Indholdsfortegnelse for 31/08/23 i Autosport

Wet weather often throws up dramatic or unusual races, and Formula 1 2023’s return following the summer break certainly provided plenty of action. But, as we’ve come to expect recently, the dominant combination was still Red Bull and Max Verstappen. Jake Boxall-Legge explains on page 18 how Verstappen overcame the Zandvoort conditions and a less-than-perfect strategy to take his ninth consecutive world championship victory. That tally matches the record held by Red Bull’s first star, Sebastian Vettel, in 2013 and Ferrari legend Alberto Ascari across 1952-53 (if we exclude the anomalous, points-counting Indianapolis 500). The record will surely fall on Ferrari’s home ground this weekend. Verstappen is also climbing up the list of wet-weather F1 winners. His Dutch Grand Prix success was his seventh rain-affected victory, putting him on a…

FORMULA 1 Ferrari became the first Formula 1 team of the year to field a non-race driver in an FP1 session when 2021 Formula 2 runner-up Robert Shwartzman replaced Carlos Sainz for the first session at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix. The FIA mandates that each team must field a rookie in at least two FP1s throughout the year. Since any driver with fewer than two race starts complies, Williams (Logan Sargeant), McLaren (Oscar Piastri) and AlphaTauri (Nyck de Vries) all count the first rollout at Bahrain. Shwartzman, who now competes under an Israeli licence, ran for Ferrari at Austin and in Abu Dhabi in 2022. His focus last weekend was to evaluate aerodynamic set-up rather than chase lap time, so he clocked 19th from 25 laps. The 2019 F3…

INDYCAR McLaren Racing has formally launched its legal case against Alex Palou after the 2021 IndyCar title winner and current points leader appeared to renege on his 2024 deal with the team to instead stay put at Chip Ganassi Racing. Plausibly, Palou, who qualifies for an FIA superlicence to race in F1, may have seen any potential grand prix path with McLaren blocked by the strong rookie performances this season of Oscar Piastri. Following the contract dispute earlier this month, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown confirmed at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix that the company has begun formal legal proceedings against Palou and his business. The American said: “Alex informed us that he has no intention of honouring his contract with us in IndyCar or Formula 1. We have a…

BTCC Former World Touring Car champion Rob Huff looks increasingly likely to return to the British Touring Car Championship for the final two rounds of the season. Huff contested this month’s Knockhill round in place of Nic Hamilton, who left Team Hard in July, leaving a vacancy in the Kent squad’s Cupra Leon line-up. Hard was given a force majeure exemption regarding filling the seat for last weekend’s Donington Park event, because Huff had prior commitments to the TCR World Tour round in Argentina. This meant it was able to retain the TBL entrants’ licence for the car. Under BTCC rules, each entry is allowed just one driver change per season, meaning that only Huff would be able to race the car at Silverstone and Brands Hatch to prevent Hard…

The Swedish-run STCC tin-top series has been forced to postpone its new all-electric era until 2024. It was scheduled to kick off this weekend at Knutstorp, with a further round next month at Mantorp Park. “It is an advanced and ground-breaking project that is unfortunately susceptible to delays in the delivery of parts,” explained STCC boss Micke Bern. “While the construction of the new race cars has not progressed far enough, it has come a long way and it won’t be long until we will be able to showcase a whole new generation of top-level racing to our fans, partners and spectators.” Car constructor EPWR will be on site at Knutstorp and Mantorp to showcase the PWR002 electric prototype, and the STCC says it is working on a calendar for…

“I don’t regret that late call.” Charles Leclerc was speaking to the media mid-Dutch Grand Prix, his race ended after 41 frustrating laps. His rivals were charging onwards towards the late red flag stoppage, but even in his absence Leclerc had become one of the biggest talking points of the weekend. After his Q3 crash, Leclerc had started ninth and was chasing Sergio Perez when the pair both dived for the pitlane at the end of lap one. The Red Bull was away in typically quick fashion, while Leclerc was left waiting for his tyres to arrive. But the next time Leclerc took Tarzan on the racing line, he was swinging out of the first hairpin with polesitter Max Verstappen exiting the pits just ahead. Although he’d been held for…

Ever-looming rain clouds were the biggest indicator that summer was truly over. A distinct back-to-school vibe permeated the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, and hints of lethargy around the Formula 1 paddock were invariably shaken off once it came down to business. On Max Verstappen’s home turf, the story of the weekend was about one driver. The two-time champion has been credited with the surge of interest that led to the Dutch GP’s reinstatement to the F1 calendar after a 35-year hiatus, the 17,000-strong population of Zandvoort bolstered by hundreds of thousands for one weekend per year. Those expecting a sun-drenched beach trip to extend their summer holidays, however, would receive precipitation upon their parade. This year’s edition of the race was a tale of two downpours: one at its opening,…

“As a result, you walk away disappointed,” Williams team boss James Vowles said after the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix. “[But] if you said to me before we started ‘Do you want an eighth?’, yeah, absolutely, I’ll take that, thanks very much.” Vowles’s squad secured its fourth points finish of 2023 with Alex Albon’s eighth at Zandvoort. But, after the London-born Thai had started fourth and been running sixth before the race’s second rain storm, Williams left the Netherlands with mixed feelings. It did, however, gain four points on Haas to run a clear seventh in the constructors’ standings for the first time this season. Williams left Albon and team-mate Logan Sargeant out during the race’s early rain, then avoided “the real wrong that a number of teams did”, said Vowles,…

Newsflash: Silverstone Festival is still a classic. They can change the name and entice a wider audience with evening music acts for all the family, but at its heart the behemoth formerly known as The Classic remains an attraction for the hardcore historic fraternity. Races from dawn ’til dusk – 10 on Saturday, 10 on Sunday – come thick and fast. The themed demos add colour (even if 75 years of NASCAR was rained off on Saturday), but they’re mere punctuation marks amid the competitive action on the full 3.64-mile Grand Prix expanse. And the Festival has a key edge over Goodwood’s Revival too: it’s not hemmed in by a narrow period timeframe. Anything goes at Silverstone. That much was clear late on Saturday afternoon when the Masters Endurance Legends…

INDYCAR ST LOUIS (USA) 27 AUGUST ROUND 15/17 Different circuit, same old Scott Dixon. The six-time champion unleashed his monastic fuel-saving skills for the second IndyCar race in succession, following up his spin-and-win success at Indy’s road course with another mindblowing comeback drive from a nine-place grid penalty on the 1.25-mile oval at St Louis. The key to Dixon’s success on these missions impossible is part Honda, part Chip Ganassi Racing strategist smarts, and part him keeping the pace up while making the tyres last. From 16th on the grid, he committed to an alternative strategy from the first wave of the green flag. A lengthy yellow, after Ed Carpenter fired Benjamin Pedersen into the wall at the first corner, helped Dixon extend his first stint until lap 65, which…

TCR WORLD TOUR LA PEDRERA (ARG) 26-27 AUGUST ROUND 6/9 Mikel Azcona and Nestor Girolami took their first wins of the 2023 TCR World Tour as the series it made its debut in Argentina at the Autodromo Internacional Jose Carlos Bassi, while what looked set to be a positive weekend for points leader Yann Ehrlacher ended up being a disaster for the Cyan Racing Lynk & Co driver. Ehrlacher topped practice and qualifying, but weather conditions changed ahead of Saturday’s race, with rain dousing the circuit and leaving several patches of water, with most of the field starting on mixed slicks and wet-weather tyres. Ehrlacher suffered wheelspin from the damp side of the circuit at the start and lost out to the Hyundai of Norbert Michelisz on the run to…

TCR WORLD TOUR LA PEDRERA (ARG) Race 1 Mikel Azcona BRC Squadra Corse (Hyundai Elantra N) Race 2 Nestor Girolami Squadra Martino (Honda Civic Type R) IMSA SPORTSCAR VIRGINIA INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY (USA) GTD Pro Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor Corvette Racing (Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD) GTD Bryan Sellers/Madison Snow (below) Paul Miller Racing (BMW M4 GT3) PORSCHE SUPERCUP ZANDVOORT (NLD) Race 1 Morris Schuring Fach Auto Tech Race 2 Loek Hartog Team GP Elite POWERED BY For full results visit motorsportstats.com…

LE MANS CUP MOTORLAND ARAGON (ESP) 25 AUGUST ROUND 4/6 British drivers John Melsom and Matt Bell came from 19th on the grid to win a dramatic Michelin Le Mans Cup round at Motorland Aragon. Melsom started their Nielsen Racing Duqueine-Nissan and made up 12 places, before handing over Bell to complete the job. The 33-year-old beat points leader Gillian Henrion of Team Virage by 5.8 seconds. A rash of safety car interruptions helped their cause, the first coming at Turn 1 on the opening lap. Murphy Prototypes’ front row starter Torsten Kratz was one of those in the wars. That left United Autosports’ Josh Caygill to open up a lead during his stint, only for a slow pitstop when he handed over to Garnet Patterson to drop the pairing…

BRITISH F4 GB4 pacesetter Tom Mills was another star of British GT’s support series to make their British Formula 4 debut at Donington Park, after agreeing a late deal with JHR Developments. Mills has been the driver to beat in his sophomore GB4 campaign, winning eight of the 14 races so far this year, but stepped up to British F4 after two brief test sessions on the Thursday ahead of his debut. “It was on Monday [the deal was agreed] – I did a seat fit on Tuesday and drove the car for the first time on Thursday!” said Mills. “It’s a case of giving it a go. Massive thanks to JHR for giving me the opportunity.” A red flag in qualifying hampered Mills’s session, with JHR opting to pit…

Goodwood has revealed that it will hold a special Ford Mustang race at next April’s Members’ Meeting to celebrate the popular car’s 60th birthday. Up to 30 of the mighty machines are due to be piloted by a range of famous faces in the 45-minute Ken Miles Cup contest honouring the British driver who scored the first major victory for the Mustang at Green Valley Raceway in Texas in 1965. The 13-14 April event also commemorates 10 years since the Members’ Meeting was first resurrected. Photograph by Jeff Bloxham/Motorsport Images…

CSCC The Classic Sports Car Club is planning to make two trips to Spa next season after not visiting the Belgian circuit this year. The club has traditionally had a presence at the Summer Classic meeting but opted to skip this year’s event amid ongoing uncertainties about the process of transporting competition cars to Europe following Brexit. But now the club is not only set to again be a co-promoter of the Roadbook event – which is moving from its regular June date to the 25-28 April next year – it will also have a presence at the historic Six Hours fixture later in the season. Alongside historic machinery tackling the three-hour enduro at the Summer Classic, there will also be races for the majority of the club’s series for…

MINI CHALLENGE TROPHY The Coopers of the Mini Challenge Trophy provided their usual entertainment at Donington Park but, after the squabbling, it was Tom Ovenden who left Leicestershire with an extended points lead. Polesitter Ovenden was unable to accelerate clear in the opener and was soon under attack from Graves Motorsport’s Alex Solley, whose pressure told into the Melbourne Hairpin on lap four of 11. This pair then pulled clear from a seven-car battle for third, which Rhys Hurd worked his way to the head of by the final tour. One of Ovenden’s key rivals, Jack Byrne had been third early on but was bundled back to eighth. The wet race two got off to a frenetic start. Nathan Edwards passed Excelr8 team-mate Ovenden off the line and was challenging…

BRITISH FORMULA 4 Race 1 (12 laps) 1 Louis Sharp; 2 Mika Abrahams +1.594s; 3 Gustav Jonsson; 4 Freddie Slater; 5 James Higgins; 6 Gabriel Stilp. Fastest lap Abrahams 1m28.198s (101.52mph). Pole Abrahams. Starters 22. Race 2 (14 laps) 1 Dion Gowda; 2 Higgins +5.275s; 3 Sharp; 4 Deagen Fairclough; 5 Jonsson; 6 Will Macintyre. FL Jonsson 1m28.491s (101.19mph). P Gowda. S 17. Race 3 (11 laps) 1 Fairclough (below); 2 Macintyre +7.186s; 3 Noah Lisle; 4 Slater; 5 Aqil Alibhai; 6 Sharp. FL Macintyre 1m40.425s (89.16mph). P Kai Daryanani. S 22. Race 4 (8 laps) 1 Stilp; 2 Alibhai +0.912s; 3 Sharp; 4 Macintyre; 5 Higgins; 6 Jimmy Piszcyk. FL Slater 1m28.539s (101.13mph). P Abrahams. S 22. Points 1 Sharp 331; 2 Macintyre 330; 3 Fairclough 236; 4 Gowda…

BRANDS HATCH MA7DAS Race 1 Ben Powney Race 2 Jonathan Lisseter LOCOST Races 1 & 2 Craig Land (above) ROADSPORTS Ryan Parkin (Audi TT TDI) BIKESPORTS Races 1 & 2 Charles Hall (Mittell MC-41R) BMW CAR CLUB RACING Race 1 Bryan Bransom (E46 M3) Race 2 Graham Crowhurst (E46 M3) ULTIMATE BMW RACE Kevin Clarke (1M) For full results visit: 750mc.co.uk KIRKISTOWN BOSS IRELAND Race 1 Paul O’Connell (Dallara-Cosworth World Series) Race 2 Tony Greenan (Dallara-Mercedes F317) FORMULA FORD 1600/FORMULA SHEANE Races 1 & 2 Jordan Kelly (Van Diemen RF00) MAZDA MX-5s/FIESTA ZETECS Race 1 Francis Allen (MX-5) Race 2 Damian Moran (MX-5) LIBRE SALOONS Race 1 Peter Baxter (SEAT Leon) Race 2 Gareth Blaine (SEAT Leon) MINI COOPERS Races 1 & 2 Kian O’Brien (below) JUNIOR MINI COOPERS Races…

CASTLE COMBE CCRC SALOONS Race 1 Rob Ellick (Audi TT turbo) Race 2 Adam Prebble (Vauxhall Astra turbo) CCRC HOT HATCH Race 1 Tony Cooper (Honda Civic EK) Race 2 Chris Southcott (Honda Civic) CCRC FF1600 Race 1 Lucas Romanek (Van Diemen JL13) Race 2 Felix Fisher (Ray GR05) CCRC GT Races 1 & 2 Doug Watson (Ferrari 488 Challenge) CSCC SWINGING SIXTIES Sam Polley (Mini Marcos, above) MIDGET & SPRITE CHALLENGE Races 1 & 2 Martin Morris (MG Midget) MALLORY PARK SPECIAL SALOONS & MODSPORTS Race 1 Danny Morris (Peugeot 309 GTI Cosworth) Race 2 Thomas Carey (Honda CRX BDG) TIN TOPS Adam Brown (Ford Fiesta ST150) TURBO TIN TOPS Phill Briggs (SEAT Leon) MODERN CLASSICS Tom Barley (BMW 328i E36, below) MAGNIFICENT SEVENS/OPEN SERIES Races 1 & 2…

ROUND 25 1 Scott Moran (4.0 Gould-Judd GR59J) 42.52s; 2 Wallace Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth GR59M) 43.38s; 3 Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd GR59) 43.51s; 4 Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd GR59JB) 43.75s; 5 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS 28-RTE) 43.81s; 6 David Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 44.05s; 7 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 44.90s; 8 Jack Cottrill (2.7 DJ-Cosworth Dallara) 44.96s; 9 Johnathen Varley (2.0 GWR-TKD V8 Predator) 45.31s; 10 David Warburton (1.6 Gould-Suzuki GR59) 46.42s. ROUND 26 1 Sean Gould (4.0 Gould-Judd GR59JB) 44.57s; 2 Graham Wynn (4.0 Gould-Judd GR59J) 46.79s; 3 Eynon Price (1.7 Force-Hayabusa TA) 48.54s; 4 Cottrill 48.90s; 5 Moran 49.40s; 6 Menzies 49.79s; 7 Hall 50.40s; 8 Ryder 50.45s; 9 Varley 50.67s; 10 Willis 52.34s. POINTS 1 Menzies 218 (below); 2 Moran 199; 3 Ryder 170; 4 Alex…

FORMULA 1 Compared to last year, when Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement and Aston Martin subsequently poached Fernando Alonso in a matter of hours to leave Oscar Piastri at the heart of an Alpine-McLaren legal spat, the Formula 1 driver market ‘silly season’ seems totally tame. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of potential moves being evaluated behind closed doors. Charles Leclerc has rubbished summer speculation that he has agreed a new £150million two-year (with an option for a further three years) contract with Ferrari. Both parties want to wait until the end of a trying 2023 campaign before talks begin. That leaves the Monegasque with only 18 months left on his current five-year deal, meaning he is a plausible target for rivals. Leclerc is a viable candidate to…

BTCC British Touring Car Championship star Dan Cammish was forced to miss last weekend’s Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit round after a scary 30G accident in the first free practice session caused by front brake failure. The 12-time series winner had just set the quickest time of the session in his Motorbase Performance Ford Focus ST when he slammed into the wall at McLeans. The damage to the car was too severe to be repaired over the weekend. Cammish, who visited the medical centre, was unscathed apart from a sore back. “It was obviously completely unexpected and in the opposite way to what a lot of people would expect,” he said of the shunt. “The pedal didn’t go floppy – it was like trying to press against a brick wall.…

Last season in the FIA Formula 3 Championship I had to deal with a loss of energy, feeling unwell, and I was losing lots of weight too. I managed OK in pre-season testing, but during the opening race weekend in Bahrain I struggled. I had no strength to drive, and it was really hard. I was later diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, so withdrew from racing while I recovered and regained my fitness. Thankfully, that happened quite quickly, and I was able to come back at Silverstone in the middle of the season and finish in the top 10. It was just before the last few rounds last year that we started exploring options for another team for the 2023 season, and decided we would go with MP Motorsport, who are…

The cacophony erupting from the Zandvoort grandstands as Max Verstappen crossed the line at the end of qualifying would have been audible in Amsterdam. It was little surprise that the home hero swept to pole, but he admitted to the most fleeting of worries that he’d botched his best effort as early as Tarzan. “I went into Turn 1 and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s it’; I braked way too late,” he mused. But he nonetheless turned it around into a half-second gap over Lando Norris over the course of the lap. Norris had found a slender margin over Verstappen in the opening sector, but contended that the second half of his lap was “terrible” after an accidental double-shift on the exit of Turn 10. The Briton reckoned this cost him…

Mercedes was left counting the cost of leaving George Russell and Lewis Hamilton out “catastrophically too long” during the wet early stages at Zandvoort, according to team boss Toto Wolff. Russell had started third and led after passing Lando Norris at the start of lap two, while Hamilton lined up 13th on the unusual medium-tyre strategy after a messy qualifying. But Hamilton did not pit until the end of lap three, having dropped to 17th, and so fell to last, while Russell’s stop one lap later left him 16th. Mercedes had thought the rain would be lighter than it turned out to be. Both Mercedes were switched back to soft tyres for the start of the dry main part of the race, before Russell quickly came in again to take…

Liam Lawson completed his aim to do “all 72 laps” of his F1 debut, as the New Zealander made a late step up for AlphaTauri following Daniel Ricciardo’s FP2 injury. Lawson qualified last after getting no dry running in FP3 or Q1, then was left without “the best feeling” when he saw that rain was set to impact his first grand prix. Things got worse during a lap-one double-stack as he and team-mate Yuki Tsunoda took intermediate tyres. In the narrow Zandvoort pitlane, Lawson was left blocking Kevin Magnussen just behind, and so was handed a 10-second penalty he served at his second stop. He would go on to make two more pitstops under green-flag conditions, as he swapped softs for mediums a short way into the main dry action.…

Formula Junior provided the perfect starter to the Silverstone Festival feast on both race days. Although at around 50 starters the portions were huge. Michael O’Brien’s Lotus 27 shot into the lead of the Saturday opener, only for his gearbox to fail going into Copse. That left Horatio Fitz-Simon, Sam Wilson, Alex Ames and Sam Harrison to put on a thrilling scrap for honours on a track that was damp in places. Fitz-Simon’s Lotus 22 had the early advantage, but he later fell back with a half-spin at Stowe, and Wilson (above) and Ames became the focus as they tried different lines in search of grip. They swapped the lead a couple of times in traffic, but pleasingly Wilson made the decisive move unaided on the last lap at Luffield.…

FORMULA 2 ZANDVOORT (NED) 26-27 AUGUST ROUND 11/13 “In order to finish first, first you have to finish,” a wise man once said. That appeared to be the biggest challenge in the Formula 2 feature race at Zandvoort, with all six championship contenders encountering difficulties. An incident-strewn race featured four of them crashing out, while the remaining two were handed 10-second penalties for collisions. The mixed-up order allowed Trident driver Clement Novalak, who had scored just two points in 2023 before the weekend, to take his first win since his title-winning 2019 BRDC F3 campaign. Novalak, who had lined up 13th, was ninth by the first safety car interlude, which came moments into the opening lap. In slippery conditions and with the field on slick tyres, racing began with a…

IMSA SPORTSCAR VIRGINIA INT’L RACEWAY (USA) 27 AUGUST ROUND 9/11 Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor combined to score their second victory of the season for Corvette Racing in last Sunday’s all-GT IMSA SportsCar Championship race at the spectacular Virginia International Raceway. Taylor took the lead during the final round of pitstops and maintained a slender advantage throughout his final stint to take the chequered flag just a couple of seconds clear of Ben Barnicoat’s Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3, which had controlled much of the two-hour-and-40-minute contest. Barnicoat’s co-driver, Englishman Jack Hawksworth, had started from the pole after another exemplary job during qualifying. Hawksworth extended his lead to a little more than three seconds during his opening stint before handing over the car to Barnicoat after 26 laps.…

NASCAR CUP DAYTONA (USA) 27 AUGUST ROUND 26/36 Chris Buescher enters the NASCAR Cup playoffs as the on-form driver after picking up his third win of the season in a wreck-marred race at Daytona. Buescher powered to the lead past Kevin Harvick at the start of a two-lap overtime thanks to a big push from his RFK Racing team-mate and co-owner Brad Keselowski. Buescher pipped his boss by 0.098s to take his third victory in the past five races. It was also Ford’s fourth win in the past five, with only Chevrolet’s William Byron interrupting the winning streak with his victory last weekend at Watkins Glen. In just over a month, Buescher has gone from merely looking to make the 16-driver playoff field on points to entering the 10-race title…

VSCC A competitor died in a crash during the Edwardian handicap race at the Vintage Sports-Car Club meeting at Mallory Park last weekend. Roger Twelvetrees, 77, came off the track on the Stebbe Straight during the second race of the day at the VSCC’s final race meeting of the year. The race was quickly red-flagged and several ambulances arrived at the scene of the crash. It was confirmed later by governing body Motorsport UK that Twelvetrees had not survived the accident. In a statement, Motorsport UK said: “The thoughts of everyone at Motorsport UK are with his family and friends, the Vintage Sports-Car Club and members of the motorsport community.” Twelvetrees was driving a Wolseley 16/20 in the race, which took place on a track made slippery by rain. His…

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP GB Porsche Carrera Cup North America frontrunner Will Martin made a surprise return to the GB series at Donington Park last weekend and produced a storming drive in the opener on his way to second position in both races. Martin was Kiern Jewiss’s main rival in last year’s championship battle but slipped to third in the final standings with a tricky end to the season. He moved to the US with JDX Racing, and his UK return came with JTR to replace Gus Burton, who was competing in the clashing Porsche Supercup round at Zandvoort. “I got a call from Nick Tandy [JTR boss] saying he had a spare seat, would I be interested,” said Martin, who did not need a second invitation. “I was happy to…

HISTORICS Jaguar Formula E team principal James Barclay made a historic racing appearance at the Silverstone Festival last weekend, sharing an E-type with his team’s test and reserve driver Tom Dillmann. The pair raced a car known as ‘chassis zero’, a Lightweight continuation that has only been raced once before, in the Big Cat Challenge Trophy on Sunday morning. It also marked an historics debut for Frenchman Dillmann. “It’s been a lot of fun,” said Barclay, who has raced with the Classic Sports Car Club in the past. “In fact, it’s left me with a taste to do more. The historic scene is so healthy at the moment.” Barclay took the start and handed over to Dillmann, who battled hard and only just lost out to experienced historic racer Phil…

Sadly, it can be rare to find common sense in motorsport. Yet last week’s confirmation (Autosport, 24 August) that the British Racing & Sports Car Club and MotorSport Vision Racing had reached an agreement to not run rival series for modern Formula Ford 1600 machines from 2024 is a rare exception to that rule. The end of the BRSCC’s long-running National FF1600 championship may be sad news for those who hark back to FF1600’s glory days decades ago when it was the place for young racers to begin the climb up the motorsport ladder, but the decision to concentrate all efforts on MSVR’s United series is a logical one. The cold, hard numbers dictate that. So far this year, National FF1600 has managed a measly 11 cars on average, while…

PORSCHE SPRINT CHALLENGE GB Topsy-turvy is perhaps the best way to describe the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB’s Donington Park weekend. For a series commencing the second half of its campaign with five drivers in Pro title contention, it was surprising how many hit strife as Am competitor Marc Warren emerged with another two outright wins. Steve Roberts had the pre-weekend lead, yet the Redline driver tangled with Team Parker rival Matthew Armstrong on the opener’s third lap. This left polesitter Will Jenkins to claim his maiden triumph for Century as he resisted the efforts of Armstrong’s team-mate Joe Warhurst. It was Warhurst’s turn to encounter trouble in race two, held in tricky drying conditions. He was leading on lap two when he skated off at the Melbourne Hairpin and tumbled…

BRANDS HATCH 750MC 26 AUGUST Two podium finishes, including a win in race two, helped a delighted Jonathan Lisseter provisionally clinch his second successive Ma7da championship title at Brands Hatch on Saturday, despite the best efforts of closest challenger Ben Powney. After claiming pole for both races, Powney led Lisseter away from the line in the opener and defended his advantage until Lisseter moved ahead approaching Paddock just after half-distance. The lead pair were also being kept honest by Lucas Batt and the rapidly closing Anthony Ridd. After moving ahead of Batt for third at Clearways, Ridd’s attempts to make further progress ended when he rode over the back of Lisseter’s right-rear wheel and crashed out at Paddock. Lisseter continued, but the incident damaged his car and enabled Powney to…

CASTLE COMBE CCRC 28 AUGUST Rob Ellick and circuit returnee Tony Cooper scored maiden wins in the resident Saloon championship and Hot Hatch series respectively as robust racing across the board characterised Bank Holiday Monday’s Castle Combe Countdown event. Only one of the three titles was decided, however, 1400cc Vauxhall Corsa driver Michael Good maintaining his perfect record to wrap up seasonal Saloon honours. Ellick qualified his TSR Performance Audi TT third behind the similarly turbocharged cars of Gary Prebble (SEAT Leon Cupra) and multiple champion Simon Thornton-Norris (Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart) in a close-fought session, with class A points leader Adam Prebble (Vauxhall Astra turbo) fourth. The Prebbles both led the first race – restarted after veteran Tony Dolley (SEAT Leon) rolled after collecting Justin Holloway’s crippled Renault Clio at…

SNETTERTON BARC 2CV 24 HOURS 25-27 AUGUST KT Racing’s Kris Tovey, Louis Tyson and Peter Rundle dominated the 33rd edition of the 2CV 24 Hour race with a troublefree run at Snetterton last weekend. Their success also ensured that Tovey emerged as the 2023 2CV champion, with the trio taking third overall in the endurance race. The Mini Grande of Slarky Malarky crew Ian and Neil Slark, along with Ryan Taylor and Alec Graham, took overall victory by four laps from the similar Misfits machine driven by Dave Rees, Paul Ogborn, Stephen Rideout and Neven Kirkpatrick. Toyshed’s Chris and Andy Slade, with Michael Dryden and Elliot Stafford, were fourth overall and completed the Mini podium. After dominating the past four years, 2CV Lion hit trouble in the opening laps when…

BOOK LANDO NORRIS: A BIOGRAPHY Ben Hunt RRP £14.99 Lando Norris is one of the most popular characters on the current Formula 1 grid, retaining his entertaining and refreshingly open personality off the track while being a fierce competitor in the car. Much of the 23-year-old’s rise through the ranks has been spent in the public eye, with this writer’s first encounter with him coming in 2014 during his first season of racing in the TOCA support paddock for the British Touring Car Championship in Ginetta Junior. At this time, I was aligned with British Formula Ford, the series that would become MSA Formula and now British Formula 4, but even then there was a firm belief among those in the know that Norris was a future F1 star. The…

Graham Hill’s BRM P57 flicks through the chicane at Monaco in 1963 with Jim Clark’s Lotus 25 in hot pursuit. Clark soon led and stretched away, only to spin out with a jammed gearbox (shades of Lotus reliability letting him down a year earlier). That allowed Hill to take the first of his five Monaco GP wins, leading Richie Ginther to a BRM 1-2. John Surtees, on his F1 world championship Ferrari debut, also starred. He passed Hill for second while Clark led, only to fall back as he fumbled with oily goggles. Surtees broke the lap record on the final tour and he just failed to beat Bruce McLaren to the podium. For classic motorsport DVDs and downloads head to dukevideo.com For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

FORMULA 1 Felipe Massa says that his case against Formula 1 and the FIA over the result of the 2008 world championship is aimed at delivering “justice for the sport” and not recouping the “tens of millions of euros” his legal team reckons the Brazilian has missed out on. Fifteen years after the Ferrari driver lost the title to McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton by a single point, Massa wants to show that F1 management knew Nelson Piquet Jr had crashed deliberately in Singapore, meaning the race result and points allocation should have been thrown out. Massa told Autosport: “It’s pretty clear that we are going to finish when we have a result that we believe is correct for the justice of the sport. That’s why we decided to get together a…

INDYCAR Six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon wants the series to put the boost generated by its new electrical hybrid into the hands of drivers so they can use it tactically next year. Dixon has been testing a Honda-powered Chip Ganassi Racing car (with Team Penske’s Will Power doing the same for Chevrolet) with the supercapacitor system installed in the powertrain to evaluate its reliability and potential usage formats. The cars ran recently for two days at the Sebring road course in both driver-controlled and automated regeneration set-ups. The common hybrid provides an extra 150bhp, similar to the level of the current push-to-pass engine boost system used on road and street courses. “The technology is pretty cool,” said Dixon (below). “I hope they stick to not going automated, that it’s really…

WEC Alpine’s new World Endurance Championship challenger began testing in earnest last week. The A424 LMDh ran for four days at Paul Ricard as the Renault brand gears up for its return to the Hypercar class in 2024. The hybrid prototype, developed in conjunction with French constructor Ligier Automotive, had already completed a low-speed systems check at the Lurcy-Levis test track at the start of August. It was then given a shakedown proper on Monday in the hands of Nicolas Lapierre at the airport adjacent to the home of the French Grand Prix prior to switching to the circuit on Tuesday. Just over 1000km were completed by the car run by the factory Signatech team over the course of a test in which Lapierre was joined first by Matthieu Vaxiviere…

IMSA Two-time World Endurance Championship GTE Am title winner Ben Keating is joining United Autosports for another assault on the IMSA SportsCar Championship’s LMP2 class next year – and will continue his partnership with British sportscar convert Alex Quinn. Keating, who is leading the P2 points this season with PR1/Mathiasen, and Quinn (below) are the first drivers announced by United after confirmation of the switch of its WEC P2 squad to the IMSA ranks in 2024. The duo will extend a partnership that started this year when Quinn signed to drive with the American and full-season team-mate Paul-Loup Chatin in the four North American Endurance Cup IMSA rounds. “Working with Alex in 2023 has been great and I believe he will continue to develop even more under the United Autosports…

UK START TIMES Friday 1 September FP1 1230 FP2 1600  Saturday 2 September  FP3 1130 QUALIFYING 1500  Sunday 3 September  RACE 1400 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 TV Highlights CHANNEL 4 1830 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS Drivers Constructors MONZA STATS Previous winners 2022 POLE POSITION Charles Leclerc 1m20.161s POLE LAP RECORD Lewis Hamilton 1m18.887s (2020) RACE LAP RECORD Rubens Barrichello 1m21.046s (2004) Laps led Lewis Hamilton 246 Alberto Ascari 217 Michael Schumacher 205 Ayrton Senna 203 Stirling Moss 186 Graham Hill 151 Sebastian Vettel 147 Ronnie Peterson 132 Alain Prost 128 Jackie Stewart 126…

Don’t forget Wattie at McLaren I very much enjoyed your McLaren 60 feature (Autosport, 17 August) and pretty much agreed with your top 10 drivers listing but I would like to make an honourable mention for John Watson. ‘Wattie’ took a very popular victory at his home grand prix at Silverstone in 1981 and then there was that memorable Long Beach GP in 1983 (right) when he came from near the back of the grid to take victory, carving through the field in those so long-ago pre-DRS days. Dominic MalvernVia email Rally Alpines had better specs Thank you for a very interesting series of articles covering the 50 years of World Rallying (Autosport, 24 August). In Tom Howard’s piece giving Petter Solberg’s driving impressions of the cars, he includes Steve…

Imagine hosting a Formula 1 race in the middle of Newquay. It sounds a little incongruous, although cramming the entire F1 circus into the seaside town of Zandvoort is a similar conceit. The proliferation of orange bunting adorning the local abodes suggests that the locals are more than willing to indulge in the weekend’s festivities, and Max Verstappen’s orange army crowded the grandstands early on Friday. Autosport feels the need to make the pilgrimage to the heavily banked Hugenholtzbocht and take note of how the drivers tackle one of F1’s most unusual corners, particularly in their early explorations. It’s almost like a quarter-pipe with its variable camber, but there are none of the varying lines seen in Zandvoort’s 2021 return; all drivers skirt the perimeter on the high line, except…

Lando Norris made it a clean sweep of British-born drivers eschewing pitting along with the rest during the early stages of the Dutch Grand Prix as he obeyed a McLaren call to stay out. Norris started alongside polesitter and eventual winner Max Verstappen, and inherited the lead when the Red Bull pitted at the end of lap two as the rain came down. But Norris was already struggling and was quickly passed by George Russell’s Mercedes at Tarzan. McLaren urged Norris to stay out, even bizarrely claiming his pace was better than those on inters while he was swamped, before acquiescing to his requirement for intermediate tyres. From there, Norris completed the dry race two-stopper on two sets of used soft tyres, putting in a series of nice passes while…

This has been a tough year for the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota team. Expectations were high in the wake of Rory Butcher’s late-season form in 2022 and with the arrival of bespoke Toyota engines from Neil Brown Engineering. But Butcher has struggled to find the pace, and highly rated new signing George Gamble’s qualifying travails usually put him in the warzone in races. The only silver lining has been the pace of heart-on-sleeve dynamo Ricky Collard. But it appeared that the old Butcher was back last Sunday. The day before he’d qualified 14th to the third of Collard – in every corner the Scot could match his younger team-mate, but he just couldn’t put the lap together. In the races he came forward, via a panel-bashing contest in race two with…

EUROPEAN LE MANS SERIES MOTORLAND ARAGON (ESP) 26 AUGUST ROUND 3/6 United Autosports trio Marino Sato, Phil Hanson and Oliver Jarvis became the third different crew to win in three races when a well-executed final pitstop gave them victory in the European Le Mans Series’ first visit to Spain’s Motorland Aragon circuit. The four-hour contest was held on Saturday night, kicking off at 6 pm and running into darkness. The unusual format was adopted to lighten the impact of scorching hot weather at the popular testing venue. Temperatures reached as high as 40 degrees Celsius during running early in the week, making an evening race a more than welcome prospect for the 42 entries taking the start. Hanson headed the field away from pole position and maintained the lead through…

PORSCHE SUPERCUP ZANDVOORT (NLD) 26-27 AUGUST ROUND 6/7 Bastian Buus heads to the Porsche Supercup finale at Monza this week with one hand on the championship trophy after extending his points lead at Zandvoort. The Dutch double-header produced plenty of action, even if overtaking came at a premium on the narrow circuit. Poleman Morris Schuring imposed himself on race one to take a lights-to-flag victory to keep his title hopes alive, navigating a pair of safety car periods in the process. But those faint title hopes faded in race two, as the Dutchman finished fourth and dropped 27 points off Buus with just 25 remaining. Harry King’s bid also evaporated as a crash with CLRT driver Dorian Boccolacci put him out of the opener. Fifth on Sunday meant he was…

INDY NXT ST LOUIS (USA) 26 AUGUST ROUND 10/12 Christian Rasmussen scored his fourth win of the season at St Louis on Saturday evening to extend his points lead. Rasmussen was challenged by Hunter McElrea and Brit Louis Foster in the 75-lapper around the 1.25-mile oval, even briefly losing his lead to the Australian. But his real enemy was backmarker traffic, which he struggled to deal with. Rasmussen led the 15-car field from pole, the grid set by points order after qualifying was rained out. Rasmussen and McElrea pulled clear, and the other duo with rapid race pace were Foster and Jacob Abel. They’d clashed at Nashville and tried their best to do it again, twice almost coming to blows. But running in tandem, they passed Nolan Siegel (who crashed…

GINETTA Ginetta’s G-Fest event will move to Anglesey next year, with the provisional calendars for the manufacturer’s three championships revealed. The Yorkshire marque ran two Ginetta-only events this season, at Silverstone and Cadwell Park, but the Welsh visit will be the only such meeting in 2024. The remaining six weekends on the Ginetta GT Championship and GT Academy schedules will be in support of the UK rounds of the British GT Championship for Ginetta’s second season since departing the British Touring Car support bill. This represents one round fewer than the current season, a move that is designed to help boost grids amid concerns that the calendars were too lengthy (see Autosport, 24 August). The Junior championship, meanwhile, will have an eighth round, when it will be part of the…

500MRCI The nephews of long-time racer Liam Rabbitt, who passed away suddenly, but peacefully, at his Dublin home last week entered Saturday’s Kirkistown event to pay tribute to him. Having inspired nephews Keith, Shane and Barry Rabbitt to take up motorsport, the trio decided to honour their late uncle in the best way possible – on track. Late entries were placed for the 500 Motor Racing Club of Ireland’s Malcolm Templeton meeting at Kirkistown, with Barry and Shane entering Formula BOSS Ireland in a Dallara Formula 3 and Formula Renault respectively, while Keith dusted off his faithful Fiesta Zetec to tackle the Kirkistown regulars. Barry and Shane were fourth and fifth respectively in the BOSS opener, with Shane only just missing out on a giant-killing podium with fourth in race…

TCR UK TCR UK is set to visit Thruxton for the first time next year, as part of a seven-round calendar that was revealed last week. The Hampshire event will be the penultimate round on 21-22 September, ahead of the finale on Silverstone’s International circuit, which returns for the first time since 2021, on 12-13 October. The season begins at Brands Hatch (which hosts this year’s decider in October) on 13-14 April, before visiting Snetterton, Oulton Park, Croft and the Silverstone National layout through the summer. The two venues on the 2023 calendar that miss out, Knockhill and Donington Park, are expected to return in future years. “To get Thruxton, we’re really pleased,” said championship manager Ashley Gallagher. “TCR UK has never been before. It’s nice to visit somewhere new,…

BRITISH F4 It was an innocuous spin into the Old Hairpin gravel but it was one that could have big consequences in the tight British Formula 4 title battle. Will Macintyre’s qualifying error left him 14th and 12th on the grid and key rival Louis Sharp was able to take advantage to grab a one-point lead heading to October’s Brands Hatch decider. “With everyone being so close, all you need is one mistake and that’s your weekend over,” said Rodin Carlin driver Sharp. “I knew I had to maximise points.” And that is exactly what he did, jumping Fortec’s polesitter Mika Abrahams off the start to take a largely untroubled opening win with Gustav Jonsson usurping star debutant Freddie Slater for third on the safety car restart. Further back, the…

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP GB Porsche GB Junior Adam Smalley is well-placed to seal the Carrera Cup title next time out at Silverstone after another strong event for the Team Parker racer. But the Donington Park weekend could have been very different for Smalley had he not successfully repelled Robert de Haan at the start of the wet opener. De Haan drew his Richardson car alongside polesitter Smalley into Redgate and attempted to go around the outside but there was slight contact that sent the Dutchman into the gravel. Later, Smalley found himself under pressure from James Kellett – who moved into second when Century team-mate Josh Malin had the first of several wide moments – and it was then Smalley’s turn to err when he went off at Goddards and…

KIRKISTOWN 500MRCI 26 AUGUST It was a David-versus-Goliath day on Saturday when BOSS Ireland paid its annual visit to Kirkistown. And, while the record books might describe the outcome as a one-all draw, the main event – for the Malcolm Templeton Trophy – went to ‘David’ in the shape of Tony Greenan and his Formula 3 Dallara, although not without a fight. The opening bout, however, went to ‘Goliath’ represented in this case by Paul O’Connell’s Dallara-Cosworth World Series machine. It took the Limerick man a couple of laps to get past the faster-starting opposition but, once he was at the head of the 15-car field, he pulled away to finish the 19 laps 4.5 seconds clear of Greenan, with Noel Robinson’s Dallara World Series car third. Few would have…

MALLORY PARK CSCC 28 AUGUST Two Special Saloons and Modsports races in memory of four-time Thundersaloons champion Pete Stevens headlined the Classic Sports Car Club’s Bank Holiday meeting at Mallory Park, with long-time racers Danny Morris and Thomas Carey each securing a victory. For Carey, it was a first win for his BDG-powered Honda CRX silhouette since it went up in smoke at Thruxton 16 months ago. It could have been a double, since the Gravesend driver was unfortunate in the opener. Andy Southcott’s MG Lenham Midget had set the pace but lasted only three laps before peeling in when the oil light illuminated. Carey took over but was under pressure from Morris’s Cosworth-engined Peugeot 309. When a Code 60 was called – for Ian Hall’s stranded Darrian – on…

LOTON PARK BRITISH HILLCLIMB 26-27 AUGUST Scott Moran and Sean Gould each claimed a run-off victory as the British Hillclimb Championship headed to Loton Park last weekend. Moran was generally the quickest driver in his Gould GR59 and won the opening run-off by three quarters of a second. But, at the end of the afternoon, a badly timed rain shower made conditions increasingly difficult through the run-off, and it was Gould who claimed victory with a margin of more than 2s after running first. Following his high-speed accident at Shelsley Walsh two weeks earlier, champion-elect Wallace Menzies bounced back strongly and led the chase of Moran in the first run-off before slipping to sixth in the testing conditions at the end of the day. That was academic for Alex Summers,…

More than just his favourite team-mate, Mauro Martini regards Jeff Krosnoff as “the best guy I met in motor racing”. The Italian’s friendship with Krosnoff, who was killed in an Indycar crash at Toronto in 1996, had been forged over many years racing in Japan’s Formula 3000, Group C sportscar and Group A tin-top series. The duo went on to race sportscars internationally and together finished second at the 1994 Le Mans 24 Hours. To Martini, the elder by four months, the Californian was “like a brother”. “We were living together basically,” says the 1992 Japanese F3000 champion, who believes they “would have been friends even out of motor racing”. Both scored an F3000 podium in 1989 before teaming up for 1990, but results were mixed – their Suntec Lola…