Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Following a year away from the sport, Alex Albon has returned to Formula 1 with Williams, where he will hope a fresh start can re-ignite his hopes for a potential seat with a race-winning car.

The story of Alex Albon’s time in Formula 1 is rather sad, much like that of Pierre Gasly and his time at Red Bull Racing. The 2019 season would see the young driver score two points finishes in the first four races, before being promoted to the Red Bull seat after the summer break. Albon scored an incredible fifth place after storming through the field from the back of the grid in his first outing for Red Bull at Spa, and was turning heads throughout the paddock.

The British-Thai driver performed very well in his first season, and continued his contract with Red Bull going into 2020. However, Albon’s performance started to drop over the course of the year, meaning he couldn’t be the backup that Max Verstappen and Red Bull needed to challenge for both championships. Red Bull were the second fastest car in 2020, and Albon was consistently scoring below the top four – meaning he was being out-scored by slower cars in some of the races.

After only two podiums (both of which were third place finishes) compared to Verstappen’s eleven podiums and two victories; Red Bull pulled the plug and replaced their number two driver with Sergio Perez for the 2021 season. Albon wasn’t even demoted to Alpha Tauri, he simply took a year out as a reserve driver in order to make room for rookie, Yuki Tsunoda, who would be occupying the second Alpha Tauri seat alongside Gasly.

Ahead of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship Prologue event this weekend, reigning champions AF Corse have released a video and images of their livery and race suits for the season ahead.

While the livery remains largely the same to the previous year, the team have added “extra graphics that accentuate the vehicle’s dynamic character and emphasise the theme dominated by the Italian “tricolore” flag.” The Ferrari 488 GTE will also feature the logo celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Maranello brand.

Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado return to defend their title, joined by the new pairing of Miguel Molina and Antonio Fuoco. The new season gets underway this weekend with the official 2-day Prologue test, before racing at the 1000 Miles of Sebring from 16-18 March.

Actor Michael Fassbender will make his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut this season as a 62-car grid is confirmed for the 90th running of the event.

The 2022 entry list was delayed after the Automobile Club de l’Ouest reopened the application process earlier this week. The application extension came as a result of some teams withdrawing from the race after the FIA sanctions in regards to the Russian invasion on Ukraine came into action. It had not been confirmed when the entry list would be seen after the second application window, but the announcement has come 24 hours after that process closed.

Five Hypercars fill the top class of the race – both Toyota Gazoo Racing and the sole Alpine Elf Matmut full season entries along with a duo of Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus. The inclusion of two cars comes from an agreement with WEC, ACO and Glickenhaus that if the team entered one full season entry they could have two Le Mans entries. The team were hoping to pull together a third car in the reopened application period but they didn’t have enough time to complete the necessary steps.

Surprisingly, the LMP2 regular Racing Team Nederland has not made it onto the 62-car strong grid, instead taking up the second reserve spot. The #29 machine usually races full season FIA World Endurance Championship which grants it automatic entry to the blue-ribboned event, but as the car is not a permanent feature this year they have not qualified for automatic entry.

27 cars make up the LMP2 field, the largest field of the race. Joining the full season WEC cars; DKR Engineering, TDS Racing x Vaillante, Nielsen Racing, CD Sport, Duqueine Team, Cool Racing, Graff Racing, Inter Europol Competition, IDEC Sport and Panis Racing all bring a sole entry, whilst Team WRT and Algarve Pro Racing WEC entries have been granted a second car. The second Team WRT entries comes courtesy of the team winning the LMP2 championship in the European Le Mans Series last year.

It appears there is no category that Bruno Senna can’t race in, as the Brazilian is announced as one of the world’s first electric flying car pilots, after joining Airspeeder!

Senna, who has raced most notably in Formula 1, Formula E, FIA World Endurance Championship as well as being a World eX race winner, has been announced as a racing development pilot and global ambassador for Airspeeder, the creator of the world’s first racing series for electric flying cars. The first EXA race is set to be announced imminently, Senna will be joining a strong list of pilots, which will include one of Australia’s leading female racing drivers and also a Drone Champions League racer.

The racing will at first be remotely piloted, before eventually becoming a fully crewed racing series from 2023 and beyond. Senna will play a key role in the development of the sport and the technical and dynamic development of the Speeders that will take part in it.

Matt Pearson, Founder, Alauda Aeronautics and Airspeeder is very proud to have Senna onboard and believes the Brazilian brings an unrivalled pedigree to the championship.

“We are proud that Bruno Senna has chosen to join the Airspeeder family as a racing and development pilot. Throughout his career he has demonstrated his incredible prowess as a pure out-and-out racer. However, Bruno is also a world-class developer of racing vehicles who is fascinated with advancing cutting-edge technologies.

Wednesday marked four days since Nikita Mazepin was released by Haas F1 Team as the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine continued to impact Russian sport. Various drivers and athletes of Russian and ally Belarusian nationality, including Mazepin, have either been required to compete under a neutral flag or were banned entirely from international sporting events. Unhappy with losing his ride despite accepting the former’s conditions, he has launched the “We Compete As One” foundation, which intends to support such athletes who have been unable to take part in their respective sports internationally due to “political reasons”.

“Today I am announcing the creation of a new foundation to help athletes who have been blocked from competing for political reasons. #WeCompeteAsOne”, tweeted Mazepin.

The foundation’s name is a jab at F1’s “We Race As One” campaign intended to promote diversity and acceptance in motorsport. With many Russian athletes being prohibited from entering international events, those like Mazepin have defended themselves by arguing such verdicts unfairly single them out for the actions of their government. A week prior, the Russian Automobile Federation released a statement condemning the FIA’s decision to require Russian and Belarusian drivers to race under FIA flags, accusing it of being “discriminatory and contrary” of the FIA statues.

On 5 March, approximately a week and a half after Russia began its Ukrainian invasion and a fortnight before the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Haas dropped Mazepin and title sponsor Uralkali, which is operated by his father Dmitry and provided a stable financial boost for the team during tumultuous seasons of recent. While Mazepin’s presence has long been maligned due to his behaviour, background, and on-track performance, the action to fire him was finally taken as the invasion and ensuing criticism mounted. Even if Mazepin had not been released, he would not have been able to race at the British Grand Prix due to Motorsport UK forbidding Russian drivers from competing.

The older Mazepin is close with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which resulted in the European Union imposing sanctions on him and many Russian nationals on Wednesday.

The demise of the Boost Mobile Super Trucks resulted in a diaspora of its roster towards other endeavours. For Shae Davies, he will be heading to open-wheel racing. On Wednesday, Versa Motorsport announced Davies has joined the team for the rest of the 2022 S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship and Tasman Series.

Davies will serve as a team-mate to Cooper Webster, who finished runner-up in Race #3 of the season-opening round at Symmons Plains Raceway in February and is consequently second in points. Located in Bundoora, Victoria and led by Toby Pope, Versa Motorsport was founded in late 2021 and debuted at that year’s Sydney Motorsport Park round, where Webster scored a Race #2 podium by finishing third.

“We are very excited to have Shae join the Versa Motorsport Team,” Pope stated. “Being such a highly experienced and successful driver locally and offshore, we can’t wait to start working with Shae and are focused on building together for the rest of season.”

While he is not unfamiliar with open-wheel cars as he raced in Formula Ford and the F1600 Championship Series in 2012, much of Davies’ career in the decade since has been in closed-wheel and touring car categories. He was a regular in the Repco Supercars Championship and its Super2 and Super3 feeder divisions, which included winning the 2013 championship in the latter. Between 2018 and 2019, he left Australia to compete in the Blancpain GT Series Asia and GT World Challenge Europe.

In 2020, he began competing in the Boost Mobile Super Trucks, a newly formed Australian offshoot of the American Stadium Super Trucks. Although the inaugural season only lasted one weekend of three races at the Adelaide 500 due to COVID-19, Davies made the most of the round by winning Race #3. He returned to the series for 2021, during which he was the Fastest Qualifier in two of the season’s three weekends at Darwin and Townsville. He also recorded a pair of victories at Symmons Plains and Darwin. Despite finishing with the same amount of points as Paul Morris with 93, Davies lost the tiebreaker for the championship on wins as Morris’ four trumped Davies’ two.

Hitech GP are one of the leading teams in junior single-seaters nationwide. Since 2002, they have become an established name for their results in Formula 3 series’ around the world, as well as the FIA Formula 2 Championship.

They joined the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship (now GB3) for 2020, and the Silverstone-based outfit expands its programme to the F4 British Championship in 2022.

We take a look at their first two race-winning campaigns in Britain’s premier single-seater series here, and look ahead to what they can achieve in their third year in GB3.

2020

Hitech joined the championship when it was still called the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship, and took three wins and 14 total podiums in their first season, with 2022 FIA Formula 3 Championship contenders Kush Maini and Reece Ushijima.

Maini mounted a title challenge after being called up on the eve of the season, winning at Brands Hatch, Donington Park and Snetterton as 2022 FIA F3 Hitech driver Kaylen Frederick took the championship with Carlin at the final round.

Longtime Porsche customer racing team Wright Motorsports will return to the Porsche Carrera Cup North America series for the 2022 season with a three-car entry.

Leading the entry list for the team is Varun Choksey who will be racing in the #13 car as a Pro class entry as he moves up from the Formula Regional Americas Championship, where last season he took six podium finishes, finishing fourth in the title standings. The 25-year-old had a successful test at Sebring International Raceway this week, finishing eighth fastest over the two days.

“I’m very excited to be driving for Wright Motorsports in Carrera Cup North America this year,” said Choksey. “The team has been very welcoming these last few months, and I’m looking forward to a successful season with them this year.”

Returning for a second season is John Goetz, who after a five year hiatus returned to racing last season. Over the ten rounds he took eleven top-five finishes including three podiums in the Pro-Am class. For 2022 Goetz will race the #57 Porsche in the Am class. This weeks test saw him end the four sessions as the third fastest Am driver.

“I’m looking forward to another year working with the Wright team in Carrera Cup,” said Goetz. “The excellent execution on all aspects of racing makes running with them a challenging pleasure. 

Kelly-Moss Road and Race driver Riley Dickinson topped the timesheets during the two-day test at the Sebring International Raceway ahead of the first race weekend of the 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup North America series.

This week (7-8 March), a total of 40 drivers set times throughout the two day test session that saw Dickinson set the fastest time of 2:02.254 in the morning session of the second day.

Trenton Estep gave MDK Motorsport an impressive start to their series debut, finishing the four sessions as the second fastest driver, just six hundreths of a second back. 311RS Motorsport‘s Pro-Am driver Leh Keen showed impressive pace to not only lead the Pro-Am field, but also finish as the third fastest driver overall. Last year’s championship runner-up Kay van Berlo ended the 16-hour test with the fourth fastest time.

With conditions warm and dry, most of the fastest laps from the two days came in the third session on the Tuesday morning. The final hour of the afternoon test was run under wet conditions giving competitors a chance to get used to their cars in slippery conditions.

In the Am class is was MDK Motorsports team owner / driver Mark Kvamme who set the fastest time of 2:04.776, good enough for fourteenth overall.

For the first time since 2018, the Texas-based Risi Competizione Ferrari team will be racing at the Twelve Hours of Sebring. The team will be competing in the GTD Pro class with Italians Davide Rigon and Eddie Cheever III, plus Brazilian Daniel Serra. Rigon and Serra piloted the team’s #62 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo to a second-place finish at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.

All three drivers will be returning to Sebring, with Serra having competed at the track twice and Rigon and Cheever III each with one race there under their belts. Both Rigon and Serra are Ferrari Competizione GT Factory drivers and Eddie Cheever III is the son of former F1 driver Eddie Cheever. Cheever recently ran the 12 Hours of Dubai in a similar Ferrari with AF Corse.

The team is hopeful for a good result come race weekend, with team principal Giuseppe Risi remarking, “We have a great deal of history at Sebring, including three victories. Returning to a track we have experienced much success over the years certainly gets everyone excited. It will be a big weekend with the WEC (World Endurance Championship) teams competing on Friday and our 12-hour race on Saturday.”

Team Penske have announced that Penske Logistics will be the primary sponsor of their new LMP2 car for the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship season, which gets underway next week with the 1000 Miles of Sebring at Sebring International Raceway.

Porsche works drivers Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr will join Emmanuel Collard in the #5 ORECA 07-Gibson LMP2 car which will feature the familiar bright yellow and blue of Penske Logistics that have been seen across NASCAR and IndyCar in the past.

“As a company who helps leading global companies optimize their supply chains, we’re excited to be part of the next chapter in Team Penske’s long and successful history on the track,” said Marc Althen, President, Penske Logistics. “We wish the drivers and the team the best of luck in this highly competitive series.”

With Penske set to compete in the LMDh class in 2023, the team will use this season as a learning experience as they get acclimatised to the rules, tracks and racing of the WEC.

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Alpine Academy unveiled their new Alpine Affiliate programme with the aim to bring young drivers into their ranks and give them the support necessary to help them advance their careers in motorsport. 

“We are very excited to announce our Alpine Affiliates programme which will work alongside the Academy from this year. The programme will help provide young racing drivers across the world with crucial support, career advice and training,” Alpine Academy Director Mia Sharizman said.

The programme will be led by Sharizman and Director of Expansion Projects Davide Brivio, and will give Affiliates access to resources available at Alpine Academy’s Enstone headquarters. Young drivers within the programme will receive professional guidance in many aspects, including training, mentoring, PR training and more. 

Abbi Pulling will represent the Affiliate programme as the first ever female driver in the Alpine Academy. Pulling, a multiple-podium finisher in FIA British Formula 4, will continue her journey in W-series as she seeks to contend in the battle for the championship in 2022 after finishing seventh in the 2021 season. 

Hadrien David, who holds the record for youngest ever FIA Formula 4 champion, will be joining the programme as he is set to compete in his second season of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine with R-ace GP. Beginning his venture into open-wheel racing this year in FIA Spanish Formula 4 with Campos Racing, Nikola Tsolov joins the Alpine Affiliates as well, after much success in karting. The Bulgarian driver is managed by BWT Alpine F1 Team Driver and two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso. 

With the Twelve Hours of Sebring under two weeks away, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship team NTE/SSR announced that Lamborghini GT3 Junior drivers Mateo Llarena and Jaden Conwright would pilot the #42 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 alongside Don Yount.

The team is hoping for a strong performance at Sebring after their 2022 season opener at the Rolex 24 at Daytona was cut short by ABS failure. Only Conwright and Yount were in the lineup for the Daytona race, with Conwright being the only driver confirmed for the entirety of the 2022 season. Conwright is already making a name for himself having become the inaugural recipient of the IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship.

18-year-old Llarena is no slouch either, at only 18 he is quite young but he holds the record for the youngest driver to secure an IMSA WeatherTech Motul Pole Award. He achieved this while just 17, the pole occurring last year at Watkins Glen International. This year’s outing will mark his second run at the Twelve Hours of Sebring.

Llarena had this to say about the opportunity, “This will be my second time racing in it, so I have much more confidence than the first time, I already know the track and how the race works. I’m very happy to join NTE/SSR.”

The team is also excited for the opportunity to bounce back from their issues at Daytona. NTE Sport owner Paul Mata stated, “We’re excited to welcome Mateo to the team. He demonstrated great skill with T3 Motorsports at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January, and we’re always glad to have another Lamborghini GT3 Junior driver join our mix.

Kevin Magnussen will return to Formula 1 in 2022 after a year away after being announced as Nikita Mazepin’s replacement within the Haas F1 Team.

The Danish racer previously raced for Haas between 2017 and 2020 before leaving the team, taking a best finish of fifth in the Bahrain and Austrian Grand Prix in 2018.  In 2021 he switched to the IMSA Sportscar Championship with Chip Ganassi Racing while he also made his NTT IndyCar Series debut with Arrow McLaren SP at Road America.

Magnussen was set to race in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Team Peugeot TotalEnergies in 2022 alongside more races with Chip Ganassi Racing in America, but now finds himself back in Formula 1 alongside Mick Schumacher.  He has been released from his contracts with both Peugeot and Chip Ganassi Racing.

“I was obviously very surprised but equally very excited to receive the call from Haas F1 Team,” said Magnussen. “I was looking in a different direction regarding my commitments for 2022 but the opportunity to return to compete in Formula 1, and with a team I know extremely well, was simply too appealing.

“I really have to say thank you to both Peugeot and Chip Ganassi Racing for releasing me promptly – both are great organizations. Naturally, I also want to thank Gene Haas and Guenther Steiner for the chance to resume my Formula 1 career – I know just how competitive they both are and how keen they are to return to competing week in and week out.

Parker Chase is bringing his road course expertise home with him. On Wednesday, Sam Hunt Racing announced Chase will make his NASCAR Xfinity Series début in the #26 Toyota GR Supra at Circuit of the Americas on 26 March. Located in Austin, COTA is approximately an hour drive away from his hometown of New Braunfels, Texas.

“See y’all at COTA,” posted Chase on social media. “Excited to join Sam Hunt Racing this year at my favorite track!”

Chase primarily competes in sports cars, racing in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge for Bryan Herta Autosport. In 2021, he finished runner-up in the MPC TCR class with a win at Mid-Ohio. His 2022 season began with him and Harry Gottsacker finishing forty-second overall and twelfth in TCR at Daytona after being plagued by a driveline problem. A former Ginetta factory driver, Chase won the 2018 Pirelli World Challenge SprintX GT Pro-Am championship.

In 2020, he began dabbling in stock cars by racing in the ARCA Menards Series as a road course ringer, finishing tenth in his first start at Daytona for Chad Bryant Racing. Chase joined Venturini Motorsports a year later and his itinerary shifted to ovals, during which he scored top tens all four starts. He nearly won the 2022 season opener on the Daytona oval as he placed second behind 2021 championship runner-up Corey Heim.

2021 also saw Chase run two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races for Kyle Busch Motorsports, whose eponymous owner was his team-mate at the 2020 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. After finishing second at the Daytona Road Course, he was eighteenth at COTA.