Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

It was a dream start to life at Mahindra Racing for Lucas Di Grassi and newly-appointed CEO Frederic Bertrand, with the Brazilian having put in a stellar performance at the season-opening round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

The former Mexico City E-Prix winner was seemingly a man on a mission at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with Di Grassi having claimed the first pole position of the Gen3 era of the all-electric series. To say his pole position was a shock would be an understatement, with no one having predicted that a Mahindra-powered car would make it into the duels, let alone all the way to the Final. This was due to Mahindra’s four M9Electro’s having shown poor pace during the bulk of pre-season testing and during Free Practice in Mexico City.

Di Grassi found some performance at the right time, though, and went on to claim a well-deserved third-place finish in the race, after defending magnificently for two-thirds of the E-Prix. The former Champion used his wealth of experience to keep the likes of rookie Jake Hughes and André Lotterer behind; however, he had no answer to race winner Jake Dennis and Pascal Wehrlein.

Whilst the year started strongly for Di Grassi, the same couldn’t be said for Oliver Rowland or Mahindra’s customer team the ABT CUPRA Formula E Team. Rowland qualified last on the grid whilst the two ABT Cupra drivers qualified eighteenth and nineteenth, meaning three of the last five cars on the grid were powered by the Indian manufacturer. The race wasn’t much better for Rowland, who finished the race outside the points and collided with René Rast, whilst ABT Cupra driver Robin Frijns was sent to hospital for surgery after fracturing his wrist and hand in an opening lap crash.

With all of that in mind, it was certainly a mixed weekend for the powertrain supplier; however, Di Grassi’s surprise performance left Bertrand to hail the season opener as a “dream weekend”.

Robin Frijns endured a season opener to forget at the Mexico City E-Prix, with the Dutchman having ended the weekend in hospital, following a nasty crash on the opening lap of the race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

The ABT CUPRA Formula E Team driver struggled all weekend in Mexico City, with the former Envision Racing driver having languished towards the back throughout Free Practice and Qualifying. Frijns attempted to make up some places on the opening lap of the race; however, his M9Electro weirdly went straight into the back of Norman Nato at the Turn Nine/Ten chicane, resulting in Frijns’ steering snapping on him incredibly harshly.

Frijns’ left hand remained on the steering wheel as it began to snap on him, as his car uncontrollably slammed straight into the barrier on the outside of Turn Ten. It was shortly announced during the race that’d he been sent to hospital after fracturing his hand and would require surgery. Frijns has since revealed himself that the five-hour operation has been successfully completed, after sharing an update of his condition via his Instagram account.

“Hello everyone!” Frijns wrote.

“Little update: Unfortunately I suffered a fractured hand and fractured wrist. Had a five hour operation as my hand was fractured in several places. Will travel home soon and will start my recovery. Early days to say when I am back but I will be back soon. Wanted to thank medical team of @fiaformulae for their great work. And my team @abtmotorsport for their support.

After his wreck on the ninth leg of the Dakar Rally, Carlos Sainz revealed Monday that he had fractured his T5 and T6 vertebrae in the impact. He did not give a specific timetable for his recovery.

“On my return to Madrid from the Dakar Rally, the back pain I suffered after the incident of this year’s event persisted longer than usual,” said Sainz. “Following medical advice, I underwent further checks to assess in detail the extent of the injury. Unfortunately, the results haven’t brought good news because I fractured the T5 and T6 vertebrae. The good thing is that both vertebrae are stable and from this day on my priority will be to recover as soon as possible. Thank you all for the love and support I have received over the last days. I will keep you updated.”

The accident occurred after Sainz overshot a dune just five kilometres into Stage #9, causing him to roll his Audi RS Q e-tron E2. While his co-driver Lucas Cruz got out unharmed, Sainz reported pain in his torso that prompted an airlift to hospital. Sainz requested and was granted to be flown back to continue racing, which was granted as FIA Gold and Platinum drivers receive two chances to rejoin the Rally without impacting their overall standing, but the car was too damaged to continue.

He used his first re-entry after a disastrous Stage #6 for Team Audi Sport when he and team-mate Stéphane Peterhansel crashed in the same area on KM 261. Peterhansel was briefly knocked out in the wreck but ultimately not injured, though navigator Édouard Boulanger was airlifted out for what also turned out to be a broken vertebrae.

Sainz had started the 2023 Rally on a positive note by winning Stage #1, but mechanical issues two days later caused him to sink in the order. Although he managed to climb back onto the podium in Stages #4 and #5, the crash the next day ended any hope of him winning a fourth Dakar. Sainz and Peterhansel’s exits were the main stories in a frustrating Rally for Audi. Despite fanfare about their new RS Q e-tron E2 and being eligible for the World Rally-Raid Championship, they were overshadowed by controversy surrounding their Equivalence of Technology power boost after the fifth stage. Sainz was also subject to FIA investigation when his son Carlos Sainz Jr. helped close his door following a brake repair in Stage #3, though neither Sainz was disciplined beyond a warning. Mattias Ekström was the lone Audi driver to see the finish in fourteenth overall.

As the defending Dakar Rally winner, Nasser Al-Attiyah was the man to beat on four wheels entering the 2023 edition. Unfortunately for the field, nobody could beat the man.

Al-Attiyah won his fifth Dakar Rally in dominating fashion with over an hour and twenty minutes on the field, scoring a trio of stage wins in the second, fifth, and sixth. Despite finishing outside the top ten in the rain-shortened Stage #3, he assumed the overall lead after Carlos Sainz was struck by a mechanical issue, and never relinquished it from there. The margin was so side, maxing out at 1:27:10 after Stage #12, that Al-Attiyah could afford to lay off the throttle as he did in Stage #7 where he was fourteenth.

Previous victories came in 2011, 2015, and 2019 followed by his back-to-back wins. He first won with Toyota Gazoo Racing in 2019.

“This is an amazing feeling,” said Al-Attiyah. “I have to thank so many people, starting with every member of our team. It was a tough two weeks, but to be able to come back and defend our title is fantastic. I’m really proud of our GR DKR Hilux T1+, and to win the race three times with Toyota Gazoo Racing is truly something special.”

Sébastien Loeb finished runner-up for the second straight year, marking the first time that back-to-back Dakar Rallies had the same finishers in the top two. Although Loeb officially placed 1:20:49 behind Al-Attiyah in the overall, he was the star of the Rally’s second half as he won a record six consecutive stages from #8 through #13. Loeb ended the race with seven total wins, the most since Sainz in 2011.

With just three days left until the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship season opener will be held in Rallye Monte-Carlo, the organizers of the following round in Rally Sweden 9-12 February have now published the entry list that sees a total of 52 cars taking on the snowy roads of the Umeå region in northeastern Sweden.

Out of the 52 cars entered, there will only be nine Rally1 cars on the start line, eight of them going under factory efforts while one is private. Topping the list is last year´s Rally Sweden winner and 2022 WRC champion Kalle Rovanperä, he will be joined by his Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT teammates Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta, who is taking a step up in the factory team for the first time in his career at this round as Sébastien Ogier will be sitting out in Sweden.

Over at Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, Craig Breen is returning to the team after one year absent as he takes the seat in the third Hyundai i20 N Rally1 and joins Thierry Neuville and Esapekka Lappi. M-Sport Ford WRT who normally brings the most cars to a rally will only field two Ford Puma Rally1 in Sweden for Ott Tänak and Pierre-Louis Loubet.

Lorenzo Bertelli from Italy will be switching over from M-Sport to Toyota for this season, he will be renting a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 as he becomes the first privateer to drive a Toyota.

Over at the WRC2 support category, the defending champion Emil Lindholm is joining back for Toksport WRT in a brand-new Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 and he will have fellow Finn Sami Pajari alongside him in the team. Also joining the Toksport WRT outfit for the rally will be the home hero Oliver Solberg, Marco Bulacia and Nikolay Gryazin.

Teemu Suninen from Finland and Fabrizio Zaldivar from Paraguay will continue to drive in the 2023 WRC2 season for Hyundai Motorsport N, the team presented their venture on Monday, and after finishing second in the team´s championship, they will be building on that for the season start that will take place in Rally Sweden next month with the full entry list to be published later on Monday afternoon.

Suninen demonstrated the capabilities of the Hyundai i20 N Rally2 by winning the final round of the season he participated in at RallyRACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada 2022 and also finished on the podium on two occasions in Estonia and Japan.

“I’m thrilled to be returning to Hyundai Motorsport for another season in WRC2. 2023 will be challenging, but we definitely have a lot of potential in the Hyundai i20 N Rally2. I’m confident we can win more rallies and be a serious contender for the title this year. We need to push ourselves and the car in order to be competing at the front in every event, but I can see everyone in the team is willing to do that to achieve the results we deserve. We know the car much better this year than last, so it’s exciting to think where we can take it.” Suninen said.

Zaldivar´s did his first season in the WRC2 last year and it was used as a learning season to gain some experience. The Paraguayan native managed to take two stage wins and finished four rallies within the top ten.

“This season I hope to improve my results as well as continue the good practices we built as a team last year. I know the Hyundai i20 Rally2 very well now, which will help put us on the front foot as we start a new season. The gravel events are the ones that come more naturally to me, however I made some good progress on tarmac last year too. It will be interesting to start on snow this season, but it is a challenge I am looking forward to. I believe this season will be my best to date, and I’m really hoping for some standout results to help the team win the title.” Zaldivar said.

M-Sport Ford WRT was expected to bring a significantly redesigned livery to the team’s Ford Puma Rally1, when the team announced it on Monday morning it showed the cars have no major differences compared to last season. There were small changes in which the lightning strikes were removed and more navy blue added, albeit bigger than those seen at Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT and Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT.

The 2019 champion Ott Tänak returns to the British outfit for the first time since 2017 where he started his WRC career back in 2012, he drove two seasons for Toyota and after winning the crown he went to Hyundai for three seasons in 2020.

Pierre-Louis Loubet will pilot the second car, the young Frenchman did seven rounds for the team last season after he switched from the Hyundai Motorsport backed 2C Competition at the end of 2021. This season he will be going for his first full-time season at the top level and he has teamed up with Nicholas Gilsoul as the new co-driver after Vincent Landais went to partner up with the eight-time champion Sébastien Ogier over at Toyota.

The energy drink giant Red Bull enters as a major partner, cars that are in factory colors will be driven by Tänak and Loubet in Rallye Monte-Carlo this weekend and the rest of the season. At the same time, a third driver may appear, and negotiations with Sébastien Loeb about a few starts also in 2023 are ongoing. In the season-opener Jourdan Serderidis will also drive with the same design on his car but without the Red Bull logos on the side.

As the Stadium Super Trucks sit dormant in the winter offseason, Zoey Edenholm got to try her hand at another racing series known for durable vehicles but otherwise stays glued to the surface (usually). On Saturday, she participated in the ARCA Menards Series‘ preseason testing at Daytona International Speedway, driving the #42 for Fast Track Enterprises with support from Cook Racing Technologies.

Of the forty drivers who practiced on the second day of testing on Saturday, Edenholm clocked the thirty-fifth best time of 51.720 seconds at 174.014 mph. The performance ranked fifty-fourth among the sixty-one total runs—including some drivers who tested both days—across the two-day session.

“Incredibly grateful to have been able to attend the [ARCA] Pre Race Practice in Daytona,” posted Edenholm on social media. “First time on an oval track! Wasn’t out long but still managed to clock in 174.014 mph. Very proud of myself and itching to get back out! Special thank you to my team and the Fast Track Racing and Cook Racing teams for making sure the entire 5’1″ of me gets into a fitted car quickly!”

Edenholm was one of seven female drivers to test. Toni Breidinger and Amber Balcaen, racing for top-flight Venturini Motorsports, respectively held the two best times of 49.119 (183.228 mph) and 49.123 (183.214 mph). Logan Misuraca was twenty-fourth overall at 50.112 and 179.598 mph ahead of Kayla Surles (50.307, 178.902 mph), Amber Slagle (50.858, 176.963 mph), and Mandy Chick (50.904, 176.803 mph). Surles was thirty-third while Slagle and Chick placed next to each other in fortieth and forty-first.

Fast Track Enterprises, owned by Andy Hillenberg, fielded multiple cars in the test with Christopher Tate posting the best time in twelfth. Cook Racing Technologies led by Bruce Cook also has a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series programme to complement their ARCA operations.

Kevin Magnussen feels ‘some good things’ are now going the way of the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team as they have a stronger financial foothold in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship than ever before.

Haas have traditionally had one of the smallest budgets on the grid since they joined Formula 1 back in 2014, and their lack of development of their past two cars have shown just how their finances lacked. 

The VF-21 from 2021 was not developed at all as they focused on their 2022 design, although the VF-22 that came from that plan was only given minimal updates compared to other teams.

But the arrival of MoneyGram as lead sponsor has given Magnussen, who returned to the sport after a year away in 2022 and scored Haas’ first ever pole position in Brazil, some confidence that they can begin to fight on a more even level going forward.

“There are some good things going our way,” said Magnussen to GPFans.com.  “We’ve got MoneyGram as a title sponsor now, and that is going to allow us to invest more in certain areas.

James Vowles’ appointment as Team Principal of Williams Racing has been described as an ‘amazing’ opportunity by Lewis Hamilton, according to Toto Wolff, the Team Principal of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team.

Vowles left his role as Chief Strategist at Mercedes when offered a chance to replace Jost Capito at Williams, and he will take up his new role in February.  He will be tasked to bring Williams up from the back of the field, the team having scored only eight points during the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

Wolff says Hamilton, who has worked alongside Vowles ever since he joined Mercedes back in 2013, was very supportive of the move and felt it was amazing that he was getting the chance at Williams.

“I told him this week that this was going to happen and he is absolutely fine,” Wolff is quoted as saying by GPFans.com.  “Working with James has always been a great pleasure for him.

“The clever thinking on a Sunday morning, that was good fun with James always. But he is absolutely…I think his first response was ‘That’s amazing for James’.”

Lucas Di Grassi put all his ABB FIA Formula E World Championship experience to use at the 2022/23 season-opening Mexico City E-Prix, as the Brazilian dealt with immense pressure to claim a third-place finish at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

As the sun rose on race day, nobody could’ve predicted that Di Grassi would end the day towards the sharp-end, with Mahindra Racing having looked less than convincing across pre-season testing and during Free Practice One. Free Practice Two was slightly better for Di Grassi, who was the only driver capable of extracting any performance from Mahindra’s M9Electro powertrain. Heading into the first qualifying session of the season, no one had any hope for Mahindra or their customer side the ABT CUPRA Formula E Team, who’d languished at the back during Free Practice.

Unbelievably, whilst the other three Mahindra-powered cars struggled, Di Grassi made it all the way to the Final of the duels, where he remarkably claimed the first pole position of the Gen3 era. When it came to the race, the former Formula E Champion started the race excellently after a solid launch. Di Grassi led the opening stages of the race and dealt with two early Safety Cars well; however, it was a mistake from him at Turn Two after the second Safety Car restart which allowed Jake Dennis to lunge up the inside at Turn Three.

Dennis went on to clear into the distance, with Di Grassi having not had the pace to escape to victory. He ended up defending for the bulk of the race, with the likes of Jake Hughes and Pascal Wehrlein having appeared considerably faster. The Brazilian used all his years of experience in the all-electric series, though, to maintain second place, until Wehrlein eventually found a way past. Whilst he had no answer for the German, he did manage to keep Hughes behind to claim a famous rostrum on his Mahindra debut, securing him fifteen points.

He actually walked away from Mexico City with eighteen points, having claimed an additional three for achieving pole position. Di Grassi hailed his fortieth Formula E podium as a “Mexican miracle”, with the Brazilian driver having been hoping to “make the team proud” ahead of the race.

The season-opening round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship was a hugely memorable one for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, who started the Gen3 era of the all-electric series in brilliant fashion at the Mexico City E-Prix.

Gen3 couldn’t have started much better for the German manufacturer, with their Porsche 99X Electric Gen3 powertrain having looked incredibly impressive all weekend in Mexico City. Three of the four Porsche-powered cars made it into the qualifying duels ,with all four then going on to claim a points finish at the season opener. For the factory team, Pascal Wehrlein claimed a well-deserved second place finish, whilst António Félix da Costa finished seventh on his debut for the team after narrowly missing out on the duels.

Wehrlein formed part of a Porsche one-two in Mexico City, as Porsche customer team Avalanche Andretti Formula E claimed victory. It was Jake Dennis who cruised to the first win of the season, with the British driver having put on one of the most dominant displays in Formula E history. Former Porsche Formula E driver André Lotterer claimed fourth for Avalanche Andretti, on his debut for the American team.

It meant that Porsche had all four of their powertrain-powered cars in the top seven, something that no other powertrain supplier came close to achieving. Team Principal Florian Modlinger labelled the first race as “successful”, with the start of the season and Gen3 having been “outstanding” for the German manufacturer.

“That was a successful first race day of season 9. Both factory cars qualified in the top 10. In the race, Pascal quickly worked his way up the field and ended up scoring our team’s first podium result of the season. Antonio kept getting entangled in duels further back but also managed to progress.

Pascal Wehrlein was a man on a mission in the closing stages of the Mexico City E-Prix, after battling through the top five to claim a super second place finish at the season-opening round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

Wehrlein started the first race of the Gen3 era in sixth, after being knocked-out at the Quarter-Final stage of the duels after being beaten by eventual race winner Jake Dennis. Nevertheless, sixth place was a solid starting position for the German driver, who looked strong all weekend at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. When the race started, he quickly settled into the race and got past Dan Ticktum for fifth during the opening phase of the E-Prix, before sitting comfortably behind the top four.

As the race moved into its second half, a four-car group had formed from second to fifth, with Dennis having escaped out front. Wehrlein soon began to make his moves towards the podium places and got past André Lotterer for fourth. He then found himself behind Lucas Di Grassi and Jake Hughes, with Wehrlein having overtaken the latter on Lap Twenty-Six, whilst both Di Grassi and Hughes activated their second Attack Mode.

Wehrlein had significantly better pace than those amongst the top five, excluding Dennis, with his Porsche 99X Electric powertrain having been performing wonders. A couple of laps later and he made the move on Di Grassi for second, before clearing off into the distance. The 2022 Mexico City winner couldn’t quite make it back-to-back wins; however, second spot was an excellent achievement having started sixth.

The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team driver labelled his podium as a “super start” to the new campaign, with Wehrlein having confidence that the team’s car still has a “lot of potential”.

Jake Dennis became the first winner of the third era of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, after a sensational performance at the Mexico City E-Prix. As well as claiming victory by almost eight seconds, the British driver claimed the TAG Heuer Fastest Lap, meaning he walked away from the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez with twenty-six points.

Dennis was imperious in Mexico City and was looking like the odds-on favourite for pole position, after setting the fastest lap of the weekend during his Semi-Final duel against fellow Brit Jake Hughes. The Avalanche Andretti Formula E driver ended up losing the Final duel to Lucas Di Grassi as a result of severe damage to his front-wing, which he obtained after smashing into a bollard during his Quarter-Final duel. Given the damage he had, it was astonishing for Dennis to even make the Final, which he lost convincingly.

After being fired-up for the race, Dennis quickly settled into the first race of the season behind Di Grassi, who led the opening stages of the E-Prix. The British driver ultimately bided his time before lunging down the inside of the Brazilian at Turn Three following a second Safety Car, after Di Grassi made a huge error at the second corner. After making the move on the Brazilian driver, Dennis never looked back and built a substantial lead in rapid fashion, before a third Safety Car ruined all his hard work.

Dennis saw his lead disintegrate after Edoardo Mortara span into the tyre barrier at Turn One, leaving the British driver to restart the race following he Safety Car. The Andretti star did just that, and got the race back underway flawlessly. He astonishingly had a lead of over a second by the time he completed the first lap since restarting the race, before once again escaping out-of-sight. He eventually claimed an easy victory in what was a Porsche one-two – Andretti are a Porsche customer team for 2023 – with Pascal Wehrlein having fought through the top-five late on.

Speaking prior to the podium celebrations, Dennis praised the “sensational” Mexican fans and labelled the race as incredibly “physical”. The British driver was also quick to thank his team for all their efforts in just getting to Mexico City, with the turnaround from Gen2 to Gen3 having been exceptionally fast.

The eight-time world rally champion Sébastien Ogier will be hunting for his record-breaking ninth Rallye Monte-Carlo win next weekend as he will be joining the grid for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT.

Ogier is doing his second consecutive part-time this season as he will be sharing the third Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 with Takamoto Katsuta. It is still not clear if Ogier will continue to drive in endurance racing but the Richard Mille Racing entrant in LMP2 was not seen on the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship entry list as it got published, or if he will take some time off to enjoy his family life.

He is the 2nd most successful WRC driver in history, after his fellow countryman Sébastien Loeb who has clinched a total of nine world titles in the series but Ogier is also one of the two drivers that have won titles with three different manufacturers, the other one being the Finn Juha Kankkunen. Ogier’s rally career began in 2005 when he won the Rallye Jeunes on debut and was rewarded with a place in the Peugeot 206 Cup for the following season, he then teamed up with his long-term co-driver Julien Ingrassia, who became synonymous with Ogier.

In 2008 Ogier started to drive in the WRC, when he entered the FIA Junior World Rally Championship in a Citroen C2 S1600 and made his debut in Rally Mexico where he also won his class and became the first JWRC to score WRC points as he ended up eight overall, and the same year he clinched the JWRC title, which became the first of many to come. He was also awarded a first drive in a Citroen C4 WRC in Wales Rally GB.

The following year Ogier made a one-off appearance in the now defunct Intercontinental Rally Challenge in Rallye Monte-Carlo, where he surprisingly won in a Peugeot 207 S2000 fielded by Kronos and also joined his first full-season in WRC driving for Citroen Junior Team and took his maiden podium finish in Acropolis Rally Greece same year. In 2010 he joined the main factory team Citroen Total WRT for two outings beside driving in the junior outfit, he took his first WRC to win in Rally Japan driving in a works car.