Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The 2021 WRC3 world champion Yohan Rossel from France has confirmed he will continue to drive for PH Sport in the upcoming 2023 FIA World Rally Championship in the WRC2 class behind the wheels of the same Citroen C3 Rally2 machine he has used for the success this year.

Rossel made his debut in the WRC2 class this year and he has secured three podium finish with two of them being victories in Rally Croatia and Rally de Portugal, followed by a second-place finish last time out in RallyRACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada.

The Frenchman also had two rallies to forget with the crash in Rally Italia Sardegna which took him out of a victory and the more roll in Acropolis Rally Greece where he also crashed out on the power stage when he was on route to secure another podium finish.

Rossel is currently sitting in fourth overall in the championship standings after his final rally of the season, he will not attend the season-finale of FORUM8 Rally Japan in November.

“I can confirm in 2023 we will be competing in the WRC2 again. We were in our absolute best form in Spain, we knew it would be very difficult to fight for the win. At the beginning of the rally, a puncture combined with not an exactly optimal setup penalized us, after that we found ourselves and could climb back up to second place. In the WRC2 you have to run perfectly from the first kilometers as we did in Croatia and Portugal.” Rossel said.

There is no rest for the FIA Formula 1 World Championship as the season draws ever closer to an end, as this weekend sees the exciting Mexico City Grand Prix, which arguably has the greatest run to Turn One on the calendar.

The circuit is known for featuring upto four-a-breast off the line, as the cars charge down to the first corner, as well as the famous stadium section of the circuit where the fans cheer is heard by all the world. Pirelli have opted for the same tyre compounds as last weekend to be used at the Hermanos Rodriguez Circuit, meaning the C2, C3 and C4 compounds will be in use.

Pirelli are expecting a fascinating weekend due to it being the highest venue on the calendar, with the circuit being 2200 metres above sea-level, putting more strain on the engines due to the thinner air. Usually, the cars suffer from less downforce in the slow speed sections; however, the new regulations could result in the cars behaving differently.

Friday will again, unfortunately, be a pain for all the teams, as Free Practice Two will see the session extended to ninety-minutes once again so the 2023 prototype tyres can be used. If teams use a young driver in the opening session, then they can run their own programmes for a set amount of time before switching to the 2023 tyres.

Pirelli Motorsport director Mario Isola is expecting track evolution to be very high this weekend, with grip set to be an issue with it being a low-demand circuit for the tyres.

The Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team have become the fifth side in the paddock to be awarded with the FIA‘s Three-Star Environmental Accreditation, following a full audit and evaluation last month.

The Three-Star level is the highest environmental accreditation that the governing body can award, with it being determined based on the practices team’s carry out to ensure they are aiming to improve their environmental position. Aston Martin, therefore, are producing some of the best work to do what’s right for the environment, something which they’re doing at a time when Formula 1 is pushing ever more to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

The Silverstone-based side have introduced a range of measures to achieve this award, including, reducing the amount of single-use plastics used both at their headquarters and on their travels around the world, improved waste management, an all-electric staff car scheme, as well as others.

Aston Martin’s new factory was also applauded by the FIA, as the facility is being built with the very best environmental and sustainable systems.

Aston Martin Team Principal Mike Krack is “pleased” with the award, and believes it shows how committed the team are to a sustainable future.

After Sébastien Ogier won his first rally of the season at RallyRACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada last weekend with his five rounds old co-driver Benjamin Veillas, Ogier has now announced he will be splitting up the partnership and signed a new co-driver for the upcoming FORUM8 Rally Japan next month.

The Frenchman has run a part-time program this season and after many successful years with Julien Ingrassia reading the notes, he teamed up with Veillas for this season but that partnership was short-lived despite Veillas guiding Ogier to victory in Spain, which also was the first win for Veillas on top-level.

For Japan and onwards, Ogier will be teaming up with fellow Frenchman Vincent Landais, who has been the co-driver for the upcoming talent Pierre-Louis Loubet in the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team outfit.

“Firstly I want to say thank you to Benjamin for his hard work and application during our programme of rallies this year, it was a special moment to share our first victory together in Spain. Now that the team has secured all three championships and the main targets for the season have been achieved, we would of course like to finish on a high at the home rally for Toyota in Japan.” Ogier explained.

“But this final round is also a chance to prepare and evaluate some things for the future and to give an opportunity to Vincent, who is a talented and motivated young co-driver. He has been working with us in our gravel crew and after this nice experience I am excited to compete in our first rally together and to see how it works out.”

At the age of seventeen, Eryk Goczał is hoping to become the youngest driver to compete at the Dakar Rally. Things took a step in the right direction on Wednesday when he received his Polish driver’s and competition licences, which he proclaimed he achieved on his first attempt, and were required for him to join the race. He will drive a Can-Am Maverick for Cobant-Energylandia Rally Team in the T4 SSV category with Oriol Mena as co-driver.

“This two sheets of paper are my tickets to make my dreams come true! I passed my Driver and Competitor License exams with the first shot,” Goczał posted on social media. “That means I can compete in the most difficult rally in the world as the youngest driver in history!”

He is the son of Marek Goczał, who owns the Energylandia amusement park in Zator, Poland, and races in the World Rally-Raid Championship. While not driving for his father’s team, Eryk supported worked as a team member as Marek finished runner-up in the W2RC T4 standings. This also entailed joining the team at the 2021 and 2022 Dakar Rallies, where Marek respectively placed eighth and fourth; his latest run saw him win four stages. Uncle Michal has also raced at Dakar with runs of fifth and fourth in two tries.

Goczał drives a BMW E82 in the Polish Drift Championships, winning the 2022 BMP category title with four victories. While drifting is a far different discipline from rally raid, he also dabbles in the latter in a Can-Am SSV. In September, he ran the Baja Poland as a non-championship driver to prepare for Dakar.

Mena worked with Rokas Baciuška at the 2022 Rally and finished third in SSV before joining Francisco López Contardo‘s team later in the W2RC season. López went on to win the T3 crown while Baciuška claimed T4. Mena previous competed at Dakar as a Bike rider.

Upon receiving their acceptance letters in July, David Pearson and the American Rally Originals set an ambitious goal: become the first Americans to complete the Dakar Rally in the Originals by Motul category. With two months until the 2023 race, ARO has been busy competing in various events to sharpen their skills, with Pearson striking gold when he finished third in the Malle Moto class at the Sonora Rally to win the Road to Dakar invitation.

The Road to Dakar rewards the top-performing competitors at select races with free admission to either the upcoming or the following year’s Dakar Rally provided they have never run the race before. Races that fall under this label include the TGRSA 1000 Desert Race in June, the Atacama Rally in August, the World Rally-Raid Championship‘s Rallye du Maroc and Andalucía Rally (the latter does not give the invite for Bikes as it is not a desert event), and the Sonora Rally. While the Sonora Rally has four-wheel divisions, only bikes were eligible for the Road to Dakar.

Others to earn free registration via the programme include Luis Díaz Soza for winning the T4 class at the Atacama Rally, along with a trio of Stefano Caimi, Ruben Saldaña Goñi, and Toomas Triisa at the Rallye du Maroc.

Pearson was among twelve entries eligible for the Road to Dakar and finished third in Malle Moto (tenth overall) behind Jordan Huibregste and ARO rider Kyle McCoy. Ace Nilson, riding in the Pro category, was runner-up in the Road to Dakar and is also making the trip to Dakar. ARO team-mate Morrison Hart placed thirteenth overall and second in Enduro.

Of the five ARO riders heading to Dakar, only McCoy has prior experience as he finished sixtieth overall in his début in 2020. Pearson’s brother Jim Pearson and Paul Neff are also newcomers to the race.

Audi and Sauber Group are set to team up to form a factory team for the FIA Formula One World Championship starting in 2026. Currently Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN, the team will continue to engineer their car in Hinwil, Switzerland, while Audi will take on the development and manufacture of the team’s power unit.

“The partnership between Audi AG and Sauber Motorsport is a key step for our team as we continue to make progress towards the front of the grid,” Sauber Motorsport Team Principal and CEO Frédéric Vasseur said. 

“To become Audi’s official works team is not only an honour and a great responsibility: it’s the best option for the future and we are fully confident we can help Audi achieve the objectives they have set for their journey in Formula One.”

In preparation for entry into the sport, Audi is expanding its facility in Neuburg an der Donau as well as their staff and general infrastructure. These efforts are set to be completed in 2023, with initial power unit testing scheduled for 2025.

“We are delighted to have gained such an experienced and competent partner for our ambitious Formula 1 project,” said Oliver Hoffmann, Audi AG Board Member and Responsible for F1 Programme.

The Turkish Skoda Motorsport backed powerhouse Toksport WRT has become the first customer to take delivery of the all-new Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 and the team will be fielding the car in the final round of the 2022 European Rally Trophy in Germany next weekend between 4/5 November.

The new Rally2 weapon of choice for Skoda will be driven by their successful Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen, he has been working on the development of the car during the early 2022 season before the car got officially launched in July. The car has since now only been driven as a course car in some local rallies of the Czech Republic.

Toksport WRT was without question selected to become the first customer for the car, they have since the launch of the older Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo been one of the leading teams running the cars with great success with Mikkelsen becoming the 2021 WRC2 champion for the team.

The Lausitz Rallye will be held close to the Polish border in the city of Boxberg and the rally is known to have some of the most demanding gravel stages in Central Europe and features ten special stages covering a total of 145.56 kilometers.

The entry list features a total of 104 drivers, beside Mikkelsen there are some other strong names such as the two-time rally winner Matthias Kahle from Germany, WRC2 front-runner Erik Cais and fellow Czech Filip Mares, 2022 Polish rally champion Tom Kristensson from Sweden, Estonian Raul Jeets and the Pole Daniel Chwist.

Frédéric Vasseur admitted the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN squad expected more from Sunday’s United States Grand Prix as they failed to score a point at the Circuit of the Americas despite promising pace from their upgraded C42-Ferrari.

Valtteri Bottas was in contention for the top ten only to spin out, while Zhou Guanyu could not better thirteenth at the chequered flag, although that became eleventh once Fernando Alonso and Alexander Albon had penalties applied.

Alfa Romeo’s points advantage over the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team has been further reduced as a result of the outcome in Austin, with just a single point separating the two teams now as they battle over sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship.

Vasseur says Alfa Romeo must regroup and fight back, with Q3 the minimum aim during this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix if they want to be contending for points on Sunday afternoon.

“We undoubtedly expected more from last weekend: the race pace was promising, and it seemed like points were within reach for us, but eventually things didn’t go our way,” admitted Vasseur.

Valtteri Bottas took responsibility for his safety car-inducing spin into the gravel trap during the United States Grand Prix on Sunday, with the Finn feeling it cost him a chance of a top ten finish.

The Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN driver has not finished inside the points since the Canadian Grand Prix back in June, but he was in contention at the Circuit of the Americas until he spun off at the penultimate corner whilst attempting to close the gap of Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly.

Bottas had already survived a robust overtake from Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez on the opening lap of the race that cost him momentum and a couple of places, but he felt he had the car to break his pointless run had he not put it in the gravel trap.

“We were looking really strong for points, so it’s disappointing to finish my race early,” said Bottas.  “At the start, I was going into Turn Nine on the opening lap and saw Perez diving in at the very end: it was very close, and I had to go wide losing momentum and a couple of places, but luckily we just touched.

“I passed [Alexander] Albon, settled into a rhythm, but when I was trying to close the gap to Gasly to get into DRS range I made a mistake in Turn 19 and lost the rear end. I later found out that, at the same time, there was quite a big gust of wind, so a combination of that and pushing too hard put an end to my race.

Fernando Alonso feels the outcome of his BWT Alpine F1 Team’s protest over his post-race time penalty in Sunday’s United States Grand Prix will determine whether the FIA Formula 1 World Championship is heading in the right direction when it comes to officiating and regulations.

The Spaniard was handed a post-race ten-second stop and go penalty by the stewards at the Circuit of the Americas after they deemed that his A522 was unsafe due to a loose right-hand side mirror, which was damaged during his high-speed collision on the back straight with Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team’s Lance Stroll.

The mirror would eventually detach itself from the car, ironically on the back straight where his accident with Stroll occurred, but the stewards felt Alpine should have repaired the mirror, like they did with the front wing, before returning the car to the track.

Alonso feels, like Alpine have, that the penalty was unjustified, and this Thursday a hearing will be heard at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix to determine whether the penalty remains or whether it will be overturned. 

The veteran Spaniard insists it should not have been a penalty in the first place, and the outcome of the protest will see if the regulations in Formula 1 are right for the sport or not.

Otmar Szafnauer admitted the United States Grand Prix saw an under par BWT Alpine F1 Team, and after a penalty for Fernando Alonso, the team left the Circuit of the Americas with only a single point for Esteban Ocon.

Alonso was lucky to see the chequered flag at all after briefly going onto two wheels following a high-speed collision with Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team’s Lance Stroll midway through the race in Austin, but he recovered superbly to finish inside the points in seventh.

However, a protest from the Haas F1 Team about a potential unsafe car saw the stewards hand Alonso a thirty-second time penalty that relegated him outside of the top ten, but at the same time promoting Ocon into tenth place, the Frenchman having recovered from a pit lane start.

Alpine remain ahead of the McLaren F1 Team heading into next weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, where Szafnauer, the Team Principal at the Enstone-based squad, hopes the team can return to form and consolidate their position.

“The race was a fitting match for an electric atmosphere in Austin today, and I’m happy that we could put on an exciting show for the fans,” Szafnauer said prior to Alonso being handed his penalty.  

The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series‘ long-awaited snow/ice race now has a date and location: Rovaniemi on 4/5 March. The 2023 schedule was released Tuesday, consisting of six points-paying rounds along with two exhibitions, the latter of which includes the Arctic Ice Race at Rovaniemi.

The Ice Race has long been anticipated since the series conducted a test on such a surface in March 2021 in Val Thorens, France. The test, held on a track typically used by the Andros Trophy, proved to be such a hit that the series included an exhibition on the 2022 calendar, though the lack of further details suggests it became the 2023 event.

Located in Finland, Rovaniemi hosts the Arctic Rally Finland (not to be confused with the Rally Finland in Jyväskylä). While normally a stop in domestic rally competition, Arctic Rally Finland hosted the World Rally Championship in 2021 as a replacement for the COVID-cancelled Rally Sweden.

After the Ice Race opens the 2023 season, the first points race will be at Circuit Ricardo Tormo on 6/7 May, marking the third straight year that the Valencia course begins the year.

Brands Hatch and Autodromo di Vallelunga will welcome the series over the summer. The former, held on 17/18 June, will be used to celebrate the American NASCAR Cup Series bringing a Next Gen car to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France as well as the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

After finishing second in the ARCA Menards Series championship battle, Daniel Dye will move up to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2023. Like in ARCA, he will pilot the #43 for GMS Racing.

Following a successful part-time campaign in 2021 where he won at Berlin, he contested the full 2022 slate with GMS. Despite failing to win a race, he scored top tens in all but three races and placed runner-up to Nick Sanchez in the final standings. He also won Rookie of the Year honours.

“I am really thankful for the opportunity to drive the #43 Chevrolet Silverado RST for GMS Racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2023,” said Dye. “GMS Racing, their partners and staff, are the best in the business, and to drive their Chevy trucks next season is something that I’ve dreamed of for a long time.”

Dye is a member of Drivers Edge Development, a Chevrolet driver development initiative co-run by GMS and Xfinity Series team JR Motorsports.

“It has truly been a pleasure watching Daniel progress so far in his relatively short time spent with the team,” commented GMS president Mike Beam. “Since we signed him to our programme, his dedication to learning the ins and outs of the sport has been top-notch. Early on, it was made clear to everyone that he has the talent to move up to the next level of competition. Now, with a full year of ARCA racing under his belt, the time has come to make that move. We are excited to be a part of his journey along with our partners at GM (General Motors) and Chevrolet, and look forward to seeing what he can do during his rookie year competing in the Craftsman Truck Series.”

Antanas Juknevičius has taken part in the Dakar Rally annually since 2003 and as a driver since 2014. However, the longtime racing dilemmas of equipment disparity and money have prompted him to sit out the 2023 edition.

Juknevičius particularly took issue with the T1+ category, a new World Rally-Raid Championship class for 2022 that consists of 4×4 prototype vehicles larger and more powerful than a standard T1, and the lack of affordable yet competitive options for aspiring entries.

Driving a 2016 Toyota Hilux IRS Overdrive in the T1 class, Juknevičius finished forty-ninth at the 2022 race. While his Kreda team’s vehicles are outdated, they elected to continue with the older truck in the meantime until T1+ equipment became available. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and Russian invasion of Ukraine have resulted in parts shortages across the racing world. Juknevičius pointed out the crises also scare potential manufacturers off from investing into T1+ programmes; Prodrive and Toyota are the only makes in the class with the Hunter and Hilux, respectively.

With only two companies building T1+ cars, prices for them begin in the range of €800 thousand. Although some privateers like Guerlain Chicherit and fellow Lithuanian Vaidotas Žala can afford the switch and will race with Hunters, others are not as fortunate. 2022 Dakar and W2RC T1 champion Nasser Al-Attiyah races with a Hilux T1+, while runner-up Sébastien Loeb and the Bahrain Raid Xtreme team utilise Hunters.

“I have no intention of participating in [Dakar] just to finish or achieve the average result,” Juknevičius explained in a Tuesday social media post. “The team’s ambitions are to fight for a spot in the top 10, and a competitive car is the only T1+ class car that appeared this year in Dakar. Currently the demand for cars of this class is very high and the supply is minimal. Only two manufacturers are producing this racing equipment, and new manufacturers are not in a hurry to enter the market, because the ongoing pandemic and Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February will cause a lot of trouble with broken supply chains. These circumstances determine record high T1+ class car prices – they start at 800 thousand euros.