Indholdsfortegnelse for 10/6/2022 i Autosport

Many felt that Sergio Perez’s victory in last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix was his best drive in Formula 1, and it’s hard to disagree. Yes, his 2020 Sakhir GP success was remarkable after he fell to the back early on, but he also required the misfortune of others. This time he was ahead of all the big names throughout. Alex Kalinauckas outlines how Perez defeated Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in our report (page 18), and also argues on p14 that the Mexican is one of a number of drivers who needs a good finish to 2022 after weak moments earlier in the year. Max Verstappen could clinch the crown this weekend in Japan. Red Bull is miles ahead in the constructors’ contest and, if Perez can maintain his current form, could…

FORMULA E Formula E finally looks set to break into Japan after signing a memorandum of understanding with capital city Tokyo to host a race in 2024. Japan has long been on Formula E’s hit list owing to its colossal automotive sector, while Tokyo has been exploring efforts to increase the popularity of electric mobility in the city, particularly with its ‘Zero Emission Tokyo’ initiative. After discussions, Formula E CEO Jamie Reigle signed the agreement with Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike to set out a stall for a race in the spring of 2024. This would be held on a course in the area surrounding the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition complex. “I am excited and honoured to stand alongside Governor Koike and announce the collaborative partnership between Tokyo Metropolitan Government and…

SPORTSCARS Maxime Martin is leaving Aston Martin after five seasons and is off to pastures new for 2023. The departure of the Belgian, Le Mans 24 Hours GTE Pro class winner with the British marque in 2020, was announced by Aston Martin Racing ahead of Petit Le Mans last weekend, where he helped his employer to its first IMSA SportsCar Championship titles. Martin followed up on the statement from AMR with a post on his Instagram account. “For me it’s time to move on, aiming for the start of a new and exciting chapter in my career,” he said. “After an incredible five-year journey, it’s time to say goodbye to the AMR family. “With AMR I achieved one of the greatest results of my entire career: winning the 2020 Le…

NASCAR CUP Chase Elliott rebounded in a big way in his bid for a second NASCAR Cup Series title with an important playoff win last Sunday at the Talladega superspeedway, following a rough race at Texas Motor Speedway. Elliott had kicked off the second round of the playoffs by wrecking out of the Texas race with a 32nd place. But at Talladega, he used a big push from Erik Jones on the final of 188 laps to charge for the lead. Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro edged the Team Penske Ford of Ryan Blaney by 0.046 seconds to pick up his series-leading fifth victory of the 2022 season. The victory was a timely one as Elliott became the first playoff driver to win a playoff race this season and gain…

UK START TIMES Friday 7 October FP1 0400 FP2 0700 Saturday 8 October FP3 0400 QUALIFYING 0700  Sunday 9 October RACE 0600 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 BBC RADIO 5 LIVE HIGHLIGHTS CHANNEL 4 1230 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS Drivers Constructors RACE STATS Previous winners Suzuka points tallies Vettel 168 Hamilton 167 Bottas 74 Alonso 65 Verstappen 53 Ricciardo 48 Perez 27 Albon 12 Sainz 12 Ocon 10…

“F***! I f***ed up!” There was quite the swearing flurry from 2022 Formula 1 title protagonists Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen at the end of Singapore qualifying. The damp-but-drying session was tense enough to put the drivers on edge and leave the watching crowd captivated. Wet patches from pre-FP3 downpours remained in places so, although Sebastian Vettel, Lance Stroll and Zhou Guanyu took failed gambles on slicks to escape Q2, softs were not really the best option until Q3 began. The leaders spent the whole of the final segment on the same set of those, fuelled to run throughout as they had in Q1 and Q2, and it all came down to the final two minutes. There would be time for two final fliers each, with Lewis Hamilton’s new personal…

Alex Albon’s astonishing recovery from respiratory failure to participate in the Singapore Grand Prix ended with the Williams driver enduring a rather tame race-ending shunt into the wall to complete a double DNF for the team. The Thai-Brit resumed training with less than two weeks to run before the most physically demanding round on the calendar after he missed the Italian GP when he was taken to intensive care owing to complications after routine surgery for appendicitis. But Albon spun on the opening lap before careering into the wall on lap 25 after hitting a patch of standing water and locking the fronts. He returned to the pits for a new front wing but was withdrawn after the mechanics briefly inspected his FW44. That ended a bad night’s work for…

There couldn’t have been a more fitting way for Kalle Rovanpera to rewrite history as the World Rally Championship’s youngest ever title winner. After uncharacteristic errors over the preceding rounds in Belgium and Greece, rallying’s new flying Finn reproduced a ‘greatest hits’ of his stunning 2022 campaign on Rally New Zealand to claim the world title on his 22nd birthday weekend in the land of the long white cloud. It’s a feat unlikely to be beaten, since Rovanpera eclipsed the late 1995 world champion Colin McRae’s benchmark as the WRC’s youngest king by five years. Not only did Rovanpera write himself into the history books, but his success ended a 20-year wait for a Finnish world champion. Rovanpera has made the phrase ‘Full Send’ his own. It’s painted on the…

GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE ENDURANCE CUP BARCELONA (ESP) 2 OCTOBER ROUND 5/5 The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup title was settled in dramatic fashion at Barcelona with ASP Mercedes trio Dani Juncadella, Raffaele Marciello and Jules Gounon snatching the title from Iron Lynx Ferrari man Antonio Fuoco. Fuoco needed to win the final three-hour encounter of the season with Alessandro Pier Guidi and Alessio Rovera to take the championship. He led the majority of the race before losing out to the race-winning Dinamic Motorsport Porsche at the finish by just 0.9 seconds, meaning Fuoco missed out on the title by two points. For Marciello, it was a second GTWCE title of the year – he had already taken the overall crown last time out. “It feels amazing, winning Spa,…

SUPER GT AUTOPOLIS (JPN) 2 OCTOBER ROUND 7/8 Honda revitalised its Super GT title bid with a well-timed 1-2 finish in the penultimate round at Autopolis. Victory for the best-placed NSX-GT crew in the pre-race standings – Real Racing pair Koudai Tsukakoshi and Nobuharu Matsushita – has effectively set up a Nissan-versus-Honda showdown for next month’s final round at Motegi. The Kondo Racing Nissan Z of Daiki Sasaki led the early stages from pole ahead of the Team Kunimitsu Honda of Tadasuke Makino, while Matsushita progressed from fourth on the grid to third ahead of the Racing Project Bandoh Toyota. Both Honda teams jumped the Kondo car in the pitstop phase, swifter pitwork from Real putting Tsukakoshi ahead of Naoki Yamamoto, who had taken over the Kunimitsu car from Makino,…

FORMULA FOUNDATION-E The British Racing & Sports Car Club has become the first UK organiser to launch a circuit racing series for electric-powered cars by revealing its new Formula Foundation-E single-seater concept. It features a spec car with a steel chassis that has been designed and created by RSR Technology, a company co-founded by longtime Formula Ford builder Steve Wills. The 550kg FF-E1 machine features a halo and is built to the latest FIA safety regulations. The car is powered by a bespoke electric motor and battery pack created by ECOClassics, which is headed up by Nick Mason, who previously led the development on Ford’s electric E-Transit van. The 120kW power unit is set to produce around 160bhp. To give those opting to pay the £79,995 plus VAT asking price…

GT Historic racing sensation Samuel Harrison had his first taste of a modern GT car recently at Snetterton, getting behind the wheel of a McLaren 570S GT4 courtesy of Orange Racing powered by JMH. The 18-year-old, the 2022 Historic Formula Ford champion and race winner in Historic F3, set competitive times around the 300 layout for his first outing outside of single-seaters. “I thoroughly enjoyed my first test in the McLaren GT4 car, and I hope to make the step up to GT racing next season as well as continuing with a limited programme of historic racing,” he said. “Thanks to Simon Orange and Jason Hughes for giving me this opportunity – the main difference to my usual cars was just the sheer weight of the McLaren, but is was…

FF1600 The latest recipients of the Team USA Scholarship made a splash on their UK debuts in the Castle Combe Formula Ford Championship last Saturday, with a pole and a double podium for Thomas Schrage. US F1600 points leader Schrage; Elliot Budzinski, who only made his car racing debut in June; and Canadian F1600 runner-up William Ferguson have all been selected to represent the US in this year’s end-of-season FF1600 events – the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch later this month and Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone in November. The scholarship has been running since 1990 and its alumni include Jimmy Vasser, Josef Newgarden and Conor Daly, with last year’s recipient Max Esterson winning the WHT and now racing in GB3. Ahead of the blue-riband events, the trio competed…

Autumn is the time of year when organisers traditionally begin revealing more detailed plans for the coming season. Sometimes, there is the odd surprise among those proposals although, generally, bombshell announcements are rare. But that is exactly how you could describe Ginetta’s revelation last month that it would be ending its 14-year stint on the British Touring Car bill, with Ginetta Junior moving to the British GT package and the GT4 Supercup being axed. The news caught plenty in the paddock unaware – even though Ginetta’s three-year deal with BTCC organiser TOCA was expiring at the end of 2022. Given Ginetta Junior’s immense popularity, it had become an integral part of those events. But those days are now almost over. The reasoning given for the changes does make sense on…

SNETTERTON 750MC 1-2 OCTOBER Only three of the 750 Motor Club series in action at Snetterton last weekend did not have championships to be decided, meaning there was plenty of serious competition to enjoy in Norfolk. The Type R Trophy was now between experienced Christopher Nylan and ex-sim racer Jake Hewlett, in his first season of real-world racing. It started in the closest way possible with the protagonists posting identical qualifying times, but Nylan claimed pole due to setting his time first. Race one then also went Nylan’s way. The two contenders pulled out a gap while midfield chaos broke out behind them. Although Hewlett was fractionally quicker, he was unable to pass Nylan, who had eked out just enough of a lead. Race two was a different story, with…

CASTLE COMBE CCRC 1 OCTOBER A podium in the first of two races was enough for Felix Fisher to claim his maiden Castle Combe Formula Ford title and become the third member of his family to secure an outright crown at the Wiltshire venue. The Ray GR05 driver led the opening race initially after moving ahead of Ammonite Motorsport and Team USA Scholarship driver Thomas Schrage off the line, the young American having taken pole on his first outing at the circuit (see News). Fisher’s chief title rival Luke Cooper occupied second on the opening tour, which became the lead at the mid-point of the 10-lap race into Quarry, with Schrage also demoting Fisher. Cooper’s Swift SC20 was briefly challenged at Camp a lap later by Schrage’s Ray GR18 but…

The top end of the British Hillclimb Championship is a fiercely competitive place. Although sporting rivalry and camaraderie exudes from the well-established big guns of the discipline, the jump to try to join them is still a daunting prospect. But that’s exactly what Matthew Ryder did in 2022 – and he did it in style. At 26 years old, Ryder joined Will Hall and then Sean Gould in the state-of-the-art Gould GR59 for his debut season in the over-two-litre single-seater class. The four-litre Judd-engined device is a purpose-built hillclimb car with well over 600bhp on tap and a weight of only around 420kg. With launch control and traction control optimised, it’s a rocketship. Although he’d enjoyed success in smaller-engined cars, it was still a huge step forward for Ryder. But…

As the boss of top sportscar squad United Autosports, Richard Dean appreciates more than most the worth of a good team-mate relationship. During a long and varied driving career encompassing success in single-seaters, touring cars and GT machinery, Yorkshireman Dean formed strong connections with several drivers – but none quite like Kurt Luby. The pair were a dominant force on their way to scooping the 1998 British GT title, taking six consecutive class victories and a remarkable outright win at Silverstone with their Oftedahl Motorsport Chrysler Viper GT2. The following year, they were a race-winning combination with the underdeveloped and short-lived Sintura S99. Dean and Luby were well-matched, favouring set-ups that were “pretty identical” and, as former karting rivals, knew each other well. “After practice we’d look at each other…

FORMULA 1 Red Bull has vehemently denied that it exceeded the $145million budget cap for the 2021 Formula 1 season amid major paddock speculation that the current constructors’ championship leader and Aston Martin will not be issued with certificates of compliance by the FIA. Red Bull was able to develop its RB16B late into the season to allow Max Verstappen to claim his first title, while the team finished runner-up to Mercedes in the constructors’ standings. That, combined with its strong adaption to the new ground-effect rules, has left Mercedes F1 chief Toto Wolff to consider the “open secret” that one team considerably overspent during the first year of operation under the cost cap. Aston Martin, meanwhile, is reckoned by rivals to have spent excessively on its recent recruitment drive,…

WEC British sportscar stalwart Richard Westbrook is returning to Chip Ganassi Racing next year to race full-time in the World Endurance Championship. He was announced alongside Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn on the confirmation that Ganassi will be the team that flies the flag for the General Motors marque on the global stage with the new V-LMDh prototype. Westbrook is returning to Ganassi after a gap of three seasons following his four-year stint in 2016-19 as part of its Ford GT line-up in the IMSA SportsCar Championship and at the Le Mans 24 Hours. The 47-year-old is maintaining his links with Cadillac and parent company GM. He raced a DPi-V.R Daytona Prototype international for JDC-Miller Motorsports (above) in IMSA this year, and back in the 2010s raced factory Chevrolets in…

WEC The Algarve circuit will take the additional date on the World Endurance Championship calendar next year as the series expands to seven races after the ravages of COVID. The Portuguese date at the Portimao venue will be squeezed into the schedule in the six-week gap between the Sebring opener and the traditional Spa spring date. The WEC will return to the Autodromo Internacional Algarve on 16 April with a six-hour fixture, which clashes with the Long Beach IMSA SportsCar Championship weekend. That’s a month after the Sebring 1000 Miles and just two weeks before the Spa 6 Hours. The WEC, which published its full calendar last week, always planned for the seventh race to be in Europe for reasons of cost and for it to take place before the…

LE MANS 24 HOURS Barwell Motorsport has outlined plans to race at the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time. The British team with multiple Spa 24 Hours and British GT Championship titles to its name is aiming to be on the grid as early as 2024. The stalwart of the GT3 ranks with Aston Martin, BMW and, since 2016, Lamborghini is looking to take advantage of the adoption of the category by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest for both the World Endurance Championship and the European Le Mans Series. From 2024, GT3 will form the basis of the sole pro-am based GT division under the ACO’s umbrella. “We’ve raced all over the world and done the American Le Mans Series [under the Drayson-Barwell banner with an Aston Martin…

“Maybe because I’m just Mexican and if I’m not two races in a row on the podium, then I’m having a worst season ever and Red Bull should drop me.” Let’s examine this claim from Singapore Grand Prix winner Sergio Perez. For a start, with two victories, a pole in Jeddah and six other podiums, Perez is having far from the worst 2022 campaign or Red Bull season. He’s also now just two points behind Charles Leclerc in the battle to be runner-up behind champion-in-waiting Max Verstappen. Even if it didn’t already have Perez’s services locked down until 2025, Red Bull should not be considering dropping him, and anyone suggesting so is completely wrong. Both 2022 titles are basically in the bag – the ultimate goal for any driver line-up.…

Disquiet among loyal supporters I was pleased to see that you had published Stephen Chipping’s letter (Your Say, 29 September). You only have to look at social media to see the level of disquiet among loyal supporters of the British Grand Prix, not just about the pricing but the introduction of dynamic or surge pricing, which airlines have deployed for years. The greater the interest the greater the price! There were tales of people stuck in the ticket queue suddenly being presented with a higher price when they got into the ticketing system. There was also disappointment that the system collapsed so soon after being launched and was suspended for a while. For many it has not been a happy experience and unhappy customers are not good for long-term business.…

“Of course I feel very happy and proud as it has been a long break since Finland has a world champion,” said Kalle Rovanpera after taking over the mantle of youngest World Rally champion from Colin McRae, who won the title in 1995 at the age of 27. It was also the first WRC crown for Finland since Marcus Gronholm secured the second of his titles, coincidently in New Zealand in 2002. “I’m really proud of the team, myself and [co-driver] Jonne [Halttunen],” added the 22-year-old Toyota driver. “I don’t have enough time to thank everybody, but Jonne is making a big difference to the job also. “I have never been a big fan about records regarding what age I have done something. But of course taking the record from…

MOTOGP BURIRAM (THA) 2 OCTOBER ROUND 17/20 You know a rider is angry when they cancel all media duties after a race. As the MotoGP championship reaches its final throes, frustrations were at an all-time high within the Yamaha camp as the Thailand Grand Prix battered Fabio Quartararo’s title hopes. The Frenchman arrived at Buriram 18 points clear in the standings, and left just two points in front of Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia. As Miguel Oliveira and Jack Miller battled at the front in Thailand, Quartararo fought to survive through wet conditions. Without Quartararo’s assessment, his woes in the rain-lashed race had to be pieced together. Cal Crutchlow overtook Quartararo at one stage on his RNF Yamaha before dropping behind him to 19th, and noted that both riders were battling front-tyre-pressure…

If our top 10 list was based solely on talent, Romain Grosjean would be included, but it’s not so he isn’t. This is about form across the season, and for too much of that the IndyCar sophomore seemed unable to work within the limitations of his Andretti Autosport car. In fact, there were times when he failed to register those limits in practice sessions, qualifying or races, leading to some costly shunts but, when he then tried to drive in a more circumspect manner, he became anonymous. “What’s happened to Grosjean this year?” said his baffled 2021 boss Dale Coyne, before adding with a smile: “It’s as if he’s gone from a good team to a mediocre one…” The problem, said Grosjean, was that he and race engineer Olivier Boisson…

MSV Circuit operator MotorSport Vision has won the tender to purchase the Navarra Circuit, with plans to pump £5million into the venue’s infrastructure. The facility, located in northern Spain, was opened in 2010 and features a 3.9km (2.4 miles) track, with three different layouts available. It holds FIA Grade T1 and Grade 2 licences, meaning it can host Formula 1 testing sessions and all racing categories downwards. The venue has already held a round of the 2021 World Superbike Championship, as well as FIA GT1 World Championship and Blancpain GT Series events in the past. It also includes an 800m karting circuit, skid pan area, off-road course, 32 pit garages, 17 hospitality suites and 27,500sqm of asphalt paddock space, and was bought for an undisclosed fee believed to be in…

HOT HATCH Three-time Castle Combe Saloons champion Will Di Claudio competed at the Wiltshire venue for the first time in four years last weekend in Hot Hatch. Di Claudio was a mainstay at the track in his Peugeot 106 GTI, claiming Saloons titles in 2008, 2012 and 2013, but waiting for a new engine had left him on the sidelines. “It’s nice to be back at Combe,” he said of his return aboard a Renault Clio, which he bought off eBay only a month ago. After running it for the first time in qualifying, he suffered a left-rear wheel-bearing failure, which required a trip to Swindon for a replacement, and he then missed the first race with a fuel leak. He made it out for race two, where he climbed…

KRAB PINCHES SECOND IN M3 Forty-two years after he won his national, Benelux and EFDA Euroseries Formula Ford 2000 titles in a Delta T79/80, Dutchman Fred Krab (66) finished second in Sunday’s Belcar Historic Cup race at Spa in his BMW E30 M3. The sometime F3 racer and European Renault 5 Turbo Cup race winner qualified 14th and progressed to sixth in Saturday’s leg, then outfoxed Guy Fastres (M3) in the sequel. Erik Bruynoghe and Luc Moortgat (Porsche 964s) won the races. Top Briton was Grahame Bryant (Morgan +8), fifth on Sunday. EXTRA LOTON VISIT FOR BHC The British Hillclimb Championship calendar will expand to 14 events next year with the addition of a second date at Loton Park. All of the venues visited in 2022 remain on the schedule,…

SPA SIX HOURS ROADBOOK 30 SEPTEMBER-2 OCTOBER Fifteen years after he won the Spa Six Hours in a formidable Shelby Mustang, Rotterdam’s David Hart finally repeated the feat last Saturday evening with son Olivier and Nicky Pastorelli in the DHG Ford GT40, winning by a lap. The only drama the polesitting Dutchmen hit as they beat 17 other GT40s within the 87-car field came 20 minutes from home when Hart Jr had the gear knob detach. “I had to change with the stick,” smiled the 23-year-old. In a pre-1966 enduro that featured nine safety cars and rain after darkness descended – but no serious incidents – rivals’ fortunes ebbed and flowed. A clever fuel strategy and metronomic reliability helped Frenchmen Olivier Galant/Nic Minassian to second. Defending champions Olly Bryant/James Cottingham’s…

TYPE R TROPHY Races 1 & 3 Christopher Nylan Race 2 Jake Hewlett MA7DAS Races 1 & 2 Eddie Mawer HOT HATCH Races 1 & 2 Philip Wright (Honda Civic Type R) BMW CAR CLUB RACING Races 1 & 2 Paul Cook (E46 M3) RENAULT CLIO SPORT CHAMPIONSHIP Races 1, 2 & 3 Andrew Harding (197) BIKESPORTS Race 1 Joe Stables (Radical PR6) Race 2 Simon Walker-Hansell (Radical SR3, below) 116 TROPHY Lewis Tindall/Tom Sibley ARMED FORCES RACE CHALLENGE Races 1 & 2 John Cockburn (BMW 330i) F1000 Race 1 Matthew Higginson Races 2 & 3 Lee Morgan SPORTS 1000 Races 1 & 2 Richard Webb (Spire RGBR) For full results visit: 750mc.co.uk…

MONDELLO PARK MPSC 1-2 OCTOBER It was a day to remember for the Barrable family at Mondello Park during the final round of the Irish Championship Circuit Racing series. Michael Barrable fought his way to the podium in the second Fiesta Zetec race, which secured him the 2022 title, while son Peter took all three Irish Legends wins and a new lap record. Newly crowned rookie champion James Byrne was delighted to qualify on the front row for the capacity Zetec grid and a superb launch meant he grabbed the lead into the first corner. He was eventually usurped by the charging Keith Rabbitt, who held on for an impressive win on his return to the series, as Byrne fell to fourth. In race two, Phil Lawless got his head…

It was a title race that remained open until the final day of the season but, ultimately, Wallace Menzies took his third British Hillclimb Championship title in a row. He is only the seventh hat-trick champion in 75 years. Across a season that spanned 13 events at 10 venues and 29 championship run-offs, there was seldom more than a fraction of a second between the Gould GR59 of Menzies and the DJ Firestorm of Alex Summers. Although both cars and, indeed, both drivers achieved their speed in different ways, the end result on the clocks was often a tenth of a second between them – or less. Summers tended to shine on the higher-speed hills such as Gurston Down, Doune and Shelsley Walsh, but Menzies was just as strong at…

To hear our debate on the top 10 Tyrrell F1 drivers, listen to episode 669 at autosport.com/podcast 5 MICHELE ALBORETO Narrowly pipping Jean Alesi to this spot is the driver who took Tyrrell’s last two world championship F1 victories. Alboreto had a tricky rookie campaign in 1981 but impressed the following year. He took seven points finishes, topped by a fine victory in Las Vegas – Tyrrell’s first for four years. The 1983 season was tougher, the Cosworth-powered team left behind by turbos, but Alboreto scored one last success in Detroit. 4 PATRICK DEPAILLER The king of Tyrrell’s iconic six-wheeled P34, Depailler joined the team full-time in 1974, in the wake of Francois Cevert’s death. The Frenchman largely played second fiddle to Jody Scheckter but outpaced both the South African and 1977…

The four LMDh prototypes that will contest the GTP class in next year’s IMSA SportsCar Championship tested together over three days for the first time at Road Atlanta this week in the wake of this year’s Petit Le Mans series finale. IMSA lined up the cars for a photoshoot at the final corner on race morning on Saturday, with the Acura ARX-06 ahead of the BMW M Hybrid V8, the Cadillac V-LMDh and the Porsche 963. The first of two so-called sanction tests organised for the LMDhs by IMSA will be followed by a two-day run at Daytona in early December. P40 PETIT LE MANS REPORT…

WRC Two-time Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen is keen to try more rallying following a remarkable run to a class podium on his World Rally Championship debut at Rally New Zealand. Van Gisbergen, partnered by experienced co-driver Glen Weston, turned heads by finishing the four days of competition, held in treacherous wet conditions, third in class and ninth overall in a Skoda Fabia R5. “We’ve had a ball, I’ve been learning a lot and of course all the different conditions here, new roads, it’s been awesome,” said van Gisbergen. “I love rallying – it’s a good break from the intense circuit racing I guess and hopefully I can do more.” But the Kiwi, who is dominating the 2022 Supercars standings, has no plans to make a permanent switch from…

W SERIES The Formula 1-supporting W Series for female racers is in a race against time to save the final two rounds of its 2022 series amid financial difficulties that emerged ahead of last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix event. Series CEO Catherine Bond Muir has given a deadline of this week for the concluding events supporting the US and Mexican GPs. W Series was left with cash-flow dramas following the unexpected collapse of a deal with an unidentified American investor who had signed a contract that would have secured its long-term future. Bond Muir referred to a “slow train crash” of realising that promised money was not coming, and is now in talks with fresh interested parties to help W Series see out the campaign. Speaking at the Marina Bay…

IMSA Louis Deletraz will join the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura squad for three of the four IMSA SportsCar Championship enduros next year. The Swiss will contest the Daytona, Sebring and Road Atlanta rounds of the Michelin-sponsored Endurance Cup at the wheel of the team’s Acura ARX-06 LMDh prototype. Deletraz, who will be in only his third full season of sportscar racing, will share the car with full-season drivers Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque and, at Daytona, Brendon Hartley. The three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner will continue his relationship with the team after coming into its line-up for Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta last weekend. “I couldn’t be happier than having Brendon back and I’ve been watching Louis for a while,” said team boss Wayne Taylor. “He’s young, but…

The Daytona Prototype international class bowed out at Petit Le Mans with another humdinger. The 10-hour IMSA SportsCar Championship finale at Road Atlanta had everything we’ve come to expect: high drama in the last hour, that dash to the flag from a late yellow, and a margin of victory measured in single-digit seconds. But for all the great racing DPi produced in its six seasons, the true significance of a category that only ever had double-figure grids in one year of its existence lies in the future: the bright new future of global sportscar racing that’s already unfolding. DPi put down the foundation stone for LMDh. Put simply, no DPi, no LMDh, and no golden era at the top of the sportscar tree, the one we are all predicting is…

It wasn’t supposed to be this dark yet. The sun hadn’t yet set over Singapore, yet gloom was engulfing the Marina Bay circuit. Rain. It had fallen hard between FP3 and qualifying. Now it was coming down even harder, with just 65 minutes before the 8pm scheduled race start time. Formula 1 drivers, team staff, paddock guests, officials and media alike darted for cover as nearby skyscrapers disappeared from view. Soon the inevitable followed, and the start process was delayed. When the race eventually did get going 65 minutes later than billed, it would be won by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who shared the front row with pole-winner Charles Leclerc. Those two stole the show in the headline battle, while the fighting fortunes of two world champions created fascinating subplots.…

Aston Martin recorded only its second double-points finish of the campaign courtesy of Lance Stroll classifying sixth, two places ahead of the team’s retiring four-time champion Sebastian Vettel. The faster of the duo all weekend, Stroll lined up 11th with Vettel in 13th. The duo did inherit spots for Yuki Tsunoda crashing out, Fernando Alonso breaking down, the mistake from Lewis Hamilton while chasing Vettel, plus the black-and-orange flag waved Kevin Magnussen’s way. Even so, the pair earned the squad’s best combined result of the season to pip its haul from the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, when Vettel clocked eighth to Stroll’s 10th. With it, Aston Martin has jumped past AlphaTauri and Haas to seventh in the constructors’ standings. Of his busy night, Vettel said: “I had a very strong…

PETIT LE MANS IMSA SPORTSCAR ROAD ATLANTA (USA) 1 OCTOBER ROUND 12/12 Meyer Shank Racing snatched victory – in the race and the championship – from the jaws of defeat in the closing stages of a thrilling 10-hour Petit Le Mans last Saturday evening at Road Atlanta. The team’s Acura ARX-05 started the final round of a hard-fought IMSA SportsCar Championship on the front foot following another sensational qualifying lap on Friday from Tom Blomqvist, but spent the majority of the 423-lap race firmly in the shadow of the arch-rival Wayne Taylor Racing Acura team and the pair of Cadillac Racing entries fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing. The event provided a fitting conclusion to the DPi era prior to the introduction of a new breed of GTP cars in 2023.…

Team Penske finished 1-2-4 in the IndyCar Series in 2022, as it did in 2014. And now, as then, it was Will Power who prevailed. But the team’s total of nine wins in 17 races with its Chevrolet-engined cars doesn’t truly reflect how tight the championship battle was, how close Scott Dixon came to clinching a record-matching seventh title, or the fact that seven drivers entered the penultimate round still in contention, and five were mathematically capable of taking the title even at the Laguna Seca finale. What was notable by then was the fact that IndyCar’s traditional powerhouses, Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing, had prevailed once more, highlighting dysfunction and error at Andretti Autosport and the capricious nature of Arrow McLaren SP’s form, the only other teams to…

JOSEF NEWGARDEN 1 Deeply unlucky to lose Iowa 2 to parts failure, he also faded into obscurity at St Pete and Barber. But on his best days, he had few equals – Texas and Long Beach wins showed his fighting spirit and he looked peerless on short ovals. WILL POWER 2 Single-minded pursuit of the title meant he drove conservatively on occasion, but he also staged remarkable comeback drives and overcame some strategic screw-ups. It was his racecraft and judgement that earned him title #2. SCOTT DIXON 3 It will concern him that he was often outpaced by Palou and sometimes by Ericsson, but it’s the 1mph breach of Indy’s pitlane speed limit while dominating the 500 that will haunt him. Toronto win was excellent, Nashville triumph amazing. ALEX PALOU 4 A quite…

BRITISH GT Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Warren Hughes will return to the British GT Championship for the final round of the season at Donington Park later this month. Hughes, the British GT4 champion in 2012 and a British Touring Car race winner, will partner Stewart Proctor at Greystone GT at the wheel of a McLaren 720S GT3. It will mark his first appearance in the series since a one-off outing in 2020 when he drove a GT4 McLaren. He will replace Proctor’s son, Lewis, who himself will compete in the two-hour season finale on 16 October alongside Andrew Howard, outright British GT champion in 2013 and 2015, in a Beechdean AMR-run Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Hughes said: “I’m excited to be back racing in British GT, having spent…

BRDC PATH FROM JCW The Mini Challenge JCW category has been announced as a qualifying championship for membership into the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC). Membership to the club is only open to drivers who have enjoyed on-track success at the highest level among a list of specified series, which recently has also included W Series and Porsche Carrera Cup GB. FACEBOOK GROUP FOR GTS The Castle Combe Racing Club has set up a GT Facebook page with the intention of generating interest and ideas among drivers and teams to help boost falling numbers. The group “will provide a sounding board for technical, calendar and race-format ideas and championship regulations”, and will be headed by GT competitor Charlie Bird and CCRC race coordinator Cat Dall’Occo. LUCOCK’S RACING DEBUT Charlotte Lucock…

116 TROPHY British Touring Car racer Dan Lloyd made a guest appearance in the 116 Trophy at Snetterton last weekend. The Excelr8 Hyundai driver shared a car with his sponsor George Adshead and friend Jonny Webster, who have raced in the series since last year. Lloyd led during his stint early on, but his team-mates were not quite on his pace and the crew finished 20th overall. He described the BMW 116 as “40 seconds slower than what the British Touring Car does round here, but I still had as much fun racing it”. He has not ruled out another outing with Webster and Adshead next year, as long as they continue to race the 116. Lloyd was not the only BTCC driver on the grid – Harry Vaulkhard, who…

F1000 has become one of Britain’s best-subscribed single-seater championships, and the breadth of talent is such that five drivers went into the final races with a chance of winning the title. Second-placed Matt Booth said a close finale isn’t an unusual situation: “It was Lee [Morgan] and me going into the last round last year – the last four years, it’s been decided on the final race.” Last year’s champion Morgan is set to leave full-time F1000 racing at the end of this season and began the weekend with only an outside chance. “It’d have to go wrong for the others for me to win,” he admitted, also conceding that “nothing has really worked for us this year”. Three blown engines damaged his chances mid-season, although some late wins helped…

BOOK MOTORSPORT’S MILITARY HEROES Bryan Lightbody RRP £22 Racing and danger have been intertwined since the very conception of the sport, and for many early pioneers the risks were as much a reason to take part as competing and winning. It’s perhaps not surprising that during both world wars, those who competed in motorsport would also be the ones to come to the fore during conflict. Motorsport’s Military Heroes charts the lives of 18 men and women who served their countries – the exception being Mike Hailwood, who never served as such but was awarded the George Medal for saving Clay Regazzoni’s life at the 1973 South African Grand Prix. Chapter lengths vary depending on the character in question, from several of the Bentley Boys – Woolf Barnato, Tim Birkin, Sammy…

George Eyston’s Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza leads the similar car of Brian Lewis through the streets of Douglas, Isle of Man, during the 1933 Mannin Moar. The race had been organised, along with its little brother the Mannin Beg (for cars with non-supercharged engines under 1.5 litres), in response to the popularity of the Monaco Grand Prix, and the only suitable location that allowed racing on closed public roads was the British Crown dependency in the Irish Sea. Feathers were ruffled by riding mechanics being mandatory, their purpose being to indicate to flag marshals that their driver wished to pass the car in front, and would the officials kindly wave them through… Nine cars from 14 entries started the race and just four made the finish, led by Lewis…