Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Nick Cassidy faced a conundrum for the 2022 racing season: he was due to race for AlphaTauri AF Corse in Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters as well as Envision Racing in Formula E; however, some DTM dates clash with FE. To remedy this problem, AF Corse turned to someone with more than enough experience on off-road and touring cars but is new to DTM: Sébastien Loeb.

Loeb needs no introduction for rally fans as a nine-time World Rally Champion with eighty rally victories including Monte Carlo in January. While off-road is his forté, Loeb is no stranger pavement circuit racing as the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans runner-up. In 2014 and 2015, he finished third in the FIA World Touring Car Championship with six race wins.

The Frenchman had tested an AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 in Belgium last Tuesday.

“Throughout my career, I have always liked to change between disciplines,” said Loeb. “DTM is a famous championship and as the opportunity came up for me to compete in it, I took it, of course. It is an exciting challenge because the driving style is entirely different.

“Now, it is time to work. I will be up against specialists in such racers and my last proper GT3 race already is a long time ago. My goal will be to find my rhythm as well as I can and I will try to use my experience to give the team good feedback about the set-up of the car. I know that it will be difficult but the cars really are fun to drive. Really fast, nice cars. Therefore, I am looking forward to it.”

For Thursday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway, Reaume Brothers Racing will task Blake Lothian with piloting the #43 truck. It will be his first career start in the Truck Series.

“I’m so grateful to Josh Reaume (team owner) and everyone at Reaume Brothers Racing for this opportunity,” stated Lothian. “Looking forward to learning and growing with this team. I remember first watching Todd Bodine race trucks when I was little and ever since then, racing a truck has been a dream of mine. Now I am going to get that opportunity thanks to Reaume Brothers Racing. Coming off of a successful 2021 season, I’m beyond thankful for the opportunity to race at such a historic venue as Martinsville in a NASCAR Camping World Truck. The opportunities that everyone at Reaume Brothers Racing gives to numerous drivers is more generous than I could ever ask for, and I am looking forward to being a piece of the puzzle on the Paperclip.”

Lothian currently competes in late models, a discipline he joined from karting. Last year, he won at Hickory Motor Speedway in just his fourth late model start, and went on to score top tens in all eight such races. The 19-year-old was a member of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Youth Driver Development Program in 2019 and 2020.

In January, Lothian moved up to the big track at Daytona International Speedway when he participated in ARCA Menards Series testing for Mullins Racing; he set the thirty-first best overall time in a group of sixty-four.

“Giving drivers the opportunity to make their name is part of the reason I have continued in NASCAR for many years,” commented Reaume. “I see the same passion and drive in Blake that I have in myself, and I am excited to give Blake the opportunity he deserves.”

The 2022 SCORE International World Desert Championship began in dramatic fashion as the opening San Felipe 250 came down to a matter of minutes. The Trophy Truck class’ Luke McMillin and defending winner Bryce Menzies arrived at the finish together, and McMillin officially took the overall victory by just two minutes.

McMillin, who finished runner-up to Menzies in the 2021 edition and qualified third for Saturday’s race, completed the 277-mile course in four hours, twenty-five minutes, and 20.573 seconds with Jason Duncan at his side. Pole winner Menzies battled with second-fastest qualifier Justin Lofton in the early stages until McMillin passed Lofton and the latter’s engine expired after eighty-eight miles. A downed tyre from hitting a rock and questionable engine performance for Menzies allowed McMillin to close the gap, and the two traded the lead for the rest of the event in what McMillin described as “cat and mouse.” McMillin kept Menzies at bay in the dash to the finish to defeat his time of 4:27:29.269.

Despite the narrow defeat, Menzies described the run as a “solid day. Me and Luke just went back and forth, but he’s on top of his game. We tried everything we could do to track him down, but we also knew that this is qualifying for the Baja 500. Just stoked to back down here in the Malecón.”

The overall win is the 100th in Baja for McMillin’s tyre supplier BFGoodrich, continuing a legacy that began with Bob Gordon winning the company’s first in the early 1970s. McMillin is now on a three-race streak of podium finishes that includes winning the Baja 1000 as a co-driver to Rob MacCachren last November. MacCachren overcame a sixteenth-place starting spot, which topped off a difficult qualifying day in which his Trophy Truck got beached in very fine silt, to finish fourth.

“We ran clean today. We had no issues, no close calls. We just kept moving all day,” McMillin told the SCORE broadcast. “We picked off Lofton going up north, caught him on some lines, passed him moving which was really cool, and then worked our way right up to Menzies. Got up behind him on the lake bed and they were changing the tyre at the end and we got out front. We were out front for a while and then got to our pit, we had a little hiccup and Menzies got back by us. We were heading to Matomi (close to Route Mile 220) and we got on the high road, and I was probably thirty-eight seconds behind Bryce. I know the game on the high road, so I took it easy and he pulled over right before we got to Matomi, and from there we just drove it in. Amazing.”

The FIA World Endurance Championship 2022 grid will be boosted to 37 cars for the second round of the championship. After missing the first round due to the safety of staff and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, GR Racing will be back on track at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, adding another entry to the LM GTE Am class.

Most classes see little to no changes on the grid as only a few teams trading out singular drivers for the Belgium round. In Hypercar, Toyota Gazoo Racing and the 1,000 Miles of Sebring-winning Alpine Elf Team retain their opening round line-ups. Only the sole Glickenhaus Racing sees a driver change with Pipo Derani replacing Ryan Briscoe to race alongside Olivier Pla and Romain Dumas.

Most changes to the second race’s line-ups come in LMP2, where three of the 45 drivers will be different from Sebring.

Alex Lynn, who had signed with United Autosports ahead of the season starting, will take his seat in the Sebring winning #23, replacing Paul di Resta alongside Oliver Jarvis and WEC’s youngest class winner/entrant Joshua Pierson. Changes also come in the #10 VECTOR Sport with 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona overall winner and 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans LMGTE Pro class winner Sebastien Bourdais taking over from Mike Rockenfeller to race with Nico Muller and Ryan Cullen.

The final change to the LMP2 entry list sees the return of Alex Brundle who was forced to miss the Sebring race after testing positive for COVID. He returns to the Inter Europol Competition after Fabio Scherer subbed in for him in America to race with Jakub Smiechowski and Esteban Gutierrez.

Denny Hamlin‘s hometown of Chesterfield, Virginia is approximately twenty miles away from Richmond Raceway, making it his NASCAR Cup Series home circuit. A little pit strategy earned him his fifth career win at the track as his fresher tyres allowed him to pass William Byron with five laps remaining and pull away for his first win of 2022.

Hamlin started thirteenth while Ryan Blaney was on the pole. The former’s 23XI Racing ally Kurt Busch was responsible for the first caution when his fuel pressure died ten laps in. Blaney would led every lap of the opening stage to win ahead of Byron, Ross Chastain, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, and Kevin Harvick.

While Stage #2 was incident-free, pit stops dominated the segment as each team tested out various methods to maximise their track time on each setup. Hamlin and Toyota’s alternative strategy allowed Joe Gibbs Racing team-mates Bell and Truex to lead laps, as did Blaney’s Team Penske compatriot Logano. Bell led much of the stage before being passed by Truex for the eventual stage victory. Chastain, Logano, Blaney, Elliott, Harvick, Busch, Kyle Larson, and Keselowski followed.

Six laps into the third stage, Cody Ware hit Ricky Stenhouse Jr. after he was turned by Erik Jones, prompting Ware to tweet about “[n]o respect (being) given back to me when I try to give it to everyone.” Another wreck came five laps following the ensuing restart when Ty Dillon and Cole Custer made contact and Austin Cindric was caught in the crossfire.

The race resumed on lap 264 with Byron leading. Like in the previous segment, pit stops were a critical factor as Hamlin elected to pit twice in Stage #3, while others like Byron opted to do one. Although Byron led much of the final stage, it slowly grew clear that Hamlin and his newer tyres had the advantage as he chased him down. Hamlin caught the leader and passed him with five laps remaining.

2022 marks the twenty-fifth year since Team Parker Racing turned its first wheels as a race team, during that time they have amassed an impressive thirty-seven separate drivers’ and teams’ championship titles in series ranging from the Porsche Carrera Cup GB to GT World Challenge (previously known as the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup), and Caterham Superlight European Challenge to the British GT Championship.

This year the team will be renewing a previous partnership with SACRED Coffee, having previously worked together in 2010. As part of the renewed relationship, SACRED will create a limited run of Team Parker Racing coffee during the 2022 motorsport season, with further plans yet to be announced later in the year.

SACRED have close links to Porsche motorsport as the official supplier to the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E team, Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, Porsche Carrera Cup GB, and Porsche Motorsport GT team.

Stuart and Andy Parker, owners, Team Parker Racing talked of the deal, “We are really happy to have our own special Team Parker Racing blend of coffee to mark our 25th anniversary in 2022 and power us through the season, especially with SACRED as Tubbs has long been a supporter of the team and Porsche motorsport as a whole for many years.

“It’s going to be great to have our own blend of coffee to celebrate our 25th anniversary. All of us at the team are excited to work with SACRED to offer the blend to guests at the race track, as well as to customers visiting our Parker Classic Works road car business, and to work on other plans which we can’t wait to announce.”

The Superstar Racing Experience‘s 25 June round at South Boston Speedway will feature six-time track champion Peyton Sellers as a guest driver. SRX confirmed his entry on Saturday.

Sellers is one of the top regional drivers in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series. Mainly competing at Dominion Speedway and South Boston Speedway in his native Virginia, he won the 2005 and 2021 Weekly Series national championships. The 2021 title came with track titles at the aforementioned circuits, and his six SoBo championships are the second most in track history behind David Blankenship‘s seven. His Sellers Racing also enjoyed much success with others like Dustin Rumley winning Ace Speedway’s late model track championship. Sellers’ hometown of Danville celebrated his accomplishments by declaring 17 March “Peyton Sellers Day”.

A former Richard Childress Racing development driver, Sellers has also competed sporadically in NASCAR’s national divisions. He ran eight Camping World Truck Series events between 2007 and 2014 with a pair of top twenties at Martinsville in his two final starts. In 2006, 2009, 2010, and 2015, he contested twenty-eight Xfinity Series races including a bulk of the 2015 schedule for Obaika Racing. His best Xfinity finish is fifteenth at Milwaukee in 2009.

While he has not seen much success in the higher ranks, Sellers is content with the grassroots environment of the Weekly Series. Speaking with NASCAR.com in late 2021, Sellers acknowledged how “fortunate I have been able to race as long as I have and still be competitive. A lot of guys my age changed directions and just lost that confidence to do it week after week, and I’m still able to do it.”

Sellers posted on social media regarding the SRX news, “Couldn’t be more grateful for this opportunity! Looking forward to a new experience at South Boston Speedway!”

Besides being perhaps the hottest young prospect in NASCAR today, Ty Gibbs has developed a reputation for his rather aggressive driving. Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Richmond Raceway did little to dispel that notion as he pushed Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate John Hunter Nemechek aside in the final corner to win his third race of the season.

The 19-year-old Gibbs, already a six-time race winner entering Richmond, won the pole while Nemechek, a Camping World Truck Series regular, joined him on the front row. The two JGR drivers battled for the lead throughout the entire race and traded the position seven times. By the checkered flag, JR Motorsports‘ Josh Berry was the only driver besides the two to lead a lap as he had a single circuit led under caution between the first and second stages. Nemechek won Stage #1 while Gibbs claimed the second.

Gibbs dominated Stage #3 before Nemechek passed him with four laps remaining. However, Gibbs was not going to relent for his team-mate, especially a part-timer who is not eligible for Xfinity points. After taking the white flag, Gibbs caught Nemechek and gave him multiple bumps from behind in the first two corners. Approaching turns three and four, Gibbs dove to the inside and made contact with Nemechek that sent him wide. Gibbs cleared Nemechek as they exited the last turn for the victory.

“We are racing for wins and they are hard to come by, so I had to take it,” said Gibbs. “We were fighting tight all day. We just couldn’t hold the bottom. John Hunter was a little faster and we had a great race. Good for Toyota to finish 1–2. I just got in there deep and had to bump him out of the way up the track. We are short track racing.”

Nemechek was understandably less than pleased with Gibbs’ move, commenting that “he and I will settle it on Monday. I don’t want to say too much and get myself in trouble, but just got drove through. He didn’t even try to make the corner there. Racers never forget, that is for sure.”

Esteban Ocon says the development of the Renault power unit has begun to prove its worth and his BWT Alpine F1 Team can go into any weekend knowing they are at least on par with their rivals in the power department.

Alpine are the only users of the Renault power unit, and Ocon has scored points in both of the opening two races of the year, while team-mate Fernando Alonso also scored in the Bahrain Grand Prix before unfortunately retiring in Saudi Arabia.

Ocon believes the power unit is much better in 2022 than it has been in recent years, and as a result he was able to battle on track with other cars more confidently than he would not have been able to previously.

“We didn’t have to be shy of anybody,” Ocon said to Motorsport.com. “As soon as I had the DRS open I could pass, I could overtake easily the Aston of Nico [Hülkenberg], Lando [Norris] in the McLaren.

“Who else? I mean Fernando of course was there. I could compare to many different cars, and it was working well for us.”

Last Wednesday, Oracle Red Bull Racing announced premium bike brand, BMC Switzerland, as a new Official Partner of the team in what is a multi-year agreement.

The multi-year deal see’s Red Bull’s partnership with BMC deepen, the pair have worked together since 2018 where they initially explored how Formula 1 expertise could improve high performance competition-spec cycles.

BMC are one of the most famous and successful premium bike brands. Since they were founded in 1994, the brand have gone on to win various World Championships and even the Tour de France.

As part of the pair’s deepened relationship, BMC will supply bikes for the team to use trackside by the entire Red Bull team and by staff at the Red Bull Technology Centre. World Champion Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez will both play a role in the advertisement of the partnership.

Oracle Red Bull Racing CEO and Team Principal, Christian Horner, is incredibly excited to build-upon their already successful partnership with BMC, with one of the future goals being to connect fans of Formula 1 and cycling.

Prior to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the McLaren F1 Team announced an extension and expansion with networking enterprise Cisco, the team’s Official Technology Partner.

Cisco is a leader in a number of fields, including: enterprise networking, video collaboration and security technology. The company will provide McLaren with access to its portfolio of solutions across enterprise networking, Wi-Fi, digital signage, collaboration and more.

The extension builds on the existing relationship with Webex by Cisco as the McLaren F1 team’s Official Collaboration Partner. As part of the extension, Webex branding will feature on both Daniel Ricciardo’s and Lando Norris’ cars and suits for the current season.

Claire Cronin, Chief Marketing Officer, McLaren Racing, is very pleased that the pairs partnership has been extended, Cronin is excited for the partnerships next step.

“Cisco has been an incredible partner to McLaren Racing, and we are delighted to extend and grow this relationship long-term. Webex technology is embedded throughout our team’s operations, helping us be connected and agile with our people who operate at race pace around the globe. As we enter a new chapter of our partnership, we will continue to drive innovation with an expansion of Cisco’s capabilities available to us.”

Seven manufacturers have confirmed their presence in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship when the third-generation cars come into play next season.

Six of the current manufacturers will continue into Gen 3, while Italian manufacturer Maserati will join Formula E for the first time.  Those remaining are DS Automobiles, Jaguar, Mahindra Racing, NIO 333, Nissan and Porsche AG.

The expected departure of the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team has been confirmed, although rumours about talks between them and McLaren about a possible takeover continue to rumble.

The official team list will be released later in the year, while the Gen 3 car will be unveiled to the public on 28 April at the Yacht Club de Monaco, just prior to the Monaco E-Prix that takes place two days later.

“We are delighted to confirm the commitment of seven of the world’s leading car manufacturers to the Gen3 era of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, and we look forward to seeing them battle against each other,” said FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

Nico Hülkenberg admits that he has missed racing in Formula 1, but he is not desperate to make a full-time return despite two good drives in the opening two races of 2022 as he deputised for the COVID-19-hit Sebastian Vettel.

Hülkenberg jumped into the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team’s AMR22 seat for the first time in practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix and finished seventeenth, and he continued in place of Vettel in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and brought the car home twelfth.

The thirty-four-year-old, who holds the record for the most Grand Prix without finishing on the podium, says he was mentally done with Formula 1 after losing his full-time drive at the end of 2019.  And he is not desperately seeking a return, although he would not likely turn down another chance should it present itself.

“Of course I miss racing. That’s natural but I’m keen, not desperate,” Hülkenberg is quoted as saying by GPFans.com.  “If it’s not to be…I was more or less mentally done with it, and obviously these things now, because of corona, did happen – 2020 and now, and who knows what might happen for the future.

“I see it being quite difficult and tricky to get a drive but if there’s an opportunity, call me.”

Helmut Marko admits that Pierre Gasly could depart the Red Bull set-up should the Frenchman not find his way back in their senior team before his contract concludes at the end of 2023.

Gasly was initially promoted to Red Bull Racing in 2019 but was only given ten races with the team before being replaced by Alexander Albon, with the Frenchman returning to Scuderia Toro Rosso, which is now Scuderia AlphaTauri.

However, since his return, Gasly has again and again proven himself to be a top driver within Formula 1, with a race win coming in the 2020 Italian Grand Prix as well as two other podium finishes in the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix and 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

This has prompted calls from many to bring the Frenchman back into the fold at Red Bull, including a call from former Toro Rosso co-owner Gerhard Berger, who believes Gasly has already done enough to warrant a second chance in the senior team.

However, Red Bull Advisor Marko has said the team still have a contract in place with Sergio Pérez, and it is not the right time to compare the two and decide who will be team-mate with Max Verstappen.  Marko admits, however, that Gasly could leave the Red Bull programme altogether if he does not join their championship-fighting team before his contract ends.

Mario Isola said the hard tyre was the key compound for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with the minimal degradation giving drivers confidence to attack throughout the race.

Both eventual race winner Max Verstappen (Oracle Red Bull Racing) and his main rival Charles Leclerc (Scuderia Ferrari) opted to start the race on the medium tyre and fought hard until the end for the victory, while third placed Carlos Sainz Jr. (Ferrari) also opted for the same strategy.

The only drivers to differ on strategy were Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s Lewis Hamilton, and Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team’s Nico Hülkenberg, who all opted to start on the hard compound before switching to the mediums late on.

Isola, Pirelli’s Motorsport Director, was delighted to see the new aero and tyre regulations working well, enabling drivers to follow others closely, and they contributed to an ‘exciting race from start to finish’.

“Another good night, another good race!” said Isola.  “Once more, in conditions that were completely different from Bahrain in terms of track layout and characteristics, we saw the latest cars able to follow and pass each other with some great on-track battles: which is down to the new tyres as well.