Innehållsförteckning för 31/10/19 från Autosport

Is there any way Lewis Hamilton can do anything wrong? Valtteri Bottas may have done enough to take the Formula 1 world title fight to this weekend’s United States Grand Prix with third place in Mexico last Sunday, but Hamilton’s performance for Mercedes in claiming an unexpected win after a chaotic start was sensational. This is the same guy, after all, who in the build-up to the race had said that the Merc stood “no chance” against the powerful Ferraris on the straights. In that light, Hamilton puts you in mind of that annoying kid at school who always said they’d failed miserably in their exams, but who everyone knew would be celebrating a raft of A-grades when the results popped through the letterbox in August. Edd Straw investigates the…

FORMULA 1 Renault has decided not to appeal against the disqualification of its cars from the recent Japanese Grand Prix for running an illegal driver aid. The manufacturer lost the Suzuka results of both Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg – sixth and 10th respectively – last week following a protest from Racing Point. Racing Point claimed that Renault had been using an illegal pre-set brake-balance-adjustment system on its car. Following a stewards’ investigation, it was found that the device Renault used did not break any of F1’s technical regulations, but it was decided that the button-control system was in breach of F1’s sporting rules, which state that a driver must perform alone and unaided. Renault had until Thursday morning at last weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix to decide whether or not…

UK START TIMES Friday 1 November  FP1 1600 FP2 2000 Saturday 2 November FP3 1800 QUALIFYING 2100 Sunday 3 November RACE 1910 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 BBC RADIO 5 LIVE HIGHLIGHTS CHANNEL 4 2300 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP Drivers 1 Hamilton……………………….363 2 Bottas………………………………289 3 Leclerc…………………………….236 4 Vettel………………………………..230 5 Verstappen………………….220 Constructors 1 Mercedes…………….652 2 Ferrari……………………466 3 Red Bull………………..341 4 McLaren……………….111 5 Renault…………………… 73 RACE STATS Previous winners 2018 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 2017 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2016 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2015 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2014 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2013 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 2012 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 2007 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 2006 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 2005 Michael Schumacher Ferrari Austin maestros Average points per race at Austin from the current F1 drivers. Hamilton 21.71 Vettel 15.14 Verstappen 10.50 Raikkonen 8.00…

Consistency is a word that conjures images of unflashy, plodding dependability. Nobody embarks on the road to Formula 1 aspiring to be the most consistent, for in sport the preferred narrative is usually of brilliance, of extraordinary moments, of inspiration, of unearthly powers. Lewis Hamilton stands on the brink of a sixth world championship and his CV provides such magic moments in abundance. But it’s the relentless excellence that binds his body of work together into an extraordinary whole. For 13 seasons he’s been winning in F1 and shows no signs of abating; his Mexican Grand Prix victory makes it five times in six years that he’s won a double-digit number of races in a season. Take any snapshot of Lewis Hamilton’s career, say a run of half a dozen…

Before the Mexican Grand Prix weekend, Lewis Hamilton said that Mercedes had “no hope” against Ferrari on the long main straight of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. But it was Sebastian Vettel who had no chance in the race, simply because Hamilton would not let his Ferrari get close enough during a gripping final third. Despite concerns about the tyre life and floor damage sustained to his Mercedes on the opening lap, Hamilton was in complete control. This was a weekend of fine margins, a race in which any one of the drivers from the big three teams might legitimately have claimed to be a serious victory threat. Hamilton and Mercedes were helped by the others not quite nailing it. Ferrari split Charles Leclerc and Vettel onto two-stop and one-stop strategies…

It was, quite possibly, the shortest news story of the season. For three minutes and 56 seconds, Thierry Neuville was at the very heart of the World Rally Championship. Had the Hyundai driver won Rally of Spain, he might have forced this year’s title decider down under to the Australian finale. Then Ott Tanak arrived at the end of the 17th and final stage – and he wrote his own story. On Sunday afternoon in the shadow of the Prades Mountains, Tanak ended 15 years of French rule and became the first man not called Sebastien to be crowned World Rally champion since Petter Solberg in 2003. It had been all about Toyota star Tanak since Friday morning, much as he did all he could to deflect attention and dodge…

WORLD TOURING CAR CUP SUZUKA (JPN) 26-27 OCTOBER ROUND 8/10 From woe to wonder, Esteban Guerrieri’s bid to win the World Touring Car Cup has seesawed dramatically over the past two race weekends. His visit to China could scarcely have gone worse, as a Ningbo non-score cost him a long-held points lead. What better tonic, then, than the biggest haul of all at Suzuka and a return to the summit? In truth, Munnich Motorsport ace Guerrieri was not the fastest Honda man on the manufacturer’s home track, so his six-point series lead owes much to the help, and misfortune, of his KCMG counterpart Tiago Monteiro. In a treacherously wet first qualifying session, the ex-Formula 1 driver claimed a brilliant first pole since his comeback from serious injury, only to be…

WORLD TOURING CAR CUP SUZUKA (JPN) Race 1 Esteban Guerrieri Munnich Motorsport (Honda Civic) Race 2 Norbert Michelisz BRC Racing Team (Hyundai i30 N) Race 3 Johan Kristoffersson Sebastien Loeb Racing (VW Golf GTI) PORSCHE SUPERCUP MEXICO CITY (MEX) Races 1&2 Michael Ammermuller (above) Lechner Racing AUSTRALIAN SUPERCARS SURFERS PARADISE (AUS) Race 1 Jamie Whincup/Craig Lowndes Triple Eight (Holden Commodore ZB) Race 2 Shane van Gisbergen/Garth Tander Triple Eight (Holden Commodore ZB) For full results visit motorsportstats.com…

EUROPEAN LE MANS SERIES ALGARVE (PRT) 27 OCTOBER ROUND 6/6 IDEC Sport snatched the European Le Mans Series title away from G-Drive Racing by winning the season finale at Algarve, after a penalty picked up by Job van Uitert cost the Russian squad dearly. G-Drive came to the season finale with a 13-point advantage, meaning the Aurus-branded ORECA of van Uitert, Roman Rusinov and Jean-Eric Vergne needed to finish third to win a second successive title. Van Uitert was in position to do just that with a little over a quarter of the four-hour contest remaining, but made contact with the IDEC Oreca of Memo Rojas while fighting for second. Rojas continued after a spin and G-Drive was awarded a drivethrough penalty for the incident. Vergne ended up serving it…

MOTOGP PHILLIP ISLAND (AUS) 27 OCTOBER ROUND 17/19 Marc Marquez’s Australian Grand Prix victory has brought his premier-class tally to 55, placing him third on the all-time winners’ list ahead of – ironically – Australian hero Mick Doohan. That, coupled with his six MotoGP titles, makes him Honda’s most successful rider ever. Trailing Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales throughout the weather-disrupted weekend, Marquez was 0.724s adrift in Sunday morning’s qualifying (dangerous winds forced Saturday’s session to be postponed). Marquez, like Vinales, gambled on the soft rear tyre for the 27-lap contest. Both used the early grip advantage and would ease away to an advantage of 11s over the chasing pack as they fought for victory. Marquez, now free of the pressures of fighting for a world championship, could throw caution to the…

It wasn’t just the main championship fight that came down to the final race and two points, as Rory Butcher left it late to overhaul Josh Cook for the Independent drivers’ title. In Autosport’s 2018 season review, Butcher was ranked 10th in the driver ratings after finishing in 10th in the Independent standings and 17th overall. AmD Tuning’s switch from the bulky MG 6 GT to the FK2 Honda Civic Type R propelled both team and driver up the order. “It came down to the wire, and when championships come down to one race that’s a cool thing,” Butcher says. “I didn’t really treat that last race as though I had to worry about points, it was a case of ‘I needed to be absolutely fully lit’. It was just…

Just seven weeks before Greg Moore’s fatal accident, another tragedy had hit the CART paddock when Gonzalo Rodriguez was killed at Laguna Seca. Rodriguez was running second in the Formula 3000 International Championship and had signed a deal to join the CART series for 2000 with Patrick Racing. ‘Gonzo’ had just finished second to F3000 rival Jason Watt at Spa at the end of August, and both were on a roll. That summer, Rodriguez had been offered two CART outings with Team Penske. The first was at Detroit, where he scored a point. The second was at Laguna Seca, where in practice on Saturday he lost his life in an accident at the Corkscrew. Between the deaths of Rodriguez and Moore, Watt – who was seemingly destined for Formula 1…

ENDUROKA Le Mans 24 Hours winner Nick Tandy will return to his club-racing roots by contesting the final round of the EnduroKa season at Brands Hatch next month. Tandy will tackle the 17 November race – dubbed the IndyKa 500, and lasting more than eight hours – alongside a group of friends from earlier in his career. The car will be run by his Porsche Carrera Cup GB squad JTR and it will be the team’s first foray into endurance racing. “For 20 years of my racing career I was building and running my own race cars as a necessity to go racing,” said Tandy, who won Le Mans in 2015 and has been competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Porsche this season. “For the past eight years or…

BRITISH GT GT Cup GTO class champions John Seale and Jamie Stanley will step up to British GT full-time next year with JMH Auto after two exploratory outings in the team’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Seale, who made his British GT series debut at Donington Park in 2018 in a Ferrari 488 Challenge, has raced with BGT regular Stanley since 2014 when they won GT Cup’s GTC class in an FF Corse-prepared Ferrari 458 Challenge. They scored a point in 10th at the Silverstone 500 this year and also entered the following round at Donington (below), but elected not to race. “I’m really excited about John’s move up to British GT next season – it’s a nice challenge to get stuck into as next year will be our fifth season together,”…

RX-8 TROPHY The Classic Sports Car Club will move its RX-8 Trophy class from the New Millennium series to the Turbo Tin Tops grid for 2020. The one-make class for the rotary-powered Mazda was introduced at the start of the season to support the New Millennium series, which caters for post-2000 production cars. With that grid oversubscribed in 2019, the RX-8 Trophy will switch to the category for forced-induction front-wheel-drive machinery. CSCC director David Smitheram said: “When we started the [RX-8] class for this season, the aims were to provide a different way of racing on a shoestring budget in a road-legal, fun-to-drive car. This is exactly what we have achieved, while avoiding the usual pitfalls of one-make racing.” The decision followed consultation with RX-8 Trophy drivers, and it is…

Josh Green only started his racing career in karts three years ago, but by the close of the first heat it was the 16-year-old who looked a surefire hit to wrap up Team USA Scholarship bragging rights. Green and fellow American Scott Huffaker earned their spots on the Formula Ford Festival entry list and among the Cliff Dempsey Racing stable after a two-day shootout at Road America. Despite Green’s inexperience, he relished the low-grip conditions on Saturday and qualified for the first heat in an admirable fourth. Stringing a fast lap together was one thing, but he and Huffaker headed into their heats with one hand tied behind their backs. The duo contested the Northern FF1600 Championship at Oulton Park earlier this month in preparation, but Dempsey decided that it…

Smith claims dramatic Fiesta title with late smash-and-grab Isaac Smith clinched the Ford Fiesta title on Festival weekend with a win and two podiums, crowning a season which has brought eight victories. Triumph for Smith was matched by disappointment for James Waite, who had arrived at Brands as points leader. Waite chose the perfect time for only his second 2019 win, taking it in a damp first race. Waite’s advantage over Smith was gobbled up when the safety car was called after poleman Zachary Lucas had his third off-track incident; luckily for Waite, victory was ensured when green and chequered flags were then shown together. A dry Sunday brought a big change of fortunes when Smith won race two from David Nye. Waite held an early second before slipping to…

Since 1951, the Birkett Six Hour Team Relay has rewarded speed and consistency. In Saturday’s 69th running, South African film stuntman Wade Eastwood, 2012 FIA F2 champion Luciano Bacheta – on his event debut – and Daytona Karting’s Charles Graham completed two more laps than their closest rivals in Radical SR3s. But the big winners were The Three Amigos 2.0 – Paul Hinson, David Drinkwater and Adam Read in humble BMW Compacts – who dominated the hallowed handicap element, covering 12 laps fewer than the Suzuki Hayabusa-powered sports-racers as 70 teams tackled Silverstone’s GP circuit in conditions akin to an offshore powerboat race at dusk. Handicappers Colin Ayre and Tim Moore agonised over their calculations, comparing dry and wet lap times on the previous layout, then factoring in the tighter…

DONINGTON PARK NIGHT RACES Modern Classics/New Millennium/Magnificent Sevens Jasver Sapra (BMW M3 E46) Tin Tops/Turbo Tin Tops Danny Cassar/Andrew Jordan (Honda Integra Type R, below) Classic Tony Blake/Aston Blake (Porsche 911 RSR) TIN TOPS Danny Cassar/Andrew Jordan (Honda Integra Type R) MAGNIFICENT SEVENS Jonathan Mitchell (Caterham CSR) FUTURE CLASSICS Matthew Irons/Jake Severs (BMW 323i E21) CLASSIC K Robert Farrell/Dave Coyne (Jaguar E-type) JAGUAR SALOONS AND GTs Races 1 & 2 James Ramm (Jaguar XJS) SWINGING SIXTIES Group 1 Gary Patterson/Anthony Ford (Rover Mini) Group 2 Dave Roberts (Datsun 240Z) NEW MILLENNIUM/MODERN CLASSICS Peter Challis (Porsche 997 Cup) TURBO TIN TOPS Dan Ludlow/Stuart Emmett (Honda Civic Type R) OULTON PARK Race 1 Ian Humphries (Porsche 991) Race 2 Steve Harris/Chris Hart (Saker RAPX) CNC HEADS SPORTS & SALOONS Races 1 &…

WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP Newly crowned World Rally Champion Ott Tanak’s shock move from Toyota to Hyundai for 2020 was expected to be announced at some point in the next week as Autosport went to press. Autosport understands that Tanak signed his agreement with Hyundai earlier this month for a move that will end his two-year stay at Toyota, and which places him in a four-driver team alongside arch rival Thierry Neuville plus Sebastien Loeb and Dani Sordo. News of Tanak’s departure from Toyota further complicates an already obfuscated driver market and sparked immediate speculation that Sebastien Ogier, the man he succeeded as world champion, could move from Citroen into his Yaris WRC for a final WRC season. Tanak would not be drawn on his future, telling Autosport: “When things are…

BTCC The British Touring Car Championship will introduce a new qualifying system next season as part of a series of tweaks to the sporting regulations. The new format will be trialled on a one-off basis at the late-July Snetterton round. Instead of the usual 30-minute session, drivers will have 25 minutes to qualify, before the top 10 head into a 10-minute Bathurst 1000-style shootout to fix the top five rows of the grid. BTCC chief executive Alan Gow explained that it would be an experiment, and that if it is a success then it could lead to further alterations. “We’re always looking at how we can spice things up, so we thought we could give this system a try,” said Gow. “It’s not a one-shot for each driver [as used…

BUTTON LEAVES SUPER GT Jenson Button has confirmed that he will no longer race in Japan’s Super GT series for Honda after this weekend’s finale at Motegi. Button, who won the 2018 crown with Naoki Yamamoto in a Team Kunimitsu NSX, is eighth in this year’s standings. Motegi is boiling down to a title fight between two Lexus crews: Team Le Mans pair Kenta Yamashita and Kazuya Oshima, and TOM’S crew Nick Cassidy and Ryo Hirakawa. NISMO Nissan duo Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda also have an outside mathematical shot. VESTI’S MACAU PREMA SEAT Top Formula 3 team Prema Racing has given its newly crowned Formula Regional European champion Frederik Vesti a seat for next month’s Macau Grand Prix. The 17-year-old Dane, who raced in Macau last year with Van…

THIN AIR IN MEXICO CREATES A COOLING QUANDARY The altitude of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was a considerable factor throughout the Mexican Grand Prix weekend, since the thinner air affects car performance in many ways. Due to Mexico City’s high altitude – it’s approximately 1.4 miles above sea level – the change in air density creates a number of problems for F1 engineers. It’s around 0.3kg/m3 compared with the air density at sea level, which means that the mass of air entering the cooling inlets on F1 cars is also lower. That’s about a 20% reduction in density compared with standard conditions. As a result, the engines run hotter, and Red Bull was one of several teams that chose to open up an extra pair of outlets at the rear…

Lewis Hamilton didn’t wrap up the Formula 1 World Championship last weekend in Mexico City, but on the other side of the Pacific Ocean there was a champion crowned in a series of considerable international significance, and this success has brought happiness to many people in the sport. Nick Cassidy’s second-place finish in the Super Formula finale at Suzuka – which he approached in a full-scale title battle against recent Toro Rosso Formula 1 FP1 debutant Naoki Yamamoto, Alex Palou, Kenta Yamashita and ex-F1 podium finisher Kamui Kobayashi – gave him a maiden crown in Japan’s premier series. It says a lot for Cassidy’s popularity that thoroughly good chap James Rossiter, rather than being grouchy that it was his seat at Toyota headline team TOM’S that Cassidy took for 2019,…

“A little bit of redemption for what happened last year,” was Max Verstappen’s verdict after crossing the line to secure pole position. Unfortunately for Verstappen and Red Bull, this joy was short-lived – almost three and a half hours later, he was hit with a three-place grid penalty for ignoring a yellow flag at the final corner after Valtteri Bottas had crashed. He could have backed off – his first lap, a 1m14.910s, was already enough to be sure of pole… This promoted Charles Leclerc to pole. It was doubly fortunate since Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel was set to jump him only to lift off for the yellow flags. Leclerc had been ahead based on their first runs, but overheating rear tyres in the final sector cost him as the…

McLaren started off the Mexican Grand Prix with Carlos Sainz Jr and Lando Norris running fourth and sixth and dicing with Mercedes drivers, but emerged with no points. Both drivers were locked into early pitstops after starting on soft tyres because of the Q2 tyre rule. They were still at the head of the midfield pack – Sainz was sixth and Norris seventh–when they headed to the pits, but it was at this point their races began to unravel. Norris pitted on lap 12, but was delayed by a cross-threaded front-left wheelnut. He later retired from last place. McLaren wasn’t punished as stewards decided the team couldn’t be sure it was an unsafe release. Sainz went onto the hard Pirellis at his stop but could not summon sufficient pace on…

OUT OF THE SPOTLIGHT With so much of the focus on one Toyota and three Hyundais, nobody else really got a look-in at the front of the field in Spain. Jari-Matti Latvala’s Yaris WRC was fifth, but this was far from his most inspired attack on an event he came close to winning last season. His team-mate Kris Meeke was much more on the money, looking racey through Friday before pinballing his motor off a Querol barrier on Saturday morning. EVANS’S POWERSTAGE FILLIP Elfyn Evans’s four points on the powerstage were the highlight of an otherwise largely forgettable weekend for M-Sport. The flipside of his final-stage delight was team-mate Teemu Suninen taking a chunk out of his Ford Fiesta WRC’s left-front on the same stretch of road. The pair finished…

PORSCHE SUPERCUP MEXICO CITY (MEX) 26-27 OCTOBER ROUND 9/9 Only double DTM champion Rene Rast and four-time Supercup champion Patrick Huisman had won three straight titles in Porsche’s premier series, but now Michael Ammermuller has added his name to that list in Mexico City. It wasn’t easy for the German – even after taking pole for race one – as there were three other drivers capable of dethroning him in the double-header finale. The key moment came at the start where Ayhancan Guven – in title contention – lunged to the inside at Turn 1 and took the lead from Ammermuller. But the young Turkish driver had overcooked it and Ammermuller’s experience shone through with a perfectly executed cutback. He increased his lead to almost five seconds and, after that…

SUPER FORMULA SUZUKA (JPN) 27 OCTOBER ROUND 7/7 Nick Cassidy overcame the odds in the Super Formula season finale at Suzuka to score his maiden series crown, having overcome his quicker Honda-aligned rivals by opting for a superior strategy. The New Zealander started sixth on the grid after a difficult qualifying, which ended with Honda-powered cars dominating the top five positions. TOM’S man Cassidy was the fastest of the Toyota competitors – and the next best was only 10th fastest. Cassidy was one of three drivers, along with 2018 champion Naoki Yamamoto and rookie Alex Palou, who would automatically win the title if they took victory in the race. And Palou looked favourite after qualifying as he claimed his third pole of the season for Nakajima Racing. Yamamoto, who arrived…

1 THE LESSONS OF THE 2018 TITLE When Colin Turkington sewed up his third British Touring Car Championship crown with just a sole race victory in 2018, the WSR driver admitted it wasn’t “the sexiest way to win”. Instead of chasing the individual race spoils in the aged BMW 1 Series, he assembled an unrelenting points haul. That provided two motivations in the new 330i M Sport. One: he wasn’t going to let 2019 be another muted affair: “This year I was going to win in style.” Two: it proved that in a series as tightly contested as the BTCC, losing even one points finish can prove critical. Rivals cottoned on. “People are broadening their eyes and seeing that there is an alternative way to win,” Turkington added. “Chip away, collect…

1 COLIN TURKINGTON The champion, equalling Andy Rouse as the BTCC’s best ever. Once again, a relentless points scorer but showed he can get his elbows out. Pole at Oulton Park remains the lap of the year, and his dramatic title win should go down in history. 2 ANDREW JORDAN Mounted a valiant comeback after a season-defining non-score at Donington. Seemed instantly at home in the new BMW 3 Series, and made almost no mistakes. Scored the most wins too. Let’s hope he returns in 2020. 3 TOM INGRAM The king of car control as Speedworks had to tame the new Toyota Corolla’s skittish backside. Four wins, not dropping four places in the points compared to 2018, is a better reflection of an excellent season. A title favourite for next…

A massive congratulations to Sam Wilson and the whole team at Wilson Racing on winning the Sigmax Championship with 10 wins across the season. We would like to thank all of our sponsors Rutherford Briant Recruitment, Opie Oils, Road and Race Transmissions and Graham Hathaway Racing for their support and making the win this year possible We are very much looking forward to competing next year. To join in with our success please contact us on the details below to discuss sponsorship opportunities. 07826 872 151 samwilsonracing@aol.com www.wilsonracing.co.uk…

BIRKETT RELAY Luciano Bacheta’s class shone through on his British racing return at Silverstone last weekend when he won the 750 Motor Club’s 69th Birkett Six Hour Relay on scratch with Breakell Radical Heroes. The 2012 FIA Formula 2 champion was driving a Radical SR3 alongside South African-born Hollywood film stunt legend Wade Eastwood and stalwart clubman Charles Graham. “I’ve worked with Wade for a while and he’s being trying to get me to do this race for years,” said Bacheta, 29, still wearing his 2010 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award finalist’s overalls. “It’s not fitted [my schedule] before, but this time I was available and thought why not. I had not driven a Radical for about 10 years, but I tested on Friday and wondered what I’d let myself in…

Steve Barlow rode his luck in the second semi-final of the Formula Ford Festival when he narrowly avoided a blow to the head from the right-rear wheel of Peter Lucas’s Van Diemen RF88. Lucas lost his car through Paddock Hill Bend, which left Barlow and Tom Cloet with nowhere to go. Barlow’s avoiding action meant he clouted into Cloet and was then speared by Lucas. As he sat prone, the jettisoned wheel just about bounced clear.…

HSCC The Historic Sports Car Club has unveiled the Production Car Challenge, a new race series for production touring, sports and GT cars from the 1980s. The new series will be open to cars with standard bodyshells and only minor modifications to engines and suspension. The club plans to run several pilot races later in 2020, ahead of a fuller programme in 2021. The series will complement the existing Historic and ’70s Road Sports Championships. HSCC CEO Andy Dee-Crowne said: “This will sit very well alongside our existing portfolio of categories and offer another way into historic racing for newcomers to the sport. Our aim is to grow the category over the next couple of seasons.”…

When 1992 British Touring Car champion Tim Harvey first entered the Formula Ford Festival 36 years ago, the competition featured eight heats. Last weekend at Brands Hatch, as Harvey was busy winning the first of two Classic FF1600 races, there were just three heats for the main event. The Festival’s organiser, the British Racing & Sports Car Club, recognises this decline in entry numbers and is investing in the event. The 2019 edition was livestreamed for the first time in its 48-year history and that helped draw in different sponsors for the heat races and semi-finals – that’s an impressive feat. But, nevertheless, FFord is in a difficult situation at present. Last season, Mazda pulled the plug on the incredible Road To Indy scheme. It had provided a logical path…

After a stellar year at the wheel of a McLaren 570S GT4 in British GT, Josh Smith returned to Formula Ford 1600 machinery in an effort to become the first driver to score back-to-back overall Festival wins. But with his plans for next season unconfirmed, the Van Diemen JL13 driver heads in to a winter of frustration. In qualifying Smith’s engine developed a misfire when under load, and so ninth was the best he could do. In the opening heat he showed much more promise though. Smith’s intent was clear from the off as he climbed up to sixth on the opening lap. Ciaran Haggerty was dispatched through Clearways for fourth before the chequered flag was waved a lap early. That would prove the high point, however. When Peter Dempsey…

SILVERSTONE 750MC 26-27 OCTOBER Not even a puncture could prevent SEAT Leon Eurocup pair Carl Swift and Rob Baker from completing their Club Enduro hat-trick in a gripping finale, but it was Porsche Boxster standout Steve Cheetham who landed the crown as the last 750 Motor Club championships of its 80th-anniversary season were decided with a Grand Prix circuit bonus on a glorious autumn day. Pacemaker Swift limped to the Area Motorsport pit with a deflated rear tyre, whereupon Baker returned to the fray with new fronts. While Baker was gaining ground, Luke Sedzikowski led in the Tegiwa BMW M4. He stopped after 36 laps with front brakes ablaze, which damaged a tyre valve, delaying co-driver David Whitmore’s stint with a quarter of the two hours remaining. As Baker shot…

DONINGTON PARK CSCC 26-27 OCTOBER Danny Cassar and Andrew Jordan were the stars of Donington Park’s Classic Sports Car Club night races, with the pair taking a win and a third place despite it being British Touring Car star Jordan’s first time racing in the dark. Cassar and Jordan were only intending to take part in the second race. But when an issue was discovered on their Honda Integra Type R during familiarisation, it was agreed that they would take the Integra of Jordan’s father Mike and Nigel Ainge for the first bout. Despite their best efforts they couldn’t beat Jasver Sapra’s BMW M3, which charged up from 15th to take victory, and were just pipped to second by Tim Davis, who also went out in the evening in a…

Tom Gamble sampled a Formula 1 car for the first time at Silverstone last week as part of his prize for winning the 2018 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award. After a season driving an Audi R8 LMS in the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe, 17-year-old Gamble was let loose in the ex-Jenson Button MP4-28 from 2013 – McLaren’s final involvement in the Award now that Aston Martin has become a title partner. Gamble said: “It’s such a good car. I knew it’d be fast, but I didn’t think it would be that fast. When I saw the [pit]-in board, I said, ‘I might just keep going’ – see what they say!”…

FERRARI CHALLENGE A1 GP champion Adam Carroll took victory in the Ferrari Challenge’s showpiece Trofeo Pirelli World Final at Mugello last weekend. Northern Irishman Carroll, who also won the Le Mans 24 Hours-supporting Challenge race in June, started his Ferrari Budapest-backed entry from pole, having set the fastest qualifying time of the weekend for the final two races of the Ferrari Challenge Europe Series. Niccolo Schiro got a better launch from the rolling start, but Carroll ducked back underneath him on the exit of Turn 1 and led for the duration, although he came under late pressure from Bjorn Grossmann. “These cars are a real challenge to drive – they’re the fastest GT cars I’ve driven in a straight line and they push 700 horsepower, but they don’t have anywhere…

The full story of newly-crowned World Rally champion Ott Tänak’s rise and rollercoaster career is brought to life with incredible behind-the-scenes access in Ott Tänak: The Movie - which is now available to view globally. The film was originally released in cinemas in Tänak’s native Estonia in April, but can now be watched anywhere in the world via tanakmovie.com. Last weekend Tänak halted Sébastiens Loeb and Ogier’s 15-year run of WRC titles as he secured his first world championship with a typically hard-charging performance on the Rally of Spain. Tänak is regarded as one of the more elusive and reclusive athletes in top-level sport, but the film gives an astonishing insight into the character behind the resolute expression and brief comments to the media that endured through both the lows…

Ignore flags at everyone’s peril As an ex-marshal, I find Max Verstappen’s comments about not lifting for a yellow flag very worrying indeed. How could he possibly have known what the situation was with Valtteri Bottas? A three-place grid penalty is a disgrace and I am just pleased I am no longer marshalling. A three-race ban would have been more appropriate, with Verstappen being made to spend those three races on a marshals’ post! I hope for his sake that if anything ever happens to him, that marshals will be there to help – and feel that they are protected by the yellow flag! John BarkerBy email A total lack of respect for the rules Surely it is time for a massive clampdown on drivers/riders treating flag signals with disdain.…

Home hero Sergio Perez finished seventh and at the front of the ‘Class B’ battle after holding off Daniel Ricciardo in the closing stages of the race. The Racing Point driver secured 11th place in qualifying, meaning he was the best-placed of the midfield runners with free tyre choice. He held that position early on after starting on mediums, and ran to lap 20 before stopping for hards. Perez emerged ahead of the McLaren and Toro Rosso drivers (who had gone through to Q3 with times set on softs, locking them in to starting on those tyres and stopping early), then moved into seventh ahead of team-mate Lance Stroll and the Renault of Ricciardo when they stopped. Ricciardo ran to lap 50 before stopping, rapidly closing the gap on Perez…

SUPER FORMULA SUZUKA (JPN) Tomoki Nojiri Team Mugen (Dallara-Honda) FORMULA RENAULT EUROCUP YAS MARINA (UAE) Race 1 Oscar Piastri R-ace GP Race 2 Victor Martins MP Motorsport EUROPEAN LE MANS SERIES ALGARVE (PRT) Paul Lafargue/Paul-Loup Chatin/Memo Rojas IDEC Sport Racing (ORECA-Gibson 07) NASCAR CUP SERIES MARTINSVILLE (USA) Martin Truex Jr (below) Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota Camry) NASCAR TRUCK SERIES MARTINSVILLE (USA) Todd Gilliland Kyle Busch Motorsports (Toyota Tundra) For full results visit motorsportstats.com…

The 1999 CART Indycar series came down to a title battle, fought to the wire, between two future multiple Indy 500 winners: Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti. Sadly the season finale, held over Halloween weekend at the Fontana superspeedway in California, is remembered less for the crowning of its champion than for the devastating accident in the opening laps that claimed the life of Greg Moore. The talented young Canadian was on the cusp of greatness, having signed to drive for the mighty Team Penske in 2000. And even now, the thought of Moore competing at the Indianapolis 500 with the full might of the Penske team behind him raises that most tantalising of questions: what if? Bryan Herta, who competed against Moore in Indy Lights and CART, and…

GT CUP Former GP2 and Superleague Formula racer Franck Perera joined the GT Cup grid and grabbed a brace of wins in the season finale at Snetterton last weekend. The Frenchman, who has most recently raced for the FFF Racing Team in the Blancpain GT Series, joined Michael Igoe in a WPI Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan for the visit to Norfolk, winning both endurance races with the British GT regular. Perera said he hopes it could be a longer partnership into next season. “I have to see what happens with Lamborghini for next season, but this was a very positive weekend for me with Michael,” he said. “It’s the first time I’ve worked with the team and it’s been a good weekend for us. We’re now looking forward to the future…

FFORD FESTIVAL Two-time Walter Hayes Trophy winner Peter Dempsey was excluded from the second semi-final of the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch for hitting Rory Smith into retirement. Dempsey climbed from seventh to battle Smith for third, but hit the rear of the Medina JL18 at the apex of Druids. Smith was unable to continue, for which Dempsey was disqualified and had to fight for a place in the final via the Last Chance race. “He braked earlier than I anticipated and I took him out,” said Dempsey. “It wasn’t intentional but unfortunately he spun, rolled back and hit my car again. He was out of the race. “You’ve got to be aggressive. I was aggressive as I ever am but I miscalculated, and unfortunately I ruined his weekend…

BRANDS HATCH BRSCC 26-27 OCTOBER If the outcome was similar for perennial favourite Niall Murray, the nature in which both last weekend’s Formula Ford Festival final and the 2018 edition were sealed could scarcely be more different. On both occasions there was an unexpected victor who triumphed at the expense of Murray. But whereas last year Josh Smith claimed his win on the final lap, benefiting from good fortune as Murray and Oliver White outbraked themselves, this time Jonathan Browne was nigh-on untouchable at the end-of-season FF1600 Brands Hatch event. Browne entered the event with slightly damp powder: just one National FF1600 Championship win to his name this season, scored at Oulton Park back in May. But his turn of speed and utter domination of the Festival meant spectators not…

FORMULA FORD FESTIVAL Heat 1 Matthew Cowley (Van Diemen JL13) Heat 2 Jonathan Browne (Ray GR19) Heat 3 Niall Murray (Van Diemen BD20) Heat Last Chance race Andrew Blair (Reynard 87FF) Semi-final 1 Jonathan Browne (Ray GR19) Semi-final 2 Niall Murray (Van Diemen BD20) Last Chance race Ivor McCullough (Van Diemen RF00) Final Jonathan Browne (Ray GR19, above) FORD FIESTAS Race 1 James Waite Race 2 Isaac Smith Race 3 David Nye IRISH SUPERCARS/GT LIGHTS Race 1 Max Drennan (GT Light) Race 2 Philip Jones (Supercar) Race 3 Tom Smith (GT Light) CLASSIC FF1600 Race 1 Tim Harvey (Van Diemen RF81, below) Race 2 Henry Chart (Jamun T2) HISTORIC FF1600 FINAL Alan Davidson (Mondiale M89S) SPORTS 2000 DURATEC Michael Gibbins (MCR S2) SPORTS 2000 PINTO Paul Streat (Lola T87/90) FIESTA…

CLUB ENDURO Carl Swift/Rob Baker (SEAT Leon Eurocup) ROADSPORTS Kevin Dengate/Chris Lovett (BMW E46 M3, below) HOT HATCH Race 1 Ben Rushworth (Honda Integra DC2) Race 2 Ryan Steel (Citroen Saxo VTR) CLASSIC STOCK HATCH Race 1 Stewart Place (Peugeot 205 GTi) Race 2 Andrew Thorpe (Citroen AX GTi) BMW CAR CLUB RACING Race 1 Michael Pensavalle (E46 M3) Race 2 Michael Cutt (E46 M3) BIRKETT SIX HOUR TEAM RELAY Handicap 1 The Three Amigos 2.0: David Drinkwater, Paul Hinson, Adam Read (BMW Compacts) 97 laps+18 credit = 115; 2 Team Darkside: Scott Parkin, Ryan Parkin, Dylan Brychta (SEAT Ibiza TDI/VW Golf TDI/SEAT Leon TDI) 102+13 = 115; 3 Tegiwa Type-R Trophy: Mark Hughes, Mervyn Beckett, Jon Peerless, Bill Rutter (Honda Civic Type-Rs) 101+14 = 115; 4 Army Sports Car…

OULTON PARK BRITCAR 26 OCTOBER Just as he did at Oulton Park earlier in the season, Porsche 991 driver Ian Humphries again took advantage of Britcar Endurance’s single-driver pitstop rule to claim his second victory of the year. While teams of two drivers must wait until 40% of the race is completed before making their stop, individuals have the opportunity of stopping at any time during each one-hour encounter. So, when an early race safety car was summoned, the Valluga Racing driver did exactly that. The caution period was caused by the Ferrari 488 of championship leaders Paul Bailey and Andy Schulz being stranded in the gravel after Bailey had misjudged the treacherous conditions out of Cascades. “I just overcooked it coming out of the corner,” admitted Bailey. “It’s the…

Three years into its return to the NASCAR Cup, Rick Ware Racing is expanding quickly. It’s not easy for a small squad at the back of the pack. But with three cars in the Cup, a smattering of machines in the support series and now an ambitious Asian Le Mans Series expansion, the team – which has been around since the early 1960s – is the perennial motorsport underdog, an infrequent occurrence these days. It’s safe to say that RWR is a fairly eccentric team, and recently it’s taken a rather radical route to getting its name out there worldwide – it’s enlisted the help of a UK Facebook group: NASCAR Fans UK. Founded and driven by the dynamo that is Kevin Gravenell in 2008, the group has over 5000…

Carlos Reutemann charges round the Osterreichring in the 1981 Austrian Grand Prix in his Williams-Ford FW07C. Reutemann’s engine had exploded in practice on Saturday morning, but had been replaced in time for the Argentinian to qualify fifth. He took to the escape road early on but recovered to finish fifth behind fourth-placed team-mate Alan Jones and the Brabham of Nelson Piquet (third). Jacques Laffite took victory in his Ligier-Matra, passing Rene Arnoux for the lead when the turbocharged Renault got boxed in while lapping backmarkers. The sister Renault of Alain Prost had suffered suspension failure while leading. For classic Formula 1 DVDs head to dukevideo.com/F1 For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

1) Who, what, where, when? 2) Who is this? This pioneer sadly remains a one of a kind. Having delivered on the family business, there was a stint in the classic nursery before learning the ropes in a royal park. After some national success there was a move to another feeder series in a different land before soaring into something more powerful. This led to an invitation from back home to make the final step. A move to a race-winning team followed, where in tragic circumstances history was made, but there was never a fair crack at success. The sudden availability of a superstar ended the dream and a ram raid failed to deliver. Occasional success followed as great lengths were covered, including an unlikely match up with the good…