Indholdsfortegnelse for 9/29/2022 i Autosport

Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Lando Norris arrived in Formula 1 as star rookies within a year of each other, sporting brilliant junior records that had already marked them out as likely frontrunners. Oscar Piastri, with Formula Renault Eurocup, F3 and F2 titles scored in consecutive seasons, seems to be the next in line, but he’s already had a tumultuous time around the sport’s pinnacle. Unlike his predecessors, the Australian wasn’t able to jump straight into an F1 race seat after his stellar F2 campaign, and then there was the unsavoury tug of war for his services between Alpine and McLaren. Alex Kalinauckas explains why Piastri is so sought after on page 17, while Matt Kew hears from another champion who surely deserves an F1 berth following his impressive debut…

FORMULA 1 Yuki Tsunoda and Zhou Guanyu have both agreed one-year contract extensions with their respective AlphaTauri and Alfa Romeo teams to contest the 2023 Formula 1 season. Chinese rookie Zhou lies 17th in the points and stays put at Alfa following a decent campaign notable for a scarcity of mistakes, plus his huge first-corner Silverstone shunt. Alongside Valtteri Bottas (10th), he completes the squad’s line-up for next year although must bring down the 0.5% ‘supertimes’ deficit to his veteran Finnish team-mate. Team boss Fred Vasseur said: “He has had the humility to ask questions and learn, from the engineers as well as Valtteri, and the intelligence to apply all the information he got to improve race after race.” Meanwhile, a third term for Tsunoda does guarantee a degree of…

SPA 24 HOURS A tradition spanning more than 50 years will be broken next year when the Spa 24 Hours takes place at the beginning of July. The Belgian enduro has been shunted forward from its regular calendar slot on the last weekend of July to make way for the Belgian Grand Prix. The Spa classic, these days the double-points round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and one of the five dates on the Intercontinental GT Challenge schedule, has been a fixture at the end of July or the beginning of August since it was revived after an 11-year hiatus in 1964. Only in the COVID-ravaged 2020 season when it ran in October has the race not taken place on its normal slot at the end of…

INDY 500 Arrow McLaren SP is hoping to run two-time NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Busch in a one-off entry in next May’s Indianapolis 500. Busch’s move from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing for 2023 means a switch from Toyota to Chevrolet, which will help oil the wheels for a potential outing in IndyCar. Busch, whose brother Kurt finished sixth and earned Rookie of the Year honours at Indy in 2014, ensured that his new contract with RCR allowed him to make an extracurricular outing in the Memorial Day classic. “That’s in the deal, I made sure it was in the deal,” said the 37-year-old. “I can go run [Indy] if I want to run it. So, by all means, any IndyCar teams that are Chevrolet, call me up.”…

UK START TIMES Friday 30 September FP1 1100 FP2 1400 Saturday 1 October FP3 1100 QUALIFYING 1400 Sunday 2 October RACE 1300 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA HIGHLIGHTS CHANNEL 4 1830 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS Drivers Constructors RACE STATS Previous winners Marina Bay points tallies Vettel 195 Hamilton 138 Alonso 110 Ricciardo 79 Bottas 47 Verstappen 45 Perez 32 Leclerc 20 Sainz 18 Albon 8…

This year we’re mainly focused on the GT World Challenge Europe after a year and a half of driving on the Nurburgring Nordschleife in the NLS. The first year was cut short with COVID, and this year we did the ones prior to the 24-hour race. Everybody looking to compete in the Nurburgring 24 Hours will most likely do the NLS beforehand, just for practice and preparation for the big one. But of course, we had to focus even more on it because of the new BMW M4 GT3. My first experience of the car was October last year. We had a day testing each at BMW’s test track in France, and then the next time I got in the car was NLS1. So, we really didn’t get so much…

It’s not something you can just jump in and do, which I think you will find out shortly.” Those are the words “ relayed by Toyota World Rally Championship co-driver Aaron Johnston as Autosport dons a racesuit, grabs a pacenote book and prepares to jump into his seat to attempt one of motorsport’s toughest jobs: being a WRC co-driver. This is made abundantly clear six minutes and several dubious pacenote calls later as a stunned journalist clambers out of Takamoto Katsuta’s Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, following an eye-opening blast through one of Finland’s famously fast forest gravel roads. Calling pacenotes in a top-level WRC car is without question a skill that few in this world possess, and an art form that takes years of dedication to perfect. Ardent rally fan…

“It’s like it’s been scripted all year!” quipped Ash Sutton as the teams packed up to leave Silverstone after the penultimate round of the British Touring Car Championship. And, to be fair, he could apply that observation to ooh… pretty much every season he’s been in the BTCC. But this one looks particularly juicy as the climax on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit looms. Three-time and reigning champion Sutton leads Jake Hill by a mere five points and perennial nearly-man Tom Ingram by seven, while it looks as though it’s slipping away for four-time title winner Colin Turkington, 27 adrift after a heartbreaking weekend. Of this quartet, it was Hill who was the undoubted star at Silverstone, although even he had to play second fiddle for the majority of…

EUROPEAN LE MANS SERIES SPA (BEL) 25 SEPTEMBER ROUND 5/6 British trio Tom Gamble, Duncan Tappy and Phil Hanson captured United Autosports’ first victory of the European Le Mans Series season in the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps with a controlled performance. The Anglo-American squad had been winless since the Portimao season finale last October. But the team was in fine form at Spa, a track where it had previously won on three occasions. United’s ORECA qualified fourth but was up to third before the green flag even fell when second-placed IDEC Sport driver Paul Lafargue bizarrely spun twice on the formation lap. Tappy started the race for United and convincingly battled his way through a challenging opening stint, seizing second place on the opening lap. While he proved unable to…

EXTREME E ANTOFAGASTA (CHL) 24-25 SEPTEMBER ROUND 3/4 World Rally legend Sebastien Loeb and Cristina Gutierrez took their first Extreme E success of the season in Chile’s Copper X-Prix after McLaren duo Tanner Foust and Emma Gilmour were penalised. Loeb grabbed an early advantage for Lewis Hamilton’s X44 team before Foust took the lead with a sideways move on the nine-time WRC champion. Gutierrez snatched the lead back shortly after the driver changes using her hyperdrive boost on lap three of four, only for Gilmour to respond. After running side by side, she made a move stick down the inside to secure victory. But two penalties for clipping waypoint flags robbed McLaren of its first Extreme E win. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle LeDuc and Sara Price, who only made the…

MOTOGP MOTEGI (JPN) 25 SEPTEMBER ROUND 16/20 While Jack Miller may not have realised that he had his dominant MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix performance “in me”, bosses at KTM will have looked on in smug glee as they watched their 2023 factory line-up score a 1-2 at Motegi. MotoGP’s first visit to Japan since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out was an unpredictable affair. Logistical issues in getting the paddock from Motorland Aragon in Spain to Japan in just a few days meant Friday practice was reduced to just one 75-minute session, which would turn out to be the only dry running prior to Sunday. Heavy rain cancelled FP3 on Saturday and threatened qualifying as typhoon warnings wrung out around the region. Qualifying seventh meant Miller was under the radar, but…

BRITISH GT DATE CHANGES Slight tweaks have been made to the 2023 British GT calendar following the Belgian Grand Prix’s move to July and the subsequent shuffling of international racing schedules. The venues and order of the events remain the same but the June Snetterton round has moved one week earlier and the July Algarve and October Donington Park finale meetings have both been pushed back by a week. MORRISON’S MIDGET WINS Six days after clinching his second Cockshoot Cup title at Croft, David Morrison made a successful return to the Midget & Sprite Challenge at Snetterton last weekend in his much more modified MG Midget. The car was heavily damaged in a startline accident at Mallory Park last year, requiring an extensive rebuild. It showed strong pace before retiring…

METRO CUP Two-time champion Jack Ashton made a one-off return to the MG Metro Cup last weekend as the championship celebrated its 30th anniversary at Snetterton. Ashton took the title in 2018 and 2019 before switching to the MG Cup and then 750 Motor Club’s Hot Hatch series, but had not raced this year after moving house. Ahead of a planned return to Hot Hatch, he was competing as a guest entry in an ex-Lee Connell car, which is now for sale. Ashton qualified fastest and, although hit by a thermostat issue in the second, he led most of each race before slowing to honour a gentleman’s agreement not to take outright victory. “I was eager to get back but we were like, ‘Leave it until next year,’” he said,…

The majority of cases that go before UK motorsport’s National Court are, in the grand scheme of things, quite insignificant. They may seem critically important to those involved, but the eligibility appeals and anger at what is perceived as an unfairly harsh or overly lenient penalty can often be pretty trivial. But there was nothing trivial about case J2022/11 that was heard last month. A senior clerk of the course receiving a 10-year ban for “utterly unacceptable” behaviour towards a female marshal is very serious. While other sports have been embroiled in scandal following the abusive/racist/generally unacceptable actions of key figures, it is depressing to hear that British motorsport is far from immune from such inexcusable indiscretions. While regular TCR UK clerk Derek Stanley was not accused of any physical…

GINETTA JUNIOR A track-limits penalty was all that prevented Josh Rowledge from snatching the Ginetta Junior title with an event to spare after an otherwise impressive weekend. Despite only qualifying seventh, Rowledge was third after two laps of the opener – aided by chief rival Will Macintyre tagging polesitter Sonny Smith at Becketts and also delaying Harri Reynolds. A tour later, Rowledge snuck into the lead when Liam McNeilly’s attempts to pass Kanato Le proved unsuccessful. But it was not straightforward from there, Rowledge having to resist constant pressure from Le. It was a similar story in race two. As those around him made mistakes, fifth-place starter Rowledge kept his cool to thread his way to the front by lap three of 16 and again stayed there. With polesitter Rowledge…

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP GB In line with the other British Touring Car support categories, the Porsche Carrera Cup GB title fight has not quite been settled but Kiern Jewiss took a giant step towards taking the honours after a double Silverstone win. Considering the fine margins that have separated the Porsche protagonists for much of the year, and that Jewiss was recovering from a tricky time at Thruxton last time out that resulted in just a pair of fifth-place finishes, it is somewhat remarkable that the Team Parker racer now enjoys a 22-point lead with 26 still available. Key to Jewiss’s commanding position was qualifying on pole in Northamptonshire and then converting that to an early lead. Jewiss himself admits “it’s no secret my starts haven’t been so great this…

CASTLE COMBE CCRC AUTUMN CLASSIC 24 SEPTEMBER The Goodwood Revival’s first race winner in 1998, driving ERA R5B ‘Remus’, urbane and versatile Ludovic Lindsay piloted his immaculate ex-Stuart Graham Faberge Brut 33 Ford Capri to victory in Automobiles Historiques’ inaugural Group 1 Touring Car race, highlight of Saturday’s gloriously sunny Castle Combe Autumn Classic. Named for local hero Vince Woodman, the Bristolian Ford dealer who won 27 races at Combe between 1965 and 2008, the 45-minute series intro attracted the joint smallest entry, yet provided the closest fight. Fittingly, once Jack Moody’s Rover V8 fell from the scrap, four yowling Capri V6s – like those in which Woodman won British Saloon Car rounds from 1976-82 – disputed the lead. Circulating together, John Spiers (Hermetite), Lindsay and Neil Merry (Gordon Spice…

Jordan Dempsey clinched the National Formula Ford title at the season finale at Donington Park, but it proved more of a challenge than he had hoped. It should have been a formality for the 2019 Walter Hayes Trophy winner, who arrived at the decider with a 79-point advantage in his Kevin Mills Racing Spectrum over Ammonite Motorsport Ray pilot Colin Queen. Dempsey set the fastest time in qualifying, but a collision with his returning team-mate Michael Eastwell, who spun in front of him on a gravel-littered circuit in the final moments of the session, resulted in a big repair job for the team before the opening contest. Things got worse for Dempsey as soon as the race started. He went off from the lead at Old Hairpin, and he then…

SANTA POD BRITISH DRAG RACING 24-25 SEPTEMBER The STP National Finals became the Andy & Bobby show – Andy Robinson carried off 2022’s Motorsport UK British Drag Racing Championship while Bobby Wallace scored his maiden race victory. Robinson has raced Pro Modifieds for longer than Wallace has lived, having arrived on the scene when Pro Mod first materialised in the late 1980s. In the 16 years since the British series adopted Pro Mod as its designated class, Robinson has worn the championship crown eight times. As a measure of his ascendancy, twice-champion Kevin Slyfield is the only other competitor to have donned it more than once. Robinson opened his National Finals account with a blistering 5.903s/245.15mph qualifier, which secured top speed of the event and promised to snare low elapsed…

FORMULA 1 A record-breaking 24-race calendar for the 2023 Formula 1 season has been approved by the FIA, while a new contract for the Monaco Grand Prix will keep the so-called ‘jewel in the crown’ on the schedule until at least 2025. This mammoth campaign will again commence in Bahrain (5 March) and wrap up in Abu Dhabi (26 November), while the revival of the Las Vegas GP will run as the penultimate round on 18 November. There’s good news for classic venues, too. Following months of uncertainty about the future of the event, amid differences over the race hosting fee, TV rights, trackside sponsorship and infrastructure, a deal has finally been put together for Monaco to remain for another three years. The new contract is likely to be on…

IMSA SPORTSCAR Alexander Sims will move across from the Chevrolet GT squad to drive full-time for General Motors sister brand Cadillac in the IMSA SportsCar Championship next year. The Formula E race winner, who called time on his career in the FIA’s electric-vehicle series at the end of the 2021-22 season, will drive for the Action Express Racing squad. A place for Sims in the solo Action Express Cadillac V-LMDh was announced when the marque took the wraps off its 2023 IMSA line-up last week. The 34-year-old Brit will share with Action Express regular Pipo Derani, while Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande will remain together in the lone car fielded in the IMSA GTP class by Chip Ganassi Racing. Sims is moving back to a series he contested…

FORMULA 3 Williams Formula 1 protege and 2021 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Zak O’Sullivan appears to be closing in on a switch of single-seater powerhouses from Carlin to Prema Racing for his second season in the FIA Formula 3 Championship next year. The 17-year-old (above) joined Prema for last week’s three-day post-season test at Jerez, where he ran alongside two of the Italian squad’s Formula Regional European by Alpine stars: Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic, who leads the FRegional standings, and Mercedes-backed Paul Aron. It is usual for anyone undertaking a full three-day test with one team in FIA F2 or F3 to be extremely close to a deal, and O’Sullivan staked his claim by topping the Prema trio and setting the sixth fastest time overall.…

Ferrari has almost nothing left to fight for over the remainder of the 2022 Formula 1 season. After wins for Charles Leclerc in Bahrain and Australia that offered so much promise, genuine shots at the drivers’ and constructors’ championship crowns have been snuffed out through engine unreliability, crashes, poor pitstops, silly strategy, and Red Bull’s potency. Now that Imola and Monza have come and gone, there’s not even the consolation prize of a home victory. What’s more, prior to the summer break, team principal Mattia Binotto reckoned there was “no reason” why his squad couldn’t win all the remaining races. Now, it seems fair to ask whether a Ferrari driver will take to the top step of the podium again with six rounds to go as Max Verstappen chases his…

The price isn’t right The surge in interest in Formula 1 is doubtless a huge benefit for grand prix organisers – record crowds and tickets selling out months in advance. However, if next year’s grand prix at Silverstone is anything to go by, the benefits for longstanding spectators are less obvious. Tickets for the 2023 race went on sale on 15 September and the website promptly crashed. It was restored the next day but by the time I was able to get onto the website the following day after spending hours in a ‘waiting room’ some stands had sold out and an escalation in the original ticket prices had already set in. My tickets in Village A, which cost £270 each for the 2022 race, cost me £419 for 2023…

LAURENT ROSSI ALPINE CEO As the boss of Alpine, what is your version of events with Oscar Piastri? A lot has been said and written, but I don’t think the full picture and the Alpine perspective was ever described properly. We signed Piastri as a reserve driver, we would train him extensively. Then we will find him a seat for 2023 and 2024. We did just that. We delivered it. We devised a 5000km driving programme for him this year, which is almost unheard of. Talk about the commitment: I’m sorry, it’s a lot. Most importantly, we were to find him a drive. Two months after the season started, we found him a seat at Williams for two years. It was almost created for him, around him. It’s very disappointing.…

The rise of FIA Formula E and other electric genres has brought world-class car racing to city streets globally. Conversely, closed-circuit racing in the outskirts of capitals is a fading commodity. Crystal Palace, which hosted its final meeting 50 years ago this month, offered just that and a tourist attraction for the Greater London Council. Seven miles from London’s Palace of Westminster (aka the Houses of Parliament), situated in parkland on a high point to the south-east of the conurbation boasting panoramic views, the much-missed venue first reverberated to the beat of motorcycle engines in 1927. Ten years later Siam’s Prince Bira (ERA R2B ‘Romulus’) won the London Grand Prix on a metalled two-mile circuit. Alas, Sir Joseph Paxton’s extraordinary prefabricated iron-framed glass pavilion for which it was named –…

This was supposed to be the year when Rory Butcher was properly part of a BTCC title fight rather than clinging to the fringes of it. It was, after all, the first time he has started a season remaining with the same team and car. But it’s not quite worked out for him. Incredibly, barring the season opener at Donington, he’s scored points in every single race, but not until last Sunday at Silverstone did a win come along for the Scot and his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport. To be fair, this has been the least advantageous season for Butcher’s belated stability, thanks to the introduction of hybrid and the extra weight that entails, along with the switch of TOCA customer engines from previous supplier Swindon to the…

eTOURING CAR WORLD CUP SACHSENRING (DEU) 24-25 SEPTEMBER ROUND 6/6 The Cupra EKS garage was certainly the place to be if you fancied a celebration at the Sachsenring last Sunday evening. While Tom Blomqvist had edged team-mate Adrien Tambay for King of the Weekend honours, the Frenchman had wrapped up the championship (aka King of the Season) in this first edition of the FIA eTouring Car World Cup. And team boss Mattias Ekstrom was smiling too, thanks to his squad’s victory in the manufacturers’ standings. With Tambay and Ekstrom heading the drivers’ standings coming into the weekend, there had been little doubt that this was the team that would be raising a glass come Sunday night. But which driver would emerge on top wasn’t so clear. Tambay had the edge,…

MOTORSPORT UK A senior clerk of the course has been banned for 10 years by the UK’s National Court over his “utterly unacceptable” behaviour towards female officials. Derek Stanley has officiated for a variety of different clubs in the past, but has most recently been associated with Club Time Attack and has acted as clerk of the course for the TCR UK championship this year. A disciplinary hearing was held last month into Stanley’s conduct after he allegedly sent a private WhatsApp message to a female marshal who had earlier inquired about the discipline of drifting to a Drift Pro Championship WhatsApp group Stanley was part of. The court panel was told that the video he sent the marshal in response was not about drifting but was instead an upskirting…

BRITISH F4 British Formula 4 points leader Alex Dunne has completed a scouting camp with Ferrari, one of four drivers to have been selected for the latest assessments. Dunne has not only been all-but crowned British champion this year, he has also impressed in Italian F4, sitting third in the standings. Taking part in the camp alongside Dunne was fellow Italian F4 racer Brando Badoer – the son of former Ferrari F1 driver and tester Luca – as well as karters Sebastiano Pavan and James Egozi. The best performing driver will then be invited to Ferrari’s scouting world finals and could earn a place on its driver academy next year. “To be recognised by Ferrari is a great opportunity,” said Dunne. “I think it went pretty well – there were…

NATIONAL FORMULA FORD The three National Formula Ford drivers who will take part in a shootout to win £20,000 towards their budget for a GB4 campaign next season have been confirmed. It was announced at the start of this year that the top three teenagers in the FF1600 standings would get the chance to compete for the prize money put up by GB4 organiser MotorSport Vision as part of an initiative to create a more affordable ladder of progression for drivers in junior single-seaters. A number of leading FF1600 teams have also raced in the first season of GB4. Following the National FF1600 season finale at Donington Park last weekend, race winners Colin Queen and Lucas Romanek (who was also victorious on a one-off GB4 outing at Silverstone) were confirmed…

BRITISH F4 There was a distinct end-of-term feel to British Formula 4’s penultimate event of the year at Silverstone. Driving standards were shocking and there was repeated contact between key protagonists Alex Dunne and Oliver Gray, which left Dunne not quite able to land title glory. The drama began on the very first lap of the opener, when Dunne challenged Carlin’s polesitter Gray into Brooklands. With Gray unwilling to relent, there was contact at Luffield that damaged Gray’s front wing and left Dunne spinning to the rear of the field. That incident then set the tone for a hot-tempered weekend. While Gray clung on to win from team-mate Louis Sharp – managing two safety car restarts, the first after a hit from Aiden Neate sent Ugo Ugochukwu spinning on the…

GINETTA GT4 SUPERCUP It was a record-breaking weekend for James Kellett in the Ginetta GT4 Supercup but he is yet to be confirmed as the category’s final ever champion. Four races, including one rearranged from Thruxton, presented Kellett with the opportunity to seal the title early. However, those plans were instantly derailed in the opener when a sheared bolt connected to his differential left him stranded on the grid. The field just avoided him but, with Tom Emson winning, it meant the title was out of reach for now. “Something was going to happen at some point,” said Century driver Kellett in reference to his previously unblemished reliability record. But he bounced back in the ‘Thruxton race’, storming from fourth to first on the opening lap – featuring an exceptional…

There was a welcome returnee to the Porsche Carrera Cup GB field at Silverstone in the form of Jack Bartholomew. Last year’s Porsche Sprint Challenge GB runner-up had been forced to miss the Knockhill, Snetterton and Thruxton rounds after a serious accident when he was cycling near Eastbourne just over nine weeks ago. The Richardson Racing driver was left with multiple injuries – including six broken ribs, a broken collarbone and punctured lung – after he was hit by a van while riding on the A259 as part of his training. Given the extent of his injuries, it was remarkable to see Bartholomew, a Lamborghini Super Trofeo Middle East champion, back in action in Northamptonshire, his seat having been taken by Josh Malin for the previous three events. “It was…

DONINGTON PARK BRSCC 24-25 SEPTEMBER Two impressive clean sweeps during the penultimate round of the season at Donington Park have set up a thrilling climax for the British Racing & Sports Car Club’s Mazda MX-5 and MX-5 Supercup championships. The Supercup delivered the closest action, with Colin Bysouth triumphing in all three races to move within a handful of points of Will Blackwell-Chambers. It was a feat that hadn’t looked likely after he qualified down in ninth for the opening contest, especially with Blackwell-Chambers taking pole. Richard Amos diced with Blackwell-Chambers for the lead early on before a safety-car intervention. Patrick Fletcher moved ahead at the restart, while Blackwell-Chambers went off at Fogarty in his squabble with Amos and eventually finished fourth. Bysouth profited to move into third before passing…

KIRKISTOWN 500MRCI MARTIN DONNELLY TROPHY 24 SEPTEMBER David McCullough became the first four-time winner of the Martin Donnelly Trophy at Kirkistown last weekend. But, if that statement implies an easy run into the Formula Ford record books, it couldn’t be more wrong. Both David and brother Ivor arrived at Kirkistown with three previous ‘Donnelly’ victories and with firm ambitions to add to their total. But qualifying told a different story with the Van Diemen of Noel Robinson – another former winner – on pole and Dave Parks’s Ray alongside, while Ian Campbell (Ray) and Alan Davidson (Mondiale) were on row two. You had to go back to sixth to find David’s RF01, with Ivor’s identical car behind in eighth. It looked like they were in for a tough day. However,…

LOTON PARK BRITISH HILLCLIMB 24-25 SEPTEMBER Wallace Menzies stormed to his third British Hillclimb Championship title on the trot during a dramatic season finale at Loton Park last weekend. Menzies held a slight advantage over Alex Summers heading into the final two run-offs of a brilliant season. Summers knew that he had to beat the reigning champion in both run-offs, preferably with someone else in between them, to have a chance of stealing the title at the last gasp. Menzies had been quick from the start of practice, while Summers built his pace ready for Sunday’s first showdown. Sure enough, Summers attacked the Shropshire course in superb style, knowing that the bonus point for beating the hill record would help his case greatly. He was up on the splits but…

TRACKROD RALLY BRC 23-24 SEPTEMBER Watching Osian Pryce walk through the Trackrod Rally Yorkshire service park on Friday afternoon, you’d never have thought he was just 24 hours away from his maiden British Rally Championship title. Relaxed, humble and mightily chilled, Pryce was taking it all in his stride considering just six stages in the high-speed Yorkshire forests could separate him from the much-desired crown. Standing in his way was four-time British champion Keith Cronin, who was just as hungry for a fifth title and returned to the BRC this season in a bid to equal the legendary Jimmy McRae. But a win for Pryce in Yorkshire would leave Motorsport UK etching a brand-new name on the trophy before the Cambrian curtain-closer and, after finishing as BRC runner-up three times,…

FORMULA 1 Williams will part ways with Nicholas Latifi after the current Formula 1 season in an expected move that arrives hot on the heels of Nyck de Vries’s starring cameo for the team in this month’s Italian Grand Prix. Latifi joined Williams in 2020 on a three-year contract, during which time the team’s founding family sold up to investment firm Dorilton Capital. He has struggled to match team-mates George Russell and Alex Albon and, as Williams seeks to climb the constructors’ table, Latifi’s financial banking now carries reduced significance. The Canadian has so far scored points twice, in the consecutive 2021 Hungarian and Belgian GPs. “Although we have not achieved the results together we hoped we would, it’s still been a fantastic journey,” said Latifi, who is unlikely to…

IMSA SPORTSCAR Nick Yelloly has landed a full-time seat with BMW’s LMDh squad in the IMSA SportsCar Championship next year. The 31-year-old Briton was announced last week alongside Augusto Farfus, Philipp Eng and Connor De Phillippi in what was described as the “core line-up” for the two Rahal-run factory BMW M Hybrid V8s in 2023. Yelloly (inset picture), a BMW factory driver since 2019 whose main 2022 programme is in the GT World Challenge Europe with Rowe Racing, has been picked for the LMDh squad after contesting the Daytona and Sebring enduros in one of the BMW M4 GT3s run by Rahal this year. “After my first outings at Daytona and Sebring, it is fantastic to now contest the full season in North America – and in this awesome car,”…

BTCC Top British Touring Car Championship squad Motorbase Performance is eyeing a switch from its current Ford Focus ST to a new rear-wheel-drive machine for 2023. Three-time champion Ash Sutton leads the 2022 standings going into the final round in his first season with Motorbase’s fourth-generation ST, which made its debut in 2020, but he and NAPA Racing teammate Dan Cammish have a combined total of just four wins across the season to the nine of the rear-driven BMW 330e M Sport. Sources suggest that the prospect of an Audi model has already been submitted by Motorbase in a BTCC teams’ meeting. “We’re looking at all sorts to be fair,” said Motorbase principal Pete Osborne. “We don’t know whether to stick with front-wheel or go to rear-wheel drive. Certainly rear-wheel…

FIA TURNS DOWN HERTA The FIA has confirmed that it rejected a request from Red Bull for IndyCar star Colton Herta to be granted an exemption from the Formula 1 superlicence qualification rules. Herta was linked with an AlphaTauri seat for 2023, but the American has acquired just 32 of the 40 points necessary to qualify for the licence. Red Bull had already said that it had given up on pursuing the case. MOTORLAND’S ELMS DATE Motorland Aragon will join the European Le Mans Series schedule for the first time next year. The Spanish circuit replaces Monza on the six-race calendar with a night race on 26 August. The series will kick off at Barcelona on 23 April. MOTOGP FOR KAZAKHSTAN Kazakhstan is to join the MotoGP calendar for the…

If there was a round of an admittedly niche motorsport-themed Family Fortunes centred on racing heroes with disabilities, the first name on most people’s lips would likely be the late Formula 1 team boss Frank Williams. Not far behind would be Williams’s former driver Alex Zanardi, who enjoyed a race-winning spell in the World Touring Car Championship with BMW. That the pinnacle of Jason Watt’s achievement came in the Danish Touring Car Championship would perhaps make him a less lucrative points accumulator in our made-up TV show, but the scale of his achievement is worthy of note. Twenty years ago today (Thursday), Watt wrapped up the 2002 DTC title at the Jyllands-Ring to become, as Autosport put it, “the first paraplegic driver to win a major national series” by denying…

There were only two blots when Nyck de Vries made his Formula 1 debut as a super-sub in this month’s Italian Grand Prix. He left the Williams in the wrong brake-bias tune in Q2 to induce a spike of oversteer when he stamped on the anchors approaching the second chicane. Then, under the controversial race-ending safety car, he “erratically” and suddenly slowed. But, owing to his green status, his efforts to manage a cooked front brake disc and his unfamiliarity with the dash readout, the stewards let him off with a reprimand. As a result, de Vries could gingerly free his aching shoulders from the cockpit of the FW44 with those two points for ninth place intact and his F1 stock soaring. It was just about the best real-world audition…

DTM RED BULL RING (AUT) 24-25 SEPTEMBER ROUND 7/8 Nick Cassidy and Thomas Preining scored a DTM race win apiece in very different weather conditions at the Red Bull Ring, as championship leader Sheldon van der Linde came away with nothing from the penultimate round of the season. The Austrian double-header began with a measured drive from pole position for Red Bull Ferrari driver Cassidy, who followed up his maiden victory at Spa a fortnight earlier with a second triumph on the bounce. While title contenders Rene Rast (Audi) and Mirko Bortolotti (Lamborghini) engaged in a lengthy battle for second position, Cassidy could cruise away at the front of the field without taking too much life out of his AF Corse-run Ferrari’s tyres. The Kiwi pitted a lap after Rast…

EXTREME E ANTOFAGASTA (CHL) Sebastien Loeb/Cristina Gutierrez X44 NASCAR CUP TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY (USA) Tyler Reddick (below) Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet Camaro) ADAC GT MASTERS SACHSENRING (DEU) Race 1 Jules Gounon/Fabian Schiller Team ZVO (Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo) Race 2 Marvin Dienst/Jan Marschalkowski Team ZVO (Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo) SUPER FORMULA LIGHTS OKAYAMA (JPN) Race 1 & 3 Kakunoshin Ohta Toda Racing (Dallara-Spiess) Race 2 Kazuto Kotaka TOM’S (Dallara-Toyota) V8 STOCK CARS SANTA CRUZ (BRA) Race 1 Ricardo Mauricio Eurofarma RC (Chevrolet Cruze) Race 2 Rubens Barrichello Full Time Sports (Toyota Corolla) POWERED BY For full results visit motorsportstats.com…

GINETTA Ginetta has announced a major overhaul of its championships, including Ginetta Junior departing the British Touring Car support bill to instead appear alongside British GT and the GT4 Supercup being scrapped. The Junior series has been a popular feature of BTCC meetings since 2008, with the GT4 Supercup’s G50 Cup predecessor joining it the following year. But the manufacturer has now decided to end its relationship with BTCC organiser TOCA and only appear at British GT fixtures. It will now field three grids at those events: Ginetta Junior, the entry-level GT Academy – which has enjoyed a surge in popularity for its second season this year – and a new Ginetta GT Championship, featuring a class for a new car that is an intermediate step between the G56 Academy…

BIKESPORTS North Motorsport boss Sam North says he is confident that his squad has fixed the fuel surge problems that blighted Simon Walker-Hansell at Anglesey ahead of this weekend’s Bikesports Snetterton title-decider. Walker-Hansell qualified on pole in Wales but slumped to sixth and ninth places in the races. Chief rival and reigning champion Leon Morrell took a second and a win to draw level with his fellow Radical SR3 pilot on dropped scores. North said: “We did a day’s testing at Snetterton with Simon’s car and it ran faultlessly – the problems we had at Anglesey certainly look to be solved.” Meanwhile, Jack Dwane has sourced an alternative Clio 182, after his old car was written off last time out at Brands Hatch, as he battles to defend his Clio…

FORD GT40s FLOCK TO SPA Oliver Bryant and James Cottingham defend their Spa Six Hours title on Saturday as 18 other Ford GT40 crews try to dethrone them. Among their rivals are Gary Pearson/Alex Brundle, Andy Willis/Rob Hall and Tony Wood/Will Nuthall, Shaun and Max Lynn with Andrew Haddon, plus Sam Hancock in Nikolaus Ditting’s machine. But the strongest teams may be Germany’s Frank Stippler, who joins compatriot Marcus Graf von Oeynhausen and local Vincent Kolb, and Dutchmen David and Olivier Hart with Nicky Pastorelli. MORLEY’S MIXED WEEKEND While Liam Morley claimed a 10th Superkart Grand Prix victory at Donington Park last weekend, he was denied the chance of winning the British championship earlier in the day when a hose clip broke and he lost all the water from his…

MINI CHALLENGE Sam Weller is looking in good shape for the Mini Challenge title with a round to go after co-dominating the penultimate round at Silverstone with Irish rookie Alex Denning. Hybrid Tune ace Weller led the early going in the opener before spectacular former Mondello Park Ford Fiesta hotshoe Denning got in front on the third lap. Weller fought back and reclaimed the advantage, but his move did not gain official approval and he was penalised down to second, giving Graves Motorsport’s Denning victory. This duo’s battle brought Jason Lockwood and Ronan Pearson into contention in a tight quartet, with Lockwood pulling off a fine outside pass at Becketts to claim third. A brilliant run out of Copse after the start gave Denning the lead in race two, and…

SNETTERTON MGCC 24 SEPTEMBER On a dramatic day of championship finales at Snetterton, three titles went to the wire, decided by the narrowest of margins. The MG Trophy featured drama aplenty. At the head of the field, Jason Burgess took wins six and seven of 2022, under intense pressure from Adam Jackson, who punctured after running wide in the opener. Behind the two MG ZR 190s, the ZR 170s enthralled as Joe Dalgarno and Josh Bromley battled for supremacy. Bromley squeezed inside Dalgarno and Patrick Booth in one move at the Agostini hairpin on race one’s penultimate lap, winning by just 0.16 seconds. The rematch, amid spots of rain, was even closer. Recovering from a spin at Brundle, Dalgarno overcame a 5s deficit to twice trade places with Bromley on…

MAZDA MX-5 SUPERCUP Races 1, 2 & 3 Colin Bysouth MAZDA MX-5 CHAMPIONSHIP Races 1, 2 & 3 Steve Foden FUN CUP ENDURANCE Team Viking (Mark Holme/Teddy Wilson) ZEO PROTOTYPES Races 1 & 2 Mike Jenvey (Jenvey Gunn TS6) BRITISH SUPERKART GP Liam Morley (Anderson CSK, below) NATIONAL FORMULA FORD Race 1 Niall Murray (Van Dieman BD22) Race 2 Colin Queen (Ray GR18) Race 3 Andre Lafond (Ray GR15) NORTHERN/SUPER CLASSIC FORMULA FORD Races 1 & 2 Callum Grant (Van Diemen RF91) MAZDA MX-5 CLUBMAN Race 1 Jon Pethick Race 2 Chris Dawkins CLUBSPORT TROPHY David May/Mark Skeats (Ginetta G55) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

DOCUSERIES CHASING THE DREAM: SERIES 4 YouTube Chasing the Dream, the little sister of Drive to Survive, has returned for a fourth series, covering the drama of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 season. It’s an honest depiction of the drivers and their relationships – no overegging the drama, just an insightful portrait of these young men and their hopes and struggles while trying to reach Formula 1. Unlike Netflix’s F1 equivalent, this series on the F1 YouTube channel covers the season chronologically, with each episode viewing events from a different driver’s perspective. The series sometimes feels rushed, with each episode lasting less than 15 minutes, but it does a good job of telling the stories that matter. The first episode, Back to School, introduces the main characters for the season,…

Fans at the 1986 Sanremo Rally get the full Group B sensory-overload experience, with its very real risk of mortal peril, thanks to their proximity to Bruno Saby’s Peugeot 205 in full flight – behaviour that’s all the more eyebrow-raising given events seven months earlier in Portugal when three spectators were killed and more than 30 seriously injured. The northern Italian rally is now remembered for the exclusion of the Peugeot team in a dispute over its cars’ underbody fins. The French manufacturer later won its appeal and, because it had been erroneously barred from completing the rally, all results were scrubbed. For classic rallying downloads and DVDs head to dukevideo.com/rally For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

Louis Deletraz is racing at Road Atlanta for the first time this weekend in the Petit Le Mans IMSA SportsCar Championship finale. But the undulating 2.54-mile track in Georgia is already his favourite circuit after a single test at the place. That’s despite ending up in a car park after getting it wrong at the last corner on his first lap! “The track is very narrow with no margin for error, and there are lots of blind corners,” says Deletraz, who is trying to help John Farano win the LMP2 title in the 10-hour race on Saturday aboard the Tower Motorsport ORECA-Gibson 07 they share with Rui Andrade. “It’s all about commitment. “Atlanta is a place where there is no discussion about track limits: you have the track, the white…