Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Rumours have been circulating in recent weeks that Pierre Gasly will be racing for BWT Alpine F1 Team next year, after Fernando Alonso announced he would leave the team for Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team.

A 2023 move to Alpine would see the Frenchman’s Scuderia AlphaTauri deal come to an end a year early, and see him leave the Red Bull family. The door has closed on a move back to Red Bull due to Sergio Perez‘s future being confirmed until the end of 2024, and the lack of impression he left in a short spell with the team back in 2019.

Gasly has been part of the Red Bull family since 2014, he impressed in his first short spell with Scuderia Toro Rosso (known now as AlphaTauri) and earnt a call-up to Oracle Red Bull Racing in 2019, replacing Daniel Ricciardo. However, the Frenchman’s time with the team was not what he had hoped, and halfway through the season he returned to Toro Rosso and secured his first podium in Formula 1 at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Gasly was replaced mid-season by the Austrian side for underperforming, with the pressure of driving alongside Max Verstappen seemingly having become too much for the French driver. Gasly and Alex Albon (who took Gasly’s seat at Toro Rosso), switched places.

He made his name in the 2020 season with the new rebranded AlphaTauri, putting in multiple strong performances and even his first victory at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix. His form improved further in 2021, securing yet another podium finish in a car well-off the pace of the frontrunners. Despite struggling in the 2022 season due to new aerodynamic regulations, Gasly has still out-performed team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, and the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen.

2023 will see a change in the lineup for the British GT and BTCC/TOCA support packages as Ginetta has announced a three-year partnership with SRO Motorsports Group to bring its three championships into one series package.

Currently the Ginetta GT4 Supercup and Ginetta Junior series race alongside the BTCC support races, with the Ginetta GT5 championship joining the British GT series. For 2023 a new structure has been proposed that will see a clear ladder of progression for Ginetta racers.

The Ginetta Junior Championship remains the UK’s longest-running junior series. Giving an opportunity to 14 to 17-year-old racing drivers looking to make the step up from karting, using the multi-disciplined Ginetta G40.

The Ginetta GT Academy will allow for entry-level GT Racing for those outside of the Junior age group. The field will be split between experienced drivers and novices, with drivers in the Rookie class benefiting from training and support from Ginetta factory drivers.

New for 2023 will be the Ginetta GT Championship, combining GT Pro and GT5, this series will feature a new car and championship structure to be announced in the future.

Isaac Barashi will be joining the Phinsys by Argenti this weekend at Silverstone as the ROKiT F4 British Championship certified by FIA squad expand to four cars, with the seventeen-year-old racing alongside Mercedes-AMG F1 junior Daniel Guinchard, Aiden Neate and Adam Fitzgerald.

Barashi has been testing throughout the year, building his experience and mileage in the Tatuus T-421 with the upcoming weekend marking his competitive debut in the series.

“I’m very excited to compete in the final two rounds of the ROKiT British F4 season with Argenti,” said Barashi.

“I’ve had a really productive year so far, bedding in with the team and getting used to the challenges of a Formula 4 car.

“The ambition is to race full-time in the championship in the future, so with the winter months ahead, these races at Silverstone and Brands Hatch will put us in a good position to keep working during the off-season.

On 21 September FIA Formula 3 cars hit the track once again for post-season testing as teams prepare for the 2023 season.

Each day of the three-day test will consist of a morning and an afternoon session, with eighteen hours of track time available to the drivers to gather data across the three days. All cars will be provided with eight sets of slick tyres and three sets of wet Pirelli tyres for the duration of the test, and teams will test on the hard compound tyres.

The first day of testing will see a total of sixteen drivers who have never driven a Formula 3 car get behind the wheel, as they are joined by fourteen drivers with at least one Formula 3 race under their belt.

Of these fourteen drivers, ten are returning drivers who competed in the 2022 Formula 3 championship, including race winner Franco Colapinto and podium sitters Zak O’Sullivan, Reece Ushijima and Gregoire Saucy.

However, of the ten returning drivers only three, Gregoire Saucy, Josep Maria Marti and Rafael Villagomez will join back up with the same team they completed the 2022 Formula 3 season with.

Four female drivers have completed a two-day test in FIA Formula 3 machinery at former Grand Prix track Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, France.

 On the first day of the FIA Formula 3 test, Friday 16 September, Abbi Pulling and Hamada Al Qubaisi took to the track.

Each driver was provided with three sets of slick Pirelli tyres for the test, while F3 champion Victor Martins served as a coach and reference driver, joined by Magny-Cours racing School instructor Julien Guilbert.

The morning session got underway with Martins setting a reference lap time for the two drivers who were new to the machinery, and soon enough Pulling and Al Qubaisi took the track, where the goal was to get comfortable with the Formula 3 machinery.

The afternoon session was a more intense session made up of two qualifying runs followed by a race simulation of twelve laps, on race set-up and high fuel loads. 

In late August, Natalie Decker was scheduled to run the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona for Emerling-Gase Motorsports before abandoning the entry as NASCAR had not approved her sponsor Diesel Beverages, which sells drinks made from terpene. Now that NASCAR has formally signed off on the sponsorship, Decker has entered another superspeedway race as she joins Reaume Brothers Racing for the Camping World Truck Series event at Talladega Superspeedway on 1 October. She will pilot the #43.

Decker last raced in the Truck Series in 2020 when she made thirteen starts for Niece Motorsports, the first of which saw her score the first top five for a woman when she placed fifth at Daytona. She first entered the series in 2016 at Martinsville but failed to qualify, then focused on the ARCA Menards Series over the next two years before returning with a ninteen-race 2019 schedule with now-David Gilliland Racing. She finished sixteenth in her Talladega Truck debut that year.

She ran the Talladega ARCA race in 2018 and 2019, respectively finishing twenty-eighth and twenty-third.

While Decker has never raced for RBR’s Truck programme, she drove for the Xfinity Series arm in 2021 at the Daytona Road Course. Said stable was absorbed by Our Motorsports later in the season and she contested four races with her new team. Decker has attempted five Xfinity races in 2022 with RBR, RSS Racing, and MBM Motorsports, failing to qualify at Daytona and Talladega while recording a best run of twenty-seventh at Atlanta.

“We have been working with Natalie for awhile now, and we are all really excited to have her drive our #43 truck at Talladega,” said team owner Josh Reaume. “She brings a lot of great energy to the track and shop, which is very contagious, and we are looking forward to giving her a great opportunity when she returns to the Truck Series come October. I am very confident in Natalie that she will do an awesome job at Talladega.”

Chassis manufacturer KCMG will be funding a €10,000 prize fund for the upcoming FIA Motorsport Games Formula 4 competition that will see drivers do battle for their country as they aim to secure Gold.

Following the maiden event at Vallelunder in 2019, KCMG will once again be providing a field of hybrid single-seaters for Formula 4 which is due to take place 26-30 October.

 “I’m really excited for the FIA Motorsport Games and delighted to see so much interest in the event,” said Paul Ip, KCMG Founder.

“KCMG and everyone involved are focused in preparing the cars, and we’re confident of having at least 20 cars on the grid again, which will make for a fantastic weekend.”

The carbon fibre composite monocoque for the Formula 4 cars and structural parts are manufactured by KCMG Composites in Taiwan. The KC-MG01 is powered by a 176bhp 1.4-litre turbo-charged engine with a 12kW battery.

Anthony Kumpen was one of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series‘ top drivers in the mid-2010s, winning the now-EuroNASCAR PRO championship in 2014 and 2016 and ten times before a suspension for failing a drug test in 2018 abruptly placed his career on hold. Over four years later, with his ban by the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium having expired on 14 September, he is seeking a return to the driver’s seat with the NASCAR GP Belgium at Circuit Zolder on 8/9 October. While his team and number have not been revealed, he will likely race for PK Carsport, with whom he drove and now oversees as manager.

While pursuing his third NWES title midway through the 2018 season, Kumpen failed a doping test at that year’s 24 Hours of Zolder and received a four-year racing ban from the RACB. In an interview with Autosport.be, Kumpen explained a crash in the NWES weekend at Tours Speedway resulted in concussion-like symptoms that necessitated taking ADHD medication prescribed to him by a doctor, but a urine test subsequently revealed traces of amphetamines.

Kumpen did not deny the medicine’s contents but launched an appeal on grounds of the ruling being an administrative error, which ultimately failed. He told Autosport his “only mistake” had been failing to register the miedication for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE), and decided against further appeals as he took responsibility for the matter.

While serving his suspension, he remained involved with PK Carsport as team manager. Under his watch, the team won the 2020 NWES title with Alon Day (who is also currently leading the PRO standings) and the 2022 24 Hours of Zolder overall.

“Now that I can race again, I want to race again, but competitively,” Kumpen told Autosport. “That’s why I’m opting for NASCAR again, especially because the next round is in Zolder, so for my own audience. I am very happy that all my sponsors are still behind me, because even the contracts for next year have already been signed.”

GB3 title contender Joel Granfors will be joining the Carlin team for the upcoming three-day FIA Formula 3 test session, which will take place at Jerez, Spain from Wednesday.

The Swedish driver is currently second place in the GB3 championship, just 16.5 points behind leader Luke Browning with three races remaining.

Granfors is looking to make the most of the test as he looks to move up the feeder series ladder, with the ultimate goal of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
 
“Getting the chance to drive an FIA F3 car for the first time will be exciting,” said Joel Granfors. “I’m really looking forward to trying it out this week at Jerez and to work with Carlin, one of the most legendary teams in motorsport.

The 17-year-old is looking forward to driving the 380-bhp Dallara-built F3 car, a step up from the Tatuus MSV-022 GB3 car that produces 250-bhp

“It will be a case of simply learning the car and getting a feel for the championship, and hopefully we can have a productive three days together.”  

JD Motorsports will return to fielding three cars for the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, the team announced Tuesday. A full lineup was not immediately revealed, though the team frequently fields multiple drivers, outside of Bayley Currey who returns to the #4 full-time.

“We’re very excited about how 2023 looks,” said team owner Johnny Davis. “I’ve been around this series for a long time, and the schedule looks to be the best it’s ever been. We’re going to be all over the country with our cars, and we’re going to have some great opportunities for partners to come on board and race with us.”

After running the #0, #4, #6, and #15 in 2021, JDM dropped to just the #4 and #6 for 2022; a perk of the reduction came in the team forming an alliance with upstart Jesse Iwuji Motorsports, who operates out of JDM’s shop. While Currey has run every race in the #4, Ryan Vargas is doing the bulk of the schedule in the #6 but has increasingly been pushed aside for other names due to sponsorship and performance issues. Others who have driven the #6 include Ty Dillon, Gray Gaulding, Bobby McCarty, and Spencer Pumpelly, while Brennan Poole will attempt the playoff races at Texas, Homestead, and Phoenix.

Currey, currently in his third straight year of regular Xfinity competition, is twenty-first in points with a best finish of tenth at New Hampshire. He nearly scored another top ten in the regular season finale at Bristol.

“We’ve had strong cars all this season and some good finishes,” Davis added. “We were especially excited about Bayley Currey’s eleventh-place finish at Bristol in the #4 Alka-Seltzer car. Bristol is one of the toughest tracks on the schedule. To finish every lap there is quite an achievement, and for one of our cars to come home eleventh shows where this team is headed.”

The 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar was released to the public following approval by the World Motor Sport Council. The schedule features twenty-four Grands Prix, the most race weekends in an F1 season to date. 

Key additions include the much-anticipated Las Vegas Grand Prix, which will be held on 18 November as the penultimate race of the season, as well as the return of the Chinese Grand Prix and the Qatar Grand Prix. China was last held in 2019, while Qatar first appeared in 2021 and will return for the 2023 season and beyond. 

The historic Monaco Grand Prix remains on the calendar for 2023 after much debate regarding its inclusion moving forward, while the fan-favorite Belgian Grand Prix moves to 30 July, the date when the 24 Hours of Spa is traditionally hosted. Vacating the season’s European leg, the French Grand Prix will not be returning next year. 

The season opening Bahrain Grand Prix is scheduled for 5 March, and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will close out the season on 26 November.

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said that the expanded calendar is representative of the series’ increased global reach and ever-growing fan-base. 

Formula 1 will continue to race in Monaco until 2025, after a new three-year deal was agreed with the Automobile Club of Monaco.

The current contract was due to expire this year and there were doubts across the sport that Formula 1’s most famous race wouldn’t return. Also known as the ‘Crown Jewel’ of the season, it has now been officially confirmed that it will remain, following the release of the 2023 Calendar. Monaco will continue it’s run of appearances on the schedule since 1955, which excludes the Grand Prix of 2020 that was cancelled due to the outbreak of Covid-19.

The Grand Prix officially became part of the calendar in 1950. It is known as one of the trickiest circuits of the year, with the drivers having their patience, precision and talent tested for all seventy-eight laps of the race. The track has been questioned recently due to the size of the cars and the lack of apparent overtaking opportunities, with only one overtake having been completed in the 2021 Grand Prix.

However, the track still remains popular with the sport’s drivers and fans. The Monaco Grand Prix has seen some classic races in recent times, with the most recent being Daniel Ricciardo’s triumph in 2018, with the Australian racing to the line with only half of his power.

The track has seen some of the greats, with three-time world champion Ayrton Senna topping the charts with six wins at the circuit, followed by Graham Hill, Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost. Lewis Hamilton has the most wins on the circuit out of the current driver grid, with three to his name and his most recent one coming in the 2019 Grand Prix, where he beat Ricciardo.

Porsche Carrera Cup GB Pro-Am front-runner Will Aspin is targeting a strong finish to the season as the series heads to Silverstone this weekend for the penultimate round of the 2022 championship.

The teenager has had a mixed year in the series, after a strong start to the year, including a victory at Brands Hatch, he has suffered a run of bad luck that has seen him drop out of championship contention. Despite this Aspin has continued to push and bounced back with a podium finish at Thruxton last time out.

“I think it will be a good weekend. We learned a lot at Thruxton, focusing on what we can do and how to do it. We didn’t show it in qualifying, but I think being in the car every week in August was really beneficial for me and the team, so we can work together and make the whole package stronger and stronger,” explained Aspin.

Looking ahead the eighteen-year-old is attacking the race weekend with renewed focus after being behind the wheel for three of the last four weekends, including a maiden race in Europe in the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux at Assen, “For Silverstone, we’ll go into the weekend and extract every bit of performance out of me and the car. Having all this time off over the break has helped me think about things, realise what I wasn’t doing well, and help me calm down a bit.

“I’ve got a test on Wednesday and I’m looking forward to getting back in the car as four weeks without being in it gets quite boring!

This weekend Duckhams Yuasa Racing with Redline driver Oliver White returns to Silverstone, the place where tasted success in the Walter Hayes Trophy, but this time as part of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB series.

White has scored points on his last three race weekends in the series and will be hoping to build on his experience in his first full season of sports car racing.

“I’m looking forward to Silverstone. This is a track that I’ve had a lot of success out in the past and I won the Walter Hayes Trophy there a few years ago. It’s quite a technical track, so it won’t be that easy to learn in the Porsche, but the advantage is it’s a short lap which means you get plenty of laps in testing and hopefully, I’ll get up to speed fairly quickly.

The 29-year-old is hoping to repeat the form that saw him have one of his best race weekends of the year with the upcoming test session at Silverstone on Wednesday.
 
“I think the last time I did a Wednesday test was Knockhill and in terms of competitiveness, it’s probably the best event I’ve had this year. Hopefully, I can do something similar, use the Wednesday to get properly up to speed and get amongst the front runners.“

While the Silverstone National circuit looks easy at first glance, its simplicity of it means there is more chance of a small error that could cost dearly.

Adam Smalley heads into the penultimate weekend of the 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup GB season at Silverstone just twelve points behind championship leader Kiern Jewiss.

Last time out at Thruxton, the Lancashire-based driver collected a second and third place finish, this weekend he will be looking to make the most of his form and hit the front of the pack to add to his seven podium finishes, including one victory, so far this season.

“We had a great weekend last time out at Thruxton, one of our strongest so far, which has boosted our confidence going into Silverstone. We showed some great pace, we had a very strong car, and I’m confident that we can take that into this one,” said the Duckhams Yuasa Racing with Redline driver.
 
“The 992 style 911 GT3 Cup car is great around any track, and Silverstone is a tricky little circuit with only four or five corners. The whole field is going to be very tight, and it’ll be interesting to see how everyone compares.
 
“Qualifying has been crucial this season. It’s very difficult if you’re not in that top five, so it’ll be important that we do all our hard work in the official Wednesday test and carry that through, finesse it on Friday, and do the job on Saturday and Sunday. I’m currently lying third in the championship standings, and we closed in on the lead last time.

“I just need to keep focusing on myself. We’re getting stronger each time we go out so fingers crossed I can have a strong showing.”

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