Indholdsfortegnelse for 31/10/24 i Autosport

They say the best form of defence is attack and Max Verstappen seems to be a proponent of the idea. After getting away with his particular brand of ‘racing’ in the United States Grand Prix and triggering debate and changes to Formula 1’s guidelines (see page 4), the championship leader responded by… being even more aggressive in Mexico – and picking up two penalties. His message to F1’s rulemakers and, let’s be honest, his fellow drivers was pretty clear. It was somehow appropriate and refreshing that victory fell to Carlos Sainz. Not only has the Spaniard proved a strong team-mate to three of the stars of 2024 – Verstappen, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc – but he’s also one of F1s most eloquent and likeable racers. That he ‘gatecrashed’ McLaren’s…

FORMULA 1 Red Bull team chief Christian Horner has also revealed that his squad held preliminary talks with Fernando Alonso at the start of 2024, before the Spaniard signed a new contract in April with Aston Martin until the end of the 2026 season. Alonso and his manager Flavio Briatore held exploratory talks with Red Bull when the team was deciding whether or not to extend Sergio Perez’s contract. At the time it was also not guaranteed that Max Verstappen would stay put while Red Bull was going through political upheaval. “At that time, Sergio’s contract hadn’t been extended, so as Fernando is a seasoned operator, he always wants to know all of his options,” Horner said. “Between him and his manager or advisor of many years, Flavio, they’re always…

FORMULA E IndyCar aspirant and three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick will take part in next week’s all-female Formula E test at Valencia with Jaguar. The Indy NXT race winner is no stranger to the team or to Formula E – she had a run-out in Marrakech in 2020 with Jaguar, 12 months after a couple of tests with NIO – but it will be her first outing in the current Gen3 machinery. “I’m very excited to be back working with Jaguar TCS Racing – a team that have seen so much success recently – and to be back in the world of electric racing,” said Chadwick, who took part in Extreme E in 2021. “It will be a great opportunity to grow my relationship with the team, meet many…

“He deserves it.” On another bitter, contentious day from what for so long was a feel-good Formula 1 season, Charles Leclerc’s congratulations to his Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz for a thoroughly merited victory in the 2024 Mexican Grand Prix was a refreshing tonic. The Italian team had come into race day in the Mexican capital as the firm favourite. On the long runs in FP2 – despite its unusual role as a 2025 Pirelli tyre test, which nevertheless meant fuel loads were known and equal for once – its cars had looked devastatingly fast. On medium rubber, Leclerc had lapped a second quicker than Mercedes’ best time from Lewis Hamilton. The Silver Arrows weren’t to be victory contenders – but, after he’d wildly oversteered his way to qualifying fourth, Leclerc…

Lewis Hamilton won a race-long battle between the Mercedes drivers. But George Russell nonetheless enjoyed the scrap, in which his stern defence was eventually overturned. An FP2 crash sustained by Russell forced Mercedes to roll back his car to an older aero specification, but he was nevertheless able to outqualify Hamilton by 0.295 seconds. Hamilton hit back at the start and moved ahead through Turns 4 and 5, but Russell stayed on his gearbox through the opening stint and mounted an overtake around the outside at the start of lap 15. After their pitstops, Hamilton sought to return the favour. But he spent the best part of 30 laps catching Russell and then sitting in his team-mate’s wake as a fierce but cleanly fought battle played out. “It was nice…

TOURING CAR A typically drama-filled TCR race appeared to have resulted in a Touring Car gold medal for Italy courtesy of Marco Butti, only for Argentina’s Ignacio Montenegro to inherit the spoils afterwards. With rain starting to fall as the lights went out and the field on slick tyres, it was Montenegro who initially looked strong, helped by drama behind when Spain’s Eric Gene, son of tin-top veteran Jordi, collected the back of Czech Adam Kout at Turn 4. Montenegro pulled out over five seconds in the first 10 minutes but, with rain conditions worsening, the sister GOAT Racing Honda Civic of TCR World Tour regular Butti closed in. This continued until, with eight minutes remaining, Butti levied a move at Turn 1. A robust defence from Montenegro led to…

SINGLE-SEATERS Spanish Formula 4 Championship race winner Juan Cota took gold for the home nation in the single-seater instalment of Motorsport Games, but Team UK’s Reza Seewooruthun impressed with bronze in a race that came down to track limits and tyre management. While Cota, Andres Cardenas (Peru) and Yevan David (Sri Lanka), all of whom are regulars in Spanish F4, held the top three places at the start, Seewooruthun settled into fourth. Behind them, a clash between Japanese title contender Tosei Moriyama and Austria’s CEZ champion Oscar Wurz put the son of former F1 driver Alex out with broken left-rear suspension. The drama continued on lap two when Czech Maximilian Karhan ran into the back of Greek Philippe-Armand Karras of Greece. Karras retired with rear-wing damage, while the broken front…

NASCAR CUP HOMESTEAD (USA) 27 OCTOBER ROUND 34/36 Despite a few extra laps on his tyres, Tyler Reddick charged forward to pass Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney on the final lap at Homestead to win his way into the Championship 4 for the first time. Reddick’s 23XI Racing Toyota was able to blow past Blaney’s Team Penske Ford around the outside in the final corner just seconds from the line in one of the more dramatic runs to the chequered flag all year. Blaney finished second and Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) third, both facing a likely must-win situation this Sunday at Martinsville. Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott and William Byron rounded out the top six. The finish was initially setting up to be a showdown between Blaney and Kyle Larson,…

It was widely recognised across the British GT paddock that Sandy Mitchell and his Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan was the fastest entry throughout the 2024 season. But, ultimately, it did not win the title after a year-long battle with team-mates Rob and Ricky Collard, where the margins were incredibly fine. “We threw it away earlier in the season,” Mitchell’s dejected co-driver Alex Martin said at the Brands Hatch finale. He is referring to Snetterton, the campaign’s fifth event and a defining moment in the fight between the two Barwell Lamborghinis. Mitchell drove a mega final stint to win the weekend’s opening race by 6.4 seconds in a Barwell 1-2. Another victory in the second affair appeared unlikely, though, as the #78 car had to pit for an extra 10s having…

ZAC MEAKIN 1 Meakin showed incredible consistency as the 17-year-old finished a qualifying session outside of the top three just once. The sophomore replicated that form in race trim and his impressive comeback from third to first at Brands ultimately won him and Jack Brown the GT4 crown. JAMIE DAY 2 Another teenager who starred in 2024, as Day led a title challenge for championship newcomer Forsetti Motorsport. It began with the Oulton Park opener, where the series returnee was quickest in qualifying by 0.8s before dominating race one from pole, yet failed to win again in 2024. SEB MORRIS 3 The 2017 British GT3 champion impressed during his maiden GT4 campaign with a win and three other podiums. Morris showed great maturity, something he has perhaps lacked in the past, and improved…

Fortec driver Linus Granfors prevailed in a three-way fight with Alisha Palmowski and Harry Burgoyne to win the GB4 title. The 17-year-old Swede displayed some eye-catching pace during his sole day of pre-season testing, but he struggled to get to grips with Oulton Park’s twisty layout at the opening round. Despite that, he still recorded his maiden victory in that weekend’s final race, impressively recovering from last place after being spun around on lap one. “It was a bit difficult in the beginning with all the new tracks,” Granfors reveals. “Oulton was brand new to me. When I got hit in the rear on the first lap and was still able to win, I started to realise that we actually had some pretty good pace.” Granfors went on a four-race…

TOCA JUNIOR British Touring Car title contender Tom Ingram has praised the new TOCA Junior car after sampling the machine during a recent test at Pembrey. Championship director Dave Beecroft completed a successful first outing for the Chevron B1417 at fellow Welsh circuit Anglesey last month, and now Ingram has also been able to experience the car that will be used in the new category for 14-17-year-olds and kicks off next year. “It’s been really interesting to jump behind the wheel at this stage because we’re in a position where it’s early days and we can therefore take the car in any direction we want to see what does and doesn’t work,” said the 2022 BTCC champ. “As a base car it is very strong, very neutral. It’s fun and…

750MC Four-time British Touring Car champion Colin Turkington thoroughly enjoyed his endurance racing debut in the Birkett Six Hour Relay at Silverstone last Saturday, in which he scored a podium. Partnered with BTCC teammate Adam Morgan and Paul Laramy, Team BMW finished third in the 70-strong field in the key handicap classification, less than 30 seconds behind the experienced Routec BMW squad, and 26th on scratch. “It was great fun, I’d recommend it to anybody,” said Turkington. Stints of 70 and 67 minutes in a BMW Car Club Cup-spec 325Ti enthused the Ulsterman (below). “Seventy minutes is a lot more than a touring car race and probably as stressful,” he said. “My first stint was just like a game of snakes and ladders. You pass two or three cars and…

For a sport that generally provides such a tremendous assault on all the senses, the notion of sustainability can seem a little alien. The idea of being environmentally friendly and responsible in a racing world portrayed in some quarters as a gas-guzzling hobby for the rich can seem like two mutually exclusive concepts. But, like all sports, motorsport cannot simply ignore the sustainability question. After all, we have seen how it can be an easy target for protestors – think of the terrible scenes of some ‘eco-warriors’ breaking onto the circuit at the British Grand Prix in 2022. And that is why it’s very encouraging to see governing body Motorsport UK tackling the issue head-on. Its decision to launch a consultation (see News) about adopting fuels comprising at least 50%…

74TH BIRKETT SIX HOUR TEAM RELAY SCRATCH (146 laps) 1 RSR Motorsport: John Macleod (Radical SR3 XXR), Ben Stone & James Lay (Radical SR3 XXs); 2 Daytona Motorsport with RJ: Leon Morrell, Charles Graham, Charles Hall (Radical SR3s), Alastair Smart (Radical SR10) +0.950s; 3 RJ Motorsport 2: Matthew Jones, Paul Seward, Joe Crook (Radical SR3s); 4 Edmundsen Twickenham: Adrian Bradley, Niall Bradley, Graham Crowhurst (BMW E46 M3s), Tom Walpole (Ariel Atom); 5 TSR Performance: Rob Ellick, Harry Yardley-Rose, Julian Daniels, Mark Jones (Audi TTs), Jay Hadley (VW Golf); 6 The Tea Cups: Rich Webb, Dave Watson, John Cutmore, Mike Whiteman-Haywood (MK Cup 200s). Fastest lap Lay 2m05.497s (105.00mph). Pole RSR. Starters 70. HANDICAP 1 Routec BMW in memory of Bill Reddrop: Sam Reddrop, Saranga Sothisrihari, Phil White, Sergei Mineev (BMW…

GAME SCALEXTRIC PUMA RALLY1 HOT LAPS RACE SET RRP £159.99 It’s been over 10 years since Scalextric added a bespoke rally set to its popular range of slot car racing products. A lot has changed in both slot car racing technology and in the World Rally Championship over that period. You could be forgiven for thinking that Scalextric’s return to the modern-day WRC scene with the release of its new ‘Puma Rally1 Hot Laps’ is just another set, but you would be wrong. This latest product pioneers new technology to once again take a much-loved hobby to a new level, engaging motorsport enthusiasts of all ages with a spot of living room rallying. The set, created in partnership with the M-Sport Ford WRC team, is an officially licensed Ford product.…

When Fortec Motorsport departed the International Formula 3000 scene in 2000, it did so with a single podium courtesy of Jamie Davies in Monaco. Another provisionally taken by Andreas Scheld at the Nurburgring was chalked off for a stray piece of tape on the front wing endplate. But Fortec’s tally that season might have been much higher had a promising test with Jenson Button led to a race deal. The small matter of a Williams Formula 1 seat ultimately killed off that possibility. Button’s meteoric rise from British F3 to F1, replacing Alex Zanardi, is well-known. But less remembered is his appearance at a three-day end-of-year F3000 test at Jerez 25 years ago, as he evaluated the next stage of a career that would take in a maiden F1 test…

The unfavourable competitive situation of March Grand Prix in 1982 aside, dizzying politics and the deaths of two fellow drivers made it an unenviable Formula 1 baptism for Raul Boesel. Driving a DFVpowered 821 chassis that was the year’s 15th fastest car and never troubled the points, the Brazilian has no doubt that what was already “a difficult time” in his rookie season would have been “much harder” without the laid-back Jochen Mass alongside him in the camp. As a driver who’d continued to compete in long-distance touring car and sportscar events alongside F1, the notion of a team-mate automatically being enemy number one never applied to Mass. Boesel says he “was very honest with exchanging information on the cars”, which made a big impression and contrasted hugely with what…

FORMULA 1 The FIA is to revise the wording of its controversial racing guidelines after a meeting with Formula 1 drivers at last weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix in the wake of Max Verstappen’s tactics against Lando Norris at the preceding United States GP. The governing body is understood to have accepted that changes to the guidelines were required to close a loophole Verstappen has been exploiting regarding strong defending when under attack from another car, with other instances of questionable tactics also targeted. Autosport understands that it will present its suggested revisions back to the drivers for approval at another meeting with them at the Qatar GP in a month’s time. Because these are guidelines, they can be used by the stewards immediately rather requiring sign-off by other FIA bodies.…

IMSA/WEC Two-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Earl Bamber will race for Cadillac in next year’s IMSA SportsCar Championship in what looks set to be a twin programme straddling the World Endurance Championship. The New Zealander was announced as a full-season driver last week for the solo Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh when the General Motors marque took the wraps off its full line-up for its three IMSA GTP class entries. Cadillac has yet to reveal its roster for the two Jota WEC entries, but it is expected that Bamber will move over to the British team from the Ganassi squad with which he has raced in the series for the past two seasons. Bamber, who joined Cadillac for an IMSA programme with Ganassi in 2021 after his departure…

WEC Ferrari and Toyota have received double Balance of Performance breaks ahead of this weekend’s World Endurance Championship finale as they attempt to overhaul points leader Porsche. The Ferrari 499P and Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercars will go into the Bahrain 8 Hours lighter and with more power than last time out in the WEC at Fuji. Porsche, which leads the drivers’ and manufacturers’ standings, has gained weight under the Hypercar class BoP for Bahrain after Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer triumphed in Japan to go 35 points clear in the championship. The 963 LMDh has, however, received a power increase for the eighth round of the series on Saturday in which it will bid to convert its 10-point advantage in the manufacturers’ standings. Ferrari and Toyota…

OBITUARY Few racing car designers have enjoyed such long and distinguished careers as Bob Riley. The American, who has died aged 93, was both prolific and successful in multiple disciplines over 60-plus years at the drawing board. Riley-designed cars won the Indianapolis 500, the United States Auto Club Indycar title multiple times, and just about everything worth winning in North American endurance racing. Repeatedly! His designs triumphed at the Daytona 24 Hours no fewer than 13 times. It will be for those successes in sportscars that Riley will be best remembered, not just for the sheer number of races and championships won, but because the cars that accrued them carried his name. Riley & Scott took a trio of wins at Daytona with the MkIII World Sports Car in the…

Among some motorsport fans, Formula E has been dismissed as insignificant. But maybe that’s missing the point, for perhaps it’s a championship that’s not really meant for traditionalists, instead belonging to future generations. Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds, who’s now 18 months into the role, is relaxed and engaging as Autosport sits down for an interview. His office is not covered in the typical motorsport memorabilia, and in the corner of the room is a putter and some stray golf balls. We kick off by asking for his honest assessment of the championship after its first decade. This writer was at the inaugural London E-Prix, the final two races of the 2014-15 season held in Battersea Park. The racing was dreadful; the TV coverage was even worse (helicopter shots were…

“It’s not normal to have two such strong laps around Mexico – there’s a lot of sliding in the lap, it’s very difficult to put together – and actually my two laps of Q3 were almost both perfect.” And both, for Carlos Sainz, would have been good enough for pole at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Here, Ferrari shrugged off the issues it had hit in Singapore and the USA when it came to warming up the tricky soft tyres. For Sainz’s final run, he pushed harder at the end of his final preparation lap, knowing he needed perfect tyre temperature to “maximise the track limits” at Turns 2 and 3. Charles Leclerc in the other Ferrari and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen lost times for cutting these kerbs at important moments.…

A lap 18 tangle at Turns 4 and 5 led to Sergio Perez’s ire being invoked by Liam Lawson when the two came to blows as Perez attempted to atone for a dismal qualifying performance. Home favourite Perez was dumped out in Q1 on Saturday, and then pulled his Red Bull up too far outside of his grid box for the start and earned a five-second penalty. But he was able to pounce on the opening-lap fracas between Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon to make up five places and, following the resulting safety car, cleared the Aston Martins to get onto Lawson’s tail. At Turn 4, Lawson attempted to shut the door into the corner but left enough of a gap for Perez to seize his chance. But Perez had…

Alex Albon reckoned a points finish was possible had he not been wiped out in the first-corner crash with Yuki Tsunoda. The Williams driver had recovered from limited running on Friday after a clash with Ollie Bearman in FP1 to qualify ninth, and was three-wide, with Tsunoda to his left and Pierre Gasly to his right, on the run to Turn 1. As the field bunched up, Albon was pinched between the cars either side and ended up with terminal damage to his left-front suspension as Tsunoda clipped his side and went straight into the barrier. “We didn’t have the best launch, and everyone was fighting for the same position into Turn 1, so it’s unfortunate that we got squeezed with nowhere to go, but that’s racing,” said Albon. “It’s…

The third running of the FIA Motorsport Games took place at Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo last week, and was the largest iteration yet of the ‘Olympics for Motorsport’. More than 600 competitors took part for their country in 26 events, ranging from eight-year-old Lena Straub (Cross Car Mini) to Kjell Fransson, competing in Historic Rally at the age of 70. The Spanish venue proved ideal, with the view from the grandstands making it possible for spectators to see the entire circuit. The track hosted three GT races, as well as Touring Cars, F4 and some Rally stages. Auto and Karting Slalom plus Drifting took place to the side of the track, while nearby Aspar Circuit hosted the four Karting disciplines as well as Cross Car. Meanwhile, the Esports element was…

HISTORIC RALLY While Italy took a clean sweep of all three Historic Rally gold medals, British pair Ben Mellors and Alex Lee earned a silver with their 1979 Toyota Celica GT RA40. Mellors and Lee built up a one-minute lead over the combined 14 gravel and Tarmac stages, but this was reset come the Medal Stage. Along with the Audi Quattro of Italy’s Andrea Zivian-Zippo and Nicolas Arena, and Porsche 911 SC of Spain’s Antonio Sainz and Carlos Cancela, they would all simultaneously contest an 11km route around the Circuit Ricardo Tormo from a standing start. The Italians beat the UK duo by 14.1 seconds for their second consecutive gold in the series. “It wasn’t quite the result that we wanted, after having such a good lead over the whole…

AUSTRALIAN SUPERCARS SURFERS PARADISE (AUS) 26-27 OCTOBER ROUND 11/12 Dominant wins from Cameron Waters and Brodie Kostecki, and the battle to determine the 2024 champion being whittled down to an all-Triple Eight affair, were the outcomes of a tense rather than exciting Supercars weekend on the Gold Coast. Waters was untouchable in Saturday’s 250km race, qualifying on pole position and quickly establishing a convincing lead in his Tickford Racing Ford Mustang. A day later, Kostecki nearly exactly replicated that performance in his Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro and was largely untroubled in taking his second win of the season. In the races the pair did not win, their results were close as well, Kostecki fifth on Saturday and Waters fourth on Sunday, his black Ford finishing the race looking like it…

SANDY MITCHELL 1 British GT’s benchmark driver all year, who lost the title because of factors not in his control. His best drive was arguably May’s Donington Park round, as he stormed from third to first in the final 40 minutes for one of three wins in 2024 – the most of any car. MAXIMILIAN GOTZ 2 The qualities of the 2021 DTM champion shone through despite an up-and-down year for the #18 Mercedes. Gotz brought out the best in co-driver Kevin Tse to take an impressive two victories during the German’s debut campaign, which included a dominant win from pole at Spa. ROB COLLARD 3 A high rating for an amateur driver, but Collard deserves it having been the best bronze-graded competitor by quite some distance. He found a level of consistency…

He faced stiff competition from his more experienced rivals throughout, but Louis Sharp sealed the 2024 GB3 Championship in convincing style with more poles, victories and laps led than anybody else. Remaining with Rodin Motorsport for his graduation from a title-winning British Formula 4 campaign, Sharp made the perfect start by winning from pole in the Oulton Park season-opener to gain an early points lead. The British-born New Zealander had to wait a while to stand on the podium’s top step again, however, and a non-finish during round three at Spa in the season’s first event abroad resulted in him relinquishing his place at the head of the standings. Tymek Kucharczyk led Hitech GP’s early charge after switching from Douglas Motorsport for his sophomore campaign, though a stunning first-lap rise…

MOTORSPORT UK Motorsport UK has launched a consultation surrounding proposals requiring sustainable fuels to be adopted from 2026 in all UK championships and series that stipulate the use of specialist racing fuels. The governing body has an ambitious sustainability strategy aimed at reducing the sport’s environmental impact and it believes sustainable fuels have an important part to play – and has spent the past 18 months assessing how best to introduce them. Draft regulations have been created that would require all categories where specialist racing fuels are mandated to use fuels made of at least 50% sustainable content from 2026. It is intended that such series would feature fully sustainable fuels by 2030, but there would be no change for those who use regular pump fuel. “Even though there are…

2CV British drivers enjoyed success in the annual Spa 2CV 24 Hour race earlier this month. David O’Keeffe and Alec Graham, paired with Valentin Cordebar in the Team 17 machine, were victorious after 372 laps, despite only qualifying ninth fastest. They enjoyed a two-lap advantage over the second-placed Wacky Racers entry. As the race approached the finish, Team 17 benefited from cars in front having issues; one wiped itself out with a spin into the barriers, another had problems with the fuel gauge. The long-standing race was established with Citroen 2CVs, but since then the cars have evolved quite significantly. Out of the 118 cars entered this year, around 70 were C1s, while 30 were Hybrids based on a Dyane chassis with 850cc BMW engines. The near-original 2CV Classiques numbered…

750MC The 750 Motor Club previewed next year’s entry-level Swift Sport Challenge initiative effectively last Saturday when 1992 British Touring Car champion Tim Harvey was among six drivers who shared four Swifts in the Birkett Six Hour Team Relay race. “It was damp in qualifying, but the car [mandated 1600cc 2006-11 pre-facelift model] was easy to drive and very forgiving,” said Harvey, a member of 1986’s scratch winning Team Chevron the last time he competed. “It’s different, fun and an inexpensive way to start racing.” To prove how quickly a Swift can be put together – using a donor car and a standard kit of components – Forty40 Racing built one within the race duration. That car, belonging to father and son Eric and Tom Symons, was then scrutineered and…

SILVERSTONE 750MC BIRKETT RELAY 26 OCTOBER One of the closest finishes in the Birkett Six Hour Team Relay’s 73-year history – 0.95 seconds at the chequered flag – culminated with James Lay overtaking Charles Hall at Stowe on the final lap to snatch a second successive scratch victory for George Tillson-Smith’s RSR equipe and a sixth for leader John Macleod, with Ben Stone driving the interim legs. Radical teams travelled furthest again, but Hall – put into Daytona Motorsport with RJ skipper Charles Graham’s SR3 RSX for a marathon 37-lap final stint when Alastair Smart’s turbocharged RPE Ford-powered SR10 wouldn’t go the remaining distance, unlike its Suzuki Hayabusa-engined stablemates – crossed the line 0.344s ahead a lap from home, having hitherto shared Leon Morrell’s SR3. RSR was earlier put on…

BRANDS HATCH MSVR 26-27 OCTOBER Brands Hatch may have featured uninviting conditions, but the MotorSport Vision Racing competitors battled with undampened enthusiasm for the club’s last meeting of the year. Morning rain resulted in a slippery track on Saturday, but crisp sunshine enveloped the Kent circuit on Sunday. Even though the grid only boasted seven cars, the Clio Cup GB delivered two nailbiting races where the championship was still up for grabs. Daire Flock prevailed in race one after passing title rival Nicky Taylor at mid-distance. “I had to attack Nicky the whole race until I managed to get a run into Druids,” explained Flock. This meant the title went down to the wire for race two with Flock and Taylor still able to take the crown. Flock grabbed the…

FORMULA 1 Yuki Tsunoda will get to try out the Red Bull RB20 in the end-of-season Abu Dhabi Formula 1 test as the team assesses its driver options. RB driver Tsunoda has only had experience of Red Bull machinery in demo runs, although he tried the Red Bull RB18 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in an open-face helmet and goggles. Honda has been keen for Tsunoda to test a Red Bull in a more representative environment, and Koji Watanabe, the president of its HRC racing division, told Autosport earlier this month that the manufacturer had “strongly requested that Tsunoda be given the chance to drive and test in a Red Bull car”. Team principal Christian Horner said that the run in a Red Bull had been agreed “for some…

GT3 Ford will return to the DTM next year when the Haupt Racing Team ends its long-term allegiance with Mercedes to run the Mustang GT3. It will field the car in multiple championships around Europe as part of a long-term partnership with the American manufacturer. The German team, established for 2020 when veteran racer Hubert Haupt took over the GT3 operations of Black Falcon, will field Mustangs in the DTM, at the Nurburgring 24 Hours and in the Nurburgring Long-distance Series with factory backing, as well as in the GT World Challenge Europe and ADAC GT Masters. It may be bringing a marque that won the DTM with Klaus Ludwig and the RS500 Cosworth in 1988 back to the series for the first time since the Ruch brothers raced Mustangs…

WRC Lancia has launched the Ypsilon Rally4 car that will guide the most successful marque in World Rally Championship history back to competitive motorsport. The Italian car maker, a winner of a record 10 WRC manufacturers’ titles (1974-76, 1983, 1987-92), has created an all-new Rally4 car that is set to compete in the European Rally Championship and a newly created one-make Lancia Rally Trophy competition in Italy next year. Confirmation of Lancia’s return to rallying arrives 50 years since it won its first WRC title with the legendary Stratos in 1974. It added its fourth title in 1983 with the Group B 037, before dominating Group A with the Delta. The Ypsilon Rally4 is based on the high-performance all-electric Ypsilon HF, although the Rally4 version will be powered by a…

Interlagos Length 2.677 miles Number of laps 71 UK START TIMES Friday 1 November FP 1430 SPRINT QUALIFYING 1830 Saturday 2 November SPRINT 1400 QUALIFYING 1800 Sunday 3 November RACE 1700 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA TV Highlights CHANNEL 4 2200 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS Drivers Constructors INTERLAGOS STATS Previous winners 2023 POLE POSITION Max Verstappen 1m10.727s POLE LAP RECORD Lewis Hamilton 1m07.281s (2018) RACE LAP RECORD Valtteri Bottas 1m10.540s (2018) Interlagos podiums Michael Schumacher 10 Fernando Alonso 9 Lewis Hamilton 7 Kimi Raikkonen 7 Sebastian Vettel 5 Max Verstappen 5 Felipe Massa 5 Mark Webber 4 David Coulthard 4 Gerhard Berger 4…

Last weekend featured the third running of the FIA Motorsport Games in Valencia. To show us journalists what the 600+ competitors go through, the Games hosted the first Media Cup – a driving competition for press from participating countries. And by dint of being in the right place at the right time, Autosport was selected to be the representative for Team UK. The event took in three of the Games’ grassroots disciplines – karting at the Aspar Circuit, auto slalom at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, and Esports at the City of Arts and Science. First order of the day was karting. Valencia is typically warm in October, but the area had experienced unseasonable heavy rain the night before. The full-length track was off-limits due to the severity of the rain…

The Foro Sol stadium at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is always a great place to see and hear passionate fan support for Formula 1 drivers. In FP1 last Friday, it was even more intense. The concert and former baseball venue has undergone significant revisions since F1 was last in town – its roof extended from covering just a portion of the south-eastern corner to now towering over the whole area. Therefore, even during an FP1 session upgraded from paltry to fairly meaningful given the 2025 Pirelli tyre test will take over FP2 later, the noise that greets the home heroes when they head out on track is deafening. And, with Pato O’Ward driving Lando Norris’s McLaren for this session, the roar is coming twice. “Andrea Kimi Antonelli is have a…

Oscar Piastri broke into the points from a lowly 17th on the grid after failing to progress from Q1. The Australian made a mistake at Turn 12 on his best lap and estimated he’d lost about a second – as well as the lap for track limits violations. After starting on the medium tyre, Piastri’s early progress was difficult and he could not gather an early advantage against those starting on hards. The long first stint seemed to help, though, and he ran as high as fifth before pitting. He then put moves on Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg to get deeper into the points, although he ran out of time to catch a rapid Kevin Magnussen. “I think the pace was good once I got some clean air,” said…

GT The GT categories enticed several platinum-rated drivers for the 2024 Games, with Spain’s Dani Juncadella and Turkey’s Ayhancan Guven both entering the 45-minute GT Sprint race. They were also a happy hunting ground for Team UK, which took medals in two of the three disciplines. Welshman James Owen took gold for the UK in the Ferrari 296 Challenge-based Single Make GT category. He made a move around the outside of Spain’s Ivan Velasco Sanchez for the lead, before Sanchez moved back in front on the second lap. Owen then fell back towards Angelo Carlo Fontana Oliveira of Venezuela, before breaking free and going after Sanchez again. Owen found a way through on the penultimate lap and, although the Spaniard repaid the favour with some strong contact into Turn 1…

KARTING Brit Jorge Edgar took the gold medal in Karting Sprint Junior thanks to a dominant win from seventh on the grid. The 14-year-old quickly moved up the field. Edgar took the lead on lap six of 18, and won by almost a second over Iskender Zulfikari of Turkey and Spain’s Bosco Arias. While the cousin of ELMS champion Jonny Edgar and brother of F1 Academy racer Jessica was victorious, medal chances looked slim for Team UK in Karting Endurance. Rhianna Purcocks, alongside brothers Jack and Andy O’Neill, qualified 16th, but made up an astonishing 13 places to secure bronze – less than a tenth behind Spain in silver. The Spanish team, which fielded former W Series driver Belen Garcia as their mandatory female, moved up from eighth on the…

FORMULA REGIONAL EUROPEAN MONZA (ITA) 26-27 OCTOBER ROUND 10/10 It’s a good job that Rafael Camara had already been crowned Formula Regional European by Alpine champion at the penultimate round, because the Monza finale would have been a thoroughly unsatisfactory title decider. The Brazilian Ferrari protege finished off the season with a win of sorts in a part-race that hardly got going, after the sun finally made an appearance in a hitherto sodden Lombardy. Conditions were so bad on Saturday morning that qualifying was abandoned and the grid set from times recorded in Friday’s second test session. Cue much grumbling from teams that had been working on race set-ups at that point… Camara’s Prema Racing team-mate, McLaren junior Ugo Ugochukwu, was handed a lucky pole and, after a mediocre season…

MOTOGP BURIRAM (THA) 27 OCTOBER ROUND 18/20 The 2024 MotoGP title fight continues on its path towards a likely final round showdown after Francesco Bagnaia kept up the pressure on Jorge Martin with an important victory in Thailand. The Italian was steadfast in tricky conditions versus a more error-strewn Martin at the Chang International Circuit to notch up his ninth victory of the season over a full grand prix distance, while Enea Bastianini started a double celebration for the factory Ducati team with his success in the sprint race. Bagnaia’s win offset the loss of points to Martin from finishing behind the Pramac Ducati rider in the sprint race, the margin between the pair rising from 20 to 22 points on Saturday before slimming again to 17 come Sunday evening.…

Redemption. That’s what the past 12 months have been geared towards for Optimum Motorsport, its drivers clinching the 2024 British GT4 crown to overcome the team’s agony of the previous season. Such was the early dominance of the McLaren squad last year, Charles Clark and Jack Brown could have claimed the title at Algarve, race seven of nine, before a remarkable run of unfortunate events. The Artura first limped to ninth in Portugal after it suffered early damage when Century BMW’s Carl Cavers hit the rear. Not a huge disaster, though, as in tennis terms, Optimum still had two championship points, but mechanical faults at Brands Hatch and Donington Park prompted non-scores that handed the title to Academy Motorsport’s Erik Evans and Matt Cowley. “We were hurt by last year’s…

LOUIS SHARP 1 The champion produced his best form on British soil, where he scored four of his five victories, but brilliant Hungary triumph and solid results elsewhere during the European leg were still important. Also made no major errors, the two non-finishes across 2024 arguably not of his making. TYMEK KUCHARCZYK 2 Made a huge step forward in his sophomore campaign and at times looked the quickest driver, producing an early run of three straight poles and scoring the most fastest laps with nine across the year. But mistakes and a slight drop off in form late on proved costly in the end. JOHN BENNETT 3 Fighting for the title in his third season was a must following a difficult 2023 campaign and, although he ultimately missed out on the crown, did…

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP GB Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion George Gamble says he could bid for a repeat title next season and is currently keeping his options open. Century Motorsport driver Gamble prevailed in a close title decider at Brands Hatch earlier this month to claim the spoils on his return to the Porsche series after spending two years in British Touring Cars. “I would definitely look at coming back in Carrera Cup GB because it’s an amazing championship with the live TV,” said Gamble when asked about his plans. “I’m not ruling out anything – I would love to come back with the number 1 on the car.” Porsche Sprint Challenge GB conqueror Seb Hopkins also has his eyes on the Carrera Cup for 2025. Although last year’s Cayman…

LEGENDS Legends will support British GT for the first time next season as part of a calendar that also includes one British Touring Car event and a trio of US-themed fixtures. With the introduction of the TOCA Junior series next year, there will be significantly fewer guest slots available at BTCC events. For the past two campaigns, Legends has run an Elite Cup contest across three BTCC meetings, but this competition will now encompass the category’s sole TOCA appearance at Croft in August, its maiden British GT outing at Oulton Park over the late May Bank Holiday weekend, and Brands Hatch’s American SpeedFest in June. The Legends calendar also includes the August Oulton Park US AutoShow and September USA Snetterton 300 events, while the season begins with a Donington Park…

SILVERSTONE 750MC 27 OCTOBER Two-time Ma7da runner-up Ben Powney shook off the ‘perennial bridesmaid’ tag, having also come close to Locost glory on several occasions, by winning the Ma7da crown in last Sunday’s breathtaking finale on Silverstone’s National circuit. The Kentishman entered the double-header eight points ahead of Craig Land, with dropped scores tallied, and from fifth on the grid finished third in the restarted opener behind Land, who was 0.043 seconds adrift of title outsider Martin West. Powney’s advantage therefore shrank to six points, leaving him needing to finish second if Land won the last round with fastest lap. In an extraordinarily intense contest, eight drivers scrapped for supremacy at its height but, shaken down to ninth on lap four of 14, Land did not panic. The 2022 and…

CAMBRIAN RALLY BRC 26 OCTOBER Chris Ingram’s hard-fought victory at the Cambrian Rally sealed his place as the 2024 British Rally champion, thereby becoming the only driver to have claimed both the domestic crown and the European Rally Championship title. Along with co-driver Alex Kihurani, Ingram headed into the weekend in a four-way fight for the crown, and blasted his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 to a nailbiting victory that was only settled on the stop line of the final stage of the season. Ingram’s chief rival, William Creighton, kept him on his toes throughout the event in his Ford Fiesta Rally2 and had strategically deployed his points-boosting Joker. But, despite this advantage and a near-flawless drive, Creighton couldn’t quite match Ingram’s calculated approach. The two were neck and neck across…

Autosport’s cover line for the Scottish round of the 1999 British Touring Car Championship was ‘Knockhill BTCC carnage’, pictured here breaking out on the first lap of the sprint race and setting the rumbustious tone for the incident-packed weekend’s action. James Thompson’s Honda Accord spins off after contact, and team-mate Peter Kox and Jason Plato (Renault Laguna) exit stage right, while Jean-Christophe Boullion’s Renault leads the Volvo S40 of Rickard Rydell (whose eagerness to make up for his own tardy start had precipitated the melee), Yvan Muller’s Vauxhall Vectra, Matt Neal (Nissan Primera), John Cleland (Vauxhall) and Vincent Radermecker (Volvo). The sprint was won by Nissan’s Laurent Aiello, who was disqualified from the following feature race for punting Plato out. For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…