint for most of the top 10 runners. When they…

Pierre Gasly scored AlphaTauri’s best result of 2022 so far with a battling fifth in the Azerbaijan GP, where team-mate Yuki Tsunoda’s race was blighted by rear-wing damage. Although he was left very uncomfortable by his car porpoising along the straights, Gasly took his best qualifying position of the season with sixth in Q3. From there, he held off Lewis Hamilton throughout the Mercedes driver’s first two stints, Gasly gaining from cars on the contra hard-medium strategy getting between them when the pair stopped under the first virtual safety car. Gasly passed Daniel Ricciardo during McLaren’s first teamorders scenario but was left powerless to resist Hamilton when the Briton stopped for a second time under the second VSC to take more hard tyres (albeit used). With only new mediums left…

“I can skim the kerbs where I want, I can brake where I want, it’s got a fantastic balance, it’s got beautiful rotation. It’s doing everything I want it to.” Tom Ingram found himself with an incredible weapon in the form of his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N at Oulton Park last weekend, and he used it to devastating effect. In his first eight years in the BTCC, Ingram had never even troubled the podium at the rolling Cheshire parkland venue. This time he scored Excelr8’s maiden BTCC pole on Saturday, finally broke his Oulton jinx to win race one in dominant fashion, and followed it up by keeping Ash Sutton at arm’s length for victory in the second encounter. “The work that has gone on…” he continued. “What happens on…

Simona de Silvestro, who raced the 2021 Indy 500 for Paretta Autosport, last weekend raced an IndyCar on a road course for the first time since 2015. It was a tough refresher course, as she had anticipated, for the popular Swiss 33-year-old had no test days under her belt. With Beth Paretta’s ‘women forward’ team now being run in partnership with Ed Carpenter Racing (as opposed to last year’s outing with Penske), de Silvestro was able to pool data with ECR full-timers Rinus VeeKay and Conor Daly, but it was a rough weekend for the squad as a whole. In first practice, de Silvestro was 3.1 seconds off the fastest time, 1.8s from Daly and only one second slower than the struggling VeeKay, while in FP2 the gaps were similar…

ROAD TO LE MANS LE MANS (FRA) 9 & 11 JUNE ROUND 3/6 Four teams shared the wins across two classes in the pair of two-driver Le Mans Cup races supporting the 24 Hours. In a Thursday race dominated by several incidents leading to slow zones in the first sector, Tom Dillmann had to fight off his Racing Spirit of Leman team-mate Josh Skelton in the latter stages to win LMP3 and overall. Nielsen Racing’s Colin Noble added further pressure all the way to the flag. In GT3, Lars Pedersen spun the GMB Motorsport Honda out of a big lead following the driver changes, leaving a five-car dogfight led by Fabio Babini (Ebimotors Porsche) and Arnold Robin (Team WRT Audi). After some intense swapping between the two, the Italian forced…

NASCAR CUP SONOMA (USA) 12 JUNE ROUND 16/36 Daniel Suarez’s victory at Sonoma set a personal career-best for himself and broke a barrier for NASCAR. Suarez held off a stern challenge from Chris Buescher on a restart with 22 of 110 laps remaining to earn his first career Cup Series win in his 195th start and become the first Mexican to win a Cup Series race since the sport’s inception in 1949. “It’s a crazy day. I have so many thoughts in my head, it’s been a rough road,” said the TrackHouse Racing Chevrolet driver. Suarez made his NASCAR debut in his home nation in 2009 and became the first Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR national series race in 2016 with his Xfinity Series victory at Michigan. He was…

CTCRC Multiple Pre-’83 Touring Car champion Stephen Primett has expressed his gratitude for the generosity and support from his fellow Classic Touring Car Racing Club members after thieves stole his tow vehicle at Oulton Park last month. Primett’s VW Caddy van, containing his tools, Ford Escort Mk1 spares as well as his wallet and mobile phone, was stolen while he was competing. An online fundraiser set up by Michael Sheraton smashed its initial target of £500 and had reached over £5000 earlier this week. Primett was also lent a tow vehicle to get his car home by Jim McLoughlin, and a van for work by fellow Pre-’83 racer Tom Harvey. “I’ve written down every single name [from the fundraiser], and I’m going to go and try and shake all their…

National racing legend Dave Brodie has restored his famous ‘Run Baby Run’ Ford Escort Mk1 Twin Cam, which was revealed at a special event at Silverstone last week. Brodie was virtually unbeatable in the machine in special saloon races between 1969 and 1971 but, after moving to an Escort RS1600, Run Baby Run was neglected. After the iconic car had spent four decades in a Wiltshire barn, Brodie decided to restore it in 2010. Appearing alongside Run Baby Run at Silverstone was the road-going ‘Brodie Roadie’ version from 1972, and also a new Mk1 creation featuring heavily modified suspension and a 300bhp turbo engine.…

GINETTA GT4 SUPERCUP Very few Ginetta GT4 Supercup contests have had quite such a dramatic finish as race two at Oulton Park last weekend. In barely believable scenes, the two leaders tangled through Deer Leap on the last lap, the third-placed car narrowly avoided smashing into the pit entry barriers when dodging the spinning G56 and the driver in fourth took the win by 0.107 seconds. That beneficiary would be none other than series dominator James Kellett, whose unbeaten streak appeared to be over before that chaotic conclusion. Kellett “messed up the start” and lost out to Aston Millar off the line and his attempts to reclaim the lead failed, instead slipping behind Reece Somerfield. But the race was then neutralised and later bizarrely red-flagged with debutant Josh Poulain off…

GINETTA GT ACADEMY The Ginetta GT Academy’s switch from its usual British GT support slot to the British Touring Car bill also brought a change in winner as Marc Warren’s unbeaten streak was ended by the impressive Ravi Ramyead. Qualifying followed the formbook and reigning G40 Cup champion Warren grabbed both poles for Raceway Motorsport – albeit only by a tenth of a second from Ramyead. But Warren’s lead in the opener did not last long as rookie Ramyead jumped ahead into Old Hall and remained in front throughout. Warren applied pressure at times as the gap fluctuated but ultimately finished 0.5s adrift. Thomas Holland was another to make progress at the start as he jumped Leo Karavasili to complete the podium. Warren’s lead lasted a little longer in race…

There was no doubting Sam Weller’s pace in his first full season in the top JCW class of the Mini Challenge last year as he took five podiums, but that maiden win remained elusive. Now, having already notched up his third victory of 2022 at the weekend, it’s clear that the Hybrid Tune driver is a genuine contender. The former Cooper class frontrunner – he finished third in the standings in 2017 – has grabbed the early points lead and believes that the pre-season preparation from him and the team has been key to his success. “Where we’ve benefited is we’ve really got a handle on these new tyres,” said Weller of the specification of Goodyear rubber that has been introduced to the series for this year. “The first day…

BCV8s Races 1 & 2 Ollie Neaves (B GTV8) EQUIPE LIBRE/PRE-’63/’50s Mark Holme (Austin-Healey 3000 Mk2) EQUIPE GTS Martin Pratt/Oliver Pratt (Morgan +4) EQUIPE LIBRE/’70s Mark Halstead (Ginetta G4R) COCKSHOOT CUP/MG CUP Races 1 & 2 Karl Green (ZS 180) MG TROPHY/METRO CUP Races 1 & 2 Jason Burgess (ZR 190) MORGAN AND SPORTS CARS Bill Lancashire/Howard Lancashire (Morgan +8, below) GT & SPORTS CAR CUP John Pearson/Gary Pearson (Jaguar E-type) MGB 60 Sam Kirkpatrick For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

NASCAR EURO SERIES PRO Race 1 Alon Day (Chevrolet Camaro, above) Race 2 Alexander Graff (Ford Mustang) NASCAR EURO SERIES 2 Race 1 Alberto Naska (Chevrolet Camaro) Race 2 Liam Hezemans (Ford Mustang) LEGENDS Races 1, 5 & 6 Miles Rudman Races 2, 3 & 4 Will Gibson INTERMARQUE SILHOUETTES Races 1 & 2 Malcolm Blackman (Vauxhall Tigra) PICKUP TRUCKS Races 1 & 2 Reece Jones (below) BERNIE’S V8s/HISTORIC OUTLAWS Race 1 Aaron Moyce (TVR Tuscan Challenge) Race 2 Matthew Ellis (TVR Tuscan Challenge) Race 3 Malcolm Harding (Ford Escort RS 2000) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

CASTLE COMBE CCRC 11-12 JUNE The Jordan family bounced back with a brace of Mini wins at Castle Combe last Sunday, after both father and son had lost earlier successes due to contact. Andrew Jordan battled Rupert Deeth for the lead throughout the opening Mini Miglia contest on Saturday, but the pair collided at Bobbies on the final lap, which allowed Endaf Owens through to win, as Jeff Smith also got ahead of the recovering Jordan and Deeth. It was Aaron Smith’s turn to lead onto the last lap of the sequel, but 2013 British Touring Car champion Jordan judged his run up Avon Rise to perfection, pulling out of the slipstream to take the lead and subsequent win into Quarry. It was a similar story of redemption for father…

MONDELLO PARK MPSC 11-12 JUNE After building and developing his supercharged Citroen Saxo VTS, a delighted Adrian Dunne took a popular win in the second Irish Touring Car Championship race at a well-attended Mondello meeting. Stephen Traub took the opener in his Honda Integra DC2 despite the best efforts of class returnee Owain Drought (VW Golf), but in race two Dunne led away and repelled a late-race challenge from the Integra of David Flynn to take the honours. Richard Shattock’s Honda Civic took the concurrently run Future Classics race, with Ian Thornton home first in the sequel. Geoff Richardson took the first of three Irish Legends races, a new lap record not being enough for Peter Barrable to haul in the reigning champion, while Greg Richardson completed the podium. Barrable…

LE MANS 24 HOURS/WEC/IMSA Cadillac has revealed photographs of something approaching a real car as it put meat on the bones of its plans for its new-for-2023 LMDh prototype. The good news is that it is planning to field multiple cars at the Le Mans 24 Hours next year. The look of the machine in the photographs is claimed not to be far removed from the chassis developed in conjunction with Dallara that will begin testing imminently. Cadillac has confirmed that it isn’t a runner, but the bodywork surfaces have been derived from the aero programme of the General Motors brand’s LMDh. “This is what the race car looked like when we snapped the chalk line to build the car we showed today,” explained GM sportscar racing programme manager Laura…

WEC The next generation of GT contenders to race in the World Endurance Championship will be distinguished from the GT3 machinery on which they are based by distinct bodywork. Rulemakers the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and the FIA want to give the GT3 designs what was described as a premium look when they take over from the current GTE cars in 2024. The ACO and the FIA outlined their vision for the future of GT racing in the WEC and at the Le Mans 24 Hours, as well as their satellite series, at the traditional press conference ahead of the French enduro. They revealed plans to create a strictly pro-am class with its own identity following last August’s announcement of the switch to GT3-based rules and the end of all-professional…

FORMULA 2 Formula 2 racer Amaury Cordeel has been suspended for the upcoming Silverstone round after accumulating 12 penalty points on his licence. The Belgian (right), who stepped up to F2 this year with series newomer Van Amersfoort Racing, hit the 12-point maximum last weekend in Baku when he swerved into the path of Olli Caldwell during the feature race, putting both cars out on the spot. As a result, Cordeel was handed a three-place grid penalty for his next F2 round, and was given a penalty point on his licence. Cordeel becomes the first driver to reach the full 12 points on his F2 licence since the infamous Mahaveer Raghunathan in 2019, who was banned for the Red Bull Ring and replaced by Pato O’Ward during the Mexican’s short…

UK START TIMES Friday 17 June FP1 1900 FP2 2200 Saturday 18 June FP3 1800 QUALIFYING 2100 Sunday 19 June RACE 1900 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 BBC RADIO 5 LIVE HIGHLIGHTS CHANNEL 4 2300 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS Drivers Constructors RACE STATS Previous winners Montreal points tallies Hamilton 185 Vettel 166 Bottas 85 Alonso 68 Ricciardo 66 Verstappen 37 Perez 26 Leclerc 16 Ocon 10 Sainz 6…

Cost cap – what cap? Let’s hope the FIA sticks to its own rules limiting Formula 1 team spend in 2022. Money is just another consumable and its consumption should be limited, with a penalty for exceeding the well-publicised limits. Just like engines and gearboxes, consuming too much money must have consequences. To move the financial goalposts later in the season should be unthinkable. Perhaps some small teams, like Williams, are currently under-performing because they are under-spending to ensure they will be on the grid for the final race of the year. Major teams must not be allowed to bully their way into expanded budgets. David WindsorGoudhurst, Kent An engineered solution Formula 1 sets many parameters on both how cars are built and operate: might not a regulation be introduced…

Zhou Guanyu lost possible Baku points and a strong showing against team-mate Valtteri Bottas to a cooling problem on his Alfa Romeo. The Chinese racer suffered his third mechanical-related retirement of his rookie campaign when the problem turned terminal on lap 24. He’d been running closely behind Esteban Ocon, who would go on to claim the final point thanks to the Ferraris dropping out, in the first stint. Zhou’s pitlane retirement occurred after he’d caught and passed the contrastrategy-running Bottas, who he had outqualified by a 0.7s margin in Q2. “It was a big blow to lose Zhou with a technical issue,” said Alfa team boss Frederic Vasseur. “Until then, he had delivered an excellent performance, without a single mistake.” Bottas felt his struggles stemmed from there being something…

ROLLERCOASTER RIDE FOR LEGEND Rally superstar Sebastien Ogier (above) didn’t make a distinguished start to his Le Mans debut aboard his Richard Mille Racing ORECA run by Signatech. He made a mistake entering the pits at the end of his first stint and briefly put the Alpine-Gibson A480, also run by Signatech, off track. The Frenchman was handed a one-minute stop/go penalty, but picked up pace through the event on the way to ninth in class in the car he shared with Charles Milesi and Lilou Wadoux. LOST WHEEL THWARTS IDEC The IDEC Sport team ended up down in 12th position and eighth in class, but its ORECA was quick enough to have been in the thick of it but for an early problem. Paul-Loup Chatin lost the left-front wheel…

The last-ever GTE Pro battle at Le Mans featured a lone privateer entry going up against the might of Porsche, Ferrari and Corvette but, sadly, the Riley Motorsports Ferrari and its all-star driver line-up never quite lived up to the promise it had on paper. Ex-factory man Sam Bird, DTM racer Felipe Fraga and Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen were recruited to share the purple-and-yellow 488 GTE Evo that featured the distinctive colours of BeeSafe Racing – an offshoot of a storage company owned by Roy Carroll, an American Ferrari Challenge racer with links to the Riley organisation. Unfortunately, from the off it was clear that the Riley car would be up against it, not helped by the Ferrari’s pre-race Balance of Performance change. The team had only just taken…

Josh Cook has increasingly come to be regarded as a BTCC champion in waiting. His speed and racecraft are not in doubt at all. The only shadow has been the apparent inability of himself and the BTC Racing Honda squad to maximise the weekends where he’s not the form man. After the first three race weekends of 2022, Cook was alone in having won more than once, with a tally of four victories. Then came Oulton. He was quickest in the opening free practice session on a set of old Goodyears, but couldn’t match that time for the rest of the weekend, even on new boots in qualifying, where he ended up 10th. “Something’s just gone away from us,” grimaced Cook. “We’re not sure what but it’s just so close…

FIA FORMULA 2 BAKU (AZE) 11-12 JUNE ROUND 6/14 Dennis Hauger has seen his fortunes change of late, putting a difficult start to the season behind him to take his second win of the year in Baku. Having scored just 14 points in the first four rounds, the Prema rookie took his first sprint win in Monaco before scoring his maiden feature victory in Azerbaijan. He snatched success after a heartbreaking crash for Juri Vips, the Hitech man finding the Castle section wall with just minutes left on the clock. With Vips starting on pole, Hauger dropped back to fourth after he was passed by Marcus Armstrong (Hitech) off the line. The first safety car came on lap one, with Amaury Cordeel and Olli Caldwell crashing at Turn 4. The…

INDY LIGHTS ROAD AMERICA (USA) 12 JUNE ROUND 5/11 Indy Pro 2000 champion Christian Rasmussen delivered his first Indy Lights win at Road America. On lap one, he drafted past polesitter and Andretti Autosport team-mate Sting Ray Robb up the long front straight to take the inside into Turn 1. The pair were chased by two more Andretti cars, of Matt Brabham and Hunter McElrea. On a lap nine restart, Rasmussen and Robb ran side-by-side through Turn 3 and under braking for Turn 5, Robb taking the advantage. Then Christian Bogle launched his HMD Motorsports car off a kerb at Turn 5 and went nose first into the debris fence, without incurring an injury. The race was red flagged for fence repairs and didn’t resume until after the IndyCar race,…

GT CUP The Formula Woman winners made their delayed racing debuts in the GT Cup at Snetterton last weekend, with Scotland’s Jodie Sloss, Jamaica’s Sara Misir, Canada’s Erika Hoffmann and England’s Steph Sore racing a pair of DTO Motorsport-run McLaren 570S GT4s. The drivers had in theory won a full season of racing in the GT Cup, but were absent from the two opening events at Donington Park and Brands Hatch. “We decided to delay the start of their race careers to get them up to pace and McLaren wanted them to get used to the cars with more testing,” said project boss Graeme Glew. “We tested at Donington before the first round and decided we weren’t ready, as it’s such a competitive championship with pro drivers too, it could…

MG LIVE Former works MG driver Anthony Reid was among the capacity entry for Equipe Classic Racing’s MGB 60 celebration race at Silverstone last weekend. Reid took the manufacturer’s ZS model to six British Touring Car Championship race wins from 2001-04 and twice started the Le Mans 24 Hours in MG prototype machinery. He co-drove with fellow Lloyd’s Motor Club member Paul Latimer in the 40-minute 60th anniversary race. Latimer’s 1962 roadster was among the earliest MGBs to leave the Abingdon production line and is believed to be the oldest racing example. “It’s the first time I’ve driven the car,” said Reid. “Beautiful handling car. What it needs is a quick motor and I’ll be right on the pace!” The pair qualified 18th among the capacity entry and finished 22nd…

RALLYING The date for the next edition of the Roger Albert Clark Rally has been set and it will feature five full days of forest rallying. Previously, the biennial event has opened with a short loop of stages on the first evening, but next year competitors will go straight into a full day of competition. The Thursday 23 to Monday 27 November 2023 fixture will include special stages in England, Scotland and Wales for the 20th anniversary edition of the gruelling rally. The route detail, including the start and finish venues and overnight halts, will be decided over the coming weeks. Rally manager Colin Heppenstall said: “We’re planning to make this five full days of rallying, so Thursday will be a full day with plenty of stage miles. I’m considering…

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP GB Will Martin and Matty Graham took the wins in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Oulton Park, but such were their margins of dominance that the attention was focused on the sterling efforts of Pro-Am battler Charles Rainford to take second place. Martin got the jump on poleman Kiern Jewiss in the opening race, and the Richardson Racing driver was in control when the safety car appeared after a couple of laps to retrieve a pair of stranded Porsches from Knickerbrook. The operation was bungled, and eventually the red flags appeared, setting up a new grid start. Again Jewiss lost out, with Rainford and Adam Smalley bursting through to second and third. Ex-historic Lenham, Marcos and Mini racer Rainford is in only his second season of…

GINETTA GT4 SUPERCUP Race 1 (13 laps) 1 James Kellett; 2 Aston Millar +16.194s; 3 Tom Emson; 4 Reece Somerfield; 5 Josh Rattican; 6 Wesley Pearce. Fastest lap Kellett 1m23.520s (95.95mph). Pole Kellett. Starters 21. Race 2 (7 laps) 1 Kellett; 2 Millar +0.107s; 3 Somerfield; 4 Henry Dawes; 5 Luke Reade; 6 James Taylor. FL Rattican 1m24.416s (94.93mph). P Kellett. S 21. Points 1 Kellett 180; 2 Millar 142; 3 Emson 108; 4 Rattican 90; 5 Somerfield 86; 6 Dawes 76. PORSCHE CARRERA CUP GB Race 1 (10 laps) 1 Will Martin; 2 Adam Smalley +5.271s; 3 Kiern Jewiss; 4 Charles Rainford; 5 Matthew Graham; 6 Ross Wylie. FL Martin 1m21.500s (98.33mph). P Jewiss. S 25. Race 2 (15 laps) 1 Graham; 2 Rainford +5.760s; 3 Jewiss; 4 Smalley;…

KNOCKHILL SMRC 12 JUNE It wasn’t that long ago that Finlay Brunton and Ryan Smith went toe to toe for the Scottish C1 Cup title. But last weekend they shared the victory spoils in the championship’s first-ever 90-minute endurance race, a result that catapulted Brunton to the top of the points standings. A far cry from the regular 10-lap sprint format, the endurance event on the reversed Knockhill layout was a triumph for the Scottish Motor Racing Club, with the race only decided in the closing stages after four cars disputed the win. Of the quartet, erstwhile points leader Sam Corson finished second on the road before a 30-second penalty for contact with Marc Nisbet was applied. It meant that Brunton turned a four-point deficit pre-weekend into the championship lead.…

The 60th anniversary of the MGB was celebrated both on and off track at Silverstone with non-competitive festivities including road-car displays and Equipe Classic Racing’s Saturday night party, but the highlight was Equipe’s special MGB 60 40-minute race on Saturday afternoon. A capacity entry of 61 FIA-spec examples of the Abingdon-built roadster featured, plenty with storied histories including the ex-Paddy Hopkirk/Andrew Hedges Le Mans car that finished 11th in the 1965 24-hour race, and a very early model thought to be the oldest still racing. Isle of Man-based Tony Wilson-Spratt’s unique WSM-bodied streamliner, designed by his father Douglas, added variety. MGB experts, rising stars and long-time campaigners were drawn to the occasion, as well as less frequent racers of the model such as former British Touring Car star Anthony Reid,…

THRUXTON BARC THRUXTON HISTORIC 11-12 JUNE Fifty years after European Formula 2 champion Ronnie Peterson won the British Automobile Racing Club’s Easter Monday round here in March 722-17, Rob Wainwright drove the Nick Pancisi-owned car to a fairytale victory in the Jochen Rindt Trophy double-header, star turn at the annual Thruxton Historic event. But it was Saturday’s opening leg, won brilliantly by Benn Tilley (Formula Atlantic Modus M1), with Wainwright breathing down his neck, that spectators will remember among the Hampshire venue’s finest races. Tilley, 22, who had not seen the daunting track until Friday, was quickest in Simon Hadfield’s car for much of qualifying, but Wainwright snared pole by 0.015 seconds. March-mounted Matt Wrigley (79B) and Martin Wood (73B) shared row two. Wainwright led Saturday’s race from the tenacious…

SNETTERTON MSVR 11-12 JUNE The GT Cup produced four different winners at Snetterton, but it was honours even between McLaren and Mercedes crews. Morgan Tillbrook’s McLaren 720S got a break in the opening race after John Dhillon’s Lamborghini Huracan made contact with Iain Campbell’s McLaren at Wilson and took out Ian Loggie’s Mercedes-AMG. McLaren driver Simon Orange saw off an early challenge from Ben Dimmack’s Radical RXC, but was over 16s down on Tillbrook at the flag. After Dimmack spun at Wilson on lap three, Mike Price’s Mercedes completed the podium, with Dimmack recovering to fifth behind Richard Chamberlain’s Porsche 935. Orange, Tillbrook, Dhillon and Price made an early break in the second race, before splitting into two pairs. Steve Burgess’s Radical managed to split the duel for third into…

IRISH TOURING CARS/FUTURE CLASSICS Race 1 Stephen Traub (Honda Integra DC2) Race 2 Adrian Dunne (Citroen Saxo VTS) IRISH LEGENDS Races 1 & 3 Geoff Richardson Race 2 Peter Barrable FORMULA BOSS IRELAND Races 1 & 2 Paul O’Connell (Dallara GP2, below) SEAT SUPERCUP/SUPERCARS Race 1 Shane Murphy Race 2 Ross Barnes FIESTA ZETECS Race 1 John Whelan Race 2 Michael Barrable FIESTA STs Race 1 Eddie Peterson Race 2 Michael Cullen HISTORIC RACING CAR ASSOCIATION Races 1 & 2 David Kelly (Crossle 9S) IRISH STRYKERS Race 1 David Reynolds Race 2 Michael Cullen SUPERSPORTS IRELAND Race 1 Steven Larkham (Radical PR06) Race 2 Mark Crawford (Caterham Superlight) FORMULA VEE Race 1 Lee Newsome (Sheane) Race 2 Anthony Cross (Sheane) FORMULA SHEANE Races 1 & 2 Richard Kearney For full…

A heaving throng of fans packs out an autograph session at the 1978 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch. The focus of their attention: the Olympus-sponsored trio of Ronnie Peterson (Lotus 79), James Hunt (McLaren M26) and Peterson’s team-mate Mario Andretti [any reader able to identify their companion is very welcome to drop us a line – ed]. The Lotus duo locked out the front row in qualifying, with Peterson on pole, while Hunt could only manage 14th. None of them made the finish – Hunt suffered a front suspension failure, Peterson’s fuel pump packed up, and Andretti’s engine expired. For classic Formula 1 DVDs head to dukevideo.com/f1 For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

FORMULA 1 Formula 1 could revive the South African Grand Prix as early as next year as talks accelerate between series bosses and officials at Kyalami. F1 has not raced in South Africa since 1993, but the series has been pushing to return in order to fully embrace its world championship status by racing on every continent. After last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali travelled to South Africa for further talks in the hope of getting an agreement in place in time for the 2023 season. The return of Kyalami would add to an already-congested calendar for 2023 that is poised to hit the 24-race limit enforced by the Concorde Agreement. The Qatar GP has already been confirmed as returning as part of a new 10-year deal,…

LE MANS 24 HOURS Sebastien Ogier is talking openly about the prospect of racing a Toyota at the Le Mans 24 Hours next year. And the rally superstar suggested last week ahead of his debut in the French enduro in LMP2 that a decision on a third car from the Japanese manufacturer could be imminent. Ogier came clean and admitted that his World Endurance Championship programme this season with the Signatech-run Richard Mille Racing squad has been devised to prepare him for a move into an additional Le Mans Hypercar run by his employer. “That’s no secret that this is the thing behind this project [with Richard Mille],” said Ogier. “I’m not sure what are the elements that will really decide if it will happen or not.” The winner of…

BTCC A massive crash in the final race of last weekend’s British Touring Car Championship race at Oulton Park has jeopardised the 2022 seasons of Dan Lloyd and four-time champion Colin Turkington. Lloyd’s Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N was spat into the barriers on the opening lap after contact with Ricky Collard’s Toyota Corolla as they fought for third place. He then bounced back onto the circuit and was rammed by the West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport of Turkington, who had been tucked up behind Lloyd’s team-mate Tom Ingram before Ingram made a remarkable last-gasp swerve to avoid the wreckage. The car Turkington is racing this year is a brand-new one following the sale of his 2019 title winner, which he also raced to the runner-up spot in…

There’s a statistic that offers Charles Leclerc a crumb of comfort after losing a victory shot in Baku last weekend through no fault of his own for the third race in succession. He secured his sixth pole of the season with a scintillating lap, threading his Ferrari between the walls with assured commitment. That means the 2022 qualifying record sits at Leclerc on six, Sergio Perez with one and Max Verstappen also on just a single pole. Leclerc is now the only driver with a perfect 8-0 qualifying record against their team-mate. Now that the first third of the 2022 campaign is complete, trends have been firmly established and the qualifying record to this point is particularly intriguing. Let’s start with Leclerc and the lessons from his six poles. While…

Charles Leclerc might have hoped that a first-corner lock-up would create the only unwelcome puff of smoke to emanate from his Ferrari in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Sadly not. Just 19 laps later, clouds erupted out of the back of his car as the engine self-immolated to mark the third win squandered by the team in as many races. That paved the way for Max Verstappen to capture a fifth triumph of the term as Sergio Perez completed a bruising 1-2 for Red Bull. Ferrari was expected to play second fiddle in Baku, with the flat-out final sector seemingly tailor-made for the top-speed punch of the rebadged Honda power unit that complemented the Red Bull RB18’s slimline rear wing. Had the target therefore been effective damage-limitation for the Prancing Horse,…

Brendon Hartley was naturally overjoyed to claim his first Le Mans pole position. There were a couple of reasons why it was all the sweeter, and one of them was who he beat to the top spot in the Hyperpole session on Thursday evening – Kamui Kobayashi, or “Mr Qualifying” as Hartley called him. Toyota sent Hartley and Kobayashi out for the short, sharp half-hour Hyperpole session for the fastest six cars in class, or in the case of Hypercar all five entries, from Q1 on Wednesday. The Japanese driver, of course, holds the qualifying record at Le Mans from 2017 and was bidding for another one last week. A fifth pole would have taken him clear of Le Mans legend Jacky Ickx’s four. “Kamui is Mr Qualifying around here;…

The Algarve Pro Racing squad was the comeback king of the Le Mans 24 Hours. It bounced back from a chassis-breaking incident in practice with one of its ORECAs to win the LMP2 pro-am sub-class, while its other entry lost five laps at the start yet finished only two laps in arrears of the sister car. James Allen, Rene Binder and Steven Thomas took the win for the Anglo-Portuguese team by a lap from the Nielsen Racing entry shared by Ben Hanley, Matt Bell and Rodrigo Sales. The sister APR ORECA-Gibson 07 of Jack Aitken, Sophia Florsch and John Falb fought back to fifth in class. But team boss Stuart Cox wasn’t happy at the end of the race: “I’m a bit disappointed really because we had the cars to…

Aston Martin took victory in a GTE Am contest that had looked almost certain to go the way of Porsche, as Ben Keating exorcised the demons of his 2019 disqualification with the TF Sport team. Such was the speed of the 911 RSR in the opening part of the race that Porsches occupied five of the top six places after the first hour. But one by one, several promising entries dropped out with various offs and incidents, including both the #46 and #56 Team Project 1 cars and the #99 Absolute Racing-run Hardpoint car. That left the #79 WeatherTech Racing 911 of Cooper MacNeil, Julien Andlauer and the surprise package of the race, bronze-rated Trans-Am racer Thomas Merrill, who was frequently faster than silver-rated MacNeil. But the TF Aston of…

If you’re Alexander Rossi, you’re tired of hearing about how long it’s been since your last win, needled by the regular comparisons to your usually fractionally faster – occasionally chunks faster – Andretti Autosport teammate Colton Herta, and irritated by people assuming that you’re suddenly driving better because of the mental release of signing with Arrow McLaren SP for 2023. And after qualifying on pole at Road America (again, your first in three years), you may even have been a little bored of people assuming that you had the win made, that you could deliver the same beatdown to the opposition that you did at this venue in 2019. That’s just not how IndyCar works. How IndyCar works is having eight different polesitters in the first eight races of 2022.…

WORLD TOURING CAR CUP HUNGARORING (HUN) 12 JUNE ROUND 3/10 Mikel Azcona staked his claim to a first World Touring Car Cup title by leaping to the top of the standings with his second win of the year at a sweltering Hungaroring. The 25-year-old Spaniard replaced retired tin-top legend Gabriele Tarquini at BRC Squadra Corse this season and is proving himself worthy of following in the great man’s wheeltracks. He took his first pole position of the year in the Hyundai Elantra N TCR on Saturday, then stroked to a comfortable race-one victory. The result knocked Munnich Motorsport’s Nestor Girolami off the top as the Hondas, carrying 40kg of success ballast, struggled to be competitive. The Argentine finished where he started in seventh. Reigning double champion Yann Ehrlacher chased Nathanael…

ETCR HUNGARORING (HUN) 12 JUNE ROUND 2/7 Cupra driver Adrien Tambay was crowned King of the Weekend as the FIA ETCR eTouring Car World Cup took in its second round at the Hungaroring. Tambay withstood pressure from the rival Hyundai and Romeo Ferraris squads but the biggest threat was from team-mate Tom Blomqvist in Saturday’s quarter-final, where Blomqvist misjudged his braking to spin Tambay, and put himself out of the race, denying Tambay the top spot in that heat. Tambay’s team-mate Mattias Ekstrom displayed the expected pace following his season-opening domination – in qualifying he was more than a second faster than Tambay. He fell victim to poor starts, but was still the second-highest scoring driver. “We had better pace than to finish where we did. But then again if…

MG TROPHY MG Trophy bosses are exploring turbocharging as a means of increasing the performance of the MG3 within the championship and growing its representation on the grid. The MG Trophy has for several years been contested almost exclusively by the MG ZR model, which ceased production in 2005. The more modern MG3 is eligible, running the same base engine and a number of other components as the ZR, but its competitiveness against the leading ZR 190s has been hampered by the model’s heavier base weight. Series frontrunner Colin Robertson is leading development of the MG3 and gave the model its first appearance in the championship since 2019 at Silverstone last weekend. “It’s nearly 100kg heavier,” he said. “We’ve got a bit of extra revs than the 190s, which helped.…

STANLEY EXCLUDED Redline Racing Porsche Carrera Cup GB driver Micah Stanley was thrown out of the Oulton Park meeting last weekend after he “verbally and physically abused” Theo Edgerton following the opening race. Stanley was angered after JTR racer Edgerton twice made contact with him and cost him a sixth-place finish. As well as being barred from contesting race two, Stanley was handed six penalty points on his licence, while Edgerton was handed two licence points for the on-track clashes. UNLUCKY UGOCHUKWU McLaren junior Ugo Ugochukwu endured a tricky Oulton Park weekend in British Formula 4 after getting caught up in a qualifying crash when Joseph Loake and Daniel Mavlyutov collided at the chicane. Although the Carlin crew repaired his car, the session was red-flagged again when rain arrived and…

This time last season, the historic and club racing strata I’ve loved for decades saw competitors’ post COVID-19 hunger for motorsport evidenced in many of the strongest domestic grids in years. Ramifications of the Brexit fiasco and the misery of the pandemic certainly kept those racers able and minded to continue at home. We weren’t exactly riding the crest of a wave, but there was cause for cautious optimism among grid organisers and event promoters. The current energy cost crisis, exacerbated by the ghastly ongoing situation in Ukraine, and resultant skyrocketing of everyday expense had not reared their ugly heads until this spring, but have torpedoed global economic growth. While racing remains a luxury for those who can afford to compete, the sheer number of events is diluting the pool…

BRITISH F4 It was a win, spin and sluggish start for championship dominator Alex Dunne in the three British Formula 4 races at Oulton Park, which featured two new victors. Dunne (Hitech) was dominant in the opener, winning by 7.5 seconds, while a charging first lap from Louis Sharp promoted the Carlin driver to second. But, just as at Brands Hatch, the partially reversed-grid race proved Dunne’s undoing. He was challenging for sixth when he spun through Cascades and ended up ninth. But he was not alone in hitting strife, as Noah Lisle spun out of second at Old Hall and leader Joseph Loake retired with suspension failure, handing Daniel Guinchard a maiden win. It was all the more sweet after he narrowly missed out last time at Thruxton. “I…

MINI CHALLENGE A win and a third place for Sam Weller at Oulton Park have strengthened the Hybrid Tune driver’s position at the top of the Mini Challenge leaderboard, while Jason Lockwood’s own title bid was boosted by his maiden victory in the finale. Weller admitted that Saturday was “one of those days you dream of having” after grabbing pole, fastest lap and the win in the opener. His 0.393-second advantage over main title rival Jack Mitchell in qualifying was impressive and set the tone for a comfortable victory. Weller maintained the lead at the start and again on the restart after a safety-car period to recover Taylor Whitson and Billy Hardy’s cars after a clash at Island hairpin, to eventually finish 3s clear of JW Bird Motorsport driver Mitchell.…

SILVERSTONE MGCC MG LIVE 11-12 JUNE The first edition of MG Live since 2018 was highlighted by diamond anniversary celebrations for the marque’s best-selling car. Equipe Classic Racing organised a special MGB 60 race for a capacity grid of FIA Appendix K cars, while the MG Car Club’s BCV8 Championship showcased modified machinery as reigning champion Ollie Neaves made a winning return. On his first appearance in the series this season, Neaves made light of the changes required to his GTV8 under 2022 regulations to win both races from pole, despite a clutch problem hindering his starts. Saturday’s defeat of James Wheeler and Russell McCarthy proved more straightforward than the Sunday rematch when Neaves thrillingly fought back from fifth. “Dad’s been working on the car for me all week, and…

BRANDS HATCH MSVR AMERICAN SPEEDFEST 11-12 JUNE Two decisive moves helped Alon Day claim a record-equalling fifth Brands Hatch NASCAR Euro Series race win as the championship headlined the ninth American SpeedFest event last weekend. Nicolo Rocca, Pro series leader following the opening meeting at Valencia, controlled the initial stages of the race in his Chevrolet Camaro while three-time series champion Day (Camaro) was being frustrated by Gianmarco Ercoli in the battle for second. A caution period to recover the beached Shadow DNM8 of Bernardo Manfre bunched the leading trio together and provided Day with his best chance of making his bid for race leadership. After trying to make a pass for several laps, Day finally forced an opening heading into Druids on lap 26 of 38 to snatch second…

CRCC JOCHEN RINDT TROPHY Race 1 Benn Tilley (Modus M1) Race 2 Rob Wainwright (March 722) MIDGET & SPRITE CHALLENGE Race 1 Pippa Cow (Austin-Healey Sprite) Race 2 Tom Walker (Austin-Healey Sprite) HRDC JACK SEARS TROPHY Neil Brown/Richard Dutton (Ford Lotus Cortina) HRDC DUNLOP ALLSTARS Jamie Boot (TVR Griffith) HISTORIC TOURING CAR CHALLENGE Ric Wood (Nissan Skyline GT-R R32) HRDC ALFA ROMEO CHALLENGE James Wright (75 Turbo) RAC WOODCOTE/STIRLING MOSS TROPHY Ben Adams (Lola Mk1, below) JAGUAR CLASSIC CHALLENGE/PRE-’63 GT Matt Wrigley/Rob Wainwright (Jaguar E-type) SIXTIES TOURING CARS/U2TC Andrew & Max Banks (Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

CASTLE COMBE MINI MIGLIA Race 1 Endaf Owens Race 2 Andrew Jordan MINI SE7EN Race 1 Joe Thompson Race 2 Mike Jordan CCRC FF1600 Race 1 Felix Fisher (Ray GR05) Race 2 Luke Cooper (Swift SC20) 750MC HOT HATCH Race 1 Philip Wright (Honda Civic Type R) Race 2 Will Self (Peugeot 205) Race 3 Ryan Polley (Honda Civic Type R) CCRC HOT HATCH Races 1 & 2 Shaun Goverd (Citroen AX) CCRC SALOONS Races 1 & 2 Adam Prebble (Vauxhall Astra) 750MC MAZDA MX-5 CUP Races 1, 2 & 3 Ben Short CCRC GTs Races 1 & 2 Kevin Bird (Porsche 911 Carrera Cup) CCRC/AMOC GT CHALLENGE Kevin Bird/Charles Hyde-Andrews-Bird (Porsche 911 Carrera Cup) WELSH SPORTS AND SALOON Races 1 & 2 Chris Everill (Ginetta G50) SALOONS VS HOT…

BOOK REVIEWS NORTH EASTERN MOTORSPORT: A CENTURY OF MEMORIES Larry Carter RRP £15.99 THE VIEW FROM THE COMMENTARY BOX Pat Jennings RRP £19.95 Opposites attract. Always have done. And two new volumes focusing on motorsport in two areas of the UK, while different, complement each other. Their geographical focus, subject matter, size and scope are diametrically opposed, but they are united by a passion – to celebrate regional motorsport. Often when this writer was abroad, contemplating another early start, press deadline or returning from an international motorsport event, the relative simplicity of club sport at home was missed. In my twenties, the thought of making the pilgrimage to Croft for a club race meeting brought an alternative form of excitement to the staples of Brands Hatch or Silverstone. The opportunity…

Given the number of famous drives at Interlagos down the years, it would be easy to overlook the achievement of Gianni Morbidelli qualifying sixth for the 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix in a humble Footwork. Just 0.312 seconds behind the Williams FW16 that Damon Hill would take to six wins that year, the Italian describes the lap as some of “the most gratification that I had in my life”, not least because it came at his first race back after spending 1993 racing in touring cars. “In that period it was quite hard to qualify in the top 10 and I did immediately sixth on the grid,” remembers Morbidelli, who never scored points in five Interlagos F1 starts, but took eighth with Minardi in 1991 and seventh the following year. “That…