Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Daniel Ricciardo has responded to comments from Dr. Helmut Marko suggesting that he could be replaced by Liam Lawson in 2025, or even earlier, at Visa Cash App RB.

Ricciardo only returned to Scuderia AlphaTauri (now RB) for the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix, and missed a large part of the 2023 season due to injury, where Lawson raced in his place, putting in a few impressive performances.

Since returning to the Oracle Red Bull Racing family, Ricciardo has enjoyed a mix bag of results. Some have been extremely impressive such as the 2023 Mexican Grand Prix and the 2024 Miami Grand Prix Sprint, where he secured a fourth place finish, but these have also been mixed with some indifferent performances, where he’s struggled for pace.

Yuki Tsunoda is 10 points ahead of Ricciardo in the World Drivers Championship but since the Australian’s chassis was switched at the Japanese Grand Prix, there hasn’t been much to split the two in terms of on track performance. 

It hasn’t been the return to the Red Bull family that Ricciardo wanted with Sergio Pérez having his contract extended with the main team recently, meaning his only chance to stay within Red Bull is via the only remaining RB seat for 2025, with Tsunoda already tied down to a deal.

With his Quad career now in the books, Manuel Andújar is already set to try his hand at a new category when he enters the Rally Raid San Juan on 28–30 June. He will be the co-driver of a Can-Am Maverick piloted by fellow World Rally-Raid Championship competitor Juan Cruz Yacopini. Campeones reported the news on Tuesday.

The start comes four weeks after Andújar clinched the W2RC’s Quad title in his native Argentina when he dominated the Desafío Ruta 40. Although the season still has one more round in Morocco, he will not be there: besides having already secured the championship, the Rallye du Maroc is often used as a dress rehearsal for the Dakar Rally, which is pointless for him as the race has dropped the Quads for 2025.

Andújar won the category’s final Dakar in January. During the race, he and Yacopini, the latter racing a Toyota Hilux Overdrive in the premier Ultimate class, began to make plans about racing together. This proved difficult at the moment as neither had any openings, but they found one in June after the DR 40. The Rally Raid San Juan is the third round of Campeonato Argentino de Rally Raid (CaNav Rally Raid), the premier cross-country rally series in Argentina.

He initially considered taking a sabbatical from rally raid following the DR 40, including skipping the 2025 Dakar Rally, to settle down and get his plans sorted out. With a switch to SSV locked in, however, it opens the door to a full-time commitment in the class should he wishes and is able.

SSVs are typically the first vehicle that former Quad riders take on after leaving the FIM side. Former Dakar Quad winners Josef Macháček, Ignacio Casale, and Sergei Kariakin all race side-by-sides today, while 2023 W2RC Quad runner-up Rodolfo Guillioli was at the 2024 race as the navigator of one. Pablo Copetti will drive an SSV at next year’s Dakar, while Laisvydas Kancius, who beat Guillioli for the 2023 title, will be the navigator for Gintas Petrus in Ultimate.

The entry list for the TET Rally Latvia was officially published on Tuesday and sees a total of 40 entries taking part in Latvia’s first appearance in the FIA World Rally Championship schedule on 18.7 – 21.7.2024.

There will be a total of 10 Rally1 cars taking part in the Latvian event where the reigning manufacturer champion Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT will field a total of four Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 for the reigning champion Kalle Rovanperä, the eight-time champion Sébastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta.

Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT will field the usual three Hyundai i20 N Rally1 cars for Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak meanwhile the shared third car will be driven this time by Esapekka Lappi who hasn’t been driving since Rally Kenya in March.

M-Sport Ford WRT will also be fielding three Ford Puma Rally1 machines for Adrien Fourmaux and Gregoire Munster. The local uprising talent Mārtiņš Sesks who makes his Rally1 debut in Rally Poland this weekend with the first non-hybrid Rally1 car will be getting a full-fledged hybrid Rally1 car for his home event.

Sami Pajari was supposed to make his Rally1 debut with Toyota in Latvia but his debut has been postponed to the following event of Rally Finland, the Finn will be driving the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 in WRC2 instead. In the same class, there are strong names entered which includes Oliver Solberg, Gus Greensmith, Nikolay Gryazin, Emil Lindholm and Mikko Heikkilä. The two-time American Rally Association champion and Subaru Motorsports USA works driver Brandon Semenuk from Canada will be making his WRC debut driving a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.

Toyota Gazoo Racing‘s World Rally-Raid Championship programme will be among the team’s various divisions attending the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, bringing with them the Toyota GR DKR Hilux EVO T1U.

Drivers Lucas Moraes and Seth Quintero, along with their navigators Armand Monleón and Dennis Zenz, will pilot the Hilux at all three of the festival’s locations—the Hillclimb, Forest Rally Stage, and Off-Road Arena.

TGR’s Hiluxes have appeared at Goodwood annually since 2022, each time doing triple duty. Nasser Al-Attiyah drove the Hilux at the two previous editions during his W2RC and Dakar Rally-winning campaigns. For the 2023 festival, the Off-Road Arena added a large ramp nicknamed “Nasser’s Ramp” that was designed by Al-Attiyah and his former co-driver Mathieu Baumel.

At last year’s event, Al-Attiyah set the thirty-third fastest Hillclimb time among those who ran on Sunday.

The Hilux EVO T1U is an upgraded model from what Al-Attiyah raced, wider and heavier to comply with T1+ regulations. It currently leads the W2RC manufacturer’s standings after four of five rounds, while Moraes sits third in the driver’s championship and Quintero eighth; the duo each have a best race finish of third (Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge for Quintero, BP Ultimate Rally-Raid for Moraes) and a combined five stage wins. Overdrive Racing also has their own Hilux model that won the most recent round, the Desafío Ruta 40 in early June.

Romain Dumas‘ Pikes Peak International Hill Climb started with a near disaster when his Ford F-150 Lightning SuperTruck came to a sudden halt with an electrical issue. It ended with his fifth crown.

Despite the truck suddenly stopping and adding roughly twenty-six seconds to his time, Dumas was able to restart the vehicle before proceeding. Although this prevented him from setting the best possible time up the highway, he still managed to be the only driver in the field to set a time below nine minutes. He previously claimed the 2014 and 2016 to 2018 editions, but 2024 was his first with Ford.

“Everything about this event is a challenge because it is unlike any other form of racing, you only have one shot,” Dumas stated. “We faced a challenge early on but that only gave me more determination to make up the lost time in the rest of the run.”

The F-150 Lightning SuperTruck is an electric vehicle developed by Ford Design and STARD Advanced Research and Development. It is capable of 1,600 horsepower from three LMC (lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide) batteries and over 6,000 pounds of downforce at 150 miles per hour (93.20 km/h). Prior to the hillclimb, Dumas smashed the qualifying record with a time of 3:32.831, surpassing that set by its predecessor SuperVan 4.2 of 3:39.939 in 2023.

FIA European Hill Climb Champion Christian Merli finished second in his Pikes Peak début, driving a Wolf Aurobay GB 08 in the Unlimited class.

The reigning world champion Kalle Rovanperä has been called in to replace the Frenchman Sébastien Ogier in this week’s Rally Poland after Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais were involved in a head-on collision during Tuesday’s recce.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT announced on Tuesday evening that the eight-time world champion would stay in the hospital over night for observation and that the Frenchman would miss the rally completely. Later in the evening it was confirmed Rovanperä would step in for Ogier and stewards issued a decision granting Toyota permission to replace the crew in the third Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 car.

Rovanperä and co-driver Jonne Halttunen will be facing some challenges as the crew hasn’t been participating in any pre-event tests but they have been granted permission to do recce runs on special stages on an exceptional schedule.

The recce for the crew will begin on Wednesday morning with 12 hours and the remaining two stages will be checked at Thursday afternoon just a couple of hours before the official rally starts in the evening.

The eight-time FIA World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais will not be taking part in the Rally Poland this weekend following a serious accident during Tuesday’s recce, a statement was announced by the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT team on social media.

According to the local Polish RMF radio, Ogier had a head-on collision with a car on a gravel road. The accident occurred on a hilly section. Reports do indicate that two medical helicopters were sent to the site and Ogier and the woman in the other car were taken to the nearby hospital meanwhile Landais and another person sitting in the other car were taken by ambulance.

During a WRC recce, crews drive all special stages twice and also cover the liaison sections. The recce is being held on the same time as normal traffic which means the stages aren’t closed for the public.

The statement from the team reads: “Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT crew Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais were taken to hospital for checks following a road traffic collision during reconnaissance for Rally Poland on Tuesday morning. Two occupants of the other vehicle involved, members of the public, were also taken to hospital for medical checks.”

As the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps celebrates its 100th anniversary, BMW M Motorsport embarks on a mission to defend its title and extend its record of 25 victories. ROWE Racing and BMW M Team WRT, two dominant teams in the endurance racing scene, are set to compete in the Pro category with four BMW M4 GT3s, each sporting special anniversary designs.

Historic Success and Present Aspirations

BMW M Motorsport has a storied history at Spa-Francorchamps, with 25 wins over the past century. This year’s event sees ROWE Racing’s #98 BMW M4 GT3, driven by last year’s champions Philipp Eng, Marco Wittmann, and Nick Yelloly, aiming to repeat their victory. BMW M Team WRT, celebrating its home race in the Ardennes, seeks to break a long winless streak with standout drivers like Sheldon van der Linde and Valentino Rossi.

Teams and Lineups

ROWE Racing will field two cars in the Pro category. The #98, with Eng, Wittmann, and Yelloly, is focused on a back-to-back win. The #998, driven by Augusto Farfus, Dan Harper, and Max Hesse, brings momentum from a victory in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup season opener.

BMW M Team WRT also presents two cars in the Pro category. The #32 features Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor, and Charles Weerts, while the #46 car, with Raffaele Marciello, Maxime Martin, and Valentino Rossi, aims to secure a podium finish.

In the Bronze category, WRT’s #30 BMW M4 GT3 and Century Motorsport’s #991 BMW M4 GT3 will compete with seasoned drivers, including Jens Klingmann and Connor De Phillippi.

Max Verstappen secured a convincing win at the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, fending off a determined challenge from pole-sitter Lando Norris, marking his seventh of the season and extending his lead in the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.

Despite jumping Norris going into Turn One, Verstappen wasn’t initially in the lead. A brilliantly executed move by George Russell, starting from fourth in his Mercedes, stole the show at the start. However, Verstappen quickly overtook Russell, making a daring move on the outside of Turn One on Lap 3 to claim the lead.

Norris, who had been celebrating his “perfect lap” in qualifying the day before, found himself stuck behind Russell in the early laps. This lost time proved crucial, hindering his ability to challenge Verstappen for the win later in the race, ending around two seconds behind the Dutchman.

Max Verstappen — Oracle Red Bull Racing — 1st

“I managed to get ahead in lap two, which ultimately made my race, and the Team did a great job as we were aggressive with the strategy and made all of the right calls. After we overtook and led the race we had to take quite a defensive strategy and really push to the end. We lacked a bit of pace and McLaren were better on the tyres than us today, so that is something that we need to look at and aim to improve on. 

The British outfit M-Sport World Rally Team has achieved a remarkable milestone in its history in the FIA World Rally Championship. They are now celebrating the 300th consecutive points finish following the strong outing in the last round of Rally Italia Sardegna.

This milestone which any team has never accomplished in any motorsport series was secured by the two drivers Adrien Fourmaux from France and Gregoire Munster from Luxembourg as the duo managed to bring the Ford Puma Rally1 over the finish line in Italy within the points.

This record started back 22 years ago when the Spaniard Carlos Sainz and the late Colin Mcrae from Scotland managed to finish third and fourth respectively on the team’s debut rally of Rally Monte Carlo in 2002 in Ford Focus WRC cars and since then the team has amassed manufacturer championship points at every rally entered, achieving milestones such as the 100th event at Rally Turkey in 2008, the 200th event at Rally Mexico in 2016, and now the 300th event at Rally Sardinia in 2024.

The team has participated in six continents, 29 countries and has done a total of 84,365 km of rallying with 29 different drivers and 38 co-drivers over the past 20+ years. The team will celebrate this milestone with video highlights of selected members from past and present, commemorative stickers and a special front grille on the Ford Puma Rally1 cars in this week’s Rally Poland.

“Reaching 300 consecutive scoring events is a testament to our team’s unwavering dedication and commitment. Their relentless effort, combined with the support of Ford Motor Company, truly embodies the spirit of performance and reliability that drives us to excel in the World Rally Championship. I would like to thank every single member of staff, driver, co-driver and fan that has been with us along the entire, or parts of the journey. This simply wouldn’t be possible without any of you and I am tremendously proud of what we have achieved. I now look towards trying to achieve 350!” Malcolm Wilson, M-Sport UK Chairman and founder, said.The

The 22-year-old Finn Sami Pajari was confirmed earlier that he will be taking the wheel of the fourth Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 machine for the Japanese team Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT in next month’s Rally Latvia and yesterday (Monday 24 June) the team announced their drivers line for the event.

The eight-time champion Sébastien Ogier will instead be given the driving duty for the fourth car, which means Pajari has to sit out in Latvia. Instead, he has been given the opportunity to take a seat at the following round of Rally Finland and his Rally1 debut will be on home soil.

Ogier will join the driver line-up of Elfyn Evans, Takamoto Katsuta, and the two-time champion Kalle Rovanperä. Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala meant the decision was made so the team could have a better chance to fight for the manufacturer’s title where the Japanese marque is leading by just 13 points over Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT and give a more realistic debut for Pajari instead.

“We are strongly committed to developing young drivers for the future, and also to maximising our results in the present, this is why we will still bring four cars to Latvia and now take the opportunity to have Sébastien there alongside Kalle, Elfyn and Takamoto. Seb has been very strong so far this year and, with the championship being so tight, we want to bring all the strength and experience we have to keep up the fight.” Latvala said.

“I think it always helps [Sami] to get into a new car on roads that you know well, and if we consider that his chance to test the car was always going to be on Finnish roads, this will now be strong preparation for Rally Finland. So, we believe this is another suitable opportunity for Sami to drive our Rally1 car, and it’s also going to be a great thing for his fans and the event itself. Still, as we said previously, we won’t be putting any pressure or expectation upon him in terms of result: we just want to see him adapt to the car and try to gain as much experience as possible,”

After seven tries, Henk Lategan is finally a winner of the South African Rally-Raid Championship‘s longest race as he held off Lance Woolridge to win the TGRSA Safari 1000.

Lategan and his Toyota Hilux were the fastest early on while Woolridge’s Ford Ranger gave chase. The latter was further set back by a flat tyre during the first stage, which he speculated may have contributed to him not being able to close in on Lategan during the third and final day. By the end, Lategan kept Woolridge at bay by over five and a half minutes.

“We lost a bit of time on Friday in the prologue and then on the first loop with the puncture, which probably cost us the win,” Woolridge explained. “We had a clean run on Saturday, and today we pushed hard and caught up to Henk and Brett early on the first loop, but we just couldn’t pass them in the dust, so we ultimately had to settle for second place. It was an enjoyable race, and the car was faultless.”

Since missing the Dakar Rally in January to a shoulder dislocation, Lategan has regained his footing and hit his stride. Despite retiring from the SARRC season-opening Nkomazi 400 in April, he quickly rebounded by winning the Vryheid 400 in May followed by the victory in Waterberg.

“It feels awesome to have this one. It feels like a really, really tough desert race,” Lategan commented. “Usually, they’re quite open and fast and it goes by quite quickly. This one was slow and tight and technical and it took forever to get through.

The #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 LMDh machine took the overall win with Felipe Nasr behind the wheel in the very rain soaked Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen last night in gruelling sprint to the finish line after a red flag restart. Dane Cameron joined Nasr on the top step on the podium becoming the first team of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship to take two overall wins in the GTP category.

The #6 Porsche Penske beat the #2 Cadillac Racing V-Series R driven by Renger van der Linde and Sebastien Bourdais by 0.7 seconds over the finish line after a series of rain storms that caused massive shake-up in the racing order.

Nasr was installed into the cockpit during the final red flag restart with 15 minutes left on the clock, it was there he managed to sneak past the pole-sitting #40 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 of Louis Deletraz who struggled to get to grips on his new tires in the rainy weather.

It also became a double Porsche Penske podium as the #6 Porsche 963 took third place in the hands of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy meanwhile the #40 WTRAndretti Acura dropped to fourth overall.

The #25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly completed the top five, however, they were forced to start from the pitlane at the start of the race due to an overnight chassis change.

Mickey Thomas‘ truck was shedding skin like a snake, but it wasn’t enough to slither to the top step of the Forest County Potawatomi Brush Run podium.

Thomas and his Pro 2 dominated Sunday’s Pro 2 vs. Pro 4 event at Crandon International Off-Road Raceway despite losing much of his body panelling, but the Pro 4 of C.J. Greaves gradually worked his way through the order before striking on the final lap, finding a run down a straightaway and pulling away. The win earned Greaves his third Brush Run Chairman’s Cup in a row, incidentally also beating Thomas for the 2023 win.

“I didn’t see the scorecard going and I didn’t see the white (flag) and I’m like, ‘Alright, I can settle down a little bit there,'” began Greaves. “For a long time, I was marking myself with Mickey and he was running really good laps and I was still in the middle of the Pro 2s and I’m like, ‘It’s going to be there. It’s going to be a battle right to the end. I’m not going to be able to hold up at all and just go for it.’ I just tried to hit all my marks, stay clean, get through the Pro 2s the best I could, and put on a little bit of a race at the end there. I knew he was going to run me clean, so I gave him some room in the gravel pit and then he slide-jobbed me over here and we had some fun with it.”

Given the performance disparity between two- and four-wheel-drive trucks, Pro 2 trucks received a roughly 33-second head start. Thomas quickly pulled away from Ryan Beat as his class took off, then Greaves did the same for Pro 4 half a minute later. Prior to Greaves’ three-peat, Pro 2 had been dominant in the Brush Run with four of six victories prior to 2022. Despite coming up short, Thomas was the weekend’s best Pro 2 truck for the third year in a row, having finished fourth behind a trio of Pro 4s in 2022 and winning the Championship Off-Road points-paying race earlier on Sunday.

“I was trying to make it not too easy on him,” Thomas commented. “We got a great start. I was just trying to hit my marks and I was putting down some good times. I blew my hood off, I guess I just knocked it off on a jump and that wasn’t working in my favour so I lost a little bit there. Other than that, we were able to put a great race together. Got me right at the end, so it was a good show probably.”

Francisco López Contardo is one of the best in rally raid on both two and four wheels, but has been neglecting the former since the turn of the decade as he established himself in a side-by-side vehicle. This weekend, he gave the bike realm some love once more when he finished second in the Expert Pairs class at the Desafío del Desierto.

Expert Pairs was one of four categories at the race in which multiple riders raced together, either sharing a bike or riding together on their own vehicles. López jointly competed as #30 on a Honda CRF450 alongside former Honda rally raid factory rider Jeremías Israel, the latter on his separate bike.

One of six Expert Pairs teams, the two beat Vicente and Rodrigo Moreno for the class win by just one second, then increased the margin to two minutes on the second leg. However, Israel ran out of fuel 500 metres before the Stage #3 finish, costing them time as the Morenos edged out by four minutes. By the end, the Morenos’ 3:38:34.33 beat the López/Israel tandem’s 3:40:11.68.

“Chaleco” López began his career in motocross and enduro before running seven Dakar Rallies on a bike from 2007 to 2014, scoring eleven stage wins and a best finish of third in 2010 and 2013. After a five-year hiatus, he returned to the Dakar in 2019 in the SSV class and won on debut. Since then, he has enjoyed tremendous success on four wheels with two more Dakar victories in 2021 and 2022, the latter coming in the T3 category (now Challenger) for purpose-built racing SSVs. He also claimed the inaugural World Rally-Raid Championship in T3 in 2022 before scaling back his calendar since 2023 to focus on raising his newborn son.

The Dakar is his only W2RC race of 2024 to date, where he finished fifth in Challenger with a Stage #5 victory. He is not registered for points.