Indholdsfortegnelse for 12/10/23 i Autosport

Max Verstappen is a three-time Formula 1 world champion. And (whisper it), he was only born in 1997… Right, now that we’re all feeling old, let’s appreciate what a sensational talent he is, and what his and Red Bull’s achievement represents. It’s 10 years since the excited chatter about the son of Jos Verstappen’s impending first steps from a glittering karting career into cars. Scarcely has there been so much hype around a driver at that stage of their career, and never has it been more justified. You know the story – mega (if not title-winning) F3 season, signed at 16 for F1, impressive rookie campaign, fairytale first-time-out victory with Red Bull… and now this. Many of us who feel old would prefer title number three to have been clinched…

FORMULA 1 Williams boss James Vowles has again tried to support under-pressure Formula 1 rookie Logan Sargeant by confirming that the team will wait until the end of this year before deciding who should partner Alex Albon in 2024. The Grove squad has the last remaining vacancy, but Vowles has publicly said that the seat is Sargeant’s if he hits certain performance criteria. “I suspect it’ll be to the end of the season [when a decision is made],” explained ex-Mercedes strategy chief Vowles. “I think we’ve already committed to the direction of travel we’re in. He has targets to hit, and it’d be wrong to go against that decision point. So, end of the year… The pace is there. That’s the thing that we wouldn’t be able to fix or…

IMSA Meyer Shank Racing, winner of the past two runnings of the Daytona 24 Hours, will not be continuing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship next year. But the reigning champion team insists it is only taking a year off from the GTP class and that it intends to return in 2025. Officially, MSR is stepping aside from IMSA to concentrate on its IndyCar activities, where in addition to its two full-season entries it will add an extra Honda-powered car for the Indianapolis 500 in May. The Ohio-based team is known to have explored its options for 2024. What is clear, however, isthatitwouldn’tbe maintaining its relationship with Acura that dates back to 2017. It started running the Honda brand’s NSX GT3 in the GT Daytona class before moving to the Daytona…

BTCC Newly crowned Jack Sears Trophy champion Andrew Watson says he wants to stay with the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra squad for his second British Touring Car Championship season in 2024. The Northern Irish ex-sportscar racer led a five-way fight for the JST – for drivers who have never scored an overall BTCC podium before the season – going into last weekend’s Brands Hatch finale. He clinched it in the second race with a steady drive after an early collision “knocked the tracking out, and then we had powersteering issues”. “It’s been tough, the Jack Sears,” said Watson, who scored two overall podiums in his first season racing a front-wheel-drive car. “Every race, every lap we have been thinking about it. That was my main goal and to get…

The new Maserati GT2, based on the marque’s MC20 sportscar, made its race debut in last weekend’s GT2 European Series finale at Paul Ricard. The car entered by LP Racing claimed pole position for race one and then finished second and seventh in the two races with Luca Pirri and Leonardo Gorini sharing driving duties. Head of Maserati Corse Giovanni Sgro said the marque “couldn’t have hoped for a better debut” with the twin-turbo V6 racer, which was unveiled at the Spa 24 Hours in June. POLAND IN WRC FOR 2024 Poland has rejoined the World Rally Championship for 2024. The country had been vying for a return since it lost its place on the calendar after the 2017 event due to repeated breaches of spectator safety. The rally’s official…

In a huge warehouse across the road from Silverstone circuit, there sit some famously broken parts of modern Mercedes Formula 1 cars. Among the mammoth catalogue of almost every car part and piece of team kit the squad has produced at its Brackley base 10 miles down the A43 are scuffed sidepods from the W07s that sensationally collided on the opening lap of the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona. So too is the scarily scraped halo from the W12 ridden over by Max Verstappen during his crash with Lewis Hamilton at Monza in 2021. Will Hamilton’s broken right-rear wheelhub from last weekend’s Qatar GP one day be proudly displayed along with these items? Or are the circumstances so different this time? Would it be a painful reminder of an…

Max Verstappen clinched his third Formula 1 world title in last Saturday’s Qatar sprint race, then took his 14th grand prix victory of 2023 the following day. That all sounds rather predictable and perhaps it was, but an unexpected tyre issue and strong McLaren attack made the Qatar GP more interesting than some of Red Bull’s wins this season. This was not exactly how Pirelli would have wanted to spend the F1 race weekend preceding the announcement that it will remain as the championship’s sole tyre supplier until at least 2028 (see p6). Instead of sitting comfortably on that news, it had to work with the FIA to ensure that there would be a Qatar GP at all in 2023, such was the concern over the tyres being able to…

The Losail International Circuit has been revamped for its return to the Formula 1 calendar, with all new paddock and pits. But while fresh, differing colour flashes lining the edge of the facility’s mammoth run-off areas are nice, it’s still in essence a barren, unremarkable desert setting. Just like in 2021, the only feature of note is the nearby Losail Multipurpose Hall, looming large in the final sector. So, who better to ask for advice on which of the near-identical fast corners to watch practice from than the drivers? “I do like the high-speed section – Turns 14, 15,” offers Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. “The last sector I think is quite unique in the championship,” says Fernando Alonso, who adds: “And hopefully not, but maybe the track limits…” “And this being…

Alfa Romeo got both cars into the points for the first time this season, which moved the Sauber-run team above Haas to eighth position in the Formula 1 constructors’ championship. Valtteri Bottas took the opportunity to stop under the early safety car following the clash between the two Mercedes drivers on the opening lap, which left him with a full 18-lap stint to complete on the hard tyre at the end. By then, the Finn was reeling in Esteban Ocon but ran out of time to make a move. Zhou Guanyu stopped at the later end of each stint, necessitating a last-gasp stint on the soft tyre, and the Chinese racer got close enough to Pierre Gasly, Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll to make up ground once a litany of…

The big prize – the BTCC drivers’ crown – was done and dusted. But it was nip and tuck for the manufacturers’ title going into the final race. Could the Alliance Racing Fords add this one to Ash Sutton’s glory and the teams’ award as NAPA Racing, or would there be consolation for the West Surrey Racing-run BMW squadron? WSR’s Colin Turkington had enjoyed a strong run from seventh on the grid to fourth on soft tyres in the opening race. He then got a good start to the follow-up, only for some nerfage with Bobby Thompson and Dan Cammish at Druids to have the most bizarre of consequences. “The right-rear of my car got run into and I got snap oversteer,” sighed the Northern Irishman. “And in that snap…

NASCAR CUP CHARLOTTE (USA) 8 OCTOBER ROUND 32/36 AJ Allmendinger may not be in the NASCAR Cup playoffs, but that did not take away from the importance of his win last Sunday at the Charlotte ‘roval’. The former Champ Car race winner had only two Cup victories – both of which also came on road courses – in 425 career Cup starts, and has had a rocky 2023 season with Chevrolet team Kaulig Racing. But he got his reward after deftly navigating five restarts in the final 31 laps and fighting off a challenge from top playoff driver William Byron in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevy. Allmendinger could be heard crying over his team radio during the cool-down lap. While he completed his initial interview on the frontstretch, he walked through…

BRITISH GT DTM race winner, Daytona 24 Hours class victor and Mercedes factory racer Philip Ellis will partner British GT Championship points leader James Cottingham at the Donington Park season finale next weekend in place of the previously slated Phil Keen. Keen had been due to compete in the title decider alongside Cottingham in 2 Seas’ Mercedes-AMG GT3 in place of regular driver Jonny Adam, who has a clashing European Le Mans Series commitment. But the Anglo-Bahraini squad has now slotted in Anglo-Swiss-German Ellis, a works Mercedes driver since 2021, to fill the role alongside Cottingham, who holds a 13-point lead. While Ellis has represented Mercedes across the continents, he has never raced in British GT. Cottingham said: “Mercedes-AMG have reached out to provide one of their drivers for the…

FORMULA JUNIOR Another resounding double victory for Horatio Fitz-Simon at Mugello last weekend has confirmed him as the 2023 Lurani Trophy Formula Junior champion. On his debut at the Italian F1 circuit, Fitz-Simon qualified the ART Car Club’s Lotus 22, repaired by Michael Hibberd Motorsport since its Castle Combe spill, on pole and reset the lap record in his dominance. Both podiums were locked out by MHM-run cars, Clive Richards and Andrew Hibberd leading the chase on Saturday and finishing in the opposite order on Sunday in sister Lotus 22s. Hibberd fought off Roberto Tonetti (Brabham BT6). Race two was red-flagged on lap one after Saturday’s class D winner and overall title contender Stuart Roach (Alexis Mk3) collided with a spinning Brabham. The Lurani Trophy concludes at Jerez in a…

MINI CHALLENGE Former Mazda MX-5 star Sam Smith plans a full season in the Mini Challenge next year after making a winning return at Brands Hatch last weekend. The Hybrid Tune driver suffered a huge crash with Dan Zelos approaching Redgate in the Donington Park opener and was forced onto the sidelines while he recovered until Silverstone last month. But after taking ninth in the first race, he withdrew from the rest of that weekend. “I just wasn’t ready,” said Smith (below). “A lot of people were asking how I was and I just didn’t feel comfortable. The team have really helped me mentally and I had a reset for this weekend. “Antony [Williams, promoter], Rhea [Beauchamp, championship manager] and Chloe [Meadows, parts manager] from the series have all been…

KUMHO BMWS The long-running Kumho BMW Championship is moving across from the British Automobile Racing Club to the Classic Sports Car Club next season. The series has suffered a fall in entries this year after the Minis that had bolstered grids in recent campaigns joined the new Mini Challenge Clubsport division. There were talks for Kumho BMW to join the BARC’s Classic Touring Car Racing Club fold, but these were unsuccessful and led to drivers’ representative Jason West – who is taking over from Trevor Ford, after 22 years operating the championship – striking an agreement with the CSCC. “BARC have been amazing to the Kumho championship over the years, especially this year,” said West. “With the Minis going to do their own thing, our numbers dropped but BARC really…

BRITISH F4 Tensions were running high at the start of the Brands Hatch British Formula 4 weekend with just one point separating season-long rivals Louis Sharp and Will Macintyre. Would it be another nailbiting and controversial decider like in the rain of 2020, when Zak O’Sullivan and Luke Browning entered the event with their scores level? The warm sunshine took one variable out of the mix, and Sharp calmed any nerves further by securing a crucial double pole in qualifying – all the more important given how tricky it can be to pass around the Grand Prix layout. Rodin Carlin driver Sharp duly converted his pole into a sixth win of the season in the opener, making a great launch and then never really being challenged by Deagen Fairclough after…

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP GB With the overall title already decided, Adam Smalley, James Kellett and Robert de Haan tried their best to put on a show in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB finale. Polesitter de Haan did not get the best of starts to the opener and lost out to Century Motorsport duo Kellett and Josh Malin. But the Richardson Racing driver was immediately on the attack, passing Malin at Druids and storming past Kellett at Surtees. Yet the Dutchman ran wide on the exit and Kellett dived back ahead. De Haan was unable to retaliate over the next few laps, and the race was then neutralised when Jake Giddings was turned into the Surtees barriers. This brought out the safety car and, with the barrier damaged and the timetable…

Seb Morris’s climb up the motorsport ladder has made him a well-known name in the national paddocks, but only recently has he started to appear regularly on the UK scene again. The 2017 British GT champion and ex-Bentley factory driver has been competing in the GT Cup, supporting Charles Dawson with RAM Racing in a Mercedes GT4. “As I had no confirmed drive last year, I worked hard with the family company and it kept me focused, but I kept looking for drives,” said Morris. “Tim Sugden [RAM team boss] paired me with Charles at RAM Racing and he is a total newcomer in his first proper year of racing, but our target is to do the British GT Championship with him.” At Snetterton, the pair claimed two thirds and…

CASTLE COMBE CCRC FF1600 Races 1 & 2 Luke Cooper (Swift SC20) CCRC GT Races 1 & 2 Angus Fender (Dodge Viper Competition, above) CCRC MIGHTY MINIS Race 1 David Kirkpatrick (Super) Race 2 Steve Rideout (Super) CCRC SALOONS Races 1 & 2 Adam Prebble (Vauxhall Astra turbo) CCRC HOT HATCH Sam Stride (Honda Civic EP3) MONOPOSTO TIEDEMAN TROPHY Race 1 George Line (Dallara-VW/Spiess F308) Race 2 Jason Timms (Dallara-Suzuki F301) BARC HYUNDAI COUPE CUP Race 1 Luca Staccini Anzanello Race 2 Mark Ridout For full results visit: tsl-timing.com OULTON PARK TOYOTA MR2s Race 1 Shaun Traynor (Roadster) Race 2 Adam Lockwood (Roadster) LOCOST Races 1 & 2 David Martin F1000 Race 1 Thomas Gadd Race 2 Murfie Aldridge (below) 750 FORMULA Race 1 Ed Pither (PRS 1b) Race 2…

Polesitter Rubens Barrichello gets no further than the Turn 1 gravel trap at the start of the 2002 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, his Ferrari’s missing rear wing and roll-hoop camera indicating the skyward trajectory just taken by the Williams of Ralf Schumacher (whose front wing is just visible at the top of the image), in the first impact of a demolition derby that results in eight cars being eliminated. Determined not to be one of them, Kimi Raikkonen employs evasive manoeuvres on his McLaren debut, and what follows is a fine recovery drive culminating in a third-place finish – the Finn’s maiden podium. For classic motorsport DVDs and downloads head to dukevideo.com For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

FORMULA 1 Pirelli has been awarded Formula 1’s contract to supply tyres for the 2025-27 seasons after fending off a challenge from Japanese rival Bridgestone. The latest deal, which also covers the FIA F2 and F3 categories, includes an option for 2028. This is expected to be Pirelli’s final stint in the championship. It replaced Bridgestone for 2011 with a brief to consistently replicate the unpredictability of the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix that was sparked by cool temperatures and a patched-up track surface leading to massive graining. The FIA opened the tender for applications this March. Pirelli and Bridgestone outlined their plans via detailed technical dossiers. Both gained approval from the governing body ahead of reaching a commercial agreement with FOM – not dissimilar to the process Andretti Global is…

WEC/IMSA Cadillac has opted against expanding its attack on the full World Endurance Championship next year. It will again field a single V-Series.R LMDh in the Hypercar class alongside a continued two-car presence in the GTP class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship. The General Motors brand has cited costs as the reason for not expanding its WEC attack to two cars, something it had insisted was a desire through this season. “We’re going to have one car in the WEC for next year, mainly just due to some cost constraints of this platform,” said GM motorsport boss Mark Stielow. “GM, Chevy and Cadillac are fighting in a lot of areas, so we have to balance out and keep all of our children happy and clothed. You have to make tough…

It may seem strange that a programme revealed back in the summer of 2019 is finally going to make it into competition in 2025. Three years after Aston Martin pushed its Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar onto the back-burner, the gas has been whacked back up to 11. Yet it’s perhaps not so strange when you understand how the stars have aligned to make this the right time for the British manufacturer to revitalise a project that will take it back to the Le Mans 24 Hours in pursuit of a repeat of its 1959 victory with the DBR1. Aston’s intent to bid for outright honours at Le Mans as part of a World Endurance Championship campaign with the Adrian Newey-inspired Valkyrie was announced on the eve of the French enduro…

There was a moment when the Qatar GP weekend felt utterly predictable, like many other weekends in this Red Bull-dominated season. It was when Max Verstappen blitzed to a 1m23.778s on his first run in Q3, after his team-mate Sergio Perez had been knocked out in Q2, undone by a Turn 5 track-limits violation. The big curveball for the weekend was to come in the hours after qualifying, when Pirelli discovered the sidewall separation issue stemming from repeated, lengthy kerb strikes that so overshadowed the rest of the event. But on the second Q3 runs, with Verstappen sitting 0.527s clear of Lewis Hamilton in second, something rather remarkable happened. The Dutchman found himself in the gaggle of drivers slipping off on the new low-grip Losail surface and had to abandon…

Ferrari was forced to pin its Qatar Grand Prix hopes on Charles Leclerc when Carlos Sainz was unable to start the race due to a fuel system issue. The Spaniard had qualified in a muted 12th, but the problems diagnosed on his Ferrari shortly before his recon lap to the grid nixed any hopes of a recovery. Leclerc said that concerns over those issues occurring on his own car forced him to take fewer liberties in the race, which yielded a solid if unspectacular fifth-place finish. The Monegasque had to avoid the crashing Mercedes pair into the first corner and watch Oscar Piastri slip through the inside, and ceded places to Lando Norris and George Russell as they made their way through the order with faster machinery. Leclerc still beat…

Sergio Perez’s late-race demotion thanks to multiple track-limits offences cost him only one point, but Red Bull felt that more was possible despite a pitlane start to the race. Initial progress onto the cusp of the points eventually petered out and Perez was drawn into a battle with Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly, with all three becoming afflicted by penalties through their close-quarters battles. Perez has managed just five points in the past three races and, with no points forthcoming in Qatar’s sprint race, is now only 30 ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the battle over second place in the drivers’ championship. “I think we really need to sit down with Checo because we know what he’s capable of and he’s not hitting that form at the moment,” lamented Red…

Just when it looked like Shane van Gisbergen would depart Supercars without a parting shot, he landed the ultimate blow by winning the Bathurst 1000. The reigning Mount Panorama winner came into the ‘Great Race’ as a genuine unknown. Twelve months ago he was the overwhelming favourite. But this time, between his dislike of the Gen3 platform, the distraction of his impending NASCAR move and the rise of Erebus Motorsport, he was merely among the favourites. And probably not at the top of the list. The first three days of the race meeting supported that theory perfectly. The Triple Eight Chevrolet was never far from the top, but it was far from a force to be reckoned with. That was in contrast to the Erebus Camaro piloted by series leader…

WORLD RALLYCROSS KILLARNEY (ZAF) 7-8 OCTOBER ROUND 4/5 The World Rallycross Championship resumed in South Africa following its lengthy hiatus owing to the July fire at Lydden, with all the competitors now piloting identical RX2e machinery. While Johan Kristoffersson, bidding for his sixth title, took victory on Saturday, ex-DTM king Timo Scheider scored an emotional triumph on Sunday to ensure that the championship will go down to next month’s finale in Hong Kong. Kristoffersson, Kevin Hansen and Scheider shared the heat wins on Saturday. Kristoffersson then dominated his semi-final and made good his escape in the final to evade the drama behind. A clash between Ole Christian Veiby and Timmy Hansen allowed Scheider to nip past both, but the real beneficiary was Kevin Hansen, who had already taken his joker…

TCR UK Andy Wilmot will return to the TCR UK grid for its season finale at Brands Hatch next weekend in memory of Dan Kirby, who died last month. Former British Touring Car driver and Volkswagen Cup champion Wilmot was Kirby’s business partner at Trade Price Cars and managed their BTCC team, as well as racing alongside him in TCR UK. Wilmot has raced sporadically this year, competing in two TCR UK rounds, including at Silverstone in August in the Cupra Leon in which Kirby started the season. He will again drive this car, run by Rob Boston Racing, and will carry Kirby’s livery and race number. “It’s been a difficult time for me, having lost a friend, business partner and team-mate in such a cruel way, and I want…

Can-Am cars have been revealed as the first of the special demonstrations at next year’s Goodwood Members’ Meeting. It is expected that up to 25 of the iconic sports-racers will grace the Sussex circuit at the 13-14 April event – including examples from McLaren, Porsche and Shadow – 50 years on from the end of the original championship. The race content for the meeting has already been revealed and includes a special Ken Miles Cup contest to celebrate 60 years of the Ford Mustang. BRIAN BUTLER Three-time MG Cockshoot Cup champion Brian Butler died last weekend after fighting cancer for the past two years. He was 62. The Yorkshireman began racing at the age of 50 and went on to win the Cockshoot Cup for the first time in 2017.…

BRC The British Rally Championship has undergone a revamp for 2024, including a reworked calendar and new title sponsor. In a bid to reduce costs and try to boost falling entries, the championship is set to remain on the UK mainland and will hold six rounds, with seven points-scoring opportunities available. This includes an equal split of asphalt and gravel rallies, with two new events in the form of the closed-roads North West Stages and Severn Valley Stages, which will open the season on 22-23 March and 13 April respectively. The season is then completed by the Jim Clark Rally (24-25 May), Grampian Forest Rally (9-10 August), Rali Ceredigion (31 August-1 September, which will also count as two point-scoring opportunities with the opening day counting as one score and the…

One of the many decisions those organising a national racing category need to take is whether to run it as a series or a championship. Some clubs traditionally prefer to administer championships, while others enjoy the greater freedom that operating series brings – but there is not necessarily a right or wrong answer in terms of which is best. Yet it is a question that’s in the spotlight for those in charge of MG Car Club categories that are in the process of finalising new homes for 2024 following the club’s decision to end its long history of organising race events. For instance, earlier this month, the MG Trophy was confirmed as joining the Classic Sports Car Club fold, in a move that enables it to retain championship status –…

MINI CHALLENGE It was just as well that Dan Zelos made sure of his second Mini Challenge title in the opening Brands Hatch race, since gearbox oil that started pouring onto his windscreen forced him to pit in the second contest and could have created a nervy finale. Zelos started second but briefly fell behind Spencer Stevenson on the first lap of race one before surging back ahead into Surtees. Stevenson tried again at Druids but slid wide, and Zelos then stayed clear of nearest rival Will Orton to take the crown. “It’s a bit surreal to be winning on a Saturday,” said Zelos. “Two years ago, it went down to the final lap! It feels amazing and Excelr8 Motorsport deserve it. Last season was a tough year for me…

BRITISH FORMULA 4 Race 1 (13 laps) 1 Louis Sharp; 2 Deagen Fairclough +1.076s; 3 Will Macintyre; 4 Jimmy Piszcyk; 5 Kanato Le; 6 Patrick Heuzenroeder. Fastest lap Fairclough 1m24.729s (103.38mph). Pole Sharp. Starters 18. Race 2 (13 laps) 1 Josh Irfan; 2 Jack Sherwood +0.678s; 3 Isaac Barashi; 4 Freddie Slater; 5 James Higgins; 6 Fairclough. FL Fairclough 1m25.686s (102.23mph). P Barashi. S 19. Race 3 (15 laps) 1 Fairclough; 2 Sharp +2.433s; 3 Macintyre; 4 Piszcyk; 5 Gabriel Stilp; 6 Aqil Alibhai. FL Fairclough 1m24.932s (103.13mph). P Sharp. S 19. Points 1 Sharp 384; 2 Macintyre 371; 3 Fairclough 296; 4 Dion Gowda 226; 5 Piszcyk 220; 6 Higgins 217. MINI CHALLENGE Race 1 (13 laps) 1 Sam Smith; 2 Dan Zelos +0.389s; 3 Will Orton; 4 Sam…

SNETTERTON MSVR 7-8 OCTOBER Hugo Cook’s Audi R8 GT3 came out on top of the first two GT Cup races at Snetterton last weekend, cruising to a comfortable lights-to flag victory in the sprint opener. The McLaren 720S GT3s of Tom Roche and Ian Loggie occupied second and third throughout, as Marcus Short’s Mosler MT900 and Dan de Zille’s Ferrari 488 completed the top five. Sixth finally went to Paul Bailey’s Lamborghini Huracan after a great duel with Jay Shepherd’s Lotus Evora. Simon Orange’s McLaren led the first half of the longer race two, with Sacha Kakad initially second in the Cook Audi. Loggie ousted Short’s Mosler for third into Agostini on lap three, before taking second from Kakad at Brundle six laps later. European GT4 driver Tom Emson took…

KNOCKHILL SMRC 8 OCTOBER Sam Corson held his nerve brilliantly during a tense final event of the year to successfully defend his C1 Cup title as the Scottish Motor Racing Club season came to a close at Knockhill last weekend. For a while, it seemed as though Corson’s grasp on the crown might have slipped after a brush with a backmarker in the closing stages of the opening race dropped him behind chief rival Dan Martin. But a measured drive in race two to second place, ahead of Martin, was enough to earn the SMRC Esports graduate back-to-back titles. “I knew that, if I finished ahead of Dan, then it would be fine in terms of the championship,” said Corson post-race. Like much of Scotland’s central belt, heavy rain and…

CASTLE COMBE CCRC 7 OCTOBER Luke Cooper did all he could to thwart Felix Fisher’s Formula Ford title defence, but the factory Swift ace’s fighting victory in Saturday’s Grand Finals opener was insufficient, with Fisher’s TM Racing Ray in his slipstream. “You work years for a first championship, then two come along at once,” grinned Fisher. With pressure off, the equally stunning sequel was academic, Cooper making it four wins to Fisher’s six. Ben Mitchell also forged Richard Hudson-Evans’s Van Diemen past Fisher to cement third in the table, fastest lap his final flourish. Young American Jack Sullivan impressed with a close fourth. The contest for 1990-95 cars went to race two after Sam Street came back to pip fellow Swift SC92 driver Nathan Ward first time out. Street, who…

BOOK POWERED BY GIBSON – FROM F1 TO LE MANS: THE STORY OF GIBSON TECHNOLOGY Mark Cole; RRP £40 “Hand on heart, it’s plug and play – you can almost forget the engine, because reliability-wise we’ve never had a failure, whether with the Ligiers or ORECAS. The quality across the engines has been quite remarkable.” When you consider the amount of racing that United Autosports has done in LMP2 since Gibson Technology was appointed as the category’s sole engine supplier in 2017, the quoted testimonial from its team boss Richard Dean in a new Porter Press book written by Mark Cole is worth taking a moment to reflect on. True, the 4.2-litre GK428 V8 LMP2 engine has been gradually pegged back to ensure that the heavier and slower Hypercars that…

“I grew up in the PlayStation era – even to this day I play Gran Turismo. The Nissan Skyline was always my dream car, and it’s the favourite of those that I’ve driven.” British Touring Car Championship star Jake Hill was probably never going to choose the NGTC Volkswagen CC as the machine that gets his mouth salivating. But alongside the competitive weaponry he’s more recently taken to 12 BTCC race wins, there’s a whole squadron of historic exotica he has raced or tested. It’s Ric Wood’s recreation of Kazuyoshi Hoshino’s 1990 All-Japan Touring Car title-winning Skyline GT-R that tops them. “I’m lucky enough to own a Skyline, and my love for them just grew further, despite them being a massive pain in the arse!” he laughs. “But nonetheless, Ric’s race…

FORMULA 1 Yuki Tsunoda has quashed rumours that his strong Honda links could pave the way for an Aston Martin Formula 1 switch. He has instead reinforced his commitment to the Red Bull family and targets becoming Max Verstappen’s team-mate. Tsunoda has agreed a one-year contract extension with AlphaTauri for 2024. This renewal of vows was announced just in time for the recent Japanese Grand Prix, the home race for himself and Honda, which provides financial support for his career. But the manufacturer will end its Red Bull ties at the end of 2025 to become the works engine supplier to Aston Martin, which may need to replace one or both of an ageing Fernando Alonso and underperforming Lance Stroll. While Aston top brass have quietly approached Lando Norris and…

FORMULA 1 Formula 1’s bottom four teams have been granted an extra $20million on capital expenditure. This should help level the playing field under the restrictive cost cap, which has left the comparative minnows struggling to upgrade their infrastructure to match the baked-in advantage held by the biggest spenders of the previous laissez-faire era. The FIA and teams have settled on a league table that effectively splits the grid into three divisions. For the top-tier performers – Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari – their CapEx allowance for the 2021-24 seasons has grown from $45m to $51m. Sources suggest that the FIA didn’t want to give them any extra. The middle set – McLaren, Alpine and Aston Martin – has a $13m boost to $58m. The bottom class of AlphaTauri, Sauber,…

WEC McLaren is nearing a return to the Le Mans 24 Hours – not with a prototype in the Hypercar ranks, but with its 720S EVO GT3 racer. It has revealed a partnership with the United Autosports team to put two cars on the grid of the French enduro as part of a World Endurance Championship campaign in 2024. The winner of Le Mans in 1995 with the F1 GTR has announced a partnership with LMP2 stalwart United, co-owned by McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown, in a bid for grid slots in the new LMGT3 class. Entries in next year’s replacement for GTE Am are awarded to the manufacturer, which is then required to nominate the team to represent it. Entries in LMGT3 are likely to be oversubscribed, though last…

INDYCAR Romain Grosjean has taken legal action and filed for arbitration against Andretti Autosport, the team with which he has contested the past two IndyCar seasons. The 37-year-old made a statement on social media acknowledging his departure from the team, recently renamed Andretti Global. He said that he “expected to continue racing with the fine people of Andretti Autosport in the coming years”, adding that he was “disappointed that is not being fulfilled. I am pursuing other options to continue my IndyCar career in pursuit of excellence. “I have commenced an arbitration proceeding in Indiana against Andretti Autosport, seeking to protect my rights. I am represented by John Maley and Mark Owens of Barnes & Thornburg, LLP.” Grosjean, who made 179 starts in F1, joined Andretti following a maiden IndyCar…

5 MIKA SALO Just the five MC12 race starts, but won three of them. His partnership with Andrea Bertolini yielded two wins and a second in 2004, another likely podium only prevented by a Dubai engine failure. Returned to join Thomas Biagi for Silverstone one-off in place of Michael Bartels in 2007, and looked like he’d never been away in consummate guest outing that yielded a crucial victory. 4 ALEX MULLER Somehow never won in an MC12, but Muller had pace in spades, as proven by four poles for Vitaphone in 2009. Denied victory at Adria by a penalty when the wrong wheels were fitted in the pits, and led at Spa until a wheel parted company. Blotted his copybook in a Hungary crash, but a partial 2010 with second-string Hegersport team…

Mark it in your diaries. Wednesday 4 October 2023 – the day everything changed in MotoGP. Actually, Sunday 19 July 2020 is when the path that led Marc Marquez to his decision to quit Honda for 2024 truly began. Perhaps that’s an oversimplification, but it’s not unreasonable to think that, had he not badly broken his arm three years ago, the events of last week would likely never have come to pass. Let’s use something a bit more tangible to back this theory up. In August 2021, he told Autosport: “I think the pre-injury Marc could challenge for the title on this bike. I probably couldn’t win as many [races] as in 2019, but I could fight for the world championship and be in the top three very often. And…

“I might just give the FIA five minutes first to make sure I’m actually on pole!” The impact of Oscar Piastri’s deadpan witticisms have rivalled his immediate impression as a brilliant Formula 1 driver in 2023 – the Australian’s comment, following his Friday qualifying track-limits penalty, displaying amusing caution after securing pole for the sprint race. He’d done so after Lando Norris blew a lap that might have headed his McLaren team-mate were it not for a final corner off, while Max Verstappen ended up third after losing his best Q3 time and soft-tyre freshness to a Turn 5 track-limits slip. The top three started the 19-lap sprint race on medium tyres, while Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari pair Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc immediately behind plumped for the softs.…

The high heat and humidity at the Losail circuit led most of the drivers to conclude that the Qatar Grand Prix was one of the toughest of their careers, and the medical centre had to treat a handful of the field for heat-related issues in the aftermath. Williams driver Logan Sargeant underlined the difficulties faced during the Grand Prix, and his eventual retirement from dehydration and heatstroke had been forecast a few laps prior when he complained of feeling unwell over the radio. Ambient temperatures ranged from 32-33C and, allied to the humidity of around 70%, left drivers having to flick their visors up to try to cool off, or to attempt to guide oncoming air into the cockpit with their hands. After the race, Alex Albon had to visit…

FERNANDO ALONSO ASTON MARTIN DRIVER Was this harder than a Dakar Rally? I had a test here with Nasser [Al-Attiyah] in August before Qatar and it was similar to today. Qatar always in this time of the year is quite extreme. In our case, I think for Lance [Stroll] and myself both of us struggled a little bit with temperature in the seat on the right-hand side. I got a burn in the first 15 laps so I even asked on the radio if they could throw me some water or something at the pitstop, which apparently is not allowed. So yeah, it was quite extreme. But nevertheless a couple of points, so good for the team. I felt more competitive this weekend than the last few events. Ninth in…

The crowning of Ash Sutton as British Touring Car champion for a record-equalling fourth time was a routine exercise at Brands Hatch last weekend. And this he achieved via victory in race one from his only title rival Tom Ingram. Yet for all his often phlegmatic disposition, the tears were flowing, his voice choking as if he’d snatched it in a final-race thriller. This one means a lot to Sutton, and you expect it to be because, at the age of 29, he’s already joined Andy Rouse and Colin Turkington in the exclusive club of quadruple BTCC kings. Not so. “I don’t plan to leave it at four,” he stated after getting out of his Ford Focus ST. Instead, it’s because of the work that Alliance Racing, the new guise…

The weather fitted the mood perfectly on the Wednesday before the Bathurst 1000. Among the gloomy clouds and their unrelenting rain, there was a tense, bitter atmosphere hanging over the paddock. The clock was ticking down to the first practice session. And the Ford teams didn’t know what aero specification their cars would be running. For weeks Ford had been lobbying to make more parity-related aero changes to the Mustang. Between its own CFD and on-track work, the Blue Oval determined that changes to the spotlight cheeks on the front bar, returning the rear wing to its pre-July position, and running a wider wing element without a gurney would improve the Mustang and give it a fighting chance against the Camaro. The issue, however, was that the parity threshold hadn’t…

INTERCONTINENTAL GT CHALLENGE INDIANAPOLIS (USA) 7 OCTOBER ROUND 4/5 Sheldon van der Linde, Philipp Eng and Dries Vanthoor took a commanding victory for Team WRT at the Indianapolis 8 Hours in a race that BMW dominated, albeit failed to convert to a 1-2 finish thanks to a costly incident for Augusto Farfus. The Belgian squad took charge of the race in the opening hour, with the orange Sixt-liveried BMW taken into the lead by Eng while Farfus followed into second place. WRT’s day appeared to turn when the leading car was ordered to serve a drive-through penalty for a stint time violation approaching the race’s halfway point. This dropped it to fourth place, with the sister car of Farfus, Maxime Martin and Charles Weerts taking over the lead ahead of…

GROUP C An aerospace and military vehicle engineer is building a modern-day road-legal Group C sports-prototype after being inspired by attending the Le Mans 24 Hours as a child. Mark Sparrow has designed the Tertre Rouge Racing Car himself and has carried out much of the construction work, aside from some help from a local machining firm and Andy Robinson building the chassis. The car meets the latest Motorsport UK and FIA safety specifications but is designed to the Group C regulations. It is due to weigh in at 950kg and will be powered by a five-litre Mercedes twin-turbocharged engine. Sparrow has used his mechanical engineering background to design each of the components to tiny tolerances to ensure the best possible fit, and is now aiming to have the engine…

CLUBMANS SPORTS PROTOTYPE Clubmans Sports Prototype class champion Mathieu Gauthier-Thornton aims to step up to the top-tier CSP1 division next year after fighting back to clinch his first car racing title. The successful sim racer took part in the Nissan GT Academy in 2015 before stepping into real-life competition in Clubmans two years ago after winning a prize drive. Gauthier-Thornton impressed in a shootout organised by former Clubmans champion Alex Champkin, and almost won on his debut. It was only a late deal that got him on the grid this season, and his campaign got off to a frustrating start when he missed all three races at the opening Silverstone event due to engine woes on his Phantom P94. “I wasn’t anticipating I would be doing this year and it…

The Mini 7 Racing Club honoured Peter Baldwin at Silverstone last weekend following the seven-time Miglia champion’s death in August. Baldwin’s family, including son Gareth who had raced his car in recent years, joined current and past racers for a pitlane gathering to remember Baldwin and other recently lost club members including three-time Miglia champion Myk Cable, who died earlier this year. Fittingly, the on-track action included Miglia class victories for two of Baldwin’s proteges, Rupert Deeth and Phil Bullen-Brown. CAPACITY GB3 GRID Jack Sherwood and Patrick Heuzenroeder will make their GB3 Championship debuts for Chris Dittmann Racing and Elite Motorsport respectively this weekend when the single-seater series visits Zandvoort for the first time. Sherwood joins after racing in both GB4 and British Formula 4, while Heuzenroeder has also raced…

SILVERSTONE EQUIPE SUPER SPRINT 7 OCTOBER Brian Caudwell dominated Saturday’s Equipe Super Sprint at Silverstone, winning every race he started in his 1965 AC Cobra. Caudwell was challenged early in the red final (for the fastest driver/car combinations) by Martin Reynolds in his Ford Mustang Mach1, but avoided the chaos to take a strong win and ensure he was undefeated across his four races, the early series of heats determining which final each driver would contest. “Perfect is an understatement,” beamed Caudwell. “The whole day the sun has shone, no accidents, no incidents, it’s been a fabulous day and I’ve loved the format. In those early laps [Reynolds] kept me honest, but I noticed his tyres went horribly off after a couple of laps so I knew that it would…

PORSCHE SPRINT CHALLENGE GB It may have been one of the closest title battles heading to Brands Hatch, but two further wins to add to the hat-trick he scored last time out at Silverstone propelled Joe Warhurst to Porsche Sprint Challenge GB glory with a race to spare. The Team Parker teenager found some sensational form at just the right time and backed up his Northamptonshire success with a lights-to-flag victory in the Kent opener. With main rival Steve Roberts only guiding his Redline-run Cayman to fourth, it put Warhurst in a commanding position. But a safety-car period in race two put Roberts right onto his rival’s tail, although Warhurst was able to resist the pressure to take another win and seal the title. “It means everything – I’ve worked…

SILVERSTONE BRSCC 7-8 OCTOBER Spencer Wanstall and Joe Thompson triumphed in the Mini Se7en battles on Silverstone’s International circuit last weekend, but it was Mike Jordan who took the championship. After polesitter Connor O’Brien’s engine expired early in the opener, Wanstall traded the lead with Thompson and Ross Billison, while Jordan kept a watching brief. As Thompson passed Billison into the Club chicane for the final time, Wanstall kept out of reach to secure victory at the track where he rolled last year. Borrowed cylinder head installed for Sunday’s sequel, O’Brien’s reign as champion ended with another retirement when a plug lead came loose. It also halted Wanstall’s improved fortune at the circuit as he spun avoiding O’Brien and was then collected by Nick Swift, making a one-off appearance in…

GT CUP Race 1 Hugo Cook (Audi R8 GT3) Race 2 Sacha Kakad/Hugo Cook (Audi R8 GT3) Race 3 Tom Emson (McLaren 720S GT3) Race 4 Simon Orange/Tom Roche (McLaren 720S GT3) BOXSTER CUP Race 1 Mike Thompson (below) Race 2 Jonathan Lovell LEGENDS CHAMPIONSHIP Races 1 & 3 Ben Higgins Races 2, 4 & 5 Jack Parker Race 6 Luke Simmons PORSCHE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP Mark McAleer (997) Z CARS & PRODUCTION GTI Races 1 & 2 Henry Riley (VW Golf) BELL SPORT CHALLENGE Races 1 & 2 Andy Christopher (Ferrari 488) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

PEMBREY BARC 7-8 OCTOBER The British Automobile Racing Club’s final 2023 visit to Pembrey served up a feast of entertainment as the British Truck Racing Championship took centre stage for the penultimate time this year. The return to South Wales for six blockbuster races, one of which was rescheduled from Thruxton due to timetable constraints back in July, captivated the bumper trackside crowd, although it did generate a number of red flags. Ryan Smith’s pursuit of an unprecedented eighth consecutive Division 1 title remains on course after he powered his Daimler Freightliner to two race wins. Any chance of him lifting the coveted crown will have to wait, because Smith could do nothing to stop his chief title protagonists Stuart Oliver, David Jenkins and Bradley Smith from all triumphing. In…

OULTON PARK 750MC 7 OCTOBER The Toyota MR2 Championship went down to the final laps at Oulton Park last weekend with Adam Lockwood and Shaun Traynor equal on points after Traynor won the first race from Lockwood. Four-time champion Traynor struggled for grip early in the opener and both he and Lockwood had some work to do to pass Neil Stratton, but they later pulled clear once they stopped holding each other up. Race two was the decider, with Traynor and Lockwood starting first and second. It looked like Lockwood would walk away with the title and his first win when Traynor stalled on the line, but Traynor pushed valiantly through the field to get back into contention, especially finding a way around Stratton. In the end, it was Lockwood’s…