Indholdsfortegnelse for 18/07/24 i Autosport

In the early months of last season, Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin provided the sliver of hope amid Red Bull domination. Alonso’s five podiums in the first six grands prix suggested it could be the team in green that was most likely to give Formula 1 the fight at the front it desperately needed. But things changed rapidly. Since then, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes have won races, with McLaren’s Lando Norris currently the biggest threat to Max Verstappen. Aston Martin lies a distant fifth in the constructors’ table In this issue, Jake Boxall-Legge hears from some of the key players and finds out why the team feels its 2023 form was artificial. And how it could still climb towards the front as new resources and fresh faces bolster the squad…

FORMULA 1 Ollie Bearman has said that his Ferrari cameo at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was a major factor in gaining his 2025 Formula 1 seat at Haas, amid a tough F2 season. The British teenager was announced in the build-up to his home grand prix as one of the Ferrari customer squad’s race drivers for his first full F1 season. “I think Saudi showed what I was capable of, showed that rookies and people with lack of experience aren’t really so far behind the normal cohort,” said Bearman, who is dovetailing a second F2 campaign with Prema Racing with FP1 outings with Haas. “I think I did put a good showing for myself in Saudi, and of course, with the F2 campaign going the way it is, it’s…

Ford went public on its new Dakar Rally contender last week ahead of its first exposure to the masses at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The Raptor T1+ will make its debut on the event in January in the hands of Carlos Sainz Sr and Nani Roma, but before then will take in the Baja Hungary on 8-11 August and the Morocco Rally in October. The machine, built and run by Cumbrian Blue Oval powerhouse M-Sport, is powered by a five-litre Coyote-based V8 engine, and has completed 10,000km of testing to date.…

WRC Sebastien Ogier will return to the World Rally Championship in Latvia this weekend after being declared fit to compete following a reconnaissance crash that ruled him out of the recent Rally Poland. The eight-time world champion and co-driver Vincent Landais escaped serious injury after being involved in a head-on collision with a road car while preparing pacenotes in Poland. Toyota called up two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera at the eleventh hour, and the Finn went on to win the rally. Ogier has undergone further medical checks after returning home, and last week was back behind the wheel at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. “After some rest, and some good help from my medical team, I could recover pretty quickly and I’m looking forward to being back in a rally…

“B7… miss. C2… miss. F1… hit?” Battleship might seem like an unusual place for a Formula 1 column that references Barbie in its headline, but the links are intrinsic. Many a childhood hour/tantrum might have been given over to playing the board game, but have you ever heard of the 2012 film of the same name, Battleship? Given it was a commercial and critical flop, possibly not. Barbie, however, is a world-renowned toy and, a year from its opening, a global box office hit movie. Enter F1, the staggeringly route-one name for Apple’s Jerry Bruckheimer and Joseph Kosinski-helmed, Brad Pitt-starring, Lewis Hamilton-co-scripted F1 film. F1 as global motorsport retains at its core an obsession with expensive, amazing toys. And with this officially endorsed, access-all-areas production, our hyperbolic Venn diagram is…

The wrong Toyota won at Interlagos. Wrong in terms of the one the Japanese manufacturer would have wanted to win given its position in the championship, and wrong in terms of pace displayed on track during the race. The #7 entry, third in the points going into the Brazilian weekend compared to the sister crew’s eighth, was the quicker car. Brendon Hartley didn’t pretend that he, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa would or could have beaten their team-mates on Sunday. He conceded that they had a significant advantage both in terms of outright pace and tyre degradation. “We got the victory but #7 was flying today – they went a different direction on set-up,” he explained. “They were quicker than us and had much less tyre deg.” That much was…

Welcome, finally, to Adrian Newey’s last Red Bull masterpiece. The RB17, revealed last Friday at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, has been nearly four years in the making. It’s a near-£6million hypercar, with a V10 engine capable of hitting 1000bhp. And only 50 will be available to buy. But there are less tangible, much more emotive elements to this car. First, although Red Bull will have unveiled its 2025 F1 challenger by the time Newey exits the team next March, this will be the final car produced by the energy drinks giant really imbued with his vision. How strange it will soon be to see Newey adorned in the colours of another team, but then we all got used to him out of Williams blue and McLaren silver… But secondly,…

Somewhat hidden in the paddock was an easy-to-miss awning with some of the most interesting technology that the Festival of Speed had to offer – the IndyCar Autonomous Challenge. Built using the same Dallara chassis run by Indy NXT, the cockpit has been stuffed with technology, including LiDAR, RADAR and optical lenses to help guide the car on track. Showcasing its machinery was the PoliMOVE-MSU team, which has been victorious in four of the six events so far this season and holds the autonomous land speed record after achieving 192mph for a sustained period in 2022. This is not the team’s first appearance at the Festival after attending last year with a display in the Futures Lab. But this time around, there was a major difference to proceedings, with PoliMOVE-MSU…

INDYCAR IOWA SPEEDWAY (USA) 13-14 JULY ROUND 10/15 This has been a roller-coaster year for Team Penske, so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that Scott McLaughlin scored his first oval victory at Iowa Speedway last Saturday night, while Will Power claimed Sunday afternoon’s race from 22nd on the grid – when he’d failed to win from seven previous poles here. “An IndyCar driver is someone that can win on all three race tracks, so I’ve won on an oval now, along with a road and street course – proud moment,” boasted former Supercars star McLaughlin, while Power profited when a caution fell perfectly for his strategy: “It’s funny because I was trying to win this race for so long. I didn’t really think I’d win today.” Oddly, Saturday’s race on…

INDY NXT IOWA SPEEDWAY (USA) 13 JULY ROUND 8/12 Louis Foster furthered his stranglehold on the Indy NXT championship after pulling off a late pass to win at Iowa Speedway. The 20-year-old Briton started second alongside polesitting Andretti Global team-mate James Roe, and stalked the Irishman until surging past with an outside pass in Turn 1 with six laps to go and coasting to victory, after a caution fell with two laps to go of the 0.894-mile oval. “We discussed prior to the race that we were going to save tyres throughout the race,” Foster said. “I wasn’t challenging James on the starts, I was just letting him get a gap to save my tyres. And then towards the end there were enough laps to go that I knew if…

EXTREME E GLENMUCKLOCH (GBR) 13-14 JULY ROUND 2/5 Veloce Racing duo Kevin Hansen and Molly Taylor claimed the Extreme E points lead with a double victory at the Hydro X Prix in Scotland. The pair won both of their qualifying heats to comfortably reach Saturday’s Grand Final, where Taylor led the first leg while a feisty battle ensued behind. Laia Sanz (Sainz XE) prevailed in a squabble with the Andretti machine of Hansen’s brother Timmy, who was involved in a collision with Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky (Rosberg X Racing) that forced the reigning champion out with damage. After taking over from Sanz in the Switch Zone, Fraser McConnell fought valiantly in his pursuit of Kevin Hansen, who remained ahead. Catie Munnings maintained third in the second leg for Andretti to repeat her…

HISTORIC F3 Michael O’Brien demonstrated the potential of Nick Fennell’s 1000cc Historic Formula 3 Tecno 69 by qualifying on pole for its championship debut at Brands Hatch last weekend, before a broken gear linkage forced retirement from Saturday’s opener. The short-wheelbase Italian machine – presented in the striking yellow and red livery of the sister car Jean-Pierre Jaussaud used towards winning the 1970 French title – battled the Brabhams of Andrew Hibberd (BT18) and Jon Milicevic (BT21). O’Brien forged ahead in Sunday’s sequel, before spinning into the gravel at Stirling’s on lap six of 13. Incidentally, his best lap of 1m36.454s equalled Samuel Harrison’s record, set last year en route to the HF3 title in O’Brien’s father Mike’s BT21. The Tecno boasts an interesting US history from new, versatile veteran…

BRITISH F4 Deagen Fairclough extended his lead at the top of the British Formula 4 standings with two victories, as a bizarre startline shunt sullied the series’ first overseas appearance at Zandvoort last weekend. Title rival Alex Ninovic kept the pressure on, taking a third win of the season in the reversed-grid contest, which was hastily rescheduled after a technical issue led to a seven-car incident. After the red lights went off, they came back on a fraction of a second later and, while some drivers slowed, those at the back closed in at speed, leading to contact on both sides of the grid. Earlier, Hitech driver Fairclough had retained the race-one lead from pole ahead of fellow front-row qualifier Martin Molnar and the fast-starting Ella Lloyd (JHR), who gained…

SNETTERTON BRITISH GT 13-14 JULY Sandy Mitchell and Alex Martin were denied an incredible double win at Snetterton, as a post-race penalty cost them victory in British GT’s second one-hour affair in Norfolk last weekend. Martin lapped two GT4 contenders under safety car conditions late on, which resulted in a drive-through penalty that was converted into 30 seconds and dropped the Barwell duo to 10th. It meant Maximilian Gotz and Kevin Tse claimed a second victory of the season, the 2 Seas Mercedes drivers adding to their win at Spa. “There was no performance advantage, there was no danger, nothing,” said Martin. “The marshalling posts that I was approaching did not have a [safety car] board out, it had a yellow, but I hadn’t reached it yet and the rule…

SNETTERTON BRSCC 13-14 JULY Elite Motorsport’s Alisha Palmowski reignited her GB4 Championship title chances with two wins at Snetterton last weekend, while Harry Burgoyne claimed the points lead. Palmowski produced two identical times for pole in qualifying but was beaten off the line in the opener by Formula 1 Esports star Lucas Blakeley, who cruised to an emotional maiden victory in his first start since last season’s finale, while Palmowski took a comfortable second ahead of Burgoyne and Fortec’s Linus Granfors. Burgoyne moved ahead in the sequel as Palmowski and Blakeley were slow away from the front row. After trying for several laps to take the lead, Palmowski pounced into Agostini in the closing stages to clinch her first triumph since the Oulton Park season-opener, with Burgoyne holding off KMR…

BRANDS HATCH HSCC 13-14 JULY Memories of European Formula 5000 champions Peter Gethin, Frank Gardner, Gijs van Lennep, Teddy Pilette and Bob Evans – plus Brian Redman, Jody Scheckter and Graham McRae – flooded back as the thunder and fury of American V8 engines imbued the Historic Sports Car Club’s Brands Hatch Superprix with flavours of the action that thrilled crowds from 1969-75. Gethin was king of Brands, winning seven rounds, but his 1973 Race of Champions triumph in a Chevron B24 shell-shocked runner-up Denny Hulme (McLaren M23) and the F1 establishment. The 29-strong Derek Bell Trophy pack last weekend featured 11 F5000s, three from New Zealand, but Saturday’s race script was almost as unbelievable as the hallowed RoC’s. The F2 Marches of runaway leaders Alex Kapadia (ex-Alex Ribeiro 762)…

CIVIC CUP Race 1 Max Edmundson (EP3) Race 2 Alistair Camp (FN2) MAZDA MX-5 SUPERCUP Race 1 Aidan Hills Races 2 & 3 Patrick Fletcher FIESTA JUNIORS Race 1 Jenson O’Neill-Going (Mk6 ST) Races 2 & 3 Tommy Harfield (Mk7 Zetec S) FIESTA ST240s Race 1 Alastair Kellett Race 2 Simon Horrobin AUDI TT CUP RACING Races 1 & 2 Bradley Burns (below) MAZDA MX-5 CHAMPIONSHIP Races 1 & 3 Adam Sparrow Race 2 Luke Pullen TCR UK Races 1 & 3 Callum Newsham (Hyundai i30 N TCR) Race 2 Carl Boardley (Cupra Leon Competicion TCR) MAZDA MX-5 CLUBMAN Races 1 & 2 Jonathan Greensmith For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

Laurent Aiello’s remarkable career encompassed touring car titles in France, Germany and Britain, as well as Le Mans 24 Hours victory with the Porsche 911 GT1-98. In Britain he is best-known for his efforts in the British Touring Car Championship with RML’s Nissan Primera and he raced the legendary Audi R8 prototype, but it’s an earlier car he quickly selects as his favourite. “The 406 was built around my style of driving,” says the Frenchman, now 55. Aiello raced the Peugeot Sport-developed 406 in Germany’s Super Tourenwagen Cup for three years, winning 20 races and never finishing lower than third in the points against top opposition from Audi, BMW and Opel. Nevertheless, Aiello did feel the pressure of making the front-wheel-drive machine work against the rear-wheel-drive BMWs and 4WD Audis.…

Audi has secured a technical partnership with oil and energy giant BP for its upcoming Formula 1 project, which will supply the 100% sustainable fuel set out in the 2026 regulations. The British petrochemicals giant will also supply its range of lubricants and greases to the team through its Castrol brand. BP has supplied fuel to Audi throughout the development process of its new V6 turbo hybrid powertrain since 2022, and will also produce e-fluids - which includes oils and liquids for thermal management purposes - for the car’s hybrid components. BP is currently partnered with Alpine since linking up with the Enstone team in 2017. The fuel BP produces for Audi will need to be composed of proven sustainable sources, as the FIA aims to ensure that the new…

Leading Italian design and manufacturing house Ycom has announced investment from TEC Racing, which has become a majority shareholder following a similar investment in Tatuus last year. Ycom, which recently developed the Maserati GT2 racer, will remain under the control of Nicola Scimeca. Hailing the development as “a monumental leap forward” for the company he co-founded in 2008, Scimeca added: “This evolution will enable us to better serve our existing customers while equipping us for new markets.” The Equity Club’s TEC Racing o. shoot purchased a controlling stake in Tatuus, the prominent Formula 4 constructor that also supplies cars to the Formula Regional European Championship, its Oceania o. shoot previously known as the Toyota Racing Series and GB3, in May last year. Tatuus already owned engine manufacturer Autotecnica Motori and…

Quibbles over Balance of Performance and accusations of sandbagging have been a near-constant feature of GT racing in recent times. Openly discussing the BoP isn’t permitted under the World Endurance Championship’s sporting regulations, but that’s not the only reason for grumbles being notably reduced this year as LMGT3 replaced GTE Am. MagCanica is the FIA’s current supplier of torque meter sensors, which have been utilised since the outset of the Hypercar class in 2021 and have now migrated into the GT realm. Measuring torque from the driveshaft, they allow for live monitoring of power outputs so any spikes beyond what is allocated in the BoP are visible to the FIA and co-legislator Automobile Club de l’Ouest in real time. This is enforced by penalties, as seen with Toyota’s #8 car…

FORMULA E Just two weekends after a British Grand Prix thriller, UK motorsport fans have an FIA world-title decider to anticipate between seven contenders as Formula E descends upon London’s ExCeL Arena for a double-header this Saturday and Sunday. Jaguar driver Nick Cassidy sits in prime position to claim his maiden FE crown, 12 points clear at the top of the table in his first season with the team. After finishing runner-up in 2023 with customer squad Envision, Cassidy has taken two wins this term in Diriyah and Berlin, along with a further six podiums, propelling him to the top of the standings since the German event in May. But the Kiwi enters the London E-Prix double-header after failing to score in either race last time out at Portland. He…

WEC/IMSA Aston Martin’s Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar is on its wheels and running. The car that will fly the flag for the British marque in the World Endurance Championship and the IMSA SportsCar Championship from next year has undertaken its first shakedown – minus bodywork. The run earlier this month was described as a “systems check” by Ian James, team principal of the Heart of Racing squad that will field the Valkyrie AMR-LMH in both series from 2025. He confirmed that the V12-powered Aston ran as “a spine without bodywork”. “It was just a short test to check that the drivetrain, the braking system and everything is working properly before we start testing with the completed car,” James explained. “That should be in the next couple of weeks if everything…

WEC Proton Competition could expand its presence at the pinnacle of sportscar racing with Porsche’s 963 LMDh. The German team has aspirations to go from one to two cars in both the World Endurance Championship and the IMSA SportsCar Championship for next year. “It is always better running two cars than one,” said Proton boss Christian Ried. “It makes sense, but we need the customers and sponsors first.” Ried, whose one-car WEC and IMSA campaigns with the Protonrun 963 came on stream in mid-2023, added that a decision could be made “in the next few weeks”. Porsche has confirmed that there will be further 963s available for next season after a temporary hold was put on the build of new cars late last year. Capacity to provide support for customers…

Praise for Silverstone, with reservations Just wondering if others had the same thoughts on the British Grand Prix, a great race and a wonderful result (for British fans). Full marks to Silverstone for managing the crowds at the start of the day, even if it did mean we walked away from our preferred entrance. People were processed through the entrance gates without long queues that we had in the past. Full marks for getting cars in and out of the car parks – although I have heard horror stories of long, long waits if you stayed after the race. Full marks for moving to an app-based approach to tickets and event timetables, but… and there is so often a ‘but’. The use of apps and encouraging people to get involved…

Along with Red Bull, there was sizeable Formula 1 representation from McLaren, Williams, Mercedes, Ferrari and Alpine at the Festival of Speed. McLaren paid tribute to the late Ayrton Senna by firing up the 1991 MP4/6, the Brazilian’s final world title winner, for his nephew Bruno Senna to drive up the hill. The legendary British team also celebrated the 50th anniversary of its first F1 constructors’ and drivers’ championships in 1974, won by Emerson Fittipaldi, who drove one of the Cosworth DFV-powered M23s that took him to his second crown. It was the Brazilian’s maiden season for McLaren after joining from Lotus, and he reckons that jumping in the M23 was straightforward following his time in the Lotus 72, in which he was 1972 champion. “The McLaren was a very…

The winners of a combined 16 World Rally Championship titles descended on Goodwood as rallying made an increased presence felt at the festival. The WRC set up camp in the Sussex estate, bringing with it representatives and vehicles from Toyota, Hyundai and M-Sport Ford, while rally raid also enjoyed the limelight when Ford – joined by two-time WRC champion Carlos Sainz Sr – launched its all-new 2025 Raptor T1+ Dakar challenger (see Pit & Paddock). Toyota took an arsenal of its current and past star drivers to pilot a range of its latest automotive and motorsport machines. Reigning and two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera left an indelible mark on the Festival courtesy of some wild tyre-smoking runs up the hill in his Toyota GR Supra drift car. “It is my…

IMSA SPORTSCAR MOSPORT PARK (CAN) 14 JULY ROUND 7/11 The IMSA SportsCar Championship’s top GTP class was absent from last Sunday’s race at the classic Mosport Park venue, thereby providing an opportunity for some of the less heralded classes to enjoy the limelight. They did not disappoint. The regular race distance of two hours and 40 minutes produced an enthralling contest in which Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports pairing Tom Dillmann and Nick Boulle held off the similar LMP2 ORECA-Gibson 07 of Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson to take the overall victory by just over half a second. Appropriately in a race titled the Chevrolet Grand Prix, the Corvette Z06 GT3.R proved to be a dominant force in GTD Pro, with the factory supported Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller…

PRE-’66 TOURING CARS Ex-Formula 1 and IndyCar racer Max Chilton is to join the grid for the Pre-’66 Touring Car Championship races at Croft next week in a Lotus Cortina. Chilton, who already has experience of racing a Cortina at Goodwood, intended to be part of a two-car line-up of the twin-cam Fords from Team Dynamics alongside the squad’s boss Matt Neal. But Neal said that the team could only get one entry for the in-demand race from the series-organising Classic Touring Car Racing Club, so Chilton will be Dynamics’ only representative. Chilton will therefore race on the same bill as elder brother Tom, a veteran of the headlining British Touring Car Championship who raced for Dynamics back in 2008. “Max fancied doing it, and Tom’s there with the touring…

BRITISH GT Garage 59 pair Adam Smalley and Shaun Balfe clinched the British GT3 Silver-Am crown at Snetterton last weekend and now have ambitions of taking the outright title. The McLaren 720S Evo duo claimed a sixth Silver-Am victory of the season in race two at Snetterton, with fourth in class at last weekend’s opener their only failure to win of the year. “To get that done so early, that’s dominance,” said Balfe. “We banked so many victories so early and I’m still working out how I feel – it feels quite good. If somebody said at the beginning of the year, ‘Snetterton, job done’, I’d have gone, ‘What fairy land are you in?’ Now it’s about, ‘Can we do the dream?’” That “dream” is the overall British GT3 title.…

OBITUARY Jim Timms, who died last week aged 87, was one of west country motorsport’s great characters, an ardent competitor whose sporting life on two wheels and four spanned towards 60 years. A works rider for Cotton – the marque founded in his native Gloucestershire – from the mid 1960s, Timms earned many accolades in the scrambles arena, often racing alongside brother Bob. The farmers started a transport company sideline that Jim built into a full-scale haulage business after Bob left. It was only after Bob bought a Lola for Monoposto racing in the late 1980s that Jim snapped up another, on impulse! Driving the Formula Ford Lola T644E, Jim won Mono Kent championships in 1993 and 1997. When he couldn’t do a Pembrey round, son Jason entered, loved it…

Charlie Robertson and Ravi Ramyead claimed their maiden British GT victory in a dramatic one-hour affair at Snetterton, before Jack Brown took his third GT4 win in Norfolk during race two. DTO’s Ginetta G56 actually started on pole for race one, Aston Millar staying ahead of Forsetti’s Mikey Porter at lights out, but the complexion of the race changed during the driver swap in the one-hour contest. While Forsetti dropped down after serving its five-second success penalty from Spa, DTO’s Freddie Tomlinson, in for Millar, was suddenly behind the Paddock Mercedes, which had started 13th. But this was after reigning champion Matt Cowley left his pitbox too early due to “a mathematical error”, meaning the Paddock entry he shared with Ed McDermott received a 31s stop/go penalty, handing DTO the…

ZANDVOORT GB3 13-14 JULY The GB3 championship lead changed hands again at Zandvoort last weekend, Tymek Kucharczyk moving back to the top as the fight intensified in mixed conditions on the Dutch coast. JHR Developments’ John Bennett improved his own aspirations by taking a double pole in a wet qualifying session and converted the first of those into race-one victory, despite tricky conditions as rain fell early on but only in isolated areas. Bennett survived the conditions to take his second win of the year, with 1.1 seconds in hand over fellow title contender, Hitech’s Kucharczyk. James Hedley earned the final spot on the podium, 0.3s ahead of then-championship leader Louis Sharp. Kucharczyk’s team-mate, and another title contender, Will Macintyre was fifth, while Elite’s Hugo Schwarze claimed sixth. However, like…

DEREK BELL TROPHY Race 1 Mark Charteris (March-Hart 782-23) Race 2 Steve Ross (McRae-Chevrolet GM1-009) HISTORIC F2 Races 1 & 2 Alex Kapadia (March-BMW 762-2, below) RAY ALLEN TROPHY HISTORIC FORMULA FORD Race 1 Cam Jackson (Winkelmann WDF2) Race 2 Benn Tilley (Merlyn Mk20) CLASSIC FORMULA FORD Races 1 & 2 Cam Jackson (Winkelmann WDF2) KING HUSSEIN TROPHY HISTORIC F3 Races 1 & 2 Andrew Hibberd (Brabham BT18) SUPER 60s Races 1 & 2 Michiel Campagne (Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport) GUARDS TROPHY Ross & Charlie Hyett (Chevron-FVC B16) GRIFFITHS HAIG TROPHY Oliver Llewellyn (Allard-Cadillac J2) TOURING CAR ALLCOMERS Darren Fielding (BMW E30 M3) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

Dubai-based Steve and Sam Laidlaw became the first father-and-son pairing to race in TCR UK, and celebrated by each breaking into the top five at Croft. After racing together in the CityCar Cup in 2021 and Clio Cup Middle East last winter, the pair planned to spend this year in Audi TT Cup Racing – a TCR UK support series. But, when Laidlaw Sr sampled the headline category at Snetterton in May, it was the start of a new direction. “I was going to do Snetterton just as a one-off, but I absolutely loved it,” he admitted. “I’d never driven anything like it in my life and, while it’s a big learning curve, it’s definitely something that I wanted to do. But the idea was that we got to race…

Extreme H may have skipped a couple of letters in its transition from Extreme E, but it’s clear that no shortcuts have been taken in its move away from electric power to hydrogen for next year. Now with a first public demonstration of the Pioneer 25 challenger under its belt, undertaken by Hedda Hosas at last weekend's Hydro X Prix in Scotland, the inaugural all-hydrogen racing series is inching closer towards the milestone of its maiden event. That Alejandro Agag, whose feet as the co-founder of Formula E were firmly in the electric camp, has thrown his lot in with hydrogen is a major confidence vote in its credentials as a scalable sustainable energy source and the potential he clearly sees in it to attract like-minded commercial partners. As Marcus…

The new electric racing championship co-founded by ex-Formula 1 racer Nick Heidfeld and former Mahindra Racing boss Dilbagh Gill has announced Schaeffler as a supplier of motors and inverters for its 2025 launch season. Called FG Series, it aims to o. er a. ordable racing with its FG-Twin car able to be raced in four- and rear-wheel-drive configurations across two separate championships. FG1, using the full potential to run the front and rear axle at 350kW of peak power, and the entry-level FG2 are geared to suit drivers of different experience levels. Several announcements have followed since the car, designed by Daniel Simon (who created the livery for HRT’s Formula 1 car in 2011), broke cover last month. These include the appointment of Schaeffler, which partnered with Audi on its…

BATTERY COST REDUCTION Mercedes has announced a target of reducing battery costs by more than 30% in the coming years. Its chairman of the board, Ola Kallenius, made the comments at the opening of a new eCampus at the heart of its Stuttgart HQ, which the manufacturer describes as a competence centre for developing chemical compositions and optimised production processes. ADESS LMP3 REVEALED ADESS became the latest constructor to reveal its new LMP3 car for the category’s 2025 rules revamp earlier this month, after Ligier took the wraps off its JSP325 at Le Mans in June. The company run by Stephane Chosse hopes its AD25 will generate more interest than the outgoing 03 EVO, which has struggled to break the market monopoly of Ligier and Duqueine in the European Le…

This is all very Star Trek, isn’t it? Formula E established a path for electric motorsport on city streets, before sister series Extreme E took the scenic route off road a few years later. And now comes Extreme H, trying to do the same for hydrogen. For alternative-power-motorsport svengali Alejandro Agag, it continues the mantra “to boldly go where no one has gone before”. The Spaniard, perhaps not fully up to speed on late 1960s American sci-. TV series, prefers to view himself not as Captain Kirk, but as a reverse-engineered Marty McFly. “I don’t know if you have seen movies about people that travel in time, like Back to the Future,” he offers. “When you travel back in time, you have to be very careful not to touch or…

IndyCar’s duopoly had been briefly upended in 1992 by Galmer winning the Indianapolis 500 with Al Unser Jr and Galles Racing. But following a decision by Rick Galles to cancel the Galmer programme, the old order was restored in 1993. If you wanted to win, you had to have a Lola or a Penske chassis. Yet that all changed with Reynard’s arrival in 1994. Six podiums was a modest return from its maiden year, but three of those were wins – including the debut victory that had become the constructor’s calling card. The upstart’s instant impact had longer-term significance too. The 1994 season elevated Jacques Villeneuve into a driver who could be considered future world champion potential, returned Michael Andretti to the force of nature he’d been prior to a…

One of the British Touring Car Championship’s best-known driver-engineer double acts might not have happened if it hadn’t been for a seemingly random Facebook friend request. “I got one from Shaun Hollamby,” recounts Craig Porley, the brains behind Jake Hill’s BTCC points-topping form with West Surrey Racing. “I didn’t know him really, but the rumours were, ‘Hmm, they’re going to AmD’, so I’d better accept that.” ‘They’ were the FK2-model Honda Civic Type Rs that Porley had been engineering at Eurotech. That team was pulling out of the BTCC, the cars and equipment were indeed heading to Hollamby’s AmD squad, and the ball had started rolling… Porley ran Rory Butcher to the 2019 Independents’ title, before Hill shuffled over to take both car and techie for 2020. The rest is…

FORMULA 1 Formula 1 has announced the six grand prix weekends that will feature sprint events in 2025, with Spa reinstated as the Red Bull Ring drops off the sprint list for the first time since 2021. Five of the events on the sprint calendar remain the same from 2024’s schedule: Shanghai, Miami, Austin, Interlagos and Losail will continue to host Saturday races. The Belgian Grand Prix last held a sprint race in 2023, but this and the Azerbaijan GP sprint were omitted from this year’s calendar and replaced by the returning Chinese GP and the Miami round. F1 has revealed an increase in viewing figures for sprint weekends over traditional GP events featuring three practice sessions, underlining its decision to continue with the format. It is expected that the…

WEC Ferrari brought the first revisions to its 499P Le Mans Hypercar on stream at the Interlagos World Endurance Championship round last weekend. It had revealed at the Le Mans 24 Hours last month that it was planning to introduce the first evo joker updates before the end of this season or at the start of next, but opted to blood them at the earliest opportunity. Ferrari sportscar racing technical boss Ferdinando Cannizzo revealed that the Italian manufacturer’s success at Le Mans and its return to contention in the WEC title race were two of the factors behind the early introduction. The upgrades are centred on improving rear braking efficiency, and Cannizzo explained that there was a desire to have them in place as soon as possible in order to…

BTCC British Touring Car Championship boss Alan Gow always made it clear that he felt the 30-odd cars that battled it out not so long ago was a few too many. Not enough pit garage space, not enough quality in some places, and too many interruptions from shunts and mechanical failures. But the reduction of the field from 27 last year to an average of 20 for 2024 was a step a little bit too far, and Gow has now gone public on seeking newcomers for next year. Interestingly, in light of some of those who fell by the wayside last winter but said that they may return, he has stipulated that he is seeking ‘fresh, high-quality’ operations. “I’ve opened the door for expressions of interest from up to two…

Hungaroring Length 2.722 miles Number of laps 70 DRS detection DRS zone UK START TIMES Friday 19 July FP1 1230 FP2 1600 Saturday 20 July FP3 1130 QUALIFYING 1500 Sunday 21 July RACE 1400 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 Highlights CHANNEL 4 1830 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS Drivers Constructors HUNGARORING STATS Previous winners 2023 POLE POSITION Lewis Hamilton 1m16.609s POLE LAP RECORD Lewis Hamilton 1m13.447s (2020) RACE LAP RECORD Lewis Hamilton 1m16.627s (2020) Hungaroring podiums…

The white paint on the walls had barely dried before the media tour of Aston Martin’s newest additions to its plush new Silverstone factory. The first building on its 37,000-square-metre facility, known as the Technology Campus to lend a studious feel to its nomenclature, had been completed in 2023 and houses the workshops, the CNC and milling machines, and other kit needed to put the car together. As for the rest, including the sections housing the wind tunnel and final remaining design offices, these are currently missing the final touches. Nonetheless, the tour provided a sense of the team’s scale – or at least, the scale to which it aims to grow as the investment in its future continues. When the wind tunnel and associated offices are finished, the staff…

Red Bull Racing took centre stage at the Goodwood Festival of Speed as the Formula 1 team celebrated the 20th anniversary of its formation. The current F1 pacesetter sent seven cars up the hill, including reigning world champion Max Verstappen driving his 2021 title-winning RB16B. The team’s first driver pairing of David Coulthard and Christian Klien also drove, the Austrian behind the wheel of the RB1 from 2005. Former Red Bull grand prix winners Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo drove the RB6 and RB7 respectively, while team boss Christian Horner got behind the wheel of Sebastian Vettel’s title-winning RB8. Verstappen was joined by team-mate Sergio Perez, who was in a 2022 RB18, and Red Bull-backed F1 Academy driver Hamda Al Qubaisi drove up in her current Tatuus. Soon-departing technical chief…

The British Touring Car Championship remains the UK’s top national series, and this status was reflected in the size of its stand at Goodwood. Four cars were on display, with onlookers able to get up close with one of the NAPA/Alliance Racing Fords, an Excelr8 Hyundai, a Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall and one of the Speedworks Motorsport Toyotas. With no barriers separating spectators from the machinery, this was access that goes beyond anything possible across a regular BTCC weekend. While getting cosy with the cars is one thing, enthusiasts were also able to speak directly to the drivers across the weekend. Champions Tom Ingram, Ash Sutton and Jason Plato, plus race winner Josh Cook, were often to be found milling around on the stand, posing for pictures and signing autographs.…

Ford conquered Goodwood’s famous shootout with its mighty all-electric SuperVan in what proved to be a truncated timed showdown on Sunday. Two-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Romain Dumas lit up the famous 1.16-mile hillclimb course to post a 43.987s effort behind the wheel of the 1400bhp Ford SuperVan 4.2, powered by four electric motors. This time eclipsed former Toro Rosso Formula 1 driver Scott Speed, who had laid down a 46.075s effort piloting the wild 670bhp Subaru WRX Project Midnight, created specifically for this event. Dumas’s success makes him a three-time Goodwood shootout winner, following triumphs in 2018 and 2019 driving the electric Volkswagen I.D. R. “Two corners from the end, I was quite close to the wall, so I was pushing quite hard I have to say,” related…

FORMULA REGIONAL EUROPEAN MUGELLO (ITA) 13-14 JULY ROUND 5/10 For all of Rafael Camara’s early-season domination of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, it’s now looking like a two-way battle between the Brazilian and fellow Ferrari protege Tuukka Taponen for the crown as the season enters its second half. Finnish teenager Taponen planted his R-ace GP car on pole for Saturday’s race, while a last-lap effort hoisted Brando Badoer of Van Amersfoort Racing onto the front row by topping the other group, at the expense of Prema Racing starlet Camara. Badoer kept Taponen on his toes for much of the race, making some strenuous efforts to take the lead at half-distance, before the hard-charging Italian dropped a wheel into the gravel exiting the fast Arrabbiata double-right and fell back…

NASCAR CUP POCONO (USA) 14 JULY ROUND 21/36 Ryan Blaney cemented his status as a strong contender for a second consecutive NASCAR Cup title with an impressive win last Sunday at Pocono Raceway. Kyle Larson beat Blaney off pitroad on lap 117 of 160, but Larson and three others were penalised for speeding in the pits, which handed the race lead over to Blaney. Despite his Team Penske Ford being close on fuel to make it to the finish, Blaney never relinquished his position. Three cautions in the final 38 laps helped him save enough fuel, and he easily pulled away on each of the ensuring restarts. Denny Hamlin moved into second with seven laps to go in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, but ran out of time and Blaney…

CSCC The Classic Sports Car Club will introduce another innovative format at its Brands Hatch meeting next month when it runs races with split finishes for the first time. Brands Britannia on 25-26 August, the Bank Holiday weekend, is scheduled to feature a pair of 20-minute races for the MG Trophy – which usually runs together with the club’s Jaguar Championship – concurrently with 40-minute contests for the club’s Modern Classics and Future Classics series. Each series will start at the same time but the MG Trophy cars will finish their race and leave the circuit midway through the 40-minute timetable slot. The move is designed to make maximum use of the 1.2-mile Indy circuit’s relatively small capacity compared to other circuits. It also assists with scheduling no qualifying sessions…

BRITISH GT Forsetti Motorsport is eyeing a GT3 graduation after sealing the British GT4 teams’ title during its debut season with two rounds still remaining. The Aston Martin squad secured a double podium at Snetterton last weekend with its driver pairings of Mikey Porter/Jamie Day and Marc Warren/Will Orton, leaving the team 121.5 points clear of Optimum Motorsport’s single-car entry. Forsetti is also 165 points ahead of Century Motorsport – the nearest two-car entry – with a maximum score of 129 points available. It has been an impressive debut campaign for Forsetti, which has scored nine podiums including victory at the Oulton Park season opener. Forsetti boss Joe Holloway said: “A massive credit to everyone that’s worked for the team this year and contributed. We’ve had phenomenal drivers who have…

RALLYING Chris Ingram and Alex Kihurani gave the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 its first UK rally win with a classy performance on the Nicky Grist Stages on Saturday. It was Ingram’s first rally in the second Yaris to be delivered to the Melvyn Evans Motorsport team, and he used the BTRDA Rally Series event as a shakedown ahead of taking the Yaris to the remaining three rounds of the British Rally Championship. To date, Ingram has used a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 for the opening half of the BRC, but he hopes the pace of the Yaris will enable him to bid for the crown, starting with next month’s Grampian Rally in Scotland. Despite minimal seat time before last weekend’s Builth Wells-based rally, Ingram took control from the start and…

TCR UK TCR UK title contender Adam Shepherd has vowed to maintain his challenge despite numerous setbacks at last weekend’s Croft meeting. Shepherd’s 19-point lead over reigning champion Carl Boardley has been transformed into a 38-point deficit, although he retains a two-point advantage after dropped scores. A catalogue of misfortune included his van breaking down en route, missing Friday testing, and an ECU/electrical fault preventing him qualifying. Although his team effected a fix while returning to Essex, Shepherd was prevented from starting the first race because he had not completed three laps of the circuit. “They were unsure of my competence,” said an incredulous Shepherd, who finished on the podium at the track last year. After completing the requisite mileage during race two’s start procedure, Shepherd started last, but a…

GT3 Race 1 (33 laps) 1 Alex Martin/Sandy Mitchell (Lamborghini Huracan EVO2); 2 Rob Collard/Ricky Collard (Lamborghini) +6.387s; 3 Richard Neary/Sam Neary (Mercedes-AMG); 4 Ian Loggie/Phil Keen (Mercedes); 5 Hugo Cook/Sacha Kakad (Audi R8 LMS Evo2); 6 Matt Topham/Josh Rowledge (Aston Martin Vantage). Fastest lap Mitchell 1m47.452s (99.46mph). Pole Rob Collard. Starters 14. Race 2 (30 laps) 1 Maximilian Gotz/Kevin Tse (Mercedes); 2 Collard/Collard +6.854s; 3 Tom Gamble/Mark Radcliffe (McLaren 720S Evo); 4 Adam Smalley/Shaun Balfe (McLaren); 5 Jonny Adam/Giacomo Petrobelli (Aston Martin); 6 Callum Macleod/Mike Price (Mercedes). FL Mitchell 1m47.447s (99.47mph). P Mitchell. S 14. Points 1 Collard/Collard 126.5; 2 Martin/Mitchell 121.5; 3 Balfe/Smalley 105.5; 4 Loggie/Keen 88.5; 5 Radcliffe/Gamble 85; 6 Tse/Gotz 75. GT4 Race 1 (31 laps) 1 Ravi Ramyead/Charlie Robertson (BMW M4, below); 2 Aston Millar/Freddie…

GB3 Race 1 (11 laps) 1 John Bennett; 2 Tymek Kucharczyk +1.138s; 3 James Hedley; 4 Louis Sharp; 5 Will Macintyre; 6 Hugo Schwarze. Fastest lap Bennett 1m33.149s (102.28mph). Pole Bennett. Starters 20. Race 2 (9 laps) 1 Kucharczyk; 2 Hedley +7.474s; 3 McKenzy Cresswell; 4 Colin Queen; 5 Patrick Heuzenroeder; 6 Nikita Johnson. FL Kucharczyk 1m31.584s (104.03mph). P Bennett. S 20. Race 3 (16 laps) 1 Johnson; 2 Cresswell +1.644s; 3 Heuzenroeder; 4 Schwarze; 5 Macintyre; 6 Noah Ping. FL Johnson 1m32.623s (102.86mph). P Josh Irfan. S 20. Points 1 Kucharczyk 285 (below); 2 Sharp 265; 3 Macintyre 263; 4 Bennett 255; 5 Cresswell 219; 6 Jarrod Waberski 170. For full results visit: gb-3.net…

CROFT BRSCC 13-14 JULY Reigning Civic Cup champion Max Edmundson spun, won, and spun again in last weekend’s pair of dramatic wet races at Croft. Edmundson bettered new Area Motorsport team-mate Harvey Caton by 0.4 seconds in qualifying as the squad secured a second consecutive top-six lockout. While the rest traded places, the local driver was nearly 3s clear after just one racing lap. But Edmundson then discovered to his cost that the chicane was still too wet to take flat, and rejoined in seventh. Incredibly, Edmundson was fourth by the end of the lap, before picking off Liam McGill and Lewis Kent – twice, after a mistake exiting the hairpin. He then hunted down former TCR ace Josh Files and charged around him at Clervaux before the race was…

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual thrill for the senses, the ultimate coming together of motorsport disciplines for the hardcore fans, with machinery, drivers and riders from modern times and the pages of history charging up the iconic hill. While this makes for a wonderful experience for adults or groups including older children, is the Festival something you should take on with younger children in tow? In this instance, a three-year-old and a one-year-old. We start with the practicalities for those considering making the trip in 2025. Heading to the event on Thursday, the usual incredible levels of traffic were largely avoided by travelling early and allowing the children to sleep in the car en route. Tip number one. Next up, food. While there are many vendors around…

Three months before making his Formula 1 debut in the 1970 Monaco Grand Prix driving a privateer March 701, rising star Ronnie Peterson was enlisted by Porsche as “their big publicity man”, in the words of Autosport’s correspondent, to drive a 911L in February’s Swedish Rally. Things didn’t get o. the best of starts when his original co-driver Torsten Palm (runner-up to Peterson in the previous year’s Swedish Formula 3 Championship) had to be rushed to hospital to have a gallstone extracted and was replaced at the last minute by Sven-Olaf Svedberg. Peterson and Svedberg, still with Palm’s name prominent on the side and roof of their Porsche, were running in 22nd place when a transmission failure forced them to join the event’s long list of retirements – just 31…

NASCAR has launched an all-electric stock car in partnership with electrification and automation expert ABB, but admits that the concept car may never race. Based on the Next Gen chassis used in its Cup Series, the all-wheel-drive prototype made its public debut at the recent Chicago street race event. It features three STARD UHP 6-Phase motors (one front, two rear), while energy comes via a 78kWh liquid-cooled battery. The powertrain can produce 1000kW at peak power. The body is a generic CUV style, made of flax fibre composite. Famous for its pushrod V8 engines, NASCAR is committed to internal combustion in its racing series and says that this car will remain a demonstrator, with no plans to run any races. John Probst, NASCAR’s senior vice-president and chief racing development o.…

Ford’s RS200 will return to production after the Blue Oval granted a licensing agreement for a ‘remastered’ version that will be manufactured by Boreham Motorworks. The division of the DRVN Automotive Group, named after the Essex headquarters of Ford Motorsport and which counts storied Ford team Alan Mann Racing among its brands, will build entirely new examples of the mid-engined four-wheel-drive machine that was conceived for the World Rally Championship’s revered Group B era. The RS200’s 1986 debut came too late to make an impression before the WRC abruptly canned Group B, but enjoyed success in the European Rallycross Championship’s Division 2, with all-action Martin Schanche claiming the 1991 title after three consecutive runner-up finishes. Boreham Motorworks also creates continuation models, including the MK1 Escort that will be revealed later…

Although all its wins came on road and street courses in 1994, this presents a slightly misleading picture of where Reynard’s first Indycar was strongest. Perhaps unexpectedly, given the constructor’s background, the chassis proved stronger on ovals. A pervading understeer trait was helpful on the faster circuits, if not stop-start tracks. Galles driver Adrian Fernandez confirms: “The car was very strong on all the ovals, it had a very good downforce, it behaved well. The street courses, it was for us struggling the most and I remember the understeer the car had, but it was very strong on ovals.” Fellow Reynard racer Jimmy Vasser agrees that “we were very uncompetitive on the road courses” in 1994. That said, the Hayhoe Racing man felt the Reynard was “just easier to drive”…

■ People say aero’s king, but without tyres there wouldn’t be any aero. Braking, cornering and traction all goes through that, so learning to read a tyre and interpret the data is key. ■ Keep it simple. We’re trying to go in circles as fast as possible, don’t over-complicate things. ■ Never stop learning. You might regret starting at a new team if they’re not doing things as you would, but often there will be something they’re doing better.…