Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Ahead of next weekend’s first Japanese Grand Prix since 2019, Oracle Red Bull Racing have announced that they’ll be collaborating with the developers of the highly-popular mobile-game Battle Cats.

The game, which is developed by PONOS, sees users battle armies of alien cats, in a quest to explore the galaxy and taste victory on every planet that falls in the users way. As part of the unique collab, fans of the game in attendance at Suzuka Circuit, will be able to buy exclusive Red Bull/Battle Cats merchandise. The available merchandise includes, a specially designed uchiwa (a traditional fan) which will feature on it championship leader Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez and Team Principal Christian Horner. The collab will also see a Battle Cats sticker on both of the RB18s.

Horner can’t wait to return to Japan, a race that is very special to the Austrians given their relationship with Honda. The Briton is equally “thrilled” with the upcoming partnership with PONOS.

“It’s a real pleasure to return to Japan to race at Suzuka, one of F1’s truly legendary tracks. Suzuka is home to some of our most devoted and passionate fans and to give them something special to remember this race by we’re thrilled to partner with PONOS, one of Japan’s major mobile game development houses. We’re looking forward to the race and to the enjoyment this partnership will bring to fans in Japan.”

PONOS chief executive officer Yorikatsu Tsujiko, is “so excited” to see Formula 1 finally return to the beautiful country of Japan, and is hoping the collab will “bring smiles” to the players.

After racing with a two-wheel drive Trophy Truck, Team Australia will shift to all-wheel drive for the 2022 Baja 1000 on 15–20 November. Toby Price recently revealed he and Paul Weel have acquired a Mason Motorsports AWD TT to use at the 1000. The truck will be prepared by TSCO Racing, who helped Price win the Finke Desert Race in 2021 and 2022.

The duo raced a Geiser Brothers 2WD at the Vegas to Reno in August but retired with a broken axle, and rebounded at the Baja 400 in early September by finishing fifth overall.

While Team Australia had a solid performance at the 400, AWD trucks have proven to be more capable than 2WD across multiple disciplines, whether it be the Pro 4 trucks in short course or the fact that Bryce Menzies and Luke McMillin won two legs of the 2022 SCORE International World Desert Championship in AWD. The lone exception was Rob MacCachren winning the Baja 500 in a 2WD, and even he had won the 2021 Baja 1000 in an AWD alongside McMillin.

“It’s the way of the future and to be able to run with the guys at the front in the same equipment should hopefully show soon enough in our results,” said Price. “[With] AWD, you can run a pace of eighty percent but still be doing the pace of a two-wheel drive, which is always a positive for the longevity of the race truck.”

Weel is new to the Baja 1000, while Price has raced sporadically in SCORE events since 2012 including a runner-up finish in 2019 with Nasser Al-Attiyah. Price failed to finish the 2021 1000 in a Trophy Truck Spec.

Haas F1 Team are aiming for points in Round Seventeen of the FIA Formula 1 season at the Singapore Grand Prix, which returns for the first time in two years.

Haas failed to yield any points in the European triple-header, despite multiple upgrades to the car that came before the summer break. Part of the team’s issue has been a poor qualifying record, and that problem will have to be rectified as the Saturday qualifying session is a crucial part of the Singapore weekend with it being so hard to overtake.

Haas’ Team Principal Guenther Steiner is hoping the team can turn around this bad run of form as he looks for both his drivers to step up.

Despite no points in the last three races, Steiner is hoping that they have more knowledge of the new package that was fitted to the car before the summer break.

“We tested the upgrade in Hungary and then introduced it to both cars after the summer break. We have no comparison between cars anymore, but we can see the increased downforce, the data matching the wind tunnel data, so that’s a success and that’s what we were after.

Formula 1 have announced that their plans have been approved for an increased number of sprint race rounds during the 2023 FIA Formula 1 season and beyond. These plans will see the number of sprint rounds go from three to six in the coming seasons.

As it has been with the last two seasons, the F1 Sprint will be a 100km dash with no mandatory pit stops with the twenty drivers pushing everything to the finish. The top eight drivers get awarded points, ones that could turn out to be crucial in Championship battles at the top and the bottom. The finishing order of the sprint defines the order for the main race on Sunday, meaning everything is on the line.

A sprint weekend means that only two practice sessions will take place, one on the Friday before the traditional qualifying session and one before the sprint on Saturday. This all points towards more excitement as it gives teams and drivers less time to fine tune their setup.

The sprint format has divided opinion over the last two seasons, with 2022 seeing Imola, the Red Bull Ring and Interlagos selected, but there is no denying it creates more action over the course of the weekend.

Formula 1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali praised the sprint events and hopes they will continue to entertain.

We head into Round Seventeen of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship this weekend, as we see the sport return to one of the most physically demanding circuits on the calendar, the Singapore Grand Prix.

Formula 1 hasn’t raced at the Marina Bay Circuit for two years, and with the slowest average lap speed on the calendar it frequently becomes the longest race of the year. The race tests the drivers’ patience and concentration while track position and tyre preservation are also crucial with it being notoriously difficult to pass around the circuit.

Kevin Magnussen has previously raced six times in Singapore and set the fastest lap in both the 2018 and 2019 races, but he is aiming to score points this year with the Haas F1 Team battling for seventh in the Constructors’ Championship.

Magnussen is excited about the return to Singapore despite how physically demanding the race can be.

“I really like Singapore. In general, I really enjoy street tracks and I would say Singapore is one of the best street circuits there is. It’s a very physical race, so it’s always the one that you’re thinking of when you’re struggling in the gym and that gives you motivation to keep pushing on your fitness.

A year ahead of F1's return to Las Vegas, a free Launch Party is to be held on the Las Vegas Strip at Caesars Palace on Saturday 5 November.

Bitdefender is excited to announce its multi-year partnership with Scuderia Ferrari, the Formula One racing division of Ferrari. This partnership brings two powerhouses of their respective industries together.

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Bitdefender on the racing track

With this partnership, you’ll be able to see Bitdefender’s company logo on Ferrari drivers’ helmets, racing suits, and the F1-75 single-seater racing car, driven by Charles Leclerc and Carloz Sainz. In the future, we’ll also coordinate multiple events with both Bitdefender and Ferrari team members. More details to come.

With Formula One Racing continuing to grow rapidly in the US and worldwide, thanks to the increased visibility and popularity of the television series “Drive to Survive”, we’re looking forward to highlighting Bitdefender and introducing a new audience to our cybersecurity capabilities for consumers and businesses alike.

Be on the lookout for the first sighting on October 2nd, 2022, at the F1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix.

We expect a challenging weekend, but we also know that a street circuit like Singapore can present opportunity to do well and we will be looking to maximise these chances.

F1 MD, Ross Brawn has said that he is to "cut back" considerably his role in the sport from the end of the current season.

We are bringing an entire new floor to both cars this weekend, which will also carry over to Japan for the next race.

Despite only spending 44% of the lap at full throttle, the internal combustion engine still comes under significant stress because of heat and high humidity levels.

We're fully focused on finishing the campaign strongly by scoring as many points as possible in the final six races.

We should perform better here this weekend due to our car's strengths in slower-speed corners.

In the last triple header, we scored points in two of the three races, and we must continue with this more positive trend that began back in Spa.

We have the chance to do well here, so we must be at the top of our game in order to qualify in a good position and bring home more points.

The Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team is delighted to announce today the renewal of the Title and Technical Partnership between the team and progressive energy group PETRONAS from the 2026 season onwards. Not only will this renewal power the partnership towards two decades of success at the pinnacle of motorsport, but it also signals a commitment to a more sustainable future – and the determination to excel in the exciting technical challenge presented by the 2026 power unit regulations. The partnership extension was announced today in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at the iconic PETRONAS Towers.

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“Today, we are doing something unusual – announcing a partnership that will begin in four years. This sends an important message: our team and PETRONAS are no longer just partners, we are family, and we will be one team for many more years to come,” said Toto Wolff, CEO and Team Principal.

“From 2026, advanced sustainable fuel will be at the heart of F1 performance – and this gives us a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate our expertise in this domain through the power unit and PETRONAS Fluid Technology Solutions. We are excited to be racing into the future alongside PETRONAS, with the ambition to set the standard once again in our on-track performance and by pioneering the transition of a global sports team to a net-zero future.”

Since 2010, the partnership has been founded on a shared ambition to achieve world-class performance. In nearly 13 seasons, we have won together eight constructors’ world championships and 115 Grand Prix victories – an achievement unmatched in F1. And this success has been underpinned and enabled by continuous technical innovation.

Juan López Márquez, motocross rider, died suddenly on Sunday at the age of 33. His family has set up a GoFundMe.

López had competed in various desert championships incuding SCORE International and Best In The Desert. In 2018, he raced for the SCORE Pro Moto Limited World Desert Championship and finished runner-up to Santiago Creel, scoring a runner-up class finish at the San Felipe 250 and fourth in the Baja 1000.

Hailing from San Diego, he worked for Robert’s Auto Service when not racing and has supported his sons’ own racing careers in motocross. He was close with the Socal Off Road Motor Bike Racing Club (SRA GP).

“Our beloved friend/brother passed away suddenly today,” reads the GoFundMe. “Our hearts are aching and we are in disbelief. If you knew him, you knew he was a family guy, very passionate, inspirational, and a hard worker. Overall he was an amazing human being. Impacted people’s lives and was very dedicated. He left us too soon but God needed a rider in heaven. With a heavy heart, we ask for any donations or to please share this. Our sincere condolences to his family, his wife and two boys.”

As of this article’s publishing, 191 have donated to the GoFundMe and raised $16,353 of $20,000.

Lexus is Toyota‘s luxury vehicle division, meaning teams fielding either manufacturer might find it wise to join forces when possible. With the SCORE International Baja 1000 two months away, Team JAOS has formed a partnership with Canguro Racing.

JAOS is a Japanese team that primarily competes in the Asia Cross Country Rally but shifted towards American competition in 2021 with Tomonori Noto as driver. Noto previously ran the Baja 1000 in 2015 in Class 7 alongside JAOS racer Ikuo Hanawa but retired.

The outfit will contest the 2022 Baja 1000 with Noto driving a new Lexus LX600; the Lexus LX line previously enjoyed success with Joe Bacal, whose LX570 won the Stock Full class in 2010, 2012, and 2013. JAOS intends to operate on a three-year plan starting with the 2022 1000, where they will gauge their performance before upping their goal to finishing the race in 2023, then going for the win in 2024.

The partnership came about between the two teams with assistance from Sadayoshi Koyari, the lead engineer of the Land Cruiser, and Daijiro Akahoshi, president of JAOS who has served as Noto’s co-driver in AXCR.

“One of the reasons we decided to again race the SCORE International Baja 1000 this fall was the announcement from JAOS Corporation in the spring that they would be racing an LX600 in the Stock Full class,” read a statement from the team. “We love the idea of racing old against new head to head.

William Byron spinning Denny Hamlin under caution during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway has come back to bite him. On Tuesday, NASCAR announced Byron has been fined $50,000 and docked twenty-five points each in the driver and owner standings. Likewise, Ty Gibbs has received a $75,000 fine and twenty-five-point deduction in the owner’s championship for contact with Ty Dillon on pit road during the race. Both violated Sections 4.3.A and 4.4.C of the NASCAR code of conduct.

Byron spun Hamlin on lap 269 shortly after the caution came out for Martin Truex Jr. Although Byron conceded he had hit Hamlin on purpose as retaliation for how Hamlin raced him earlier, he stated he did not intend to take him out entirely. Although Hamlin was able to bounce back and finish tenth, he was critical of Byron’s conduct and NASCAR’s inaction, to which the latter’s Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller admitted had been due to the sanctioning body being too focused on the Truex caution.

“I guess we can just wreck each other under caution,” said Hamlin. “I tried to wreck him back. I don’t think we touched. I got to look. I don’t think we touched. Obviously, he sent us into the infield under caution. […] I keep hearing these guys. I’ll just add it to the list of guys when I get a chance. They’re going to get it.

“It all just works itself out. We’ll be racing each other at some point. He’ll lose a lot of spots because he’s racing me. This is hard racing, obviously. I’m fine with hard racing, but wrecking me under caution is obviously not what we were bargaining for.”

During another caution, Dillon exited his pit stall and nearly collided with Gibbs. As payback, Gibbs slammed into Dillon’s right-side door, shooting him dangerously close to a group of NASCAR officials and pit crew before Dillon was able to slow down and avoid disaster.

To celebrate their parent company’s products beginning sale in the United States, XITE Energy Racing‘s FC1-X cars will sport a new look for Nitro Rallycross‘ first American round of 2022 at ERX Motor Park on 1/2 October. The scheme was designed by Daniel Crossman.

One car will sport the brand’s pink and green colour combination that has been prominent on the team’s vehicles, while the other is purple and yellow. The former represents XITE Energy’s raspberry and watermelon flavour while the latter is peach and passionfruit. The cars also have a white base rather than black like at the European rounds. Said races saw the two cars maintain the pink and green patterns.

The team’s Extreme E arm also raced with a new livery at this past weekend’s Copper X Prix. After primarily using a paint scheme resembling the Nitro Rallycross cars, the new XE look is half-pink, half-green.

While the introduction of the purple/yellow marks a departure from the longstanding pink/green, XITE has experimented with other colour palettes in the past. For example, team owner Oliver Bennett has used blue and white when competing in the FIA World Rallycross Championship and purple/pink in British Rallycross.

Bennett will drive one of the two FC1-Xs while Jenson Button makes his Nitro RX début in the other. Button was initially scheduled to run the full season but backed out of the European rounds due to scheduling conflicts with his F1 broadcasting duties, which resulted in Kris Meeke racing the first two races at Lydden Hill and Strängnäs.