Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Denny Hamlin took a massive hit during last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona, one that he reported led to a very sore body. While he will be good to go for the Darlington Raceway playoff opener on Sunday, he found himself to be too shaken up to run the previous day’s Xfinity Series event.

Hamlin’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 came to an abrupt end on lap 139 when he was among thirteen cars—including many of the leaders—collected in a massive crash due to rain that had fallen onto the track. When the race resumed following a three-hour rain delay, Hamlin was among the retirements and classified twenty-fifth.

In an interview after being released from the infield care centre, Hamlin said his “whole body” was in pain from the impact: “My jaw hurts. I feel like my jaw is one of those boxers that gets their whole face demolished. It was certainly the first real Big One I’ve had in this car and everything they’ve been telling us, all the other drivers, it’s legit.”

The crash raised concerns about the Next Gen car’s safety, especially as many drivers say they feel the hits much harder than with the Gen-6 and its predecessors. The Next Gen car is much sturdier, which decreases the risk of freak accidents like blowovers, but more “standard” incidents such as spinning into the wall have been reported as being more painful. Kurt Busch, who drives for Hamlin’s team 23XI Racing, has not returned to the driver’s seat since his qualifying crash at Pocono in July due to a concussion incited by what appeared to be a regular spin.

On Wednesday, Hamlin confirmed his bowing out from the Xfinity race by explaining he “had some soreness in my neck, back, and hips from the wreck on Sunday. I feel like the right thing for me to do is to sit out the Xfinity Series race and put 100 percent of my focus on getting ready for this weekend’s Cup Series playoff race.”

NASCAR‘s Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP) has been in place since 2017 to ensure teams did not try to send a severely wounded car onto the track and endanger other competitors. However, with the policy resulting in teams retiring from races with lesser damaged cars, the sanctioning body has tweaked the DVP clock so that crews will have ten minutes to make repairs.

The change comes as the Cup Series enters the playoffs and leaves behind a chaotic Daytona race where multiple drivers were taken out in large crashes. The duration was also selected to provide teams with more time as they continue through the motions of the Next Gen car’s maiden season.

The clock begins once a car involved in a crash enters pit road. Even if repairs are made, the car must meet minimum speed in order to erase the clock, while trips to the garage eliminate them from the race (cars may return to the race if they go to the garage for mechanical issues).

It is the second time that the DVP clock changed duration since its introduction. The clock’s début season saw it last five minutes before increasing to six in 2018.

Bubba Wallace might have missed the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, but he will still help his 23XI Racing team compete for the owner’s championship. On Wednesday, 23XI announced Wallace will move to the #45 Toyota Camry TRD for the rest of the season as that car is locked into the owner playoffs with the injured Kurt Busch. Ty Gibbs, who served as Busch’s injury replacement, in turn shifts to Wallace’s #23.

“After consulting with NASCAR, the competition and ownership teams at 23XI made this decision in the best interest of the entire organisation and for all our employees who helped earn a spot in the playoffs for the Owner’s Championship through their hard work,” said team president Steve Lauletta. “While Ty has done a great job for us in the #45 car, we feel that Bubba’s experience in this car, at the upcoming playoff tracks and his recent momentum will give 23XI the best chance at maximizing our points each weekend. We recognise that this is a unique opportunity in the Cup Series, and we’re grateful to our employees and partners for standing with the team and supporting this decision.”

Busch clinched a playoff spot by winning at Kansas in May, but has not raced since a qualifying crash at Pocono two months later and subsequently withdrew his waiver to compete in the playoffs. Although he will not be able to vie for the driver’s championship, the Kansas victory qualified the #45 car for the owner playoffs.

Gibbs filled in for Busch for the rest of the regular season, but Wallace’s Cup experience justified 23XI’s decision to switch to the #45. Wallace’s crew chief Bootie Barker and crew will also join him at the other 23XI car and vice versa.

“We are two cars but act as one team,” Busch tweeted. “This is another example of teamwork! I support @BubbaWallace and love the leadership I have seen out of him recently. Let’s make a run at the Championship!”

PREMA Racing head in to round twelve of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 Championship at Zandvoort Park circuit this weekend in fifth place, hoping a final push in the closing part of the season can help them leapfrog Hitech Grand Prix and close the gap on the top three teams.

Last time out at Spa-Francorchamps the team left the weekend pointless, despite the best efforts of Dennis Hauger, who could only manage tenth in the sprint race and twelfth in the feature race, and team-mate Jehan Daruvala, who didn’t start the sprint race and then struggled to make an impact in the feature race, finishing down in twentieth place.

Heading into the Dutch Grand Prix weekend the team are positive of a good result; Hauger has already raced at Zandvoort Park circuit and won there when he was racing in the FIA Formula 3 Championship.

This weekend there will be a big focus on qualifying as the tight parts of the circuit teamed with the new banked corners make it hard to pass.

“We are working as hard as we can to end the season on a high note and make our way back to the front at Zandvoort.” said Rene Rosin, PREMA Team Principal.

Scuderia Ferrari’s head of vehicle performance, Marco Adurno spoke about the challenging and demanding Zandvoort circuit as Ferrari look to fight back against Red Bull Racing in the fight for the constructors’ championship.

Adurno spoke on his passion for motorsport and his journey to becoming the Ferrari head of vehicle performance.

“My passion dates back to when I was a child, when I watched Formula 1 in my father’s arms and dreamed of one day being part of this world. It remained a dream until 2007, when I got the opportunity to join an English team, which set me on the path to fulfilling my desire to join Scuderia Ferrari, which I did in 2019”.

Moving on to this weekend, Adurno is looking forward to the challenges of the demanding Zandvoort circuit for the team, especially Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

“This track now has a completely different layout to that used in the Eighties, when the Grand Prix was a fixture on the calendar (up until 1985). Now it features a long sequence of medium and high speed corners that are very demanding for both car and driver. Steep banking of some corners is a unique feature with T3 and T14 banked to no less than 16 degrees”.

Dave Robson says the experience of racing at the Circuit Zandvoort last year should help the Williams Racing team start the weekend this year at a good level of performance, although he is not expecting the track to be a strong one for the team.

Robson, the Head of Vehicle Performance at Williams, says the hard compound tyre might be a challenge to get working this weekend, but Pirelli’s medium and soft compounds should be easier to work with and are likely to be the tyres of choice.

Alexander Albon will need to relearn the Zandvoort track having not raced there since 2015, and Robson says they will be doing their best to give the Thai driver the chance to familiarise the circuit on Friday.

“Zandvoort provides quite a different challenge to last weekend in Spa with the circuit configuration being considerably different and the tyre compounds being a step harder,” said Robson.  

“The hard C1 compound was previously taken to Bahrain, Barcelona and Silverstone and could be a tricky compound this weekend. However, the Medium and Soft compounds are likely to work well.

Alexander Albon has not raced at Circuit Zandvoort for seven years, with the Thai driver admitting it will take a little bit of time to adapt to the track this weekend.

The Williams Racing driver arrives in The Netherlands on the back of a positive weekend in Belgium last weekend that saw him start sixth and score a point in tenth place.

Albon knows the Zandvoort track is completely different to the Spa-Francorchamps track from last weekend, and he knows Saturday will be extremely important to get a good position on the grid and put the team in a place where they can break into the top ten again on Sunday.

“Coming out of a successful weekend, we know Zandvoort is a very different track to Spa and we’ll need to adapt to the different requirements, with a much higher downforce and on a difficult track for overtaking,” said Albon.

“Saturday will be an important day for us and, whilst we’d like to have a repeat of Spa, that will obviously be slightly difficult.

Zandvoort plays host to the penultimate round of the FIA F3 championship this weekend, as only ten points separate the top five drivers in the standings.

After a disappointing week at Spa-Francorchamps for those fighting it out at the top of the championship, with Oliver Bearman being the only driver in the top four to score more than six points over the course of the weekend, the title favorites will be looking to redeem themselves in Zandvoort.

Arguably, the driver who faced the toughest weekend was ART’s, Victor Martins. The Frenchman went into the round joint top of the championship on one hundred and four points, and left Spa third in the championship, on the same points he entered with.

Martins is fully focused on the championship, and his own driving, as he expressed after an unfortunate qualifying session in Spa:  “I just want to be in front, winning races and getting pole positions and it’s like that that you will take the Championship, so I’m not focused on everyone else out there.”

The twenty-one-year-old will be incredibly keen to get back on the top step of the podium in Zandvoort, a position he hasn’t occupied since the feature race in round 3, at Barcelona.

Max Verstappen is buzzing to get going with his home Grand Prix, after the Dutchman dominated the field at the Belgian Grand Prix to claim his ninth victory of the season.

Verstappen was untouchable in Belgium, with the reigning World Champion now arguably out of reach of any of the pack behind. The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver is on the cusp of retaining his title, which he could achieve as soon as the Italian Grand Prix. Victory this weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix will just add to his incredible season, where he has blown all of his competitors away.

He’s not expecting it to be as easy this weekend at Zandvoort, though, with the Dutch driver expecting Scuderia Ferrari to be right in the mix.

Verstappen is predicting it to be a “pretty crazy” weekend, as he looks to deliver in front of his home supporters.

“After the successful weekend we’ve had in Spa, I’m really looking forward to the Dutch GP. There’s a lot more downforce required at the track in Zandvoort so it will be harder for us to be dominant, I expect Ferrari to be strong there. I of course want a good result but it’s important to always score points, lets hope we can do a good job. It will be great to have my family there supporting me, I’m just going to enjoy the weekend with all the fans, it’s going to be pretty crazy.”

Mercedes- AMG Team HRT driver, Luca Stolz, stormed through the field from eighth on the grid to win race two in DTM at the Nürburgring. Stolz moved to the front of the pack during the safety car period in the opening stages, as a quick pitstop from HRT and a flawless restart from the German secured the win.

The Van der Linde brothers, Sheldon, and Kelvin were flying after their 1-2 finish in race one. And they continued their rich run of form by qualifying first and second for race two.

Race one winner, Sheldon, made the better start. Holding onto his pole position through the opening laps, while Kelvin dropped back into the pack.

Sheldon’s Schubert Motorsport teammate, Philipp Eng, was making a rare appearance at the very front of the field after qualifying in third. The two teammates battled wheel to wheel through the first few couples with Van der Linde coming out ahead.

René Rast was forced into retirement after being punted around by David Schumacher in an accident similar to Bortolotti and Fraga’s incident in the race prior. The three-time DTM champion Rast, was angry after the incident, suggesting that some drivers would benefit from going back to lower categories to gain more experience.

Sheldon Van der Linde was handed the win in race one of DTM at the Nürburgring after Mirko Bortolotti crashed into race leader Felipe Fraga while trying to overtake the Brazilian in the closing stages of the race. Van der Linde led home his brother Kelvin, to make history as the first South Africans to achieve a 1-2 in DTM.

Ahead of the race, thick fog descended on the Eifel circuit, forcing qualifying to be abandoned. As a result, the drivers lined up on the grid in their championship positions after a near four-hour delay to the start.

Red Bull Alphatauri AF Corse driver, Felipe Fraga enjoyed a dream start from sixth on the grid, moving up to second place in as many corners. Sensing an opportunity to make up ground on the championship leaders, Fraga was not content to sit around behind Bortolotti. As the two entered the chicane, Fraga was bravest on the brakes to take the lead around the outside.

AF Corse pulled the pin first, bringing the race leader into the pitlane for fresh tires. In slippery, cold conditions tire warm-up was going to play a big role in strategic decision-making. As was evidenced when Bortolotti pitted from second a lap later and rejoined in the lead.

On his new cold tires, the Italian had no chance of keeping the Ferrari behind. As Fraga capitalised on his tire advantage and completed a textbook move to regain the lead. But those who thought the battle for the lead was over, were proven wrong when Bortolotti tried an optimistic move on Fraga in the closing stages of the race.

Sebastian Vettel will be hoping to make it three points finishes in a row at this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, in what will be his last time racing a Formula 1 car around the “old-school” Zandvoort.

Vettel had a strong Belgian Grand Prix last weekend, where he looked more than comfortable in the points places. Zandvoort is a very different type of circuit compared to Spa-Francorchamps, so it’ll be interesting to see how the AMR22 performs at the tight and twisty Dutch circuit.

On paper it shouldn’t be a strong circuit for the team; however, Vettel did manage to score points at the Hungaroring, which shares some similar characteristics to this weekend’s venue.

The four-time World Champion is excited for the “fantastic driving challenge” that Zandvoort presents, as he aims for another good weekend.

“The old-school nature of Zandvoort is so great, and it is such a fantastic driving challenge, particularly the first half of the track. I am curious to see how our car will perform here – on paper, it might be a difficult weekend for us, but we were able to race well in Hungary just before the summer break, and the circuits are quite similar. The 2022 cars can be raced better than last year’s cars, so we will see if we can make some moves in the race.”

London E-Prix winner Jake Dennis has signed a multi-year extension with Avalanche Andretti FE Team, which will see the British driver lead the team’s campaign into the new era of the sport.

Dennis was one of the most impressive drivers on the grid last season, with the Brit now “super motivated” to push on into the Gen3 future. Dennis joined Andretti’s Formula E programme in 2020, and has delivered ever since.

The British driver is looking forward to his future with Andretti, especially with the team now being powered by a Porsche powertrain.

“I started my Formula E journey with Andretti and I’m excited to continue to work with the team that has continued to support my career in this series. Season 9 with the Gen3 era is an exciting time for all teams, and for us in particular with the new relationship with Porsche supplying the powertrain.

“I’m super motivated for next year and feel certain that with the dedication, teamwork, and investment I’ve seen over the past two years with Avalanche Andretti FE, we’ll be able to fight for wins and titles in the future.”

Ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda undertook a unique method of preparation as the two driver raced against each in reverse gear around the Zandvoort circuit.

This was not the first time the two drivers have faced off in a unique race this season, as the two Formula One drivers raced in Swamp Buggies in Florida earlier this year.

The duo raced in DAF cars produced just two hours away from the Zandvoort circuit in Eindhoven. The cars were equipped with CVT transmissions featuring just two gears. One forward gear and the other being reverse. The unique DAF cars reach the same top speed of 120kph in both directions, forward and reverse.

Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen secured the pole position after Tsunoda’s DAF car ended up alongside the wall during the qualifying session.

The Dutch driver would go onto claim victory in the race around a specially built course for both drivers to navigate. Tsunoda pushed the championship leader close, but a wobble in the Hugenholtz bend proved to cost the Scuderia AlphaTauri driver any chance of victory.

Ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur has placed high importance on a strong qualifying result if the team is to snap their five-race streak of finishing outside the points.

The Swiss-based team have lost a substantial amount of ground in the midfield battle to the likes of the McLaren F1 Team and BWT Alpine F1 Team after such a promising start to the season.

Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen now find themselves competing with Haas F1 Team, Scuderia AlphaTauri and Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team to keep a hold of sixth place in the constructors standings.

The Alfa Romeo team have now failed to take a single point from their last five races as Valtteri Bottas was forced into an early retirement in Sunday’s race after avoiding a spinning Nicholas Latifi; he found himself beached in the gravel at Les Combes.

While for Zhou Guanyu, the Chinese driver found himself stuck towards the back of a DRS-train in Sunday’s race and was unable to make any real progress around the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit.