Indholdsfortegnelse for 04/01/24 i Autosport

Happy New Year! As we start looking ahead to the season to come, rather than back at the campaign just gone, one of the biggest hopes for 2024 is that someone (anyone) can challenge Red Bull and Max Verstappen in Formula 1. Thanks to its impressive form in the second half of 2023 and excellent driver line-up (not to mention an illustrious history – arguably second only to Ferrari), McLaren is one of the key teams fans will be looking to. As Alex Kalinauckas shows in our cover feature on page 18, there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic about McLaren’s chances, though it might take a little longer for all its new assets to truly tell in the battle to close the gap to Red Bull. The new season…

LE MANS 24 HOURS The factory Porsche Penske Motorsport squad has outlined aspirations to again run three 963 LMDhs at the Le Mans 24 Hours. The German manufacturer has revealed that it has put in for three Hypercar class entries for the double-points round of the World Endurance Championship in June. Porsche wants to repeat its campaign of 2023, the maiden season of its LMDh prototype, when its IMSA SportsCar Championship squad crossed the Atlantic with a single car to join its regular WEC pair at the French enduro in June. Nick Tandy, Felipe Nasr and Mathieu Jaminet from its IMSA roster drove the additional entry. “We’re pushing! We ran three cars in 2023 and the results weren’t where we wanted them to be, but we saw the benefits of…

FORMULA 2 Arthur Leclerc is no longer a part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, which is now being led by long-time F1 engineer Jock Clear. Leclerc (left) is one of two drivers, along with James Wharton, to part ways with the FDA. He had a disappointing rookie Formula 2 season in 2023, while Australian Wharton was fourth in his second year of Italian Formula 4, although won the UAE title. Ferrari’s statement referred to Leclerc “remaining part of the Ferrari family”. While this could be a case of stating the obvious, seeing as his big brother is the team’s F1 hero, it may also point to a future in sportscar racing. Clear, meanwhile, takes over the reins at the FDA from Marco Matassa. The 60-year-old Brit engineered Jacques Villeneuve to…

OBITUARY Three-time NASCAR Cup champion Cale Yarborough, one of the best drivers to ever get behind the wheel of a stock car, passed away on New Year’s Eve at the age of 84. Among his 83 race wins from 560 starts in NASCAR’s top tier, he took four victories in the Daytona 500 and five in the Southern 500. Yarborough won his three Cup titles consecutively from 1976 to 1978. Yarborough was born into a tobacco and cotton-farming family in Timmonsville, South Carolina, and was driving a tractor by the age of nine. At 11, he lost his father in an aircraft crash and assumed more responsibilities for the family business. He set his heart on a racing career after first sneaking into the garages at his local Darlington track…

Remembering Gil de Ferran Like many of us waking up to the news on Saturday, I was both shocked and saddened to hear that Gil de Ferran – one of my all-time motorsport heroes – had passed away at the tragically young age of 56. Therefore, I thought it was only right to voice a small, personal tribute of my own. One of my first memories of motor racing as a kid was watching BBC highlights of Gil winning the 1992 British F3 title (I still own the season review on VHS) and ever since then, I had always followed Gil’s career to see how he was getting on, whether it was in F3000, his first Indycar win at Laguna Seca in 1995, his CART title wins in 2000 and…

McLaren last year celebrated the 60th anniversary of its founding as Bruce McLaren Motor Racing with a raft of special events and alternative colour schemes across its racing programmes – including harking back to its ‘Triple Crown’ successes in the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and the Le Mans 24 Hours. For McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown, seeing his team lead 76 of the 200 laps at the Indy 500 eventually won by Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden is “probably my favourite celebratory moment” of the anniversary campaign. “It was a shame we didn’t win it,” Brown adds. “We had two cars capable of winning and four strong cars in the race. I’m a big Indy 500 fan and to have one of each livery [celebrating the Triple Crown cars]…

Monte Carlo Rally 1 Ogier/Landais 2 Rovanpera/Halttunen 3 Neuville/Wydaeghe Unseasonably dry curtain-raiser dominated by Toyota. Ogier scores record-breaking ninth career win on famous twisty asphalt roads, and with new co-driver Vincent Landais is never headed as Toyota claims 16 of 18 stages. World champion Rovanpera secures second and takes Power Stage win, finishing 18.8s adrift, but ahead of Neuville’s Hyundai. Puncture hampers Evans’s podium charge, while M-Sport new recruit Tanak finishes fifth. Rally Sweden 1 Tanak/Jarveoja 2 Breen/Nagle 3 Neuville/Wydaeghe Tanak ends M-Sport Ford’s 13-month victory drought after tense head-to-head with Breen on Hyundai man’s return to the championship. Breen stars on Friday to hold rally lead, but a run-in with a snowbank and a tyre delamination end victory bid on Saturday. Breen finishes second after Neuville final-stage error wrecks…

UNITED FF1600 Formula Ford 1600 is to return to Lydden Hill for the first time in over 15 years this season, with the United FF1600 championship due to visit the Kent circuit in June. The single-seaters have not featured at Lydden since the demise of the South East Motor Sport Enthusiasts Club series, but the venue has been named on an eight-event United calendar that begins at Silverstone in April with the Jim Walsh Trophy and also includes trips to Donington Park, Brands Hatch, Castle Combe and Snetterton. The Lydden round is part of a MotorSport Vision Racing-organised event that is also due to feature the Trackday Championship and Trackday Trophy. United FF1600 promoter James Beckett said he was keen to visit at least one circuit outside of the norm.…

GINETTA JUNIOR Ginetta Junior podium finisher Charlie Hart will remain with Elite Motorsport for a second season this year. The 15-year-old took seventh overall in last year’s standings with five podiums during the campaign, his first in car racing after graduating from karting. “After learning a great deal in my first full Ginetta Junior season, I now know what is needed to win and am totally committed to taking the number one spot in 2024, both for myself and the team,” he said. “One of the biggest things I learned last year was that you have to be committed on and off the track at all times and that you need to be totally focused in making no mistakes to win races.” Nickolas Ellis will also race full-time for Elite…

I was very happy with the 2023 season. Entering my second year in the GB3 Championship, and second in single-seaters, there was a lot of expectation around me regarding my results because the year before, when I finished fourth in the standings, was quite good considering my lack of experience. We came out with the result that we set out to achieve, which was to win the title. At the start of the season we perhaps weren’t the fastest, but the main thing that we did very well – better than everybody else – was that we’d always pick up points, and we’d always make the most of any opportunity that would come to us. If that meant we weren’t the fastest, then we’d settle for second, that was fine, whereas…

BOOK REVIEW ROGER WILLIAMSON: A COLLECTION OF MEMORIES Kevin Guthrie & Darren Banks RRP: £45 The ‘lost generation’ of 1970s British talents who were taken too soon continues to fascinate, as those old enough to have seen them in action add bifocals to their rose-tinted glasses. Imagine unthinkable losses of George Russell, Lando Norris and Alex Albon, and you might get some idea as to how those north of 55 years old feel about the tragedies of Roger Williamson, Tom Pryce and Tony Brise. For Roger Williamson: A Collection of Memories From Friends, Mechanics, Rivals and Family (to use its full title), authors Darren Banks and Kevin Guthrie have repeated the format they used from their recent book on Pryce. As with the Welshman, there’s little point in a straight…

From his 23 IndyCar starts – across four seasons with as many different teams – Luca Filippi scored a single series podium at Toronto in 2015. The Italian finished runner-up to CFH Racing team-mate Josef Newgarden in a memorable 1-2 at the circuit he regards today as his favourite, but that only tells part of the story of a race he feels he could have won. The 1.8-mile track woven through the lakeside streets of Canada’s largest city is one Filippi “clicked” with on his first visit in 2014. The second stop of a two-round deal with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing didn’t yield a result, but the GP2 stalwart’s flashes of pace earned him a road-and-street-course deal with CFH – the merger of Sarah Fisher’s and Ed Carpenter’s teams –…

WEC Le Mans 24 Hours winner James Calado will remain a Ferrari driver for the foreseeable future. The Brit has signed a new multi-year deal to stay with the marque he joined straight out of single-seaters for the 2014 season. The new agreement, announced just before Christmas, follows statements from Ferrari sportscar racing boss Antonello Coletta insisting that the Italian manufacturer had no plans to change the line-up for the second season of the 499P Le Mans Hypercar in the World Endurance Championship. Full confirmation of its Hypercar class squad is expected next week: so far only Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Fuoco have been listed in the pair of factory AF Corse-run 499Ps. “We’re happy to be able to count on a quick and reliable driver like James, who…

TCR WORLD TOUR The FIA has a ‘world’ touring car championship again following a one-year hiatus. Following the demise of the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) at the end of 2022, TCR global rights holder WSC Group set up the TCR World Tour for 2023, with rounds piggybacking national or regional TCR championships. Now a three-year agreement is in place from 2024 for the series to become the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour. A calendar is in place for this year and features just one round in Europe: the opening event at Vallelunga on 19-21 April. Former World Touring Car Championship/WTCR venue Marrakech is on the schedule in May, while there are again events in South America, and once more it finishes with a triple weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park,…

“Can McLaren do an Aston?” We posed that question on the cover of our 18 May 2023 issue. Now, entering 2024, we’re asking whether the orange team might soon do rather better: could it even rival Red Bull in the upcoming Formula 1 campaign? That the question can be posed at all says so much about the 2023 season just gone for McLaren. The team had a reliability nightmare across Bahrain testing and the opening race there last year, and a car that struggled to escape Q1 in many of the early rounds, yet ended up fourth in the constructors’ championship. It eventually finished comfortably clear of Aston Martin, which had made its own big jump over the winter and was significantly more competitive in the early events. “We’re sitting…

For more than three decades, Autosport International has been the leading European motorsport show and often marks the start of the new season. The four-day event combines business, engineering, thought leadership debates and live action, and for 2024 there’s a fresh look and feel. The 2023 show was very much about restarting things after the hiatus brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. But now it’s about looking ahead. The plan is to improve the show over the next three years, and the 2024 edition is the first with the new concept and floor plan to streamline the halls and improve the visitor flow. Perhaps the biggest change for 2024 is that many cars will join the stars on the main stage, which has been redesigned. Chief among the attractions will…

A sense of perpetual progress emanates from the Prema Racing factory in Grisignano di Zocco. With a new building housing its endurance racing collaboration with Iron Lynx and Lamborghini nearing completion, a simulator being installed, and newly delivered parts of the new Formula 2 car waiting for assembly, it’s clear that this is a team constantly searching for success. But the occasion for this visit is a poignant look back to the past, celebrating the team’s 40th anniversary. With 39 drivers’ titles and 25 teams’ championships under its belt, Prema is undeniably one of the junior series’ most successful operations, and a byword for prestige in the paddock among drivers and teams alike. Founded by Angelo Rosin in 1983, it initially opted for a foray into prototype racing, before quickly…

Picking a WRC2 champion at the start of the season seemed virtually impossible, such was the level of worthy contenders in 2023. Several young pretenders challenged, but it was an experienced head in Andreas Mikkelsen who came out on top. The 2021 champion and 2022 runner-up started the season without a WRC2 programme, but ended as champion following a remarkable campaign that only began in May. While Mikkelsen was on the sidelines, the PH Sport Citroen of Yohan Rossel took wins in Monte Carlo and Croatia to move into an early lead, while Toksport Skoda driver Oliver Solberg impressed to triumph on home soil in Sweden. Solberg showed strong pace throughout the year, and in Portugal he lost a likely win to Toksport team-mate Gus Greensmith following a one-minute penalty…

GB3 GB3 Championship racer Jarrod Waberski will contest a second season in the series, and has joined Elite Motorsport for the upcoming campaign. The 18-year-old South African finished ninth overall in his maiden season of GB3 with Fortec Motorsports, with a single podium at Spa. Waberski raced in GB4 in 2022, finishing runner-up in the standings with four wins. “My main goal is to win the championship,” said Waberski, who has been testing with Elite and whose father Garth raced in British Formula 3 in 1995. “It will be tough as there is always a super-strong and competitive field in GB3, but I believe Elite and I can definitely win it. The biggest thing I learnt last year was how important it is to be consistent and how important it…

AMERICAN SPEEDFEST Special Ford-versus-Chevy races featuring American muscle cars are due to be held at this year’s American SpeedFest at Brands Hatch as part of the latest initiative from the organisers of the popular Bernie’s V8s and Historic Outlaws category. A series of races celebrating the Corvette’s 70th anniversary were held last season, but now attention is turning to two of the US’s greatest car manufacturers. Two sprint races are due to be held at the 8-9 June event, but other competitions will also determine whether Ford or Chevy is the overall winner. Points are set to be awarded in several extra categories alongside on-track performance, including for the best presented and most popular cars, chosen by fans. The races are due to be open to historic cars only, but…

MALLORY PARK 750MC PLUM PUDDING 26 DECEMBER A huge crowd, some of whom queued for hours, witnessed the final UK motor racing of 2023 at Mallory Park’s traditional 750 Motor Club-organised Plum Pudding event, with a strong grid of Saloon Cars in particular providing a spectacle suitable for the occasion. Nick Cristofaro took the lead of the opening race by driving his Honda Civic Type R around the outside of the similar car of front-row starter Andrew Idoine at Gerard’s Bend on the first lap, but he was soon passed by Daniel Kell’s spectacular Ford Sierra XR4x4. The pair stayed within a second of one another for much of the race, the battle intensifying amid traffic in the closing stages, but the Sierra held sway. Carl Swan had been heading…

5 DAN LLOYD – 111 POINTS The amiable Yorkshireman had pushed the boat out on budget in 2022 with a ride at Excelr8, which netted three race wins and a hefty Oulton Park crash-damage bill. Lloyd did his less financially onerous 2023 deal with Hard relatively early, but the Cupra Leon was a less competitive proposition than his old Hyundai had been. Few will forget his last-lap heartbreak at Donington when the driveshaft failed while leading. 4 TOM ONSLOW-COLE – 114 The new Volkswagen Passat CC (as it was then known) had good potential and Onslow-Cole, who joined Hard for 2013, had race-winning pedigree. The highlight of his seven rounds was an eye-opening pair of podiums at Thruxton, but budget caused a parting of the ways and they split in the summer.…

FORMULA 1 Sergio Perez has been told that a Formula 1 seat at Red Bull for 2025 is his to lose as he heads into the final year of his current contract. Team boss Christian Horner has consistently reiterated his commitment to the Mexican for the start of the 2024 season, but has been clear that Red Bull wants him to battle more consistently near the front if it is to consider offering a fresh deal. The squad is happy to bide its time before finalising its driver line-up, especially because AlphaTauri returnee Daniel Ricciardo can be slotted in alongside Max Verstappen if needed. “The luxury position we’re in is that we’re not in any rush,” said Horner. “We’ve got loads of options and I think it is Checo’s seat…

FORMULA 1 Ex-McLaren Formula 1 boss Ron Dennis has received a knighthood in King Charles III’s New Year Honours list, while Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has been awarded a CBE. The 76-year-old Dennis, who was previously recognised with a CBE for his contribution to motor racing, has earned his decoration this time around for services to industry and charity. This is owed to his current work as the chair of Podium Analytics (an NGO and charity working to reduce injury in sport) and patron of Tommy’s Campaign (researching and raising awareness of baby loss, supporting grieving families). Horner, meanwhile, had previously been made an Officer of the British Empire in 2013, when Red Bull enjoyed a run of four consecutive championship doubles that started in 2010. Now, after…

FORMULA 2 Ferrari’s exciting Essex teenager Ollie Bearman is to continue in Formula 2 for a second season this year with Prema Racing. Bearman, 18, stepped up to F2 last season off the back of a startling rookie campaign in FIA F3 in 2022 – his first year with Prema and Ferrari. He claimed four F2 race wins, three of which were in feature races, plus three poles. Among this was a clean sweep of pole and both victories on the challenging Baku street track. For 2024, Bearman will partner Prema’s Mercedes F1 protege Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who makes the leap to F2 as reigning Formula Regional European champion. The Italian squad’s two drivers will have a combined age of 35 for the opening race weekends! “The way he adapted,…

We all know the 2023 Formula 1 season was not a classic when it came to the championship ‘fight’, thanks to Max Verstappen’s domination. But what about the races? How did they stack up? Once again, Autosport teamed up with author Roger Smith to rate each of the races – or perhaps grands prix would be more accurate, since sprints were not included. Each was scored across a range of factors, including how incident-packed it was, titanic battles, shock factor, an exceptional performance and the conditions/other circumstances. Smith’s final ratings were created from the average of the top three relevant ‘highlights’ from that list. The average of that and Autosport’s own score was then taken as the final mark out of 100. When a race averaged a .5 score, it…

MOTORSPORT THE CARS WILL ALSO BE THE STARS For the first time, drivers will be joined by their cars on stage at Autosport International. The all-new main stage will allow the cars to be driven from ‘parc ferme’ into the fan areas for the first time, bringing the stars and cars together at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre. James Calado, Britain’s newest Le Mans winner, will be accompanied by his Ferrari 499P on Saturday. Calado hit a new career pinnacle with an outstanding overall victory at the 24 Hours and this will provide a rare opportunity to see him and his Hypercar, given there are currently no World Endurance Championship rounds in the UK. The rival Porsche 963 of Hertz Team Jota will also make an appearance. Team owner Sam Hignett…

1 KALLE ROVANPERA Displayed qualities of complete superstar driver to defend title through mix of speed, smart driving, consistency and maturity. He managed 72 stage wins, crushing victories in Portugal and Estonia, a clever Acropolis triumph, and retired just once. 2 OTT TANAK Rarely 100% comfortable driving the M-Sport Ford Puma, the 2019 world champion was still able to score two wins and score 30 stage wins in a car not as developed as its factory Toyota and Hyundai rivals. Title tilt was derailed by series of reliability issues. 3 SEBASTIEN OGIER Eight-time champion produced his very best to take three impressive wins in partial campaign that included record-breaking triumphs in Monte Carlo and Mexico, and a gruelling duel with Rovanpera in Kenya. Could have easily added more wins in Sardinia and Greece.…

HGPCA The Historic Grand Prix Cars Association has announced an attractive calendar of UK and continental fixtures for 2024, with the 70th anniversary Oulton Park Gold Cup a focal point. The Vintage Sports-Car Club’s Spring Start on Silverstone’s National circuit on 21 April gives home members an opportunity to blow away the winter cobwebs and shake down cars before venturing further afield. Races at the Zandvoort Historic Grand Prix – a regular haunt for the past decade – in June and Brno in the Czech Republic in July presage a return to the Gold Cup on 26-28 July. Showcasing the Cooper-led front to rear-engined revolution of the late 1950s and screaming 1500cc V8s to 1965, committed HGPCA racers always wow spectators at Oulton, where 2024’s event celebrates 70 years since…

FORMULA 4 British rising star Freddie Slater will race in Italian Formula 4 this season with leading squad Prema Racing. The 15-year-old impressed greatly during his first full season of car racing in 2023, dominating the Ginetta Junior championship to seal the title with 16 wins from 21 starts before competing in British F4 with Double R Racing, taking a best result of fourth. Slater has already raced with Prema in Euro 4, and also starred towards the front of the Macau F4 race with the Italian team, taking second in the qualification race and ninth in the final after suffering electrical problems. “Being part of Prema is a massive thing for me – I’m really excited to get going with them in 2024,” said Slater, who was voted as…

GUARDS TROPHY Several major anniversaries are due to be celebrated this season as part of the Guards Trophy for 1960s sports-racers and GTs. Sixty years of the original Guards championship will be commemorated, alongside 50 years of this machinery forming part of the Historic Sports Car Club’s portfolio. The 60th birthdays of the Lotus Elan 26R and TVR Griffith – two cars that have enjoyed plenty of success in the series – will also be celebrated at the Snetterton and Thruxton rounds respectively. “The Guards Trophy has long been one of the HSCC’s core championships and is set for another excellent season in 2024,” said HSCC CEO Andy Dee-Crowne. “It would be really good to have 60 cars racing across the season in which we will celebrate three 60th anniversaries.”…

750 MOTOR CLUB 750 FORMULA CHAMPIONSHIP Peter Bove (Darvi 88P) ALFA ROMEO CHAMPIONSHIP James Ford (156) ARMED FORCES RACE CHALLENGE Jonathan Candler (Peugeot 306 GTI) BIKESPORTS CHAMPIONSHIP Leon Morrell (Radical SR3) BMW CAR CLUB RACING CHAMPIONSHIP Steve Schweikhardt (E46 330) CLASSIC STOCK HATCH CHAMPIONSHIP Stewart Place (Peugeot 205 GTI) CLIO SPORT CHAMPIONSHIP Chris Lawrence (182) CLUB ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP Scott Parkin/Daniel Silvester (VW Golf TDI) F1000 CHAMPIONSHIP Thomas Gadd FORMULA VEE CHAMPIONSHIP Matthew Hyde (AHS Dominator) HOT HATCH CHAMPIONSHIP David Drinkwater (BMW Compact) LOCOST CHAMPIONSHIP Craig Land MA7DA CHAMPIONSHIP Jonathan Lisseter MX-5 CUP Jordan Johnson SPORTS 1000 CHAMPIONSHIP Ryan Yarrow (Spire GT3S) SPORT SPECIALS CHAMPIONSHIP Neil Turner (Caterham Seven) TOYOTA MR2 CHAMPIONSHIP Adam Lockwood (Roadster) TYPE R TROPHY Joe Jessup BRITISH AUTOMOBILE RACING CLUB 2CVs Kris Tovey BRITCAR TROPHY Rhys Lloyd/Jack…

Polesitter Mika Hakkinen (West Surrey Racing Ralt-Honda RT33) sizes up David Brabham’s similar (but Volkswagen-powered) Bowman Racing machine into Druids before regaining the lead of the 1989 non-championship end-of-season Cellnet Superprix at Brands Hatch. Hakkinen had endured a tricky debut Formula 3 season in a Reynard with Dragon Motorsport, the team he’d won the 1988 European Opel Lotus title with and moved up with him to F3. This was his first outing with WSR and in a Ralt – an impressive curtain-raiser to him winning the British title with the squad in 1990. For classic downloads and DVDs head to dukevideo.com…