Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The 2023 Race of Champions‘ host country will be represented by a dynamic duo as FIA World Rallycross rivals Mattias Ekström and Johan Kristoffersson join forces to create Team Sweden. The duo have combined for six championships in the series, and have also competed against each other in Extreme E.

Ekström, the 2016 World RX champion, is a three-time winner of the Race of Champions with victories in 2006, 2007, and 2009. He and Tom Kristensen also won the 2005 Nations Cup for Team Scandinavia. For 2023, he intends to have an exhibition in the Audi S1.

He is two weeks removed from completing his third Dakar Rally. In a frustrating race for him and his Team Audi Sport peers, Ekström was at least able to reach the finish in fourteenth overall. He and Audi will attempt to make up lost ground in the World Rally-Raid Championship by running the rest of the season. His team-mate Stéphane Peterhansel will also be at ROC to show off their Audi RS Q e-tron E2.

Outside of rally raid and rallycross, he ran the inaugural Extreme E season in 2021 for ABT CUPRA before departing and incidentally being replaced by another Dakar competitor in newly crowned winner Nasser Al-Attiyah. The two-time DTM champion also has experience in NASCAR, Supercars, and WRC.

“The Race of Champions has meant a lot to me over the years, especially being able to win it in Paris, London and Beijing,” Ekström said. “It was also great to be able to show my Audi A4 DTM with some demo laps down the years. Now I’m really looking forward to lapping in the classic Audi S1, especially as we are in Sweden.”

Ahead of this weekend’s second and third round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, it has been announced that Saudi-lifestyle brand CORE will be the title sponsor of this week’s Diriyah E-Prix double-header.

The Diriyah E-Prix is, of course, the only E-Prix during the season to be conducted during the night under low-powerered LED lights, making for an incredible spectacular for all the fans in attendance and watching from home. By being the title partner of the event this week, CORE branding will feature all over the 21-turn circuit, which has previously been referred to as the ‘car killer’ due to its difficulty.

It will certainly be an incredibly challenging weekend for all the teams and drivers, with their being no room for error. With that in mind, this weekend could be the toughest couple of rounds of the season, especially with so much still being unknown about the new Gen3 cars.

“We’re absolutely delighted to confirm CORE will be the title partner for the up-coming 2023 CORE Diriyah E-Prix, that will host rounds two and three of Season 9 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship,” said Carlo Boutagy, Founder and CEO of CBX, official promoter of the 2023 CORE Diriyah E-Prix.

“It’s great to have such a luxury brand partner associated with the race and we can’t wait to see the exciting new, lighter and faster GEN3 cars on-track under the floodlights in Saudi Arabia at this year’s event.”

SAUDIA, Saudi Arabia’s national flag carrier and official Airline partner of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, have confirmed that reigning World Champion Stoffel Vandoorne has become an ambassador for the airline, ahead of this week’s Diriyah E-Prix.

This week’s double-header at the UNESCO World Heritage site city of Diriyah will be the second and third round of Season Nine, which got underway just over a week ago in Mexico City. SAUDIA were named as the World’s Most Improved Airline in 2021 by SkyTrax, with the airline having also been awarded the accolade in 2017. SAUDIA have become one of the biggest airlines in the Middle East over recent years and have been widely applauded for their extensive safety measures that they carried out in response to the Coronavirus pandemic, with the airline having been awarded the Diamond status by APEX Health and Safety powered by SimpliFlying.

Moataz Alandijani, GM Partnerships & Sponsorships, is “delighted” to have the Belgian driver onboard, due to the duo sharing the same “values of progression and innovation”.

“We’re delighted to announce Stoffel Vandoorne as an official ambassador of SAUDIA. As a leader in his field and the current champion of the ABB FIA Formula E, our partnership is based on shared values of progress and innovation. We’re looking forward to building on this important collaboration throughout Season 9 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship as SAUDIA fulfils its role of bringing the world to Saudia Arabia and build upon its position as one of the world’s leading airlines.”

Vandoorne is also pleased to be taking up an ambassadorial role for SAUDIA, with the DS Penske driver recognising that himself and the airline share a “creating memories that last a lifetime”.

Dan Ticktum proved at the season-opening round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship that NIO 333 Racing will not be the backmarkers in Gen3, with the British driver having shown incredible pace at the Mexico City E-Prix.

Having spent virtually the entirety of the Gen2 era at the back of the field, NIO came out of the blocks with a bang at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with the team perhaps being an underdog for a few podiums this season.Ticktum showed great speed throughout the Mexico City E-Prix and even managed to make it to the duels in qualifying, where he was unfortunately knocked out in the Quarter-Finals.

The British driver started the race from fifth and looked comfortable in the top five, before everything went wrong. Ticktum saw a possible points finish taken from him, with the NIO driver having been awarded a penalty for a power spike on the dummy grid, something that wasn’t his fault. When he emerged from the pits after serving his penalty, he’d fallen to last.

Ticktum ultimately ended the race as the last-running driver but was still “so happy” with how the opening weekend panned out, after taking the unlucky penalty on the chin.

“If you look at our season last year, to be straight into the duels in the opening round is very positive. It’s quite difficult to put a lap together in the Gen3, it’s a very different car to the Gen2, but I managed to put a good lap in qualifying and then again in the duels, it was just a shame I was paired with Jake Hughes, as he was the fastest out of all the drivers, overall I’m pretty happy with the pace we showed.

It was an unfortunate end to Sacha Fenestraz‘s full debut in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, with the French driver having fallen out of the points late on at the Mexico City E-Prix, resulting in a disappointing start to Gen3 for the Nissan Formula E Team.

The rookie driver had looked very promising at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with the Frenchman having incredibly managed to make it into the qualifying duels, where he was then eliminated at the Quarter-Final stage. It was nevertheless an excellent effort by the 2022 Super Formula runner-up, who started the first race of the season in eighth.

Fenestraz performed just as well in the race and looked set for a top-ten finish on his full debut, with the young driver having climbed as high as sixth at one-point during the opening race of the 2022/23 season. It was late heartbreak for Fenestraz and Nissan, though, as a late issue with his energy management system saw the French driver tumble to fifteenth.

Fenestraz admits that the race was a “bit frustrating”, but that ultimately it was still a massively “positive weekend”, especially given the fact he made the duels on his full debut.

“I was really happy to make it through to the Duels in qualifying, the competition is really tough so we did a great job and almost made it into the semi-final. The race was a bit frustrating, as we definitely had the potential to score points.

ABT CUPRA Formula E Team boss Thomas Biermaier has wished Robin Frijns “all the best and a speedy recovery”, with the Dutchman having been sent to hospital following an opening lap crash at the Mexico City E-Prix.

Life back in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship wasn’t kind to ABT Cupra at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with the team having struggled for the vast majority of the weekend. Frijns and Nico Mueller came nowhere close to making it into the duels in qualifying, as it quickly became apparent that ABT Cupra will likely be the backmarker for the start of the season.

The race started in the worst possible way for the German team, with Frijns having crashed into the back of Norman Nato on the opening lap. The crash fractured the Dutchman’s hand and wrist, with Frijns having been sent to hospital for surgery whilst the race was going on. It has since been confirmed that his surgery was successful; however, he is set for a lengthy-spell on the sidelines.

Whilst Frijns was being taken to hospital, Mueller made up four places on his first race back in the sport since Season Seven, to claim fourteenth place.

Overall, the weekend was incredibly difficult for ABT Cupra; however, for Biermaier the “most important thing” coming out of their returning race is that Frijns “recovers quickly”.

Nico Mueller endured a challenging start to the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, as the ABT CUPRA Formula E Team discovered the hard way that Gen3 is going to be an incredible challenge.

The Swiss driver would’ve presumably liked his returning weekend to the all-electric series to have gone better, with the thirty year-old having ended the weekend in fourteenth. ABT Cupra were arguably the weakest team for the entirety of the Mexico City E-Prix, with Mueller having qualified eighteenth. With that in mind, he did make up four places during the race, with the Swiss driver having “learned an enormous amount” from the start of the Gen3 era.

“The entire team and also myself learned an enormous amount this weekend – we’ll take that as a positive takeaway. When we get home, it’s on to data analysis and then into the simulator, because fortunately the next race is only two weeks away.”

On the other side of the ABT Cupra garage, Robin Frijns suffered a nasty crash on the opening lap after hitting the back of Norman Nato. Frijns was sent to hospital for surgery not long after the crash, after fracturing his wrist and hand. Whilst the surgery was a success, he is set to miss the Diriyah E-Prix, with The Race reporting that’ll he be out for the bulk of the season. With that in mind, it has been confirmed that the Dutchman will be replaced by South African ABT DTM driver Kelvin van der Linde.

Maserati MSG Racing Team Principal James Rossiter labelled the opening round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship as a “difficult day”, with the team having failed to score points at the Mexico City E-Prix.

Ahead of the season-opening round at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, many had tipped Maserati to be towards the front, based on the fact that the Monte-Carlo-based outfit were incredibly impressive during pre-season testing. The high altitude, though, in Mexico City caused some issues for Maximilian Günther and Edoardo Mortara, who struggled during qualifying in particular.

Both Maserati drivers failed to make it into the duels, with Rossiter being aware that this left them on the “back foot” ahead of the first race of the Gen3 era. Mortara and Günther qualified sixteenth and seventeenth, with the German driver having made up six places during the race to claim eleventh. Whilst Günther narrowly missed out on the points places, Mortara failed to even finish the race, after crashing at Turn One on the eighteenth lap.

Looking back on the weekend, Rossiter has admitted that “you learn the most from your bad days”, with the team having certainly expected more from Mexico City. The side will look over the data ahead of the upcoming Diriyah E-Prix, as they look to bounce back in Saudi Arabia.

“It was a difficult day but in motorsport, you learn the most from your bad days – not your good ones. A poor qualifying put us on the back foot, but in the race, we were able to come back strong, with Max fighting from 17th to 11th and finishing just outside the points.

It wasn’t the season-opening race that Maximilian Günther was expecting at the Mexico City E-Prix, with the German having failed to make it into the duels and into the points places during the race.

Many had expected the star of pre-season testing to excel at the first race of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, with Maserati MSG Racing having looked strong during pre-season. In Günther’s and Maserati’s defence, the teams that looked strong ahead of the season weirdly struggled at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with the high altitude in Mexico City having made getting the new Hankook tyres up to temperature a challenge.

After starting seventeenth, Günther demonstrated strong pace during the race to climb six places, with the “efficiency” of the Maserati Tipo Folgore having looked better than most. He ultimately missed out on points by a whisker, after finishing eleventh.

Whilst Günther was likely disappointed with the outcome of the first round, having struggled to find the tyres “sweet spot”, he is at least pleased by the data that the team gained from the start of the Gen3 era.

“This weekend has been tough for us as a team. With the high altitude it was quite difficult to get the tyres into the sweet spot which impacted our pace in qualifying. Starting from the back, our pace in the race was much better and our efficiency and strategy proved to be competitive.

Tributes across the motorsport world to Ken Block have come in many forms. The World Rally Championship and Nitro Rallycross have both retired his #43 from use, with the former doing so for the 2023 season whereas the latter’s is permanent, while close friend Travis Pastrana is competing in this weekend’s Nitro RX round in a special snow-camo livery.

Ford, who provided rally cars for Block and his Hoonigan Racing Division from 2010 to 2020, will also honour the late racing icon throughout the 2023 calendar year as all affiliated cars will sport a special tribute decal.

As part of his decade-long partnership with Ford, Block raced vehicles like the Ford Fiesta and Focus in rallycross and WRC. Multiple Fords were used in his acclaimed Gymkhana video series including a modified Mustang nicknamed the “Hoonicorn” and the “Hoonitruck” F-150.

“Ken, all of our race teams across all series are gonna bring you along for one final ride to start the season. We miss you,” reads a statement from Ford Performance.

Block switched to Audi in 2021, with whom he was affiliated until his death in early January in a snowmobile accident. Two days later, Team Audi Sport placed a “Racing for Ken #43” sticker along the A-pillar of their Dakar Rally cars.

With the Race of Champions once again taking place on snow and ice, it only makes sense for rallycross cars to show up. In 2023’s case, the Zeroid X1 and Supercar Lites will fill that slot once again.

The Zeroid X1 (stylised in all caps as ZEROID X1) is the formal name of the spec car used by the FIA World Rallycross Championship’s RX2e category. Developed by QEV Technologies, it attained its current name in March when QEV rolled out the Zeroid brand of electric commercial vans. It weighs 1,170 kg and is capable of 335 horsepower with 510 Nm of torque.

The Supercar Lites have appeared at ROC since 2017, with 2022 marking the first year that it ran on fossil-free biofuel developed by Olsbergs MSE and P1 Performance Fuels. The car is lighter than the X1 at 1,100 kg and is slightly slower with 320 horsepower.

QEV began 2023 focusing on promoting Zeroid, especially as its commercial vehicles intend to start production later in the year. A fleet of X1s appeared at the Autosport International show where they raced against Supercars with internal combustion engines.

The Andorran ice rallycross GSeries also débuted the GSeries-E as its top category, where all competitors race the X1. The season opener on 14 January saw an RX2e podium sweep with Guillaume De Ridder, Raül Ferré, and and Viktor Vranckx.

The series announced on Friday that the number 43 will be permanently retired from competition in honor of motorsport icon Ken Block‘s legacy.

Block, known for the Gymkhana YouTube series, co-founding the Hoonigan brand, and multiple WRC and rallycross appearances, passed away a little under three weeks ago. Block was integral to Nitro Rallycross being a founding Nitro RX driver when the series first launched in 2018. He competed in the Ford Focus RSRX under the Hoonigan Loenbro team where unfortunately he would not start in the final. Following the next year, Block would return to the same team with an upgraded Ford Fiesta RX and finished sixth in the final.

When he wasn’t traveling the world shooting his next Gymkhana film or winning in the ARA Rally Championship he took interest in his kids and their racing progress. The Head-Hoonigan-In-Charge would then take on a mentoring role behind the scenes at NRX as he coached his, now 16-year-old daughter, Lia Block, in the RX3 and Side-by-Side classes.

The series had some kind words to share about Block in a blog post stating, “Ken’s achievements behind the wheel are legendary, matched only by his passion for the sport. A creative force, Ken’s viral videos transformed rallycross and opened it up to a new generation of fans.”

In addition to the retirement of the number, Vermont Sportscar debuted a tribute livery that Travis Pastrana will be driving during the race weekend in Trois-Rivieres, paying homage to Ken’s 2005 snow-camo livery that he ran in the ARA Championship.

Despite Oscar Piastri lacking the necessary experience in driving a FIA Formula 1 World Championship car, McLaren’s new boss Andrea Stella believes it will not impact the team’s success in the coming season, as long as Lando Norris remains consistent in setting the reference for the rest of the group.

Back in the summer of 2022, the McLaren driver-up was Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo. However, it was unclear whether the Australian would see out his contract, or rookie Oscar Piastri would make the graduation to a Formula 1 seat. After Alpine initially announced Piastri for 2023, he stated that he had no intention of driving for Alpine in 2023, and it seemed all the more likely that Ricciardo’s contract was coming to an early end.

It was well known that Daniel Ricciardo, from the very beginning, had fallen short of the expectations set on him by McLaren CEO Zak Brown. And despite winning McLaren their first race in over 10 years, Ricciardo was swiftly ejected from the McLaren seat to make way for Mark Webber‘s protégé, Oscar Piastri.

Now the team has moved on to a driver that they hope will single the dawn of a new age, some fresh meat for the team in hopes that they’ll catch the top three teams and bring back their competitive streak.

Speaking to the media, Andrea Stella, who was appointed McLaren F1 Team principal after Andreas Sidel announced his departure, has spoken openly about Piastri’s level of experience, which surprisingly doesn’t seem to be a huge worry for the team.

Fraser McConnell secured his second top qualifier award of the season over Andreas Bakkerud in the battle bracket finals at Trois-Rivieres on Friday night.

The Jamaican driver came into this weekend with little to no experience on ice but managed to get a short testing session in Finland last week just before heading to Nitro Rallycross. McConnell made his way through the battle brackets besting XITE Energy Racing driver Kris Meeke after an issue caused him to pull off, and Oliver Eriksson who just didn’t get the launch to keep up with McConnell. Fraser leads into tomorrow with a few extra points and an easy front-row slot in the heat races.

Behind him fell Andreas Bakkerud who finished as a runner-up once the Battle Brackets had finished. The Norwegian fan favorite was able to successfully get a better launch than OMSE‘s Kevin Eriksson in his first battle bracket leading him to take the win and go on and face his teammate Robin Larsson in his second bracket. Although a very tight and close battle, Bakkerud managed to stave Larsson off and keep his position to move onto the final where he would lose out on the start to Fraser and never recover.

Robin Larsson topped the leaderboards in the final free practice netting him an easy pass into the second bracket quarter-finals. There he would first face Oliver Bennett where they would battle throughout the first banked turn with Larsson coming out on top when Bennett ran into the wall and collected damage to his car. In his second battle bracket he would fight closely with his teammate Bakkerud staying on his tail the entire race but just coming short across the line.

Vermont Sportscar’s Travis Pastrana put on quite a show in his bracket race after battling with Oliver Eriksson. The founder of NRX made an astounding pass around the outside of Eriksson and managed to take the lead at the start. From then he would drive fast and a bit risking, jumping into the snowbanks and clipping the walls but his misfortune came when he tagged a snowbank and ran the car deep into the snow turning him the wrong way allowing Eriksson to pass and eliminate him. Connor Martell was defeated by Bennet in the very first bracket race of the day ending his day early.

Porsche Carrera Cup GB regulars Toro Verde will make their Intelligent Money British GT Championship debut this season with a Ginetta G56 GT4 driven by James Townsend and Ian Duggan, both of whom make the switch from the Ginetta GT4 Super Cup have progressed through the Ginetta motorsport ranks and have previously raced together in GT Cup.

Toro Verde, founded in 2021 have raced throughout the UK and Europe, originally taking part in the GT2 European Series, Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe and the Ginetta GT5 Challenge in the UK. 2022 saw the team enter the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, the Gulf 12 Hours and the Ginetta GT Academy.

Duggan began his racing career in the Ginetta G40 Chairmans Cup finishing third in his first season in 2019 before winning the GT5 Challenge Am class in 2020. He then paired up with Townsend in GT Cup behind the wheel of the G55 GT4, the same car in which Duggan would go on to take the 2022 Ginetta GT4 Super Cup AM championship.

“Racing with Ginetta has given me a national platform to hone my skills and improve my race craft over the past five years, and having had success in two very competitive championships I’m now excited to step up to compete in British GT and test my ability,” he said.

“James and I have continually pushed each other to improve – something I’m looking forward to continuing this season. With the support and GT experience of Toro Verde I’m sure we can be competitive and challenge for wins.”