Indholdsfortegnelse for 10/10/24 i Autosport

Absolute class. In the past, the British Touring Car Championship had built a reputation for overly aggressive driving and shunts, but the title-deciding battle between Jake Hill and Tom Ingram at Brands Hatch last weekend was a great example for the rest of motorsport. Just three years after we had a Formula 1 championship contest in which the main two protagonists couldn’t go side-by-side through a corner without one or both ending up off the road, Hill and Ingram put on brilliant displays in races two and three – the racing was tough but fair. Either one would have been a worthy champion, but Hill’s hard-won success means that all of the Big Four from the past few years now has a BTCC title to their name. Congratulations to Jake,…

WEC Valentino Rossi plans a significant cutback in his racing next year. That gives the BMW factory driver a stark choice: to compete in either the World Endurance Championship or the GT World Challenge Europe. The admission by the seven-time MotoGP champion that he wants to contest no more than 10 or 11 races in 2025 represents a change of position from earlier in the year. Back in May, Rossi insisted that he intended to continue in both WEC and the Endurance Cup leg of the GTWCE with the WRT BMW squad, while nibbling back from the 16 races on his programme this year. “I realised that is too many and I am in the same situation as in MotoGP,” said the 45-year-old Italian, who announced in July that he…

Up-and-coming British tin-top ace Jenson Brickley claimed his first TCR Spain victory at Valencia last weekend to retain his lead in the series. The 20-year-old, who will represent Team UK in this month’s FIA Motorsport Games, took his Brickley Motorsport Cupra Leon to second place, but was promoted to victory when on-the-road winner Ignacio Montenegro was penalised for a collision that took out Eric Gene, son of versatile racer Jordi Gene. Montenegro made amends by muscling through the reversed grid to win race two in his Honda, the Argentinian leading home Gene and Brickley. One round remains, at Barcelona next month. SLATER MISSES OUT… US-Indian racer Akshay Bohra denied Freddie Slater the Euro 4 crown at last weekend’s season finale at Monza. A spin in race one meant Slater finished…

OBITUARY Rocky Moran Sr scored the biggest win of his career at the 1993 Daytona 24 Hours with Toyota. Yet he might have notched up a victory of arguably equal stature a dozen years before with the same All-American Racers team. The Southern Californian, who has died aged 74, was on course for a debut win in the CART Indycar series at Watkins Glen in 1981 when he ran out of fuel. Moran led 21 laps aboard one of AAR’s Eagle-Chevrolet 81s from seventh on the grid and looked set for victory, only to splutter dry with three laps remaining. He was still classified sixth, which, when a stop-start Indycar career petered out in the same year that he won at Daytona, still equalled his best finish in the series…

At the start of every season in recent times I’ve let out a sigh, one that involves the exhalation of more air each time. Each year my exasperation grows as I go into another new season knowing that I won’t be reporting on a major international endurance race in my home country. How can that be? It’s not right that a nation so central to international motorsport, one that has supplied more winners of the Le Mans 24 Hours than any other, has not had a place on the calendar of any of the long-distance sportscar series since 2019. That’s why I’m something approaching overjoyed that Silverstone will put that right next September when it hosts a round of the European Le Mans Series. I can’t be more committed than…

With a population of just over a quarter of a million people and its remote Caribbean location, it’s not surprising that Barbados is hardly well-known for its motorsport heritage. But Zane Maloney’s exploits have begun to change that. The young Barbadian cut his teeth at the family-owned Bushy Park Circuit – the island’s primary facility for racing. And in two months’ time the 21-year-old is to make his Formula E debut with the Abt team at an interesting juncture in his life. Maloney has worked his way up the junior single-seater ranks to Formula 2 and, in theory, is just one big leap away from F1. Along the way, his abilities have not gone unnoticed by motorsport’s upper echelons. He was previously on Red Bull’s books and has been part…

A mid all the irritating bells-and-whistles of modern motorsport, the defining moment of the British Touring Car Championship climax at Brands Hatch featured a tremendous example of classic 1960s sportsmanship, as if Jake Hill and Tom Ingram were still going at it in front of the ‘frightfully good show’ audience of their Goodwood Revival joust last month. Yes, Hill pushed his hybrid-turbo power boost button to complete the move, but so did Ingram in his vain attempt to defend – so their resorting to 2020s gimmickry cancelled each other out. What was beautiful to this title-winning blast was its immediate prelude. Hill swept his West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport around the outside of Ingram’s Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback at Surtees, the wet track perhaps helping him…

BRITISH F4 British Formula 4 racer Jack Sherwood escaped injury after a dramatic crash at Brands Hatch last weekend during which his car rolled over the top of the Westfield barrier on the circuit’s Grand Prix loop. Rodin Motorsport driver Sherwood had enjoyed a storming start to the third F4 race, and had surged into the lead in the early laps. He was looking well-placed to score a maiden victory when a sudden left-rear puncture led to him spinning off the track and his car was launched into a series of rolls, ending up on the other side of the barrier. Sherwood was able to walk away unharmed and said this was testament to the strength of modern single-seaters and their halo cockpit protection devices. “I just turned in, had…

GB3 American Nikita Johnson will return for a full-time tilt at the GB3 Championship next season with Hitech GP. The 16-year-old became the youngest race winner in the single-seater category when he triumphed in the partially reversed-grid race at Zandvoort. He had missed the opening two rounds due to not being old enough to compete. Johnson, who took another win at the Brands Hatch season finale with VRD by Arden, also finished runner-up in USF Pro 2000 this term following his second place the previous year in the USF2000 Championship – both junior series on the pathway to IndyCar. Meanwhile, VRD has confirmed that it will run exclusively under its own name from next season. It first joined GB3 in 2022 via a collaboration with Arden. Team principal of the…

Nearly 50 rally cars from across the history of the discipline took part in the Historic Rally Festival last weekend. The demonstration special stage event had a fresh look this year, with a move to largely gravel stages in the Apley and Willey estates in Shropshire. Notable cars included the ex-works Lancia 037 of David Kedward (above), which has just completed a restoration after 20 years in storage. BURGIN BY JUST A POINT Two class wins and fastest laps at Snetterton last month sealed the MG Midget & Sprite Challenge for Ian Burgin and his Austin-Healey Frogeye Sprite. Class C runner Burgin overcame gearbox gremlins to edge last year’s champion, Class D man Hugh Simpson, by just a single point as the pair matched each other’s results at the season…

SILVERSTONE EQUIPE SUPER SPRINT 5 OCTOBER David Methley and his AC Cobra were among the stars as the Equipe Super Sprint returned last weekend, bringing its unique format to Silverstone. The schedule features each driver participating in qualifying as well as three heats and a final, with the speed of each car/driver combination determining the sessions in which they compete. With each race just 10 laps long, it ensures that the drivers are pushing throughout and allows cars of similar performance to race against each other. Methley won the final for the fastest machinery aboard his 4.7-litre Cobra, but was lucky to reach the decider unscathed after an off-track excursion at Becketts in his first race threatened to derail his event. Come the final, however, the 71-year-old led the way…

PORSCHE SPRINT CHALLENGE GB One point was all that separated Seb Hopkins and Max Coates at the end of a close Porsche Sprint Challenge GB fight as Coates’s wait for a TOCA title goes on. Coates held a 10-point lead heading to Brands Hatch, but saw that dwindle after an opener in which Hopkins finished second while Coates could not progress from fourth in a contest that ended behind the safety car. But the championship-defining moment came in race two when Coates challenged Tom Bradshaw around the outside of Druids, only for the pair to come to blows and Coates’s Graves Motorsport machine slipped back to ninth. Up ahead, Hopkins lost the lead off the line to Team Parker stablemate Will Jenkins, but second reduced Coates’s advantage to a solitary…

SNETTERTON MSVR 5-6 OCTOBER G-Cat Racing took three wins as the GT Cup season drew to a close at Snetterton last weekend, but the titles went the way of Topcats Racing. Charlotte Gilbert and Tom Rawlings were crowned overall champions ahead of team-mates Fraser Fenwick and Warren Gilbert, with the last-named also taking the Sprint Challenge glory. Shamus Jennings gave the G-Cat Porsche 911 its first triumph in Saturday’s sprint contest after Rawlings pitted from the lead. A frenetic scrap ensued behind between Paul Bailey (Lamborghini GT3), Tom Walpole (KTM GT4) and Warren Gilbert’s Lamborghini Super Trofeo, but Rawlings picked off the trio and recovered to second. Fenwick, driving solo in the subsequent endurance race, took a comfortable win to deny the Jennings/Greg Caton pairing, while Charlotte Gilbert and Rawlings…

CASTLE COMBE CCRC 5 OCTOBER Doug Watson, Felix Fisher, Harrison Chamberlain and Jake Alden were crowned Castle Combe champions at Saturday’s Grand Finals, but it is Watson’s GT cliffhanger with Dylan Popovic, which went to the wire, that spectators will remember. Polesitter Popovic (Ginetta-Chevrolet G50) filled the mirrors of Watson’s Ferrari turbocar first time out, but could not breach his defences despite a landmark 1m06.462s (100.20mph) lap record. Alan Hamilton, debuting the ex-Jeremy Irwin/Oliver Bull Vauxhall Tigra, reset class C’s in third. Still one point behind, Popovic spun to last at Quarry on the decider’s opening lap. Watson, in cruise mode, saw the purple Ginetta reappear on his tail on lap three, but prevailed after a scrape at a slippery Tower when Popovic dived into a semi-open door on lap…

BOOK REVIEW GRAND PRIX: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF FORMULA 1 Will Buxton RRP £25 You can’t judge a book by its cover, or so they say. But that is not true of those where illustrations are expected to be the selling point. We’re pleased to report, then, that Grand Prix: An Illustrated History of Formula 1 certainly pops on the shelf, with the lettering of ‘grand prix’ showcasing famous helmets from various eras. Should this not have piqued your interest, then the cover quote by none other than Brad Pitt may sway you into completing your transaction. But just in case you were still on the fence, inside the cover are another 10 review quotes singing Buxton’s praises. While this chunky book runs to 240 pages, it’s surprising that Buxton…

A Ferrari win at home is traditionally celebrated with an infectious joy that cannot fail to leave even the most non-partisan of observers unmoved, but the conclusion of the 1975 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the penultimate round of the season, was something else. Here, Clay Regazzoni receives a hero’s welcome a.er dominating the race, while team-mate Niki Lauda’s third-place finish secured him the drivers’ championship, and Ferrari the manufacturers’ crown. What could have been a demonstration run by the scarlet pair starting from the front row was enlivened by Emerson Fittipaldi’s on-the-ragged-edge pursuit in the closing stages – the McLaren driver deposed Lauda from second place (although the Austrian wasn’t going to fight for it) and spurred Regazzoni on to set the fastest lap of the race. COLOMBO For…

FORMULA 1 Formula 1’s plans to host a rookie sprint race during the Abu Dhabi post-season test in December have been abandoned for 2024, but the idea is set to be revisited in the future. The concept of a sprint event for young drivers on the Tuesday after the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina looked set for approval, with all major stakeholders in favour of the idea to give newcomers more relevant mileage in current F1 cars. The idea of turning the regular post-season rookie test into a race was first discussed in July, with a 10-car sprint featuring one entry per team proposed. The plans were further fleshed out and then discussed during last week’s F1 Commission meeting, but the consensus was that F1 and governing…

WEC Four-time Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Nicolas Lapierre has retired with immediate effect to take up the role of sporting director with the Alpine team with which he has been racing in this year’s World Endurance Championship. It means the 40-year-old Frenchman is bowing out on a high: he took a podium in his final race aboard the French manufacturer’s A424 LMDh at Fuji last month. “It is time for me to hang up my helmet and end this chapter of my life,” said former Toyota LMP1 driver Lapierre in a short social media post last Wednesday that preceded the announcement of his new role with Alpine. “It was great to finish this journey on the podium and spray the champagne once more. It was an honour for…

WRC Kalle Rovanpera feels “recharged” and ready to make a full-time return to the World Rally Championship for 2025 after expanding his motorsport horizons this season. The two-time World Rally champion made a surprise decision to conduct a part-time WRC campaign this year, stating a desire to scale back temporarily following his second consecutive world title in 2023. But the factory Toyota driver has remained a key part of the Japanese manufacturer’s WRC effort this season, contributing four wins from his seven starts to date in Kenya, Poland, Latvia and Chile. Away from the stages, the 24-year-old has made the most of his free time by taking in several extracurricular motorsport activities including drifting and a successful move into circuit racing. His stint in the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux has…

FORMULA 3 Recently crowned GB3 champion Louis Sharp is to step up to the Formula 3 Championship in 2025. The Nottingham-born New Zealander, a finalist in the Silverstone Autosport BRDC Award, is to remain with Rodin Motorsport for his graduation. That’s no surprise, because his main backer is Rodin team owner David Dicker. “Having the new chassis will provide a level playing field for the rookies, and Louis has shown throughout his British F4 and GB3 campaigns how quickly he adapts to new cars and tracks,” said Rodin F3 team manager Sam Waple. With post-season testing – still in the outgoing Dallara F3 2019 car – kicking off at Jerez this week, Sharp is one of a host of driver announcements for 2025. Finnish Ferrari protege Tuukka Taponen moves up…

“In 2025, I think we have the best driver line-up on the grid.” Williams team boss James Vowles caused quite the social media stir with this line in a recent edition of the Beyond The Grid podcast. It was something of a throwaway remark considering Vowles’s subsequent in-depth chat about his lofty wider ambitions for his squad, but it was nevertheless revealing. And, given the reaction to Vowles’s comment on his estimation of how Carlos Sainz will slot in alongside Alex Albon next year, it’s another reminder of how F1 fans love a changing driver market. The rare stability from 2023-24 will go unreplicated for next year, with at least seven teams set to get to work with at least one new driver. Weighing past achievements, known strengths and weaknesses,…

Lando Norris was fortunate to make it out of the first phase of qualifying at the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix. He was settling in for his fifth season with McLaren, the team that had picked him up as a junior driver and supported his path to Formula 1, but his loyalty to Zak Brown’s orange army was surely tested when the MCL60 first emerged on track. Norris set exactly the same time as Logan Sargeant in Q1 but, since the Briton set his first, he progressed into the next stage. New team-mate Oscar Piastri fell at the first hurdle – the Australian rookie had qualified down in 18th for his first F1 weekend. There was a feeling that Norris was punching above his weight when he lined up 11th on…

“It’s easier to dream about doing something when you have seen someone doing it.” Those are the words of champion co-driver Reeta Hamalainen, and strike at the core of what the World Rally Championship is trying to achieve with its new women’s talent development programme. This global search aims not only to unearth the next top female rally driver, who could one day follow in the footsteps of four-time WRC rally winner Michele Mouton, but also break down the barriers to entry for women in rallying. Following an intense three-day training camp in Poland last month, three drivers are now no longer dreaming of competing in the WRC. Lyssia Baudet (21, Belgium), Claire Schonborn (25, Germany), and Suvi Jyrkiainen (24, Finland) are now preparing to compete in the WRC’s penultimate…

INTERCONTINENTAL GT CHALLENGE INDIANAPOLIS (USA) 5 OCTOBER ROUND 4/4 Crossing the line first, yet not winning the race. That was the scenario faced by Wright Motorsports Porsche trio Laurin Heinrich, Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson at the end of last Saturday’s Indianapolis 8 Hour. Instead, a five-second penalty for the Ohio squad handed the win to Team WRT BMW line-up Sheldon van der Linde, Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor. WRT, 2023 winner at the Brickyard, dominated much of the opening half of the Intercontinental GT Challenge finale and ran 1-2 at the halfway point, but a series of safety cars and strategic swings meant that Wright’s green-and-yellow 911 GT3-R became a potent threat for victory in the final four hours. That feeling only became stronger when WRT’s second M4 GT3…

EQUIPE CLASSIC RACING Equipe Classic Racing will run a six-hour historic race at Donington Park next year, designed to recreate the spirit of the early Spa Six Hours contests. While the Belgian event has become increasingly dominated by Ford GT40s – the machines represented a quarter of this year’s entry – these cars will be banned from taking part in Equipe’s race, which instead is open to the smaller-engined pre-1966 FIA-spec GTs that are synonymous with the organiser. The 5 July race is open to teams of between two and four drivers all competing in the same car and refuelling from the pitlane. “We’re trying to recreate the heady days of the early Spa Six Hours but do it our way, which is affordable club racing,” said Equipe partner Rob…

BRITISH F4 A new version of ROKiT’s sim racing competition will be held next year, and this time five winners will receive prize drives. British Formula 4 champion Deagen Fairclough was the inaugural winner of the Racing Star shootout in 2022 and received a fully funded season in the series last year. He then retained ROKiT’s backing for his all-conquering campaign with Hitech this season. The new ROKiT Racing Drivers competition will be much bigger in scale and will be a global contest, with anyone aged between 14 and 18 around the world who has access to some form of simulator able to enter. The series each of the winners will compete in has yet to be determined since it will depend upon a range of individual factors, including age.…

RALLYING Petter Solberg returned to off-road action last weekend as the 2003 World Rally champion claimed victory on his debut in the final round of the Defender Rally Challenge in Ireland. The Norwegian driver took part at the wheel of a Land Rover 90, complete with Castrol Edge livery, and claimed class victory by more than a minute on the Clare Forestry Rally despite having only driven a handful of kilometres in the machine prior to the event. “I wasn’t so sure what to expect from this car and this championship, but that was so much fun,” said Solberg. “The car was nice to drive, really interesting. You know me, I would always like a little bit more testing before an event but, when this one started, I was feeling…

BRITISH RALLYCROSS Reigning champion Patrick O’Donovan entered last weekend’s penultimate round of the British Rallycross Championship at Pembrey knowing a brace of wins would secure his third straight crown. Driving the Peugeot 208 WRX with which he recently claimed the European Rallycross title, becoming the first British driver in 30 years to win the crown, O’Donovan delivered another crushing performance in South Wales after topping every practice session, heat and both finals. Unique to the Pembrey circuit, the rallycross layout was used in both directions across the two days, while the heavens opened in the latter stages on day two. Ian Barrett delivered his strongest performance to date with his revised ex-Johan Kristoffersson Volkswagen Polo, and qualified second on the grid for Saturday’s final, but he was spun out at…

EQUIPE SUPER SPRINT Races 1, 4 & 7 David Methley (AC Cobra) Race 2 Rob Cull (TVR Grantura Mk3) Race 3 Tim Greenhill (MGB Roadster) Race 5 Paul Whight (Lotus Elan 26R) Race 6 Andrew Cahill (Lotus Elan 26R) Race 8 Joel Hopwood (Lotus Elan 26R) Race 9 Mark Cloutman (Austin A40) Final 1 Can Bitirim (MGB Roadster, below) Final 2 Harvey McBrien (MGB Roadster) Final 3 David Methley (AC Cobra) BCV8s/MG CUP Jordan Spencer (MGB GTV8) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

BRITISH F4 Deagen Fairclough ended the British Formula 4 season just as he started it with a dominant win in the Brands Hatch finale as he took his victory tally to a remarkable 14, although the weekend will be remembered for a crash for Jack Sherwood (see News). Hitech GP driver Fairclough began the event in typical fashion with a double pole and converted the first of those to an untroubled win. The second race was the rearranged Silverstone reversed-grid contest, and Leo Robinson (JHR Developments) shot clear to win after Thomas Bearman struggled to get off pole. Sherwood was then on a mission in the ‘Brands’ reversed-grid bout and a great getaway sent him from sixth to third, before he went around the outside of Rowan Campbell-Pilling into Hawthorn.…

KNOCKHILL KMSC 5-6 OCTOBER Gerry Hendry wrapped up his maiden Fiesta ST Cup title last weekend by taking a pair of victories as the curtain fell on the Scottish Motor Racing Club season at Knockhill. With nine wins from 12 races, Hendry’s triumph didn’t come as a huge surprise to many, but the final round of the year presented the newly crowned champion with perhaps his biggest challenge in the form of teenaged sensation Sophie Kinghorn. Persistent rain was a constant on Sunday, and Hendry led away from pole at the start of race one, while Lorn Murray got the better of Kinghorn into Duffus Dip. With ST Challenge honours at stake, Kinghorn went on the attack and grabbed second from Murray around the outside of Clark Corner at mid-distance…

GT CUP Races 1 & 4 Shamus Jennings (Porsche 911 GT3-R) Race 2 Fraser Fenwick (Lamborghini Super Trofeo) Race 3 Shamus Jennings/Greg Caton (Porsche 911 GT3-R) PORSCHE CLUB Race 1 Jake McAleer (997) Race 2 Bill Caley (Cayman) BOXSTER CUP Race 1 Mike Thompson Race 2 Ben Grewcock UNITED FORMULA FORD Race 1 Tom Nippers (Van Diemen RF01) Race 2 Charlie Mann (Ray GR20) FOCUS CUP Races 1 & 2 Lewis Clark Race 3 Alastair Topley SPORTS 2000 Races 1 & 2 Joshua Law (MCR S2N, below) SNETTERTON SALOONS Chris Murphy (BMW E36 M3) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

MALLORY PARK 750MC 6 OCTOBER Perhaps the most extraordinary lead battle in the 750 Formula’s 75-year history embroiled nine competitors at Mallory Park on Sunday. With Bill Cowley driving the evolution of grandfather Bill’s creation and Jake Doherty in grandad Bob Simpson’s SS/F sharing the front row, both targeting the runner-up spot, and Richard Rothery taking over the PRS from champion David Bartholomew, the stage was set. Doherty, chasing his first win, dived inside poleman Cowley into Gerards on lap two and, when Bill could not hook second gear at the hairpin, he exited eighth. As Cowley recovered, Mark Windley (debuting the ex-Peter Bove Darvi 88P) and Rothery deposed Steve Boother (Darvi Mk5), then caught Doherty. Gerards was a battlefield. When Rothery slewed sideways, Matthew Twynham (Darvi) and Andrew Kemp…

Aside from scoring 14 wins from 32 starts aboard the Audi R8, including the first of his three Le Mans 24 Hours victories in 2005, Marco Werner picks the trailblazing prototype as his favourite car because of its significance to his career. His observation that “this car changed a lot for me” is spot on. He’d been racing in Porsche Supercup for three years when backer Infineon, already an Audi sponsor, agreed a deal with the car maker that transformed his trajectory. Infineon would put more money into the pot for a third Joest-run works car at Le Mans in 2002, if Werner and Supercup team-mate Philipp Peter were on the driving roster. Werner’s performance in securing third on his Le Mans and R8 debut, together with Michael Krumm, impressed…

ELMS/WEC Silverstone has outlined an ambition to once again host the World Endurance Championship after a return of the European Le Mans Series in 2025 was revealed last week. The ELMS is run by WEC co-organiser the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, and the fixture will be the first international endurance race on British soil since 2019. The ELMS will visit Silverstone on 14 September next year, replacing Mugello on a six-round schedule that is otherwise unchanged. It is a significant development given the absence of top-line endurance racing from Britain since the COVID pandemic played havoc with the international motorsport calendar in 2020 and 2021. The WEC/ELMS double-header set for the 31 August-1 September weekend in 2020 was one casualty, the Blancpain GT Endurance Cup fixture another. Silverstone boss Stuart…

Tom Kristensen raced a Porsche for the first time since winning the 1997 Le Mans 24 Hours with the Joest Racing WSC95 when he turned out with McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown in his 935 JLP-3 run by United Autosports at the Estoril Classics last weekend. They finished third in the GT2 class in mixed conditions, but they were less fortunate with the Ford Cologne Capri RS3100 from Brown’s fleet in the Heritage Touring Cup. Kristensen overtook a dozen cars on a damp track inside the first 10 laps before worsening brake issues resulted in retirement.…

MACAU GUIA British touring car veteran Rob Huff is to bid for a record-extending 12th win in Macau next month. The 2012 World Touring Car champion, who has been competing this season in the British Touring Car Championship, is returning to the Audi fold one year on from being denied a TCR World Tour title at the Macau finale. He will join Spanish team Volcano Motorsport to race an RS3 LMS TCR in the final two rounds of the World Tour, starting with next week’s stop at Zhuzhou in China. “Detlef [Schmidt, Audi TCR boss] asked me if I’d like to do what we didn’t manage to do last year, which is win Macau,” said Huff. “I’ve got a great relationship with China and winning in Macau. The BTCC is…

BTCC British Touring Car Championship teams’ title winner Alliance Racing is planning to replace its Ford Focus ST machinery with an entry from a manufacturer not currently represented in the series – but not until the 2026 season. The team, which runs in NAPA Racing UK guise, carried out an intense winter of development on the Focus in 2022-23, allowing Ash Sutton to storm to his fourth title last year, but was overtaken this season by the gains made on the rival Hyundai and BMW weaponry. “Something is happening and we’ll run the Focus next year,” said Alliance team owner Pete Osborne. “But I’m pretty sure that something else will be here for 2026.” When asked whether this would be a front-wheel-drive saloon – as BTCC inside sources suggested –…

A decade is a long time in motor racing but, in the land of Supercars, it’s maybe a little bit difficult to acknowledge that the 2014 Bathurst 1000 did not happen just yesterday. Even for an event known for its great finishes, the 2014 edition was possibly the greatest. At a minute less than eight hours in length, it was certainly the longest, due to an unprecedented number of crashes, 10 safety car appearances and a 63-minute red flag period to repair a damaged racetrack. Think of the unlikeliest of final laps storyboards you may have seen in Formula 1 history. Jenson Button winning from dead last in Montreal in 2011? Not even close. Riccardo Patrese spinning away a maiden world championship grand prix win and then reclaiming it in…

When “papaya rules” was first aired over McLaren team radio at the Italian Grand Prix, in the wake of Oscar Piastri’s first-lap pass on Lando Norris for the lead of the race, it was very apparent that this would immediately become one of F1’s most quotable phrases. This was a reference to the team’s rules of engagement. It had been wondered whether McLaren would start to apply some degree of team orders to aid Norris’s title efforts, since Piastri had got closer to his more experienced team-mate’s level of performance and the request in Hungary for Norris to let the Australian past had been somewhat laboured. Zak Brown offered the best explanation of what the statutes of papaya rules include. “Papaya rules are it’s your team-mate; race him hard, race…

In a motorsport context they were soulmates, as well as being good friends. Ray Mallock and his number one pilot David Leslie were cut from the same cloth – engineering-driven, yet both excellent development drivers and racers in their own right, neither of whom ever carried the hype and momentum to take them as far as peers of similar, or even inferior, ability. After they had shared an Aston Martin AMR1 in the 1989 Le Mans 24 Hours, Mallock, by then 38 years old, retired from the cockpit as a professional – he still races now as a 73-year-old for fun – because he knew everything was safe in the hands of his Scottish pal. “Looking back on it, it was a bit bonkers thinking I could combine being engineering…

NASCAR CUP TALLADEGA (USA) 6 OCTOBER ROUND 31/36 Ricky Stenhouse Jr became the 18th different winner of the 2024 NASCAR Cup season when he beat Brad Keselowski and William Byron to the finish line in a three-wide photo finish at Talladega. It was a dramatic ending to an action-packed race, with just 0.006 seconds between Stenhouse and Keselowski at the chequered flag. It was also his first victory since winning the 2023 Daytona 500, 65 races ago. Stenhouse won despite a significant hole in the left-side door of his JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet, evidence of his near-miss just a few laps earlier. The race was pushed into overtime when leader Austin Cindric spun after an awkward shove, igniting a massive 23-car pile-up that forced a red flag. Before that, the…

MOTOGP MOTEGI (JPN) 5-6 OCTOBER ROUND 16/20 As Francesco Bagnaia took another chip out of Jorge Martin’s lead in the seemingly endless 2024 MotoGP title race, Pedro Acosta reminded us in Japan that world championship battles are sometimes just a tad overrated. Here was a young man unburdened by any of that narrative. A phenomenon who came to Motegi in form, looking to defy the limitations of his KTM and simply win the Japanese Grand Prix for the sake of that considerable honour. Hunting for that breakthrough victory he’s been able to smell since the first round of his rookie season. The almost offensively talented Spaniard nailed pole position for the first time. And he would line up right beside Bagnaia, leader of the dominant Ducati hordes on his red…

HISTORICS British driver James Everard recently won the German Tourenwagen Golden Era title after claiming victory at the final round on the Nurburgring Nordschleife in his Group A BMW M3 E30. Everard had a number of Early DTM class wins at previous rounds on the Nurburgring Grand Prix circuit, Red Bull Ring and Spa in a series that attracts drivers including Mucke Motorsport boss Peter Mucke, period star Kris Nissen and German GT champion Sebastian Asch (son of two-time DTM runner-up Roland). But in his first race on the Nordschleife, Everard’s victory there was his first overall success and enough to clinch the championship. “We did a little bit on the sim beforehand but not enough, and of course you have the fear on the Nordschleife, but when the pressure’s…

MINI CHALLENGE Long-serving Mini Challenge coordinator Rhea Beauchamp and current clerk of the course Luke Caudle will take over the series next year as promoter Antony Williams steps aside, and will use it as an opportunity to try to boost JCW grids. Beauchamp and Caudle will work with a yet-to-be-appointed third key figure, who will be responsible for the technical side of the championship, particularly in assisting new teams get to grips with the cars. “I’ve been doing this for 21 years and I always say my heart’s the Mini Challenge, it’s in my blood,” said Beauchamp. “From Antony’s perspective, he needs to focus more on touring cars [Excelr8 Motorsport] and his business outside of motorsport. “We’ve got a three-year plan, we’re going to be looking at how we can…

CSCC Newly crowned Jaguar champion Colin Philpott is weighing up a switch to V12 power aboard a new XJS shell for his title defence next year. Philpott’s Powerbell concern ran Rodney Frost to the 2017 Jaguar title, under its former Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club guise, but the Slough racer had not claimed the crown himself in nearly a decade of trying, despite numerous close calls. After an eventful opening race at Snetterton at the end of last month, where contact pitched him off at Murrays, two mid-pack finishes were enough for Philpott to clinch the title, having won seven of the season’s 14 races in his straight-six engined car. “I’ve been close [previously],” said Philpott. “I want to carry that #1 next year and I’m building another one, but I’m not…

The sight of Deagen Fairclough standing on the top step of a British Formula 4 podium clutching a trophy has been one of the defining images of this season. After all, it’s one that has been seen 14 times during an unprecedented campaign of domination during which he has broken multiple records. Even with the title already wrapped up, it was a sign of Fairclough’s character that he still registered another two wins at Brands Hatch last weekend, again demonstrating his wet-weather prowess, to add further gloss to his performance and take those new records just a little bit more out of reach for the next generation. Yes, it has not been the strongest of line-ups for British F4 but, if you discount the reversed-grid races – where Fairclough was…

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP GB The final Porsche Carrera Cup GB standings state that George Gamble claimed the title by a relatively comfortable seven points. But that does not reflect a dramatic Brands Hatch decider in which fortunes between the four key contenders constantly changed. To illustrate how quickly roles reversed, Eden Race Drive pilot Will Martin had looked destined to build a decisive points lead while he led the opener with Gamble languishing in sixth. But things turned on their head when Martin, who aggressively battled Charles Rainford on the first lap, suddenly spun into the Paddock Hill Bend gravel and effectively ended his hopes. Hugo Ellis of Team Parker began challenging Rainford (CCK Motorsport) after the resulting safety car and pounced when Rainford dipped a wheel off the track…

MINI CHALLENGE There were not many racing laps across the first two Brands Hatch Mini Challenge contests, but there were enough to suggest some excellent action was possible. And, sure enough, the wet finale proved to be an entertaining end to the season – and was safety-car-free. Excelr8 Motorsport driver Nathan Edwards maintained his lead at the start, but team-mate Max Hall had a poor launch, enabling Josh Porter to grab second. And he was soon under attack from Dominic Wheatley, with Porter sent sideways at Paddock Hill Bend at the start of lap two. He somehow held on but, further around the lap, he was forced out wide at Surtees and dropped back. Hall then put Wheatley under pressure for the rest of the race, but in turn had…

SCOTTISH FIESTA ST CUP Races 1 & 2 Gerry Hendry SCOTTISH LEGENDS Race 1 Matthew Pape Races 2 & 4 Stewart Black Race 3 Ryan McLeish Races 5 & 6 Ben Mason PICKUP TRUCKS Races 1, 3 & 4 Matt Simpson Race 2 Ryan Hadfield SCOTTISH MINI COOPER CUP Race 1 Ashleigh Morris (R53) Race 2 Jamie Blake (R53) Race 3 Oly Mortimer (Cooper) SCOTTISH C1 CUP Race 1 Murray Scott Race 2 Dan Martin KMSC MODSPORTS Race 1 Andy Forrest (Radical SR1) Race 2 Gordon Duncan (Radical PR6) Race 3 Andrew Gallacher (Mitsubishi Evo 8) SCOTTISH CLASSIC SPORTS AND SALOONS Race 1 Andrew Graham (Triumph TR8, below) Race 2 Alastair Baptie (MGB GTV8) For full results visit: smart-timing.co.uk…

Charlotte Gilbert became the first female driver to win the overall GT Cup title last weekend, capping off a rapid rise since returning to racing four years ago. The pairing of Gilbert and Tom Rawlings wrapped up the crown in Sunday’s endurance race despite being hampered by gearbox issues. Gilbert had recovered from a pitlane start to second position before Rawlings retired shortly after taking over behind the wheel of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo. “We didn’t get out in qualifying,” said Gilbert. “We managed to get out in the endurance race with a gearbox that was untested and quickly discovered it didn’t want to go from second to third so it was jumping.” Gilbert’s success is her second in as many years in the GT Cup, after winning the GTC…