Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

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.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driver Bill Auberlen will make his five-hundredth race start in a BMW next weekend at the 70th Twelve Hours of Sebring.

The American driver first signed with BMW in 1996, and since then has taken 45 Pole positions and 64 victories in BMW machinery over the last 25 years.

The 53-year-old is also set to be inducted in to the Motorsports Walk of Fame on 7 April, the day before the practice begins at the Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend.

“When I look back on 500 races with BMW, I am humbled and proud,” said Auberlen. “When I look to what the next seasons may bring, I say bring on race number 600! It feels appropriate that my 500th for BMW comes at Sebring as the 12 Hour is a special race for me.

“In 1985, I was the truck driver and crew for my father’s win there. Ten years later I scored my first win at the 12 Hour. My induction to the Motorsports Walk of Fame in Long Beach feels almost surreal. It’s kind of a “local kid makes good” thing and I am truly honoured.”

Sauber Group have announced the appointment of Alessandro Alunni Bravi as their new Managing Director, effective as of March 1st.

Alunni Bravi, who holds a decades-long experience in motorsports and has been Sauber Group’s General Counsel and Board Member since 2017, will see his focus change onto marketing, communications, sales, legal, IT and finance, reporting directly to CEO, Frédéric Vasseur, as part of his new role as Managing Director.

Frédéric Vasseur, CEO of Sauber Group believes Alunni Bravi is the perfect person for the job, due to his wealth of experience.

“Alessandro has been an integral part of the growth of our company, on and off the track, in the last few years and I am excited about the contribution he will make in his new position. Few can match his knowledge of motorsports with that of business and the complex legal landscape in which we operate, and this makes Alessandro the right person for this challenge.”

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Managing Director of Sauber Group is very proud to have taken the step up to Managing Director, Alunni Bravi is also acutely aware of the responsibilities his new job possesses.

The Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN have arguably been the busiest over the winter break when it comes to announcing brand-new partnerships, they aren’t done yet! The Swiss-based team announced a new partnership on Tuesday with Belgium-based resilience centre, Curam Domi.

Curam Domi offer a safe and secure healing environment for training, rehabilitation and prevention. The Private company aim to get clients back into perfect shape, providing an optimum quality of life in all daily activities.

A key aspect to all that Curam Domi offer is sensory experiences, these experiences use a combination of value-based measurements, safety, serious gaming, virtual reality but without forgoing the human approach.

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN recognises how important healing is as well as putting people first, he is excited to discover more about the work Curam Domi do, during their partnership.

“We are a team and we take part in a team sport: the value of the individual is paramount for our activities and it is something in which we have invested confidently in recent years. Curam Domi shares our values and principles, putting the person first and developing a human-centric, holistic approach to healing. We are looking forward to discovering more about this approach with them during our partnership.”

After announcing that they would be competing in the 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup North America last month, MDK Motorsports have unveiled their seven driver line-up for the Carrera Cup and the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America series.

“We are proud of the drivers racing under the MDK flag this year and honored to welcome their families and guests for a one-of-a-kind experience,” said team CEO Megan Kvamme.

“This endeavor required a fast and furious year of preparation, and we knew from the outset that we needed to have a diversity in experience and perspective among our drivers in order to be the dynamic team that we set out to be.”

Trenton Estep looks set to be a front-runner for the season ahead, already topping the timesheets in the two-day test at Sebring ahead of the season-opener next week. Estep comes from a Karting background, including competitions such as SKUSA Pro Tour, Florida Winter Tour, US Open, and Rotax Grand Finals in Portugal.

Following his karting career he moved to single seaters where he secured the Formula Ford title twice and then in to sports cars where he took the 2018 Porsche GT3 Cup Challege USA title.

2021 F4 British Championship runner-up Matías Zagazeta will make the jump up to Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine in 2022 after signing with Swiss outfit G4 Racing.

The Peruvian racer will be joined at the team by Frenchman Owen Tangavelou, who also makes the leap from Formula 4, the seventeen-year-old having spent the past two years racing in French F4.

Zagazeta was a four-time winner in British F4 last year and only lost out on the title to British racer Matthew Rees by twenty-six points.  And the eighteen-year-old says he is eager to get going with his new team in 2022.

“I’m very excited to be joining forces with G4 Racing, a team full of potential and ambition, and I am very happy to be part of their project this season,” said Zagazeta.

“I can’t wait to get the season started and chase after some really good results like they had last year and to develop even more together in 2022!”

Jost Capito, the Team Principal of Williams Racing, says Jamie Chadwick will need to make the step up to FIA Formula 3 ‘at some point’ if she still has Formula 1 as her ultimate career goal.

Chadwick recently confirmed that she would remain in W Series for the 2022 season to defend her title with Caitlyn Jenner’s eponymous team, with the British racer citing financial restrictions prevented her from making the step up that she was hoping for.

“I think the most important factor is the funding and to be quite honest, we were not able to raise the necessary funds in the short time that we had,” said Chadwick on social media.

The twenty-three-year-old remains a part of Williams Development Driver line-up for this year, and whilst supporting her decision to remain in W Series for a third year, Capito says it is imperative that the British racer does make the step up if her ambitions to race in Formula 1 are genuine.

He insists to reach Formula 1, Chadwick will need to race in Formula 3 and FIA Formula 2, and it will be important for her to make that jump sooner rather than later in order to have a chance to become the first female Formula 1 driver to race in the sport since Lella Lombardi back in 1976, and the first female to attempt to qualify for a race since Giovanna Amati in 1992.

Gene Haas says the external pressure and criticism was too much for his Haas F1 Team to keep Nikita Mazepin and major sponsors Uralkali in the team for the 2022 Formula 1 season on the back of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Many sanctions have been put in place on Russia following the invasion, including the removal of the Russian Grand Prix from the calendar, while drivers were prohibited from running under their national flag as part of the FIA’s quickly sanctioned regulations.

However, Uralkali’s Dmitri Mazepin’s close relationship with the Russian President saw the team come under fire, with criticism coming from many angles as they sought to get the team to sever ties with their Russian driver and Russian sponsor.

Haas, the Founder of the team that made its Formula 1 debut in 2016, says the criticism was getting ‘overwhelming’ and it was difficult for the team and its sponsors to deal with, and it meant a split with both driver and sponsor was inevitable.

“There was a lot of intense criticism about the Ukrainian invasion, and it was just getting overwhelming,” Haas is quoted as saying to Associated Press.  “We can’t deal with all that, our other sponsors can’t deal with all that.”

Tarso Marques is perhaps best known as Fernando Alonso‘s first team-mate in Formula One when they raced for Minardi in 2001. Over two decades later, he will try his hand at the NASCAR Cup Series.

On Tuesday, Team Stange Racing announced it will field the #79 Ford Mustang in the Cup Series with an eight-race schedule beginning at Road America on 3 July. Later runs will come at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (31 July), Watkins Glen International (21 August), Daytona International Speedway (27 August), Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (9 October), Las Vegas Motor Speedway (16 October), Homestead-Miami Speedway (23 October), and Phoenix Raceway (6 November). Fitting with Marques’ résumé, four of the starts will come at road courses. Dignity Gold, LLC, a blockchain security company, will sponsor the car. According to a team release, the sponsorship was fully paid using the firm’s DIGau security token.

Marques raced in F1 for Minardi at the turn of the millennium, which included the final ten rounds of the 1997 season and first fourteen of 2001. The latter saw him record the team’s best finish of the season with a pair of ninths in his native Brazil and Canada, though he was consistently outpaced by his rookie team-mate Alonso. With the team being one of the smallest and frequently plagued by funding issues, Marques lost his seat ahead of the last three races.

Between his two F1 stints, he went to the United States in 1999 to compete in CART (later Champ Car) for Team Penske as an injury replacement for Al Unser Jr. A year later, he joined Dale Coyne Racing for all but the first three races in 2000 for the latter. His best finish was seventh in the season finale at Fontana. Marques returned to Champ Car in 2004 and 2005 for four races with DCR, finishing outside the top ten in each.

While NASCAR is a different code from open-wheel, Marques has prior stock car experience. Since 2006, he has competed in Stock Car Brasil with two wins. Off the track, he runs Tarso Marques Concept, an automotive customisation and design business.

With the second round of pre-season testing coming up in just a couple of days, all the drivers are definitely raring to go and see what their cars for this year will be like in Bahrain. Two who are probably more excited than most are Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi of Williams Racing. The FW44’s somewhat radical design seemed to work well in Barcelona and, with Williams being a team with aspirations to leap back up the grid, there’s a lot of positivity within the camp.

“I’m super excited to get to Bahrain for testing,” said Latifi. “After sampling the FW44 in Barcelona last week, I’m curious to see it on a track that is going to have more representative conditions. It’ll be a good opportunity to see what we can do and build upon the progress and learning we currently have. The additional running will also be much more relevant for the team as we’re racing there a week later, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

“After a strong few days in Barcelona, the focus now turns to the pre-season test in Bahrain,” said Albon. “It’s a very different track with incredibly different temperatures, so it will be interesting to see how the FW44 performs, and we’ll have a lot to learn ahead of the first race. Our main goals will be to fine tune the set-up of the car and work on maximising performance; I’m looking forward to it!“

Williams will start its running in Bahrain on 10 March. Alex Albon will run all day on the first day and Nicholas Latifi will run all day on the second day. The third day of testing will be split between both drivers; Latifi will be driving during the morning and Albon will be driving during the afternoon.