Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The 2022 IndyCar rookie class got to experience their first (and last) taste of the Raceway at Belle Isle Park this past weekend for the Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit, one of the most physically demanding racetracks that the series visits. Will Power redeemed his heartbreaking loss last year with a victory, holding off a hard-charging Alexander Rossi to win. While it may not have been a doubleheader weekend, the Beautiful Island still provided ups and downs aplenty for the five (yes, five) rookies that competed.

Unfortunately, Callum Ilott suffered a broken right hand in his crash at the Indianapolis 500, and due to the incredibly physical nature of the Belle Isle circuit, he did not compete this week. Santino Ferrucci filled in for him at Juncos Hollinger Racing, finishing twenty-first.

One rookie made headlines on and off the track this weekend, while another had the best performance of his season so far. So who’s on the move? Which rookie reached their first Fast Six qualifying session? Who was able to hang tough on the streets of Belle Isle? Let’s break it all down in this week’s NTT IndyCar Series Rookie Report.

DAVID MALUKAS – DALE COYNE RACING W/ HMD MOTORSPORTS

QUALIFYING: SIXTH – RACE: ELEVENTH (-5)

David Malukas once again was the highest-finishing rookie, coming away from the Motor City with his best road or street course finish of the year and tying his best result of the season in what he called “an unexpected race.”

The 20-year-old American really turned heads with his qualifying performance. He was fastest in his group in the first round of qualifying, a star-studded group featuring Power, Rossi, Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, Josef Newgarden and more. Malukas then advanced to his first Fast Six by finishing second in round two behind Pato O’Ward, before finishing sixth in the final round.

Assuming no last-minute changes, the inaugural World Rally-Raid Championship will end with a double-header in October. The Andalucía Rally, which was previously postponed to an unknown date in the fall, has formally received a new date on 18–23 October and will serve as the season finale. In turn, the Rallye du Maroc moves up five days to 1–6 October.

In late May, the Andalucía Rally was moved from its 6–12 June slate as concerns about wildfire risk, especially due to extreme heat, pervaded its Spanish host region. Anticipating temperatures and therefore fire danger to drop by autumn, the new mid-October date was selected.

With Andalucía pushed back three months, the Rallye du Maroc’s calendar also had to be adjusted as the original 6–12 October slot would have given teams less than a week to regroup and prepare for the next round. While Spain and Morocco are separated by just the narrow Strait of Gibraltar, the former’s Dos Hermanas where the Andalucía Rally’s bivouac is headquartered is over a thousand kilometres away from the Rallye du Maroc’s base in Agadir. By adding a week between the two dates, there is more time for teams to transport their vehicles to the next city.

“These changes are not without consequences for all of us, teams, drivers, and organisation,” reads a statement from the Andalucía Rally. “Hoping to see many of you at the return of the Rallye du Maroc. Indeed, the proximity of the dates of Morocco and the Andalucia Rally will allow you to go directly from Agadir to Dos Hermanas with your assistance vehicles.”

The two rallies intertwine as they share the same organiser ODC and serve as the prelude to the W2RC’s flagship Dakar Rally. The latter also includes the pair comprising the “Road to Dakar”: competitors who have never raced at Dakar are eligible to compete in a separate category in Andalucía, and the best performers receive scholarships to enter the Rallye du Maroc or Dakar.

This weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix looks set to be as wild and unpredictable as it has been for the last several years, where each Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit has produced a different winner.

The second fastest street circuit on the calendar will see drivers use the softest range of Pirelli’s tyres, with the manufacturer bringing the C3, C4 and C5 compounds for the weekend.

Teams usually opt for a medium to low downforce set-up, with the circuit consisting of incredibly long straights, as well as a number of tight and twisty turns. The race usually generates plenty of action, crashes, Safety Cars and traditionally a red flag.

Being a city circuit surrounded by buildings, the track temperature varies due to the shade produced by the facilities, meaning that different parts of the circuit possess different temperatures.

Sergio Pérez won last year’s bonkers race, which saw dramatic tyre failures for both Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen, with the latter’s taking place at around 200 mph. Pirelli will be hoping for no failures on that scale this weekend.

Mick Schumacher heads into this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix following his terrifying crash at the Monaco Grand Prix, which saw his VF22 break into two parts yet again.

Schumacher fell victim to the barriers of Monte-Carlo, something he won’t want to repeat this weekend at the Baku City Circuit, which is of course another street track.

Azerbaijan was one of Schumacher’s best results in 2021, where the young German finished in thirteenth-place, he’ll be hoping for three-places better this weekend.

Ahead of the weekend, the German explained what he’s expecting from the Grand Prix.

“I would imagine to see more action and overtaking. We know that DRS this year isn’t as powerful as it used to be but I’m sure with the cars being able to follow closer, we’ll be able to arrive or stay closer to the car ahead in the last part of the race track and then maybe we won’t need that high DRS power anymore to get by into T1.

The Haas F1 Team endured a horrendous Monaco Grand Prix, with both drivers retiring, including a huge crash for Mick Schumacher. Team Principal Guenther Steiner, is hopeful that the American team can find the “sweet spot” this weekend, and enjoy a successful Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Azerbaijan is not only a difficult country to get to, it’s also an incredibly long distance away from the Canadian Grand Prix which follows suit, as teams prepare for one of the most challenging double-headers of the season. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali is aiming to make the 2023 season more travel friendly, so for this season teams like Haas, are just going to have to get on with the difficult travel arrangements.

Steiner addressed the challenges that the upcoming double-header brings, and how he’s praying for no damage to either car this weekend.

“The challenges are that you go from one continent to another, it’s a long trip and the team is working very hard to get it all done. It’s just down to having a good team around and working hard but it’s a challenge as they only have a few days to get set-up again and get going again for the next race. If you have any damage on the car, it gets more difficult so we’re hoping to not have any damage in Baku.

“On the plans for next season, it would be great if we can combine the races regionally. I know that Stefano is working very hard on that one and it will go in the right direction next year.”

It is that time of year once again when the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans has come around. Taking to the track for the 90th time, cars will race around the Circuit de la Sarthe for 24 hours with this year’s race starting an hour later than usual, at 16:00 CEST (15:00 BST). 62 cars take to the grid as they did last year, with two temporary gazebo garages set up at the end of the permanent pit building to allow for the additional two cars. However this year we have seen none of the reserve cars entered onto the entry list, meaning the 62 that will line up on Sunday will be the 62 cars that were originally granted entry to the race.

Although the race is the third round of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship, it is also open to competitors of the European and Asian Le Mans Series, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar runners and stand alone Le Mans entries, doubling the usual WEC grid size. Only competitors of the WEC will be eligible to score points, and with double points on offer this is an important one for the championship, but all cars are in contention for the overall and class wins.

Balance of Performance May Favour Glickenhaus

Five cars make up the Hypercar class for the blue-ribboned event as Glickenhaus Racing bring a second entry to the race. After their impressive run at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, taking the team’s first class and overall pole position, the privateer will be looking ahead to repeating successes at Le Mans and fighting for overall victory. We have seen Toyota Gazoo Racing struggle in qualifying against both Glickenhaus and Alpine Elf Team, and even though track position certainly isn’t that important in the grand scheme of the race, if they can convert better pace to race day and stay on top of reliability they could be a headache for the reigning Le Mans’ winners.

It’ll be an important race for the #8 crew of Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa who find themselves very much on the back foot in the championship after a hybrid failure at Spa. With double points up for grabs this weekend and a close battle with the other teams for the rest of the season still on the cards, if they lose to the sister car at Le Mans they could find themselves on the back end of team orders for the rest of the season. Le Mans is certainly a race where we have seen teams with multiple cars start to favour one over the other, and with 50 points up for grabs for the winner it’s not surprising that this is usually the swing point of the WEC championship.

WRT Looking to Repeat Last Year’s Success

WRT have, this year, been showing as strong of a performance as they did in 2021, currently leading the LMP2 standings. They go into the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a favourite in class, but don’t underestimate the power of the United Autosports duo, who have been hot on the tail of the WRT throughout the opening two rounds. WRT bring a third car to Le Mans, hoping to take a clean sweep of the class podium. Last time out in Spa, Sean Gelal, Rene Rast and Robin Frijns made an appearance on the third step of the overall podium, a feat they would like to repeat if not better this weekend.

As the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series prepares for its second road course race of the season at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday, Reaume Brothers Racing has recalled Brad Pérez to the #43 while also enlisting the services of Jade Buford in the #33 in his maiden series start.

Pérez, who works as a crewman when not racing, impressed by placing twentieth in his Truck début at Circuit of the Americas in March. He brings road racing experience courtesy of racing a Mazda MX-5 Miata in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), and made the jump to stock car driving in the ARCA Menards Series in 2021 at Watkins Glen as a road course specialist.

The 25-year-old’s #43 truck will be sponsored by the rock band I Set My Friends on Fire, whose lead guitarist Nathan Blasdell is a NASCAR talent representative for various drivers.

“Sonoma is a track in which I have a lot of work related experience at,” said Pérez. “Due to the amount of events I have worked at Sonoma Raceway, this is definitely the most amount of laps I have had coming into a race than ever before. After shaking the jitters off at Circuit of the Americas, I am looking forward to being able to focus and drive hard to have a positive result. At Circuit of the Americas, tire falloff was a new experience for me, and being able to manage that in a NASCAR truck was difficult to start off with. Being able to feel the difference in tyre falloff along with the overall aggressive nature of the Camping World Truck Series has given me a lot of confidence going into Sonoma in the #43 I Set My Friends on Fire/Apex Coffee Roasters Toyota Tundra.”

Buford arrived in NASCAR in 2020 after building up a résumé in sports car racing before running the full Xfinity Series schedule the following two years for Big Machine Racing Team. However, a full-time sophomore campaign in 2022 was aborted due to the team’s struggles, and he skipped five races before returning last Saturday at another road course Portland International Raceway. He finished eighth at the Xfinity COTA race, one of three career top tens (the first also came on a road course at the Charlotte Roval).

The inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway presented a battle of former champions that ended with Joey Logano holding off Kyle Busch for the victory, but most attention seemed to be on the eighth-place finisher. Ross Chastain, who has developed a reputation for his aggressive driving style, did little to dispute it as he became embroiled in on-track drama with Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin.

The feud began with Hamlin shortly after Stage #2 began when Chastain bumped into his rear in an effort to pass him, but this sent Hamlin into the outside wall. Eventually two laps down, Hamlin retaliated by forcing him onto the apron during their next encounter. Ryan Blaney‘s spin set up a restart on lap 101 where Chastain clipped Elliott and spun him across the frontstretch, also collecting Bubba Wallace.

Elliott and Hamlin, who infamously clashed at Martinsville in 2017 while fighting for a Championship Round spot, became an unlikely “tag team” during the ensuing lap 107 restart as the former forced Chastain into the wall before the latter did the same. Even B.J. McLeod was dragged into the mess when Chastain pushed Elliott into him.

By the end of the race, Chastain finished eighth while Elliott and Hamlin were respectively twenty-first and thirty-fourth. Speaking with FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, Hamlin called out Chastain’s lack of “sense of conscience” for his driving behaviour but added stock car racing is “self-policing” and that one might have to “fence these guys hard” for them to realise their actions. Chastain’s employer Justin Marks responded to the message on Twitter with a “Can’t wait”, prompting Hamlin to respond that he is “not helping” but added “you can keep stoking if you’d like. Not sure it helps the end resolve.”

Chastain took responsibility for his driving, saying he “owe(s) half the field an apology. Words aren’t going to fix it, so I’ll have to pay for it on the track and almost did today. I deserve everything that they do. I just can’t believe that I continue to make the same mistakes and overdrive the corners and drive into guys.”

17-year-old Gray Leadbetter has enjoyed a fast (literally and figuratively) rise in the motorsport world, having raced in disciplines from rallycross to sprint cars. This past weekend, she began her first full-time year in short course off-road truck racing with a bang as she won the Championship Off-Road Pro Spec season opener at Antigo Lions Roaring Raceway to become the series’ first female professional class winner.

The Pro Spec class, which consists of two-wheel-drive mid-size Chevrolet trucks with many components being frozen from modification, has only four full entries including Leadbetter, though it is a new division that was just introduced in 2021. After Easton Sleaper took the early Race #1 lead but retired for a transmission problem, Nick Visser led much of the first half until he lost his serpentine belt and dropped out on lap five. The two DNFs shuffled the top spot to Chris Van Den Elzen, and Leadbetter pursued Van Den Elzen until the leader over-rotated his truck which allowed Leadbetter to clear him on lap eight. Leadbetter then held off Van Den Elzen for the final five laps to secure the win.

While “a little rough” early on, Leadbetter told FloRacing/CBS that “it was a great race. My only goal was to finish, especially with as rough as this track has been to people, but it came together and I couldn’t be more thankful for it.”

A weekend sweep was prevented by Visser winning on Sunday, though Leadbetter still concluded the round by finishing runner-up. Van Den Elzen joined them on the podium. With a first and second, Leadbetter exits Antigo as the Pro Spec standings leader with ninety-nine points, three more than Van Den Elzen.

Leadbetter is no stranger to success in COR. In September 2020, she won the final Sportsman SxS race of the season at Crandon International Raceway; at the age of fifteen, she was both the first woman and youngest driver to win a COR side-by-side round. She continued racing in the SxS classes in 2021 before joining Ryan Beat Motorsports for the following year’s Pro Spec season. R/BM, whose eponymous owner competes in Pro 2, is fielding five entries in 2022 though Leadbetter is the lone Pro Spec truck.

The famed Dakar Rally returns to Saudi Arabia for a fourth year in 2023, though with a new route and various rule changes that were announced Sunday.

After preferring a loop-style course in recent years, the Rally will once again be point-to-point beginning on a beach by the Red Sea and concluding at Dammam at the Arabian Gulf on the opposite coast of the country. The route departs its “Sea Camp” bivouac by heading northward through the Medina and Tabuk Provinces before beginning the eastern trek that crosses Ḥa’il, Al-Qassim, Riyadh, and the Eastern Province. Once in the Eastern Province, the largest in Saudi Arabia, the Rally traverses a massive desert called Rub’ al Khali (the “Empty Quarter”) before going to Dammam.

Ḥa’il and Riyadh are no strangers to auto racing as both provinces were sites for the 2022 Rally while the former was the midpoint of the 2021 edition. Riyadh Province also hosts Formula E.

The Rally will be fourteen stages long with a prologue planned to begin the event, making for fifteen days of competition. The stage count is the most for the Rally since the 2018 race in South America had the same amount, and a departure from the twelve that made up the first three Saudi races. Distance-wise, the route figures to be nearly 5,000 kilometres in Special Stages, a significant increase from the 4,258 of 2022 and 4.767 of 2021.

To add a twist to the Special Stages, their routes will branch off in certain sections and competitors given differing ‘A’ and ‘B’ roadbooks to follow. This ensures a racer would not follow a peer near them and instead run the stage based on the road book assigned to them. Such roadbooks are no longer literal paper books as the Rally will introduce digital maps for all.

Before race day, the 54th SCORE International Baja 500 was regarded as a challenging and technical circuit in both design and atmosphere, owing to the inland-exclusive layout with no coastal run. Fears of not finishing—for a litany of reasons beyond weather—were realised for many as attrition and other misfortunes eliminated many front-runners including Four-Wheeler pole sitter Luke McMillin.

As the competiton around him dropped out, Rob MacCachren drove off to his third Baja 500 victory in the Four-Wheel category. San Felipe 250 Bikes winner Juan Carlos Salvatierra won his division’s race to start the 2022 SCORE World Desert Championship two-for-two.

Previously winning in 1996 and 2018, MacCachren secured victory #3 with a total time of nine hours, twenty-two minutes, and forty-seven seconds. Broc Dickerson placed second among the Four-Wheelers with a two-minute deficit to claim his maiden SCORE podium. Trophy Trucks occupied the top twelve overall positions, ending with Trophy Truck Legends winner Gus Vildósola. Defending 500 winner Larry Roeseler, making his fiftieth career start in the event, joined MacCachren and Dickerson on the podium.

The triumph caps off a strong day for MacCachren, in stark contrast to his Trophy Truck rivals San Felipe winner McMillin, Bryce Menzies, and Mike Walser. Although McMillin and Menzies were the early favourites, the latter’s engine expired after eighty-five miles; Menzies’ Red Bull compatriot Andy McMillin also suffered a blown motor. Andy’s cousin Luke would lose the lead after his steering box failed (a problem that also plagued other Mason-built trucks like Walser’s), but was able to salvage a sixth-place finish.

“Just kind of picked our way through it with experience and had great pit stops and had no issues, and everything went good,” MacCachren commented.

Will Power held onto his alternate red wall tyres for twenty laps in his final stint, holding off an insane charge by Alexander Rossi to win the final Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on the Raceway at Belle Isle Park.

Power held a gap of over sixteen seconds after his final pit stop on lap 50 that Rossi managed to shrink down to one second, but Team Penske‘s two-stop strategy held strong to beat out Rossi on the three-stop.

“I just drove it as straight as I could,” Power said post-race. “I never put any slip in it, I was just driving it really straight and really nice on the brakes, on the throttle. I knew that if we could keep a reasonable gap to the end we’d be okay but I was a bit worried because I could see how badly [the tyres] died, but there’s a lot more rubber on the track at the end.”

After watching a win at Detroit slip away last year, Power found this win to be a cathartic one.

“It’s redemption from last year. I was just waiting for something to happen those last ten laps, but just stayed laser-focused.”

It might be an understatement to call the inaugural NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Portland International Raceway a calamity. As rain fell upon the 1.9-mile road course, many drivers went off course or were involved in unusual accidents as they slipped and slid along. A.J. Allmendinger, who already has seven road course wins in his NASCAR career, started at the rear following major repairs and survived his own off-road excursions to win yet again.

“I crashed before it went green,” Allmendinger quipped. He previously won his maiden Champ Car race at the track in 2006. “I was making so many mistakes, trying so hard. I put so much pressure on myself in these races because I know what everyone expects and I know what I expect out of myself, more importantly.”

Perennial road course favourites Sheldon Creed, who won at Portland in the Stadium Super Trucks in 2019, and Ty Gibbs looked to be the top names as they dominated the first half of the race. However, Gibbs’ race took a turn when he was turned by the laps-down Jesse Iwuji from the lead. Iwuji, whose rookie campaign has drawn scrutiny for frequently being off the pace, later apologised to Gibbs via social media message.

“I want to sincerely apologize to the #54 team for the incident during the caution at Portland,” began his statement. “It was not intentional at all. When the caution came out the #54 had accidentally passed me so race control had came over the radio and told me to go buy him and the pace car and get behind the field. Right after I had gotten that communication over the radio from my crew, the #54 car was nearing Turn 1 and had moved over to the outside wall which I assumed he was doing because I needed to pass him when in reality he was only moving over to big arc his corner into that turn and when he did I was already heading right to the inside of the corner where we collided and I accidentally spun him. I received some damage and I’m not sure if he did. I got penalized 2 laps and also had to go see the series director after the race. Once again, I apologize for the incident and any issues it caused.”

Creed was also the victim of drama when a turn one stack-up on a restart caused Jade Buford to clip his rear and spin him. As Creed and much of the field had to skip the chicane, he could not avoid Alex Labbé and destroyed his front end. Perhaps taking a page from his mentor Robby Gordon without throwing his helmet, Creed walked up the racing surface and gave two middle fingers to Buford (whose Big Machine Racing Team is a technical ally of Creed’s Richard Childress Racing), though the recipient later explained Ryan Sieg had pushed him into Creed.

The BWT Alpine F1 Team have come to an agreement with Roland DG, which has seen their current relationship extend by a further three-years, taking them to 2025 together.

Roland DG are the world’s leading supplier of digital printing solutions, which are used on the decals and graphics found on the livery of the A522. As part of the deal, Roland DG will supply Alpine with it’s “world-leading ink-printing technology”.

This technology will not only be used on the A522’s, but also on the team’s trucks and signs surrounding their bases. Roland DG as part of the deal will also supply the French team’s graphic department and paint shops with the TrueVIS VG3-640 print and cut machines, the best in the business. Roland DG will supply training to the Alpine staff who will need to use the machines, to create striking designs.

Joe McNamara, BWT Alpine F1 Team Paint & Graphics Manager is “thrilled” that the partnership will continue for three more years, with Roland DG being “very easy to get along with”.

“I’m thrilled to continue our relationship with Roland DG. The past two years of our partnership have been enormously rewarding. They are very easy to get along with and quick to offer assistance whenever we might need it. Their industry-leading printing machines have resulted in a noticeable jump in quality in the decals and graphics we produce. More than that, the Roland DG family is made up of very friendly and enthusiastic people who are the reason why they are more than just another supplier.”
 
Stephen Davis, Marketing Director at Roland DG EMEA is equally pleased for their relationship with Alpine to be extending, and is looking forward to supplying them with the best machines.

Toyota was more than thrilled with how Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway transpired. Living up to the Toyota 200 name, Toyota drivers occupied the top five positions led by Corey Heim, who secured his second career Truck win after taking the lead from fellow Tundra driver Christian Eckes in overtime.

The Toyotas of Eckes and Ben Rhodes won the first two stage. Chevrolet’s Carson Hocevar and Grant Enfinger, as well as Ford’s Zane Smith prevented the Japanese make from fully dominating as they led laps, but Hocevar would be involved in a horrific accident on the final lap that ended the race under caution: Hocevar had spun before being impacted at race speed by Tyler Hill.

Although Hocevar walked to the ambulance and gave a thumbs up, he was hospitalised for further examination.

“Following the incident on the last lap of today’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at World Wide Technology Raceway, Carson Hocevar was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation of his right lower extremity,” reads a statement from employer Niece Motorsports later in the day. “Additional medical updates will be forthcoming, with no further comment at this time.”

It was not all smooth sailing for Toyota, who lost points leader John Hunter Nemechek to a multi-driver wreck on lap 55, his first retirement of the year. The exit and second-to-last-place finish dropped Nemechek from first to fourth in the standings while Rhodes assumed the lead.