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  • F3: Doohan tops final post-season test

    F3: Doohan tops final post-season test

    Trident’s Jack Doohan set the fastest time in Formula 3’s final post-season test at Jerez, ahead of teammate Clement Novalak.

    Doohan set his best time of a 1:29.041s during his qualifying simulations in the morning session. This session was interrupted multiple times with red flags brought out for Alessandro Famularo (Campos), Olli Caldwell (ART), Francesco Pizzi (MP Motorsport) and Jonathan Hoggard (Campos), but Doohan was still able to log a respectable 42 laps in between the stoppages.

    Novalak came close to Doohan in the sister Trident, but was ultimately kept off the top of the timesheets by just 0.019s. However, Novalak recorded more laps than his teammate with 45 in the morning session, and a day’s total of 101 to Doohan’s 92.

    Jenzer’s Calan Williams had another strong day of testing as he again finished the day third-fastest. Williams was also second-fastest in the second session, with his 1:30.238s being only 0.14s slower than afternoon pacesetter Igor Fraga.

    Igor Fraga, Hitech (Joe Portlock / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

    Hitech rookie Jak Crawford was fourth-fastest overall ahead of Charouz’s David Beckmann. Dennis Hauger (Prema) and Caio Collet (ART) were early pacesetters before Doohan’s run, but ended the day sixth and seventh respectively.

    Hoggard was eighth fastest despite ending the morning session early with his spin into the gravel at Turn 5. Arthur Leclerc (Prema) and Enzo Fittipaldi (HWA) were ninth and tenth.

    Leclerc logged the fewest laps of the day with 60, while Charouz rookie Konsta Lappalainen recorded the most with 103, despite finishing 28th in the overall times.

    Overall classification:

    Pos. Driver Team Time (best) Laps (total)
    1 Jack Doohan Trident 1:29.041 92
    2 Clement Novalak Trident 1:29.060 101
    3 Calan Williams Jenzer Motorsport 1:29.328 77
    4 Jak Crawford (R) Hitech Grand Prix 1:29.336 97
    5 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:29.350 61
    6 Dennis Hauger Prema Racing 1:29.361 64
    7 Caio Collet (R) ART Grand Prix 1:29.461 93
    8 Jonathan Hoggard (R) Campos Racing 1:29.514 68
    9 Arthur Leclerc (R) Prema Racing 1:29.516 60
    10 Enzo Fittipaldi HWA Racelab 1:29.558 90
    11 Igor Fraga Hitech Grand Prix 1:29.622 102
    12 Pierre-Louis Chovet HWA Racelab 1:29.628 88
    13 David Schumacher Trident 1:29.674 75
    14 Frederik Vesti ART Grand Prix 1:29.698 90
    15 Olli Caldwell ART Grand Prix 1:29.705 86
    16 Matteo Nannini Hitech Grand Prix 1:29.718 92
    17 David Vidales (R) Campos Racing 1:29.728 87
    18 Bent Viscaal MP Motorsport 1:29.833 72
    19 Cameron Das Carlin Buzz Racing 1:29.917 72
    20 Jonny Edgar (R) MP Motorsport 1:30.099 86
    21 Oliver Rasmussen (R) Prema Racing 1:30.135 61
    22 Reshad de Gerus (R) Charouz Racing System 1:30.285 87
    23 Nazim Azman (R) Carlin Buzz Racing 1:30.310 82
    24 Ido Cohen (R) Carlin Buzz Racing 1:30.410 80
    25 Sophia Floersch HWA Racelab 1:30.590 89
    26 Francesco Pizzi (R) MP Motorsport 1:30.634 75
    27 Rafael Villagomez (R) Jenzer Motorsport 1:30.744 65
    28 Konsta Lappalainen (R) Charouz Racing System 1:30.924 103
    29 Filip Ugran (R) Jenzer Motorsport 1:30.960 75
    30 Alessandro Famularo (R) Campos Racing 1:31.082 64
  • F3 testing: Stanek leads Leclerc in Jerez

    F3 testing: Stanek leads Leclerc in Jerez

    Roman Stanek topped the first day of Formula 3’s final post-season test at Jerez, pipping Prema’s Arthur Leclerc by 0.048s.

    Stanek, driving for ART after testing for Prema himself in Barcelona, bucked the trend of the first post-season test by setting his best and the overall fastest time in the afternoon session. The Czech driver was only 11th in the morning session, but in the afternoon he was one of only two drivers to dip below 1:30s with a 1:29.928s.

    Leclerc was the other driver to do so with a 1:29.976s. Jonathan Hoggard, driving for Hitech, picked up his impressive display from the first test by finishing the day third-fastest, just 0.086s off Stanek’s benchmark.

    Jack Doohan, returning with Trident, finished fourth overall after topping the morning session. Dennis Hauger was fifth for Prema and second behind Doohan in the morning.

    Enzo Fittipaldi (HWA), Clement Novalak (Trident), Igor Fraga (Hitech), Frederik Vesti (ART) and rookie Caio Collet (Prema) rounded out the top ten.

    Jack Doohan, Trident (Joe Portlock / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

    Overall classification:

    Pos. Driver Team Time (best) Laps (total)
    1 Roman Stanek ART Grand Prix 1:29.928 67
    2 Arthur Leclerc (R) Prema Racing 1:29.976 60
    3 Jonathan Hoggard (R) Hitech Grand Prix 1:30.014 67
    4 Jack Doohan Trident 1:30.161 54
    5 Dennis Hauger Prema Racing 1:30.199 57
    6 Enzo Fittipaldi HWA Racelab 1:30.202 63
    7 Clement Novalak Trident 1:30.222 60
    8 Igor Fraga Hitech Grand Prix 1:30.297 67
    9 Frederik Vesti ART Grand Prix 1:30.338 70
    10 Caio Collet (R) Prema Racing 1:30.356 61
    11 David Schumacher Trident 1:30.431 74
    12 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:30.462 42
    13 Calan Williams Jenzer Motorsport 1:30.473 65
    14 Olli Caldwell ART Grand Prix 1:30.540 69
    15 David Vidales (R) Campos Racing 1:30.541 67
    16 Matteo Nannini MP Motorsport 1:30.566 63
    17 Oliver Rasmussen (R) HWA Racelab 1:30.576 84
    18 Pierre-Louis Chovet HWA Racelab 1:30.585 89
    19 Jak Crawford (R) Hitech Grand Prix 1:30.688 62
    20 Cameron Das Carlin Buzz Racing 1:30.696 54
    21 Jonny Edgar MP Motorsport 1:30.748 62
    22 Nazim Azman (R) Carlin Buzz Racing 1:30.927 65
    23 Ido Cohen (R) Carlin Buzz Racing 1:31.151 62
    24 Peter Ptacek (R) Campos Racing 1:31.159 71
    25 Francesco Pizzi (R) MP Motorsport 1:31.255 66
    26 Reshad de Gerus (R) Charouz Racing System 1:31.363 43
    27 Alessandro Famularo (R) Campos Racing 1:31.390 68
    28 Rafael Villagomez (R) Jenzer Motorsport 1:31.454 68
    29 Filip Ugran (R) Jenzer Motorsport 1:31.870 68
    30 Konsta Lappalainen (R) Charouz Racing System 1:32.037 68

  • IndyCar Finale Firestone Grand Prix

    26TH OCTOBER 2020 BY ADAM WHEELER

    Dixon crowned six-time champion to outshine Newgarden victory

    Josef Newgarden’s last gasp attempt to be crowned IndyCar champion could only be accomplished with a win. Anything short of victory on the streets of St Petersburg would leave almost no path to deny Scott Dixon his sixth world championship.

    Image courtesy of IndyCar

    Newgarden, who started in eight, carved his way through the grid culminating with a spectacular two-car pass to take the lead and indeed the win. However, this wasn’t enough as Dixon was able to follow through from eleventh to finish in third place and thus the title.

    “Six is good. Seven sounds better, that’s the goal,” Dixon said.

    Scott Dixon’s sixth championship title takes him into IndyCar folklore, residing amongst the very best in history. He now is only one championship off the most successful IndyCar champion of all-time, A.J Foyt (7).

    With victory at St Petersburg Newgarden achieved his series-best fourth win of the season. The Tennessee born two-time defending champion now loses his title but was remarkably magnanimous in defeat.

    Newgarden went to victory lane to congratulate his rival.

    “We weren’t good enough,”Newgarden said. “We’ll reset, we’ll hit them harder next year and I promise you, we will be in the fight.”

    It is indeed incredible that it was nearly seven months ago that the 2020 season was abruptly abandoned. St Petersburg was originally scheduled to take place in March but was postponed to the last race of the season. A sold-out crowd of 20,000 spectators was the largest crowd of the whole season, which lost races in seven cities, had just one street course event with Sunday’s finale, and still managed to complete a 14-race year.

    It was a finale to remember which was plagued with error-prone ending mistakes which saw three different Andretti race leaders crash out and Newgarden there to capitalise.

    The start of the race was dominated by Alexander Rossi who took the lead of the race from pole sitter Will Power with an apparent down-shift issue. Power who was in a tight race for third in the final standings, then made an uncharacteristic mistake crashing into the barrier and promptly retiring from the race thereafter. The Australian threw his gloves in anger and admitted to driver error.

    “I just lost it. Had a moment,”he said. “I was definitely frustrated there, making a mistake and hitting the wall. It’s my bad. It put us out of the race and that’s a bad situation.”

    What followed were three cautions over 10 laps, the third on the restart of lap 47 brought out by Australian Supercar champion Scott McLaughlin who spun on his debut. The debutant collected into Rinus VeeKay, who clinched the ‘Rookie of the Year’ title on the same day his contract was renewed for a second season with Ed Carpenter Racing.

    Despite the crash and ultimately finishing in 22nd, McLaughlin hailed his experience in IndyCar as an exciting one:

    “Awesome. Far out. The best day of my life, besides my wedding,”

    After the first round of pit stops, it seemed Alexander Rossi was in control of the race followed by his two Andretti teammates Colton Herta and James Hinchliffe. However, Rossi went into a spin on lap 70 collecting both the 

    Rossi had been determined to extend a streak of at least one win a season that dates to 2006 when was Skip Barber’s youngest champion at 14-year-old.

    His long and frustrating season ended with a 21st-place finish for the Andretti Autosport driver.

    “Just lost it. It sucks, this is the first time I’ve crashed while leading,” Rossi said.

    Chaos continued when Marco Andretti, who had magnificently fought his way from near the back to seventh, spun while racing for the final spot in IndyCar’s bonus programme which would have gifted an extra $1 billion to the Andretti team.

    Moreover, there was a spin for Andretti’s James Hinchliffe who had been running in the top three for most of the race.

    In a bizarre turn of events, the pace car which had been used for an unusually high number of caution laps reported it was on low fuel. Quickly after that, Andretti’s Colton Herta, who had inherited the lead from both Rossi and Hinchliffe spun making it a day to forget for the Andretti Autosport team.

    Newgarden took control soon after, but soon had the McLaren SP driver of Pato O’Ward on his tail. Unfortunately, the Mexican could not gain on the American who stretched his lead to nearly 5 seconds by the chequered flag. O’Ward eventually settled for second.

    All the earlier attrition helped Dixon slip through the field to third. There was nothing Newgarden could do, even on a day he did everything he had to, to deny Dixon a sixth championship.

    Dixon, a 40-year-old considered the best of his generation, ranks third on IndyCar’s all-time wins list behind A.J. Foyt. His first title was in 2003, his first season with Chip Ganassi Racing, and his latest championship comes as the team has welcomed NASCAR’s seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson to the organization.

    Colton Herta was able to finish the season in third in front of Pato O’Ward, who in his first full IndyCar season, finished fourth in the standings.

    Race Classification

    1. Josef Newgarden
    2. Pato O’Ward
    3. Scott Dixon
    4. Sebastien Bourdais
    5. Ryan Hunter-Reay
    6. Simon Pagenaud
    7. Marcus Ericsson
    8. Charlie Kimball
    9. Graham Rahal
    10. Takuma Sato
    11. Colton Herta
    12. Max Chilton
    13. Alex Palou
    14. James Hinchcliffe
    15. Rinus VeeKay
    16. Oliver Askew
    17. Conor Daly
    18. Felix Rosenqvist
    19. Jack Harvey
    20. Marco Andretti
    21. Alexander Rossi
    22. Scott McLaughlin
    23. Santino Ferrucci
    24. Will Power

  • Morbidelli takes his 2nd win of the Season in Aragon

    Morbidelli takes his 2nd win of the Season in Aragon

    Round 12 of the 2020 MotoGP Championship took place on the 24-25 October at Aragon, Spain.

    Takaaki Nakagami’s (LCR Honda Idemitsu) claimed a stunning first MotoGP pole, the first time since Makoto Tamada in the 2004 Valencia GP a Japanese rider has started from pole position. Nakagami was quicker than 2nd place rider Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) by just 0.063 seconds and claiming his first front row of the season in 3rd place is Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar).

    The starting grid for the race looked like this:

    Row 1 : Nakagami : Morbidelli : Rins Row 2 : Vinales : Zarco : Quartararo

    Row 3 : Crutchlow : Oliveira : P.Espargaro Row 4 : A.Marquez : Lecuona : Mir

    Row 5 : A.Espargaro: Miller : Binder Row 6 : Bradl : Dovizioso : Bagnaia

    Row 7 : Petrucci : Rabat : Smith

    With 23 laps of racing, the red lights go out and the racing begins with the pole sitter, Nakagami getting off to a great start going first into Turn 1 followed by Morbidelli, Rins and Zarco. Turn 2 sees Binder and Miller touch with both riders going down and out into the gravel putting a very early end to their races. Nakagami then runs wide at Turn 5 and goes off into the gravel, ending his race and hopes of a podium finish.

    Morbidelli is up in front ahead of Rins and Zarco. By lap 2 Mir is up to 5th, Quartararo 6th, Crutchlow 7th and A.Marquez is in 8th place. Lap 3, and Morbidelli has put in the fastest lap but Rins is right on his tail.

    The following lap A.Marquez has passed both Crutchlow and Quartararo up into 6th position and is now closing the gap on Mir. Morbidelli is holding a steady lead and both he and Rins are pulling out ahead of third place rider Zarco. On lap 6, Mir passes Vinales and then two turns later A.Marquez follows by too and is now up to 5th place.

    The gap between Rins in 2nd place and Zarco in 3rd is now 1.8 seconds and by lap 8 both Mir and A.Marquez are closing in on the 3rd place rider. Coming into Lap 10 sees P.Espargaro pass Quartararo very quickly followed by Oliveira but by the end of the lap Quartararo has claimed the place back from Oliveira.

    Alex Marquez and Fabio Quartararo at the 2020 Teruel GP MotoGp Race. Image courtesy of Honda Racing

    Mir passes Zarco to take 3rd placed on lap 11 with A.Marquez also having a look too. By the end of the lap A.Marquez manages the pass but in Turn 1 on lap 12, Zarco takes the place back and three turns later A.Marquez passes again but this time he makes it stick and is now chasing down on Mir. Unfortunaely, two laps later at Turn 2, A.Marquez crashes out thus ending his race.

    For the last few laps Quartararo and Oliveira have been having a great scrap in 7th and 8th and have swapped places several times with some brilliant racing going on between the two riders.

    Lap 17 sees Dovizioso getting it very wrong in the corkscrew and dropping from 10th to 12th place. Morbidelli is still holding a steady lead by lap 18 with a 0.8 second lead, can he hold off the pressures from Rins for the last six laps?

    On lap 20 P.Espargaro has passed Zarco up into 4th and Petrucci has passed Dovizioso up into 12th. Morbidelli has now pulled out a 1.3 second lead on Rins and the following lap sees A.Espargaro coming to a stop at the side of the track with what looks like mechanical issues.

    Going into lap 23, Morbidelli now has a 1.3 second lead over Rins and is looking good to take the win having ridden a superb smooth and consistent race from the start and indeed takes the chequered flag to take his second win of the season followed by Rins in 2nd place and Mir in 3rd.

    There are three rounds left of the MotoGP season, 1 in Portimao and 2 from Valencia with the Championship standings looking like this:

    Mir : 137 points

    Quartararo : 123 points

    Vin : 118 points

    Morbidelli : 112 points

    Dovizioso : 109 points

    Rins : 105 points

    What a brilliant weekend of racing from Aragon. Don’t forget to set your alarms for the next round on the 7/8 November.

    Karen Bristow

    Featured Image courtesy of Suzuki Racing

  • BTCC Snetterton – Jackson wins frenetic final race

    BTCC Snetterton – Jackson wins frenetic final race

    Ollie Jackson won his second race of the season in the third and final race at Snetterton.

    Jackson pulled off an amazing first lap move and took the win from Adam Morgan and Colin Turkington profited from Ingram and Butcher colliding on the final corner on the final lap to take third.

    Morgan had an incredible start as he flew into the lead. However he wasn’t in front for long as Ollie Jackson pulled off an incredible move around the outside to take the lead. There was slight drama as Josh Cook and Dan Cammish collided, neither seemed to lose out too much. Cook’s Honda suffered significant damage to the left front but was still running.

    Lap two saw Sam Osborne retire in dramatic fashion as he went off onto the grass. His Honda Civic hit a dip and his splitter dug in and ripped the front of the car off.

    Jackson’s team mate Rory Butcher was trying to take second from Morgan as it all sparked into action on lap five as Sutton dove down the inside of Chris Smiley, he couldn’t make the move stick and it opened the door to Tom Ingram, who snuck up the inside to take fourth.

    There was a group of ten cars all fighting close and swapping positions. Turkington profited most from this battle as he managed to get to the front of the pack and take fifth place. Smiley the loser as he was hit by Cammish and spun off.

    The trio up front were all racing close and charging hard. Jackson was soaking up plenty of pressure from Morgan while Butcher hung on his coattails.

    Ingram caught up to the leading pack, trying to get onto the podium to keep his slim title hopes alive. He went to pass Butcher and looked to have had it done, but Butcher couldn’t stop as he was put onto the grass, and hit Ingram.

    Pos Driver Car Interval
    1 Ollie Jackson Ford Focus ST
    2 Adam Morgan Mercedes Benz A Class +0.217
    3 Colin Turkington BMW 330i M Sport +4.472
    4 Ash Sutton Infiniti Q50 +6.312
    5 Rory Butcher Ford Focus ST +8.195
    6 Dan Cammish Honda Civic Type R FK8 +9.194
    7 Josh Cook Honda Civic Type R FK8 +9.782
    8 Tom Ingram Toyota Corolla +9.934
    9 Jake Hill Honda Civic Type R FK2 +13.758
    10 Aiden Moffat Infiniti Q50 +14.167
    11 Senna Proctor Hyundai i30N +16.544
    12 Tom Oliphant BMW 330i M Sport +17.561
    13 Matt Neal Honda Civic Type R FK8 +20.891
    14 Michael Crees Honda Civic Type R FK8 +21.443
    15 Glyn Geddie VW CC +28.737
    16 Stephen Jelley BMW 125i M Sport +29.716
    17 Tom Chilton Honda Civic Type R FK8 +30.859
    18 Carl Boardley BMW 125i M Sport +34.649
    19 Jack Goff VW CC +35.046
    20 Jessica Hawkins Vauxhall Astra +40.032
    21 Paul Rivett Audi S3 Saloon +40.322
    22 Ethan Hammerton Audi S3 Saloon +44.761
    23 Chris Smiley Hyundai i30N +47.177
    24 Jack Butel Mercedes Benz A Class +50.883
    Retirements
    RET Andy Neate Ford Focus ST Mechanical
    RET Sam Osborne Honda Civic Type R FK2 Crash

    Image Credit: BTCC Media

  • Potuguese GP: Hamilton makes history at Portimao

    image courtesy of Pirelli Motorsports

    Lewis Hamilton absolutely demolished opposition on Sunday afternoon at Portimao to take the coveted win number 92 which has been the talk of the weekend. Hamilton lost out at the start to his teammate Bottas and the fast starting McLaren of Carlos Sainz and had to make his way back into the lead of the race, which he did in spectacular style.

    It was a chaotic start to the race which started off in very light rain conditions meaning that the cars starting on the dirty side of the grid had their work cut out for them. This meant that both Mercedes cars lost out to the McLarens at the very beginning and the race briefly saw Sainz lead the proceedings for a few laps. Normality was restored after Mercedes drivers managed to get their tyres going and made it into the 1-2 positions and eventually ended up there.

    Max Verstappen starting at 3rd also lost out at the start to McLarens and the Racing Point of Sergio Perez and later made his way back into the race, finally finishing at 3rd. It was not so simple for the Dutchman as he was involved in a first lap incident with Sergio Perez which saw the Mexican driver go spinning out of the track. This meant that Perez had to really work hard for a decent result and he did a stellar job and finished in points at 7th place.

    Pierre Gasly’s excellent year continued at Portimao after the French driver put in another excellent performance to finish at 5th place. On an afternoon where almost every other driver struggled to make soft tyres work, Gasly made them work just right during his first stint which made the ultimate difference for him and provided that very strong finish.

    McLaren were on course for a high points finish but it was all undone when Lando Norris was tagged by Lance Stroll in an overtake attempt but it did not come off well for the Canadian after he sustained damage on his car and also inflicted some on Lando’s car for which he received a time penalty as well, adding to the one he received for infringing track limits. The Racing Point had to retire towards the end due to damage and a wing change for Norris meant that he could not finish any higher than 13th.

    Renault were the big winners in the battle for 3rd in the constructors championship after their Sunday afternoon earned them a double points finish with Ocon at 8th and Daniel Ricciardo at 9th. The former went an astounding 55 laps on medium tyres before finally switching to softs towards the end through which he was able to overcut most of his competitors and achieved a good finish.

    It was a good day for Ferrari as well compared to how their 2020 has been going after Charles Leclerc finished at 4th place, producing yet another fantastic drive as he has been doing so far this season and Sebastian Vettel, finally after quite a few races, finished in the last points position following his battle with Kimi Raikkonen. The German driver was also closer to a 9th place finish after he got ever so close to Ricciardo but a major lock up prevented him from making that move.

    It was an amazing start to the race for Kimi Raikkonen after he made up as many as 10 places on the opening lap to fins himself at 6th but the ultimate lack of pace from the Alfa Romeo meant that it was inevitable that he would drop down the order and finally finish 11th. His teammate Giovinazzi in the other Alfa Romeo finished 15th following his battles with Magnussen and Russell at the back of the field.

    It was a flurry of time penalties in the race after both Romain Grosjean and Danil Kvyat were handed 5 seconds each when they breached track limits and this meant that they could not salvage much out of the weekend as they finished well outside points. George Russell drove a good race which saw him finish 14th but that elusive points finish still seems to evade him. His teammate Latifi could only manage an 18th place finish.

    The one talking point among the out of points finishers has to be Alex Albon who has had yet another underwhelming weekend, With Christian Horner admitting that Red Bull are prepared to look outside their pool of drivers, a 12th place finish does not exactly make the case for Albon retaining his seat in the Milton Keynes based team and this means that the Thai driver will have to ensure a strong finish to his season.

    Today’s race has seen yet another Schumacher record broken, this time the biggest one in the form of number of race wins. 92 is the magic number for Lewis Hamilton in car no.44, who extends his championship lead to 77 points over the car no.77 of Valtteri Bottas. The record equaling 7th driver’s championship is now a matter of when, rather than if, for one of the all time greats of F1.

  • BTCC Snetterton – Turkington survives late safety car to retake championship lead

    BTCC Snetterton – Turkington survives late safety car to retake championship lead

    Colin Turkington survived a late safety car to take his second win of the day and move into the lead of the championship. Tom Ingram was second with Ash Sutton third.

    Jake Hill was swamped at the start and lost places to Sutton, Butcher and Cammish on the start.

    Ollie Jackson had an impressive start, making up ten places by the end of lap one to sit 11th.

    While Turkington was pulling away as his tyres warmed up, the battle was between the other four title protagonists. Ingram, Butcher, Sutton and Cammish were all bumper to bumper for the majority of the race.

    Turkington was pulling away, as he did in race one. Building up a three second lead. However his lead was extinguished as Jack Goff crashed on the exit of turn one and brought out the safety car with just one lap to go.

    It was a one lap shootout once the safety car went in. Butcher mistimed his braking and collided with Ingram. This sent the Toyota wide and Sutton managed to sneak up the inside of Butcher. Ingram maintained second with Sutton taking third.

    Turkington held on for the win as the others fought behind him. Ingram second with Sutton third and Butcher fourth. Jake Hill gazumped Cammish for fifth with a pass in the final few corners, with Josh Cook and Adam Morgan in seventh and eighth and Ollie Jackson’s remarkable drive rewarded him with ninth place. The top ten was rounded off by Chris Smiley in the Excelr8 Hyundai.

    Pos Driver Car Interval
    1 Colin Turkington BMW 330i M Sport
    2 Tom Ingram Toyota Corolla +1.763
    3 Ash Sutton Infiniti  Q50 +1.914
    4 Rory Butcher Ford Focus ST +3.547
    5 Jake Hill Honda Civic Type R FK2 +3.742
    6 Dan Cammish Honda Civic Type R FK8 +3.789
    7 Josh Cook Honda Civic Type R FK8 +4.714
    8 Adam Morgan Mercedes Benz A Class +4.987
    9 Ollie Jackson Ford Focus ST +4.993
    10 Chris Smiley Hyundai i30N +5.355
    11 Tom Oliphant BMW 330i M Sport +5.989
    12 Matt Neal Honda Civic Type R FK8 +6.712
    13 Senna Proctor Hyundai i30N +7.578
    14 Michael Crees Honda Civic Type R FK8 +8.193
    15 Sam Osborne Honda Civic Type R FK2 +9.060
    16 Tom Chilton Honda Civic Type R FK8 +9.577
    17 Stephen Jelley BMW 125i M Sport +10.747
    18 Glyn Geddie VW CC +10.913
    19 Ethan Hammerton Audi S3 Saloon +11.583
    20 Jack Butel Mercedes Benz  A Class +12.176
    21 Jessica Hawkins Vauxhall Astra +12.588
    22 Andy Neate Ford Focus ST +12.861
    23 Paul Rivett Audi S3 Saloon +29.398
    24 Carl Boardley BMW 125i M Sport +34.317
    25 Nicolas Hamilton VW CC +1 Lap
    26 Aiden Moffat Infiniti Q50 +3 Laps
    Retirements
    RET Jack Goff VW CC Crash

    Image Credit: BTCC Media

  • BTCC Snetterton – Turkington wins to keep title fight alive

    BTCC Snetterton – Turkington wins to keep title fight alive

    Colin Turkington drew level at the top of the British Touring Car Championship standings with a win in the first race at Snetterton.

    The Northern Irishman cruised to victory in his BMW while Tom Ingram and Jake Hill rounded off the podium after a terrific tussle between the pair.

    Turkington’s team mate Tom Oliphant was in the wars at the start. A collision between him, Ash Sutton, and Ollie Jackson saw Oliphant and Jackson take to the grass. Olihpant recovered for 14th with Jackson finishing 21st.

    The only threat to Turkington’s lead came when Ingram tried to dive down the inside at the hairpin before the backstraight. It didn’t work and Turkington managed to pull away.

    Ingram had to contend with the Honda of Hill, who was hot on the heels of the Toyota driver.

    The main title protagonists were all at the front of the grid, with Rory Butcher and Dan Cammish eager to keep their title hopes alive. They fought for fourth and fifth.

    While Turkington pulled away Ingram and Hill collided on lap six. Hill dove down the inside of Ingram and tipped him into a half spin. Ingram recovered and Hill gave Ingram the place back, fearing a reprimand from the stewards.

    Turkington won the race, with Ingram two and a half seconds behind in second. HIll took third with Butcher, Sutton and Cammish all close behind.

    Adam Morgan finished an impressive seventh in his Mercedes A Class, with Josh Cook, Senna Proctor and Michael Crees rounding off the top ten.

    There were two new drivers this weekend, with four time Clio Cup champion Paul Rivett finishing 19th. He’s deputising for the injured Bobby Thompson in the Audi. Power Maxed Racing’s latest driver was W Series racer and stunt driver Jessica Hawkins. She finished 22nd with 45kg of new driver ballast on her Astra.

    Pos Driver Car Interval
    1 Colin Turkington BMW 330i M Sport
    2 Tom Ingram Toyota Corolla +2.570
    3 Jake Hill Honda Civic Type R FK2 +3.949
    4 Rory Butcher Ford Focus ST +5.135
    5 Ash Sutton Infiniti Q50 +7.125
    6 Dan Cammish Honda Civic Type R FK8 +8.916
    7 Adam Morgan Mercedes Benz A Class +9.415
    8 Josh Cook Honda Civic Type R FK8 +14.668
    9 Senna Proctor Hyundai i30N +21.105
    10 Michael Crees Honda Civic Type R FK8 +25.165
    11 Chris Smiley Hyundai i30N +26.205
    12 Stephen Jelley BMW 125i M Sport +26.968
    13 Matt Neal Honda Civic Type R FK8 +27.199
    14 Tom Oliphant BMW 330i M Sport +29.603
    15 Carl Boardley BMW 125i M Sport +30.274
    16 Tom Chilton Honda Civic Type R FK8 +32.531
    17 Sam Osborne Honda Civic Type R FK2 +33.342
    18 Jack Goff VW CC +33.532
    19 Paul Rivett Audi S3 Saloon +37.581
    20 Jack Butel Mercedes Benz A Class +40.103
    21 Ollie Jackson Ford Focus ST +46.232
    22 Jessica Hawkins Vauxhall Astra +51.869
    23 Nicolas Hamilton VW CC +55.861
    24 Ethan Hammerton Audi S3 Saloon +1:08.252
    25 Glynn Geddie VW CC +1:21.761
    26 Andy Neate Ford Focus ST +1:49.522
    27 Aiden Moffat Infiniti Q50 +1 Lap

    Image Credit: BTCC Media

  • IndyCar Firestone GP Qualifying: Will Power takes pole after timing chaos.

    image courtesy of IndyCar

    Will Power took his ninth pole position on the streets of St Petersburg in the final qualifying of the season. Today’s achievement takes him to 62 career poles, now five behind Mario Andretti’s all-time record of 67.

    A hectic session ensued in which multiple drivers had their times deleted due to various infringements, including Chip Ganassi’s Felix Rosenqvist who was relegated to 22nd for blocking Alex Palou. This caused a massive delay to the ‘Fast 12’ while IndyCar figured out the official classification.

    Four Honda drivers, associated with Andretti finished inside the top five. Andretti Autosports’ Alexander Rossi lines up alongside Will Power in second place while Andretti Harding Steinbrenner driver Colton Herta continues his brilliant run of form starting in third.

    Andretti Autosports’ James Hinchliffe will start in fourth in front of Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey in fifth who had one of their best qualifying performances of the season.

    Of the six who made it through to the final Firestone Fast Six, Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward was the slowest.

    A.J. Foyt Enterprises’ Sebastien Bourdais qualified in seventh place ahead of only realistic championship contender remaining, Penske’s Josef Newgarden in eighth. The two-time champion must win the race tomorrow to stand any chance of snatching the championship from Scott Dixon.

    Originally qualifying in ninth place, he was bumped up to eighth after teammate Simon Pagenaud was dropped from eighth to 12th due to a penalty.

    image courtesy of IndyCar

    Rookies Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing and Oliver Askew of Arrow McLaren SP are set to round out the top ten in ninth and tenth place respectively. VeeKay is certain to win the coveted ‘Rookie of the Year’ title by starting the race tomorrow.

    Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon starts in eleventh for tomorrow’s race and is assured his sixth championship title if he finishes in the same position. If Dixon finishes the race in eleventh, Newgarden can not mathematically win the title even if he wins the race.

    image courtesy of IndyCar

    IndyCar also welcomed Australian Supercar Champion Scott McLaughlin for his debut with team Penske. However, the Kiwi had some trouble getting used to the car and missed out on advancing to the second stage of qualifying, making contact with a wall in the process.

    Here is the full starting lineup for the 2020 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg, with all penalties factored in.

    Starting Lineup
    1st – Will Power
    2nd – Alexander Rossi
    3rd – Colton Herta
    4th – James Hinchcliffe
    5th – Jack Harvey
    6th – Pato O’Ward
    7th – Sebastien Bourdais
    8th – Josef Newgarden
    9th – Rinus VeeKay
    10th – Oliver Askew
    11th – Scott Dixon
    12th – Simon Pagenaud
    13th – Takuma Sato
    14th – Conor Daly
    15th – Marcus Ericsson
    16th – Alex Palou
    17th – Graham Rahal
    18th – Santino Ferrucci
    19th – Ryan Hunter-Reay
    20th – Charlie Kimball
    21st – Scott McLaughlin
    22nd – Felix Rosenqvist
    23rd – Marco Andretti
    24th – Max Chilton

  • Who could be Haas 2021 drivers?

    image courtesy of Haas F1 Team

    In the lead up to this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix, it was announced that both Haas drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen would not be retained by the American outfit for 2021, which makes it Haas’ biggest shake-up since it first appeared on the F1 grid back in 2016. Grosjean has been with the team from the start, and Magnussen joined him for 2017. Aside from Mercedes with Hamilton and Bottas, Haas have been the only team with a consistent line-up for many years so this news is hugely telling as far as the future for the team.

    There have been some indications as to who could end up at Haas, some more likely than others. So let’s run through some possible candidates.

    Experienced sideliners

    First up we have to immediately mention the likes of Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Pérez, both drivers are very well known quantities of the F1 paddock that are in danger of missing out.

    Hülkenberg lost his Renault seat to Esteban Ocon and failed to secure a full-time drive for 2020, however has performed incredibly in his appearances with Racing Point when both drivers fell ill. One of those being Pérez, who has been let go from the team in favour of Sebastian Vettel when it is rebranded as Aston Martin.

    Both drivers are of really high quality and shouldn’t have to beg for drives. But even Pérez who brings a lot of money from his native Mexico is struggling to find a seat at all, and may even end up at Williams alongside Nicholas Latifi and kicking out the also very highly rated George Russell.

    But even being a great and proven driver isn’t enough these days, there needs to be more. For example..

    Ferrari juniors

    At the last Grand Prix, Ferrari academy drivers Mick Schumacher and Callum Ilott (who are both first and second in the FIA Formula 2 championship) were due to make FP1 appearances. Schumacher was due to drive with Alfa Romeo and Ilott was with Haas, however the foggy October sky around northern Germany put pay to that plan and instead they’ll be making their FP1 debut at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

    Despite being considered a Ferrari ‘B-Team’, Haas have never done what Alfa Romeo have done and run one of Ferrari’s academy drivers in one of their seats. They’ve had the likes of current Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi do FP1 runs for them, but with the plethora of young talent in Ferrari’s camp, this could very well change for next year.

    Not only do you have Schumacher and Ilott, but also last year’s FIA F3 champion Robert Shwartzman who comes with strong backing, however he seems less likely and a second season in F2 wouldn’t do any harm.

    With the financial strains put on many teams due to the pandemic, it would make sense for the team to take on a Ferrari junior in exchange for getting their Ferrari power units cheaper. However speaking of financial incentive, that leads me on to the name that is floating around like a stubborn rubber dinghy.

    Another kid with a rich dad

    No list of possible drivers for smaller F1 teams would be complete without at least one rich kid who has more money than talent. The one in question here is Nikita Mazepin, son of $7.1 billion net-worth Dmitry Mazepin, who won’t stop trying to buy his son an F1 team. His name has been mentioned in conversations for buying out the likes of Force India, Renault, Williams and now Haas.

    Mazepin has had a pretty underwhelming career, although he is fighting for victories in his second season of F2 and finished runner-up to the late Anthoine Hubert in the 2018 GP3 season. He was also runner-up in the FIA World Karting Championship in 2014 to current McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris, so I must give him credit where it’s due.

    However like current Williams driver Nicholas Latifi, it’s obvious that his father’s money would be more of a reason than his ability as to why Haas would hire him. In this day and age, it’s a necessary evil if it means Haas can keep afloat and there are certainly many drivers who have much less ability they could have picked.

    With that being said though, Mazepin is up there with the likes of Dan Ticktum and Santino Ferrucci in terms of polarising and distasteful character. He once punched Callum Ilott and only got a one race ban for it after claiming the Brit held him up in practice at the Hungaroring for an F3 race. He’s also come under fire for threatening to out a current F1 driver as gay, which when you consider the possible implications due to F1’s reliance on money from very homophobic countries, just makes me despise this Russian.

    One thing is for sure though should this happen, the Drive To Survive episodes that we will inevitably see with a bad tempered team boss and spoilt son of a Russian oligarch, they’ll be entertaining to watch.

    So who could it be?

    Immediately, Mazepin seems all but certain, as unfortunate as it is. The extra injection of cash could be imperative for Haas as this could very well serve as a rebuilding phase for the team. Puzzlingly though, the extra money from Sergio Pérez’s backers may not be accepted, which considering a combination of an inexperienced driver like Mazepin with a seasoned veteran and both bringing in money sounds very ideal.

    At the moment, it’s all rather up in the air. Haas may end up going with a Ferrari junior on one side of the garage and Mazepin on the other, which could end up backfiring since both drivers are hugely inexperienced and we remember how Williams struggled in 2018 with the money coming from both Lance Stroll’s and Sergey Sirotkin’s backers but both being very inexperienced.

    If I was a betting man, that’s who I’d go for right now, Mazepin and a Ferrari academy driver.

    But let’s take a moment to acknowledge their current drivers. Romain Grosjean is an anomaly, having had ounces of pace but lacked that refinement to keep him from keeping it on the straight and narrow but over time instead of ironing out those rough edges, he’s lost that spark and arguably shouldn’t have been picked over Nico Hülkenberg for 2020.

    As for Kevin Magnussen, from scoring a podium on his debut to becoming the F1 bad boy and driving way too aggressively on occasion, and like Grosjean did show plenty of promise. However that whittled out and now I would be very surprised if either of them managed to find a drive in F1 for next season.

    What’s next for them? Well Grosjean has expressed interest in spearheading Peugeot’s Le Mans Hypercar program as well as flirting with the idea of both Formula E and DTM, whilst Magnussen could be linked with a move to IndyCar although I would hope if he does, his defense style is quickly dealt with on ovals..