Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The Prodrive Hunter T1+ might be the flagship vehicle of Bahrain Raid Xtreme, but the 2023 Dakar Rally will also see a pair of privateers piloting one. Less than a month after Vaidotas Žala announced he will drive a Hunter, Guerlain Chicherit did the same on Wednesday as part of a two-year agreement between his GCK Motorsport and Prodrive.

Chicherit’s first race with the Hunter will be the Rallye du Maroc on 1–6 October. After running the 2023 Dakar Rally on 31 December 2022 – 15 January 2023, he will run every race of that year’s World Rally-Raid Championship with the car.

The Frenchman ran the 2022 Rally in the GCK Thunder, a two-wheel-drive car powered by biofuel that used the Peugeot 3008 as a platform. Despite running as high as eighth, he dropped out after the eleventh stage.

“I was happy to be back at the Dakar earlier this year,” said Chicherit. “Unfortunately, we were made only too aware of the handicap two-wheel drive cars like our GCK Thunder have to deal with. So this time, we’ve opted for AWD.

“Competition is stiff. At least ten cars are capable of winning. But I think we are in with a chance of being out in front, especially as the course is difficult, very sandy, which is what I like, so I hope that we can clinch it. Whatever happens, the Prodrive programme will be beneficial to GCK Motorsport because it is part of a learning curve. The team needs to build up the confidence to take a hydrogen car to the top in the future.”

In 2021, Luke McMillin missed out on the Baja 400 pole by just .051 of a second to Bryce Menzies. Fast forward a year later and he was able to return the favour by over seven seconds.

McMillin topped Wednesday’s qualifying with a time of 6:37.153 ahead of Menzies in the Trophy Truck class. The two also traded blows at the SCORE International 2022 season opener in San Felipe, where Menzies won the pole but finished runner-up to McMillin.

While coming up short, Menzies is the defending 400 winner. He will hope to turn his fortune around after suffering an engine failure in the Baja 500.

“We had a really good run. It was a lot of fun,” said McMillin. “We got going, took out of the hole really good. This truck just has so many things I want to say but I can’t say. I don’t want to tell everyone what I felt too much, but there’s just a couple characteristics about this truck that are just unbelievable.”

In contrast to his younger brother, Dan McMillin suffered a blown tyre during his lap and finished last of the twenty-six Trophy Trucks. Toby Price qualified seventh in Team Australia‘s first race.

Despite only being twenty-five years of age, Jesse Little will hang up his driving helmet following Thursday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

“I want to thank each fan, friend, partner, and family member that has helped me pursue my dream of being a race car driver,” Little posted on social media. “Thank you for all the shared smiles and successes. The relationships I’ve built with people in the industry will last forever. As well as all the memories made in and around the track. When I was a kid, I would have never imagined living this life, and I want to thank you all for helping me do so.

“I’m excited to begin a new career after this weekend’s race at Bristol. And while I won’t be climbing in race cars anymore, I’ll still be at the track, and I look forward to seeing you all there.”

Son of former driver Chad Little, he grew up in short track racing before entering the now-ARCA Menards Series East in 2012. In 2014, he won his maiden race and finished sixth in East points before moving up to the Truck Series with his family team.

Little spent the next five years competing part-time with various Truck teams, during which he notched seven top tens. In 2018, he ran a pair of Cup Series races at Kentucky and Bristol, finishing thirty-fifth in both.

Brandon Jones will return to the manufacturer with whom he began his NASCAR career as he rejoins Chevrolet with JR Motorsports for the 2023 Xfinity Series season. He will drive the #9 Camaro set to be vacated by the Cup Series-bound Noah Gragson.

Jones’ father JR Jones is the CEO of Rheem, a longtime Chevrolet team sponsor in the early 2010s which allowed him to begin racing with the make in NASCAR’s regional tiers. He spent three years with Richard Childress Racing from 2015 to 2017 before joining Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota from 2018 onwards. With JGR, he has scored five victories and made the playoffs every year, and is currently seventh in points with a win at Martinsville.

He has also raced for JGR’s ARCA Menards Series programme in 2022, winning three of his four starts at Charlotte, Iowa, and Watkins Glen. The exception was a third at Pocono.

“Brandon’s been a tough competitor over the years, and he’s a talented addition to JR Motorsports,” said JRM co-owner and general manager Kelley Earnhardt Miller. “He’s a series veteran that brings a lot of experience, and we’re going to see big things from Brandon and the #9 team in 2023.”

Jones’ departure continues a trend of exits for JGR after 2022, most notably Kyle Busch announcing he would also head to Chevrolet with RCR. Amusingly, Jones and Busch’s new numbers are the same as their JGR counterparts except they drop the ‘1’ digit.

A frustrating Sunday afternoon for Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team saw both, Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll retire from the race due to mechanical issues. Having started the race in eleventh and twelfth; an ERS issue would put Vettel out of the race as early as lap eleven; while Stroll was asked to pit on lap forty to retire the car.

Mike Krack, Team Principal at Aston Martin, says that the decision to retire the Canadian from the race was a “precaution” in order to save the power unit from unnecessary mileage, which lowers the risk of needing to take an engine penalty in the final six races.

“Lance battled hard in the early laps, running as high as tenth, but we did not quite have the pace on this track layout and, as the race progressed, it became clear that points were out of reach. With 14 laps to go, we retired Lance’s car as a precaution to save engine mileage.

“Sebastian’s race was relatively short when he was forced to retire on lap 11 with a suspected ERS issue. He was losing power before smoke appeared and we asked him to stop the car.

“The focus now moves to Singapore at the end of this month – a circuit where we expect a more completive showing,” the Team Principal concluded.

Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix certainly didn’t go to plan for Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team, who were forced to retire both, Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll, from the race as a result of mechanical issues.

Having started the race from eleventh and twelfth respectively, there was certainly an opportunity for the Aston Martin pair to score some points, especially with the numerous penalties that were taken from faster cars. However, the first failure of the race would happen to the four-time champion, Vettel, on lap twelve of the race. The German reports that an ERS issue caused a loss of power, prior to him stopping on track and causing a Virtual Safety Car.

“Unfortunately, we had an issue with the ERS and we had to stop the car. I noticed a drop in power beforehand, and then I was told to pull off the circuit. Overall, this was just a tough weekend for us,” the number five driver explained.

“I was hopeful for a decent race, but we struggled for pace and then had the problem that forced our retirement. The atmosphere was fantastic, however, so a huge thank you to the fans for their support this weekend.”

“I think we will be more competitive in Singapore” – says Stroll

Following the race around Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Stroll has revealed that the reason behind his late race retirement was an agreed decision to save the power unit for future events. While the Canadian didn’t open up on the exact issues he suffered with his British racing green-coloured car, he remains optimistic for the Singapore Grand Prix in three Sundays’ time.

Leland Honeyman Jr. will enter the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for the first time this Thursday at Bristol Motor Speedway. He will drive the #20 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Young’s Motorsports.

The 17-year-old sits third in the ARCA Mneards Series East points entering the final race of the season, scheduled to take place hours before the Truck event. Two of the starts at Iowa and Milwaukee were combination races with the national ARCA Menards Series.

Save for an eleventh in the Milwaukee joint race, he recorded top tens in the first five rounds including a runner-up at Five Flags Speedway.

“I am really excited to get back into the seat knowing that I am going to be racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series along with the ARCA Menards Series on the same night,” said Honeyman. “Bristol is such an amazing track. I have been preparing myself by spending a lot of time on the simulator this week and I hope that will pay off for both races on Thursday night.

“I’d love to take a good run from the ARCA race and apply it towards a successful top-twenty finish in the Truck Series.”

Jeremy Clements locked himself into the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs with his win at Daytona, then lost his eligibility, then regained it.

On Tuesday, Jeremy Clements Racing announced their appeal of the L2-level penalty for an intake manifold violation has been overturned, restoring the Daytona win and playoff spot.

“Our small, family-owned team works hard to bring a safe, legal and competitive car to the racetrack every week and are pleased that the previous ruling was overturned,” reads a JCR statement. “We remain focused on competing for the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and appreciate the continued support of our fans and sponsors.”

Albeit aided by multiple overtime crashes, Clements’ Daytona win was a massive underdog moment for a team whose first and last win came exactly five years prior. Despite passing post-race inspection, the #51 car was taken to NASCAR’s Research & Development Center where it was found to have violated Sections 14.6.12 K and U of the NASCAR rulebook concerning the intake manifold.

The penalty revoked his playoff eligibility but allowed him to keep the win, though the former meant he needed to win again which he struggled to do with twenty-first-place finishes across the next two races at Darlington and Kansas. However, the restored playoff position locks him back in with one race remaining.

A dominant one-two finish for Toyota Gazoo Racing in Sunday’s 6 Hours of Fuji ensured the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship title battle in the Hypercar class will go down to the wire in Bahrain.

The #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley were seemingly in a class of their own in Japan and were untouchable once they took over the lead from the sister #7 car of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez just after the ninety minute mark.

In a trouble-free race for Toyota, the #8 closed out the victory by more than a minute, while the third placed #36 Alpine of Andre Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere was more than two laps down.

The combination of the result means the #8 Toyota and the #36 Alpine will go into the season finale in Bahrain level on one hundred and twenty-one points, while the #7 Toyota is twenty-six points further back in third.

Completing the Hypercar field in Japan were the Peugeot TotalEnergies team, although both the #93 of Paul di Resta, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne and the #94 of Loic Duval, Gustavo Menezes and James Rossiter had problematic races.

After an FIA Formula 1 World Championship debut at the Italian Grand Prix to remember for Nyck de Vries, Williams Racing’s Head of Vehicle Performance Dave Robson has heaped the praise on the Dutch driver stating that de Vries ‘drove an excellent race’ at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza.

Nyck de Vries was drafted in at last minute’s notice on Saturday to replace Alex Albon as the Thai driver had fallen ill with appendicitis, Albon has since recovered following surgery and was discharged from hospital on Tuesday.

The Dutch driver had seen his original qualifying position of thirteenth improved come race day and lined up on the fourth row of the grid in eighth place. Throughout the first eight laps, de Vries was able to hold onto his position but he would soon fall back a place on lap nine as Carlos Sainz Jr. made it past the stand-in Williams driver.

Williams and de Vries opted for an aggressive one-stop strategy which saw the Dutchmen start on the soft tyre and on lap twenty pit for a set of medium tyres to take him to the end of the race. The 2021 FIA Formula E champion rejoined the grid in fourteenth place and was able to work his way back into the points by the time of the late safety car.

Williams resisted the temptation to pit de Vries for a fresher set of soft tyres during the late safety-car period and with the race finishing under the safety car it had proved to be a wise decision by the team. De Vries went on to cross the finish line in ninth place to become the sixty-seventh driver in Formula 1 history to score points in their debut race.

BWT Alpine F1 Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer was dissatisfied to leave the Italian Grand Prix with no points to add to the tally, with Esteban Ocon finishing eleventh after starting fourteenth and Fernando Alonso retiring from sixth place on lap thirty-one with what is believed to be a water pressure issue. 

“We’re certainly disappointed not to have scored points at today’s Italian Grand Prix with Esteban narrowly missing out in eleventh and Fernando retiring from the race while in a competitive position.

“It looks like we lost water pressure on his car, which meant he had to stop, and we’ll do our normal investigations to find out the cause and the solution for the future.”

Szafnauer said that Ocon missed out on an opportunity to battle for a points position in the final laps with the race ending under safety car conditions, and hopes to see safety car procedures reviewed in order to avoid this in the future. 

“On Esteban’s side, he put himself into a strong position during his second stint – lapping one-second a lap quicker than those ahead – and would have been in contention for points before the final Safety Car at the end.

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon finished just outside the points with an eleventh place finish at the Italian Grand Prix. He said that his A522 was working well, though traffic ended up hindering his ability to move forward during the race.

“It was a tricky race today and obviously it’s disappointing to finish just one position away from the points in the end. The car was performing well, and we had good race pace, which we weren’t able to show with traffic ahead. 

With the fast-paced European segment of the season complete, Ocon plans to take advantage of the two weekends off of racing to rest and get ready for the Singapore Grand Prix and the final stretch of the season.

“We’ll refocus and maximise everything for the remaining races from Singapore and onwards. I’m looking forward to a little break to recover from the triple header and fully prepare for the flyaway races where we’ll look to get both cars back into the points in our fight for fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.”

“I was hoping we could see the chequered flag inside the points, but it wasn’t the case today” – Fernando Alonso

Team-mate Fernando Alonso had to retire from the race on lap thirty-one with what the team believed to be a water pressure leak. Having been running in sixth before he was brought back to the garage, he was disappointed to miss out on points for the team.

A lights-to-flag win at Knockhill kickstarted the second half of my season! Sometimes a win in Ginetta Juniors is a bit of luck being in the right place in the front pack to pick up the spoils from the fallout on the last lap. But this was one I took charge of and owned it. Knockhill in Dunfermline, Scotland, is by the far the furthest round on the calendar for myself and the team. Unlike last season, we didn’t go to a test there before race week. But I felt good about performing well as it is a driver’s circuit like Croft where I had shown winning pace and race craft.

We arrived on the Tuesday of race week for a test day. There was also a test the day before that we didn’t attend. We quickly adapted to the circuit and caught up and finished fifth quickest.

On the race weekend, we have 2 practice sessions on a Friday and I topped the timesheets in both sessions. I was aiming for nothing less than pole position Saturday morning. However having quickly caught up other cars, I hit traffic on the 3 qualifying laps that we are limited to and qualified second for race 1 and third for race 2. We can win from there.

In race 1 I was determined to get to the front given the pace I had shown, so on the first lap I made a bold move around the outside of the hairpin to take the lead. I have tried moves around the outside before, but it does run the risk of being taken out. But this time I chose a line that kept me out of harm’s way. I took the lead on lap one and started to pull away. Halfway through the race there was an incident that brought out the safety car which eroded the gap I had made. After the safety car pulled in I did a good restart and pulled a gap again. I couldn’t break the tow, which is difficult with the engine power in juniors, but I maintained the gap to the end to take my first win! All the pressure I had been through to prove what I know I am capable of, was lifted.

It felt really good for myself and for the team, to take mine and their first win of the season! It’s amazing how much the fans watch the juniors. The congratulations I received at the track and online were amazing! That was even before I posted the result myself. I really appreciate my sponsors for believing in me. Not forgetting Ginetta Cars for putting me on the grid last season with the scholarship and Fox Motorsport, running out of their stable. Thank you all. It was great to have Graham Marginson of Integrated Air Systems and Tom White of Trustic Motors up at Knockhill to celebrate it.

Brazilian driver Sérgio Sette Câmara has been confirmed as half of NIO 333 Formula E Team‘s driver line-up for Season Nine of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, with Dan Ticktum expected to soon be announced as his team-mate for the start of Gen3.

Câmara makes the switch to NIO 333 having left the Dragon/Penske Autosport at the end of Season Eight, on the back of scoring his first ever point in the all-electric series at the penultimate round at the London E-Prix.

Whilst Câmara has often struggled during the races, the Brazilian’s pace is unquestionable, having featured in the Qualifying Duels (final eight) many times last season. Câmara is testing NIO 333’s ER9 challenger (their Gen3 car) at the Autodromo di Varano in Italy this week.

The Brazilian made his Formula E debut for Dragon back at the 2019/20 six-race Berlin season finale, before being awarded a full-time seat with the team the following season and last season.

Câmara is “very happy” to be joining the “NIO 333 family”, where his eyes are already set on the “new Gen3 car”.

Anton Marklund could seal his second FIA European Rallycross Championship title with a round to spare the Lusorecursos World RX of Portugal (17/18 September). The Swedish driver has a comfortable lead over his main rival, the luckless Janis Baumanis, who needs to outscore Marklund by at least 7 points to have a hope of winning the title.

If Marklund wins the event on Sunday 18 September, there is nothing his rivals will be able to do. The SET Promotion driver has been the dominant force this season, winning the first two rounds, and narrowly missing out on victory in the subsequent two. Crucially, neither of the other winners this year have been permanent entries in the championship. Norway’s Andreas Bakkerud secured a very popular home win in Hell in round three, and his compatriot Sondre Evjen produced a stunning display in the wet last time out in Latvia to secure a fantastic win. Having beaten Marklund off the line, he coped brilliantly with the pressure being heaped upon him by the Swede, keeping his cool and defending his position to claim the win.

These performances, while meaning he was beaten on the day, have meant that Marklund’s main rivals have been kept at bay. Belgium’s Enzo Ide has demonstrated stunning pace at times this year, frequently being in the mix for the top positions at various points over race weekends but ultimately failing to deliver when it mattered. Baumanis, driving for #YellowSquad, has had appalling luck and consequently has never really got his title campaign underway, despite being second in the championship.

In round four of the championship at the Biķernieki circuit in Latvia, Baumanis showed great pace throughout the weekend, but suffered a freak intercooler issue during the semi-final, meaning he did not progress to the final. Team manager Eric Färén expressed disappointment at this turn of events, saying “Until the technical issue happened in the lead of the semi-final, we had a very solid weekend. We struggled a little to find the last tiny bit of pace, but Janis had some very good race wins in the heats. The intercooler problem was just a freak thing, we have never seen that happen in all the years Hansen Motorsport has run this setup in World RX on the Peugeot 208, so it is just one of those things.”

While it may well be “just one of those things,” the simple fact is that Marklund has not suffered any major reliability issues so far this season. He has been able to deliver when it counts in a car that seems perfectly set up for him, and consistently scores a large number of points. For anyone to stop him taking the crown for the second time, there needs to be a major change of fortunes.