Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

After spending the last thirteen weeks recovering from injuries sustained in a car accident, Taylor Gray is set to return to the driver’s seat. On Tuesday, David Gilliland Racing confirmed Gray will run the upcoming ARCA Menards Series race at Elko Speedway before following the “schedule through Watkins Glen (International), where he intends to do double duty with ARCA and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.”

The younger brother of DGR Truck driver Tanner Gray, he was supposed to make his series début at Richmond in April prior to the accident. The single-car crash resulted in fractures to his L4 vertebra, ankle, and left foot in the days leading up to the race, forcing him to abort the start and the team to withdraw his #17 truck.

Gray’s ARCA schedule was also thrown into disarray, with his last start in the national series being a ninth at Phoenix in March. He also has a pair of top fives in as many starts in the ARCA East Series.

Now recovered, he will run a “stretch of five straight weeks of racing” beginning with the Elko round on Saturday as he enters the next four ARCA events at Berlin Raceway, Iowa Speedway, Winchester Speedway, and Watkins Glen. Gray has no major experience at The Glen.

On social media, Gray announced his return by quoting lyrics to Eminem’s “Without Me” with a photo attached of him working out: “Guess who’s back, back again…”

With the NASCAR Cup Series‘ Quaker State 400 right around the corner, it will be the last race weekend under Atlanta Motor Speedway‘s current configuration. On Tuesday, track operator Speedway Motorsports announced a slight redesign that will turn the 1.5-mile track into the tallest intermediate circuit on the schedule.

The banking in the turns will be increased from the current 24 degrees to 28°, the highest of tracks in the intermediate category; Charlotte and Texas Motor Speedways, both of which are D-shaped ovals with doglegs on the frontstretch, have turns banked at 24° (Texas’ first two turns are 20°). Atlanta’s straightaway banking will remain at 5°.

In contrast to the growing banking, the track width will contract from 55 feet to 40. The frontstretch will have a width of 52 feet, while the backstretch and turns will be set at 42 and 40, respectively.

Atlanta is no stranger to major changes. For much of its history, the track was a 1.52-mile “standard” oval before being reconfigured to the current quad-oval in 1997. The track surface has remained the same since, resulting in an aged course that has proven popular with fans.

“As Atlanta’s racing surface has aged, we’ve challenged ourselves to reimagine what NASCAR racing at an intermediate track can be,” Speedway Motorsports head Marcus Smith stated. “With high banks in the turns, narrower width and new pavement technology, Atlanta will be unlike any other mile-and-a-half track on the circuit. It’s all new for ’22 and this will be specifically designed for close, competitive racing.”

Brett Moffitt will return to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for some dirt racing. On Tuesday, AM Racing announced he will pilot a new #37 Chevrolet Silverado in Friday’s Corn Belt 150 at Knoxville Raceway.

AM Racing typically fields just the #22 for Austin Wayne Self, who is currently fourteenth in points. For the 2017 season opener at Daytona, when the team was still a part-time operation, AM expanded to two trucks with J.J. Yeley in the #22 and Self in the #32; the latter finished a career-best second, while Yeley placed ninth for a double top ten.

The 2018 Truck champion, Moffitt began the 2021 season running full-time in both the Trucks (for Niece Motorsports) and Xfinity Series (Our Motorsports). Although he declared for Truck points to open the year, he and Niece struggled in stark contrast to his performance at Our, prompting him to switch to the Xfinity standings in April. Moffitt is currently twenty-third in points with five top tens.

In March, Moffitt finished twenty-fourth in the Bristol Dirt event. He scored a fifth at Eldora, previously the only dirt track in the Trucks, in 2018.

“We could not be happier to have a champion driver like Brett Moffitt competing under the AM Racing banner at Knoxville,” said team co-owner Kevin Cywinski. “It has always been our intention and part of our long-term strategy to expand our team to two trucks and Knoxville is the first step to making that happen.

Head of F1 and Car Racing at Pirelli Mario Isola, believes that Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen pulled off the ‘perfect strategic race’ at the Austrian Grand Prix where Verstappen cruised to victory at the Red Bull Ring.

On a two-stop strategy, Verstappen won his third consecutive race to make it four wins from the last five races, to further extend his world championship lead. Verstappen started on the medium tyres before two stints on the hard C3 compound tyre. Verstappen was the only podium finisher to complete a two-stop, with Valtteri Bottas and Lando Norris completing a one-stop.

The majority of the field started on the medium tyres, with only a few beginning on either the soft or hard compound. The most notable runner who started on the hard compound was Carlos Sainz, who climbed through the field brilliantly after having much fresher tyres at the end of the race.

The track temperature was much cooler than the Styrian Grand Prix, which brought out the best of the softer compounds which was important, considering that the softest Pirelli tyres were in use.

Isola is happy that they chose to use softer tyres for the second race at the Red Bull Ring, as it led to the race having a different style.

The Austrian Grand Prix brought an end to a long triple-header for the Uralkali Haas F1 Team, Mick Schumacher finished in eighteenth and Nikita Mazepin in nineteenth at the second race at the Red Bull Ring.

Despite an early collision with Esteban Ocon, Schumacher had a quiet grand prix with very little action but still managed to outperform team-mate Mazepin. Mazepin too had a lonely race but was awarded a thirty-second time penalty and had three points added to his licence, after failing to slow down under double-waved yellow flags on the final lap.

Uralkali Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner who can see just how much both of his drivers are learning, is looking forward to a short break before the next grand prix.

“It’s the end of our first triple-header this year – so, I think everybody’s ready to go home and get a little break before we get ready for the next race. We performed well as a team throughout this series of races, and obviously we’ve got a few more triple-headers coming this season.

“We’ll be well prepared, but it is tiring once you’re into them. From today’s race we had the result we expected. Both guys put in a solid performance, there’s just not a lot more in it for us at the moment. The learning is continuous, and the drivers are getting better.”

Mick Schumacher ended the Austrian Grand Prix as the top Uralkali Haas F1 Team driver after finishing eighteenth at the Red Bull Ring, Nikita Mazepin finished nineteenth.

Schumacher’s race so nearly came to an early end, the Haas driver collided with Esteban Ocon on the exit of turn three on the opening lap and was lucky to escape damage free, whereas Ocon immediately retired.

Other than that it was a very quiet race for Schumacher who yet again out-performed his team-mate, the German moves on to the British Grand Prix open-minded.

“It was challenging – the softer tyres meant that we had to do a bit more managing in general. There was a part of the race where our pace was matching what Alfa Romeo and Williams were doing, so it just seems that we weren’t able to consistently do those lap times.

“We will have to analyse what we can do better but nonetheless I think we managed to learn something, especially at the beginning the race. We had a good first lap and we were able to be in the mix right away in T1 and T2, so lots learned on that side and now we’re going into Silverstone with an open mind.”

A disappointing Austrian Grand Prix brought an underwhelming end to the triple-header for the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN team, where Antonio Giovinazzi finished fourteenth and Kimi Räikkönen sixteenth.

Giovinazzi had yet another torrid time at the Red Bull Ring, the Italian had to pit at the end of the first lap, after colliding with Esteban Ocon which brought out the races only safety car. Giovinazzi was then awarded a five-second time penalty for overtaking under that exact same safety car, ending any hope of salvaging a good result for the Italian.

Kimi Räikkönen on the other hand actually had a pretty good race, right up until the final lap. The 2007 world champion was in a great battle for tenth place with George Russell, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel in the closing laps. Drama struck for Räikkönen on the final lap though as he hit Vettel at turn five whilst the Aston Martin driver was overtaking him for twelfth. Räikkönen was completely unaware of where Vettel was and speared them both off into the gravel.

Räikkönen did manage to get out of the gravel trap and cross the line in sixteenth place. The Finnish driver was awarded two penalty points for causing the last lap collision.

Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur is disappointed to be leaving Austria with no points gained from either race at the Red Bull Ring.

It was a difficult Austrian Grand Prix for Antonio Giovinazzi to bring an end to his triple-header, Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN team-mate Kimi Räikkönen finished sixteenth.

It was a struggle straight from the lights going out for Giovinazzi, the Italian was forced into an early pit-stop after colliding with Esteban Ocon on the opening lap. Giovinazzi was then awarded a five-second time penalty for overtaking Fernando Alonso under the safety car, the Alpine F1 Team were certainly not Giovinazzi’s good luck charm!

With the penalty being taken during his second pit-stop, Giovinazzi’s race was effectively over with the Alfa Romeo driver getting stuck behind Nicholas Latifi, in the end fourteenth was the best the Italian could salvage. Giovinazzi is hoping for better luck at the British Grand Prix.

“A frustrating day: just as last week, our race was compromised on the first lap. I had contact with Esteban and had to pit: we had good pace afterwards but everyone was pretty close and it was very difficult to recover much. I got stuck behind a Williams, then even got a penalty – a weekend to forget. Hopefully we can have a better race in Silverstone as the performance was not bad.”

“We just lacked that little bit to be in the top ten” Kimi Räikkönen

Up until the final lap is was a largely positive race for Kimi Räikkönen, the Finnish driver had an excellent start and raced hard in the early stages.

Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team’s triple-header came to a disappointing close at the Austrian Grand Prix, with both Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel finishing well outside the points in thirteenth and seventeenth respectively.

It was a disappointing grand prix for both Aston Martin drivers who ran a two-stop strategy, after having to start on the soft tyre. This strategy proved to be the wrong one, with both Stroll and Vettel getting caught up in traffic when on fresh rubber.

Stroll’s race was hampered by debris lodged in his brake duct, whereas Vettel got punted off the track on the final lap by an unsighted Kimi Räikkönen, whilst fighting for eleventh.

Aston Martin CEO and Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer is aware that both drivers were unlucky, and that there is plenty of data to analyse ahead of the teams home grand prix.

“A number of factors combined to prevent us from scoring points today, despite both our drivers having done so well to get through to Q3 yesterday. That strong performance showed the underlying pace of our car, but it is possible that other teams that did not get through to Q3 were actually advantaged by that failure, since our drivers were both forced to make their first pit stops early as a result of having started the race on the Softs on which they qualified in Q3.

It was a disappointing end to the triple-header for Lance Stroll who after starting in ninth, fell backwards early on at the Austrian Grand Prix to finish thirteenth. Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team team-mate Sebastian Vettel finished seventeenth after a last lap crash.

As the race got underway, it became very clear that Stroll was on the wrong strategy. Stroll started the race on the soft tyres, with Aston Martin opting for a two-stop with both of their drivers.

This proved to be the wrong strategy with the majority of the field completing a one-stop after starting the race on the medium or hard Pirelli tyres. Stroll found himself constantly playing catch-up, the Canadian kept getting stuck in traffic and was unable to capitalise on his fresh rubber.

It brings a disappointing end to the triple-header for Stroll, who is looking forward to the teams home race at Silverstone.

“It was not the race we were hoping for today. I think it is clear, with hindsight, that starting on the Softs was not ideal, although we managed to keep ourselves in the fight for points during the first phase of the race. When we made our first stop to get onto a set of new Hards, we came out in quite a bit of traffic.

Mitch Evans goes into the New York City E-Prix with high expectations and ambitions, with the New Zealander aiming to return Jaguar Racing to the top step of the podium.

Evans has scored three podium finishes in the opening nine races of the 2020-21 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season, but his success has often led him to be in the opening session of Qualifying each weekend, which has made getting near the front of the grid difficult.

But Evans knows the Jaguar I-TYPE 5 has strong pace, and after a podium finish in Brooklyn back in 2019, he goes to New York with confidence that he can score a top three result once more.

“It’s always great to be racing in New York – it’s a place and a track which is one of the most special on the race calendar,” said Evans.  “In season five, the last time we raced here, I achieved my best result at the circuit with second place on the podium.

“Having raced here multiple times and with the Jaguar I-TYPE 5 pace looking strong, we’ve been working hard ahead of the double-header, as a team, to make sure myself and the racecar are in a position to push for a podium result again.”

Lucas di Grassi has fond memories of racing in the New York City E-Prix, with victory going his way back in race one in 2018 as well as his Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler team securing the Teams’ Championship a day later with another visit to the podium.

The Brazilian, who was also victorious for the first time in the 2020-21 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season in race one of the Puebla E-Prix in Mexico, says the result last time out has given the team a lot of confidence heading to Brooklyn and into the remainder of the season.

And di Grassi says he has every intention of fighting for his second victory of the season this weekend.

“New York has always been good to us,” says di Grassi. “The success in Mexico was good for all of us and has given us confidence.

“Now, we want to clinch the next victory for Audi in New York.”

Joel Eriksson will continue racing for the Dragon/Penske Autosport team in this weekend’s New York City E-Prix after being confirmed as the replacement driver for Nico Müller, who has departed the team as he focuses on racing in the DTM Series in 2021.

Eriksson replaced Müller in the Puebla E-Prix last month and finished seventeenth in his very first ABB FIA Formula E World Championship race, before ending fifteenth and ahead of team-mate Sérgio Sette Câmara in race two.  This was despite Sette Câmara having more experience in the series having raced all year long for Dragon/Penske Autosport.

The twenty-three-year-old Swede is looking to use the experience he had in Mexico to improve this weekend in Brooklyn, which will host the tenth and eleventh races of the 2020-21 season.  The venue was missing from the calendar last year due to COVID-19, having been on the calendar in the three years prior.

“I am thrilled to be back racing in Formula E for another weekend and prove what I can do,” said Eriksson, who last raced in single seaters prior to his Puebla appearance back in the Macau Grand Prix in 2018. “Big thanks to DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT for putting this continued trust in me.

“We worked well together in Mexico, and my driving evolved with every session and lap. It is amazing to head across the Atlantic to be part of a World Championship event in New York City itself.

Williams Racing fell just short of a points finish at the Austrian Grand Prix, after George Russell finished in eleventh place at the Red Bull Ring. Nicholas Latifi finished fifteenth.

Russell who ran in tenth for the majority of the race, was overtaken by Fernando Alonso with only four laps remaining after defending the Spaniard brilliantly for so much of the race. The British driver continues his search for his first ever point for Williams, the British Grand Prix which hosts the next round of the championship would be a fitting place to do it.

Latifi had a lonely race, the most dramatic moment of Latifi’s race came after the chequered flag. The Canadian was awarded a thirty-second time penalty plus had three-penalty points added to his licence, for failing to slow under double-waved yellows on the final lap.

Head of Vehicle Performance Dave Robson knows that the team did everything they could to get that tenth place but is frustrated to fall just short.

“We gave it everything today and fought hard with the midfield teams. Frustratingly, George couldn’t quite hold on to 10th place, but we can be pleased with our weekend’s work. The car has behaved well, and we have pushed it very hard.

“After a challenging triple-header, we are looking forward to some time at home before we head to Silverstone, where we’ll look to build on the work from the last couple of weekends. It will be great to be back at Silverstone in front of a home crowd as we take on the challenge of the new Sprint Qualifying format.”

George Russell yet again came agonisingly close to getting his first ever point for Williams Racing, after finishing eleventh at the Austrian Grand Prix. Team-mate Nicholas Latifi finished fifteenth.

After his best ever qualifying for Williams after starting in eighth, Russell slipped a few places early on in the race. Despite this the British driver battled hard to climb up to tenth, before a long battle with veteran Fernando Alonso.

Russell defended valiantly for so long but came up just short, Alonso overtook the Williams with only four laps to go, a bitter pill for Russell to swallow. Nevertheless Russell can be proud of his performance at the Red Bull Ring despite falling just short yet again.

“Today was so close, yet so far. I got off the line well at the start, but then Tsunoda had quite a big lock up and cut in front of me to avoid going into his teammate, so I had to get on the brakes and lost a couple of places. That didn’t really change the outcome of our race as there were faster cars that were always going to finish ahead of us.

“That P10 point would feel like a race victory for us, so I was fighting with everything I had. Of all the drivers to have behind you in this situation, Fernando wouldn’t be who you’d choose; he was flying and holding him off just wasn’t possible on my tyres. We’re all disappointed to miss out by such a small margin, but we’re making real progress and we’ll take the positives on to Silverstone.”