Innehållsförteckning för 01/08/19 från Autosport

Three good grands prix in a row! Few would have predicted that after the French GP in June, but last weekend’s Hockenheim race continued the recent trend of drama and wheel-to-wheel action. Wet races are often entertaining, but in recent years Lewis Hamilton has been unbeatable when the going gets slippery. Before the 2019 German GP the Mercedes star hadn’t lost a rain-affected Formula 1 race since the 2014 Hungarian GP. In that time he racked up a record nine consecutive ‘wet’ wins, but the calamitous day Mercedes experienced at Hockenheim means Hamilton is still on 13 rain-affected successes, tied for second on the all-time list with his hero Ayrton Senna. Max Verstappen seems the driver most likely to take over Hamilton’s mantle at the top of F1, both generally…

FORMULA E Work on the new ABB FIA Formula E track at the ExCeL London is already underway, with the championship counting down the days until it returns to the British capital. After scouring 14 potential locations for a London race – an event FE has long wanted to return to its calendar after it was forced to leave Battersea Park at the end of its 2015/16 season – FE settled on ExCeL in London’s Docklands. “[ExCeL] just gives us – from an operational point of view – a lot more security, safety and opportunity as well,” said FE senior event manager Oli McCrudden. “We studied everything from RAF Northolt to Crystal Palace – we thought about maybe trying to revive that – up to Ally Pally and various other…

New front and rear wing endplates were the order of the weekend for the Mercedes team, celebrating 125 years of motorsport. Both the car and the team personnel were dressed up in new kit, with the W10 sporting a special livery. The front wing has gradually changed over the season, although the current endplate design has been in action since the Chinese GP in April. Since then, the wing elements have slowly folded inwards, and the trailing edge now no longer protrudes from the back of the endplate as it did so controversially on its first appearance. A novel solution to the rear wing endplate has come in the shape of a step-shaped cut-out, along with tiny fins at the trailing edge. This should take the tip vortices created by…

Grand prix racing answers the naysayers Oh where art thou, wise sages of motor racing, those who lamented the demise of Formula 1 after the marathon of boredom that was France? We then had Austria. Then Britain. Now Germany. To quote Mark Twain, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated”. Graeme Innes-JohnstoneElland, West Yorks Formula 1 reigns when it rains The German Grand Prix: superb! Having been a watcher/marshal for 50-plus years, this was the best Formula 1 race for many years! Let’s hope that it rains at each race for the rest of the season. It certainly makes a change to the boring, processional races that we have been subjected to. And so good to see a different face on the podium; good luck in the future to…

Romain Grosjean said he and Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen “got lucky” after making wheel-to-wheel contact while disputing ninth place in the closing stages of the race. Grosjean and Magnussen finished seventh and eighth despite the clash, which happened on lap 51. Magnussen ran wide exiting the first corner, allowing Grosjean to close up on him and attack using the DRS on the run to the Turn 6 hairpin. Grosjean had the outside line and turned in while Magnussen went a little deep, resulting in contact. Each complained over the radio, with Grosjean saying “my god, this guy is incredible, he will never learn” and Magnussen asking “what is he doing?”. Because Grosjean was faster, and to avoid the risk of another clash, team principal Gunther Steiner issued an order forcing…

Bentley endured a disaster on its big push for a Spa 24 Hours victory in its centenary year. The British marque had been a frontrunner over the previous three editions of the race, which included a near-miss in 2016, but this time it was nowhere. All the M-Sport squad had to show for its four-car factory effort was a desultory 29th-place finish. Maybe it was apposite for a British marque that its chances were largely undone by the weather, twice over. None of the four Bentleys made it through the first round of qualifying on Thursday and into Friday’s superpole session that set the first 10 rows of the grid. A big factor was the weather, or the failure of the organisers to react to it. Turbocharged cars such as…

500MRCI An investigation is underway after Northern Irish driver Paul Conn died in an accident at Kirkistown last Saturday. Conn, 61, was contesting the second Roadsports race of the 500 Motor Racing Club of Ireland meeting at the Northern Irish circuit at the time of the crash. He had earlier won the opening Roadsports race of the day in his Crossle 47S. The one-day meeting was abandoned following the accident. Conn was a popular figure at the Northern Irish venue and was a family doctor away from the track. He was occasionally part of the medical team at Kirkistown when not racing himself. In a statement the club said: “It is with regret that we at the 500 Motor Racing Club of Ireland have to confirm that the competitor who…

RENAULT CLIO CUP Renault UK Clio Cup title contender Jack Young was denied another clean sweep of Clio Cup Open victories after picking up a track-limits penalty at Hockenheim last weekend. The 17-year-old won both races, which supported the German Grand Prix, on the road but was handed a 30-second time penalty in the second contest after he was adjudged to have exceeded track limits. This prevented the MRM driver repeating his Paul Ricard double, when he won both contests by over 20s. “I’d come to Germany determined to make it a clean sweep and it looked like I’d done it until I came into the pitlane at the end of the second race and was informed of my penalty,” said Young (below). “It’s a shame as I didn’t feel…

PICKUP TRUCKS Pickup Truck drivers welcomed the return of the category to the Mallory Park mile oval for the first time since 2005 in spite of torrential rain that marred Sunday’s racing. The Pickups were the only series to race on the Leicestershire circuit’s shorter configuration, with the remaining categories at the British Automobile Racing Club meeting – including Super Silhouettes – running on the full 1.35-mile circuit. “It is a good circuit, it is nice to have an oval back with the Pickups,” said championship frontrunner George Turiccki. “It is as good as Rockingham if not better, as that was all about speed and this one you can win coming from the back to the front.” The championship returned to the Mallory Mile for 2019 having been absent for…

SILVERSTONE CLASSIC British Touring Car Championship outfit Motorbase Performance is looking to expand into historics after team boss David Bartrum made his racing return at the Silverstone Classic. Bartrum last raced in 2002 in the TVR Tuscan Challenge, but last weekend joined 2000 TVR Tuscan champion Michael Caine in a newly built Ford Mustang for the Transatlantic Trophy for pre-1966 touring cars. “I’d always hankered after one of these [Mustangs], but I’d not sat in a race car since 2002,” Bartrum said. “The idea is to do more with it and I’ve been really impressed with the Silverstone Classic.” After contact on the first lap, the duo retired – despite qualifying eighth for a race won by BTCC driver Jake Hill. Under the banner of ‘Motorbase Classic and Performance’, the…

In many ways, it was difficult to not feel somewhat sorry for Chris Middlehurst come the close of play at last weekend’s Silverstone Classic. On the face of it, he was disqualified for ignoring a black and orange flag. Even more difficult to defend, he then kept circulating after the black flag was waved to the long-time leader of the final Mini Celebration Trophy race. Middlehurst, the son of accomplished Lotus 25 grand prix car racer Andy, claimed that the position of the warnings – close to the exit of the final Club corner at Silverstone – meant he missed them until it was all too late. He drew the attention of the stewards after a first-lap knock, which dislodged his Mini’s rear bumper. It was bolted on and, although…

OSS stalwart Norman Lackford celebrated a special anniversary at the Brands Hatch meeting as this season marks 50 years since he made his racing debut. The 75-year-old began his racing career at the Kent circuit in 1969 at the wheel of a Ford Anglia he built from scrap. “When I went to school I had a couple of friends whose fathers were interested in motorsport and they used to recite Autosport and Motoring News to me all the way to school, and I just got hooked,” he recalled. “My car was a real piece of junk, I didn’t have any money at all and I didn’t have anyone to help me or anything. “I had a road car and it fell over and I thought I’m going to race it…

Grahame Tilley has traded Ginetta for Nissan in the GT Cup and unveiled his brand-new GT-R in considerably less than optimal conditions at Snetterton. Having driven the Ginetta G55 GT4 in the GTA class (for lower specification, one-make series cars) during the first two rounds of the 2019 season, Tilley took the plunge to vault up to the GT Cup’s top tier and join the open-specification GTO class, adding Nissan as a fresh manufacturer to the fold. Frustrating races to start the season, including an endurance event in which he ended up lodged in Redgate’s gravel trap, was one factor propelling his desire to upgrade his machinery. “After the last round here [at Snetterton], I had done reasonably well with the Ginetta, but if I made a bad start or…

MALLORY PARKBARC28 JULY Dale Gent and Michael Smith both scored their second victories of the Pickup Truck Racing Championship season as the category made a long-awaited return to the Mallory Mile oval. Gent had been frustrated by his qualifying pace, although it would have given him a marginally better position than the eighth the random draw assigned him on the race one grid. Set-up changes, to deal with the peculiarities of a circuit in the midst of a month’s worth of rain in 36 hours, seemed to do the trick, however. Daniel Petters – second in his first ever meeting last year, also in the wet, and hunting for a victory since – stormed to the front of the field from row three inside two laps, but no sooner had…

TITANS RX EUROPE After a hiatus of two years, international rallycross returned to the venue where the discipline was created – Lydden Hill – last weekend. The newest event on the Kent circuit’s roster was a two-day double-header for the third and fourth rounds of the new Titans RX Europe series, a single-make rallycross championship created by former World Rallycross Championship team owner Max Pucher. Conceived with the aim of providing competition at a lower cost than the running of more traditional top-level rallycross Supercars, Pucher’s MJP Racing concern has created 15 identical Pantera RX6 spaceframe chassis machines, running turbocharged 2.3-litre Mustang-based engines, powering sequential four-wheel-drive transmission systems. With the 530 horsepower cars producing similar performance to that of their steel-bodied Supercar counterparts, round four winner Kevin Hansen set a…

WHO IS THIS? This ding-dong driver is still going strong after four decades at the top. Having proven his worth at home, he stayed loyal to his countrymen as he moved into the big time in the smallest way possible. He set an unwanted record that will probably last forever, but it was a product of the equipment he had, not his talent. After he abandoned the dream and returned home to race for a revived icon he found his feet. In short order, he became their star and spearheaded their campaign as they took on the best and winged their way to victory. He was victorious as he moved on to the international scene, but the bubble was always set to burst. He then became a go-to man, switching…

Disappointment is par for the course for a racing driver. For every victory and championship triumph, there are many more frustrating weekends that fail to live up to expectation or result in heart-breaking near-misses. And for young single-seater drivers dreaming of Formula 1 superstardom, the prospect of being dropped by an academy scheme – widely seen as the direct route to the top – is perhaps the ultimate setback. But how a driver responds when met with these adverse conditions can be the making of them, as proven by Alex Albon’s rise from being dropped by Red Bull after one year in Formula Renault to now flourishing at Toro Rosso. Knuckle down, show an aptitude for continued self-improvement, and results – and opportunities – will usually follow. Having failed to…

MOTORSPORT GAMES With a glitzy opening ceremony and a medals table, the new-for-2019 Motorsport Games has a clear inspiration. And, like the Olympics, the concept is set to grow to encompass new disciplines. There could be prototypes, rally cars, historics and maybe more single-seaters on the bill in year two in 2020. Stephane Ratel, whose SRO group was announced as the promoter of the 1-3 November event at Vallelunga, set out his plans last week for the inaugural Motorsport Games, which will pitch national teams against one other. He outlined a vision, together with the FIA, to grow the event beyond the GT3 class, touring cars and one-make Formula 4 on the bill for this year. “We will have three categories this year, so let’s try to double it —…

FORMULA 1 Alain Prost has taken a more formal role with the Renault Formula 1 operation by becoming a non-executive director of the UK company behind the race team. Last month, he was made a member of the board of Renault Sport Racing Ltd – a direct replacement for Renault Group executive Thierry Bollore. The move gives Prost a post similar to that which Niki Lauda held as a non-executive director of Mercedes Grand Prix. Bollore has left his role with the Renault F1 squad as he has taken on extra responsibilities as the Renault Group CEO following Carlos Ghosn’s controversial resignation. Prost has been an advisor to Renault’s F1 project since it took over the former Lotus team in 2015. It is unclear whether his new role will require…

UK START TIMES Friday 2 August FP1 1000FP2 1400 Saturday 3 August FP3 1100QUALIFYING 1400 Sunday 4 August RACE 1410 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 HIGHLIGHTS CHANNEL 4 1900BBC RADIO 5 LIVE 0430 (5 Aug) TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP Drivers 1 Hamilton……………………….225 2 Bottas………………………………184 3 Verstappen………………….162 4 Vettel………………………………..141 5 Leclerc…………………………….120 Constructors 1 Mercedes…………….409 2 Ferrari……………………261 3 Red Bull………………..217 4 McLaren…………………. 70 5 Toro Rosso…………… 42 RACE STATS…

What appeared to be Daniil Kvyat’s final Formula 1 drive in the 2017 United States Grand Prix was a strong one. He qualified his Toro Rosso well and brought home a point for 10th place despite a battery problem forcing him to switch to a more conservative engine mode. But it was too little. Had you told Kvyat that, 15 months later, he would stand on the German Grand Prix podium – and in Toro Rosso colours – he wouldn’t have believed it. Team principal Franz Tost said the decision to drop him not just from the team, but from the Red Bull stable, was because “both parties lost confidence in each other”. But while Kvyat had more than his fair share of mechanical maladies that season, it was only…

Alfa Romeo drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi lost their seventh and eighth places to 30-second penalties added to their respective race times. The duo were investigated for clutch irregularities, and it emerged that both cars were in breach of the regulations governing clutch torque application at the start of the race. Those regulations dictate that, when the clutch is dropped at the start, the torque demanded from the drivetrain by the driver on the accelerator must match the torque provided within a timeframe of 70 milliseconds. Following an investigation of the race start data from Alfa Romeo, the time taken for the torque demand to match the torque provided was exceeded by both cars. In Raikkonen’s case, the time delta approached 200ms, while Giovinazzi’s car was closer to 300ms.…

INDYCARMID-OHIO (USA)28 JULYROUND 12/16 It’s no surprise when Scott Dixon wins at Mid-Ohio, but his sixth victory here was the culmination of one of the finest IndyCar races held on this 2.258-mile road course. And with championship leader Josef Newgarden finishing the race in a sandtrap, Dixon has moved to within 62 marks of the points lead. With four races to go, he’s still the outsider. But he started this race as an outsider for glory and yet triumphed because Chip Ganassi Racing trumped Penske tactically, and because the five-time champion executed perfectly. Will Power produced the lap of the season to grab his 57th career pole, 0.37 seconds ahead of Alexander Rossi, who confirmed at the weekend that he’d signed a multi-year deal to stay in Michael Andretti’s team.…

PORSCHE SUPERCUPHOCKENHEIM (DEU)28 JULYROUND 5/9 Dylan Pereira claimed an unexpected maiden victory in a rain-truncated Porsche Supercup race at Hockenheim. Pereira, a veteran of 35 starts, was 12th in the points going into the round, but qualified on the front row and rocketed into an early lead as polesitter Larry ten Voorde fluffed the start with too much wheelspin. Michael Ammermueller also slipped by into Turn 1 but ten Voorde was on his tail, and as they battled in the opening laps Pereira escaped into a two-second lead. Mikkel Pedersen made a great start from eighth to claim fourth on the opening lap, and on the fourth tour he took advantage of the duel ahead to slipstream past ten Voorde on the run to the hairpin. But he failed to…

Cruelly robbed of victory at last year’s Silverstone Classic when their ex-Jo Bonnier McLaren-Chevrolet M6B’s transaxle locked in third gear in the closing stages, Alfaholics partners Andrew and Max Banks powered away from a wonderful FIA Masters Historic Sports Cars Championship field after Saturday evening’s 50-minute crowd-pleaser. Starting from pole ahead of a strong field of charismatic and distinctive machinery of the 1960s and 1970s – which included the Halusa brothers’ Alfa Romeo T33 TT3 – Andrew pressed on to establish an advantage, leaving his equally rapid sibling to maintain it. “I was saying ‘gearbox don’t break, gearbox don’t break’ in my head [as the clock ticked down], but the team did a fantastic job. The car was faultless today,” said Max. For a third of the race it was…

Bumps, burns and scars were badges of honour. A magazine photograph of this stocky man in his (not so) smalls annotated those broken bones and torn tendons: thumb, wrists, elbow, arms, collarbone, skull, ribs, vertebra and kneecap. Yet the Nice man with the prosthetic ear – removed gleefully regularly for unsettling effect – appeared blissful in a Christon-the-cross pose. Jean Marie Behra loved a racing life ‘lived above the shop’: testing, testing, testing; coffee and a cigarette; a game of cards; more coffee and another cigarette; racing; and talking about racing. He held dear a much-stamped passport – another badge – that listed his profession as pilote. And if ever he wondered whether that hard-pressed luck was finite, he never said. He plunged down a ravine while leading the 1952…

BRITISH GT McLaren Autosport BRDC Award finalist Jamie Caroline will make his British GT debut this weekend in an HHC McLaren 570S GT4 at Brands Hatch, marking his return to the team he won the Ginetta Junior title with in 2015. The 20-year-old, who won the British Formula 4 title in 2017, has not raced since September following a partial campaign in BRDC British F3 that yielded two wins, but was approached by HHC to fill the breach left by Luke Williams, who has been sidelined by budget issues. Caroline will share with 18-year-old Ginetta graduate Ruben Del Sarte, who made his own series debut alongside Williams in the last round at Spa after replacing cash-strapped Tom Jackson. Caroline said he is now focusing on pursuing a career in GT…

BRANDS HATCHBRSCC27-28 JULY Neil Maclennan closed the gap to National Formula Ford points leader Ross Martin with a win and two second places as the championship moved into the second half of the season at Brands Hatch. He led the wet opener before slipping behind Spike Kohlbecker and first-time polesitter Rory Smith, who briefly led until dropping two wheels off-track at Clearways with a third of the race to go. Maclennan repassed Kolhbecker into Paddock Hill Bend on the penultimate lap, but the Cliff Dempsey Racing driver was able to cut back to the inside and seal the win. In race two, Maclennan withstood race-long pressure from Kohlbecker and his CDR team-mates, Jonathan Browne and James Clarke, to score his third win at the track in eight days following the…

SNETTERTONMSVR27-28 JULY A spin on the formation lap inspired Laki Christoforou and Adam Carroll to victory in the first pitstop race of the GT Cup weekend at Snetterton. Drizzle was the wildcard when the GT Cup field prepared for its first 50-minute race. Christoforou had finished fourth in the opening sprint race and, starting the endurance race from the same position, he looped his Ferrari 488 in the deteriorating conditions on the formation lap, dropping to the back of the field. With grip evidently at a premium, Christoforou gambled by diving into the pits for wet tyres while the rest of the field took the green flag. As the rain intensified, all slick tyre starters were forced into the pits just 15 minutes into the race and prior to the…

CADWELL PARKVSCC27 JULY The Vintage Sports-Car Club’s Cadwell Park meeting had an unusual feature. For the second time, the club held a race only for drivers aged under 30, after debuting the handicap event at Mallory Park last year. “At the VSCC we have an incredible strength of youth,” said club president Jennifer Lees, “because we have a number who are from VSCC families and they’ve brought in their friends to race with us. And we went to them a couple of years ago to say, ‘What would you like from us?’ They said, ‘Could we have a race for under 30s?’ “We’ve got to listen to our youth. They marshal for us, they take on other responsibilities. One of the racers here has asked if she can now be…

KIRKISTOWN500MRCI27 JULY In a race meeting that was completely overshadowed by Paul Conn’s tragic accident in the second Roadsports contest, David McCullough extended his lead over Alan Davidson in the Northern Ireland Formula Ford 1600 Championship after back-to-back victories. Both David and Ivor McCullough, in their almost identical Van Diemens, were locked in battle in the first race with Davidson’s Mondiale and the Van Diemen of Will Herron. The quartet circulated in ever-changing order for 16 nail-biting laps, before a deflating front tyre sent Herron into Ivor McCullough and out of the results at the final corner, leaving him with the scant consolation of fastest lap. Davidson grabbed second place ahead of the recovering Ivor. Davidson and the brothers were locked in combat again in race two, but this time…

“The worst thing for a racing driver is being at the track watching the others race and knowing that you can do the job as well.” Christian Klien is well placed to sympathise with the predicament facing Mercedes reserve driver Esteban Ocon. It’s one thing to watch the team’s two main drivers clock up podium after podium, but it’s quite another to be on the sidelines while they endured a catastrophic weekend at Hockenheim. After losing his race seat at Red Bull in 2006, Klien was reserve driver for BMW when Robert Kubica won at Montreal in 2008, and later worked as the Williams simulator driver when Pastor Maldonado scored an upset in the 2012 Spanish GP. In between times, he had three races for HRT in 2010 – “with…

Access to a Formula 1 grid can feel as difficult as penetrating Fort Knox. Standing guard at the pitwall entrance is a line of security guards clocking the passes of every person who tries to traverse the hallowed asphalt. Mechanics wheeling a set of four tyres wrapped in heated blankets have been known to be stopped if their passes are not visible. Only team members who have a job to perform are allowed on the grid. Permission is also granted to TV crews, senior dignitaries, random celebrities and – of course – the 20 competing F1 drivers. No substitutes allowed. Although the rule has been relaxed in recent years, it was strictly enforced in 2007. That year, Markus Winkelhock, son of hard-charging 1980s F1 racer Manfred, was a test driver…

Racing drivers love driving racing cars – there’s nothing revealing about that. But the relationship between driver and car isn’t always straightforward and almost every professional racer will at some point in their career have to grapple with cars possessing ‘diva’ characteristics – as Toto Wolff famously coined the 2017 Mercedes W08 – that force them to dig deep and think outside the box. Endurance racing veteran Pedro Lamy has experienced both ends of the scale, from the sublime Peugeot 908 and Maserati MC12 to the infamous Mercedes CLR, which spat his team-mate Peter Dumbreck into the trees in 1999. Lamy was unfortunate enough to get his big Formula 1 break in a car he describes as “one of the most difficult” of his career when in 1993, aged 21,…

WEC LMP1 privateers are going to win races in the 2019-20 World Endurance Championship. That was Toyota’s conclusion after the independents ran its TS050 HYBRIDs close at last week’s official pre-season test in Barcelona. Toyota Motorsport GmbH technical director Pascal Vasselon explained that the pace of the Rebellion-Gibson R-13 and the Ginetta-AER G60-LT-P1 at the so-called prologue showed that they are already “in the game”. He said the system of success handicaps, given the green light on the eve of the test, will do the rest. “Obviously, they are in the window to win races and, with success handicaps, they will win races for sure,” said Vasselon. “Ginetta will have a learning curve, but Rebellion looks ready to fight at the highest level.” Vasselon was encouraged by the performance from…

WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP What do you say to a driver whose dream has turned to a nightmare before he’s even gone to sleep? A testing crash ruined Hayden Paddon’s Rally Finland return in a Ford Fiesta WRC on Monday. Talking to the New Zealander hours after he climbed out of a car wrecked by an unseen stone in a sixth-gear corner, the pragmatism was astonishing from one so badly in need of a break. “It’s sport,” Paddon said. “Sport can be like this. You can’t have the roses every day. For the absolute highs to matter and mean so much, you have to have the absolute lows and this is one of them. “I’m gutted because I came to Finland in such a good place, mentally and physically I’ve never…

Did a thrilling German Grand Prix give us a tantalising glimpse of where Formula 1 could be in 2021 and beyond if the rules play out as the FIA and Liberty Media intend them to? I’m not suggesting that we’ll see chaotic pitstops, multiple safety car periods and cars skating across slippery runoffs every weekend. What Hockenheim did achieve was to remind us that this sport is not just about the three pacesetting teams, with a cast of supporting players fighting for what we’ve all come to describe as the ‘midfield’ honours. At various stages of the race, cars from Alfa Romeo, Haas, Renault, Toro Rosso and Racing Point ran in the top three. Of course, it was all down to the rollercoaster impact of tyre choice for the prevailing…

Lewis Hamilton didn’t head into qualifying for the German Grand Prix in an especially optimistic frame of mind. The Ferraris were faster over a lap, particularly on the quickest soft Pirelli compound, and he looked to have a fight on his hands even to be sure of third place given the pace of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. To make matters worse, he felt under the weather – he described it as a “sore throat” – to the point where Mercedes had put reserve driver Esteban Ocon on standby in the morning just in case Hamilton reacted badly to running in Saturday’s practice session. Hamilton’s 87th pole position started to become a little less unlikely early in Q1 when a problem manifested itself with Sebastian Vettel’s intercooler fresh out of the…

Charles Leclerc and Nico Hulkenberg both crashed out of top-four positions in the German GP after running wide in the penultimate corner, leading to criticisms of the condition of the runoff area. The runoff is made up of the start area of the Hockenheim drag strip, which runs in the opposite direction to the circuit, meaning it was covered in rubber that slicked up thanks to the rain. Both drivers slid into the barrier at low speed after running onto this area, while Lewis Hamilton also crashed after an off under the safety car. Carlos Sainz also spun on the runoff earlier in the race. Leclerc branded the runoff “dangerous” over the radio, but was wary of commenting after the race following criticism on social media, but FIA race director…

Daniil Kvyat’s first Formula 1 podium since April 2016 came within 24 hours of the birth of his first child. The Russian confirmed that his daughter had been born overnight after he finished a shock third in the German Grand Prix thanks to an inspired call to pit for slicks while running ninth at the end of lap 45. This allowed him to jump to third and, although he was passed by the charging Sebastian Vettel late on, he jumped fellow slick gambler Lance Stroll to secure the final podium place. “The first time I chose to go on slicks, it was the wrong moment,” said Kvyat. “The second time I think it was the perfect moment and when I saw that others didn’t pit for slicks when I did,…

Relive this race at The GPX Racing squad might have drafted in three recent Porsche world champions for last weekend’s Spa 24 Hours, but it was hardly one of the pre-event favourites. It was, after all, the privateer team’s first attack on the Spa enduro and only its fourth appearance in the Blancpain GT Series. Yet the GPX Porsche 911 GT3-R driven by Kevin Estre, Michael Christensen and Richard Lietz came through to claim victory on Sunday afternoon over a field packed full of factory entries. Porsche’s first victory in the Belgian endurance classic since 2010, and its seventh in total, had a lot to do with inclement weather that dominated the double-points round of the BGTS Endurance Cup. The 911 GT3-R wasn’t in the ascendency during the heavy rain…

AUSTRALIAN SUPERCARSQUEENSLAND RACEWAY (AUS)27-28 JULYROUND 9/15 It was a showdown of the Supercars powerhouses at Queensland Raceway, with Jamie Whincup (above, left) and Scott McLaughlin securing a win apiece. The Ipswich weekend started according to the 2019 script, as runaway points leader McLaughlin dominated practice before grabbing his 12th pole of the season – and the 100th in Dick Johnson Racing/DJR Team Penske history – on Saturday. But there was a twist during Saturday’s 120km opener. Starting on the outside of the front row, Whincup managed to sneak down the inside of McLaughlin on the run to Turn 2 on the opening lap. When McLaughlin was then shuffled back behind Will Davison and Chaz Mostert, Whincup was free to charge to a clinical win. It was his first of the…

A mighty effort from the underrated Jonathan Kennard topped both of the Masters Endurance Legends races. From the start of the 40-minute, pitstop first race, Kennard battled with Le Mans podium finisher Emmanuel Collard in an all-Pescarolo LMP1 contest and set up co-driver Mike Cantillon for victory in a race interrupted by a safety car and an early finish as the 2100 curfew arrived. Collard powered his Judd V10 ahead from the rolling start and began to edge away, but Kennard was more than equal to the task and went after his more experienced rival in Cantillon’s Judd V8 version. By lap seven Kennard was back on Collard’s tail and was close enough to attack into the Becketts complex, but passing in such evenly matched cars would never have been…

1952 MARNE GP Reims, 29 June The Gordini team was under the pump – even more so than usual. Robert Manzon had hurt his arm in a crash during the sportscar support race, and Behra’s single-seater had had a quick-fix repair of its differential that its driver was in the dark about. Yet the latter not only outpaced benchmark Alberto Ascari’s Ferrari in searing heat, he outlasted him, too, winning by a lap. France had a new hero. 1954 PAU GP Pau, 19 April Behra started sixth – behind three works Ferraris and two works Maseratis. After one hour (of three) his Gordini was second – 35 seconds behind Maurice Trintignant’s Ferrari. He reduced the gap to 7s during the second hour, the French rivals swapping lap records. And with…

GT CUP G-Cat Racing embarked on an 800-mile road trip to Spa and back to replace a £5 part and almost earn victory in last weekend’s GT Cup meeting at Snetterton. The team’s Porsche 911 GT3 R was a wildcard entry, but a throttle issue forced the car to stop in Saturday practice. What followed was a lengthy drive to Belgium for team boss Greg Caton, who returned with a replacement part acquired from Porsche, which was competing in the Spa 24 Hours. Repairs were made on Sunday morning, driver Shamus Jennings finishing just 0.4 seconds behind winner Richard Chamberlain in the second Snetterton sprint race. “We went out for practice and had to stop,” said Jennings. “We found out that a small pin from the electric motor that connects…

ALL-CLEAR FOR RATCLIFFE Ryan Ratcliffe has been given the all-clear to race in British GT at Brands Hatch this weekend after a heavy accident in the Spa 24 Hours. The Welshman was initially diagnosed with a concussion by doctors, but was released from hospital last Saturday night and was passed fit to race his Team Parker Racing Bentley by a GP on Monday. WONG PULLS OUT OF TCR UK TCR China champion Sunny Wong withdrew from this year’s TCR UK championship ahead of last weekend’s meeting at Brands Hatch. Wong had already missed the second round but was fifth in the standings after finishing on the podium at Oulton Park. A Teamwork Huff Motorsport statement said: “The team has decided that its technical staff are needed to focus and develop…

SILVERSTONE CLASSIC Colin Turkington retired after just two laps of the Historic Touring Car Challenge race at the Silverstone Classic following engine trouble in the ex-Steve Soper BMW M3. The reigning British Touring Car champion and current points leader qualified the E30 in fourth, but developed a power issue at the race start and was forced to retire. “These cars pick their moments, but it seemed to be fine on the two green flag laps,” Turkington said. “Then it just wouldn’t accelerate above 6000 revs, this car should go to above 8000. I had no speed. The frustrating thing is that the car’s been perfect all weekend.” The Amspeed team that runs the M3 looked at switching Turkington into the Mark Smith/Arran Moulton-Smith Warsteiner-livered E30 M3, but Turkington had not…

VSCC UNDER 30s HANDICAP RACE Louis Parkin (Frazer Nash Super Sports) GEOGHEGAN TROPHY RACE FOR STANDARD AND MODIFIED PRE-WAR SPORTS CARS Christopher Mann (Alfa Romeo Monza) SPERO, VOITURETTE AND MELVILLE TROPHY RACE Alexander Hewitson (Riley 12/4 Special) GARRY WHYTE RILEY HANDICAP RACE John Reeve (Riley Brooklands) FRAZER NASH RACE Tom Waterfield (Frazer Nash Super Sports) HANDICAP RACES FOR PRE-WAR CARS Race 1 Jack Bond (Vauxhall A/D Type)Race 2 Steven Pryke (Frazer Nash Slug) 500cc FORMULA 3 Richard de la Roche (Cooper MkV) TRIPLE M REGISTER RACE FOR PRE-WAR MGs Thomas Hardman (MG Bellevue Special, below) VINTAGE AND PRE-1961 RACING CARS Hamish Bibby (Morgan Racing) SCRATCH RACE FOR PRE-WAR CARS Richard Iliffe (Riley TT Sprite Replica) For full results visit: theresultslive.co.uk…

MALLORY PARK PICKUP TRUCK RACING Race 1 Dale GentRace 2 Michael Smith SUPER SILHOUETTE Chris Brockhurst (Vauxhall Tigra, above) MAX5 Race 1 Paul Roddison (Mk4)Race 2 Ian Loversidge (Mk4) CITROEN C1 CHALLENGE Races 1 & 3 Joshua PotterRace 2 Stephen James For full results visit: tsl-timing.com KIRKISTOWN NORTHERN IRELAND FORMULA FORD 1600 Races 1 & 2 David McCullough (Van Diemen) ROADSPORTS Paul Conn (Crossle 47S) SALOON/GT Gerard O’Connell (Ford Escort, above) GINETTA JUNIOR Karl O’Brien MAZDA MX-5s & FIESTA ZETEC Robert Kennedy (MX-5, below) FUTURE CLASSICS Gareth Thompson (Toyota Celica) For full results visit: speedhive.mylaps.com…

Pietro Bordino (Fiat 804) stops for fuel and new spark plugs during the 1922 French Grand Prix, run on the 8.31-mile Strasbourg circuit. Bordino traded the lead with the Fiat of Felice Nazzaro during the 60-lap race, and the Italian company was looking good for a 1-2-3 headed by Bordino when Biagio Nazzaro (Felice’s nephew) crashed and was killed after he shed a rear wheel. Bordino then suffered a similar issue (all three Fiats’ rear axle casings were later found to be faulty), but he was able to bring the car to a halt. Felice Nazzaro’s victory was hollow. For classic racing DVDs head to dukevideo.com/F1/History For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

Can you afford to let up on the training this year? No, especially not, it’s the opposite really. I am trying to do more, but I’ve found the job is busier than if I was racing – with PR events, sponsor stuff, travelling, going to races and going to the simulator and staying sharp like I was going to race. Definitely if I jump in a car I’m ready like I was last year. Is it quite hard mentally as a racing driver to have had the taste of F1 but now being on the sidelines? Well of course it’s not easy to swallow that I am not racing during the season, but we are working on solutions and there should be opportunities. We are having many discussions; nothing has…