Indholdsfortegnelse for 28/03/24 i Autosport

Carlos Sainz has had a ridiculous past couple of months. First, he found out that he had lost his Ferrari drive to Lewis Hamilton for 2025, then he missed the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix thanks to appendicitis, and now he has won on his first Formula 1 race back. Sainz is the only non-Red Bull driver to have won a GP since November 2022. He’s also proved to be a strong team-mate to Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc in his F1 career so far. It’s surely only a matter of time before he finds employment in 2025. The Spaniard would be an asset to any team on the grid. Aside from Sainz’s personal story, the Ferrari success in Australia was a feel-good result for F1 after two dominant…

The French IDEC Sport team has unveiled a livery for the ORECA-Gibson 07 it will field in the European Le Mans Series and at the Le Mans 24 Hours that celebrates Matra’s sportscar successes half a century ago. The paintjob, which incorporates hints of the 1974 Le Mans-winning MS670C, follows a tie-up between IDEC and the owners of the Matra brand, electric-bike manufacturer Groupe Rebirth. What IDEC sporting boss Nicolas Minassian described as “a proper sponsorship deal” could be a lead-in to Matra re-entering the automotive sector. “We’re exploring possible developments for the future,” said Minassian.…

BTCC One of the worst-kept secrets of the British Touring Car Championship off-season is finally out in the open: 2012 World Touring Car champion Rob Huff will contest his first full domestic campaign in 20 years with Toyota team Speedworks Motorsport. It was announced today (Thursday) that 44-year-old Huff will partner Andrew Watson in the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK line-up, completing a four-strong entry of Corolla GR Sports from the Cheshire squad that also includes the LKQ pairing of Josh Cook and Aiden Moffat. Since his rookie touring car season in the 2004 BTCC with SEAT, Huff has been ever-present at world level, his only break coming in 2020 when he competed in Sweden and won the Scandinavian title. In that period he has contested two rounds of the BTCC:…

In praise of non-championship F1 races I applaud Kevin Turner’s idea of blooding reserve drivers in non-championship F1 races (Pit + Paddock, 21 March); it makes complete sense. I fondly remember attending several Race of Champions events at Brands Hatch and an International Trophy at Silverstone back in the 1970s. But there were a lot fewer grands prix back then and with the current ramped-up calendar of 24 races (far too many in my humble opinion), I’m wondering where these races could be squeezed in. I seem to remember Donington Park trying to organise a non-championship event, prior to their only world championship round in 1993, and having to abandon it due to lack of support. I suspect the current regime would not support such events, which is a great…

We are camped out at Turn 1, keenly waiting for the thunder down under. The sound of Porsches and V8-powered Supercars have already torn through Albert Park in a motorsport jamboree, and the packed-out crowd is now anticipating the guttural snarls of turbo-hybrid V6s as the Formula 1 cars come to play. Autosport’s F1 Editor Matt Kew comes along for the ride one last time before he moves to pastures new, so we’re hoping the 20 drivers can provide adequate entertainment as a send-off. There’s more camber in Turn 1 than you’d expect, and it’s up to the driver to carry enough speed through the right-hander and wind off the lock as they accelerate through Turn 2. It’s easy to spot the difference between a fast car and a slow…

YUKI TSUNODA RB DRIVER The weekend couldn’t really have gone much better, all things considered… Yeah. Very consistent throughout the week. The car felt good straight away from FP1. And we knew I just had to put it all together. In the end, the race wasn’t easy. Actually, a couple of teams picked up the pace quite a lot but we were able to maximise performance, opportunities. So, I’m pretty happy, and the team did a fantastic job. How important is it that you now have momentum? Well, every race week, I’m just resetting myself – it’s a new race week. At the same time each track we perform a little bit differently. But, actually, our car is pretty consistent. I think the good thing is that we are pretty…

FORMULA 2 MELBOURNE (AUS) 23-24 MARCH ROUND 3/14 Isack Hadjar took the chequered flag first in both Formula 2 races supporting the Australian Grand Prix, but what happened at the start of the first cost him one victory, and what occurred on the 10th lap of the second set up one that had looked unlikely. The Red Bull Junior had qualified his Campos Racing car eighth for Sunday’s feature race, giving him third on the partially reversed grid for the sprint on Saturday. Hadjar made a good start, then veered right into the middle of the track to take the fight to polesitter Roman Stanek. But Hadjar was unaware that Campos and Red Bull stablemate Pepe Marti had made an even better start from fourth on the grid. As he…

“It’s going to be tough,” states Jonny Adam. “With 19 cars in GT3, good line-ups, the quality I think has gone up another level from last year. And there’s good returning teams that know their baseline of where they should be.” With Darren Leung, one half of Century Motorsport’s 2023 victorious pairing, switching to the international scene, the path is open for a new combination to seize the initiative in the British GT Championship, which kicks off this weekend at Oulton Park. But, as four-time champion Adam attests, any would-be titlewinner needs to see off a stacked field that has no shortage of serious contenders – including six previous champions. After racing a Mercedes last year, Adam is back in an Aston Martin, run by series newcomer Blackthorn, alongside Giacomo…

MSVR A race for NASCAR machinery will form part of the new USA Snetterton 300 event this year and, if it proves successful, further bouts could be added to MotorSport Vision’s other American-themed fixtures. The Historic American Stockcar Racing contest has been inspired by the growing number of NASCARs that have conducted demonstration runs at the American SpeedFest at Brands Hatch. MSVR’s competitions manager Joe East has been working with one such driver, Simon Chalkly, on the idea of a race now the group of regular NASCAR demo participants has grown to between 15 and 20 car owners. “A few members of the group decided to take their ARDS tests to obtain a race licence, with the aim of helping their understanding of how things work on track both inside…

GOODWOOD Experienced historics racer Andrew Haddon will share his newly rebuilt Ford Mustang with three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti in the Ken Miles Trophy race at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting on 13-14 April. Haddon’s car has been a racing machine all of its life and competed extensively in the US when new, racing at tracks including Daytona, Sebring and Riverside. “It’s got a cool racing history – it is one of the few Mustangs with a period racing history but it was looking a bit tired when we got it,” said Haddon. Andy Wolfe’s team has now reprepared the car and it will run back in period livery at Goodwood before contesting some Masters Pre-’66 Touring Car races.…

BRC It was a short, sharp shock for the revived British Rally Championship on Saturday as a convoluted North West Stages opened the 2024 campaign in Lancashire, with WRC2 regular Chris Ingram taking the spoils. Ingram, who won the event in 2022, wasted no time in stamping his mark on the leaderboard in his Volkswagen Polo, going almost six seconds faster than four-time BRC champion Keith Cronin on the opening stage. In turn, Cronin’s Fiesta Rally2 was 5.8s up on 2022 title winner and fellow Ford driver Osian Pryce. Ingram made the most of a clean road in front of him to edge out another 8s on the second test and, despite a scratch time for Pryce, Ingram enjoyed a comfortable 18s gap after three tests. But the brutal Lancashire…

BRITISH HILLCLIMB The new Nova Motorsport brand that has acquired the assets of Avon Motorsport has signed a five-year agreement to supply tyres and become title sponsor of the British Hillclimb Championship. Avon had a long history in hillclimbing prior to its owner Goodyear deciding to close the Wiltshire factory at the end of 2023, and Nova is seeking to build upon that legacy. In the short term, it will continue to supply Avon tyres for the series but will look to develop new offerings in the future. Many of Nova’s key staff joined from Avon with experience of the hillclimb world. “Hillclimbing holds a very special place in the hearts of everyone at Nova Motorsport,” said Jack Price, the company’s product category manager. “We are honoured to uphold the…

BRANDS HATCH EQUIPE 23-24 MARCH Fans of historic and MG Car Club racing in recent years will know that Tom Smith is no stranger to success at the wheel of an MGB Roadster, but the twin triumph he achieved in the Equipe Libre doubleheader at Brands Hatch last weekend came as a surprise to even himself as the Equipe Classic Racing season got under way. Driving a newly built Lotus Elan that he first tested only two weeks ago, Smith came out on top in a memorable battle with David Methley’s 4.7-litre AC Cobra to take victory in an opening race where mixed weather conditions contributed to the excitement. Poleman Methley initially held the advantage from Smith before a hailstorm soaked the track and Smith spun backwards at Clearways. Having…

KIRKISTOWN 500MRCI 23 MARCH Mini Coopers are, it seems, herd animals. At least the ones in Scotland seem to be, and their annual visit to Northern Ireland last weekend certainly proved the theory. Fifteen cars crossed the Irish Sea, and the by-now-expected Caledonian carambolage ensued at Kirkistown, with some extra weather factors adding to the fun. Three contests provided opportunities for close contact in cold/dry and cold/wet conditions, as they huddled together for extra warmth in races that produced three different winners. Race one gave Jason Ballantyne victory by 0.4 seconds from Chad Little and the ever-competitive Oly Mortimer. This was despite a prolonged mid-race delay after the only local driver, Jack Irvine, contrived to roll at the Hairpin on lap five while in the lead bunch. Undaunted, Irvine was…

BOOK REVIEW F1 RACING CONFIDENTIAL – INSIDE STORIES FROM THE WORLD OF FORMULA 1 Giles Richards RRP £20 Autosport loves a challenge – even one we’re posing ourselves as we delve into F1 Racing Confidential – Inside Stories from the World of Formula 1. In this new release from The Guardian’s F1 correspondent, Giles Richards, will we really learn something new about F1 in every one of the 19 chapters contained within as the introduction so declares? Game on, Gilo… First up, we hear from two very familiar figures: Red Bull and Mercedes team principals Christian Horner and Toto Wolff. Richards’ style in telling their tales is also something of an immediate surprise that will continue throughout. This is not a series of first-person essays that lay out the perspectives…

“I really love this track,” says Franck Montagny of the Jerez circuit in southern Spain. “My chief engineer in Renault’s test team was always saying, ‘If there was a championship of 15 races in Jerez, you are world champion every year.’” The Frenchman never raced at the track he picks as his favourite, but relished every time he tested Formula 1 machinery there between 2002 and 2007. That’s just as well; he completed just shy of 5000 laps of the circuit for Renault, Toyota and Force India, including 2312 tours across 22 days in 2005 alone. “It suited a lot the Renault car at this time,” notes Montagny, who started seven grands prix for Super Aguri in 2006. “I understand that people don’t really love it. But I tell you,…

WEC Peugeot has finally confirmed sportscar racing’s worst-kept secret of the winter with the release of images of the updated version of its 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar – complete with a rear wing. The French manufacturer had revealed last November that it was overhauling the avant-garde concept of its World Endurance Championship contender, but it had tried to keep the world guessing on whether it would incorporate a conventional wing at the back for the first time. The addition of a what is a low-slung wing follows a change of tyre dimensions for the revised car, which will come on stream at round two of this year’s WEC at Imola on 21 April. A machine known simply as the 9X8 2024 runs 29cm wide tyres at the front and 34cm…

FORMULA 1 Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has been accused of “arrogance, lack of professionalism and non-engagement” by a member of the House of Lords for allegedly failing to respond to concerns over the championship racing in countries with poor human rights records. Liberal Democrat peer Lord Scriven called a ‘sportswashing’ debate in the chamber last week, a measure he thought necessary given Domenicali’s lack of communication. Scriven claims he has contacted series chiefs, including on two occasions in the past month alone, but has had nothing in return since 2018. F1 disputes this, telling Autosport that they have replied within the past 12 months. Still, Scriven added that Domenicali’s “leadership of F1 is damaging the reputation of his sport, as he refuses to engage with the issues around F1…

BTCC A new BMW engine has been developed for the marque’s official team West Surrey Racing to use in this season’s British Touring Car Championship. BMW UK finally got round this week to confirming that quadruple champion Colin Turkington and 11-time race winner Adam Morgan will remain on board the ‘works’ cars for 2024, alongside the Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport entry for Jake Hill that was announced in December. They all complained in 2023 of the 330e M Sport’s straightline speed, especially when running in traffic. WSR chief Dick Bennetts said that the team’s long-time engine specialist Neil Brown Engineering has been working since September on developing an evolution of the B48 powerplant produced at BMW’s Hams Hall plant in Warwickshire, in place of the old Austrian-supplied mills.…

EUROPEAN LE MANS SERIES The 22-strong flotilla of ORECA-Gibson 07 LMP2 cars will be unleashed in the European Le Mans Series this season. They will be back almost to the specification in which they raced before a series of moves to slow the class on the introduction of the Hypercar category to the World Endurance Championship in 2021. The one-make, 4.2-litre normally aspirated Gibson V8 has been given back 40bhp for the coming season, which starts at Barcelona next month. That brings maximum power up to 580bhp, close to the 600 the unit pushed out in 2017-20. The missing 20bhp is the result of a 500rpm rev reduction that remains in place. At the same time, weight has been reduced from 950 to 930kg, the original class minimum. Fuel capacity…

Carlos Sainz’s performance in securing his third Formula 1 career win in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix was superb, made all the more remarkable given he’d got back into his Ferrari in Melbourne just 14 days after undergoing keyhole surgery in Jeddah to remove his appendix. The 29-year-old credited a strict “programming” of his time spent recovering in bed, including when he’d rise and go for walks, and what food was best given his situation. Twice a day he entered a hyperbaric chamber designed to boost oxygen intake and aid healing, and used an Indiba machine that specifically helps with wounds. In the aftermath of Sainz inflicting Red Bull’s second defeat in 26 races, he is, of course, still searching for new employment in 2025, given Ferrari’s move to replace him…

“When I was about to catch the flight to come to Australia, I was still in bed,” reflected Carlos Sainz of his recovery from the appendicitis that ruled him out of the preceding Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. “I could barely use my abdominal muscles to move. And I was like, ‘This is not going to happen.’ But I took the flight, and suddenly when I landed in Australia, the feeling was a lot better…” A little over two weeks after going under the knife in Jeddah, Sainz was busy trying not to be too disappointed about missing out on pole position for Ferrari at the Australian GP. A couple of minuscule mistakes, allied to a turnaround in Max Verstappen’s pace after Red Bull had initially struggled for performance at the…

The Sauber squad had another 2024 race ruined by disastrous pitstops, with Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu finishing 14th and 15th in Melbourne. Bottas had made positive progress from his first Q1 escape of the year and was 11th when the first set of pitstops began. But his service hit 28 seconds due to Sauber’s pit equipment again causing a cross-threaded wheelnut, and so the Finn dropped to the rear of the field. The lengthy stop was down to modifications the team had made following long stops in Bahrain and Jeddah being “not robust enough”, according to Sauber head of trackside engineering Xevi Pujolar. Later in the race, Bottas’s normal-length second stop featured a wheelnut rolling into the fast lane in the pits, for which Sauber was fined €5000. Zhou…

AUSTRALIAN SUPERCARS MELBOURNE (AUS) 21-24 MARCH ROUND 2/12 Triple Eight’s stranglehold on the victories in the 2024 Supercars Championship has come to an end – by the margin of less than one second, and in just one of the four races at Albert Park. Will Brown and Broc Feeney split the wins in the two opening races at the Melbourne track and their Chevrolets finished 1-2 in the third when the two cars that had been fighting for the lead – both Fords – managed to run into each other. In Sunday’s final race, again the T8 Camaros trailed until – again – the two Fords fighting for the lead collided. But this time around it was another Chevy that took the win. Nearly four years after his last series…

FORMULA 3 MELBOURNE (AUS) 23-24 MARCH ROUND 2/10 The Formula 3 action was dialled up to 11 around the Albert Park circuit last weekend, with the four DRS zones providing a thrill-a-minute display. It culminated in Dino Beganovic finally scoring his first F3 win, the Ferrari protege at last kick-starting his 2024 title challenge with his first points of the season besides the two he claimed for taking pole position in Bahrain. Beganovic was third in qualifying this time, behind second-placed Prema Racing team-mate Gabriele Mini, and session-topping Trident driver Leonardo Fornaroli. But in Saturday’s partially reversed grid sprint race it was Martinius Stenshorne (Hitech GP) and poleman Laurens van Hoepen (ART Grand Prix) who fought out the lead. The duo swapped positions on multiple occasions, despite a tag from…

The McLaren Artura was immediately competitive on its arrival in British GT last season. Optimum Motorsport pair Jack Brown and Charles Clark had a mathematical chance of clinching the GT4 title with two races to spare, only for luck to desert them across the final three races, while a purple patch for Academy Motorsport drivers Erik Evans and Matt Cowley snatched away the crown on the swansong for the outgoing version of the Ford Mustang. While Clark pursues GT3 opportunities, Brown will seek to make amends with Optimum after his Silver title consolation prize. He’s joined by 17-year-old Zac Meakin, who impressed team boss Shaun Goff in testing after racing a Team Parker-run Artura last year and contesting the GT4 Winter Series in Elite Motorsport’s example. “The overall championship is…

CTCRC One-time Britcar champion Danny Harrison will race a Honda Integra Type R in the Classic Touring Car Racing Club’s Super Tourers category at Donington Park this weekend. Harrison won the 2020 Britcar Endurance title alongside Jem Hepworth in a Praga R1T, before joining long-time backer Richard Wheeler in a Nissan GT-R the following year. Aside from a one-off GB4 outing in 2022, he has had few opportunities since but will now drive Wheeler’s ex-Dan Eaves 2005 race-winning British Touring Car machine (below). The BTC-T spec Integra has not raced since a few outings with Bernie and Marcus Hoggarth in 2017-18. Wheeler recently acquired the car, which has been prepared for Donington and Brands Hatch’s Super Touring Power by John Danby Racing. “I didn’t have any plans for this year…

BRITISH GT A late change to Century Motorsport’s lineup means that 2023 British GT champion Dan Harper has been given an unexpected chance to go for another title. The Northern Irishman had been set to sit out the season after his co-driver last year, Darren Leung, switched to the World Endurance Championship. But it was announced on Monday that Harper will race in the series after all alongside Michael Johnston, taking the place of Chris Salkeld aboard the team’s BMW M4 GT3. Johnston and Salkeld had planned to graduate to GT3 together in the Silver-Am class after claiming the GT4 Pro-Am title last season, with Salkeld appearing at the championship’s media day earlier this month. No reason for the change was given before Autosport went to press. BMW factory driver…

BRC British Rally Championship manager Reece Tarren has praised the organisers of the North West Stages, the disrupted opening 2024 round, for salvaging the afternoon loop of stages after a troubled morning. The first trio of stages were all halted due to incidents – most of them competitor-related – which put the rally almost two hours behind schedule. As a result, both SS4 and SS5 were cancelled, but all five of the afternoon’s stages were able to run, the organisers also halving the gaps between cars to 30 seconds to help. Organisers did, however, come in for criticism when a statement on social media initially said that the morning loop had been “scrubbed”, leaving many to believe the rally would be restarting from zero. But a ‘statement of clarity’ was…

DONINGTON PARK CSCC 23-24 MARCH Nine hours after Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc turned Formula 1’s formbook on its head with a 1-2 in the Australian Grand Prix, 12,000 miles away Andrew Christopher piloted his F488 Challenge to victory in the Slicks Series thriller at the Classic Sports Car Club’s Donington Derby season-opener. The race was always going to be between polesitter Kevin Clarke’s 5.2-litre V10-engined Lamborghini Huracan ST and veteran prancing horseman Christopher’s turbocharged 4.5-litre V8 machine. From the rolling start, they arrived at Redgate abreast, Clarke clinging to a tenuous lead as a melee sent pursuers everywhere. After plunging through the Craner Curves together, the supercars were still centimetres apart as they braked for Robert’s Chicane to end the lap. Christopher fractionally misjudged the closing speed and…

EQUIPE LIBRE Races 1 & 2 Tom Smith (Lotus Elan) BCV8s Race 1 James Wheeler (B GTV8) Race 2 Jack Rawles (B GTV8) EQUIPE PRE-’63/50S Race 1 Charles Angrave (Lotus Mk6) Race 2 Andrew Wenman (Morgan +4) EQUIPE 70S David Wenman/Andrew Wenman (Morgan +8) EQUIPE F2 ATLANTIC Races 1 & 2 Glenn Eagling (GRD 273, below) TRIPLE M Races 1 & 2 Anthony Seber (Wolseley Hornet Special) EQUIPE GTS Race 1 Rob Cull (TVR Grantura Mk3) Race 2 Andrew Wenman (Morgan +4) MG CUP Races 1 & 2 Mark Wright (F Cup) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

Among a bumper grid of 500cc Formula 3 cars entered for Easter Monday’s 2024 season-opener at Castle Combe, the Cooper-Norton Mk8 (chassis Mk8/19/54) of Simon Hewes is of special interest. Recorded as Stuart Lewis-Evans’s works car in 1954, it debuted at Kirkistown. A fortnight later, 70 years ago this weekend, the combo finished third in the final at Combe, behind Reg Bicknell (Revis) and Ivor Bueb in his works Cooper Mk8. Wins at Brough, Brands Hatch, Orleans (France), Teramo and Senigallia (Italy) followed. In 1955, entered by Brooklands tuning guru Robin Jackson, Lewis-Evans was victorious at Charterhall, Brands, Orleans, Oulton Park and Cosenza (Italy). After Lewis-Evans graduated to F1 in 1957, his Kent garage owner father Lewis – known to the fraternity as ‘Pop’ – raced the Cooper. It was…

LE MANS 24 HOURS Four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel got his first proper taste of a sports-prototype aboard one of the Porsche Penske Motorsport squad’s 963 LMDh racers this week. What is not clear, however, is whether the try-out at Motorland Aragon has put him in contention for one of the vacant seats in the additional third car that the team will field in the Le Mans 24 Hours World Endurance Championship round in June. The test was organised at Vettel’s request, Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach revealed. It follows extensive negotiations last year between Vettel, who retired from F1 at the end of 2022, and the Jota customer Porsche team about joining its expanded Hypercar class assault this season. “We’re delighted that Sebastian is interested in our…

FORMULA 1 McLaren Racing has re-signed CEO Zak Brown until 2030. The American joined as an executive director in 2016 before being handed the keys in 2018. Under Brown’s reign, McLaren has added IndyCar, Formula E and Extreme E programmes alongside its Formula 1 entry. “It is a privilege to work alongside the talented men and women across McLaren Racing’s different race series,” he said. “Together, we will continue to push the boundaries of motorsport and strive for the highest performance on and off the track.” But that’s not the biggest bit of paperwork Woking execs have inked in recent days. The sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain has completed a full takeover of the wider McLaren Group, which owns a majority share in the grand prix team. Late last year,…

RALLYING Lancia has offered a first hint that it is contemplating a rallying comeback with the relaunch of its HF brand. The Italian manufacturer has been linked with a World Rally Championship return following reports in Italian media last year. The marque is the most successful in WRC history, winning 10 manufacturers’ titles (1974-76, 1983, 1987-92). Lancia is undergoing a revival under the Stellantis Group, and in February it launched its new all-electric Ypsilon hatchback. The HF (high fidelity) initials featured on the titlewinning Fulvia, Stratos and Delta that ran under the HF Lancia Racing Team, founded by Cesare Fiorio in 1963. The relaunch was unveiled at the first screening of Race for Glory, a film about Lancia’s fight with Audi for the 1983 WRC title. “Will we return to…

ELMS/LE MANS 24 HOURS Sportscar entrant Olivier Panis is switching partners for the 2024 European Le Mans Series. His squad has moved from Tech 1 to TDS Racing for a campaign that will include an attack on the Le Mans 24 Hours. Panis Racing and Tech 1 are ending a tie-up that stretches back to 2017, when they entered the ELMS under the Panis Barthez Competition banner in deference to a partnership with former Manchester United and French international goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. Tech 1 has now stepped back due to constraints on budget, says the Abadie family that runs the operation. A deal with Panis brings TDS back to the ELMS after a year’s absence. It joined the series in 2011, winning two races, and went on to win the…

It seemed somehow incongruous given what we knew was coming. The sight of a Peugeot heading the chase of the leader over a full race distance in the World Endurance Championship season-opener in Qatar earlier this month was a first, and also a bit strange. That was because it was the soon-to-be-replaced original version of the 9X8, a car that had previously only shown flashes of speed, posting the starring performance. But its pace in the desert proved exactly why the French manufacturer had no choice but to abandon the wingless concept of its first stab at a Le Mans Hypercar. The avant-garde Peugeot worked around the Losail International Circuit in a way it never had before. The combination of a track layout with a high proliferation of medium to…

“I think nowadays you need to be 100% to beat Max – and today I wasn’t,” Carlos Sainz mused after qualifying, where he just missed out on pole to Max Verstappen despite headlining both Q1 and Q2 in the lead-up to the top 10 shootout. A mere two weeks after abdominal surgery to remove his appendix, Sainz admitted that lingering discomfort remained as he returned to the wheel of his Ferrari – but this hardly stopped him from impressing. Red Bull, by contrast, had been on the back foot through much of the weekend. Issues with set-up had handed Verstappen too much in the way of understeer, sapping his times through the final sector. Sainz’s performances in Q1 and Q2 had marked the Spaniard out as the favourite for pole…

Fernando Alonso dropped from a sixth-place finish in the Australian Grand Prix to eighth after he was hit with a 20-second post-race penalty for contributing to George Russell’s late accident. The pair had been in each other’s orbit for much of the race. Alonso had been a big gainer after starting his Aston Martin on the hard tyres and pitting under the virtual safety car activation following Lewis Hamilton’s retirement. Alonso rejoined fifth – he had been running 10th before the VSC, when the frontrunners were yet to pit – and was then passed by Sergio Perez’s Red Bull. Russell chased, the Mercedes completing a very long middle stint on the hard tyres, while Alonso used the mediums. With a four-lap tyre offset for the final stint and with both…

Haas left Melbourne with its first double points finish since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix, with Nico Hulkenberg leading home Kevin Magnussen for a 9-10 result. It was the Dane who qualified ahead for a change, with Magnussen starting 14th and Hulkenberg 16th after he missed the Q1 cut for the first time this year. Magnussen jumped Alex Albon at the start and ran 12th before pitting with others on the conventional medium-hard-hard two-stopper. Hulkenberg held station early on, then climbed the order when he stayed out on his hard tyres. The German was then a big gainer with a VSC stop following Lewis Hamilton’s retirement. In the second stint, and with Hulkenberg on younger medium tyres, Haas enacted a swap after he’d emerged behind and then caught Magnussen. Hulkenberg…

Alex Palou was simply untouchable in what became a routine Sunday drive to the top step of the podium to win the inaugural $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club last weekend. The reigning and two-time IndyCar Series champion controlled the field from pole and led every one of the 20 laps in the two-segment final of the non-points exhibition – the first in IndyCar since the 2008 race in Surfers Paradise – to claim victory with Chip Ganassi Racing by 5.8 seconds over Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin and take home $500,000 prize money. There were two heats and a final at the 3.067-mile, 17-turn road course just outside of Palm Springs, California, and Palou also led all 10 laps of his heat (the second) from pole to underline his…

NASCAR CUP AUSTIN (USA) 24 MARCH ROUND 6/36 William Byron continued Hendrick Motorsports’ strong start to its 40th anniversary season with an impressive NASCAR Cup victory last Sunday at Circuit of The Americas. Byron, who opened the 2024 season with a victory in the Daytona 500, was fastest in practice on Saturday and won the pole. He then dominated Sunday’s race, leading five times for 42 of the 68 laps. Ross Chastain was the only driver to pass Byron’s Chevrolet for the lead on the track – at the start of the final stage – but Byron soon ran him back down to reclaim it. He then flawlessly navigated a round of green-flag pitstops and cycled back out front with 17 laps remaining and a large lead. Christopher Bell, who…

MOTOGP ALGARVE CIRCUIT (PRT) 24 MARCH ROUND 2/21 The answer to the question ‘how many rounds will it take before tensions within the Ducati MotoGP ranks flare?’ was revealed last weekend at the Portuguese Grand Prix. That answer is ‘two’. Just 24 hours on from claiming a first podium on the Gresini Ducati with a ride to second place in the sprint at the Algarve International Circuit, Marc Marquez collided with reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia on lap 23 of 25 in the GP. Marquez, who’d risen from eighth on the grid after a qualifying crash caused by the accidental early activation of his bike’s rear ride height device, didn’t have the same pace in the long race as he did in the sprint. But acceptance of this led to…

With another strong field of exciting rookies mixed with familiar faces, and a visit to the Hungaroring for the first time, the GB3 Championship looks set to thrive again this season. While some of the continuing drivers will be among the favourites for the crown, a potential rematch of last year’s British Formula 4 title fight between Louis Sharp and William Macintyre is an intriguing prospect as the pair make the step up. Sharp is entering his third year with the rebranded Rodin Motorsport team, which guided Callum Voisin to the 2023 GB3 title, and the Kiwi’s chances of winning back-to-back single-seater championships have been boosted by a strong pre-season ahead of this weekend’s Oulton Park opener. “There is a lot to learn,” says the 16-year-old. “I am a rookie…

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP GB GB3 race winner and 2021 British Formula 4 champion Matthew Rees is the latest significant driver to join this year’s Porsche Carrera Cup GB grid after agreeing a deal with Team Parker Racing. Rees impressively won the F4 title in his first season of car racing, before taking sixth and fifth in the standings in the subsequent two GB3 campaigns. Now he believes “it was time for a change” as he seeks to secure a professional career, and will join drivers such as British Touring Car Championship race victors Dan Lloyd and George Gamble in what is shaping up to be a competitive Carrera Cup entry. He said a Porsche move was “the main target” since he felt that the series is one where a driver…

GB3 Superlicence points needed to race in Formula 1 will be awarded to the top five drivers in the GB3 Championship for the first time this season. Across a three-year period, 40 points are necessary in order to be allowed to race in F1, with 10 points set to be handed to this year’s GB3 champion and further points of seven, five, three and one for the next four drivers in the standings. Other changes to be introduced to the series this year are pit-to-car radios for the first time, while race control officials will have a direct link to the teams to further aid communication and improve general safety. There will also be a ban on testing at Spa, Zandvoort and the Hungaroring unless in an officially organised championship…

MAZDA MX-5 Multiple Mazda MX-5 champion Will Blackwell-Chambers is targeting a swift return to racing as he recovers from injuries sustained in a heavy accident at Silverstone earlier this month. After being tipped into a spin at Club Corner during the first MX-5 Supercup race of the year, Blackwell-Chambers was collected heavily in the driver’s door by a following car. The 2022 champion, who has three titles in MX-5 Mk1s, was knocked unconscious, and painstakingly extracted from his car in a 30-minute process. He was taken to hospital in Banbury and diagnosed with five broken ribs, a torn artery and concussion, before being transferred to Oxford’s John Radcliffe hospital and released the following day. “Luckily, the tear is apparently minor,” Blackwell-Chambers said. “It definitely could have been worse. The John…

Castle Combe celebrates its milestone 500th car race meeting on Easter Monday, with 500cc Formula 3 cars rolling back the years to the Wiltshire circuit’s inaugural event, run behind closed gates by the Bristol Motor Cycle & Light Car Club on 8 July 1950. The 500cc initiative, which blossomed rapidly from seeds sown by motorsport-hungry Bristol enthusiasts in 1946, was adopted as Formula 3 in 1950 and a key to Second World War aerodrome Castle Combe’s early success as a race track. Its opening meeting featured pre-war Morgan ace Clive Lones win the programme-closing 500cc event in his bright red Tiger Kitten II. Evolved from the first production Iota P1, which the class pioneer had debuted in 1949, Lones’s intriguing confection was powered by a JAP engine manufactured by JA…

Juha Kankkunen’s third place in the 1995 Monte Carlo Rally salvaged some pride for reigning world champion manufacturer Toyota after Didier Auriol and Armin Schwarz fell by the wayside. The Finn had complained about his Celica GT-Four being down on power, although he still bagged three stage wins. The car’s pace soon picked up and come the season’s penultimate round, Catalunya, he was a title contender – then Toyota was caught using an illegal turbo restrictor and was disqualified from the championship and banned from official WRC participation for 12 months. For classic motorsport DVDs and downloads head to dukevideo.com For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…