Indholdsfortegnelse for 14/09/23 i Autosport

There was no Formula 1 action last weekend, but motorsport fans had plenty to look out for, from the IndyCar finale at Laguna Seca to the World Endurance Championship encounter at Fuji. In terms of concentration of stars, the place to be was Goodwood for the 25th Revival meeting, which celebrated the venue’s and Lotus’s 75th birthdays, Sir Jackie Stewart and Carroll Shelby all together. Hearing and seeing the star names and iconic machines was a pleasure but, once again, it was the competitive action that stole the show, as Marcus Pye’s 10-page report highlights (page 18). Andy Priaulx’s handling of a Jaguar E-type to defeat the hitherto pacesetting AC Cobras when the rain arrived was sublime, though this writer was probably most excited by the prospect of witnessing a…

FORMULA 1 The FIA is targeting a 50kg weight reduction for the 2026 breed of Formula 1 cars, with the regulations moving towards a shorter and narrower design. Alongside employing active aerodynamics to reduce drag, the governing body’s head of single-seater matters Nikolas Tombazis revealed that shifting some of the bulk is high on the agenda. “With the dimensions of the wheels, which will be narrower, plus with the rear wing and the car in general, we aim to reduce the weight of the cars by around 50kg,” said Tombazis. “So, it will be possible to see smaller single-seater cars: shorter and narrower. But we are talking about solutions that still need to be discussed. With the car on a diet, we will be able to reduce the cornering speeds…

WRC Subaru could be in line for a return to the World Rally Championship, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has revealed. The three-time manufacturers’ champion (1995-97) became synonymous with the WRC in the 1990s and 2000s, winning drivers’ titles with Colin McRae (1995), Richard Burns (2001) and Petter Solberg (2003). Subaru exited the WRC at the end of 2008 due to the global financial crisis. Speaking in a media roundtable at last weekend’s Acropolis Rally, Ben Sulayem revealed that early discussions to entice the marque back to rallying’s top tier are under way. It appears that the WRC’s anticipated regulation change in 2027 would offer the best window for Subaru to rejoin the championship. The talks have been helped along by Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda, a passionate supporter of the…

BTCC/GT British Touring Car Toyota squad Speedworks Motorsport has boosted its management by recruiting One Motorsport Honda team principal Danny Buxton as its head of motorsport. Buxton joined One, then known as BTC Racing, prior to the 2022 season after a long stint as McLaren’s head of customer racing. He oversaw the Brackley operation’s BTCC programme as well as its expansion into GTs, which included the takeover of the Motus One project of Will Powell, who left the Steve Dudman-owned One in June. Ex-BTCC racer Buxton joins husband-and-wife Speedworks founders Christian and Amy Dick as well as investor and shareholder John Gilbert at the helm. His responsibilities will cover tin-tops plus expanding the Cheshire squad’s presence in GT3 racing, with the new Toyota challenger due in 2025. “Toyota are extremely…

INDYCAR Highly rated IndyCar starlet David Malukas has stepped up to the Arrow McLaren squad for 2024. The 21-year-old American-Lithuanian’s ride was confirmed shortly after it broke that Felix Rosenqvist has switched from the orange squad to the pink of Meyer Shank Racing. Malukas, who switches from Dale Coyne Racing, will line up alongside Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi after Arrow McLaren failed to secure newly crowned two-time champion Alex Palou. “He’s young, he’s hungry and that’s what we need,” said former IndyCar title winner and Indianapolis 500 victor Tony Kanaan, the team’s advisor and mentor. “I always had tough team-mates and they only raised my game every time. That’s what we are trying to do here, so that was something that weighed a lot of our decision to bring…

The Singapore Grand Prix has reached another milestone: it’s 15 years since the Marina Bay event, Formula 1’s original night race, was staged for the first time. Since that inaugural event back in 2008, the F1 calendar has been rather moulded by Singapore. That race may occupy many minds at present thanks to Felipe Massa’s ongoing legal wranglings over its outcome and its effect on his world title battle with Lewis Hamilton, but in various ways its influence and success can be seen in so many other aspects of the championship’s current look and feel. For a start, five other events now involve racing under lights. Then there are the subsequently introduced street circuits. Singapore has served spectators well, if they can afford to make the trip. In a similar…

Three Supermarine Spitfires overhead as the car parks filled on Friday morning – a year since Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s passing – and a cavalcade of 200 classic motorcycles on track presaged the 25th Revival Meeting and Goodwood Motor Circuit’s 75th anniversary last weekend. Three days of nostalgia overload featured celebrations for the centenary of the birth of Aston Martin’s 1959 Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy winner Carroll Shelby, 75 years of Colin Chapman’s Lotus marque (the ‘winningest’ in the venue’s history) and demonstrations by Sir Jackie Stewart in Tyrrell-Ford 006/2. Fifty years after he landed his third Formula 1 world championship in it, and 70 since he watched brother Jimmy win here in an Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar C-type in 1953, the much-loved and ever-busy Scot was on top…

FREDDIE MARCH MEMORIAL TROPHY: SPORTSCARS IN THE SPIRIT OF THE NINE-HOUR RACES 1952-55 (33 LAPS)  1 Richard Wilson/Richard Bradley (Maserati 250S); 2 Gregor Fisken/Jake Hill (HWM-Jaguar) +9.657s; 3 Fred Wakeman/Sam Hancock (Jaguar C-type XKC037); 4 Nick Jarvis//Benoit Treluyer (Allard-Cadillac J2X); 5 Martin Hunt/Patrick Blakeney-Edwards (HWM-Jaguar); 6 Darren Turner/Simon Hadfield (Aston Martin DB3S/105). Fastest lap Alex Buncombe (Jaguar C-type) 1m28.991s (96.27mph) record. Pole Jenson Button/Buncombe. Starters 25. GOODWOOD TROPHY: GP CARS & VOITURETTES 1930-51 (13 LAPS) 1 Ian Baxter (Alta 61 IS); 2 Mark Gillies (ERA R3A) +0.103s; 3 David Morris (ERA R11B ‘Humphrey’); 4 Ben Fidler (ERA R4D); 5 Michael Gans (ERA R1A); 6 Nick Topliss (ERA R4A). FL Gillies 1m32.835s (92.29mph). P Fidler. S 27. CHICHESTER CUP: REAR-ENGINED DISC-BRAKED FORMULA JUNIOR TO 1963 (9 LAPS)  1 Horatio Fitz-Simon (Lotus-Ford…

The battle in LMP2 was an all-guns-blazing affair fought out by the two powerhouses of the class. It was WRT versus United Autosports, or perhaps that should be United versus WRT, as the two teams filled out the top four positions on a day when no one else got a look-in. WRT ultimately prevailed with the #41 ORECA-Gibson 07 of Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Rui Andrade, who put one hand on the drivers’ title by extending their championship lead to 33 points. WRT and United led all bar 20 of the 219 laps completed by the P2 frontrunners, though it was the second-placed United ORECA shared by Filipe Albuquerque, Phil Hanson and Freddy Lubin that headed the field for the vast majority of those. It would be wrong to…

FORMULA REGIONAL EUROPEAN RED BULL RING (AUT) 9-10 SEPTEMBER ROUND 7/10 Rafael Camara and Alessandro Giusti split the two Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine race victories at the Red Bull Ring as Andrea Kimi Antonelli extended his championship lead by 27 points to a margin of 33. Camara was dominant in the opening race, taking a lights-to-flag win for Prema Racing, but the matter was more complicated for Giusti, who finished second after initially losing the position to third-placed starter Tim Tramnitz. As drivers spread across the Turn 3 run-off on lap one, R-ace GP driver Tramnitz used the chaos to position himself on the inside for the long drag to Turn 4, offering Giusti no hope of defending the place. Giusti, however, was equally aggressive when recovering the…

Jenson O’Neill-Going’s Fiesta Junior debut ended in spectacular fashion with this roll at Donington Park last weekend. The son of Jamsport team principal Jamie Going qualified 10th among the 26-car entry in his Mk6 ST. The first race was stopped when Luke Hilton rolled after the chicane’s marker tyres were knocked into his path. The second attempt was also red-flagged – and subsequently abandoned – after O’Neill-Going was tagged as the pack negotiated the Craner Curves and was launched airborne. He walked away unharmed.…

CIVIC CUP Two-time TCR UK champion Lewis Kent will contest the final two rounds of this year’s Civic Cup, starting at Silverstone later this month. Kent took the TCR UK title in 2020 and 2021 in a Hyundai i30 N run by family team Essex & Kent Motorsport. He switched to a Hyundai Veloster for last year’s championship, finishing fourth in the standings, before stepping back to support younger brother Bradley’s 2023 campaign. Kent will now return to the driver’s seat in Area Motorsport’s spare EP3-model Civic. The car took the 2022 title with Matt Luff and has been raced this year by a rotating cast including MG Trophy champion Sam Kirkpatrick and Focus Cup title winner Liam McGill. “It’ll be good fun,” said Kent, who is considering a switch…

Porsche specialist Richard Tuthill walked away from this dramatic accident in last Saturday’s Fordwater Trophy for pre-1966 911s running on sustainable fuel. The crash at Madgwick brought out the safety car and prevented three-time British Touring Car champion Gordon Shedden from taking over. RATEL JR’S BRANDS BOW Max Ratel, son of SRO founder Stephane, made his motorsport debut at Brands Hatch last weekend in the Ginetta GT Academy. Ratel Jr competed in three races around the Kent venue’s Grand Prix layout with W2R. He finished 15th in the opening race, retired in the second, before claiming his best result of the weekend in the final race with 13th. ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION The CNC Heads Sports/Saloon Championship will hold a special celebration of its 40th season at its 2023 finale at Oulton…

Jack Brown and Charles Clark saw their dominant British GT4 lead slashed at Brands Hatch after suffering a nightmare weekend with reliability woes on both Saturday and Sunday, while the Academy Motorsport Ford of Matt Cowley and Erik Evans took victory. The Optimum Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 pairing arrived in Kent with a 33-point championship lead, meaning that they could secure the title with a round to spare if results fell their way, but what happened was close to the complete opposite. Clark started from fourth, behind Josh Rowledge, Will Moore and the eventual race-winning Ford Mustang GT4 started by Evans, but the order was shuffled at the opening turn when the field battled to avoid Ian Loggie’s stricken Mercedes, with some drivers being forced to take to the gravel.…

TCR UK Race 1 Adam Shepherd (Hyundai i30 N TCR) Race 2 Alistair Camp (Hyundai i30 N TCR) MAZDA MX-5 SUPERCUP Races 1, 2 & 3 James Cossins MAZDA MX-5 CHAMPIONSHIP Race 1 Adam Sparrow Races 2 & 3 Luke Pullen MAZDA MX-5 CLUBMAN Race 1 Beau Parry Race 2 Matthew Fletcher FUN CUP Team Olympian (Chris Dovell/Kristian Rose/Riley Phillips) FIESTA JUNIORS Finn Leslie (Zetec S, below) CITYCAR CUP Races 1 & 2 Stuart Bliss (Toyota Aygo) CLUBSPORT TROPHY Scott Parkin (Audi TT CR) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

One of the non-competitive highlights of last weekend’s Goodwood Revival was the sight of Sir Jackie Stewart demonstrating the Tyrrell-Cosworth 006 in which he secured his third Formula 1 world championship. Goodwood has great significance in Stewart’s career – it was at the West Sussex circuit in 1964 that he tested a Formula 3 car for Ken Tyrrell, greatly impressing the team owner and setting in motion the Scot’s ascent. Here, star of qualifying Stewart launches his BRM P261 off the front of the Goodwood grid at the start of the 1965 Sunday Mirror Trophy. The Easter Bank Holiday race didn’t go quite to plan, though: he initially dropped to fourth place and ended up classified 10th, five laps down on winner Jim Clark (Lotus-Climax 25), following a camshaft issue.…

LE MANS/WEC/IMSA Aston Martin is increasingly certain to mount a new challenge for outright Le Mans 24 Hours honours. It is gearing up to resurrect the Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar project put on hold in early 2020 and push on with entries into both the World Endurance Championship and the IMSA SportsCar Championship from 2025. Aston is working with the US-based Heart of Racing squad and its primary backer, computer games tycoon Gabe Newell, on reviving the project that was revealed to the world first time around in Le Mans week in June 2019. Autosport’s sources suggest that the planning for the Valkyrie LMH revival is well advanced and moving towards contract stage. The British manufacturer has yet to confirm that the Valkyrie programme could come off the backburner, while…

Four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel reacquainted himself with the cockpit of an RB7 – the machine that helped he and Red Bull to a 2011 title double – on the Nurburgring Nordschleife last weekend. He was propelled by CO2-neutral fuel in front of 60,000 fans at the Red Bull Formula Nurburgring showcase event. Vettel said: “I feel like I’m in a time capsule – a lot of memories have come up once I got into the car.” The German was joined on the famous circuit by David Coulthard, who hopped aboard the similarly successful RB8.…

MOTOGP VR46 Ducati rider Luca Marini topped Monday’s much-hyped post-San Marino Grand Prix test while Marc Marquez finished up 14th on the 2024 Honda MotoGP prototype. Due to the difficulties facing the Japanese manufacturers in MotoGP this season and the knock-on effect this has had on the rider market, with the futures of Marquez and Fabio Quartararo uncertain, the Misano test was viewed as crucial. The main stories revolved around Honda’s 2024 prototype (above) and the new parts tested by Yamaha. Marquez spent most of the San Marino GP weekend enveloped in rumours about his future. Although he is contracted to Honda through to the end of 2024, the problems with the bike this year have put this into question. At Misano, links of a shock switch to Gresini emerged.…

There’s no hiding from the fact that the World Rally Championship is entering a crucial phase as it wishes to establish its future, improve its appeal and attract more manufacturers. And last weekend’s Acropolis Rally gave both the series and the FIA every incentive to ensure that its pathway is defined when the governing body’s president Mohammed Ben Sulayem uttered the words the majority of rally fans have been wishing to hear ever since 2008. Speaking at a media round table in the build-up to the Greek event, Ben Sulayem revealed that Subaru is considering a return to the WRC. The Japanese manufacturer is synonymous with rallying. Its Impreza helped forged cult heroes Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg, who won drivers’ titles with the marque in 1995, 2001…

“He was the man to beat. He’s such a legend and an inspiration for all of us.” So said six-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Jacky Ickx, one of several greats who paid tribute to Sir Jackie Stewart across the Goodwood weekend. Fifty years (to the day on Saturday) after he clinched his third and final Formula 1 world title at Monza, 84-year-old Stewart climbed aboard Tyrrell 006/2 (above) for demonstration laps in front of an appreciative audience. Stewart spent much of his career battling Lotus, and the 75th anniversary of Colin Chapman’s innovative company was celebrated with special parades. A recreation of Chapman’s first car was driven by daughter Jane, while MkII and MkIII helped represent the early days of the marque that won seven constructors’ and six drivers’…

Toyota claimed a ninth victory in 11 starts at the Fuji 6 Hours in the modern era of the World Endurance Championship and duly wrapped up this year’s manufacturers’ title with a round to go. But it was far from business as usual as the home manufacturer swept to a 1-2. Porsche led for a few minutes short of four hours and, but for a strange procedural error, might have taken second position last weekend. The significance wasn’t just that another brand is now in the thick of the battle; this was the first time that an LMDh car has challenged the Le Mans Hypercar hegemony. Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi took a fourth victory of the season to shrink what had been pretty long odds on…

It seemed hard to believe that only three months before Fuji Ferrari was celebrating victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours. The two 499Ps were just not in the game last weekend as they trailed home a lap in arrears in fourth and fifth positions. But their pace and performance was no surprise to the Italian marque or any different to Monza last time out, it insisted. The status quo had simply been maintained, claimed Giuliano Salvi, Ferrari’s sportscar race and test team manager. He argued that the best of the 499Ps in second position wouldn’t have been on the lead lap on home ground had there not been three safety cars. And there was no podium this time for the simple reason that Porsche had made a significant jump…

INDYCAR LAGUNA SECA (USA) 10 SEPTEMBER ROUND 17/17 Scott Dixon is inevitable. The six-time IndyCar champion overcame a penalty on the opening lap and pushed through mayhem to find Victory Lane in the season finale at Laguna Seca. Dixon started the day with a grid penalty, dropping six spots due to an engine change and starting 11th instead of fifth. When the green flag dropped, the 43-year-old New Zealander was immediately involved in a multi-car melee in Turn 2 on lap one of 95, with race officials handing him a drive-through penalty for his part to drop him from fifth to 21st. Expletives filled the radio chatter as an angered Dixon attacked the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course with fury. Working through his own combination of tyre strategy and relentlessness, he…

INDY NXT LAGUNA SECA (USA) 9-10 SEPTEMBER ROUND 12/12 Christian Rasmussen clinched the 2023 Indy NXT title with a dominant lights-to-flag drive from pole position to cap the double-header weekend at Laguna Seca. The 23-year-old Dane was untouchable, leading all 35 laps for HMD Motorsports to win by a staggering 17.8813 seconds – the largest margin of victory in the series this season by more than 10s – over rival Hunter McElrea (Andretti Global, previously Andretti Autosport), who had won the opening race of the weekend. Rasmussen became only the second driver to win championships in Indy NXT, USF Pro 2000 and USF2000, joining current IndyCar Series star Kyle Kirkwood in that exclusive club. “As soon as I rolled over the startline and got the green flag, I knew I…

MOTOGP MISANO (ITA) 10 SEPTEMBER ROUND 12/20 All at once, the 2023 MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix was a case of what if? What if Francesco Bagnaia hadn’t been able to return to action a week on from his horror accident? What if Dani Pedrosa hadn’t retired in 2018? What if Marc Marquez really does leave Honda for Gresini Ducati? For the lack of on-track action, there sure was a lot to write home about from this year’s Misano event. Tackling the first, Bagnaia’s miraculous escape from his Barcelona incident – albeit with a badly bruised right leg – could well prove a pivotal moment for his championship defence. Having seemingly lost his qualifying mojo, Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin was back to his brilliant best in time attack after blasting…

GOODWOOD REVIVAL Mark Webber finished fifth on his Goodwood Revival race debut in last Saturday’s Fordwater Trophy for pre-1966 Porsche 911s. The nine-time Formula 1 race winner shared Bonamy Grimes’s entry in the endurance event, in which all cars ran on sustainable fuel. From ninth, Grimes ran in the top eight before handing over to the 47-year-old Australian. Webber set a series of best laps for the car on his way to fifth. His 1m34.811s fastest lap outpaced 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button’s 1m36.252s, set en route to ninth in Mark Bates’s car. “The 911s of that time are challenging to drive on the limit and it was a very competitive and talented field, but it’s been thoroughly enjoyable,” said Webber. “The Revival has provided a great re-entry into…

GINETTA Brothers Scott and Ben McKenna returned to the paddock last weekend at Brands Hatch at the helm of their new team. McKenna Driver Development, or MDD Racing, competed in its maiden weekend of racing, running father-and-son pairing Paul and Felix Livesey in the Ginetta GT Academy and Ginetta Junior respectively. Scott McKenna claimed the 2019 Ginetta GT5 Challenge title, moved up to the Carrera Cup GB the following season, and embarked on a part-time campaign in British GT with a Toyota GR Supra in 2021. Younger brother Ben also contested the GT5 Challenge during 2021, but both missed out on racing in 2022 due to a lack of budget, instead doing development work for Ginetta and in rallying prior to setting up their new venture. “It’s our first go…

BRITISH GT Ex-British GT driver Martin Short says talks are under way to keep son Morgan on the grid next year after a “steady” debut in the championship at Brands Hatch. Short Jr competed alongside Tom Holland in the Raceway Motorsport Ginetta G56 GT4 last weekend and, while car problems limited his Sunday progress to 12th in class, the 21-year-old showed his pace in qualifying, setting the fastest time out of the team’s four drivers. Short Sr is hopeful that this turn of speed will lead to a 2024 seat. “We have been talking about it,” he said. “We’d love to do it with these guys next year. We’ve had a fantastic weekend, the team are brilliant. It’s every driver’s hope to get into British GT if you’re a GT…

GT3 (79 laps) 1 Darren Leung/Dan Harper (BMW M4, above); 2 Andrew Howard/Ross Gunn (Aston Martin Vantage) +1.055s; 3 James Cottingham/Jonny Adam (Mercedes-AMG); 4 Ian Loggie/Jules Gounon (Mercedes); 5 Shaun Balfe/Sandy Mitchell (Lamborghini Huracan); 6 Chris Hart/James Wallis (Mercedes). Fastest lap Harper 1m24.480s (103.69mph). Pole Cottingham/Adam. Starters 15. Points 1 Cottingham/Adam 162; 2 Leung/Harper 149; 3 Loggie 119.5; 4 Gounon 107.5; 5 Balfe/Mitchell 106.5; 6 Howard/Gunn 91. GT4 (75 laps) 1 Erik Evans/Matt Cowley (Ford Mustang, below); 2 Josh Miller/Seb Hopkins (Aston Martin Vantage) +18.864s; 3 Michael Johnston/Chris Salkeld (BMW M4); 4 Will Moore/Matt Nicoll-Jones (Ford); 5 Carl Cavers/Lewis Plato (BMW); 6 James Townsend/Mike Simpson (Ginetta G56). FL Cowley 1m32.332s (94.87mph). P Aston Millar/Josh Rowledge (McLaren Artura). S 17. Points 1 Jack Brown/Charles Clark 124.5; 2 Johnston/Salkeld 114; 3 Cowley/Evans…

BRANDS HATCH MSVR 9-10 SEPTEMBER Tom Mills secured the GB4 Championship crown in emphatic fashion by claiming two more wins at Brands Hatch to take his season total to 10. The KMR Sport driver was never headed in either of the first two races, blasting away from pole and managing the gap behind, with title rival Cooper Webster only able to claim third in the opener. The Evans GP Australian, who missed testing on the Grand Prix layout earlier in the week, went one better in the sequel, passing race-one runner-up Liam McNeilly around the outside into Hawthorns. Despite being stuck behind Zack Ping for the majority of the full-reversed-grid race, seventh was enough for Mills to clinch the title, with Webster only able to finish fourth as Kai Daryanani…

KNOCKHILL KMSC 9-10 SEPTEMBER The latest weekend of Knockhill Motor Sports Club racing brought the usual support cast to bolster the National Formula Fords, who had made their annual pilgrimage north to compete for the prestigious David Leslie Trophy. Soaring temperatures made conditions tough for everyone in action, and it was Jordan Kelly who held off fierce competition initially to win both the Formula Ford races by a comfortable margin and take home the David Leslie trophy. The depleted nine-car entry for the feature race was a disappointment, but the drivers who did show certainly entertained those in attendance. Lucas Romanek drove hard to take home second in race two, just defeating Morgan Quinn, which can be viewed as a good warm-up ahead of the end-of-season festivals. The Scottish Fiestas…

SANTA POD DRAG RACING 7-10 SEPTEMBER Going into this event, Pro Modified star Jan Ericsson had won 16 consecutive individual match-ups. That’s an exceptional achievement in a brand of motorsport whose instant-knockout format allows no ‘next lap’ on which to make up lost ground and which punishes miscues and misfortunes decisively. The prize awaiting the Swede here at the European Finals was a third consecutive FIA European Pro Mod Championship. For the second time this season, the European series shared a combined Santa Pod round with the Motorsport UK British Drag Racing Championship. Ericsson’s winning streak began at this race one year ago, when he beat Britain’s Bobby Wallace in the final. The pair met again in May in the final of this season’s first combined race, with the same…

Formula 1 rookie Fernando Alonso already had a fastest lap at Monaco under his belt from his sole season in International F3000 when he took to the streets of the principality in his Minardi-European PS01 in practice for the 2001 Grand Prix. After a cautious run on Thursday morning, he later found the limit, and the barriers, damaging his rear suspension. A spin on Saturday morning was followed by a fine performance in qualifying, beating both Arrows cars, a Prost and his team-mate Tarso Marques to line up 18th of 22 starters. The 19-year-old then ran as high as ninth in the race before retiring with a broken gearbox. For classic motorsport DVDs and downloads head to dukevideo.com For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

Of the four British Formula 3 races at Thruxton he entered across 1994 and 1995, Warren Hughes started all of them from pole. Not a bad accolade considering his opposition included Jan Magnussen, Dario Franchitti, Oliver Gavin, Ralph Firman and Helio Castroneves. Hughes had several magic moments at the Hampshire speedbowl during a lengthy British F3 career that aptly concluded with a podium there in a 1999 one-off with Alan Docking Racing. “Probably I wouldn’t have been able to get such a strong result on another track,” he reckons. By then, Hughes was long since established as a Thruxton specialist – he’d won there in Formula Vauxhall Lotus in 1991, and set fastest lap by 0.4 seconds on the first British F3 outing for his Dallara-Fiat in 1993. His rescuing…

FORMULA 1 The legal team representing Felipe Massa hopes that 2008 Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton will support his old Brazilian rival in the bid to overturn the outcome of that year’s drivers’ title. Prompted by a recent interview with Bernie Ecclestone – who now claims to have no recollection of this Q&A – and archive footage of late FIA race director Charlie Whiting, Massa is hoping to prove that the governing body and FOM could have acted upon the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix ‘crashgate’ scandal in time to alter the championship battle. If Massa somehow succeeded, it would theoretically lead to ex-McLaren driver Hamilton, who prevailed by a single point, to lose the first of his seven drivers’ crowns. Bernardo Viana, from the Sao Paulo Vieira Rezende Advogados…

FORMULA E/LE MANS Porsche factory driver Andre Lotterer has done his time in the Formula E World Championship. The three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner announced last week that he will not be continuing in the FIA’s electric-vehicle series for a seventh season in 2024 in what he billed as his retirement from single-seater racing after 26 years. Lotterer said he was drawing a line under single-seaters and stepping back from FE to concentrate on sportscars with Porsche. He returned to front-line endurance racing this year with the new Porsche 963 LMDh in the World Endurance Championship after three seasons away while he raced for the Stuttgart marque’s factory team in FE. “Now it is time to put all my effort and attention into racing in the WEC with Porsche…

WEC The full-season entry for the World Endurance Championship could expand to 40 cars in 2024. The plan is a reaction to what should be a dramatic increase in entries in the Hypercar division and a desire to find room for multiple manufacturers in the new LMGT3 class. There looks certain to be in excess of 20 cars in Hypercar next year with the arrival of BMW, Alpine, Lamborghini and Isotta Fraschini, as well as extra cars from Cadillac and Porsche through their customer teams. The Automobile Club de l’Ouest and the FIA, who run the series, appear to need a minimum of 16 grid slots in LMGT3 for eight manufacturers each running two cars. ACO president Pierre Fillon described the attempts to accommodate more than the 36 entries accepted…

UK START TIMES Friday 15 September FP1 1030 FP2 1400 Saturday 16 September FP3 1030 QUALIFYING 1400 Sunday 17 September RACE 1300 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA TV Highlights CHANNEL 4 1730 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS Drivers Constructors MARINA BAY STATS Previous winners 2022 POLE POSITION Charles Leclerc 1m49.412s POLE LAP RECORD* Lewis Hamilton 1m36.015s (2018) RACE LAP RECORD* Kevin Magnussen 1m41.905s (2018) * layout changed for 2023 Laps led Sebastian Vettel 252 Lewis Hamilton 249 Fernando Alonso 93 Nico Rosberg 70 Sergio Perez 59 Charles Leclerc 19 Felipe Massa 17 Daniel Ricciardo 6 Jarno Trulli 5 Kimi Raikkonen 5…

Quality mustn’t suffer for sake of quantity Like Neil Davey (Your Say, 7 September), I too can recall the days of Formula 1 pre-qualifying and having 26 cars on the starting grid. However, from that same era, I can also remember the likes of the short-lived Andrea Moda F1 team and the hapless Perry McCarthy, together with the equally short-lived (despite Mastercard backing) Lola F1 team of 1997. Thus, while I agree that there are some interesting potential new additions to F1 who would bring more variety, I would caveat this agreement with the proviso that any new entrants must be of a sufficiently high standard to be able to compete competitively at the pinnacle of single-seater motorsport! James RollinBelper, Derbyshire What happens if Massa wins his case? So, if…

The 1960s GT celebration was a mini-enduro in which an intrepid owner-driver incredulously found himself in victory circle after a pro partner’s superhuman skills wrestled a powerful car forward in adverse conditions. William Paul had little experience of his Jaguar E-type, yet triple World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx looked unstoppable once wet weather favoured independent suspension, leaving the most fearless of AC Cobra pilots hamstrung. After gloriously sunny qualifying on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, rain on Sunday calmed the belated summer heat, but left the super-fast circuit difficult to read. Romain Dumas, second with Bill Shepherd’s Cobra in 2019, had qualified it on pole with a stout 1m24.256s. Shaun Lynn/Jimmie Johnson lapped 0.564s away in Q2, with Rob Huff/Richard Meins (E-type) and Gordon Shedden/Saif Assam (Cobra) also in…

Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castellacci took a first GTE Am win since 2017 aboard the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo they shared with Davide Rigon. That didn’t look likely as Flohr speared across the grass early in the third hour after contact with another car. But that incident turned out to be crucial in their victory. Flohr had come together with Ben Keating in the Corvette Racing entry that looked well set for a fourth victory of the season. The contact, deemed avoidable by the stewards, resulted in a 30-second stop/go penalty for the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in which the American and team-mates Nicky Catsburg and Nicolas Varrone had wrapped up the drivers’ title at Monza. The factory team had already lost time replacing the right-side door when…

Acropolis Rally king Colin McRae turned mastering the brutal Greek gravel roads into an art form thanks to a perfect blend of speed and mechanical sympathy. It was these attributes Kalle Rovanpera showed in abundance to survive and conquer one of the toughest World Rally Championship events in recent memory. A second Acropolis win from three attempts once again outlined the 22-year-old Rovanpera’s remarkable talent. The world champion took another step not only towards McRae’s Acropolis benchmark of five wins, but a second world title. Rovanpera’s Acropolis success in the blazing sunshine last Sunday afternoon seemed hard to believe after an unprecedented build-up to the famous rally. An extreme weather event in the form of Storm Daniel unloaded a torrent of water, the like Greece has rarely witnessed, causing flash…

DTM SACHSENRING (DEU) 9-10 SEPTEMBER ROUND 6/8 Mirko Bortolotti must have been sure the Sachsenring had something against him when an oil pressure warning showed up on his dash halfway through last Sunday’s race. He’d had a chain reaction of misfortune in race one on Saturday, after all. Set for a solid points finish, a glitch caused his tyres to spin while the car was jacked up at his pitstop. Not only did that earn him a penalty, but it made the ABS go haywire, which in turn led to an almighty lock-up leaving the pits. He reset the braking system, but flatspots and the slow lap punishment added up to ninth place and lost him the points lead to Porsche’s Thomas Preining. Having set himself up to banish the…

NASCAR CUP KANSAS (USA) 10 SEPTEMBER ROUND 28/36 Tyler Reddick took advantage of a late-race caution to pull out a critical NASCAR Cup playoff victory in Kansas. Denny Hamlin appeared set to sweep victories in both Kansas races this season until Chris Buescher’s run-in with the wall with less than six laps remaining set up a two-lap overtime. With new tyres a big advantage, teams took varying pit strategies. Daniel Suarez stayed out and inherited the lead, three drivers took on only two new tyres, and Hamlin and Reddick went for all four. At the restart, Reddick got a big run and, with Erik Jones on the outside and Joey Logano in the middle (both with two new tyres), Reddick dived to the inside off Turn 4 to grab the…

Nestled deep in the Bedford countryside is RAF Thurleigh, a former Royal Air Force station used throughout the Second World War by British and American bombers. Following the war it helped in the development of a number of planes, including the Harrier and Bristol Brabazon. While the airfield closed in 1997, it’s now home to vehicles that are no less noisy and no less interesting – racing cars. Bedford Autodrome, as it’s now known, is home to PalmerSport – a trackday experience launched by ex-Formula 1 driver Jonathan Palmer. Calling itself “the world’s greatest driving event”, it offers guests the chance to get behind the wheel of a wide variety of cars to push the limits in an event like no other. Your writer attended the event in July, and…

GOODWOOD REVIVAL The BRM V16 P15 continuation car led a race for the first time at the Goodwood Revival last weekend. Rob Hall of marque specialist Hall & Hall qualified chassis IV – a joint project with the Owen family that owns BRM – second for the Goodwood Trophy race despite stopping early to investigate a vibration. The BRM stormed off the line to lead a phalanx of ERAs in the race for 1930-51 Grand Prix and Voiturette cars. Hall and Mark Gillies (ERA R3A) swapped the lead several times and both had offs as the track became slippery with oil. Gillies went off at the chicane, while Hall visited the grass at Madgwick and St Mary’s but was still in contention on lap seven of 13 when the BRM…

MAGNIFICENT SEVENS A supercharged version of the Cup car developed by Atomic Racing and engine builder RLM made a successful debut at Donington Park earlier this month. The Cup 400 machine is based upon the 200 car for which there is a championship within the 750 Motor Club’s Sports 1000 category, but features double the power from the 1.3-litre Suzuki engine thanks to the addition of a supercharger. There are also uprated brakes, suspension and exhaust to handle the extra performance. RLM boss Richard Webb guided the Cup 400 to two podiums in the Magnificent Sevens races at the Caterham 50th Festival event and believes there is more potential to be extracted from the car. “This has been one of the most exciting engine projects yet for RLM and we’re…

BRITISH GT Newly crowned Ginetta GT champion Luke Reade is targeting a possible move into the British GT Championship for 2024 with Wolf Motorsport. The 29-year-old headed to Brands Hatch last weekend on the cusp of the inaugural Ginetta GT Championship title for the G56 machines. Reade sealed the title with victory in the first race after passing polesitter Ruben Hage on the opening lap. It was the first time he has scored a race win at the Kent venue, his local track. “Ginetta have been good to me for a few years, they were gracious enough to help me get on the grid this year,” said Reade, who claimed the G55 Pro class in the British Touring Car Championship-supporting GT4 Supercup last season. “Next year, hopefully, we’ll be in…

BRANDS HATCH BRITISH GT 9-10 SEPTEMBER Dan Harper and Darren Leung denied Jonny Adam and James Cottingham the opportunity to close out the British GT3 title by taking victory in a frenetic two-hour affair on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix layout last Sunday. Cottingham lined his 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 up on pole position knowing that victory would seal the title regardless of where his rivals finished, and he was joined by title protagonist Leung’s Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 on the front row. Their elevated starting positions proved advantageous when they were among the few who avoided the Paddock Hill Bend mayhem caused by Ian Loggie’s Mercedes spinning after contact from John Ferguson. The contact caused chaos as drivers dived left and right to avoid Loggie’s stricken car,…

BRANDS HATCH GB3 9-10 SEPTEMBER The battle for the GB3 Championship crown has moved towards being a two-driver fight, with protagonists Joseph Loake and Callum Voisin each taking a win on Brands Hatch’s Grand Prix layout last weekend. For Loake, victory in the opening race signified his fourth win of the year, more than any other driver so far, while Voisin’s success in the sequel was incredibly his first of the campaign. While both took to the top step in Kent, Alex Dunne slipped back in the title battle after failing to score a podium and, more crucially, retiring from the opener. The Hitech GP driver had entered the weekend just one point behind Voisin in the standings, but his title aspirations took a hit into Paddock Hill Bend on…

DONINGTON PARK BRSCC 9-10 SEPTEMBER TCR UK wins for Adam Shepherd and Alistair Camp, in which neither saw the chequered flag first, were typical of an incident-packed event at Donington Park. In dry conditions, Jenson Brickley consistently had the upper hand in his Cupra Leon Competicion, but ended with just a single second place to show for his efforts. In the wet, Brad Hutchison was in command, only to lose a maiden victory for a ride-height infringement on his borrowed Cupra. Shepherd’s Hyundai i30 N qualified second to Brickley, and hung on around the outside of the first corner. The pair banged doors through Holly Wood and the Craner Curves, Brickley nosing ahead at the Old Hairpin before Shepherd edged in front through Schwantz Curve just as a caution was…

MONDELLO PARK MPSC 9-10 SEPTEMBER After two stoppages, the Leinster Trophy race, awarded to the Formula Vee class this year, finally got going at Mondello Park last weekend and it looked like the newly crowned rookie champion Ronan Doherty was going to claim the famous silverware, before fate cruelly intervened and his Sheane ground to a halt. Doherty’s misfortune left Colm Blackburn – who, as ever, was impressive in traffic as he fought his way forward – in the lead and he made no mistakes to take the honours in his Leastone, adding his name to the trophy once won by Mika Hakkinen, Ayrton Senna… and Eddie Jordan. Elsewhere, Sean McGovern took the opening Fiesta Zetec honours, from fellow class young gun David Maguire, with Keith Rabbitt in third. Rabbitt…

The Goodwood Revival is one of the highlights of the motorsport calendar, the event providing an experience as close to time travel as is possible without an actual TARDIS of your own. For the purposes of this review, Autosport attended the Revival on the Friday and, despite term time having only just begun, the grandstands and grass verges were full of fans largely in period attire. The first thing to say about the Revival is that this is not something you can only devote one day too. The sheer scale of the event is such that you can only truly appreciate it by being there, as things are not limited to the track and paddock – there’s a whole other field full of exhibits, trade stands and a modestly sized…