Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

IndyCar is racing this weekend, but not for points.

That’s a sentence that hasn’t been written since 2008. But this weekend, the series heads to The Thermal Club, a unique motorsports “country club” in California’s Coachella Valley for a combined open test and exhibition race dubbed the “$1 Million Challenge”. The first two days of the weekend will feature over nine hours of testing, with Sunday featuring two heat races followed by an “All-Star Race” on Sunday night.

But there is one big reason why this exhibition is happening: Texas Motor Speedway’s annual date was removed from the calendar, leaving what would have been a six-week gap between of the opening race of the season in St. Petersburg and the following event in Long Beach.

Mark Miles, President and CEO of Penske Entertainment, has his ears open for fan feedback for the series’ first major exhibition event in over a decade:

“I think we’ll see how fans react. And you know, because you do it all the time, that you’ll have a good sense from social media on the fan reaction to the racing… People really enjoyed being there [for testing in 2023]. Maybe raised some of the questions you asked about racing. I hope we’ve addressed them, and we expect to have a really good weekend that people enjoy.”

As ParaBaja Step by Step prepares for their ten-year anniversary in 2024, they will embark on their biggest schedule yet when they support all six Spanish Cross-Country Rally Championship as well as the World Rally-Raid Championship for the first time.

ParaBaja appears at cross-country rallies as a separate class designed for competitors with reduced mobility or other disabilities. Although times are recorded, results are not published as organisers stress it is a non-competition category that celebrates racers regardless of performance. Thus, identical trophies are handed out to everyone at the end of each rally.

The W2RC will be ParaBaja’s first race of the year when the series returns to the Iberian Peninsula in early April with the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid; while it mainly takes place in Portugal, the third stage will finish in Badajoz, Extremadura. Bajadoz will then host the start of Stage #4, which brings the rally back across the Portuguese/Spanish border to Grândola.

A week later, the CERTT season begins with the Rally TT Jaén Mar de Olivos. Returning to the Spanish championship in 2023 after a three-year hiatus, the race is held in Jaén, a province located in Andalucía. Andalucía previously welcomed the W2RC during its inaugural season in 2022 with the Andalucía Rally.

ParaBaja returns to Extremadura in May for the Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura, which is also part of the FIA European Baja Cup. Later in the month, the Murcian city of Lorca welcomes CERTT with the Baja Lorca Ciudad del Sol.

The 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship rolls into Albert Park for the Australian Grand Prix this weekend, and everyone will be looking to end the remarkable winning streak of Max Verstappen, who has won nine races in a row including the opening two Grand Prix of the year.

Oracle Red Bull Racing have secured one-two finishes in both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and only the fastest lap point eluded them last time out. 

Heading into the weekend, hear what those from the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team, Williams Racing, the Kick Sauber F1 Team, Visa CashApp RB and the BWT Alpine F1 Team have to say.

#27 – Nico Hülkenberg – MoneyGram Haas F1 Team

“We‘re happy about scoring our first point of the season in Saudi Arabia. Everyone saw how much effort it takes for midfield teams to fight for a top 10 result and teamwork was definitely the key.

The 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship rolls into Albert Park for the Australian Grand Prix this weekend, and everyone will be looking to end the remarkable winning streak of Max Verstappen, who has won nine races in a row including the opening two Grand Prix of the year.

Oracle Red Bull Racing have secured one-two finishes in both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and only the fastest lap point eluded them last time out. 

Heading into the weekend, hear what those from Scuderia Ferrari, the McLaren F1 Team, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team and the Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 Team have to say.

#55 – Carlos Sainz Jr. – Scuderia Ferrari

“Since I’ve been in Australia, I’ve made excellent progress, feeling better day by day and I’m ready to get in the car. I also spoke to Alex (Albon) who went through a similar situation two years ago and, although I’m not 100%, I expect to be able to drive.

Season 2 of the Red Bull Scramble kicked off Saturday in the dunes of Glamis. Although many faces ranging from World Rally-Raid Championship stars Seth Quintero and Austin Jones to the great Robby Gordon and his son Max Gordon headlined the card, newly minted Red Bull athlete and real estate agent Corbin Leaverton came out on top.

Leaverton, who won the Red Bull High Desert Scramble and the Best In The Desert Trophy Unlimited title alongside Cody Bradbury in 2023, continued his momentum into 2024 by winning the Pro class final ahead of pole-sitter Chase Carr and Shawn Saxton. Carr had dominated the race by leading the first four laps before Leaverton passed him on the final circuit to score the win.

Jones, two weeks removed from winning the Challenger class at the W2RC’s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, placed fifth. He narrowly edged out Michael McFayden for the top-five finish, the latter a new Honda Factory Off-Road Racing Talon driver; McFayden’s colleague Ethan Ebert, who races the team’s Honda Ridgeline in SCORE International competition, retired from the final.

“I’m super familiar with this area because I do a lot for Dakar and Abu Dhabi out here in these dunes,” said Jones. “I’ve been here a lot but I’ve never done a race here. The course that they set up was absolutely insane. It was the perfect mix of really fast and fun and a little bit of sketchy to keep everyone honest.”

The Gordon family, entering their first Scramble Series race, had mixed results. Robby finished third in his heat race while Max was forced to retire from his when the belt came off his SPEED UTV. The younger Gordon’s final then ended on the opening lap when his rear tyre clipped a dune and sent him into a roll. Robby stopped to check on Max and another driver who crashed the same lap, costing him approximately forty-five seconds. Max avoided injury while the car remained in relatively good condition with most of the damage being to the trailing arm.

Bruno Famin, the Team Principal of the BWT Alpine F1 Team, says the shock of starting the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season at the back of the pack has confirmed that the decision to overhaul their technical department was the right move.

Alpine started 2024 with a seemingly overweight and underperforming A524, and it was not long before technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer both resigned from their posts, and were replaced by a trio of technical directors that were broken up between aerodynamics, engineering and performance.

After two races fighting at or near the back of the pack – they qualified nineteenth and twentieth on the grid in the Bahrain Grand Prix, Famin says the need for change has been proven to be the right move as they bid to drag themselves up the field.

“It was a shock because we were really expecting a difficult start of the season, we knew this, and this is what we said during the launch of our car,” Famin is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. 

“But to be on the last row in the qualifying was a shock, to be honest. And it just confirmed the need of changing in our team, and we made the change.”

José Ignacio Cornejo has split with Monster Energy Honda Rally Team after six years with the organisation, he announced Wednesday.

After originally withdrawing from the 2018 Dakar Rally due to financial issues, Cornejo was asked by Honda to fill in as a last-second replacement for the injured Paulo Gonçalves. Despite only having one prior Dakar start in 2016 as a privateer, where he failed to finish, he immediately capitalised by finishing tenth overall and earned himself a permanent seat with the outfit for 2019 onwards. Now a factory rider, his performance continued to improve over the next few years, topping out at fourth in 2020 with a pair of stage victories. He had another two-win outing two years later and placed sixth.

Before joining Honda, he was the 2016 FIM Cross-Country Rallies Junior World Champion (predecessor to the current World Rally-Raid Championship). He finished sixth in both the inaugural W2RC RallyGP standings in 2022 and the following year’s slate.

His final start with HRC, January’s season-opening Dakar Rally, saw him finish sixth overall with a career high three stage victories in Stages #2, #4, and #7; the three wins led the RallyGP class as Hondas claimed seven of twelve legs. He and the team did not enter the next W2RC round in Abu Dhabi. Cornejo is currently fifth in the standings, trailing Ross Branch by thirty points.

“I came to this team as a junior with a lot of dreams, being a waterboy in Dakar 2018, and today I say goodbye as an experienced rider, winning stages, and fighting for podiums and wins,” wrote Cornejo. “I want to thank to every teammate, engineers, mechanics, physios and professionals of the team, it has been an honor for me, I met and worked with people and riders that I used to see in the magazines when I was a kid, and most of them today I can call friends. I hope I left a mark and good memories in every person I worked with. I made friendships that will last through the years, and I’ll carry all the memories in my heart and mind, thanks for everything.”

Polaris Factory Racing had a début season for the ages when they won the Pro UTV Open category at all four SCORE International rounds in 2023 and Brock Heger claimed the class championship. With the 2024 season fast approaching, they will defend their titles in a new, second-generation Polaris RZR Pro R Factory.

It is noticeably chunkier than its predecessor as more carbon fibre bodywork has been added to increase the car’s power-to-weight ratio. To cancel out the increased weight, the steel driveshaft has been replaced by one made from carbon fibre and aluminum, which is lighter but has more torque capacity. The muffler is also lighter than the original.

Perhaps its defining feature is a brand new one-piece chassis developed by Technique Inc., who also builds the chassis for the NASCAR Cup Series’ Next Gen car. Made from chromoly steel, the chassis is much larger and stronger than on the previous car, intended to be twice as strong as what is mandated by the FIA. Technique also supplied upgraded front and rear bumpers that better handle contact from other vehicles.

Surrounding the chassis is a redesigned roll cage. The car will rely on brake systems, which includes rotors, opposed-piston calipers, and dual master cylinders, from Alcon USA. The fuel cell, made by Aero Tec Laboratories, has been increased to a range of 200 miles (321.869 kilometres).

Otherwise, it continues to use stock parts like the first-gen RZR such as the same ball joints, front and rear knuckles and drives, power steering rack, trailing arms, and the CVT (continuously variable transmission) system like the belt. The control arms are stock as well, though a newer model that are stiffer and stronger for better handling.

Sara Price will have to wait a little longer before she gets another crack at the World Rally-Raid Championship. Rally Raid Spirit told The Checkered Flag Tuesday that after speaking with Price, she will not enter the upcoming BP Ultimate Rally-Raid due to a lack of sponsorship.

Price is seen as one of the top rising stars in rally raid, evidenced from her W2RC debut when she won the National Car/UTV class at the 2023 Sonora Rally to clinch free registration for the 2024 Dakar Rally. To prepare for Dakar, she entered the 2023 season-ending Rallye du Maroc and made an impact from the start as she won two stages and finished second in the SSV class.

At Dakar, she vied for an SSV podium spot before breaking through by winning her class in Stage #10, becoming the third woman to win a Dakar stage. Price finished fourth overall in SSV and second among points-eligible drivers.

Despite being eligible for the W2RC, however, she skipped the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. She and many of her fellow American competitors, including boyfriend and Dakar bike winner Ricky Brabec, opted to enter the Mint 400 back home instead, finishing twelfth in the UTV Pro class after being ordered to move from the UTV Stock category for noncompliant parts (a trend that eventually sparked controversy).

While most W2RC competitors who skipped Abu Dhabi have their reasons to do so, Price’s also comes down to not having sufficient backing. Although she is an ambassador for Can-Am and drives for their rally raid factory team South Racing, it is not enough to regularly cover the costs of racing internationally. Brabec has also openly lamented the lack of rally opportunities for Americans due to low factory support.

Jonathan Savel, a police officer on the path to making his Dakar Rally début in 2025, was shot and killed during a raid in Lodelinsart that went awry on Monday morning. He was 36 years old.

Savel was a member of the Federal Police Special Units (DSU), Belgium’s tactical police force. According to Charleroi prosecutor Vincent Fiasse, search warrants were issued for a suspect allegedly involved in criminal conspiracy for trafficking drugs, cars, and weapons. At 6:30 AM on Monday, Savel and his team arrived at the suspect’s house where they encountered and began speaking with a woman.

Moments later, they were ambushed by someone hiding behind a door who, according to Fiasse, “fired several times” and “almost emptied his magazine on the officers.” Savel and two of his peers were hit, forcing the unit to call in reinforcements while they evacuated the trio. The assailant died in the ensuing shootout.

One of the wounded officers avoided life-threatening injuries, while another is in critical condition. Savel was pronounced dead in hospital, and is the first DSU agent in recent memory to die in the line of duty.

“It is a dark day for the Belgian police, the Federal Police, and especially for our special units,” said Federal Police Commissioner-General Eric Snoeck at a press conference later that day. “This morning, like every day, dozens of colleagues, dozens of officers got up early, left their families to do their duty. They left their families with the intention, like every day, of doing their job properly in the service of the law but more broadly in the service of the people.

One of the bigger stories to come out of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was the defensive driving by Kevin Magnussen that delayed drivers enough to allow his MoneyGram Haas F1 Team team-mate Nico Hülkenberg to score his first point of the season.

Magnussen slowed his pace in the first sector and was setting lap times upward of a second and a half down on what he was capable of to allow Hülkenberg to scamper away, with Yuki Tsunoda, Alexander Albon, Esteban Ocon and Logan Sargeant all having their evenings compromised as a result.

The Danish driver was already carrying two ten-second time penalties thanks to incidents involving both Albon and Tsunoda, and it was a call from the pit wall to back up the pack that proved key to who took home the final point on offer.

Not everyone was happy with what unfolded, with Visa CashApp RB’s racing director Alan Permane criticising the move that saw Magnussen pass Tsunoda, with the Dane running off track to complete the pass. Permane called the decision to not allow Tsunoda back ahead despite this as ‘unsportsmanlike behaviour’.

“We started him [Tsunoda] on the medium tyre, and when the safety car came out, pitted him for the hard compound,” Permane is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “What then happened was a little difficult to take.

In 2005, Guerlain Chicherit made his Dakar Rally début with Mathieu Baumel as his co-driver. Nearly two decades later, the two will rekindle their relationship, even if for just one round, when they enter the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid. Baumel fills in for Alex Winocq, who is recovering from a back injury sustained during the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.

“Fifteen years after our last partnership, Mathieu and I will share the same car at the Rally-Raid Portugal,” wrote Chicherit on Tuesday. “We started racing in the discipline together in 2005 and experienced extraordinary adventures, sometimes going as far as to sleep alone in a small tent in the middle of the African desert… Another era! We are delighted to meet again for this one-shot.”

After finishing forty-ninth at the 2005 Paris–Dakar Rally, Chicherit and Baumel impressed in 2006 with a stage win and ninth-place run. The two continued to work together through 2009, finishing ninth again in their final Dakar together.

Baumel eventually linked up with Nasser Al-Attiyah in 2015, and the duo formed one of the greatest pairings in rally raid history as they won four Dakar Rallies, two World Rally-Raid Championships, four FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, and the 2023 FIA World Bajas Cup. They also claimed five Middle Eastern Rally Championships and the 2015 World Rally Championship-2.

However, things soured at the 2024 Dakar in January when Baumel and Al-Attiyah, running their first W2RC race in a Prodrive Hunter, struggled with reliability before dropping out halfway. The two split a month later and Édouard Boulanger became Al-Attiyah’s new co-driver starting with the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, where they ultimately won. Baumel did not appear at Abu Dhabi as a result.

After a decade of success together, Toby Price‘s time with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing has come to an end. Price confirmed his departure on Tuesday, explaining the team opted not to renew his contract following the Dakar Rally in January. His focus for the rest of 2024 will be on the SCORE International World Desert Championship.

KTM initially gave him an extension in October, which theoretically would have kept him involved through at least the entire 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship. However, as the manufacturer undergoes reshuffling and budget cuts, the team did not register for the 2024 championship, making Price and team-mate Kevin Benavides ineligible to earn points.

In his final race with them at Dakar, Price finished fifth overall in the RallyGP category. While he did not win a stage, he scored three podium finishes with a third in Stage #5 and runner-ups at the Chrono Stage and on the final day. KTM did not appear at the next W2RC round in Abu Dhabi, though every RallyGP team save for Hero MotoSports sat out that round.

“I do feel like I’m still in my prime and going out there fighting for wins, especially at Dakar so it’s unfortunate to not have that opportunity to do it in 2025 but I’m really appreciative of the support they gave me in my career,” wrote Price. “We’ve been able to do something great things together like win two Dakars and get a couple podiums, a World Championship and our success in Australia too.”

After winning a stage and finishing third in his Dakar début in 2015, Price became a KTM factory rider the following year and immediately made an impact by winning the race. He added the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship (predecessor to the W2RC) in 2018 followed by a second Dakar victory a year later.

Kenjiro Shinozuka, a World Rally Championship race winner and the first non-European driver to win the Dakar Rally, died Monday morning after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 75 years old.

“For the past three weeks, Kenjiro has been working hard to fight the Sahara Desert. At 10:10 AM on March 18, 2024, he crossed the finish line at Lac Rose,” reads a statement from his publicist.

Lac Rose was the traditional finish line for the Dakar Rally during its original run from Europe to Senegal. While the race has not used this route since 2008, Shinozuka could have followed it as part of the Africa Eco Race in January but was forced to abandon those plans after a sponsor backed out. He first raced the AER, co-created by the late three-time Dakar champion René Metge, in 2019 where he finished thirty-fourth.

The AER entry came twelve years after his final start at the Paris–Dakar Rally in 2007. Shinozuka made his debut in 1986 as a factory driver for Mitsubishi. In 1997, he and co-driver Henri Magne led a Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero podium sweep when they defeated Jean-Pierre Fontenay and Bruno Saby; fellow Japanese driver Hiroshi Masuoka made it a 1–2–3–4 for the marque in his Challenger.

Shinozuka joined Nisan in 2003, but was involved in a frightening wreck in that year’s race which resulted in life-threatening injuries. He recovered in time for the 2004 Rally, and contineud to race until 2007.

Formula 1 heads to Melbourne for Round 3 of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship this weekend, as Max Verstappen aims for his 3rd win of the season.

Racing returns to Albert Park for the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, this weekend and it will be Verstappen that everyone is aiming to beat. The Dutchman has picked up where he left off in 2023, and has secured both pole positions and both race wins so far this season. Including 2023, he’s on a nine-race win streak.

Despite that, the main storylines for Oracle Red Bull Racing have been their off-track political drama. The latest reports suggest that a Red Bull employee has filed a complaint to the FIA regarding the Christian Horner incident. The Horner drama has led to reported arguments within Red Bull, with tensions high between senior figures such as Helmut Marko and Jos Verstappen and the team principal. 

The drama hasn’t affected the performance of Verstappen or Sergio Pérez though, and it looks like that won’t be the case this weekend either as Red Bull enter the weekend as strong favourites.

Carlos Sainz Jr. could return to F1 action this weekend after missing the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix due to needing surgery for appendicitis. He returned to the paddock in Jeddah following the surgery and watched Ollie Bearman score points on his Scuderia Ferrari debut.