Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The new format will be tricky for everyone to get their head around but we are all in the same position.

Both drivers have spent time in our simulator preparing, and are ready for the weekend.

Red Bull's design guru, Adrian Newey admits that the 2026 regulations emphasis on power units will present he and his colleagues with a whole raft of challenges.

Performance Director Tom McCullough discusses Fernando's new multi-year deal with the team, the test posed by Shanghai International Circuit, and the first Sprint weekend of the season.

After retiring from the Dakar Rally in January, Hennie de Klerk and his TreasuryONE Motorsport team will be approaching the upcoming South African Rally-Raid Championship like it is a leg on the former.

He and his co-driver Juan Möhr will have a full kit of spare parts and tools onboard their WCT Toyota Hilux, then perform repairs and changes themselves without the help of their team when they are at the service station. The team’s technician Tjaart van der Walt will be present to oversee the stops but not get involved. Under World Rally-Raid Championship rules, crews are not permitted to help their drivers if they are stuck in the Selective Section and face disqualification if it happens, and de Klerk and Möhr will treat the service areas as such.

“As we so painfully learned this year, there’s no tomorrow at the Dakar if you do not finish today,” said de Klerk. “To that end, we will use our local races to develop our strategy to best deal with our future Dakar challenges. That means concentrating on endurance and reliability, rather than just speed.”

2024 marked de Klerk’s third Dakar Rally after being the best-finishing rookie in the 2018 edition in twenty-eighth followed by a thirty-fourth in 2020. He returned to the race after four years in a new Toyota Hilux T1+ designed by WCT Engineering, which is mostly the same as its counterparts built by Toyota Gazoo Racing and Overdrive Racing but less complex so that privateers can afford it. Möhr joined the team after last racing the Dakar in 2016 with Mark Corbett.

The duo fell early due to a time penalty in the Prologue for a navigation error, then broke a prop shaft early in Stage #2 which forced them to complete the leg with rear drive only. They scored their best finish of thirty-first in the Ultimate class in Stage #4, but another driveshaft failure and rollover struck during the second half of the Chrono Stage and ended their race.

The late Ted Toleman is perhaps best known for kickstarting the Formula One careers of those like Ayrton Senna, Rory Byrne, and Pat Symonds via Toleman Motorsport. After selling the team to sponsor Benetton in 1986, Toleman decided to remain involved in racing, albeit in a slightly different discipline from what he was used to.

In 1987, a year after his F1 exit, Toleman and company decided to enter the Paris–Dakar Rally. Although the race had only been active for a decade, it quickly grew into the world’s preeminent rally raid and still holds this reputation today. Toleman’s maiden start came a year after fellow F1 outfit Minardi did a Dakar one-off in a truck, where they retired after seven stages.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s one of the last great adventures left. I’ve always been one for pitting yourself against the elements. After doing the Atlantic, the desert was a natural,” said Toleman in a team promotional video for the 1989 race titled Heat and Dust. “I think perseverance and patience (are most important) because you have to be patient with one another. It’s a long time to be together under stress. I think those are the important features.”

The programme was revealed at 1 Savile Row in London, the former headquarters of the Royal Geographical Society and current home of menswear tailor Gieves & Hawkes, consisting of Toleman as driver and Barry Lee as navigator of a Range Rover. Lee was a multi-time hot rod national and world champion who also enjoyed success in the British Saloon Car Championship and rallycross. However, their début was cut short when two team members were arrested at the Algerian border for alleged currency irregularities.

For their second attempt in 1988, the duo decided to modify an Austin Metro 6R4, a brand that previously competed in Group B rally much like many Dakar vehicles of the time. Dubbed the TG88 Raider, sported a longer wheelbase and a 3.9-litre V8 engine from a Land Rover that produced 230 horsepower, as opposed to the V6 of the original model. The car proved to be quick, which landed it on the front cover of Autosport‘s 7 January issue. Although the Metro was fast, Toleman’s support truck was not and got stuck in the sand, causing it to take too long to reach the finish and forcing him to retire yet again.

Coachbuilt Whisky and Williams Racing announced a dynamic licensing partnership. Coachbuilt Whisky is a premium blended whisky co-founded by 2009 F1 World Champion and Williams Racing Brand Ambassador Jenson Button.

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This collaboration brings together two innovators in their respective domains, merging Williams Racing’s expertise in motorsport engineering with Coachbuilt’s passion for precision and craftsmanship.

The alliance will produce several limited-edition whiskies that pay homage to Williams Racing’s rich heritage and reflect the team’s current journey to return to the front of the grid. It will also celebrate Williams and Jenson’s long and prosperous relationship, which began in 2000 when the team gave him his breakthrough opportunity in Formula 1.

Beyond the special editions, the licensing partnership will see the core Coachbuilt edition poured at Williams events and in the paddock, in addition to merchandise lines and other activations.

McLaren boss, Andrea Stella fears that Shanghai will be a tough weekend for his team.

Red Bull Advanced Technologies and AVL are to join forces in developing cutting-edge lightweight fuel cell technology.

Max Verstappen continues to express concern over the direction the sport is heading, particularly in terms of active aero.

The team has been working extremely hard and we have been able to bring an upgrade to one car this weekend, one race earlier than planned.

The headline results didn't necessarily show it, but we made solid progress with our car in Japan. We are looking forward to building on that this weekend.

Of all the circuits we've raced at so far this year, it would seem the Shanghai International Circuit may not be the best suited to our car.

Tacita‘s newest line of electric bikes for 2024, particularly the Enduro, Motard, and Motorally models from the T-Race line, were developed using what they picked up from their Dakar Rally effort in January.

The Italian bike manufacturer entered the Dakar Rally in the Mission 1000 class as Tacita Formula Corsa, fielding two Tacita Discanto bikes for Oscar Polli and Silvayn Espinasse. Polli, the 2008 FIM FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Champion (precursor to today’s World Rally-Raid Championship) and 2012 Africa Eco Race winner, failed to start the first stage and fell into an early hole in the rankings, but managed to complete the race as the last finisher in the category. Espinasse was eighth of nine finishing Mission 1000 entries.

New for the 2024 race, Mission 1000 is designed for vehicles on alternative power sources like electric, hybrid, and hydrogen. Tacita, Arctic Leopard, and Green Power Race raced on electric bikes while the other teams were in cars or trucks.

The T-Race bikes are all designed using lessons that Tacita learned from the effort. Each bike, as well as those in the T-Cruise series (Urban and Turismo), has a five-speed gearbox, liquid cooling and a battery management system to prevent overheating, and a 120-volt system for the controller. The Motorally, which is closest to the Dakar bike, also comes with a battery setup that allows for it to be swapped out within three minutes.

All three T-Race models weigh roughly 196 kilograms and have 0.7 millimetres of fairing made from carbon and Kevlar. The Enduro and Motard bikes have nine kWh of bettery while Motorally boasts thirteen.

The newest addition to Red-Lined Motorsport‘s REVO line will make its début when the 2024 South African Rally-Raid Championship begins at this weekend’s Nkomazi 400 as Chris Visser and Dave Klaassen pilot the REVO+ GT-R.

As the name suggests, it is a T1+ car that uses an engine pulled from the Nissan R35 GT-R. Nicknamed “Godzilla”, the GT-R is Nissan’s flagship sports car and has seen extensive action in GT and endurance racing.

The GT-R’s 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V6 VR38DETT engine produces 421 kW of power (565 horsepower) with 632 Nm of torque. Ironically, the standard engine is too powerful for FIA cross-country rally rules, which have a 264-kW limit, meaning it had to be de-tuned to remain legal. Testing took place in December. Such an engine is also being used in the Dacia Sandrider, Renault’s factory rally raid programme that will compete in the 2025 Dakar Rally and World Rally-Raid Championship.

The newest REVO comes on the heels of Red-Lined’s REVO T1+, the company’s first foray into the T1+ subcategory. Created in 2023, it is currently used in the SARRC as well as the W2RC, the latter on a full-time basis by Aliyyah Koloc and Buggyra ZM Racing. Both the REVO T1+ and GT-R comply with T1+ regulations like using 37-inch tyres and having 350 mm of suspension travel.

Red-Lined often bases their rally raiders on Nissans. Their VK50 and VK56 cars are based on the Nissan Navara; both are T1.1 models, which have smaller wheels at 32 inches and 280 mm in suspension travel.

Alpine has announced that Singaporean Formula 4 driver Kabir Anurag has joined its academy.

For the drivers, the teams and indeed for Pirelli, it's pretty much a matter of starting from scratch, given that the data references for Shanghai are very vague.

Returning to China is a great moment for our team and our sport as a whole: we also celebrate Zhou's first ever home race - we expect an incredible welcome for him and the team.

Shanghai has lower cornering speeds and a very long back straight, as well as a decent length pit straight as well, so that should suit our car.

Bournezeau Rallye Aventure, also known as Team B.R.A. for short, will be pulling double duty in January 2025 as they plan to enter both the Dakar Rally and the Dakar Classic. Yannick Grèzes will race the former in a Drakart Scorpion while his son Tenessy Grèzes and Julien Bessé enter the latter with a Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80 and Mitsubishi Pajero V6, respectively.

Drakart is an American manufacturer that builds side-by-side vehicles for American desert racing like SCORE International and Best In The Desert, though their vehicles are also FIA compliant and thus eligible for Dakar. In 2017, the company built a rally raid car loosely based on the Ford Edge.

Grèzes’ Drakart Scorpion is a 2WD model eligible to compete in the Challenger category. 2025 will be his first Dakar since finishing ninety-third overall and thirty-third in the H1 class at the 2022 Dakar Classic in a Suzuki Vitara. He previously raced the main Dakar Rally in 2005 and 2007 on a bike and car, respectively. Anthony Drapeau returns as his navigator after working with him in 2022.

Tenessy, who has shared cars with his dad in French rally competition since he was sixteen, finished eighty-first in the 2022 Classic (thirty-third in H2). He drove a Land Cruiser BJ73, which the family found was within their price range so they opted to race. Lucas Longepe, who has been friends with the younger Grèzes since their early teens, will be his co-driver again.

Bessé’ is the founder of Config-racing.com, an online racing equipment store that sponsored the Grèzes in 2022. Francky Corbeau will serve as co-driver.