Innehållsförteckning för 10/09/20 från Autosport

Genuine shocks are rare in modern Formula 1. The cars and teams are normally too reliable for all the usual frontrunners to hit trouble, which is one reason why Pierre Gasly’s Italian Grand Prix victory has been so warmly received. Unpredictability can still happen. As Alex Kalinauckas points out in our report on page 18, Gasly’s victory wasn’t just about luck. Yes, it took a blunder from Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes and fortuitous safety car timing, but Gasly still had to make the most of his opportunity. He didn’t crack as a very motivated and feisty Carlos Sainz Jr closed him down, no mean achievement given what he’s been through over the past year (p13). Gasly’s win represented several milestones. It was the first by a French driver since Olivier…

FORMULA 1 The saga surrounding Racing Point’s Formula 1 brake ducts has come to an end after the final teams protesting the FIA’s ruling withdrew their appeals. Racing Point was hit with a 15-point Formula 1 constructors’ championship penalty and a €400,000 fine after it was judged to have used an illegal design process for its 2020 rear brake ducts. The team maintained its innocence throughout the case, claiming it had not illegally used information from Mercedes on its 2019 brake ducts, which its 2020 part was judged to have been a copy of. Racing Point began the process to appeal the ruling through the FIA’s International Court of Appeal in a bid to get the rules clarified and have its penalty overturned. It was joined in the appeal process…

BTCC SEAT’s Cupra sub-marque will take its bow in the British Touring Car Championship next season thanks to a new project being started by series fan favourite Team Hard. The Kent squad has also recruited seven-time BTCC race winner Tom Onslow-Cole for the next three rounds to drive one of its ageing Volkswagen CC warhorses, which will make way for the Cupra Leon for the 2021 season. Hard’s private Cupra project came as the result of studies during the coronavirus pandemic into which model could carry the team forward and replace the VW, which first appeared in 2013. That year it netted three podium finishes with Onslow-Cole at the controls before he ventured into a career in international GT racing. “We have done a lot of research and we believe…

F1 TUSCAN GRAND PRIX PREVIEW UK START TIMES Friday 11 September FP1 1000 FP2 1400 Saturday 12 September FP3 1100 QUALIFYING 1400 Sunday 13 September RACE 1410 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 HIGHLIGHTS CHANNEL 4 1830 TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVERS 1 Hamilton 164 2 Bottas 117 3 Verstappen 110 4 Stroll 57 5 Norris 57 CONSTRUCTORS 1 Mercedes 281 2 Red Bull 158 3 McLaren 98 4 Racing Point 82 5 Renault 71 RACE STATS…

Lewis Hamilton’s 164.3mph lap to take pole position at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix was the latest example of Formula 1’s internal battle: the competitors’ search for speed and the rulemakers’ attempts at keeping them in check. To be fair to F1, the 2017 regulations were unusual in that they were designed to create faster cars, following criticism of the 2014-16 machines. They are now the fastest F1 cars ever, as shown by the various lap records that have fallen since then. But more common is for the rules to change in order to keep speeds down, usually by reducing power or, in the case of both the interim 2021 regulations and full-fat 2022 changes, by cutting downforce. Which means Hamilton’s pole record at Monza will probably stand for a…

Lewis Hamilton has already made a lot of history and he’s got some massive milestones coming up. But in qualifying at Monza last weekend, he took another accolade – he has now set Formula 1’s fastest ever pole lap. Kimi Raikkonen had held that record for two years, since he broke Juan Pablo Montoya’s long-standing average Monza speed of 162.9mph from 2004 in taking pole for Ferrari in 2018 at 163.8mph. Ferrari could not repeat that feat last year, when the farcical scenes at the end of Q3 meant Charles Leclerc’s pole lap came in at 163.4mph – with surely at least a few tenths left unclaimed as the drivers, bar McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr, missed a second chance to improve. In 2020, thanks to Mercedes, the only Parabolica traffic…

The 2020 Italian Grand Prix contained several big slices of good fortune for several drivers, including the race winner, but the main one was handed to them by Mercedes. Both Lewis Hamilton and his team missed the warning signs that the pitlane was closed while Kevin Magnussen’s Haas was recovered, costing Formula 1’s dominant squad another victory. The pitlane had been closed because the gap in the barriers close to where Magnussen pulled off was not wide enough to push the car through, as evidenced by the orange marking designating it as a marshal post and not a track exit. So the FIA had no choice but to tell the marshals to push it to the pitlane and close this area of the circuit. Since the 2016 Brazilian GP –…

Red Bull had not enjoyed a particularly good qualifying, where Max Verstappen missed making the first two rows and Alex Albon barely got into Q3. And any hopes of a better race faded on lap one, as Verstappen lost two spots at the start and Albon was embroiled in a first-corner tangle with Pierre Gasly, picking up damage and haemorrhaging track positions. A lap later, Albon was involved in a scuffle with Haas’s Romain Grosjean, earning a five-second penalty for squeezing the French driver off the road. Verstappen briefly lost another place to Lance Stroll, although repaid the favour a lap later to get onto Valtteri Bottas’s tail, but the red flag mid-race shuffled the duo well down the order. Verstappen took the restart in 14th, with Albon 17th and…

As the dust settled on Rally Estonia, the fourth round of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship, reigning champion Ott Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja received a rapturous reception after claiming their 13th WRC career victory and their first for Hyundai in front of an adoring, impassioned crowd of fellow countrymen and women. The scenes were also joyous for rally fans around the world who had been starved of their sport for almost six months and were treated to an event worth savouring. The local heroes put on a masterful display, while Rally Estonia felt as though it had been on the calendar for years. Pieced together in just two months from a standing start, the fact that Rally Estonia happened at all is testament to the collaborative skills of…

FIA FORMULA 3 MONZA (ITA) 5-6 SEPTEMBER ROUND 8/9 The penultimate round of the FIA Formula 3 season at Monza was a rollercoaster of thrilling racing and high drama that had major ramifications for the destination of the drivers’ crown as Oscar Piastri replaced Logan Sargeant at the top of the table. The first twist came several hours after qualifying, with nine drivers penalised for impeding another’s qualifying lap – although that was an improvement on the 17 penalised at the circuit last year. Among them was Piastri, who picked up a three-place grid penalty that dropped him to 15th. His Prema team-mate and points leader Sargeant started 10 places in front in fifth. But Sargeant was gradually shuffled back towards Piastri, and by the start of lap five was…

IMSA SPORTSCAR ROAD ATLANTA (USA) 5 SEPTEMBER ROUND 6/11 Despite the most unpromising of beginnings for the Acura Team Penske squad, Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor nailed the team’s second consecutive win of the IMSA SportsCar Championship at Road Atlanta last Saturday. Castroneves beat the Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R to pole, and made the best start. But when team-mate Dane Cameron tried to follow Castroneves through, he was squeezed onto the inside kerb by Felipe Nasr, half-spun, recovered and remarkably didn’t get nailed by the Prototype and GT hordes. However, a collision between the JDC Miller Cadillac of Matheus Leist and an LMP2 car put the field under caution, and Nasr would soon be penalised for the startline incident. Another caution around the 25-minute mark was caused by Harry…

NASCAR CUP DARLINGTON (USA) 6 SEPTEMBER ROUND 27/36 Prior to last weekend, Martin Truex Jr had won the opening playoff round in three of the past four NASCAR Cup seasons. For much of the Darlington race, it looked as if he would indeed make it four from five until a tyre gave up the ghost. That promoted a star of 2020 to the top of the order. Kevin Harvick picked up his eighth win of the season in his Stewart-Haas Ford after Truex suffered a puncture while battling Chase Elliott. Until this point, Joe Gibbs pilot Truex had led most of the race, while an alternate strategy took Elliott back to the top for stage three after an anonymous second leg. The pair were battling for position when both made…

The end of Carlos Sainz Jr’s time at McLaren will also represent the conclusion of one of the most entertaining and friendliest team-mate partnerships in Formula 1 history. Matching Renault exile Sainz with Formula 2 runner-up Lando Norris for 2019 marked a fresh start for McLaren, free of ego and the pressure that a big name in a team often brings. It paid huge dividends. The atmosphere at Woking has been nothing but positive for the past 18 months, itself aided by McLaren’s improved fortunes on-track, but also contributing to that success. A lot of that has been down to the relationship between Sainz and Norris. They have acted more like brothers in a comedy double act than F1 drivers at times, engaging in all kinds of banter and high…

News that the 2020 Geneva motor show had been cancelled amid the coronavirus outbreak (as it was back in February) broke minutes before three Formula E team principals sat down for their press conference on the eve of the Marrakech E-Prix. The subdued media session went ahead with an unspoken acceptance that motorsport was about to be put on ice, but not before Antonio Felix da Costa claimed his first win of the campaign in Morocco. The supreme 11.4s triumph boosted him to the top of the standings, with no clear sign of when or even if the season would resume. Naturally, the Portuguese didn’t want his maiden FE crown to come on those diminished terms after only five races, telling Autosport: “If the championship is over now, I wouldn’t…

HISTORICS Historic racing has been dealt another blow with the news that the Spa Classic Six Hours race weekend has been cancelled due to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic. The Belgian Roadbook Organisation confirmed that both the Classic Six-Hour on 25-27 September and its Hat-Trick event on 10-11 October have been cancelled, as quarantine restrictions continue to be put in place across Europe. The Classic Six-Hour is one of the most significant dates on the European historic racing calendar, attracting more than 100 cars for the six-hour race alone and several hundred UK competitors. The line-up was due to include grids from Masters Historic Racing and Motor Racing Legends, while the Hat-Trick event was set to feature the final Historic Formula 2 races of the season. “The disappointment is huge for…

GT CUP British Touring Car Championship racer Tom Ingram will contest this weekend’s GT Cup round at Donington Park in a Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Supra GT4 alongside seasoned GT racer Ron Johnson. Speedworks boss Christian Dick explained that Johnson, who has previously raced with the team in the Ginetta G50 Cup and British GT in a Chevrolet Corvette GT3 in 2011-12, had been “down to potentially race a second Supra for selected British GT rounds this year” until those plans were shelved by the coronavirus pandemic. The new-for-2020 car has managed a best finish of third in GT4 so far this season, also at Donington, with drivers Sam Smelt and James Kell. “Ron has done plenty with us over the years and this is a way for him to get…

Nobody wanted the 28th running of the Spa Six Hours to be postponed for a year, but Roadbook’s decision to cancel the 2020 event – scheduled for 26 September, preceded by two days of testing – was inevitable. I could almost hear the groans echoing around Europe when crestfallen promoter Vincent Collard announced the decision last Friday and his customers digested hard facts. The world’s greatest endurance race for Pre-1965 cars had fallen. The question that faced Collard and his loyal band in Liege was that of international travel logistics as the latest chapters of the coronavirus pandemic unravelled. Was Belgium on the list of countries from which returnees to the United Kingdom (or indeed nearby nations not separated by a swathe of sea) would have to quarantine or self-isolate…

ANGLESEY 750MC 6 SEPTEMBER Sports 1000 title rivals Richard Morris and Ryan Yarrow took a win each at Anglesey to set up a fascinating decider at Snetterton, but Yarrow has little room for manoeuvre after suffering a non-finish in race one. Morris knew that getting ahead of poleman Yarrow – who has found considerable pace since 2019 – would be vital, but instead the Spire GT320S driver slipped back to fourth position. He passed the Mittell MC-53 of Michael Roots at the Banking on lap five of 17, and eventually put a move on the similar car of Danny Andrew seven laps later only for the vanquished machine to immediately expire. Moments later Yarrow’s hopes went up in smoke due a pushrod failure in his Spire GT3S, with a grateful…

Autosport marks the loss of a Formula 1 great 10 September 1970 ‘Rindt’s death overshadows Ferrari Monza’. Fifty years ago today (10 September), Autosport reported the loss of Lotus star Jochen Rindt at the Italian Grand Prix. Thanks to five victories, Rindt had arrived in Italy with a 20-point lead in the standings, at a time when a victory yielded nine. With just four rounds to go, he was the clear title favourite. But during practice, he crashed under braking for Parabolica. The exact causes of the accident are still debated, but the Lotus 72 veered sharp left and hit the barriers, the nose going under the guard rail. Rindt disliked crutch straps and did not have them done up. The force of the impact forced him under the seat…

FORMULA 1 The Williams family bowed out of Formula 1 after last Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix as team founder Sir Frank Williams and his daughter Claire stepped down from their roles at the squad. The Williams team was rescued from the financial uncertainty it faced when it announced ahead of last month’s Belgian Grand Prix that it had been bought by American investment fund Dorilton Capital. Deputy team principal Claire Williams said at the time that her role remain unchanged in the short term, but confirmed on the Thursday ahead of the Monza event that she would be stepping down after the weekend. Team principal Sir Frank Williams also ended his association with the organisation he formed back in 1977. “With the future of the team now secured, this feels…

GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE Brands Hatch is back on the GT World Challenge Europe calendar for 2021, but it remains unclear whether it will be joined by Silverstone as part of the now-traditional British double-header in May. The Brands Sprint Cup event (below) and the Silverstone round of the Endurance Cup were casualties of the coronavirus pandemic this year. Brands has been reinstalled on the calendar with a 2 May date next season, while Silverstone could fill a TBA the following week. Series boss Stephane Ratel explained that Silverstone is one of two options for the second race in May on the 10-date GTWCE schedule. “We need a bit more time to make a decision on which is the best for us,” he said. He explained that he needed greater…

BTCC Former Renault Clio Cup UK contender Jade Edwards is to make her British Touring Car Championship debut with a one-off outing at Silverstone this month. The 29-year-old will race for the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra team in the seat occupied by Mike Bushell in the most recent two rounds at Oulton Park and Knockhill, and has described the outing as “living my childhood dream for one weekend”. Edwards (right) is the daughter of Jim Edwards Jr, a class winner in the BTCC’s Production class in 2001 at the wheel of a Honda. Before Edwards’s turn at Silverstone on 27 September, Autosport understands that Bushell will likely race the Astra at Thruxton next week. He sustained a dislocated shoulder and damage to ligaments in a wrist in a hefty…

EXTREME E Lewis Hamilton has adopted a plant-based diet and reduced personal travel significantly to offset his carbon footprint. He’s now taken a wider-reaching step, by founding his own X44 team to compete in the inaugural Extreme E season. This marks Hamilton’s first role in team ownership and represents a major coup for the all-electric off-road SUV racing championship, founded and led by Alejandro Agag. The squad’s name references the #44 race number the Mercedes grand prix driver has carried in Formula 1 since 2014. An initial livery render suggests the purple design Hamilton introduced to his crash helmet for the 2020 season will be carried over. Six-time F1 champion Hamilton will not race for his own team, with X44’s driver pairing – one female and one male, as mandated…

Feel-good story of first-time win How good it is to see a new driver on the top step of the podium, especially one who has shown he has the talent to be there. It may have taken three years or so to get there, but Robin Frijns (right) has long-deserved his maiden DTM win and I am certain it’s the first of many, now he has broken his duck (see World of Sport, page 47). If fate (and £££) had dealt him a different hand over the years, I’m sure we would be seeing him pushing another weekend first-time winner, Pierre Gasly, in Formula 1. He’s one of those who have ‘got away’ from the top table, sadly. Gav StoneNorfolk Human side of Formula 1 Congratulations to Pierre Gasly (who…

The red flag that further shook up the Italian Grand Prix was sparked by a huge accident for Charles Leclerc, which brought Ferrari’s home race to an early end. Leclerc crashed at high speed on the exit of Parabolica on lap 24, losing the rear of his car mid-corner and ploughing into the barrier. He swiftly reported that he was unharmed and managed to get out of his car unassisted. He was required to have a check-up due to the severity of the crash, but was soon released from the medical centre. Sebastian Vettel (below) had retired from the race after just six laps due to a brake failure that left him going straight on at the Rettifilo chicane before crawling back to the pits.…

Mads Ostberg returned to action in WRC2 at the wheel of his semi-works Citroen C3 R5 after sitting out Rally Mexico in the comfort of the commentary booth, having notched up two wins from two starts in Monte Carlo and Sweden. He won the class on an event where he took outright victory in 2011 and 2012, but it was a tougher task than it should have been. Ostberg made the early running, but lost half a minute to a disintegrating tyre. Fellow Norwegian Ole Christian Veiby then went out after damaging his Hyundai’s engine on one of the jumps and then suffering a double puncture, while Nikolay Gryazin was delayed by several spins in his Hyundai. All this drama handed the initiative to the sponsorless Skoda of Pontus Tidemand,…

GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE ENDURANCE CUP NURBURGRING (DEU) 6 SEPTEMBER ROUND 2/4 Nothing, it seemed, could stop the Dinamic Motorsport trio of Christian Engelhart, Matteo Cairoli and Sven Muller from taking a dominant GT World Challenge Europe victory at the Nurburgring. Four full-course-yellow periods as well as an extra trip through the pitlane to ensure their driving stints met the required limit failed to stop the Porsche juggernaut. If there was a racing equivalent of a stroll in the park, this was most certainly it. Although few would readily admit it, the weekend also served as something of a precursor to next month’s Spa 24 Hours; the Nurburgring’s twisty corners and fast section, alongside the capricious climate of the Eifel region, offered a strong litmus test. It was therefore apt…

AUSTRALIAN SUPERCARS TOWNSVILLE (AUS) 5-6 SEPTEMBER ROUND 8/11 Tempers flared between powerhouse squads Triple Eight and DJR Team Penske after a tense conclusion to the second of two Townsville Australian Supercars rounds. There was little in the way of controversy on Saturday, points leader Scott McLaughlin cruising to victory ahead of Cam Waters. His chief title rival Jamie Whincup was just fourth, while Shane van Gisbergen didn’t finish courtesy of a power steering failure. Sunday was a different story. In the first of two races, van Gisbergen executed a brilliant recovery. It started with a bold move around the outside of McLaughlin into Turn 2 on the first tour. Then he overcame polesitter Nick Percat on lap seven. From there he took his first win of the season, and a…

As Carlos Sainz Jr sat in the McLaren garage following his failure to start the Belgian Grand Prix and watched the race unfold, a part of him must have been thinking ahead to 2021. He had a rare opportunity to watch a Formula 1 race in full without taking part himself, after being sidelined by a power-unit issue that caused an exhaust failure en route to the grid. But the race did not make for very pretty watching. Not from a McLaren perspective, of course. Lando Norris recovered from an off-track moment at the start to finish seventh, helping lift the team to third place in the constructors’ championship. Instead it was Sainz’s future team, Ferrari, whose display made for grim viewing. Amid an already difficult 2020, Spa marked a…

When Jean-Eric Vergne rocked up for the 2019 edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours, he was on the brink of becoming Formula E’s first double champion and guiding the DS Techeetah squad to its maiden teams’ title. But there was a looming issue: Andre Lotterer, his electric team-mate of the past two seasons, was about to move to new arrival Porsche and leave a vacancy. That led Vergne to sit down for a coffee in La Sarthe with his good friend Antonio Felix da Costa to court his services and tempt him away from BMW Andretti. The Portuguese had been associated with the German manufacturer since a 2014 debut in the DTM – his consolation prize from Helmut Marko for missing out on the Toro Rosso Formula 1 seat…

1 Took his time to adjust to the DS car after a late team switch, but once he adapted da Costa was the qualifying king (three poles) and just as effective in the races. As his nearest title rivals struggled in Berlin, da Costa was utterly supreme. The deserved champion. 2 Ignore his seventh in the points. For his part, he was almost without fault, capped by a peerless victory in Mexico. But a car software glitch (Santiago), a team qualifying strategy error (Marrakech) and stark loss of pace in Berlin stymied his genuine title credentials. 3 A lacklustre first three E-Prixs came as Nissan had to change its powertrain philosophy. But, apeing his form of last season, Buemi was ace in the final Berlin rounds. A detrimental set-up change…

GOODWOOD The record-breaking fully electric Volkswagen ID.R will appear at Goodwood SpeedWeek next month. With the coronavirus pandemic forcing the cancellation of the Goodwood Festival of Speed (FoS) and the Revival, organisers have instead launched the new event, which will be held across three days behind closed doors on 16-18 October at Goodwood Motor Circuit. The ID.R has already appeared at the past two editions of the FoS, setting a new course record at last year’s edition with a time of 39.9 seconds with Romain Dumas at the wheel. The car will now be aiming for Nick Padmore’s track lap record of 1m18.217s, which he set in 2018 driving a Lola T70 Spyder. “For decades, Goodwood has been a real attraction for motorsport enthusiasts all over the world, and we…

PORSCHES A new race series for air-cooled Porsche 911 models built before 1989 is planned to start in 2021, and had a preview at Sunday’s Brands Hatch Porsche Club event. Fourteen cars took part in unofficial practice sessions that doubled up as a photo opportunity to attract more interest. The driving force behind the idea is Chris Pruden, who has been organising events for Porsche Club Great Britain for more than 30 years and plans to have races running in time for the club’s 60th anniversary next year. Races are scheduled to run for an hour each to encourage car and cost-sharing, and there will be three classes. No points will be awarded, and the series is designed to be as cost-effective as possible. Draft regulations should be available by…

SMRC TWEAKS FORMAT The Scottish Motor Racing Club’s first round this Saturday at Knockhill will feature a tweaked format to fall in line with government guidelines on mass gatherings. In accordance with recent Scottish Government guidance for outdoor events in the wake of COVID-19, there will be an on-site attendance cap of 200 people. A maximum of 66 cars has been accepted for Saturday’s meeting. The Legends championship will form part of the Super Lap Scotland (SLS) bill which takes place on Sunday. LYDDEN WELCOMES HISTORICS The success of last May’s Historics on the Hill event at Lydden Hill, co-promoted by Julius Thurgood’s Historic Racing Drivers Club, should be built upon this Sunday when the circus returns for a meeting postponed from its July date. Three grids – Jack Sears…

SNETTERTON MGCC 5-6 SEPTEMBER The MG Car Club arrived at Snetterton for its second event of the truncated 2020 season on a high after a successful outing at Donington Park in July, and with a bumper schedule to get through the racing did not disappoint on the 300 layout. The BCV8 series raced solely on the Saturday and in race one Ollie Neaves led from start to finish, but behind him some of the drives were just as remarkable. Following mechanical issues in qualifying Neil Fowler started at the back of the grid in 26th, but after a stunning first lap found himself in fifth place, which became third by the end of lap three. Before Fowler could challenge the leaders, Ronald Watt tangled with Paul Linfield through Coram and…

BRANDS HATCH MSVR 6 SEPTEMBER Simon Clark edged clear of Mark McAleer in their duel at the top of the Porsche Club championship standings at Brands Hatch, taking a win and a second place to his rival’s second and third. McAleer qualified fastest, but Kevin Harrison had the advantage from lap one of race one, and a late safety car to rescue a beached Boxster dampened hopes of a final heroic effort by those behind. Immediately into the lead of race two, Clark resisted massive pressure from McAleer as the dominant duo moved clear of Harrison. The Porsche Sprint Challenge lost Archie Hamilton’s car after a fire during practice, as the points advantage moved from James Dorlin to Tom Jackson in race one and back to Dorlin in race two.…

FORMULA 1 Renault’s Formula 1 team will be rebranded under the Alpine name for the 2021 season. The team will race in blue, representing the colours of France and running with the national tricolore, and will retain Renault branding through its engine supply. It marks the latest iteration of the team from Enstone, which has previously raced as Lotus, Benetton and Toleman, under which it entered F1 in 1981. Alpine has a tradition in rallying and sportscars, and has most recently been present in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 class, using a chassis from ORECA for its Signatech Alpine. The move comes as part of an ongoing review of the Renault Group’s properties by new CEO Luca de Meo, who said he wanted Alpine to be in…

INTERCONTINENTAL GT CHALLENGE Bentley will defend its Intercontinental GT Challenge points lead, despite axeing its factory programme with M-Sport. Bathurst 12 Hours winners Jules Gounon, Maxime Soulet and Jordan Pepper (right and below) will share two different customer Continental GT3s in the final three races. The trio of factory drivers, who claimed the Australian series opener with M-Sport in February, will race together in a car run by the K-PAX team when the IGTC resumes with the new Indianapolis 8 Hours fixture on 4 October and again at the rescheduled Spa 24 Hours round later in the month. They will then switch to a car fielded on a customer basis by M-Sport for the series finale, the Kyalami 9 Hours on 22 November. “We had various proposals and, after a…

OBITUARY As Alfisti go, Jon Dooley who died last week, aged 74, was among the greatest. The British racer, rally driver and speed eventer’s contribution to the Alfa Romeo marque’s history is equal to that of many Italian disciples, and resulted in three times finishing third in what is now the British Touring Car Championship. Many thought his blood ran green as well as red and white. As Cambridge University Automobile Club chairman, Dooley promoted slaloms and sprints at Snetterton. His first event was very wet, won by Gerry Marshall driving a TVR Griffith in wellingtons! Jon and rollcage pioneer John Aley subsequently organised (and CUAC marshalled) the circuit’s European Touring Car Championship round. An ardent Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club member alongside father Alfred, Jon edited its magazine and competed…

He’s just completed the greatest achievement of his career so far. He’s embraced his mechanics, been congratulated by his peers, lifted the trophy and sprayed the champagne. But he won’t leave – not yet. He can’t. He doesn’t know if he will ever return to such a stage. Pierre Gasly sitting alone on the Monza podium was the defining image of the 2020 Italian Grand Prix. His win for AlphaTauri will go down as one of the most unexpected, brilliant and satisfying in Formula 1 history. And that’s not some tiresome era-comparing cliche, it’s because Gasly’s story over the past 13 months has been fascinating. Demotion, tragedy, redemption. He, and F1 fans, had a lot to ponder on Sunday night. “I didn’t want to leave, because these kind of moments……

Where the Belgian Grand Prix had been generally lifeless, the 2020 Italian GP that followed sizzled with action and emotion throughout. Where Mercedes was faultless at Spa, three errors cost it dearly at Monza. And where Pierre Gasly was a touch undone by race circumstances outside his control in the Ardennes, in Lombardy they – alongside his brilliant driving – set up a famous triumph. The opening 18 laps of the Italian race did bear an unmistakeable similarity to those of seven days before, as polesitter Lewis Hamilton initially dominated, but the rest were action-packed. There wasn’t a dull moment from the very second when Mercedes realised its error in pitting Hamilton when the pitlane was closed, which created a chaotic and brilliantly enjoyable Formula 1 spectacle. But there were…

FIA FORMULA 2 MONZA (ITA) 5-6 SEPTEMBER ROUND 8/12 Mick Schumacher propelled himself firmly into FIA Formula 2 title contention with a dominant maiden feature-race victory at Monza. Schumacher’s second F2 season had delivered six podiums but he was yet to stand on the top step prior to Italy. He’s suffered from several near-misses, losing out to the far faster alternative strategy in Hungary, and clumsily colliding with his Prema team-mate Robert Shwartzman in the second sprint race at Silverstone while they were fighting for the win. He also slid out of second in the season opener and then lost a podium a week later when debris set off the fire extinguisher in his cockpit. Monza initially appeared to be another missed opportunity when he beached his car in the…

DTM ASSEN (NLD) 5-6 SEPTEMBER ROUND 4/9 Nico Muller and Rene Rast may have been the standout performers in the opening three rounds of the DTM season, but fellow Audi driver Robin Frijns was continuously making his presence felt with a string of podium finishes in the second Abt-run car. Frijns arguably had the edge over the other two when it came to one-lap pace, taking four pole positions in six qualifying sessions, but he almost always ended up slipping behind the two in the races. Carrying the momentum of his best start to a DTM campaign, it was only a matter of time before the Dutch driver stood on the top step of the podium. He finally delivered that result in front of a limited home crowd in the…

PORSCHE SUPERCUP MONZA (ITA) 6 SEPTEMBER ROUND 8/8 Dylan Pereira arrived at Monza for the final round of the Porsche Supercup season with a small four-point cushion at the top of the standings in his quest to ensure that a Lechner Racing driver was crowned champion for the fifth year in succession. His nearest title rival Larry ten Voorde, however, had achieved two pole positions to Pereira’s one, so he couldn’t lift off the throttle too soon. But not only did ten Voorde top Italian qualifying by a whisker – 0.022s – for Team GP Elite, but Pereira would line up for the race only fourth. Ten Voorde launched well to hold the lead into the first chicane, but second-starting Florian Latorre – fresh from scoring debutant team CLRT its…

Just as it’s a surprise to see McLaren leading Ferrari in the constructors’ championship, few would have expected Lando Norris to be the team’s top points scorer through the opening eight races. Carlos Sainz Jr has been hit by a huge amount of bad luck so far this year, skewing the picture that currently shows Norris sitting on 57 points to his team-mate’s 41. But that should do nothing to discredit how Norris has impressed in his second F1 season. His ‘Scenario 7’ charge in the dying moments of the Austrian Grand Prix snagged him a maiden F1 podium, before another series of late overtakes got him fifth one week later at the Styrian GP. The 20-year-old has already eclipsed his points total from last year (49) with not even…

JAGUAR E-TYPES The 60th anniversary of the Jaguar E-type will be celebrated with a one-hour race on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit next May. Widely regarded as one of the finest sportscars ever produced, the classic 1960s design has been raced across six decades, and the Historic Sports Car Club plans to attract a big grid of E-types, in both standard and period developed trim. In April 1961 two E-types made the model’s race debut at Oulton Park in the hands of Graham Hill and Roy Salvadori, with Hill going on to win the race and begin the E-type’s motoring success story. The E-type was developed as a replacement for the XK150 and more than 70,000 examples were produced between 1961 and 1974, with Enzo Ferrari once describing it as…

RALLYING Classic rallying in the UK restarted over the weekend when the Historic Endurance Rally Organisation ran the first major event since lockdown began in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although much of special stage rallying remains halted due to rules on the number of people permitted within forests, classic rallying has successfully resumed and 94 competitors took part in the Bicester Challenge 2 event, which started and finished at the Bicester Heritage site on Saturday. Among those watching was David Richards, chairman of Motorsport UK, who visited the lunch break at Gaydon Motor Heritage Centre. “In the current environment I think the team at Motorsport UK has done an incredible job, putting lots of things in place – well ahead of other sports I hasten to add –…

BRITISH F3 F3 Cup points leader Alex Fores will make his debut in the BRDC British F3 Championship later this month when he contests the Donington Park round. The 20-year-old races with Chris Dittmann Racing in F3 Cup, and the squad also competes in British F3, taking two wins at the most recent round at Brands Hatch with Ayrton Simmons. CDR has a spare seat available for the 19-20 September Donington event, so Fores – who holds a 13-point lead in the F3 Cup standings at the wheel of an ex-Valtteri Bottas Dallara-Mercedes – will make his debut in the category. “Obviously it has always been in our minds that running with Chris [in F3 Cup] there was the potential of progressing into British F3,” said Fores. “I’ve got four…

HISTORICS Formula 1 cars raced on the remodelled Zandvoort for the first time last weekend, but it was the FIA Masters Historic three-litre cars that kicked-off a new era at the annual Historic Grand Prix event. Irishman Michael Cantillon mastered the newly banked Arie Luyendijkbocht to score a fine feature double in his CGA Motorsport Engineering-run Williams FW07C. Audi’s three-time Le Mans victor Marco Werner (Lotus 77) was Cantillon’s most consistent rival in Saturday’s opening leg, but the German couldn’t shake off Steve Brooks (Lotus 81) and Mark Hazell (Williams FW08). Jamie Constable (Shadow DN8) and Andrew Beaumont (Lotus 76) were fifth and sixth. The top four were reversed on Sunday’s grid, but within three laps Cantillon had burst through into a decisive lead. Brooks spun under braking for Tarzan…

OULTON PARK 750MC 5 SEPTEMBER The Clio 182 Championship provided plenty of excitement at Oulton Park, with Josh Larkin initially losing out in a photo-finish for victory, but then being given the win when on-the-road winner Scott Edgar was penalised. The contest came alive after leader Ryan Polley, who had won the opening race, lost drive exiting Shell Oil corner and retired. This left Simon Freeman at the head of a three-car battle for victory, but contact between him and Edgar sent Freeman across the grass and down to fifth. Edgar was just ahead of Larkin at the finish, but was demoted to fifth with a time penalty for his contact with Freeman. In the first race, polesitter Polley briefly dropped back at the start, leaving Edgar with the lead…

VIDEOGAME REVIEW WRC 9 RRP £39.99 As the World Rally Championship roared back to life in Estonia last weekend, Parisian game developer Kylotonn released WRC 9, the latest instalment in the officially licensed WRC game franchise. The game features the originally intended 13-round calendar prior to its coronavirus-induced overhaul. This means fans can experience the rallies in Japan, Kenya and New Zealand before they make their belated return to the WRC schedule. These three new additions perfectly showcase the rich and detailed environments featured in the game, with the unique real-world personality of each rally beautifully reflected in the virtual sphere. The debut of an improved handling model allows you to feel a much greater connection between the car and the surface of the road. It also makes the driving…

The Jaguar D-type shared by Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt receives a painstaking prep ahead of the 1954 Le Mans 24 Hours. The French enduro was won by the Ferrari 375 Plus of Jose Froilan Gonzalez and Maurice Trintignant, chased to the end through torrential rain in an epic pursuit by the #14 Jaguar. Autosport debates the greatest sports-racing car of all time in the second of our special series of podcasts to celebrate our 70th birthday. Go to bit.ly/Greatestsportscar For classic Le Mans DVDs head to dukevideo.com/lemans For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…