Indholdsfortegnelse for 6/30/2022 i Autosport

British Formula 1 fans have been spoiled in recent years. Not only has Lewis Hamilton been the most successful driver of the turbo-hybrid era, but the trio of Hamilton, George Russell and Lando Norris is arguably the most talented from the United Kingdom for decades. You probably have to go back to the 1960s, to the time of Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and John Surtees, to match or better the current crop. Those four, plus Mike Spence, made it a remarkable 1-2-3-4-5 for home drivers in the 1965 British GP! As Alex Kalinauckas hears in our preview on page 16, the 2022 Brits are unlikely to get near that result, but there is optimism that Mercedes and McLaren should be reasonably competitive on Silverstone’s sweeps. The venue that…

LMDh Three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Andre Lotterer will make a return to sportscar racing next year in Porsche’s new LMDh prototype. His move from Formula E was announced on a day when the news flowed at the latest launch of the endurance programme at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The German was one of six drivers announced last Friday for a car christened the 963. And Porsche stated an ambition to take the car to this year’s World Endurance Championship finale in Bahrain on a non-points basis dependent on the results of the test programme with the 963, which expands into North America next month. Lotterer will make the switch back to sportscars at the conclusion of this year’s FE season to drive one of the four 963s…

When a motorsport event has its own anthem, it’s a clear sign that this is a big deal. That was indeed the case for last weekend’s Safari Rally Kenya, one of motorsport’s last remaining great adventures. This anthem created for one event per year was belted out by a tuneful local choir to the masses gathered outside parliament buildings in Kenyan capital Nairobi, as the country’s president Uhuru Kenyatta greeted the World Rally Championship teams. The reason for such fanfare is that the WRC’s trip to Kenya is the country’s largest sporting event and is deeply rooted in the nation’s culture. But the Safari isn’t just that, it’s currently Africa’s only opportunity to showcase itself to the motorsport world. Held annually since 1953, the rally has been a staple of…

FIVE SHORT YEARS ago, Silverstone bosses were poised to activate a break clause with Formula 1 because Bernie Ecclestone’s escalator fees meant hosting a race was decreasingly financially viable. Back then, Monaco seemed unimpeachable. How times change. Now the UK’s flagship motorsport venue enjoys a “really strong” and “much more collaborative” relationship with Liberty Media, according to managing director Stuart Pringle. Just as Albert Park in Australia has recently confirmed a deal, Silverstone is “prepared to join hands and walk down the aisle” by signing a long-term contract extension. Most vital of all, it has kept pace with the changing landscape of F1 in this Netflix boom period to set an example for its at-risk historic counterparts. Pringle has an appetite for more. His vision is not for Silverstone to…

If you were among those who completed the 2022 Safari Rally, then you could count yourself very lucky indeed, or you were driving a Toyota. The second edition of the World Rally Championship’s revamped Kenya adventure was far more akin to the punishing marathon of old, where merely finishing this trip into the wilderness is an achievement. After its return to the WRC calendar 12 months ago following a 19-year hiatus, organisers were happy, but felt it needed to be tougher. On reflection the rally organisers can tick that box as all the crews, and Hyundai and M-Sport in particular, can attest. But perhaps Hyundai’s Oliver Solberg summed it best when he said: “This is proper rallying.” While this was a wilder Safari, it couldn’t tame the WRC’s new force…

It was win number 52 for #52 in the BTCC at Croft, when Gordon Shedden strolled away from the field in the finale. It was entirely predictable, not only because he had the similar but much-slower-in-a-straight-line Honda of Josh Cook bottling up the field, but also because he was genuinely quick last weekend. Indeed, this was one of those not uncommon reversed-grid races where the win was set up by a setback followed by an excellent recovery. Team Dynamics was on form. Dan Rowbottom put things together nicely to qualify on the front row, with Shedden on the third. “Our overall pace was good,” said the Scot. “It was just the way the red flags fell. Jesus, come on… And then Rory [Butcher, his brother-in-law] blocked me of all people!”…

There’s never a shortage of two-wheeled talents at the Festival of Speed, but this year especially had an unmissable feel surrounding one particular star making a return to the saddle: Wayne Rainey. Acclaimed for his smooth, calculated riding style, Rainey won three consecutive championships in the premier class from 1990 to 1992, and was battling rival Kevin Schwantz for the 1993 title when he suffered a career-ending crash while leading at Misano that left him paralysed from the chest down. Rainey’s return to riding understandably prompted a visceral reaction from misty-eyed fans, with hand controls enabling his first ride on his title-winning Yamaha YZR500 from 1992 for 30 years, and his first on a grand prix bike since that fateful Misano race 29 years ago. An inspirational story in its…

BMW Motorsport hits 50 this year, and Goodwood helped celebrate that milestone with a plateau of machinery spanning its successes cesses in touring cars, sportscars and single-seaters. All the boxes were ticked with a Spa 24 Hours-winning ng BMW M3 from 1990, the V12 LMR that triumphed at Le Mans in 1999, and Nelson Piquet’s Brabham BT52 1983 Formula 1 title-winner. GP3 and FIA Formula 3 race winner Pedro Piquet shared his father’s BMW-powered grand prix racer, restored red by the factory back in 2012-13, with Karun Chandhok. There was also another open-wheeler that gave a nod to an important era in BMW’s racing history. The BMW-powered Formula 2 March 782, chassis #8 now owned by Matthew Watts, that Marc Surer drove as part of the marque’s junior programme was…

IMSA SPORTSCAR WATKINS GLEN (USA) 26 JUNE ROUND 7/12 The Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 of Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis seemed poised for victory in Sunday’s traditional 6 Hours of Watkins Glen. But a red-flag stoppage due to lightning with 90 minutes remaining set the stage for a 21-minute shootout, and instead it was Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor who snatched away the spoils with the similar Acura of Wayne Taylor Racing. The Acuras took charge of proceedings in qualifying on Saturday and never relinquished their stranglehold at the storied 3.4-mile venue. Blomqvist took first blood on Saturday afternoon, producing a stunning new lap record at an average speed of 136.637mph to secure his first career pole. Albuquerque’s best was only 0.164s shy of the Briton, and the Portuguese…

NASCAR CUP NASHVILLE (USA) 26 JUNE ROUND 17/36 Most of Chase Elliott’s NASCAR Cup Series victories have come on road courses, but it’s on concrete ovals where he’s scored his two wins this season. With a push from Ryan Blaney on a restart with four laps to go, Elliott cleared Kurt Busch and held him off by 0.551 seconds to win at Nashville. The 300-lap race took nearly seven hours to complete because it was delayed twice for a total of more than three hours due to rain and persistent lightning strikes nearby. The win is Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver Elliott’s second of the 2022 season, following his triumph at Dover, and was the 15th of his career. “I figured [the last caution] was coming but I was hoping not,”…

FORMULA FORD 1600 Renowned Formula Ford 1600 outfit Team Dolan has had its factory completely destroyed by a fire, losing six cars in the process. Bernard Dolan’s team has become a mainstay of the FF1600 paddock, taking back-to-back National Formula Ford titles in 2018 and 2019 with Niall Murray and Ross Martin, as well as last year’s crown with Chris Middlehurst. The team and its three current drivers, Morgan Quinn, Gabe Tesch and Ben Cochran, were racing at Anglesey across the 18-19 June weekend when news of the fire outside Ipswich reached Dolan on Sunday evening. “Basically the fire took place in another unit next to my unit,” said the ex-Reynard works driver (right). “No one got hurt or died, but it’s a funny feeling, it feels like someone has…

BRITISH GT Graham Davidson returned to British GT last weekend at Snetterton, sharing the Paddock Motorsport McLaren 720S alongside Martin Plowman. The Scot, who was 2019 GT3 champion alongside Jonny Adam in a TF Sport-run Aston Martin, made his second appearance in the category this season after competing in the opening round at Oulton Park with Team Rocket RJN. He was called in to replace Kelvin Fletcher due to clashing commitments for the actor, and will also contest the next round at Spa. “We started talking at Oulton Park – they phoned me after and said Kelvin had commitments and that they had to take priority,” said Davidson. “They came back to me and decided I would do this round and Spa. It’s nice to be back out.” The pair…

SMELT IN SPRINT CHALLENGE Former British Touring Car and British GT racer Sam Smelt made his Porsche Sprint Challenge GB debut when the series joined the BTCC bill at Croft last weekend. Smelt finished fourth in each of the Cayman contests for the Redline Racing squad, narrowly keeping Matt Greenwood and Harry Foster at bay in the respective races. COATES’S MINI FRUSTRATION Max Coates endured a frustrating Mini Challenge Trophy debut at his local circuit of Croft last weekend. The Mini regular swapped his Graves Motorsport JCW for one of the team’s Cooper class cars but could only manage a best result of 14th from the two Yorkshire races as he battled a lack of straightline speed. MARC VALVEKENS 1947-2022 The historic racing world lost one of its most charismatic…

HOT HATCH The Castle Combe Racing Club has warned its Hot Hatch competitors that driving standards need to improve following a number of incidents at the previous round. The Hot Hatch series was introduced in 2017 and has grown to become one of the Wiltshire circuit’s most popular categories, with entries for the most recent round earlier this month hitting almost 30 cars. Eight of those machines retired from the opening race, though – albeit not all from collisions – and on-the-road winner Joe Dorrington was excluded for passing under the safety car. Following the event CCRC chairman Ken Davies issued a statement: “The Hot Hatch series has become synonymous with affordable and close racing, appropriately characterised by good driving standards and warm paddock camaraderie. This valued sporting ethos fell…

SNETTERTON BRITISH GT 25-26 JUNE RAM Racing was the dominant force across British GT’s Snetterton round as each of its Mercedes-AMG GT3s took a victory across the two one-hour contests. A win in the opening race before damage limitation in the sequel meant championship leader Ian Loggie extended his advantage at the top of the table to 32.5 points. The Mercedes proved to be the machine of choice around the three-mile 300 layout. The German manufacturer occupied the front row for both races, which resulted in the cars being handed a Balance of Performance tweak ahead of the races – an extra 15kg and a small reduction in power. Despite this, Loggie was never headed in his opening stint from pole in race one, gradually pulling away from the returning…

SNETTERTON MSVR 25-26 JUNE Luke Browning moved himself back to the top of the GB3 Championship standings by getting the better of chief title rival Joel Granfors across three races at Snetterton. The Hitech GP driver arrived at the Norfolk circuit one point behind Granfors, and had not stood on the top step of the podium since the opening Oulton Park round in April. That changed in the weekend’s second race on Sunday, but he was made to work hard for it by Fortec Motorsport ace Granfors throughout a tense 12-lap encounter. From pole, Browning held the lead into Riches, while Granfors looked to the outside before slotting into second and Carlin’s Javier Sagrera made a stunning start to move from sixth into third. Heading onto the second lap, Granfors…

BRITISH F4 The familiar pattern to 2022 British Formula 4 weekends was turned on its head at Croft. Instead of series dominator Alex Dunne driving into the distance in the opener, it was birthday boy Aiden Neate who led throughout and Dunne’s taste of glory came in the partially reversed-grid second contest. Dunne only qualified ninth for the opener having suffered with a down-on-power engine. And Neate therefore maximised the opportunity offered by his first series pole to take a win, keeping Ugo Ugochukwu at arm’s length. “I’m really happy – that pole was a long time coming!” said Argenti driver Neate. “I got my first podium here last year and it was a great birthday present [to win]!” The processional race was enlivened on the final lap by two…

PORSCHE SPRINT CHALLENGE GB Matthew Armstrong was a double Porsche Sprint Challenge GB winner at Croft, and therefore grabbed the points lead, but there was more than just an element of good fortune about his opening victory. Armstrong had slipped to third in the early stages after Team Parker stablemate Harry Foster made a bold move down the inside of the hairpin. Buoyed by the success of that pass, Foster tried it again on race leader Steve Roberts on lap 10 of 15 – but it was not quite so successful this time. Instead, Foster clipped the rear of Roberts’s Redline machine and damaged his own car, while Roberts dropped behind Armstrong. He did attempt to reclaim the lead late on but there was to be no stopping Armstrong –…

Given how Nelson King has dominated the Mini Challenge Trophy so far this season, it’s incredible to think that the Graves Motorsport driver had not won a car race prior to his victory in this year’s Pembrey opener. Since that breakthrough triumph, he has hardly stopped winning and now sits over 100 points clear at the top of the table, having only been defeated once. King moved into cars from karts for 2021 and came within millimetres of taking that maiden success in the Silverstone finale last year, missing out by just 0.01 seconds in a photo finish (ironically to Ovenden, who King narrowly beat in the Croft opener last weekend). That was the high point of a season in which he grew into becoming a regular podium contender, especially…

OULTON PARK BRSCC 25 JUNE Although some of the races at the British Racing & Sports Car Club meeting held at Oulton Park last weekend were a little light on overtaking, the event as a whole certainly wasn’t short of incident. Three encounters finished under red flags, with the hard-working marshals also having to contend with multiple offs and an oil slick down the entire length of the start/finish straight, caused by the spectacular failure of Dave Cockell’s engine when leading the second Modified Fords race and looking to add to his win in the opener. The variety that can be found in club racing was on full display, with the Fords contrasting sharply with the 500 Owners Association’s growling minimalist single-seaters. It was the 500cc Formula 3s that provided…

VIDEO GAME EA SPORTS F1 22 RRP £49.99 (available on PC, PlayStation and Xbox) F1 2022 is the 13th successive official Formula 1 video game created by Codemasters’ Birmingham outpost since the first release back in 2010. This writer can remember each vividly and this year’s edition, available this week, represents one of the biggest step changes so far. Firstly, it’s not actually called F1 2022, but EA SPORTS F1 22. With the development studio bought by Redwood City-based publishing giant Electronic Arts last year for $1.2billion, this is the season where the change of ownership has clearly taken hold. The EA influence predominately takes the form of ‘F1 Life’. In essence, it’s a swanky living area where you can alter the look of the wallpaper and furniture, before creating…

He made it to Formula 1 but it’s probably fair to say that Karun Chandhok didn’t exactly have the best equipment in the form of the HRT F110 and Lotus T128. It’s therefore not a surprise that he looks elsewhere for his favourite racing machine, and it comes from his time in sportscars. Chandhok drove in selected events for LMP2 squad Murphy Prototypes between 2013 and 2016, and picks the Nissan-powered ORECA 03R as the car he most enjoyed. “I just seemed to get on with it straight away from the first lap I drove it,” says the Sky F1 pundit. “I’ve always liked a car that had a stable rear on corner entry. That car didn’t have any real surprises, always a little touch of understeer. The aero balance,…

LOLA Lola is back! Or rather it’s on its way back. The iconic British marque has been bought together with the windtunnel run under the name of the once-great British racing car constructor with the aim of getting it back on track perhaps as quickly as within the next two years. The rights to the Lola name, the IP covering more than 400 designs built between 1958 and 2012, as well as the Lola Technical Centre incorporating the windtunnel and a seven-post rig, have been bought by US-based Briton Till Bechtolsheimer. His ambition is to re-establish the Lola name as a force in international motorsport. Bechtolsheimer, who races in the GT Daytona class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, is reviving Lola 10 years after the previous iteration of the company,…

FORMULA 1/2/3 Red Bull Racing suspended its Formula 1 test and reserve driver Juri Vips with immediate effect last week over the use of a racial slur. The 21-year-old Estonian was heard using racist language during a live stream of a video game last week, prompting Red Bull to take immediate action and suspend him, pending a full investigation. “As an organisation we condemn abuse of any kind and have a zero-tolerance policy to racist language or behaviour,” Red Bull said in a statement. Vips took to Instagram to “unreservedly apologise for the offensive language used during a live gaming stream”. “This language is entirely unacceptable and does not portray the values and principles that I hold,” Vips wrote. “I deeply regret my actions and this is not the example…

WEC Multiple Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 class winner Jota has become the first customer team to confirm a programme with Porsche’s new 963 LMDh in the World Endurance Championship next year. The British team announced its graduation to the top class of the series with a solo Hypercar entry last Saturday evening after a run of successes in P2. They include a third class victory at Le Mans this month after wins in 2014 and, under the flag of Jackie Chan DC Racing, 2017. It has had at least one car on the class podium at the French enduro in eight of the past nine years. The team is known to have had talks about LMDh with multiple manufacturers, but, said team boss Sam Hignett, “Porsche offered the only…

The start of our European Le Mans Series season was a bit difficult at Paul Ricard because we had a tyre failure. Although they’re long, the problem with the races is that they are basically a four-hour sprint. As soon as you have a slight issue like that, with the field being so competitive, it pretty much put us out of the race, so we ended up salvaging seventh. At Imola we had a slightly better race. It seems like our luck changed. To be honest, we struggled a little bit for pace all weekend, but we took a risk in the race and I guess the gamble paid off – we ended up getting second. Prema is having a mega year this year. It’s an excellent single-seater team, and…

Can Pourchaire turn the tables on Drugovich in F2? Felipe Drugovich appears to be unstoppable in F2 this season. The Brazilian took his first win at round two in Jeddah and has racked up three more over the opening six rounds, giving him an advantage of almost 50 points over pre-season favourite Theo Pourchaire. Drugovich, run by MP Motorsport, has failed to score just once in the 12 races so far, and Pourchaire will need a big turnaround from a disappointing weekend last time out in Baku to remount his title challenge. But with eight rounds still remaining, it’s not over yet for the Frenchman, who races for ART Grand Prix. Behind the leading pair, Prema’s Red Bull Junior Jehan Daruvala is best of the rest, while Logan Sargeant is…

As Formula 1’s 2022 season approaches its summer break, the Goodwood Festival of Speed served as a timely reminder for fans, drivers and teams alike to step back and appreciate a four-day celebration of motorsport. The usual marvellous mix of machinery from across the spectrum of racing disciplines is a given at Goodwood, as is the plethora of legends who come to drive them. Among the highlights of the event was Nigel Mansell, who was reunited with ‘Red 5’ on Sunday 30 years after taking the iconic Williams FW14B to glory, while fellow F1 champions Sir Jackie Stewart, Damon Hill, Mika Hakkinen and Jenson Button also sampled a range of machinery. Another emotional reunion with a machine from 1992 came with three-time 500cc motorcycle world champion Wayne Rainey, who got…

The 2022 Festival of Speed was awash with anniversaries, as 50 years of BMW M took centre stage with cars from past, present and future suspended on a typically spectacular Gerry Judah sculpture outside Goodwood House. Thirty years on from Nigel Mansell’s and Wayne Rainey’s title-winning seasons at the pinnacle of four and two-wheeled motorsport, an array of Group B rally cars also celebrated an ill-fated but much adored earlier era. But it was Goodwood’s salute to Ferrari that stole the show on the hillclimb, aptly honouring 75 years of the famous marque with over 30 cars from its origins right through to its latest GT. Standout drivers included Marino Franchitti behind the wheel of a 512S, Derek Bell in a 365 GTB/4, Marc Gene in the 2009 F60 grand…

Goodwood celebrated the 40th anniversary of the start of Group C, which inevitably meant a smorgasbord of Porsche 956s and 962s. Yet the star of the weekend as far as Stuttgart machinery went was a largely overlooked classic: the 936 open-top Group 6 racer that sits between the all-conquering coupes, the 917 and the 956, in the pantheon of Porsche prototypes. It wasn’t the presence of 936 #001 at Goodwood that was remarkable, nor that Jacky Ickx (left) was driving it. The Belgian great reckoned he had been back behind the wheel of the car since period, but couldn’t be sure when. What is certain is that he hadn’t graced its cockpit with the car in the specification that he scored what he regards as the greatest of his six…

WORLD TOURING CAR CUP MOTORLAND ARAGON (ESP) 26 JUNE ROUND 4/10 Gilles Magnus was near-perfect as he scored his second career World Touring Car Cup victory, and Rob Huff claimed a remarkable pair of second places in what he described as his best weekend in the series. But the biggest winner at Motorland Aragon was home hero Mikel Azcona. BRC Hyundai’s star winter signing celebrated his 26th birthday with third in race one and a third victory from six races in the partially reversed-grid second encounter to open up a commanding lead in the standings. Magnus proved a point in qualifying, delivering the flawless lap in the Q3 shootout he failed to find under pressure in Hungary to secure pole position. The next day, the 22-year-old turned that into Comtoyou…

ADAC GT MASTERS ZANDVOORT (NLD) 25-26 JUNE ROUND 3/7 Jack Aitken claimed his first win in Germany’s ADAC GT Masters series when he combined with Lamborghini star and fellow ex-Formula Renault Eurocup champion Albert Costa to take victory at Zandvoort. Aitken put the Emil Frey Racing Huracan GT3 Evo on pole, and led throughout the first stint. He then handed over to Costa, and similarly the Spaniard made no mistakes to complete a comfortable win for the pair. They were followed home by the Car Collection Audi of Thierry Vermeulen, whose father Raymond manages Max Verstappen and who had taken the car over from Mattia Drudi. Christian Engelhart was on course for third place, which would have given him and Ayhancan Guven the series lead, when their Team Joos Porsche…

GB4 Title contender Alex Walker withdrew from last weekend’s GB4 Championship round at Snetterton after parting company with the Elite Motorsport team. Walker won three races across the opening two events of the season with Elite to gain an early lead in the championship, but incident-filled weekends at Silverstone and Donington Park in May meant he had slipped to third in the standings. After deciding to leave the team, the ex-Formula Ford racer still took part in Friday’s pre-event testing as a privateer, but then withdrew before qualifying on Saturday. Walker was unavailable for comment, and it is unclear whether he will take part in the final three rounds of the season. Elite’s team principal Eddie Ives revealed it had been Walker’s decision to stop racing. “I don’t really understand…

SILVERSTONE CLASSIC This year’s Silverstone Classic will pay tribute to legendary Formula 1 team boss Sir Frank Williams, who died at the end of last year. The Historic F1 races forming part of the three-day motorsport extravaganza will be renamed The Frank Williams Memorial Trophy for Masters Racing Legends in his honour. Williams Heritage is also loaning an FW07 to go on display in the paddock as part of the celebrations of Williams’s extraordinary life. The Silverstone circuit holds a special significance in Williams’s story – it was where his team took its first pole and win in 1979. In a statement, the Williams family said: “For so many reasons Silverstone was very, very special to our father and thus we, as a family, welcome the very fitting celebrations of…

Track Attack racers Geoff Prince and Kevin Matkin were fortunate to escape serious injury in this frightening crash at Oulton Park last Saturday. Prince’s Volkswagen Golf was lapping Matkin’s Peugeot 206 along The Avenue when the pair made contact and both went hard into the barriers, pitching each car into a roll. Matkin was able to walk away with just bumps and bruises, while Prince was cut out of his car and taken to Stoke hospital by road. He has since been released and suffered five broken ribs and a broken hand, testament to the strength of his newly built JM Racing Mk7 (inset).…

RADICAL Radical has become the latest constructor to introduce a halo-style cockpit protection device for some of its cars. Customers ordering new models of the SR3 XX and SR10 can have the cockpit safety structure as an optional extra. The device has been developed in a way to minimise aerodynamic drag and is made from T45, a high-strength stainless steel alloy. “We have taken inspiration from the technology in motorsport, which we’ve seen work so effectively, and appropriated it to SR3 XX and SR10,” said group sales and marketing director Dan Redpath. “Putting the safety of our customers first has always been our priority, and we are delighted to offer this option without compromising our core DNA of delivering an exhilarating motorsport experience.” Radical is currently evaluating whether the structure…

Josh Miller and Jamie Day set a new record with their maiden victory in the opening GT4 race at Snetterton, becoming the youngest winners of a British GT event on combined age. The 16-year-olds guided their R Racing-run Aston Martin Vantage to top spot after avoiding trouble, and were in prime position to benefit when on-the-road winners Jamie Orton and Seb Hopkins were handed a penalty for a collision. Aboard the Team Parker Racing Porsche 718 Cayman, Orton had been the prime mover in the opening stint, climbing from seventh to third by the end of lap four. But his progress was halted by the Toyota GR Supra of Tom Edgar, who was acting as a cork in the bottle to the chasing pack. This allowed polesitter Matt Cowley to…

GB3 Race 1 (12 laps) 1 Callum Voisin; 2 Luke Browning +0.526s; 3 Joel Granfors; 4 Roberto Faria; 5 Tom Lebbon; 6 John Bennett. Fastest lap Faria 1m42.363s (104.41mph). Pole Voisin. Starters 21. Race 2 (12 laps) 1 Browning; 2 Granfors +0.235s; 3 Javier Sagrera; 4 Matthew Rees; 5 Lebbon; 6 Alex Connor. FL Sagrera 1m41.885s (104.90mph). P Browning. S 22. Race 3 (10 laps) 1 Mikkel Grundtvig; 2 Marcos Flack +0.253s; 3 James Hedley; 4 Tommy Smith; 5 McKenzy Cresswell; 6 Zak Taylor. FL Faria 1m43.301s (103.46mph). P Grundtvig. S 22. Points 1 Browning 239; 2 Granfors 228; 3 Faria 187; 4 Max Esterson 181; 5 Voisin 172; 6 Lebbon 165. RADICAL CHALLENGE Races 1, 2 & 3 James Lay (SR3) RADICAL SR1 CUP Races 1 & 2 Daryl…

GINETTA GT5 CHALLENGE Harley Haughton has had a tremendous time in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge’s recent guest appearances on the BTCC support package. To his double win at Thruxton, the talented Stockport teenager added another brace of victories with Elite Motorsport considerably further north at Croft. Haughton never really came under much threat. He topped qualifying by almost half a second over Will Orton, and absolutely walked away with things in Saturday’s opener to win by over 7s. It was quite close behind, albeit unusually processional by Ginetta standards, before a change happened for second place at half-distance when the unfortunate Orton headed to the pits for a new right-rear tyre. That promoted Mikey Doble to second ahead of Sam Smith, while pre-weekend leader Will Jenkins kept the entertainment up.…

BRITISH FORMULA 4 Race 1 (16 laps) 1 Aiden Neate; 2 Ugo Ugochukwu +0.488s; 3 Oliver Gray; 4 Louis Sharp; 5 Daniel Guinchard; 6 Eduardo Coseteng. Fastest lap Ugochukwu 1m17.758s (97.23mph). Pole Neate. Starters 16. Race 2 (16 laps) 1 Alex Dunne; 2 Joseph Loake +4.257s; 3 Gray; 4 Neate; 5 Noah Lisle; 6 Sharp. FL Dunne 1m17.465s (97.60mph). P Georgi Dimitrov. S 16. Race 3 (7 laps) 1 Gray (above); 2 Sharp +1.926s; 3 Dunne; 4 Oliver Stewart; 5 Dimitrov; 6 Coseteng. FL Gray 1m17.853s (97.11mph). P Neate. S 16. Points 1 Dunne 240; 2 Gray 189; 3 Ugochukwu 150; 4 Neate 137; 5 Sharp 130; 6 Guinchard 96. GINETTA GT5 CHALLENGE Race 1 (14 laps) 1 Harley Haughton; 2 Mikey Doble +7.334s; 3 Sam Smith; 4 Will Jenkins;…

KIRKISTOWN 500MRCI 25 JUNE David McCullough continued his winning streak at Kirkistown last weekend, back-to-back victories cementing his position at the top of the Northern Ireland Formula Ford Championship as the season moved into its second half. But, despite McCullough’s double, it was far from boring. In the first race, McCullough’s Van Diemen RF01 cruised away from the rest as expected, but Mondiale pair Alan Davidson and Brandon McCaughan provided plenty of excitement as they fought tooth and nail over second. It was a battle only resolved at the Hairpin on the final lap when McCaughan, who had spent the previous 13 tours trying to find a way past his rival, managed it with do or die inside move with only a couple of hundred yards to go to the…

BRANDS HATCH MAZDA MX-5 CHAMPIONSHIP Races 1, 2 & 3 Fraser Fenwick MAZDA MX-5 SUPERCUP Races 1 & 2 Colin Bysouth Race 3 Aidan Hills MAZDA MX-5 CLUBMAN Races 1 & 2 Chris Dawkins CLASSIC AND MODERN MOTORSPORT CLUB Race 1 Adrian Bradley (BMW E46 M3) Race 2 Alex Sidwell (Holden Commodore VF) FUN CUP ENDURANCE Stobart Sport (Colin Kingsnorth/Richard Webb) SUPERSPORT ENDURANCE Geoff Newman/Darren Burke (Caterham 310R, above) OULTON PARK MODIFIED FORDS Race 1 Dave Cockell (Escort Cosworth) Race 2 Piers Grange (Escort Mk2) FIESTA CHAMPIONSHIP Races 1 & 2 Jenson Brickley (ST240) 500cc F3 LEWIS EVANS TROPHY Alex Wilson (Cooper Mk10) TRACK ATTACK Race 1 Matthew Hollier (Renault Clio, below) Race 2 Rich Hockley (Honda Civic) Race 3 David Shead (BMW Compact) CLUBSPORT TROPHY Liam Crilly (BMW Z4…

The new owner of Lola is a lifelong motorsport fan born in the UK to German parents who moved to Gloucestershire shortly before his birth to establish a stud farm. The family is well known in the eventing world – sister Laura is an Olympic medal winner in dressage – but Till Bechtolsheimer raced karts as a child and briefly tried the off-road Minicross discipline before focusing on his business career. Bechtolsheimer, 40, is CEO of Arosa Capital Management, an investment company specialising in the alternative energy markets and increasingly involved in emerging transport and automotive technologies. He returned to motorsport with an Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT in 2011 and has also raced an Allard J2 and Chevron B8. He moved into the IMSA SportsCar Challenge in 2016 aboard…

FORMULA 1 Spanish capital city Madrid has expressed its interest in hosting a Formula 1 race in the future, believing it could “offer a great sporting and entertainment spectacle.” The Spanish Grand Prix has been staged since 1991 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on the outskirts of Barcelona, and has a contract in place with the promoters until 2026. But Enrique Lopez, a cabinet minister for the Community of Madrid, sent a letter to to F1 CEO and president Stefano Domenicali last week expressing the Spanish capital’s commitment to a grand prix project. “I believe that holding in Madrid a motor racing event, which is one of the most exciting sporting phenomena of our time, would be a success for all the professionals, institutions and companies involved in the development…

MOTOGP Suzuki rider Alex Rins will join LCR next season on a two-year deal signed directly with Honda. The three-time MotoGP race winner will take the place of Alex Marquez, with the 2019 Moto2 world champion moving to Gresini Ducati. Rins was put onto the 2023 rider market when Suzuki announced last month that it will quit MotoGP at the end of this year. He had been linked with several teams since then, including KTM (which signed Jack Miller instead), RNF Racing and Gresini. Rins was swayed by Honda and LCR because he will have factory machinery, which he said at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix was something he “deserved”. He will likely be joined at Honda by current Suzuki team-mate Joan Mir, who is set to partner Marc Marquez…

FORMULA E McLaren’s incoming Formula E squad will use Nissan powertrains throughout the entirety of the Gen3 rules cycle running from next season until 2026. The British operation had already agreed a deal to buy the Mercedes squad to join Formula E for the 2022-23 season, and its collaboration with Nissan means that the Japanese marque becomes a supplier to another team in FE for the first time. Nissan entered Formula E for the 2018-19 season, taking over from sister marque Renault in its partnership with the French e.dams team. Nissan bought e.dams earlier this year to ensure it had full control over its engineering and race teams. “Nissan have proven their knowledge, craft and commitment over the last four seasons in Formula E, and heading into the Gen3 era,…

It’s not just Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Lando Norris heading to a home Formula 1 race this weekend. The British Grand Prix is a local event for seven of the championship’s 10 teams – six of them are based within a short drive of the Northamptonshire track, with Aston Martin’s factory just across the Dadford Road. One of those six is Mercedes. With the German GP no longer on the F1 calendar and the team’s Brackley and Brixworth bases so close, Silverstone is very much home turf for the Silver Arrows in 2022. But despite the man himself being an eight-time winner of the British GP, the event is not the Hamiltonbury Festival. Walk around the former Royal Air Force airfield, and you’ll encounter a broad showing of support…

UK START TIMES Friday 1 July FP1 1300 FP2 1600 Saturday 2 July FP3 1200 QUALIFYING 1500 Sunday 3 July RACE 1500 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 CHANNEL 4 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS Drivers Constructors RACE STATS Previous Silverstone winners Silverstone points tallies Hamilton 277 Vettel 108 Bottas 107 Alonso 106 Verstappen 87 Ricciardo 79 Leclerc 60 Norris 24 Ocon 24 Sainz 20…

Dan Lloyd put himself through an emotional wringer of financial and physical pain for the best part of two weeks, and then everything came flooding out as he crossed the finish line at Croft last Sunday. He was a deserving, popular and hard-fighting British Touring Car Championship race winner for the first time in four years, and the tears flowed freely – and not just from him either. Then, a couple of hours later, he did it all over again, as if winning BTCC races was a habit. Two Sundays earlier, Lloyd had left Oulton Park bound for hospital following a 43G impact in a final-race smash with Colin Turkington. In Cheshire, he’d looked a genuine contender for the first time since joining the Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai squad for 2022.…

The 30th anniversary of Nigel Mansell’s title-winning campaign was a focal point of the 2022 event, and his reuniting with the Williams FW14B drew a rapturous reception. While Mansell was clearly moved by driving ‘Red 5’ for the first time since Adelaide 1992, he also relived his Il Leone days, getting reacquainted with two of his former Ferraris during the weekend. But it was the opportunity to drive Jim Clark’s Lotus 25 that Mansell really revelled in. “It’s been breathtaking… all my preconceived ideas of what the car would be like were blown away,” said the 68-year-old. “It was sensational, they should bring those cars back!” Ever a man keen to attribute his greatest drives to the support of fans, an emotional Mansell admitted driving his FW14B in front of…

Ford returned to the theme of the Supervan at Goodwood. The previous three iterations of race-bred Transit demonstrator built over the past 50 years were powered by V8s – a GT40 powerplant, a Cosworth DFL endurance unit and then an HB Formula 1 engine – yet the latest in the line doesn’t use a drop of petrol, and has at least three times the power of any of them! SuperVan 4 – note the big V this time – pushes out nearly 2000bhp from its four electric motors. That explains how Romain Dumas was able to post sixth fastest time in the Sunday shootout aboard a machine weighing in at two tonnes. The first Transit leviath-van since the Cosworth HB-engined design debuted in 1994 was conceived and built in the…

The disambiguation is over. The remarkable McMurtry Automotive Speirling ‘fan car’ is the fastest machine ever up the 1.1-mile hillclimb route to topple both the official and unofficial records. The history books had Nick Heidfeld down as the true record holder courtesy of his famous 41.6-second run in the McLaren MP4/13 in 1999. Then in 2019, Romain Dumas posted a 39.9s effort aboard the Volkswagen I.D. R. However, that halo time was set in the Saturday qualifying session and not in the true Sunday shootout. Cue caveats and confusion. Max Chilton has settled the debate, though. The ex-Formula 1 and IndyCar racer was welded to the road thanks to the McMurtry’s fan that produces 2000kg of downforce even when at a standstill. Any leftover air was then inhaled by the…

MOTOGP ASSEN (NLD) 26 JUNE ROUND 11/20 Just when the 2022 MotoGP world championship battle looked as if it was entering a predictable phase following dominant back-to-back wins for Fabio Quartararo, the Dutch Grand Prix at Assen threw a major curveball that showed the Yamaha rider is not infallible. The race looked like it would go to type: Francesco Bagnaia showed that Ducati’s one-lap speed remained impeccable when he stormed to pole, but likely top honours were going to be shared between Quartararo and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro. After second-fastest qualifier Quartararo made a mistake at Turn 1 off the line and dropped to fourth behind Espargaro and the Pramac Ducati of Jorge Martin, the 2022 leading men engaged in a brief tussle. Quartararo disposed of Martin at Turn 3 before…

BRITISH GT Former DTM and Formula E driver Joel Eriksson made his British GT debut last weekend at Snetterton. The Swede replaced Angus Fender at Century Motorsport aboard the team’s BMW M4 GT3, and partnered Betty Chen for the two one-hour races in Norfolk. Eriksson competed part-time with Dragon Penske Autosport in Formula E last season, taking a best result of 10th, and previously spent two years in the DTM with BMW, during which he achieved one win. The 24-year-old had already attended each round of British GT this season as a driver coach to Chen, who he previously raced with in Asian GTs, and will continue as her co-driver for the remaining three rounds following budget issues for Fender. The pairing qualified a best of 15th for the two…

HISTORICS Ex-European Formula 3 and DTM racer Harrison Newey, son of Red Bull technical guru Adrian, is due to make his historic racing debut at this week’s Le Mans Classic. Newey Jr tested his Pearson-prepared Jaguar D-type for the first time at Donington Park recently. And although he had some laps at the Le Mans 24 Hours practice as reserve driver for the Penske team, there will be no more testing before the Classic event. “I did about 15 laps in the morning at Donington, so that’s it, testing done, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and am now looking forward to my first race since DTM,” said Newey, who added of the D-type that “you can’t help thinking how much it’s worth when you’re driving it”. Aside from the DTM,…

BRITISH F4 British Formula 4 driver Joel Pearson was another to escape major injury last weekend after a heavy crash at Croft. The Chris Dittmann Racing driver was caught out when a car ahead braked slightly earlier than normal at Tower. Pearson reacted to avoid a collision, went off and instead had a hard impact with the barriers. The race was red-flagged and Pearson taken to the medical centre with a suspected broken finger. “I’m a bit battered and bruised from the impact, and I’ll be sore for a while, but I’m OK,” said Pearson. “I just need to work on my recovery before we head to Knockhill.” Team boss Dittmann added: “It was a racing incident; he had a good run on the back straight into Tower when the…

PRITCHARD’S PREPARATION British Rally Championship contenders Jason Pritchard and Phil Clarke used victory on Sunday’s Sweet Lamb Rally Time Trial in Wales as a warm-up to resuming their BRC campaign on the Nicky Grist Stages next weekend. It was Pritchard’s first time driving the VW Polo R5 on gravel and his first gravel rally since crashing out of the Roger Albert Clark Rally last November in his Ford Escort Mk2. BOSTON BACK IN MAZDA Multiple discipline champion and former Ginetta GT4 Supercup racer Rob Boston made a welcome return to the Mazda MX-5 Supercup grid at Brands Hatch last weekend. Boston, a champion in both Mk1 and Mk3-spec cars, took the place of George Grant, who was unable to race due to family commitments. In his first Mazda MX-5 event…

Hillspeed’s Max Marzorati emerged from the latest GB4 round at Snetterton as the surprise championship leader, after Alex Walker’s unexpected withdrawal prior to the event left him as the main title challenger to Nikolas Taylor. Fortec Motorsports driver Taylor secured a double pole and converted the first of those into his fifth triumph of the season in race one, but he was pushed hard by the improved Kevin Mills Racing duo of Tom Mills and Jarrod Waberski. Mills ran second throughout but was handed a 10s penalty at the chequered flag for an out-of-position start and was demoted to sixth, promoting his team-mate to runner-up spot and Elite Motorsport’s Jack Sherwood to a third podium in as many races. Waberski went one better in race two, taking his second win…

GINETTA JUNIOR Ginetta Junior title rivals Harri Reynolds, Josh Rowledge and Will Macintyre were clearly all desperate to win the Croft opener. Lap after lap, the lead changed as the trio battled ferociously at the front. Assetto driver Reynolds had the initial advantage after a move at Tower on the first lap, before R Racing’s Rowledge briefly retook the place on lap five. Next it was Macintyre’s (Elite Motorsport) turn to have a stint out front as they remained glued together. Inevitably, something had to give and on the final lap Rowledge was spun out through the complex, while Reynolds and Macintyre were delayed, meaning it was Sonny Smith who triumphed, having homed in on the squabbling leaders in the closing stages. Race two was a little calmer, with Macintyre…

MINI CHALLENGE TROPHY Nelson King has ruled the Mini Challenge Trophy waves so far this season and, although he took his 2022 tally to an incredible seven wins from eight races at Croft last weekend, he had to work hard for his latest successes. On the surface, it appears that the Graves Motorsport driver led the opener from start to finish, but that only tells part of the story. His teammate Nicky Taylor was right on King’s tail in the early stages and came close to grabbing the lead at Tower before a safety-car period was needed after Alfie Glenie went off at the Esses. It was during this caution period when King suffered an ABS failure and knew that holding on for the win would be tricky, admitting he…

BRANDS HATCH BRSCC 25-26 JUNE Fraser Fenwick strengthened his position at the top of the Mazda MX-5 Championship standings by recording a memorable treble victory at Brands Hatch last weekend, increasing his win tally in the series this year to eight. Fenwick was closely shadowed throughout by Steve Foden and Adam Sparrow in race one, but stayed cool under pressure and took a lights-to-flag win from pole. He produced a virtually identical performance to win the second contest, but Sparrow was able to snatch the runner-up spot after getting ahead of Foden at Paddock Hill Bend on lap seven of 21. A subsequent trip through the Paddock gravel dropped Foden even further down the order, but a fine recovery drive helped him salvage fourth behind Mike Comber by the finish.…

The frustration with some modern endurance racing is that it can be annoyingly predictable; which is why a race in 2002 was so remarkable, when the might of German automotive engineering was brought to its knees by a band of unlikely lads and a diminutive hand-built sportscar, whose lines were penned some 45 years previously. Anyone who has ever raced a lap of the Nordschleife will tell you there is no tougher test, prompting racer Chris Cooper to sit down with Caterham Cars MD Simon Nearn in the summer of 2001 and pitch an idea of a joint effort to combat some of the biggest names in production car racing for 24 hours around ‘the Green Hell’. It wasn’t Caterham’s first attempt at endurance glory. In 1992, its American dealer…

Rudolf Caracciola briefs Manfred von Brauchitsch after vacating the cockpit of his Mercedes-Benz W154 and handing over driving duties during the 1938 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Heat from an exhaust leak had been causing Caracciola so much pain that it was decided von Brauchitsch, whose Mercedes had been sidelined earlier with engine trouble, should have a crack at it, although his own discomfort resulted in them swapping back. The car, which had also survived a lap-two off by Caracciola, managed to finish in third place, albeit three laps adrift of the victorious Auto Union Type D of home hero Tazio Nuvolari. For classic motorsport DVDs head to dukevideo.com For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…