Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Pascal Wehrlein has called his disqualification from the opening race of the Puebla E-Prix as ‘Very Tough’ after the German lost victory in Mexico just as he took the chequered flag.

His Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team failed to declare the race tyres on his or team-mate André Lotterer’s cars prior to the race, with a steward’s investigation subsequently disqualifying both from the final result.

Wehrlein had not put a foot wrong after starting from pole position, but his wait for his maiden ABB FIA Formula E World Championship victory goes on.

“It’s hard to find the right words for what happened today,” said Wehrlein.  “After qualifying on pole, we deserved the first win and we did it too on this track.

“Ultimately, a mistake was made in the tyre registration, which wouldn’t have changed the performance. In my opinion, disqualification is a very tough penalty. But now we’re looking ahead and we’ll attack again tomorrow.” 

The qualifying session for the 2021 Intelligent Money British GT Championship Silverstone 500 has been claimed by 2Seas Motorsport on their return to the championship with a single Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO. The Anglo-Bahraini squad sealed the top spot in fine style, leading both the Am and the Pro sessions on Saturday afternoon on the Grand Prix circuit at the home of British Motorsport. GT4 pole position wasn’t as easily won, with the early session giving the advantage to the BMW M4 GT4 EVOs of Century Motorsport. The second session saw the Silver Cup pairing of Richard Williams and Sennan Fielding take the front row in class in just their second race back in the GT4 version of the Audi R8 LMS.

GT3: Abbott and Kodric Set Course for the Front Row.

The new to British GT pairing of BTCC star Hunter Abbott and GT World Challenge Europe front runner Martin Kodric opened their accounts in the series with an authoritative performance in their respective sessions. The 2Seas crew each claimed the fastest lap in their ten minutes to make a combined advantage of 1.706 seconds over the Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT3 of Giacomo Petrobelli and Charlie Eastwood.

Initially it was Petrobelli who stole the top spot in the Am session but he was promptly replaced by Brendan Iribe for Inception Racing by Optimum Motorsport who then lost out almost straight away to Hunter Abbott. The same pattern was repeated on the second flying laps, with Abbott proving categorically that the team’s decision to defect from McLaren to Mercedes-AMG over the winter was well made. The cars returned to pit lane for driver changes with the #14 Mercedes-AMG sitting a comfortable 0.565 seconds clear of the McLaren from Oculus VR co-founder Iribe.

A similar margin covered the seven of the top eight in the second session though from the off Kodric stated his intention emphatically. The Croatian hotshoe headed out on the circuit and uncorked two scorching laps which left all the other front runners scratching their heads. The #14 was 0.7 seconds clear at the top of the tables by the time Kodric called it quits, the combined times from the two sessions gave the black and blue Benz and even stronger position at over a second and a half to the Petrobelli/Eastwood Aston Martin.

A strong effort from reigning champion Sandy Mitchell saw Adam Balon‘s sixth upgraded to third place for the start of the longest race on the calendar. Ian Loggie and Yelmer Buurman took fourth place as the quickest of the full season Mercedes ahead of Iribe and his co-driver Ollie Millroy. Enduro Motorsport will be celebrating the outside of the third row in their McLaren 720s GT3 thanks to Morgan Tillbrook and Marcus Clutton, an amazing performance in only their second race in the class and against strong competition. Beechdean AMR, Balfe Motorsport, Barwell Motorsport and Team ABBA Racing rounded out the top ten.

Jasin Ferati has left the Monolite Racing team and left their future in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine series in the balance.

Ferati was absent from the grid for the two races at Circuit Zandvoort last weekend after suffering issues with his helmet during Friday’s running, and subsequently he has opted to leave the team after failing to break into the points in any of the ten races so far.

The Swiss racer retired from four of the opening eight races and failed to qualify for one of the races at Monaco, with his best finish of nineteenth coming in the opening race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya at the beginning of May.

“The Italian squad could rely on the lone Pietro Delli Guanti today after Jasin Ferati was forced to sit out due to a helmet issue,” said a statement from Monolite Racing Saturday at Zandvoort.

“The efforts made by the Swiss driver and by the whole team to find a replacement one with the right homologation and take part in the event were unsuccessful.”

Thomas Ten Brinke has announced he will be retiring from racing aged just sixteen, with the recent Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine round at the Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands his final outing.

Ten Brinke moved up to FRECA after just a solitary season in Spanish Formula 4, and he had scored points in five of the eight races he competed in with ART Grand Prix.

However, in a post on social media, he revealed that his motivation to compete had gone and he has made the decision to cease racing with immediate effect.

“Dear all. For the past few years, I’ve been extremely dedicated to racing. I’ve been go-karting for five years, became world champion and finally made my move to autosport. I loved the first races in F4, the racing, the competition and moved my way up to Formula Regional soon after.

“During the weekends of FRECA, I started feeling a pressure I didn’t know before. How badly I would’ve wanted to compete, I struggled mentally to perform. Together with the coaching of [former Formula 1 driver] Giedo van der Garde and Ken de Meester, I tried to turn things around, but the past weekend in Zandvoort it became clear to me. There was no joy.

Dave Robson says there were mixed emotions about Qualifying for the Styrian Grand Prix, with George Russell missing out on a first Q3 appearance for Williams Racing by just 0.008 seconds.

Russell qualified eleventh, with Lance Stroll of Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team just pipping him with a time eight-thousandths of a second.

It was almost a similar story for Nicholas Latifi in Q1, with the Canadian missing out on a Q2 appearance by just 0.033 seconds, this time McLaren F1 Team’s Daniel Ricciardo was the one just ahead.

Robson, the Head of Vehicle Performance at Williams, says Russell is in a good starting position for Sunday’s race – he moves up to tenth thanks to a penalty for Yuki Tsunoda – with Williams eyeing their first points finish since the German Grand Prix in 2019.

“Following the heavy overnight rain, we were concerned that the track might be in poor condition this morning, but the tyres were working well, and we were pleased with our opening runs,” said Robson.

‘Mr Saturday’ George Russell delivered once again when it mattered at the Red Bull Ring, with the Briton only missing out on an appearance in Q3 by the narrowest of margins.

Just 0.008 seconds separated Russell and tenth-placed Lance Stroll, with Williams Racing coming so close to their first Q3 appearance since 2018.

Russell admits it was frustrating to get so close to Q3 as he did, although he will start tenth after Yuki Tsunoda was handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Valtteri Bottas during Q2.

And with the team having been focusing on improving their race pace, the Briton goes into Sunday with confidence that he can fight for a top ten finish and his first points result as a Williams driver.

“I was pushing to my absolute limits in qualifying and the car really came alive when it mattered, so the lap felt really strong,” said Russell.  “It’s frustrating when we were so close to Q3, eight thousandths of a second really is nothing, but we’ll have tyre choice in P11 tomorrow so that’s a good place to be.

John Hunter Nemechek continues to set himself as the top driver in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series when he held off his boss Kyle Busch to win Saturday’s CRC Brakleen 150 at Pocono Raceway.

Nemechek started seventh behind pole-sitter Todd Gilliland. The field had barely crossed the line to start the race when Jack Wood was sent into the outside wall after contact with Chandler Smith and bounced him into Johnny Sauter. Zane Smith would lead much of the opening stage to win ahead of Busch, Sheldon Creed, Gilliland, Ben Rhodes, Stewart Friesen, Austin Hill, Christian Eckes, and Matt Crafton. Being a Cup Series driver, Busch did not receive stage points.

Smith continued to lead for Stage #2 before being passed by GMS Racing team-mate Creed. Shortly before the stage end, Creed elected to pit and surrendered the lead to Nemechek, who took the segment victory. Rhodes, Friesen, Hill, Crafton, Josh Berry, Ty Majeski, Chase Purdy, Grant Enfinger, and Kris Wright rounded out the top ten; the top five were all Toyota drivers. For Wright, it was his first career stage point, while Berry received none as he declared for the Xfinity championship.

Busch became the leader to start the final segment. Although Creed gave chase, a caution for Friesen’s wreck on lap 52 led to a restart in which Nemechek won out. Busch and Creed battled for second, which resulted in contact that allowed Nemechek to pull away. While Busch held Creed off to take second, he could not catch his employee as Nemechek scored his fifth win of the year and first at Pocono.

“We weren’t very good in Stage #1,” said Nemechek. “We kept working on it. […]

The Alpine F1 Team achieved their qualifying goal for the Styrian Grand Prix of making it into final qualifying, unfortunately it was only with one of the Alpine cars.

Fernando Alonso did an excellent job to make final qualifying and put his car in ninth place for Sunday’s race, Esteban Ocon however failed to make it out of qualifying one and will line up from seventeenth.

Alpine’s Racing Director Davide Brivio is pleased with Alonso’s performance but knows that an analysis needs to be carried out to understand Ocon’s struggle.

“Fernando did a good job and we achieved our target of getting into Q3. He also seemed to enjoy qualifying, particularly in Q2 when he put together a very strong lap. Unfortunately, we couldn’t use this potential with Esteban, and we need to analyse and understand the information to get in better shape for tomorrow. We need to take every opportunity in the race with both cars; the weather could be changeable, and the field is so tight that there is every hope of a good finish.”

Otmar Szafnauer says Lance Stroll’s performance during Qualifying for the Styrian Grand Prix on Saturday was ‘superb’, with the Canadian set to start ninth on the grid for Sunday’s race.

Stroll performed well in both Q1 and Q2 to advance into Q3 with relative ease, although he set the slowest time of those making it into the top ten shootout as he ran out of soft Pirelli tyres to use.  However, he moves up to ninth on the grid as Yuki Tsunoda was handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Valtteri Bottas during the session.

Szafnauer, the CEO and Team Principal of the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team, says Stroll should now be aiming for points on Sunday.

“Lance did a superb job today, fast in Q1 and Q2, thereby moving smoothly through to Q3,” said Szafnauer.  “He will start tomorrow’s race from P9, from which position a strong points-scoring drive will be his aim.”

On the other side of the garage, Szafnauer admitted Sebastian Vettel was struggling with understeer during his session, and as a result the German was unable to match Stroll and was eliminated in Q2.

Fernando Alonso will start the Styrian Grand Prix from ninth place in what was a very mixed qualifying for the Alpine F1 Team, with Frenchman Esteban Ocon failing to get out of qualifying one.

For Alonso it was a solid qualifying, the experienced Spaniard used all his ability to qualify ninth around the short Red Bull Ring, where times are incredibly close. With qualifying in the top ten Alonso has every opportunity to finish in the points on Sunday, where the forecast remains unpredictable!

“It was a stressful qualifying with no room for mistakes, thanks to the close gaps and track limits at the last two corners. There is always room to improve but I am very happy with getting into the top ten again and finishing ninth. It gives us the possibility to score some good points tomorrow. Our forecast suggests it might rain so it is a little bit unknown heading into the race, but we are ready for whatever conditions.”

“We’re not happy today” – Esteban Ocon

For Esteban Ocon it was one of his worst qualifying sessions in his Formula 1 career so far, the Frenchman will start the race from seventeenth place leaving him with a lot of work to do.

Ocon is aware that he should not be getting eliminated from the first qualifying session and will therefore analyse what went wrong. Ocon who has recently signed a contract extension with the team, will need to find answers quickly to give him any hope of a point on Sunday.

Lance Stroll said it was a good feeling to be back into Q3 for the Styrian Grand Prix, with the Canadian set to start ninth on the grid for Sunday’s race.

The Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team racer says it has been a smooth weekend so far for him, and he went into Qualifying at the Red Bull Ring with confidence that he could make it into the top ten shootout.

Stroll initially qualified tenth after making only one attempt in Q3 as he ran out of soft compound tyres, but a post-session penalty for Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda’s Yuki Tsunoda moves him up to ninth.

And after impressive performances in recent races, Stroll is confident he can score good points on Sunday afternoon in Austria.

“It is a good feeling to be back in Q3, especially when it happens after such a tight qualifying,” said Stroll.  “It was good fun out there and I think tenth [now ninth due to a rival’s penalty] was the most we could achieve today.

Scuderia Ferrari had one of their most difficult qualifying sessions of the season so far, with Charles Leclerc being the only Ferrari driver to make the top ten, Carlos Sainz Jr could only make twelfth.

The Styrian Grand Prix hasn’t gone according to plan for the Scuderia, the team have struggled with one lap pace, something which is usually their strength compared to their competitors.

Nevertheless Leclerc did an incredible job to make it into final qualifying and put his prancing horse in seventh place for Sunday’s race, giving him every opportunity of hauling some good points. Sainz will have to work extra hard on Sunday to recover from twelfth but Ferrari Racing Director Laurent Mekies is confident that their race pace is just as strong as their midfield rivals.

“As expected, this was a difficult session. Compared with what we have seen so far on Saturday afternoons, we were unable to reproduce our usual performance level over a single flying lap. We tackled this Grand Prix with a slightly different approach to usual, working mainly towards the race after the problems we encountered last week in France.

“That’s not a mitigating factor, because I don’t think we could have done much better than this, looking at the performance of our main rivals, but it is something to bear in mind when looking at today’s results. From what we saw yesterday, our long run pace is not bad compared to our closest competitors and we will try and exploit that tomorrow afternoon.

Friday’s running of the Safari Rally Kenya was a war of attrition. However, after a much less hectic Saturday, Thierry Neuville has extended his lead to almost a minute before Sunday’s closing stages. Several of the FIA World Championship’s big names suffered difficult setbacks yesterday amidst some of the most gruelling terrains on the WRC calendar. As has become well documented, this is the first Safari Rally in the WRC for 19 years, and it returned after its two-decade absence with some ferocious bite. Dani Sordo, Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanperä all succumbed to the difficult stages and paid a hefty price on the timesheet. Sebastien Ogier had his share of bad luck either but remained in podium contention.

Saturday’s stages proved to be far less troublesome for the drivers on faster and more forgiving surfaces around Lake Elmenteita. Thierry Neuville picked up his impressive Friday form by winning the days opening stage. He extended his leading margin to 26.3 seconds of Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Takamoto Katsuta as a result. The pair of Neuville and Katsuta (the latter fighting for his first WRC podium in a Toyota Yaris) traded times over the final two stages of the morning loop. Neuville extended his leading margin to 28.1 seconds heading into the afternoon service.

The star of the morning running was reigning champion Seb Ogier, who won both the Soysambu and Sleeping Warrior stages. His speed helped him fight his way back to podium contention, although the Frenchman was keen to stress that he was remaining cautious in his approach;

“It’s not a huge push, but we have to keep some pressure as much as we can do. The gaps are big, so there’s nothing you can really catch in a normal fight, but it’s Safari and so many things can happen.”

A mature approach from Ogier, who saw his deficit to 3rd Placed Ott Tänak cut down to just 37.6 seconds before the afternoon service.

Charles Leclerc was the only Scuderia Ferrari to make it into final qualifying for the Styrian Grand Prix, his team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr failed to make the final session and will start from twelfth.

It has been a difficult weekend for Ferrari, Leclerc has appeared to be the more comfortable of the two drivers so far in Austria which showed in qualifying. Seventh place for Leclerc isn’t the end of the world though and does open up some opportunities for the race.

Leclerc is confident that his SF21’s race pace is better than it’s one lap performance, leaving him optimistic heading into Sunday.

“P7 is not the ideal starting position, but it was in line with our expectations. Our race pace has been pretty solid this weekend, and we did not want to sacrifice it for a slightly better qualifying result. Tomorrow is what counts, and if our pace is as good as it has been so far this weekend, I am confident that we can gain some positions and bring home some good points.

“I am very happy with my lap and put everything I had into it without making mistakes. It was difficult with the traffic, especially in Q1. Then, in Q3, we decided to put on new tyres out of sync with the others to run in free air. 

Jody Egginton says it has been a productive Saturday for Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda at the Red Bull Ring, and they were pleased to see both Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda advance into Q3 in Qualifying.

Gasly will start the Styrian Grand Prix from sixth on the grid, while Tsunoda qualified eighth but will start eleventh after being given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Valtteri Bottas during Q2.

Egginton, the Technical Director at AlphaTauri, says it is a shame that Tsunoda took the penalty, but despite this, he knows points are scored on Sunday and they are in a good position with both cars to take top ten finishes.

“Today has been very productive for both sides of the garage,” said Egginton.  “The package is continuing to work well and respond to the set-up changes made to try and squeeze a bit more performance out of it in what is a very tight midfield.

“Pierre and his crew have done a good job to recover from the running they missed yesterday, this has culminated in a strong Qualifying performance and a well-deserved grid position for tomorrow’s race.