Innehållsförteckning för 27/08/20 från Autosport

It was pretty obvious Lewis Hamilton was going to make waves in Formula 1 before he arrived, and he indeed made an immediate impact when he joined the grid. George Russell also produced the goods on his way up, but what he hasn’t had in his F1 career so far is a competitive car, such as the McLaren Hamilton jumped into in 2007. That means you have to dig deeper to find the strengths – and weaknesses – of Russell’s game, as he battles at the back of the field with Williams. But the signs are there and, as the 22-year-old tells us in our cover piece on page 16, he is doing everything he can to improve his game. Doing so would mean maintaining the momentum he has within…

FORMULA 1 The FIA and Formula 1 have formally confirmed a final 17-race 2020 schedule, taking the season to a mid-December finish. The major new addition is the return of the Turkish Grand Prix at Istanbul Park for the first time since 2011. It will take place on 15 November. Plans have remained for the season to conclude with a double-header in Bahrain followed by the finale in Abu Dhabi on 13 December. A final total of 17 races gives F1 some margin in case events are unexpectedly lost due to late changes or issues with COVID-19. The minimum number of races required to guarantee full payment by the TV broadcasters is 15. The schedule now includes five venues that were not on the original version: Mugello, Nurburgring, Portimao, Imola…

WRC Japan has been axed from the 2020 World Rally Championship calendar and been replaced by the Belgian Ypres Rally. Japan had kept its slot on this year’s schedule when the FIA revealed a refreshed fixture list in the wake of multiple events being cancelled following the coronavirus pandemic. The country’s first WRC event since 2010 was due to take place on 19-22 November, but has had to be called off due to ongoing border restrictions, although it remains one of nine events already confirmed to be part of next year’s WRC roster. Now the November date has been taken over by the asphalt-based Ypres Rally, giving Belgium a round of the world championship for the first time. The rally will comprise around 300km of special stages across three days,…

LENGTH 4.352 miles NUMBER OF LAPS 44 2019 POLE POSITION Charles Leclerc 1m42.519s POLE LAP RECORD Charles Leclerc 1m42.519s (2019) RACE LAP RECORD Valtteri Bottas 1m46.286s (2018) UK START TIMES Friday 28 August FP1 1000 FP2 1400 Saturday 29 August FP3 1100 QUALIFYING 1400 Sunday 30 August RACE 1410 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 1405 BBC RADIO 5 LIVE 1400 HIGHLIGHTS CHANNEL 4 1830 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP Drivers Constructors RACE STATS Previous winners Spa masters Top 10 points scorers for grands prix at Spa. All races converted to current points system. M Schumacher 229 L Hamilton 170 S Vettel 170 A Senna 165 A Prost 148 K Raikkonen 148 J Clark 121 D Hill 112 N Rosberg 103 F Massa 102…

Schumacher Jr would be good for F1 I can’t agree with Peter Allen’s remarks about Mick Schumacher (Your Say, 20 August). He came in to Formula 2 having won the F3 series in ‘dubious’ circumstances, so the ‘anti’ brigade was well to the fore. What I see is a gung-ho, spirited racer who spent last year often fighting for (but not usually getting) the same piece of race track as Jordan King. Then he drove his father’s F1 Ferrari at Hockenheim (right), and his comments afterwards revealed what a well-rounded, grounded character he is. This year is a fantastic season for F2, with so many great talents, and Mick is right among them. His gung-ho approach hasn’t changed and is probably unfashionable, but he endears himself to many because he’s…

The enormous performance deficit of Williams’s 2019 challenger meant that George Russell and Robert Kubica were generally locked into an intra-team scrap, with no hope of taking on their rivals at other squads. But thanks to the progress Williams has made with the FW43, Russell and Nicholas Latifi have been able to battle the Alfa Romeo and Haas drivers wheel to wheel so far in 2020. There’s an undoubted factor in that the two Ferrari customer teams are down on straightline speed after the Scuderia’s settlement with the FIA on its power unit, and Williams is boosted by the powerful qualifying modes on its own Mercedes customer engine (up to now, anyway). But the downforce Williams has found compared to a year ago has allowed it to close the gap…

When the story of the 2020 British Touring Car Championship is told in years to come, how pivotal will last weekend’s third round at Oulton Park be regarded? Reigning and four-time champion Colin Turkington couldn’t repeat his magician’s trick of 2019 of taking pole and victory with the maximum 60kg of success ballast aboard his West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330i M Sport, but he was always in the frame and took away a hefty points haul to consolidate his series lead. Rory Butcher inherited the maiden race win for the fourth-generation Ford Focus ST of Motorbase Performance, backed that up with a second, and scored more points than anyone else over the weekend. But the standout win, not for the first time this season, was taken by Ash Sutton in…

IMSA SPORTSCAR VIRGINIA (USA) 22 AUGUST ROUND 5/11 Corvette Racing continued its IMSA Sportscar winning streak at Virginia International Raceway – now four class triumphs in a row – as Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia won a dramatic GT-only race in which all six Le Mans-division cars hit trouble. Victory seemed destined for the polesitting Porsche 911 RSR of Frederic Makowiecki and Nick Tandy, which bounced back from a puncture in the opening stint only to suffer another left-rear tyre issue with 18 minutes to go. As Tandy pitted, the diffuser of Garcia’s Corvette began flapping wildly at high speed. “I had a massive vibration,” said Garcia. “It was stressful not knowing if it would fall off.” The other potential winner was the second-placed BMW M8 of Connor De Phillippi…

NASCAR CUP DOVER (USA) 22-23 AUGUST ROUND 24-25/36 While Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick claimed wins in the NASCAR Cup double-header, the window of opportunity for those still fighting for a place in the playoff narrowed again at Dover. Aric Almirola, Kyle and Kurt Busch secured their place in the Round of 16, leaving just three spots open with one round of the regular season remaining. Seven-time champ and 11-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson entered the weekend 25 points behind Hendrick Motorsports team-mate William Byron, who lies in the final playoff position. Johnson managed seventh on Saturday as Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota took a clean sweep of stage wins. Hamlin did fall behind Martin Truex Jr in the final stage, but handling problems for Truex allowed Hamlin to strike…

BRITISH GT Four-time British GT champion Jonny Adam will return to the series in a one-off appearance at Brands Hatch this weekend, reprising his partnership with Andrew Howard that yielded the 2015 title. Factory Aston driver Adam was due to defend the title he won with Graham Davidson last year alongside Ahmad Al Harthy in a TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3, but was left without a drive when his entry was withdrawn ahead of the season due to knock-on effects resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Adam’s British GT career started with Howard in a Beechdean AMR Aston Martin DBRS9 in 2011, and the Beechdean Vantage GT3 he will race this weekend will be adorned in the livery used in 2011. The pair haven’t raced together since the final round…

750 MOTOR CLUB Welsh motorsport has been handed a lifeline after the country’s devolved government agreed to hold a trial event at Anglesey next weekend. Unlike the rest of the UK, more stringent rules governing events – particularly the requirement for those attending to be split into 30-person bubbles – have meant motorsport has been unable to restart in Wales following the coronavirus outbreak. Autosport reported last week of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding motorsport in the country after the British Racing and Sports Car Club’s planned event at Anglesey last weekend was cancelled. Now, the 750 Motor Club fixture on 12-13 September has also been axed, but a smaller event will instead run behind closed doors next Sunday to test new procedures, featuring just the Classic Stock Hatch, Historic 750…

BRITISH RALLYCROSS Six-time Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy will make a one-off appearance in British Rallycross this weekend driving a Liam Doran Citroen C4 Supercar. Hoy, who has competed in a variety of different motorsport disciplines in recent years, took part in the Spanish World Rallycross round last season and is looking forward to another outing at Lydden Hill. “It’s one of those things that looks quite straightforward, then you get in a car and realise how much more there is to a circuit or a style of driving,” he said. “I’ve had a little shot at the Citroen C4 and absolutely loved it. Lydden is a great place.” Hoy explained the WRX outing last year came about via a TV series he was filming that looked at different…

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP GB Harry King’s standout season in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB continued at Oulton Park with two more perfectly executed wins. In Saturday’s opener, King converted pole position into an immediate lead, chased by Team Parker Racing stablemate Josh Webster. King edged away and built a gap of over six seconds by flagfall, the Porsche GB Junior bagging fastest lap as well as the two points for pole. Once King had edged out of striking distance, there was little that 2014 champion Webster could do, but he was well clear of Rookie winner Lorcan Hanafin (JTR). Sunday’s race was a stormer as Webster and King lined up fifth and sixth on the semi-reversed grid. Webster made the best of the start and, on a drying circuit, snatched…

GINETTA GT5 CHALLENGE Race 1 (13 laps) 1 Josh Malin; 2 James Taylor +2.508s; 3 Jonny Wilkinson; 4 Gordie Mutch; 5 Rory McKean; 6 Magnus Kriklywi. Fastest lap Taylor 1m35.539s (83.87mph). Pole Malin. Starters 18. Race 2 (9 laps) 1 Malin; 2 Wilkinson +0.379s; 3 Taylor; 4 Ashley Marshall; 5 John Bennett; 6 David Ellesley. FL Malin 1m46.052s (75.56mph). P Malin. S 18. PORSCHE CARRERA CUP GB Race 1 (18 laps) 1 Harry King; 2 Josh Webster +6.404s; 3 Lorcan Hanafin; 4 Matthew Graham; 5 Sam MacLeod; 6 Scott McKenna. FL King 1m22.768s (96.82mph). P King. S 18. Race 2 (15 laps) 1 King; 2 Webster +2.779s; 3 McKenna; 4 Graham; 5 Ross Wylie; 6 Hanafin. FL King 1m28.109s (90.95mph). P McKenna. S 18. Points 1 King 74; 2 Webster…

SILVERSTONE 750MC 22-23 AUGUST Pole position, three wins and fastest lap was the perfect start to Dan Clowes’ F1000 championship campaign as the spectacular motorcycle-engined Jedi Mk6/7 showcase opened with a 24-car field on the 750MC’s belated annual International Circuit visit. Sunday’s second stanza, in which JFK Racing’s driver shot from P8 on the partially reversed grid to rob Paul Butcher into Stowe on the final lap, rewarded patience. “Halfway through I thought third or fourth [would be it], but it came to me over the last couple of laps. One of the best races I’ve had,” he enthused. With the top four averaging 103mph in qualifying the stage was set, but a cracked piston sidelined Clowes’ closest rival Lee Morgan. Dan Gore led Saturday’s opener for a lap, then…

MORGAN CHALLENGE Race 1 Bill Lancashire (+8) Race 2 Oliver Bryant (+8) BENTLEY RACE Michael Higginbotham (MkVI Special) BENTLEY HANDICAP Richard Frankel (TT 3 Litre) FISCAR Oliver Llewellyn (Allard J2) CLASSIC CHALLENGE Richard Plant (Morgan +8) PRE-WAR CARS Chas Reynolds (Morgan Super Sports, below) BENTLEYS, TVRs AND ALLCOMERS Darren Dowling (TVR Sagaris) AMOC SPORTS CARS Eike Wellhausen (Lister Jaguar Knobbly) ALLCOMERS HANDICAP David Moorhouse (Austin Mini) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

MALLORY PARK VSCC 23 AUGUST Patrick Blakeney-Edwards bounced back from missing out on a victory at Silverstone on Saturday to bag two wins during an excellent Vintage Sports-Car Club event at Mallory Park on Sunday, the club’s only race meeting of 2020. To make it four wins in three cars in eight days, Blakeney-Edwards made full use of increasing rain in a thrilling Pre-’61 single-seater race as he exploited the sublime handling of his Frazer Nash Super Sport to overcome a strong field of more potent machinery. With rain threatening as the race started, PBE initially tagged along behind Ben Fidler (ERA AJM1) and Fred Harper (Kurtis Indy Roadster) but his prayers for more rain were soon answered in some style. While Fidler and Harper held on as best they…

THE CLASSIC CAR DRIVE IN FROM £10 Cinemas closed their doors, studios had to massively reforecast box office earnings and directors Christopher Nolan (Tenet) and Cary Joji Fukunaga (No Time to Die) watched their Hollywood blockbusters’ release dates be pushed back and back again. Like many trades, the creative arts and film industry has been blind-sided by the coronavirus pandemic. But since lockdown restrictions have gradually eased, there’s been a rise of drive-in cinemas. Book onto your preferred movie, travel over and collect a speaker to rest on your dashboard, park up in socially-distanced fashion – even order a beverage to be delivered to your car window – and settle in for a couple of hours. It’s your own private space to do as you wish. No chewing gum welded…

How Autosport began and the rise of a star 24 August 1951 On the first anniversary of Autosport magazine, founding editor Gregor Grant looked back at how the year had gone and the key characters involved. Grant pointed out the initial challenges, which had included a printers’ strike as the publication launched and a “serious paper crisis just before Christmas”. The need to strike a balance between UK club competition and international events, a challenge for all Autosport teams through seven decades, was also touched upon: “In covering the main Continental events, we have been guided by the opinions of the majority of our readers, and also by the fact that there is a very large and ever-increasing public for international motorsport. “Autosport will endeavour to cater for that interest,…

No one likes algorithms. Over the past couple of weeks they’ve been responsible for teenage misery thanks to the A-level fiasco, and outraged most motorsport enthusiasts except the most ardent fans of Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen through Formula 1’s official study into the fastest ever driver. So, here we bring you some straight… numbers. Since the early 1980s, Autosport has occasionally produced Golden Helmet winners’ tables from a season of racing in the UK and Ireland. This year we’re bringing it back, with weekly updates available on autosport.com from next week. The last time we produced the rankings, back in 2014, Legends racer Dean Brace came out on top having triumphed 23 times over the course of the season. Other winners in the 2010s include current Honda British Touring…

Although smiles weren’t clearly visible behind the face masks, there was an air of quiet optimism in the room as Autosport sat down for a socially distanced chat with Speedworks Motorsport after qualifying for the recent Donington Park British GT round. The new-for 2020 Toyota GR Supra GT4 was due to line up second for both races – the first based on the combined times of drivers Sam Smelt and James Kell, the second on Smelt’s time from the second session – having topped both practice sessions earlier in the day. On only the car’s second outing, it would score a maiden podium in a wet race one the following day and was fourth in race two, second of the cars that had started on the unfavourable wet Pirelli on…

FORMULA 1 Good news stories surrounding the Williams team have been rather hard to come by in Formula 1 over the past few years. Since slumping to the bottom of the pecking order in 2018 and enduring its ‘annus horribilis’ last season, when delays in the car build left it a long way adrift from the rest of the field, the historic outfit looked nothing like the team that once claimed five constructors’ titles in six years between 1992 and 1997. Back in May, Williams revealed it was considering a partial or even full sale of its F1 team in a bid to ease financial pressures, and that it was undergoing a strategic review to safeguard its future. The team suffered a downturn in revenues after dropping to the bottom…

FRENCH TOURING CARS A new generation of tin-top drivers will have the chance to emulate the likes of Frank Biela, Laurent Aiello and Jean-Louis Schlesser. They all won the French Touring Car Championship, which is being revived for next year after an absence of 15 seasons. The Stephane Ratel Organisation is relaunching the series, which ran from 1974 to 2005, on the French Circuit Championship package that includes the Formula 4, Porsche Carrera Cup and GT4 categories. It will borrow its rules and format from SRO’s TC America series by allowing one-make racers to go up against each other across two classes. “There was a spare slot on our package and we looked at doing something with touring cars,” said Ratel. “We decided that TCR was not the right category…

BTCC Vauxhall team Power Maxed Racing returned to the British Touring Car Championship last weekend at Oulton Park, with Mike Bushell at the wheel of the squad’s Astra. PMR and lead driver Jason Plato took a sabbatical for 2020, but it is understood that the team needed to return to the grid in order to conserve its TOCA BTCC Licences for 2021. Bushell (below) was nominated for Oulton and this weekend’s Knockhill round, and will move into a race-engineering role from the following event at Thruxton, where another driver will race. Bushell made his name as a BTCC engineer in 2019, when he worked with Rory Butcher with the AmD squad’s Honda Civic Type R. “It was a bit last-minute,” said Bushell. “I got a text from Adam [Weaver, team…

As we head into the final weekend of August, in any other year preparations would be under way for society’s traditional end-of-summer festivities and Formula 1 fans would be looking forward to the Belgian and Italian grands prix. Well, despite all that has been upturned and rerouted by the accursed COVID-19 pandemic, the last two events are going ahead on their scheduled dates. But there will inevitably be differences in 2020. They will run behind closed doors in line with the FIA’s strict COVID-secure protocols that have been enacted so far. And the two events at Spa and Monza will not be the return to action after F1’s mid-season summer break, but the end of a long slog of nine races in 11 weekends, with the inaugural Tuscan GP at…

“It’s just getting [to be] a joke at the moment. I’ve never been so inconsistent in my life. You look at the lap charts and you’d think I’m a bloody rookie or whatever. I felt like I was driving very similar lap after lap and it was like a yo-yo. I felt like an idiot. We need to seriously pull our fingers out.” THE MOST REMARKABLE thing about George Russell’s stark words to Williams during a debrief at the 2019 British Grand Prix – immortalised in the ninth episode of the second series of Netflix’s Drive to Survive – is that, in Formula 1 terms at least, he was a rookie. The 2018 Formula 2 champion was just 10 races into his F1 career when that scene took place. After…

SUPER GT SUZUKA (JPN) 23 AUGUST ROUND 3/8 Nissan made it three different winning marques in the first three rounds of the Super GT season in a pulsating race at Suzuka. Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda took their NISMO GT-R to a first victory in two years to kickstart their title challenge, with Quintarelli laying the foundations for the win in a chaotic opening stint that featured two safety car periods. Starting second to the Nakajima Honda of Takuya Izawa, Quintarelli dropped to third behind Yuji Tachikawa’s Cerumo Toyota after the first restart but rebounded by passing Tachikawa and then a fading Izawa to snatch the lead. After the second caution bunched up the field, Quintarelli pitted to hand over to Matsuda with the lead intact, while the Kunimitsu Honda…

WORLD RALLYCROSS HOLJES (SWE) Race 1 Johan Kristoffersson Kristoffersson Motorsport (Volkswagen Polo) Race 2 Mattias Ekstrom KYB Team JC (Audi S1) FORMULA REGIONAL EUROPEAN PAUL RICARD (FRA) Races 1 & 3 Arthur Leclerc (below) Prema Powerteam Race 2 Gianluca Petecof Prema Powerteam EUROFORMULA OPEN PAUL RICARD (FRA) Race 1 Lukas Dunner CryptoTower (Dallara-Spiess) Race 2 Yifei Ye CryptoTower (Dallara-Spiess) INTERNATIONAL GT OPEN PAUL RICARD (FRA) Race 1 Salih Yoluc/Charlie Eastwood TF Sport (Aston Martin Vantage GT3) Race 2 Louis Prette Jr/Vincent Abril AF Corse (Ferrari 488 GT3) BRAZILIAN STOCK CARS INTERLAGOS (BRA) Race 1 Nelson Piquet Jr Full Time Bassani (Toyota Corolla) Race 2 Ricardo Zonta RCM Motorsport (Toyota Corolla) POWERED BY For full results visit motorsportstats.com…

A decade ago Darren Turner was a two-time Le Mans 24 Hours class winner and a factory Aston Martin driver with gigs in GT racing and LMP1. Life was pretty good, but Turner wasn’t to know that his racing career would continue so strongly through the 2010s (and yield another success in the French endurance classic) and saw an opportunity. The 1996 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner had played a key part in developing McLaren’s Formula 1 simulator and decided to turn that knowledge to good use by starting a business. “I was lucky enough to be at McLaren when they started the simulator programme in 1998-99,” recalls Turner, now 46. “I’d been doing some aero testing off the back of winning the Award and the F1 test I got…

BRITISH GT Steller Motorsport will debut its Audi R8 LMS GT3 in British GT at Brands Hatch this weekend, with Richard Williams and Sennan Fielding reprising their partnership from last year. The pair will be entered in the Silver Cup class in the bigger brother of the R8 GT4 with which they won races at Snetterton and Donington Park last season. “We were fortunate to have the support of Audi Sport last year and the relationship has continued this year,” Williams told Autosport. “They are very professional and always available to help, so we expect the car to be on the pace, it’s just whether Sennan and I can be on the pace as well!” Williams added the team will assess its participation in future rounds depending on how Brands…

EATON’S NEW COACHING ROLE Abbie Eaton, who made her Mazda MX-5 Supercup comeback last weekend, has taken on a new role at Team BRIT. She will be helping to coach former army medic Nerys Pearce, the first female driver to join the organisation that aims to offer disabled people opportunities in motorsport. Pearce was left paralysed from the chest down after a bike crash. “I was introduced to the team and to Nerys by a fellow coach and I instantly thought what a fantastic opportunity this is to work with someone so incredible,” said Eaton. KELLY JERSEY RAISES FUNDS A commemorative jersey has raised more than €20,000 for the Manus Kelly Memorial Trust. Kelly was fatally injured while competing on last year’s Donegal International Rally – an event he won…

Just 88 miles separate the Anglesey and Oulton Park circuits. And yet the distance between the two in terms of the motorsport activity held at each venue in 2020 is far, far greater. While Oulton Park has hosted five car racing meetings since motorsport restarted in the UK at the beginning of July, Anglesey has held none. While Oulton Park has featured the second highest-profile UK race series in British GT, watched by a limited but far from insignificant crowd, Anglesey has just held a handful of track and test days behind closed doors. Such contrasts have been a theme of the coronavirus pandemic. While some administrations around the world have adopted a cavalier attitude to COVID-19, others have been ultra-cautious. While some have been incredibly efficient and organised, others…

GINETTA GT4 SUPERCUP One hundred was a popular landmark at Oulton Park in the Ginetta GT4 Supercup. Series veteran Colin White took his 100th podium. Century Motorsport scored its 100th overall podium in the category. But the number that mattered most was 21 as Gus Burton took the championship lead, two wins moving him 21 points clear. The Century driver overcame polesitter Will Burns at the start of the opener and was untroubled after that as it was another Burton/Burns/Tom Hibbert podium lockout – a track limits penalty for Hibbert not enough to deny him third. Burton was again unstoppable in race two, although his task was made easier by Hibbert sending Burns onto the Old Hall grass as they ran side-by-side off the line. Hibbert dropped to fourth while…

BRITISH FORMULA 4 First it was Jamie Caroline. Then it was Zane Maloney. And now Luke Browning can add his name to the very short list of British Formula 4 drivers to have won all three races in a weekend. Considering the partially reversed-grid middle race makes perfection so hard to achieve, it was a special performance. Both of the other two drivers to have completed the hat-trick went on to become champion and Browning’s has propelled him to the top of the standings. Each of his three Oulton Park triumphs relied upon a different key skill and, if he continues to display these for the rest of the season, he will be very tough to beat. Race one: a fast start. the Fortec man’s getaways are often good and…

BRANDS HATCH MSVR MASTERS HISTORIC 22-23 AUGUST Brands Hatch once more reverberated with the minor-key roars of Lolas and Chevrons as Masters Historic Sports Cars visited last weekend. Historic racing debutant Alex Brundle and Gary Pearson were the victors in Pearson’s Lola T70, having quickly overcome polesitter Jonathan Mitchell’s Chevron B19, despite his rapid initial getaway. The leaders were never seriously challenged thereafter, although Mitchell set a string of fast laps towards the end. The race’s main drama instead revolved around Gary Culver’s T70. He had leapfrogged from fifth to third on the first lap but was judged to have jumped the start. He received a penalty, which he took too late and was therefore disqualified. Rob Fenn took the win in Pre-’66 Touring Cars after a fraught last lap.…

DONINGTON PARK BARC 22-23 AUGUST The British Truck Racing Championship was the headline act at Donington Park last weekend as its season finally got under way – but, with the likes of the Mazda MX-5s and Legends also on the bill, the heavyweights weren’t guaranteed the spotlight. Sure enough, some of the best racing was provided by the Legends, and there were three different winners across the six heats. While Connor Mills proved most impressive, taking a hat-trick of wins, Daniel Clark’s maiden victory came after a 13-year break from the series. Before that hiatus, he had competed in the Scottish Legends for two years and nationally for a further year. “It’s been a long time coming,” said Clark, who prevailed after a race-long battle with Sy Harraway and multiple…

INTERNATIONAL MOTORSPORT Belgian Grand Prix Formula 1 World Championship Round 7/17 Spa, Belgium 30 August TV Live Sky Sports F1, Sun 1405 TV Highlights Channel 4, Sun 1830, Sky Sports F1, Sun 2300 FIA Formula 2 Round 7/12 Spa, Belgium 29-30 August TV Live Sky Sports F1, Sat 1535, Sun 1000 FIA Formula 3 Round 7/9 Spa, Belgium 29-30 August TV Live Sky Sports F1, Sat 0920, Sun 0835 Porsche Supercup Round 7/8 Spa, Belgium 30 August TV Live Eurosport 1, Sun 1115, Sky Sports F1, Sun 1120 IndyCar Round 6 Gateway, USA 29-30 August TV Live Sky Sports F1, Sat 2000, Sun 2000 Super Formula Round 1/7 Motegi, Japan 30 August Livestream on Motorsport.tv, Sun 0600 European Le Mans Series Round 3/5 Paul Ricard, France 29 August Livestream on…

Two of the greatest appeals of national motorsport are the unique – and sometimes bonkers – cars you can find competing, and the brilliant characters that race or prepare them. Over the past couple of weeks we have run several stories in the news pages of Autosport about stunning cars making their national racing debuts – whether it’s a recreation of a Tyrrell six-wheeler Formula 1 car, a new version of a Le Mans class-winning design, the spectacular-looking Ford RS200 Special Saloon or an ex-hillclimbing Modsports Turner. In this month’s national racing supplement we bring you a feature that combines a one-of-a-kind car and a great group of people. The Marshall & Fraser team first began competing 60 years ago and yet the team is still together and preparing its…

CHASSIS AND BODYWORK One of the areas where car builders have more freedom is with the chassis and bodywork. There are relatively few regulations here and that allows people to construct their own cars, such as points leader – and GAC-powered driver – James Harridge’s Maverick (pictured). Many chassis are converted from Formula Ford specification to fit the standard Beetle parts. And these can be made from aluminium, carbonfibre or fibreglass. “The only major stipulation is that the bodywork has to cover the engine crankcase,” says Woodward. GEARBOX AND SUSPENSION Alongside the engine, other areas with standard VW Beetle parts are the gearbox and suspension. There is a wealth of unmodified components that must be used, including hubs, front axle beam and rear halfshafts. The standard four-speed synchromesh Type 1 VW gearbox…

Reliant of Tamworth’s 850cc Kitten was a utilitarian niche-market four-wheeler with no pretension to performance beyond economy. The sensational track-burning namesake with which renowned Aylesbury motor engineers Marshall & Fraser dominated one-litre Special Saloon events through the 1980s was a significantly less frugal feline, which borrowed nothing from the original Ogle design but its glass-reinforced plastic profile. Now, after almost 30 years in hibernation, the team that evolved the multiple championship-winning legend – and has more than 100 race wins on its CV – has awoken the Kitten and sharpened its claws for a racing return. Not just to evoke memories of glory days past but also, one suspects, to enhance its impressive pedigree. To begin to understand the world’s fastest Kitten, we need to go back to its roots…

Long before becoming a successful tin-top racer, Jason Plato enjoyed a strong karting career. But his first campaign in car racing was not quite so impressive. He initially struggled with the Cuda Motorsport team in Formula Renault UK in 1990 but a mid-season switch to Manor Motorsport yielded an upturn in performance. He won the finale at Donington Park, before he enjoyed European success the following year. Here he threads his Van Diemen RF90 around Snetterton, in a race that was won by 1990 champion Tommy Erdos. For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

FORMULA 1 Formula 1 has announced that all 10 of its teams have signed the new Concorde Agreement, committing them to the series from 2021 to 2025. An early-sign deadline of 18 August was set for teams to put pen to paper on the new terms, which focus on a more equitable distribution of prize money and a revised governance structure. Despite concerns being aired by some, including Mercedes, over where negotiations stood, most teams confirmed across the Spanish Grand Prix weekend that they were close to being in a position to sign the new deal. This was followed by formal confirmation from Ferrari, McLaren and Williams last week that they had agreed to the new Concorde Agreement, confirming their places for next year. “The FIA and Formula 1 can…

A new entrant has thrown its hat into the GT2 ring alongside Porsche and Audi with a Lotus-based racer. Austrian tuning specialist JUBU Performance has launched the JP Zero ahead of a stand-alone series for GT2 machinery run by the Stephane Ratel Organisation in 2021. “We took the great chassis from the Exige and built an entirely new car around it,” said JUBU founder Martin Jung. “Almost everything, from the suspension to the steering wheel, is completely new.” The Zero is powered by a twin-turbo version of the Exige’s Toyota V6, pushing out 610bhp. The first example has been testing since March and deliveries for a car that retails at £225,000 plus taxes are due to begin early next year. The JUBU joins the Porsche GT2 RS Clubsport, the Audi…

It’s been an odd year for Ben Barnicoat. The 23-year-old factory McLaren GT driver should have already made his debut in the Le Mans 24 Hours with Carlin, and carried on the momentum from a strong showing in the Bathurst 12 Hour – placing second in a 59Racing McLaren – in the remainder of the Intercontinental GT Challenge. Until coronavirus hit, he was also due to race in the European Le Mans Series (again with Carlin) and the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup for 2 Seas Motorsport. But post-COVID, all of Barnicoat’s regular programmes fell through, and Le Mans is still hanging in the balance with less than a month until the rescheduled race. But it’s not all been doom and gloom, for Carlin handed Barnicoat an unexpected open-wheel…

Where George Russell was a Williams rookie in 2019, this year the team is working with Nicholas Latifi as the Canadian makes his Formula 1 bow. That’s a pretty difficult task in normal circumstances, which are sadly lacking in 2020. After enduring the pandemic delaying his F1 dream becoming a reality, Latifi finished last of those still running in the season opener. But his P11 finish remains Williams’s best result of the year and he has made decent progress in the subsequent events. An FP3 crash at the Austrian Grand Prix looked like a classic rookie mistake, and he made another with his Q1 spin ahead of the British GP, but Latifi hasn’t always been outclassed by his team-mate. He will need to avoid a repeat of the timid start…

Without 2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi’s presence, the Andretti Autosport team would have been fairly anonymous last Sunday, despite its impressive pace in qualifying the previous weekend. Marco Andretti had too much drag to remain up front but not enough grip to deal with turbulent air once he’d sunk down the order. Ryan Hunter-Reay was fast enough but hit trouble on pitroad and only his aggressive driving salvaged a 10th place. Colton Herta was not fast enough to lead but just focused on being as strong as his car would allow and was rewarded with eighth. Zach Veach led 14 laps while running off-strategy but in truth was not a factor. James Hinchcliffe was a fine seventh after a couple of strong late restarts but this should have been…

DTM LAUSITZRING (DEU) 22-23 AUGUST ROUND 3/9 After Audi crushed its competition in the season-opener at Spa earlier this month, it had been suggested that the marque could secure a clean sweep of victories in its final year in the DTM. So, when Lucas Auer led a 1-2 finish for BMW just three weeks later at the Lausitzring, many were left baffled. The key to BMW’s first win of the season was an inspired decision to call both Auer and Timo Glock into the pits early, the two drivers completing their mandatory stop just one third into the race on lap 10. With the advantage of fresher tyres, Auer and Glock were lapping nearly two seconds quicker than the leading Audi trio of Robin Frijns, Rene Rast and Nico Muller.…

AUSTRALIAN SUPERCARS HIDDEN VALLEY (AUS) 22-23 AUGUST ROUND 6/13 Scott McLaughlin is now fifth on the all-time Supercars winners list after a flawless clean sweep of the Darwin SuperSprint in his Ford Mustang. With five sets of soft compound tyres available for the weekend and the Hidden Valley circuit notorious for its low degradation, pace – not strategy – was always going to dictate the weekend. And while the Red Bull Triple Eight Holden drivers could match McLaughlin over a lap, with Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen taking a pole position each, the DJR Team Penske star was in a class of his own on race pace. In all three heats McLaughlin led into turn one and never looked back, stopping early to eradicate any risk of an undercut…

WORLD RALLYCROSS HOLJES (SWE) 22-23 AUGUST ROUND 1/7 The battle for supremacy in the opening double-header of the 2020 World Rallycross season at Holjes in Sweden was between two drivers well versed in fighting for the series title. But it wasn’t Timmy Hansen and Andreas Bakkerud, who had competed with each other for the discipline’s biggest prize last year. Instead, the returning Johan Kristoffersson and Mattias Ekstrom – both champions – claimed a victory apiece, as they endured challenging weekends. Kristoffersson twice secured pole for the finals, thanks to topping the intermediate stage of the event on both days and winning the first semi-finals. Although a downpour prior to the main event in round one meant Kristoffersson held a comfortable margin at the front of the order to score a…

MOTOGP RED BULL RING (AUT) 23 AUGUST ROUND 5/14 On 17 June 1949 on the Isle of Man, a Norton rider by the name of Harold Daniell completed the Senior TT in 3h2m19s. He had become the first ever winner of grand prix motorcycle racing’s premier class. Fast-forward 71 years, on 23 August 2020, Miguel Oliveira etched himself into the history books as the winner of the 900th MotoGP race and Portugal’s first victor. Two races at one track have become the new normal in world motorsport, with the follow-up events tending to tread the same boards as the first. MotoGP’s second outing at the Red Bull Ring for the Styrian Grand Prix didn’t quite follow this trend. Like the Austrian GP, the race was split in two. Suzuki’s Joan…

HISTORICS Tin-top legend Steve Soper emerged unscathed after a frightening accident at the Brands Hatch Historic Masters meeting last weekend, when his Ford Mustang vaulted the barriers at Stirlings. Soper, 67, was leading on the final lap of Saturday’s Pre-’66 Touring Car race in the car he shared with Henry Mann – son of long-time team boss Alan – when the throttle stuck open and the Mustang vaulted the barriers. It fortunately landed on its wheels, trapped between the barriers on the left-hand side and the trees on the right-hand side. The race was red-flagged with one minute left on the clock and the win was awarded to Rob Fenn, who had been running second in another Mustang. Soper, whose professional racing career was ended by a neck injury sustained…

HISTORICS European Le Mans Series frontrunner Alex Brundle finally made his historic racing debut at last weekend’s Brands Hatch Masters event. He made up for an aborted run in the TT Celebration at the 2019 Goodwood Revival by driving two cars with Gary Pearson – a Jaguar E-type (below) and a Lola T70 Mk3B. The duo won the Historic Sports Car race in the Lola. Brundle was particularly taken with the T70 and, despite its age, found it similar in many ways to the prototype machines he races more regularly. “This is LMP, but more than 50 years back,” he said. “It feels more familiar than I ever thought it would. “It whispers the same kind of prototype feeling. Big rear tyres, low slung, quite a big engine but low…

HISTORICS The FIA has decided to cancel all its remaining historic motorsport championships for 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic continues across Europe. The 2020 editions of the FIA Masters Historic Formula 1 and Sports Car Championships, as well as the FIA Historic Formula 3 European Cup, have all been cancelled. The F3 Cup was planned to be a one-off event at the Zandvoort Historic GP next weekend, while the other three championships all had a planned calendar of rounds over the next three months. An FIA statement said: “The direct consequences of the COVID-19 situation are affecting the historic racing community as the ever-expanding travel restrictions are preventing drivers, the majority of whom are amateurs, from travelling abroad.” While the FIA championships have been cancelled, individual events that included championship…

REVOLUTION TROPHY The Revolution Trophy class of the Sports Prototype Cup has secured a support slot at the Portuguese Grand Prix, appearing alongside Formula 1 for the event at the Algarve Circuit. The Sports Prototype Cup was launched last year and features classes for the new Revolution A-One machine, as well as for Radical SR3s and an Open division at selected events for other prototypes. It will be just the Revolutions that will appear alongside F1 on 23-24 October and a grid of up to 20 cars is possible. The support slot at the first F1 race to be held at the Portuguese venue has become available as the regular F3 and Porsche Supercup categories are due to conclude their coronavirus-affected campaigns around the end of the traditional European F1…

GINETTA GT5 CHALLENGE For the second time in three weeks, Josh Malin took two Ginetta GT5 Challenge wins at Oulton Park. But, unlike the first time around, he got to keep both of them last weekend – a penalty for contact previously denying him. It was far from simple for Malin, as he described the second contest as “probably the hardest I’ve ever worked for a podium, let alone a win”. In ever-intensifying rain, Malin kept the lead at the start but was coming under increasing pressure from Jonny Wilkinson – the beneficiary of Malin’s penalty in the earlier event. On lap seven of nine, Wilkinson dived down the inside at Old Hall but Malin was not going to give the place up with a fight, braving it around the…

MINI CHALLENGE TROPHY Oulton Park marked the third weekend of the revised British Touring Car schedule, and it also featured a third different set of Minis on the support bill. This time around it was the Mini Challenge’s second-tier Cooper class that had the opportunity to shine on the big stage. Sadly, the first race featured two safety car periods, severely limiting the green-flag action. But, when racing could take place, it was dramatic. Race leader Lydia Walmsley crossed the line with 12 seconds of the 20 minutes to spare after the second caution and that set up a one-lap showdown. Dominic Wheatley pounced on the restart, grabbing the lead out of Old Hall and he took the spoils, despite Walmsley closing significantly on the run to the line. Reversed-grid…

THRUXTON BRSCC 22-23 AUGUST Jay Shepherd and Ed Worthington celebrated Fun Cup’s first visit to Thruxton with a hard-fought victory, with less than a second in hand over Axiametrics’ Chris Dovell, Kristian Rose and Riley Phillips after four hours of racing. It all came down to a 12-minute sprint after the final safety car intervention, as Phillips led from UVio/Hofmann’s Fabio Randaccio, before Shepherd split them. With two laps to go, Shepherd’s Team 7 WASPP machine hit the front and, after taking the fastest lap of the race on the final tour, victory was secured, with Phillips a close second and Randaccio just holding off 2Rent Dominos’ Henry Dawes for third. Although triple champion Steven Dailly was never headed in the first Compact Cup bout, he had David May as…

SILVERSTONE BDC 22 AUGUST Victory from the back of the Morgan grid for Oliver Bryant was the standout result as the Bentley Drivers Club continued its glorious run of unbroken Silverstone race meetings that started in 1949. The pair of Morgan contests complemented a typical mix of races, several dedicated to the home marque. In the first Morgan counter, Bill Lancashire and Grahame Bryant set the pace in their V8s but had the impudent Will Plant harrying them as he drove the doors off his four-cylinder 4/4. Bryant chased hard but was out with three laps to run when a piece of debris punctured a rear tyre. With son former British GT ace Oliver due to take over their +8 for the second race, the Bryants had no choice but…

Sometimes a race is just about outright speed but on other occasions it tells other stories. The Gentlemen Drivers contest last Sunday morning was one of these story-filled events. The main narrative was TVR versus Cobra, as Mike Whitaker’s TVR Griffith vanquished the Shelby Daytona coupe of Julian Thomas and Calum Lockie, which started from pole and was expected to win. Whitaker also had the challenge of a young pro in a Jaguar E-type, in the form of Alex Brundle, another touted winner. But the pale-blue Griffith has proved its potency before and outran the Cobra straight away and successfully squashed a Jaguar attack later on. This is probably a disingenuous way to describe Whitaker, who is a successful driver in his own right. The Griffith has not seen much…

MALLORY PARK VINTAGE AND PRE-’61 RACING CARS Patrick Blakeney-Edwards (Frazer Nash Super Sport) FRAZER NASH/GN Patrick Blakeney-Edwards (Frazer Nash Super Sport) PRE-WAR SPORTS Simon Blakeney-Edwards (Frazer Nash Super Sport) ALLCOMERS SCRATCH Race 1 Mike James (Riley 12/4 TT Sprite) Race 2 Ian Baxter (Alta 61 IS) FRONT-ENGINED FORMULA JUNIOR Jonathon Hughes (Terrier Mk4) MG v AUSTIN 7 Charles Goddard (MG PA/PB) ALLCOMERS HANDICAP Race 1 Archie Waterfield (Austin 7) Race 2 James Edward (Morgan Super Aero) For full results visit: theresultslive.co.uk DONINGTON PARK LEGENDS Race 1 Daniel Clark Races 2 & 5 Will Gibson Races 3, 4 & 6 Connor Mills MX-5 CHAMPIONSHIP Race 1 Will Blackwell-Chambers Races 2 & 3 Joe Wiggin (below) MX-5 SUPERCUP Races 1 & 2 Luke Herbert Race 3 Jack Harding MAX5 Race 1 Andrew…

Jacky Ickx (Ferrari 312B) leads at the start of lap seven of the 1970 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, while behind him Jochen Rindt (Lotus-Ford 72) dives down the inside of Jack Brabham (Brabham-Ford BT33) on the entry to Paddock Hill Bend. Ickx remained in front for mere fractions of a second after this photograph was taken, as his gearbox was in the process of failing as the shutter button was being pressed. Brabham harried Rindt for much of the race, nipping by on lap 69 of 80, but ran out of fuel on the run to the finish line, allowing the Austrian to steal the win. For classic 1970s Formula 1 DVDs head to dukevideo.com/F1 For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

Marshalling is a bit different in lots of ways since the restart of racing. I’ve done one meeting at Oulton Park and I did both of the grands prix – they were very surreal without spectators – and it felt good to be back! In terms of Oulton Park, I was at the British Racing and Sports Car Club meeting. I work with the BRSCC North Western committee so was involved in the lead-up to that meeting from an arrangement and organisation point of view so knew what to expect but also didn’t fully until we got there. We decided we would allocate locations on the day, not in advance. I think it worked really well – we had all the PPE and made sure everyone collected that. Everyone realised…

“Drive quick, don’t crash.” As advice goes, it’s not the most groundbreaking, but when an ex-Formula 1 driver tells you to do something, you sure as hell listen. Martin Donnelly is perhaps better known for the horrendous accident he suffered at Jerez in 1990 – when he was lucky to escape with his life after being thrown from his Lotus 102 – than for his undoubted ability behind the wheel, which took him to International Formula 3000 victories in the late 1980s. He’s certainly not one to shy away from a challenge, taking up the chance to race in the delayed opening round of the 116 Trophy – a series entering its sophomore year in 2020 – last month. It also happened to be in the same car that this…

500 Motor Racing Club of Ireland kirkistown.com 028 4277 1325 750 Motor Club 750mc.co.uk 01332 814548 Aston Martin Owners Club amocracing.com 01865 400400 Bentley Drivers Club bdcl.org 01295 738886 British Automobile Racing Club barc.net 01264 882200 British Racing & Sports Car Club brscc.co.uk 01732 780100 Castle Combe Racing Club ccracingclub.co.uk 01249 784160 Classic & Modern Motorsport Club cmmotorsportclub.com 01225 777606 Classic Sports Car Club classicsportscarclub.co.uk 01225 810655 Darlington & District Motor Club darlingtondmc.com 01429 869407 Equipe Classic Racing equipeclassicracing.com 01279 883292 Fifties Sports Car Racing Club fiscar.org Formula Junior Historic Racing Association formulajunior.com 07871 046031 Goodwood Road Racing Club goodwood.com/grr 01243 755057 Historic Racing Drivers Club hrdc.eu Historic Sports Car Club hscc.org.uk 01327 858400 Lydden Hill Motorsport Club lyddenhill.co.uk 01304 830557 Masters Historic Racing mastershistoricracing.com 01234 713800 MG Car Club…