Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Jost Capito, the former Team Principal of Williams Racing, believes the introduction of the budget cap into the FIA Formula 1 World Championship possibly prevented the Grove-based outfit from dropping off the grid.

Williams are one of the smallest teams on the grid with a lower budget to that of other teams but having a cap on what teams can spend means that they will not be hindered by this shortfall as much as they would be if they were allowed to spend an unlimited amount of money each year.

Capito says that Dorilton Capital would not have invested so heavily into the team without the budget cap being introduced, and it potentially prevented Formula 1 from losing one of its legendary teams.

“The budget cap is good for Formula 1 and for everybody,” said Capito to GPFans.com prior to his departure from the team.  “Without the budget cap, Dorilton wouldn’t have invested in Formula 1.

“It’s quite possible that without the budget cap, Williams wouldn’t exist anymore, so in that view, it’s vital for Williams.”

DGM Racing might begin the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season with two drivers named Josh, but they aren’t just joshing around. On Thursday, the team announced Josh Bilicki will drive the #91 Chevrolet in select races in 2023 beginning with the season opener at Daytona International Speedway on 18 February.

Other confirmed dates are the Chicago Street Race on 1 July and Road America on 29 July, while additional starts were not immediately revealed.

Bilicki did a one-off for DGM at the 2022 Daytona opener, where he finished ninth for his second NASCAR national series top ten. He spent the rest of the year making six starts for Alpha Prime Racing with a best finish of thirteenth at Road America, while also running sixteen Cup Series races for Spire Motorsports with a sixteenth at Atlanta.

“Driving for DGM Racing and the Gosselin family at the season opener at Daytona in 2022 and scoring a top-ten finish was a highlight of my year,” Bilicki stated. “The entire team welcomed me with open arms, and we stayed in touch throughout the 2022 season, even when we were competitors. This felt like a very natural fit for me and my sponsors, and I am hoping to mirror our results next month at Daytona.”

For 2023, he will split between his Xfinity schedule for DGM and a part-time Cup slate for Live Fast Motorsports.

The Empty Quarter Marathon, a two-day run through the eponymous and massive Saudi desert where racers may not receive assistance from their crews, began on Thursday and has already produced a handful of surprises. While some things remained constant in Stage #11 like Sébastien Loeb recording his fourth straight stage win, changes of pace came in areas like T3 where a trio of YXZ1000R Turbo Prototypes fielded by X-raid Team swept the podium.

After coming to life in the second half of the stage, Ricardo Porém led the Yamaha podium ahead of João Ferreira and Ignacio Casale. The trio finished within twenty-two seconds of each other, with Ferreira and Casale separated by just two seconds. The next closest Prototypes were the Red Bull Can-Ams of Seth Quintero and new overall leader Austin Jones, both over six minutes behind. Guillaume de Mevius lost the top spot overall after experiencing mechanical problems as the leg began.

The win is Yamaha’s second in T3 since the category’s introduction in 2021 after Ferreira, the reigning FIA European Cup for Cross-Country Bajas champion, claimed Stage #8 four days ago; both were major upsets as the other nine legs have been dominated by Can-Ams or Red Bulls (or both). All of the Japanese manufacturer’s Dakar wins have come in the FIM classes, which is especially reinforced in the Quad category where everyone is riding a Yamaha Raptor.

“Actually, our main goal was to get through the first day of the marathon stage without any problems. The victory is like a gift we received to compensate for the hard days,” Porém remarked.

While Yamaha got to enjoy double stage wins in T3 and Quad as Marcelo Medeiros claimed the latter, the same could not be said for twice stage victor Manuel Andújar as he was forced to exit with trouble to his Raptor.

After twenty-three years of being one of the NASCAR Cup Series‘ most successful names, Kevin Harvick will hang up his helmet. On Thursday, the 47-year-old announced he will retire from full-time competition at the end of the 2023 season. He is the last driver still competing on a regular basis to have also done so during the Winston Cup Series era, which ended in 2003 as did the top level’s season-long points format.

“There is absolutely nothing else in the world that I enjoy doing more than going to the race track, and I’m genuinely looking forward to this season,” said Harvick. “But as I’ve gone through the years, I knew there would come a day where I had to make a decision. When would it be time to step away from the car?

“I’ve sought out people and picked their brains. When I asked them when they knew it was the right time, they said it’ll just happen, and you’ll realise that’s the right moment. You’ll make a plan and decide when it’s your last year.

“It’s definitely been hard to understand when that right moment is because we’ve been so fortunate to run well. But sometimes there are just other things going on that become more important and, for me, that time has come.”

Harvick’s Cup début came under difficult circumstances in 2001 when he took over for the late Dale Earnhardt at Richard Childress Racing, but he made an impact almost immediately when he edged out eventual champion Jeff Gordon for the win at Atlanta in just his third career start. In thirteen years with RCR, he scored twenty-three wins including the 2007 Daytona 500 as he turned #29—which was selected by RCR as the lowest available number in 2001 after Earnhardt’s passing—into a household number.

NIO 333 Racing‘s exciting journey as an official Gen3 powertrain supplier for the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is about to get underway, with this weekend’s Mexico City E-Prix marking the start of the Gen3 era of Formula E.

NIO enter the third era of the sport following an unsuccessful four-year spell in Gen2, where the Chinese team failed to claim a single podium. The start of a new era, though, presents NIO with a chance to start over and move off the foot of the grid, a slot they held for the vast majority of Gen2. The Silverstone-based team enter the new era as the only powertrain supplier without a customer team, something which might harm them in regard to gathering data.

This might work against Dan Ticktum and new signing Sérgio Sette Câmara, who both suffered from “some issues” during pre-season testing, In fairness to NIO, though, everyone suffered from technical issues, with so much being unknown with the most advanced electric race cars ever seen. Despite the issues they faced and the fact that they were still the slowest team on the timesheets during testing, there is a real sense of optimism surrounding the side, who more than anything else deserve to move off the bottom.

This weekend at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez will be the moment when the team discover “where we are” in the pecking order, according to Deputy Team Principal Russell O’Hagan.

No matter what happens this weekend for NIO, O’Hagan is incredibly proud of the “hard work” that the team has put into their Gen3 challenger, the NIO 333 ER9.

Dan Ticktum is ready to “hit the ground running” in his second season in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, starting this weekend at the season-opening race of both Season Nine, and the incredibly exciting third generation of the series.

The Mexico City E-Prix will host this weekend’s season-opening race, where nothing can seemingly be predicted, given that it is the start of a new era for the all-electric series. Ticktum goes into the year, though, feeling more prepared than he was in his rookie campaign in 2022, given that he “now knows all the circuits”.

The new machinery will also see the British driver back on more of a level playing field, given that he joined Formula E in the final season of Gen2. NIO 333 Racing also appear to be better prepared this year, with the side having arguably posted more social media footage of their Gen3 challenger than any other team. Demonstrating a sense of confidence.

There is no hiding the fact that Gen2 was really tough for NIO, given that they were a regular backmarker; however, Ticktum is hopeful that Gen3 will be the fresh start that the team needs, with the belief being that they can “take the fight to quite a few teams”.

“I’m really looking forward to the start of the season. Obviously I’m not a rookie anymore, so my aim is to hit the ground running. I now know all the circuits, and I think the team’s made good progress in terms of where we’re going to be and I believe we can take the fight to quite a few teams.

The former Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT driver Ole Christian Veiby from Norway has now confirmed that he will be on the start line for the second round of the FIA World Rally Championship in Sweden next month.

Veiby will be doing four winter rallies during the FIA World Rallycross Championship off-season. He will attend three local rallies in Sweden and Norway before rounding up with Rally Sweden. He will enter Rally Sigdal, Rally Elverum, Rally Lima with the 2022 World RX team´s champion Kristoffersson Motorsport in a Volkswagen Polo GTi R5, same car he used last year in Rally Sweden where he finished second in the WRC2 class behind his fellow countryman Andreas Mikkelsen.

During the week Veiby has tested in Anttila, Sweden and next Saturday Veiby’s rally season begins with Rally Sigdal northwest of the Norwegian capital Oslo. Then Rally Elverum, which is the premiere of the Norwegian Rally Championship, awaits next weekend and Rally Lima the weekend before Rally Sweden.

I really feel at home in the Polo. We have a good feeling and had a really good winter last year. It was just a bit of bad luck that meant we didn’t win in Rally Sweden. It is important to have good people around you and in this team I feel really safe.” Veiby said.

The five-time World RX champion Johan Kristoffersson has also tested the car over the winter, he used to do some rally outtings but he is only focusing on rallycross now. He finished third in the WRC3 class in the 2020 Rally Sweden.

Hyundai Motorsport has been without a team principal since the beginning of 2022 when the Italian Andrea Adamo left the team. However, today Hyundai announced that Cyril Abiteboul, known from Formula 1, he will take over the leading role of the FIA World Rally Championship team.

Abiteboul has worked in F1 as a team principal for both Caterham F1 Team and Renault Sport F1 Team, he has also spent over 15 years in motorsport. The 45-year-old Frenchman is still a rookie when it comes to rallying as he is replacing the deputy team principal Julien Moncet from this season onwards.

“I am relishing the opportunity to join Hyundai Motorsport as Team Principal from 2023. In motorsport, like in the rest of their activities, the Hyundai brand is cautiously building its leadership. I am excited at the prospect of being part of it, managing the WRC and Customer Racing programs, where the team has already proven to be strong competitors.” Abiteboul said.

“I am looking forward to immersing myself into the rallying community and discovering more about this spectacular sport. Hyundai has given me its full support to make the transition into this role a smooth one. I can’t wait to get started.”

He will also assume responsibility for the company’s customer racing programs in rallying. Thierry Neuville and Esapekka Lappi will drive in the WRC team for a full season in 2023 while the Spaniard Dani Sordo and Irishman Craig Breen sharing the third Hyundai i20 N Rally1 car.

The first season of NASCAR’s Brazilian operations will see an eight-round calendar. On Wednesday, the NASCAR Brasil Sprint Race revealed its schedule beginning in March and running through November.

The Brasil Sprint Race is a reformation of the pre-existing GT Sprint Race after forging a partnership with NASCAR in November. The move was intended to help NASCAR—primarily based on the United States—begin expanding into South America. NASCAR also has three international championships in Europe, Canada, and Mexico respectively with the Whelen Euro Series, Pinty’s Series, and Mexico Series.

Although NASCAR eventually hopes to have a common chassis across all four global series, the Sprint Race is generally closer to touring cars than stock cars as run in America. The Sprint Race and the adjacent Stock Car Pro Series both also compete exclusively on road courses, though ovals are envisioned for the former in the future as NASCAR increases its influence in Brazil.

Until then, all eight tracks are circuits for the most part. The Autódromo Internacional Ayrton Senna in Goiânia, which is hosting the season opener and finale on 19 March and 11 November, will use different layouts for both: the first round will be conducted on the traditional 3.8-km Grand Prix circuit while the latter is on the 1.9-km external course. The external layout is the closest to an oval with six turns and nary a righthand corner.

The only other track with repeat dates is Autódromo José Carlos Pace with races on 30 April and 6 August. The fifteen-corner, 4.3-km track is most notably the host of Formula One’s São Paulo Grand Prix. The August race is classified as a “Special Edition”, one of two races with the designation alongside the Autódromo Velo Città on 10 September. Special Edition races are longer by a lap while the weekend is longer as it contains a qualifying race.

Perhaps to nobody’s surprise, Austin Hill will be back in Richard Childress Racing‘s #21 Chevrolet Camaro for the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. The team announced his return on Wednesday.

“I’m excited to return to RCR this season to compete for a Xfinity Series championship once again,” said Hill. “My rookie season was a success, but I know that our #21 team can improve even more with our first year together under our belt. I’m very appreciative of the opportunity that Richard and everyone at RCR continues to give me. To not only be back with Andy (Street, crew chief) and my crew guys, but to have our loyal partners return is a huge asset to our programme. I can’t wait to get to Daytona and kick off the 2023 season the same way we started last season.”

Hill graduated to the Xfinity Series in 2022 after four successful seasons in the Truck Series. He broke out almost immediately when he won the season opener at Daytona, followed by another victory at Atlanta. As the only first-year driver to make the playoffs, he easily walked away with Rookies of the Year honours. Hill ended the season with twenty-one top tens, eleven top fives, a pole, and two wins en route to a sixth-place points run.

2022 also saw Hill make his Cup début in RCR’s one-off #33 car at Michigan, where he finished eighteenth. He will run six Cup races in 2023 for RCR ally Beard Motorsports including the Daytona 500. While Beard usually races just the superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega, Hill will also enter the inaugural Chicago Street Race in July and Michigan a month later.

He previously made fifteen Xfinity starts between 2019 and 2021 for his Truck team Hattori Racing Enterprises. That three-year stretch also saw him win eight times in the Trucks with HRE.

Alexander Albon admitted that there he was feeling a little bit anxious when he made his FIA Formula 1 World Championship race return last March in Bahrain, but his nerves were soon settled when he was back behind the wheel.

Having sat out the 2021 season after Oracle Red Bull Racing opted to replace him alongside Max Verstappen with Sergio Pérez, Albon admitted his Bahrain weekend helped him relax back into Formula 1 and find again the confidence that had been lost during his previous stint in the sport.

Albon may have only scored points on three occasions during the 2022 season, but he felt his return year to the sport was his strongest so far of his career, but it was the Bahrain race weekend that was his ‘big turning point’ when it came to finding confidence and eliminating nerves.

“I feel like Bahrain was a real big turning point,” said Albon to Motorsport.com.  “Having a year away and having that kind of sense of a little bit of anxiousness where you just want to get out and get some good performances early into the season to settle the nerves.

“And I guess the inner. not doubts, but you want to overcome and be that better driver that you once were.

Toto Wolff hopes Nyck de Vries has a successful spell racing for Scuderia AlphaTauri in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, and he believes the Dutchman can do a good enough job to move up to Oracle Red Bull Racing in the future.

De Vries will make his full-time debut in Formula 1 in 2023 with AlphaTauri after impressing during a one-off appearance with Williams Racing in the Italian Grand Prix in 2022 when Alexander Albon was unavailable due to illness.  Penalties promoted him to a starting position inside the top ten, but he was able to hold on and score two points for ninth place on race day.

Wolff, the Team Principal of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, released de Vries from his reserve driver contract with his team at the end of the 2022 season as AlphaTauri brought him in to replace the BWT Alpine F1 Team bound Pierre Gasly alongside Yuki Tsunoda.

Wolff says he has considered whether he would bring back de Vries into the Mercedes fold later down the line, but he believes he has what it takes to succeed in Formula 1 and it could be that the Dutchman will end up fighting against Mercedes in a Red Bull, perhaps as soon as the 2025 season when Sergio Pérez’s contract is up.

“I thought about it, [But I hope] that he stays there, and I hope that he’s successful in AlphaTauri,” Wolff is quoted as saying by Polish publication Swiatwyscigow.pl.

Tom McCullough has heaped praise on Nico Hülkenberg following his departure from the Aston Martin Aramco Cognziant Formula 1 Team, feeling the German is a ‘very talented’ driver and a ‘class act’ behind the steering wheel.

For the first time since 2019, Hülkenberg will return to full-time racing in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship after being picked up by the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team to replace Mick Schumacher.

Since 2020, he has been a reserve driver for both the Racing Point Formula 1 Team and then Aston Martin, with Hülkenberg having been required to jump into race weekends on five occasions due to drivers coming down with COVID-19. 

He competed in three races in 2020 for Racing Point, replacing Sergio Pérez for the British and 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone and then Lance Stroll for the Eifel Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, and two races for Aston Martin in 2022, racing Sebastian Vettel in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

McCullough, the Performance Director at Aston Martin, says Hülkenberg’s ability to just jump into a car that he had next to no experience of driving and perform strongly is a great attribute, and he has been an asset to the team because of this ability.

Álex Palou has called for the NTT IndyCar Series to be given more importance when it comes to awarding Superlicence points to race in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship on the back of the failure of Colton Herta making the switch to F1 in 2023.

Herta is a renowned race winner and frontrunner in IndyCar but has not acquired enough points to qualify for a Superlicence, meaning he was unable to take up the offer to race for Scuderia AlphaTauri in 2023, a seat that went eventually to Nyck de Vries.

Palou, who has already earned enough points to earn himself a Superlicence thanks to winning the IndyCar title with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021 and is a member of the McLaren F1 Team reserve driver rota, insists his current championship offers tough competition and is not a junior series, so its drivers should be given a better chance of earning Superlicence points.

“First of all, I have my super license, so I don’t care what’s going on! It’s easy for me to say,” said Palou jokingly to the F1 Nation podcast as quoted by racingnews365.com.

“But, to be honest, I think IndyCar is such a tough competition. I invite everybody to follow closely IndyCar and IndyCar drivers and how close the racing is, to see if we deserve more points or not.

Anthony Alfredo will remain in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for 2023 as he joins B.J. McLeod Motorsports‘ #78 Chevrolet Camaro, the team announced Wednesday.

“I am truly grateful for the opportunity B.J., Jessica (McLeod), and all of B.J. McLeod Motorsports have given me,” said Alfredo. “We have great sponsors and long-term partners that we are proud to keep working with as well. It wouldn’t be possible without them, Team Dillon Management, and all of my supporters. One of the most exciting things is that I will be working with my same crew members from last year which will be crucial to our success since we can continue to build off of what we have learned together. We are all excited to get this season underway.”

After a single season in the Cup Series for Front Row Motorsports, Alfredo joined Our Motorsports to contest the full 2022 Xfinity slate. He finished fifteenth in points with four top tens and a best finish of fifth at Fontana in the second race of the year.

He first appeared in the Xfinity Series in 2020 when he ran nineteen races for Richard Childress Racing. He recorded nine top tens and a pair of top fives including a third at Texas. This was preceded by a thirteen-start slate in the Truck Series in 2019 for what is now TRICON Garage with two top tens. His lone Cup campaign was his first full-time NASCAR season since finishing fifth in the 2018 now-ARCA East standings.

“We are thrilled to welcome Anthony to the team,” added McLeod. “His experience and results in both the Xfinity and Cup Series over the past few years is very valuable and we know he will be a great asset to B.J. McLeod Motorsports.”