Innehållsförteckning för 28/03/19 från Autosport

There’s been a lot of talk about why Ferrari failed to deliver on its testing promise in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. In our cover piece on page 14 this week, Edd Straw investigates what went wrong and what the chances are of a quick Ferrari response. Everyone expects the Bahrain GP this weekend to be closer, and the venue has been kind to Sebastian Vettel over the years. The Ferrari star has scored four wins in Sakhir, and a fifth would make the events of Melbourne a mere blip in his 2019 campaign. Another Mercedes victory – certainly one as dominant as we saw two weeks ago – would start ringing alarm bells. Ferrari is also looking to the future, having announced that Mick Schumacher, son of legendary seven-time…

NEW CAR BTCC Reigning British Touring Car champion Colin Turkington has praised the efforts of the WSR team after it finished the build of three brand-new BMW 330i M Sport racers for the 2019 season, which kicks off next week on the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit. The cars were due to be shaken down at Brands on Tuesday before the official BTCC media day yesterday (Wednesday). WSR will run the BMWs for Turkington, Andrew Jordan and Tom Oliphant. “The car just looks epic,” said three-time title winner Turkington. “We still have the 1 Series in the workshop, and when you sit it next to the 3 Series the new car just looks incredible. In my mind, it’s what a touring car should look like. This has been a lot of…

LENGTH 3.363 miles NUMBER OF LAPS 57 2018 POLE POSITION Sebastian Vettel 1m27.958s POLE LAP RECORD Sebastian Vettel 1m27.958s (2018) RACE LAP RECORD Pedro de la Rosa 1m31.447s (2005) UK START TIMES Friday 29 March FP1 1100 FP2 1500 Saturday 30 March FP3 1200 QUALIFYING 1500 Sunday 31 March RACE 1610 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA HIGHLIGHTS CHANNEL 4 2100 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP Drivers 1 Valtteri Bottas 26 2 Lewis Hamilton 18 3 Max Verstappen 15 4 Sebastian Vettel 12 5 Charles Leclerc 10 Constructors 1 Mercedes 44 2 Ferrari 22 3 Red Bull 15 4 Haas 8 5 Renault 6 TRACK STATS Previous winners 2018 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 2017 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 2016 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 2015 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2014…

Charlie Whiting’s great legacy The sad death of Charlie Whiting (right) has left a big void, inside and outside the Formula 1 paddock. Charlie was F1. The poacher turned gamekeeper approach ensured he was respected by all within its community. Those in charge of sporting events are often exposed to criticism, but never Charlie, his name standing for fairness and integrity. It is to his credit that a race weekend is, to the outside, run like clockwork. It will be hard to find someone to carry out all the work he did so well. While we are reminded that motorsport is dangerous, he was at the forefront of safety for all concerned, be it drivers, marshals or fans, and this can never be understated. The relative lack of incidents in…

Albert Park is an unusual circuit, comprising largely short corners and with an imperfect track surface that doesn’t necessarily showcase the full range of a grand prix car’s prowess. Many drivers and team bosses referred to its status as an outlier during the Australian Grand Prix weekend, but what does history tell us about its accuracy in predicting the real competitive order? In the 19 seasons from 2000, the fastest team in Australia has gone on to be the fastest team over each of the following four races eight times. This suggests that, if you are fast in Australia, you are fast, even though last year Mercedes was around a quarter of a percent off over the following four races after leading the way in Australia. In fact, all nine…

With Lando Norris graduating to Formula 1, McLaren needed someone to replace him on simulator work, and plumped for his 2018 Formula 2 team-mate Sergio Sette Camara. A broken hand and a spell of bad luck derailed Sette Camara’s season last year, but McLaren saw how well the young Brazilian performed against one of the most-hyped talents in junior single-seater history. While the Brazilian media have got excited enough to draw instant links to McLaren greats Ayrton Senna and Emerson Fittipaldi, in their defence it’s been too long since the nation had a driver to cheer at the front in F1. A switch from teams’ champion Carlin to Alex Albon’s old seat at DAMS needs to be matched by improved consistency if Sette Camara is to reach F1 – and…

NASCAR CUP MARTINSVILLE (USA) 24 MARCH ROUND 6/36 Brad Keselowski doubled his NASCAR Cup win tally for 2019 by putting on a masterclass during the first visit to Martinsville this year. The Penske Ford Mustang driver snatched the lead from his polesitting team-mate Joey Logano on the sixth lap of the race and went on to sweep every stage and lead 446 laps out of 500. Keselowski’s only real challenge came from Chase Elliott, who has three top 10s from his last four starts at the Virginia venue. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was the only one to pass Keselowski on track. He was ahead for 49 laps, then a slow pitstop in the final stage handed the lead back to Keselowski. Elliott got close to the leader again during the…

BUEMI’S ADVENTURES Sebastien Buemi’s race day got even more eventful following his early crashes. He was penalised after qualifying for a brake system infraction, which dropped him to sixth on the grid. But he never got to take that spot since the investigation kept him in parc ferme and his Nissan couldn’t be charged in time to make the grid. In the race, Buemi blitzed from the back of the field – despite losing over 10 seconds waiting for the pitlane light to change – to reach the points-paying positions. He was involved in a number of clashes along the way, including the spectacular late incident that sent Robin Frijns into Lucas di Grassi. Buemi was given a 10s penalty for causing this pile-up. NO POINTS FOR BIRD Envision Virgin…

The waves of bonhomie, glad tidings and enthusiasm that surrounded IndyCar last Sunday emanated from its fans, the media and many of its participants. The Circuit of The Americas had hosted its first IndyCar Series race, it had been a resounding success as far as on-track action was concerned, and it had also produced yet more headlines thanks to its winner. Colton Herta, at 18 years, 11 months and 25 days, had become the youngest winner in Indycar racing history by prevailing in only his third race, and he had achieved it with a team that’s just starting its second full season at this level. Fairytale stuff. But an objective observer viewing the slightly bigger picture was struck by the irony of it all. Less than six weeks earlier and…

LMP3 CUP The organisers of the LMP3 Cup have not ruled out the series returning in the future but have decided to focus on its popular sister series, the GT Cup, this year. The successful LMP3 concept was introduced to the UK at the end of 2016 by Bute Motorsport, with a pilot race taking place in October. The series then received official backing from Le Mans organiser the Automobile Club de l’Ouest ahead of its first championship in 2017. But the series suffered from a lack of interest and never achieved an entry of more than 10 cars. The addition of an invitation class for other prototypes in the middle of last year failed to boost numbers, and just four cars took part in one of the rounds last…

SAUNDERS WITH CICELEY Reigning Junior Saloon Car champion Lewis Saunders has joined British Touring Car team Ciceley Motorsport’s development driver scheme. The 15-year-old made his circuit racing debut last year and won the short-oval-based Junior Mini title in 2016. MUSTILL MAKES HIS MARK Former GT driver Nigel Mustill finished fifth with an ex-Alex Buncombe Nissan GTR in its CNC Heads Sports and Saloons debut at Oulton Park last weekend. Mustill, who retired from racing in 2017, was tempted back after acquiring one of RJN Motorsport’s remaining cars, which competed in the Blancpain GT Series and British GT. FROM GINETTAS TO RADICALS Jac Constable, the 2017 Ginetta GT4 Supercup Am class champion, will move to the Radical Challenge Championship this year. After moving to the Pro class, Constable finished sixth in…

BRANDS HATCH BRSCC 23-24 MARCH Late entrant Ben Short swept to a double success in the Mazda MX-5 Championship opener at Brands Hatch. Having only decided to race a few days before, his success has now spurred him on to continue in the championship. Brian Trott won race one after diving inside polesitter John Langridge at Paddock Hill Bend, completing the move at Druids. Short advanced to third from seventh on the grid, despite his car losing balance after an early knock. In race two, Short formed a two-pronged attack with champion Will Blackwell-Chambers on leader Langridge. As Langridge covered the inside line at Paddock just after half-distance, contact with Blackwell-Chambers pitched him into the gravel and promoted the chasing duo. A lap after the resulting safety-car period, Short sealed…

DOCUMENTARY SERIES SPEED SEEKERS ENDURANCE – 24 HOURS AT SPA It seems a new, flagship documentary series is released every other day just now. Whether it’s on the heinous crimes of Ted Bundy, the disappearance of Madeleine McCann or whatever Michael Jackson did behind closed doors – they’re two a penny. There’s more information than ever, but the format of most mainstream documentaries has become increasingly formulaic. So for Insight TV, an over-the-top TV channel that specialises in 4K Ultra HD (available via Smart TVs, your laptop or phone), to set such a high watermark in its exploration of the Spa 24 Hours makes for a pleasing change. Part of Insight TV’s new Speed Seekers series, the first episode of Endurance – 24 Hours at Spa is free-to-watch and then…

WHO IS THIS? This pioneering racer has enjoyed a long and varied career across the globe. Born into a racing family, he switched gravel for Tarmac, before leaving for a famous finishing school. He then took a foundation course on a new vector and made history over the winter. A return home yielded a title, while he found his nemesis in a home from home. A step onto the third rung brought international recognition and the beginings of a princely relationship. Having starred in the east he made a permanent move, while answering the call of the wild at the highest level. There were flashes of speed in a Euro series with global pretentions, before he became the first of his kind to grab the big prize. After some time…

On a warm February evening at the Circuit Paul Ricard, Mike Knight scrutinises a wall of portraits hanging in the offices of the Winfield Racing School. The co-founder of the original Winfield school, which settled at Magny-Cours before it expanded to a second site at Paul Ricard, Knight is back for the first time since the business was sold 20 years ago. He’s now head judge of the revived Volant Winfield, first won by two-time Le Mans winner Jean-Pierre Jaussaud in 1963 when it was sponsored by Shell, before Elf took over several years later. The modern iteration, held last year for the first time since 1994, is a three-day driver evaluation for 14 to 17-year-olds who haven’t raced single-seaters before. The prize is a fully funded season in French…

When American engineer Robert Hubbard died in February at the age of 75, the news was met with a wave of sadness from the motorsport community, even among the many who had never met him. The pioneering co-creator of the frontal head restraint (FHR), together with brother-in-law and IMSA racer Jim Downing, Hubbard’s immeasurable contribution to motorsport will be felt for years to come. You only have to look to NASCAR’s man of the moment Kyle Busch, who recently completed a double century of victories across the Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series divisions, to see the impact his invention has had. Things could have been very different for the 33-year-old had he not been wearing an FHR during the season-opening Xfinity race at Daytona in 2015. After losing air following…

WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP Hyundai team principal Andrea Adamo has claimed that miracles are beyond him, but that they’re not needed to get the manufacturer into contention for this year’s World Rally Championship. That may be so, but it’s beyond question that the competitiveness of the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC has faded since the South Korean make burst out of the blocks quickest with the new-for-2017 regulations. And it’s not just the car: as a sporting entity, Hyundai is not what it was at the start of 2017 when Thierry Neuville was firing on all cylinders, Hayden Paddon was firmly in the ascendant and Dani Sordo was harvesting points. Two years ago Neuville looked as unbeatable as the i20 Coupe WRC wrapped around him. Had it not been for a round…

BTCC British Touring Car Championship ace Jack Goff has been given a lifeline to remain in the series in a last-minute deal to drive a Team Hard Volkswagen CC. With Mike Bushell forced to abandon his BTCC plans and head back to the Renault Clio support series due to a lack of funding (see p62), Goff completed his deal on Monday and was due to test the car at Brands Hatch for the first time yesterday (Wednesday). Goff will line up alongside Team Hard’s three other racers, Michael Crees, Carl Boardley and Bobby Thompson. Goff, who was eighth in last year’s BTCC with two wins in a Eurotech Racing Honda Civic Type R, said he was thrilled to return. “I thought it was game over for me and the BTCC,…

BLANCPAIN GT McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Tom Gamble is switching codes to GT racing at the tender age of 17. The Briton will race in 2019 with the WRT Audi squad after just one season of single-seaters last year in the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship. The move to the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe, previously known as the BGTS Sprint Cup, aboard an Audi R8 LMS has, of course, been motivated by finance. But Gamble is also making an early commitment to the GT ranks with an eye on his career goal of becoming a professional racing driver. “There isn’t the money for me to move up the ladder,” he said. “My ultimate aim is to become a paid racing driver, so switching to GTs at my age…

Speed equals spectacle. That was the simple foundation stone upon which Formula 1’s 2017 aerodynamic regulation overhaul was built, encapsulated by the single objective of improving lap times by four to five seconds compared with 2015. This, we were told, was the panacea to cure all F1’s ills. It wasn’t. Despite achieving the target almost perfectly – the average difference between fastest laps on each weekend in 2015 versus 2017 almost bang on 4.5s – the rationale was flawed. Lap time proved to be a false god, one that caused more problems than it solved, and watching last Sunday’s IndyCar race from the Circuit of The Americas in Austin was a reminder of that. Penske driver Will Power took pole position for that race with a lap time of 1m46.0177s,…

“CLEARLY WE’RE MISSING SOMETHING. RIGHT NOW WE DON’T HAVE AN ANSWER” Ferrari headed to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix as clear favourite after eight days of testing pointed to the SF90 having a definite advantage over the opposition. But hopes of a dream start were not only dashed but turned into a nightmare, with Ferrari 0.7 seconds slower than Mercedes in qualifying and not far off a minute down in the race. This shocked everyone in the paddock, including the teams, which had all reached the same conclusions about Ferrari’s advantage following their analysis of testing. Some claimed that Mercedes was simply sandbagging and that the pace was there all along and the rest were hoodwinked; others suggested it was a little more complicated than that. So what exactly happened…

Last year, Haas had on average the fourth fastest car in Formula 1. Based on the evidence of the Australian Grand Prix, it starts the season in the same position after Romain Grosjean led the midfield in qualifying and Kevin Magnussen won ‘Class B’ in the race in sixth place. What’s more, the deficit to the front was significantly reduced, with the gap from Haas to pole position cut from 2.023s last year to 1.340s in 2019. Haas had a comfortable margin over the rest of the midfield in qualifying: the fastest times of the other five teams – Renault, Alfa Romeo, Toro Rosso, Racing Point and McLaren – were covered by 0.332s. But the race, in which Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg finished on Magnussen’s tail, suggested that the gap…

DAVID EVANS Which was the biggest battle between you, the one you’ll never forget? I’m guessing we could be heading to Hamilton for this one… The 2007 Rally New Zealand ended with Gronholm winning what was then the closest WRC event ever – he beat Loeb by 0.3 seconds. SEBASTIEN LOEB If you speak about the fight, the best we had, it was New Zealand. If you ask Daniel [Elena, co-driver] what was his best memory from the fights, then he would say this one. MARCUS GRONHOLM Yes. It was very close. I was leading a little bit, but then you took the lead and I think it was you leading for most of the time. SL But it was a very small gap all of the time. MG I…

Behind every great engineering challenge lies human talent. The collaboration between INFINITI and Renault F1 Team has led to a series of success stories thanks to a unique automotive-to-motorsport training programme for the world’s brightest young engineers. Now entering its sixth season the INFINITI Engineering Academy is a global search for fresh-thinkers to be recruited across both automotive and Formula 1 industries. Over the past five years, the Academy has discovered many young, diverse engineering students from across the world who have won a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play an active role in INFINITI’s technical partnership with Renault F1 Team. Each year seven regional winners are chosen through a multi-stage recruitment process from thousands of applicants. Each Academy winner has a personal mentor overseeing their professional career development as they progress…

IndyCar’s decision to allow drivers to use the Circuit of The Americas’ Turn 19 runoff area as a legitimate part of the corner was a controversial one. At other parts of the track, using the vast runoffs wasn’t the fastest way, and doing so would therefore impose its own penalty. But the asphalt beyond the kerb on the outside of CoTA’s penultimate corner was a different matter, for it allowed drivers to carry more speed in, and therefore shave between two and three tenths of a second from lap times. Ex-Indycar race winner Max Papis, who advises Kyle Novak in race control, said: “The intent of IndyCar has been to not have to enforce track limits when it’s not needed. Because we are not implementing track limits does not mean…

TCR GERMANY Renault UK Clio Cup race winner Bradley Burns will race a Honda Civic in TCR Germany this year, staying with the Pyro squad. The 2016 Fiesta Junior runner-up claimed two victories in his first full season in Clios in 2018, finishing fifth in the standings. Pyro ran Ollie Taylor and Finlay Crocker in TCR UK last season, but has decided to head into Europe after withdrawing from Clios this season. Burns said: “I’m really happy to be continuing with Pyro Motorsport. This is the next logical step for us and I really feel at home with the team. There will be new tracks and new challenges but I can’t wait for the season to start.” Team manager Mark Hunt said: “Bradley instantly got comfortable in the car and…

ALFA ROMEOS The Alfa Romeo Championship was bolstered by new entries at Brands Hatch last weekend, including a Lancia Delta that joined the grid under rules introduced for 2018 permitting cars from other Italian marques to score points. Richard Thurbin’s HF Integrale moved into the series following outings in the Classic Sports Car Club’s Modern Classics contest. Built by John Shields, whose JSM team ran Alfa 147s in the British Touring Car Championship, the four-wheel-drive machine overcame a broken gear linkage in qualifying to finish second in both races. Ben Sharich – who also drives a Taranis in Britcar – introduced a Mito, only the second of its kind to be raced. Prepared by Dave Peddie, who also built and raced a Modified-class Mito in 2014-15, the project arose from…

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OULTON PARK BARC 23 MARCH Mark Osborne claimed a pair of closely fought Pre ’83 wins in his Triumph Dolomite Sprint as the Classic Touring Car Championship season began in style at Oulton Park last weekend. Sharing its grid with the Pre ’66 class, a near-capacity entry of 33 cars ensured action aplenty, as Osborne discovered during a frenetic opening encounter in which any one of six cars could have won. A poor start from pole dropped 2018 champion Stephen Primett’s Ford Escort Mk1 to fifth by Old Hall as David Howard’s Jaguar XJ12 took an early lead. Primett retook the lead after slight contact with Howard at Hislops on the penultimate lap. Osborne then closed and snatched the win with an assertive final-lap move on the inside of Cascades.…

It didn’t take long for Mattias Ekstrom to find out just how different the “overpowered and undertyred” NASCAR machines are from the aero-dependent equipment he was used to in the DTM. As part of a tie-up with sponsor Red Bull, the versatile Swede turned out in two NASCAR Cup races – one on the road course at Sonoma and the other on the Richmond one-mile oval – in 2010. And while he impressed at Sonoma, running in the top 10 for a while before being turned around by Brad Keselowski, he was an anonymous 31st at Richmond. There he qualified slowest and only made the field by virtue of the car’s guaranteed place from the top 35 owners’ points. Perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise. He was dropped in…

My first experience of Daytona was as a little kid. I was five years old coming to the race track with my parents and I remember thinking as we went through the tunnel in Turn 4, the track was just so huge. All the numbers are large, from the amount of people it holds – I think it’s something like 140,000 – to the size of the actual track length – 2.5 miles – and the speeds of the cars averaging over 200mph. It’s hard to appreciate on TV; it’s a completely different experience in person. It’s a track so big it’s got a lake inside it, which should tell you something. The track itself has its challenges, but mostly with the rules package it’s about the competitors and avoiding…

FORMULA 1 The Schumacher name will be back behind the wheel of a Ferrari Formula 1 car in next week’s post-Bahrain Grand Prix test at the Sakhir circuit, when reigning Formula 3 European champion Mick Schumacher gets his first shot in a current F1 machine on Tuesday before switching to Alfa Romeo on Wednesday. And the son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher isn’t the only Ferrari Driver Academy prospect to be granted his first proper F1 audition. Briton Callum Ilott (right), third in last season’s GP3 Series, will have a runout with Alfa Romeo at Barcelona in the post-Spanish Grand Prix test. Both youngsters will be competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship opener on the F1 undercard in Bahrain this weekend – Schumacher with Prema Racing and Ilott…

FORMULA 3 FIA Formula 3 Championship drivers believe that the new series’ car – which had its first pre-season test proper last week at Paul Ricard – is “a step up” from its GP3 predecessor. The 10 teams in the championship were able to get all 30 cars out testing for the first time over two days in the South of France. Prema Racing’s Marcus Armstrong and ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard (above) respectively set the fastest lap on each day. The new FIA F3 Dallara shares the Mecachrome engine, gearbox and brakes with the GP3 car it replaces, but organisers have added more aero and more-adjustable front suspension to make the car more similar to the European F3 machine it also replaces as a merger between the two series.…

Last Friday was a sad day for those who have carried the flame for old-school, ‘proper’ Formula 3. One of my talented young colleagues had got wind that the plug had been pulled on Formula European Masters, the planned continuation series for the cars from the old FIA F3 European Championship that was supposed to have supported the DTM. I got on the phone to the three teams that had drivers confirmed for FEM. “Can I call you back? I’m just walking my dogs to clear my head,” said Van Amersfoort Racing founder Frits van Amersfoort. “I’ve had better days,” replied Fortec Motorsport F3 team manager Mick Kouros. “I’ll call you back – I have some urgent shit to sort out,” texted Motopark’s Timo Rumpfkeil. To tell the truth, the…

Should you wish to argue that Red Bull and Honda sent a strong message in the first race of their new partnership, the season-opening Australian Grand Prix gives a fair few places to start. Honda’s first podium since its comeback in 2015 – since 2008, actually – is a very strong option. Perhaps Honda-powered cars topping every speed trap in the race could be the way to go… Or how about Mercedes boss Toto Wolff’s post-qualifying declaration that Honda has made a “huge step forward” and made Red Bull look a “very different” prospect in terms of straightline speed? Honda rejoined the F1 grid in 2015, but failed to score a top-three finish across three seasons with McLaren and then spent last year quietly improving in the midfield with Red…

The graduation of last season’s top three finishers in the Formula 2 Championship straight into Formula 1 race seats provided hype enough. But the confirmation late last year that Mick Schumacher would take on F2 in 2019 sent the excitement surrounding the series – which kicks off this weekend supporting the Bahrain Grand Prix – into overdrive. As the reigning GP3 and Formula 3 European champions respectively, eventual 2018 F2 title winner George Russell and runner-up Lando Norris were truly exciting prospects, but both lack one key ingredient when it comes to comparing them against Schumacher: history. Of course, being the son of a seven-time Formula 1 champion – one as celebrated and as storied as Michael Schumacher – brings enormous pressure. But like all young prodigies, Schuey Jr has…

Nothing highlights Nissan’s radical changes to its driver line-up for 2019 better than the decision to drop its own racing legend Satoshi Motoyama. At the age of 48, he’s a veteran of almost 20 years with the manufacturer, even if he’d become sidelined from NISMO’s Super GT operation to a weaker Nissan squad amid declining form for 2013. No matter which way you cut it, Nissan has been ruthless in dropping a loyal driver who returned the manufacturer three Super GT crowns, and also won four Formula Nippon titles. That cull has gone far beyond the shores of Japan too. Lucas Ordonez, Nissan’s early shining light who originally vindicated its GT Academy gamer-to-driver programme, was dropped after 10 years with Nissan. Furthermore, the RJN Motorsport squad that gave a platform…

The ABB FIA Formula E field had company at Sanya. Once again the Jaguar I-PACE eTrophy featured on the bill. The series is now four races old following contests in Riyadh, Mexico City and Hong Kong. Experience has given its organisers time to reflect how the series is working from a sporting and technical point of view. “It’s been great,” says eTrophy championship manager Marion Barnaby. “We’re really buoyed about it actually, because if you think – the cars have come straight out of the box. And to see how they’re performing, we’re really pleased. “For any new championship, going from the concept to reality within 18 months there’s always going to be bits coming through. And until we’d had the cars driven in anger around these sort of circuits,…

TRUCK RACING Four-time Renault UK Clio Cup champion Paul Rivett will switch to the British Truck Racing Championship this year. Rivett, a Clio stalwart for almost two decades, will not race in the final season of the category after winning the title last year. He had been weighing up a move to the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, but could not raise sufficient budget. Instead he will compete in Division 2 of the Truck championship, remaining with the WDE Motorsport team and driving the MAN TGA machine previously raced by team boss Wayne Eason. Rivett himself took a podium in the truck in a one-off outing in 2017. “I’ve been in Clios for such a long time, and after winning it last year it was a good time to move on,”…

The longevity of Formula Ford decades after the 1600cc Kent engine – or indeed the original Cortina 1500cc GT unit – last powered a new Blue Oval road car should surprise nobody. The best of the best will always win out and be remembered as such until enthusiasts are no longer permitted to use fossil fuels. I profoundly hope that this will give us another 25 years at least, thus taking FF past the 75-year mark on home soil. In Britain we celebrated the junior single-seater category’s Golden Jubilee two seasons ago, the first dedicated FF race – won by Ray Allen in a Lotus – having been run at Brands Hatch on 2 July 1967. Espoused by Ford visionary Walter Hayes, the initiative was promoted by Motor Racing Stables…

BRANDS HATCH MAZDA MX-5 CHAMPIONSHIP Race 1A Brian Trott Race 2A Ben Short Race 3A Ben Short Race 1B Tom Smith Race 2B William Hayden Race 3B John Langridge MAZDA MX-5 SUPER SERIES Race 1 James Kell Race 2 Joe Marshall-Birks Race 3 Nathan Heathcote BMW COMPACT CUP Race 1 & 3 Ian Jones Race 2 Steven Dailly ALFA ROMEO CHAMPIONSHIP Race 1 & 2 Barry McMahon (156) FUN CUP JPR UVio (Fabio Randaccio/Scott Fitzgerald) PORSCHE CHAMPIONSHIP Race 1 & 2 Rick Styrin (Boxster) NIPPON CHALLENGE/TRICOLORE TROPHY/MULTI MARQUES Race 1 Nerijus Zabotka (Subaru Impreza) Race 2 Tony Hunter (Renault Clio) OULTON PARK CLASSIC TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP PRE ’83/’66 Race 1 & 2 Mark Osborne (Triumph Dolomite Sprint) JUNIOR SALOON CAR CHAMPIONSHIP Race 1 Lewis Saunders Race 2 Scott McIntyre CNC…

The Karlstad trotting track made for a popular start to each loop of the Swedish Rally in 1975. World championship co-driver in the 1970s John Davenport remembers it well: “It was known as the Travbana and it was always popular with the drivers, who raced up to four at a time without us alongside.” Bjorn Waldegaard (Lancia Stratos) has the edge on Simo Lampinen’s Lancia Beta. Markku Alen (Fiat 124) and Stig Blomqvist (Saab 96) are running third and fourth. Duke has a great video, called Rally ’75, featuring 40 minutes of high-speed action from two of that year’s British events. You can download it here: bit.ly/Rally75…

If oval racing is a niche in single-seater racing, NASCAR is a niche within a niche. Plenty of proven drivers have attempted the switch from open-wheel racing, but aside from 1997 IRL champion Tony Stewart, who won three titles for Joe Gibbs Racing and his own Stewart-Haas Racing concern, the success stories are few and far between. When he arrived in NASCAR, Sam Hornish had more wins than any driver in IRL history, but he has only managed to win five Nationwide races to date – one of them on a road course – while two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya never won on an oval in NASCAR, although he did make the Chase in 2009. “Put it this way – in Phoenix it was about 28 or 29-second lap times…