Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

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.

The second round of this year’s pre-season testing starts in Bahrain this weekend and Williams Racing is definitely looking forward to it. After some initially promising running in Barcelona, Williams’ Head of Vehicle Design Dave Robson is looking towards Bahrain with a positive mindset.

“The main objective of the test this week is to build on the learning from the track session in Barcelona and to start to increase the performance of the car,” said Robson. “We got a useful preview of the FW44 in Barcelona and although the cars were only back in Grove for a few days before being transported to Bahrain, we were able to do quite a lot of work on them, which should help us to exploit the best performance this week.“

With Williams looking to jump up the results table this year thanks to its somewhat radical car design, getting things nailed in Bahrain will be especially important. That’s something that Robson is acutely aware of, especially considering the big difference in conditions between Sakhir and Barcelona. “Conditions in Bahrain will be more demanding than they were in Spain, with the hotter track temperatures affecting the tyre performance and the stronger wind gusts challenging the aero characteristics much harder,” he explained. “This will be an excellent opportunity to test the car in a different environment and to use the data we gather to predict how the car will perform throughout the season ahead.“

“We were reasonably happy with our work in Barcelona, but we are looking to do even better this week as we seek to push the performance of the FW44 forwards as well as ensuring that the car is fully race ready for the season ahead.”

Williams will start its running in Bahrain on Thursday 10 March. Alex Albon will run the full day on the first day of testing, with Nicholas Latifi running the whole of the second day. Both drivers will run on the third and final day of testing (Latifi in the morning and Albon in the afternoon).

The Dallara F2/18 used in the FIA Formula 2 Championship is currently heading into it’s fifth straight season in use for the single-seater championship after it was first commissioned in 2018 for that year’s F2 championship.

As a completely spec racing car, it was designed by Luca Pignacca and manufactured by the Italian outfit Dallara who also make the F3/19 which is used in the precursor to F2, the FIA Formula 3 Championship.

It has been in the hands of some of Formula 1’s brightest talents, including George Russell, Lando Norris, Mick Schumacher and more recently, Oscar Piastri.

The Car

Measuring in at just over five metres in length and just under two metres in width, the F2/18 is made from a number of different materials.

The main survival cell is made from a carbon/aluminium honeycomb structure with anti-intrusion panels that are made by Dallara. The front and rear wings are purely carbon-fibre with the rest of the bodywork being another honeycomb structure of kevlar and carbon. It also features a titanium halo over the monocoque as per the F1 specifications as well as the full 2017 FIA safety standards.

The 2022 Superstar Racing Experience season will end with a duel between father and son. On Monday, the series announced Dave Blaney and son Ryan will race in the final race of the year at Sharon Speedway on 23 July. Dave will be in the #10 while Ryan is the #12’s driver.

The duo are deeply embedded into the dirt and NASCAR world. In the latter, Dave was a Cup Series regular from 2000 to 2014; despite being relegated to start-and-park and backmarker roles for much of his career, he has twenty-eight top tens and a pair of poles. Dave won his lone NASCAR national series race in the now-Xfinity Series at Charlotte in 2006.

While Dave’s NASCAR tenure didn’t result in substantial success, Ryan is one of the Cup Series’ top young guns with seven wins to his name and playoff berths every year since 2017. In 2021, he won three races en route to a seventh-place points finish.

In 2013, the two raced as team-mates at Brad Keselowski Racing for the Camping World Truck Series race at Eldora Speedway, the first NASCAR national series dirt race since 1970. Dave finished ahead of Ryan with a ninth to Ryan’s fifteenth. Eldora is owned by SRX founder and inaugural champion Tony Stewart, though it will not return for the 2022 schedule after Stewart won there the previous year.

A three-eighth-mile dirt oval, Sharon Speedway is co-owned by the older Blaney, who took over operations in 2002 alongside a contingent of local business owners from the Weller and Kirila families. When the Hartford, Ohio circuit was announced as an SRX stop in February, both Blaneys were virtually expected to make guest appearances in the race. Ryan will be in for a busy weekend as the race takes place the day before the Cup Series runs at Pocono; qualifying is on the same day as SRX, but the latter being a night event could buy travel time.

Cambridge-base Frontier Developments plc have unveiled their latest title as they enter in to the annual sports license genre with F1 Manager 2022, set to be released in the summer.

The company was founded in 1994 by David Braben, co-author of the iconic Elite game and has an impressive portfolio to its name, including Planet Coaster, Jurassic World Evolution 1 & 2 and Planet Zoo.

F1 Manager 2022 will launch in summer 2022 on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation® 5, Xbox One, PlayStation® 4, Steam and the Epic Store, giving Formula 1 fans the chance to harness their inner Toto, and lead their drivers, engineers and fans to glory in the 2022 FIA Formula 1 Drivers’ World Championship and FIA Formula 1 Constructors’ World Championship.

Ross Brawn, Managing Director – Motorsports, Formula 1, said, “It’s great to see F1 Manager 2022 take shape and for people to see this exciting title come to life. I know from personal experience that leading a team can be challenging, but it’s certainly rewarding.

“The F1 Manager franchise is a great opportunity for fans to put themselves in the shoes of a team principal and experience some of that for themselves. I am confident that with their own successful track record in management gaming, Frontier will deliver an enjoyable and engaging experience for fans.”

Fresh from a win at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Riley Motorsports have secured a contract with Kay van Berlo, who won the race alongside Felipe Fraga, Gar Robinson, and Michael Cooper in the #74 Ligier JS P320 LMP3 car.

The team proved dominant in the opening round of the IMSA Endurance Cup, winning the race by more than a lap over the second-placed LMP3 car. Now Riley Motorsports have made the move to bring van Berlo back for the remaining races of the IMSA Endurance Cup that runs as part of the main championship.

“I’m super excited, especially after Daytona,” said van Berlo. “When I tested for Riley back in 2021, I already knew the team was great, but I wanted to experience it myself. During the Rolex 24 they showed me that they are even better under pressure when it counts.

“From the very first test I’ve been able to get along great with the mechanics, engineers, Gar and Felipe. It feels like home. I’ve been to Sebring with an LMP3 car before and actually got my first pole out of karts there at the 2018 Sebring Encore so it’s a special place. I’m confident we can continue putting great results down.”

The remaining races of the four-race season will be the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts (12 hours), the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen (6 hours), and the Motul Petit Le Mans (10 hours).

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is currently raging on and it seems like there is absolutely nowhere that hasn’t been affected by it. Formula 1 has even been heavily affected by it. The two biggest indicators of that have been the loss of the Russian Grand Prix for the foreseeable future (due to F1 effectively ripping up its contract with the event’s promoter) and the Haas F1 Team severing its connections both with title sponsor Uralkali and Russian driver Nikita Mazepin. This has left Haas without a title sponsor and without a permanent second driver (reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi will be driving the VF-22 in Bahrain this weekend as part of the second round of pre-season testing, but his promotion to a main driver role is not guaranteed).

According to Jake Kemp, a Sport Analyst at GlobalData, the Haas F1 Team is one of the most impacted teams in motorsport when it comes to Russo-Ukrainian war. “The Russia-Ukraine situation is having seismic consequences on global sport, F1 included,” he said. “One of the most notable changes is around the removal of Russian Grand Prix hosting rights, as the sport was previously expected to visit the resort city of Sochi between 23 and 25 September 2022. Russia is one of the biggest payers for hosting rights, so the loss of the Russian Grand Prix will equate to substantial lost income—reported to be in excess of $50 million this season.“

“The loss of Russia is not the first big hosting rights contract lost in F1 for the 2022 season,” he continued, explaining how it isn’t just the loss of the Russian Grand Prix that has caused a significant financial impact to F1. “Qatar also skipped the new season, representing another big loss for hosting contracts. Qatar too saw losses of over $50 million—although, Qatar is expected to return to the F1 calendar in 2023.”

“One of the most impacted teams is Haas,” Kemp explained. “While the loss of Russian driver Nikita Mazepin will not be too damaging—Mazepin was consistently outperformed by his German teammate in 2021, only out-qualifying Mick Schumacher at two Grand Prix, and losing to him in races on 16 occasions—the team’s termination of a sponsorship partnership with Uralkali will hit hard. This $10-million-a-year deal had a major influence on the team’s ability to compete in 2021, representing a significant chunk of the estimated $43.65 million generated in sponsorship by the team during the 2021 season. The loss also pushes Haas back to 13 major brand partners for the 2022 season, putting them alongside Scuderia Alpha Tauri as the team with the fewest sponsors in the sport.“

“Haas has been fighting at the back of the grid for the past few seasons, so losing a significant financial contributor will hurt its efforts in the sport this year and likely see it fighting at the back of the grid again.“

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will remain on the Formula 1 calendar until at least 2025 after the circuit signed a new contract to host the race.

After dropping off the calendar after 2006, the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari initially returned to the schedule in 2020 as a replacement venue as COVID-19 spread across the globe and forced multiple race cancellations, and in 2021 it did the same.

The race was included on the 2022 schedule in place of the removed Chinese Grand Prix, but going forward, the Italian venue will continue to play host to Formula 1 for another three years beyond this year.

“I am delighted that we will be continuing our excellent partnership with Imola for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix until 2025,” said Stefano Domenicali, the President and CEO of Formula 1.  “The circuit is iconic and has been part of the history of our sport and they have done an incredible job of hosting two races during the pandemic.

“It is a proud moment for our Italian fans to host two races and for all our fans around the world to see this fantastic circuit on the calendar for the future. 

Matt Brabham has had an interesting career, to say the least. A member of the legendary Brabham family, he looked to be the next big thing in American open-wheel racing before sponsorship woes doomed his aspirations in 2015. Seven years and three championships in the Stadium Super Trucks later, he is back in Indy Lights and already a race victor after winning last Sunday’s season opener in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Days after his emotional triumph, The Checkered Flag caught up with Brabham to talk about his return to Indy Lights, his dreams of racing in the NTT IndyCar Series and potentially dabbling elsewhere, and the influence of his family and colleagues in SST. TCF previously spoke with him in 2015.

Some text altered to remove verbal pauses and improve readability

TCF: One race in, first Indy Lights start in 2,506 days, and you’re already the points leader. That’s 19 wins in 48 career Road to Indy races for you, second best win percentage all time. How does it feel, like has it truly sunk in yet that you’re not only back in the IndyCar ladder, but you’re also winning?

MB: It was definitely a sweet victory to come back and have that success. But I think it’s sunk in. I mean, there’s a lot of work still, there’s a lot of season left, and having some early success like that is just… as you said, it’s 2,800 days and an old stat. It’s coming back and working hard and having everything come together and having success like that in the first race. I wasn’t really expecting it, but I’ve definitely celebrated it and, if anything, I’m ready to get back to work and just keep plugging away at the season. But yeah, I mean it was a very special and gratifying kind of moment to get that under the belt. It was lucky but I mean, I’ll take it and that’s definitely, definitely pretty cool.

Pirelli Motorsport has announced the compounds of tyre they will bring to the opening three races of the 2022 Formula 1 season in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia.  The race in Bahrain will herald the debut of Pirelli’s eighteen-inch tyres.

After numerous tests with mule cars across the past twelve months, teams finally got to test the eighteen-inch rubber with 2022 machinery during pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last month after a regulation change moved the tyre size away from the traditional, and outdated, thirteen-inch tyres.

With the season just two weeks away, Formula 1’s sole tyre manufacturer has revealed that the hardest tyres available to the teams – the C1, C2 and C3 – will be available at the Bahrain International Circuit on the 18-20 March.  In 2021, with the thirteen-inch tyres, they were a step softer, but with Bahrain traditionally seeing extreme tyre wear, it was decided to go for the hardest options for 2022.

The race in Saudi Arabia at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit will see the tyres go a step softer, with the C2, C3 and C4 being used as they were in 2021, while the C2, C3 and C5 will be used in Formula 1’s return to Albert Park in Australia after two years off the calendar due to COVID-19 restrictions in the country. 

When Formula 1 last raced in Australia, Pirelli brought the middle of the range C2, C3 and C4 to Albert Park, but with track times likely be considerably shorter this year following a track layout change, the Italian company have opted to introduce the C5 for 2022.

Hi everyone, I’m Kay van Berlo, and this year I will be racing once again in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America series with the Kelly Moss Road and Race team, the IMSA Endurance Cup with Riley Motorsports and also in the European Le Mans Series with United Autosport; As this is my first column, I thought I would let you know a little about how I got here.

I’m 21-years-old and was born in the Netherlands; I started racing at the age of seven. I did about ten years of karting in the first couple of years in my home country, later on I moved to Europe and World Championships and took part in series in Germany as well, from Rotax Max to shifter karts.

In 2018 I switched to race cars, I jumped into LMP3 in the European Le Mans Series, won the 4 hours of Monza and Road to Le Mans that year. Later that year I signed a deal with United Auto Sports to do LMP3 in Asian Le Mans Series, where we won the 4 hours of Fuji. 

It was a very good first season, really cool to do the endurance races and to jump straight into an LMP3 car was pretty cool.

At the beginning of 2019 I was doing some Asian Le Mans races still, later on we were deciding what to do next and we decided to try Porsche Carrera Cup. So, I did a couple of races, not a full championship in Carrera Cup Benelux, just to see if it was something that would be a good place and a good class to develop myself, and straight away fell in love with the Carrera Cup series, the way they set up the weekends, the cars, and the racing.

Williams Racing today announced that Oliver Gray will be joining the team’s Driver Academy, along with announcing that he will be taking part in the 2022 British F4 Championship with Carlin.

Gray made his single-seater debut last season, claiming two victories and two pole positions in the 2021 British F4 Championship. The impressive season saw him regularly in the top ten, leading to a third place finish in the Rookie Championship. In addition to the British programme, he also took part in the final six races of the Italian F4 Championship at Mugello and Monza.

Before switching to cars Gray had a strong international karting career, taking multiple titles in the Motorsport UK and British Kart Championship at the X30 Junior level, he was also runner-up at the IAME Euro Series in 2019. 2020 saw him dominate the WSK Euro Series round in Sarno.

The Brit will work closely with Williams Racing departments across the business to support his development as a driver.

“Today is a special day in my career as I can officially say I am part of Williams Racing! Williams is a team with so much history and success in Formula 1 and I hope to one day be able to add to that,” said Gray.

In December, SSR Performance announced that they will be participating in the 2022 DTM series with a pair of Porsche 911 GT3 R’s, at the time the driver line up was unconfirmed, but today (7 March) Porsche Works driver Laurens Vanthoor, and Porsche contracted driver Dennis Olsen have been unveiled as drivers fro the season ahead.

Stefan Schlund, managing director, SSR Performance was delighted to secure the pair of drivers, “I am enormously happy with the selection and by Porsche making the drivers available for this project. I am convinced that we have a powerful brigade and can be successful with both the #92 and the #94 car.”

30-year-old Vanthoor brings with him a wealth of experience as a GT driver, including IMSA GTLM and GTD title wins, a FIA GT World Cup win and victories in the 24-hour races at Le Mans, Spa-Francorchamps, the Nürburgring and Dubai; The Belgian will drive the #92 car.

“I am massively looking forward to the season,” said Vanthoor. “The team has made a name for itself in the sport within a really short time and I am looking forward to working with them now. The season will certainly not be easy because competition is really strong. Nevertheless, it is our ambition to be successful. For me, being alone in the car is a while ago, motivation is accordingly high. As far as I am concerned, it can start,”

While 25-year-old Olsen doesn’t have the experience of his team-mate, he does bring Porsche experience with him, having worked up the Porsche Pyramid, starting out in the national Carrera Cup series, taking the championship in Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland in 2017, along with victories on the way to second place in the 2019 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. The Norwegian has also claimed wins in IMSA, Intercontinental GT Series, 9 Horus of Kylami and the 12 Hours of Bathurst, all in Porsche machinery.

The NASCAR Cup Series‘ Next Gen car promised to be more difficult to drive to challenge a pilot’s abilities, and Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway did just that. Sin City became Spin City as multiple drivers spun while battling their way in the seventh-generation Cup car. For Alex Bowman, the only spinning he was doing was a victory burnout.

A gamble to take two tyres ahead of overtime proved correct as it placed him alongside Hendrick Motorsports team-mate and defending race winner Kyle Larson on the front row for the restart. The two raced side-by-side for the two laps before Bowman had enough of a run in the final two corners to pull away and win at Vegas for the first time.

Christopher Bell won the pole ahead of Larson. Kyle Busch wrecked in practice and switched to a backup car, while Cole Custer (engine part), Daniel Hemric (transaxle), and Tyler Reddick (steering rack) went to the rear after changing certain components.

Bell led for the only time from the start of the race to the competition caution on lap 30. Ryan Blaney became the new leader until Custer became the first spinner on lap 37. Busch and Justin Haley suffered the same fate shortly after the ensuing restart, followed by Reddick on lap 63. Amid the spin cycle, Bowman took the lead with two laps before the stage conclusion to win ahead of Hendrick Motorsports team-mate William Byron, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Larson, Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Busch, and Bell.

Michael McDowell elected to stay out between stages, a play that ended in disaster on lap 93 when he got loose on older tyres and caused Briscoe to swerve into Daniel Suárez. Brad Keselowski, also with aged tyres, was the next driver to spin and did so on lap 103 in front of former Team Penske ally Ryan Blaney, ending the latter’s race. Penske and Briscoe’s woes continued thirty laps later when the latter and Austin Cindric spun on their own. Another caution flew on lap 141 for Bell going around.

Ty Gibbs‘ prodigious performance in the NASCAR Xfinity Series continued Saturday when he dominated the final restart to win the Alsco Uniforms 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but it came after a tumultuous day for the 19-year-old phenom. Much of his race day was dominated by a rivalry with Ryan Sieg after the two collided twice and a forty-minute red flag for, unexpectedly, snow in the Nevada desert.

Gibbs started his race in eleventh, though he and fifteen other drivers were ordered to the rear for switching to a backup car following damage to their primaries the previous week at Fontana; teams were supposed to use the same car for both races, though crashes and other incidents resulted in so many drivers at the back that it was basically a field inversion. As pole winner A.J. Allmendinger and eventual stage winner Noah Gragson dominated the segment, Gibbs’ climb through the field saw him feud with Sieg after contact sent the latter into the wall just three laps in.

Although the incident was attributed to Gibbs being over-aggressive rather than malice, Sieg was livid over the radio and vowed to return the favour. However, he had to wait until the snow cleared up when it forced a red flag after twenty laps. During the wait, Sieg called out Gibbs for his driving style, especially as he has “the best car in the garage.” Gibbs took responsibility during his red flag interview with FOX Sports and further apologised in his post-race interview, saying it “wasn’t my best decision and I’m sorry to their whole group. Ryan’s family, they worked so hard, so I want to apologise to them.”

Despite Gibbs’ apology, Sieg was eager to exact revenge and tried to execute his plan on lap 30, though it completely backfired instead. As Gibbs attempted to pass him in turn four, Sieg moved up to squeeze him into the wall. However, this resulted in Sieg’s decklid coming off and him spinning into the outside wall, with Brett Moffitt and Sheldon Creed as innocent victims when they tried to thread the needle between Sieg and the barrier.

The opening stage finally ended with a JR Motorsports podium sweep as Gragson led Sam Mayer and Josh Berry. Gibbs, Ryan Truex, Allmendinger, Austin Hill, Brandon Jones, Daniel Hemric, and John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the top ten.