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  • BTCC Silverstone – Butcher cruises to win despite compromised start

    BTCC Silverstone – Butcher cruises to win despite compromised start

    Rory Butcher allayed pre-race fears to convert pole to victory in race one at Silverstone.

    A liquid spill from the earlier British F4 race on the start/finish straight meant Butcher’s start would be compromised. However despite losing the lead to Tom Ingram, he soon reclaimed his lead on lap three at Brooklands with an audacious and well executed move.

    The opening lap saw five retirements, with Andy Neate suffering a puncture and causing damage. Gordon Shedden and Sam Smelt had a coming together, Jack Mitchell retired early on with a mechanical issue and Adam Morgan also never returned from the pits after pitting on lap one.

    Once Butcher took his lead back, Ingram was reeled in by Dan Lloyd in his Vauxhall Astra. Of the five title protagonists Ingram finished highest, with Josh Cook, Colin Turkington and leader Ash Sutton finishing fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

    Jake Hill however struggled with 66kg of ballast in his Ford Focus, and was embroiled in a race-long fight with Tom Chilton and Jack Butel. He eventually finished 21st, and out of the points.

    Butcher cruised to a win, with a winning margin of just over three seconds. Ingram held off Lloyd for second with Aiden Moffat’s second half renaissance to the season continued with fourth place.

    History was made as the BTCC’s Hybrid car competed in its first race, driven by former champion Andrew Jordan. While it finished last, this wasn’t due to lack of performance. The Hybrid programme was simply to run the car in racing conditions, and so stayed near the back to avoid any incidents or affecting the championship.

    Ash Sutton remains in the lead of the championship with only a handful of races left to go.

    Pos Driver Car Team +/-
    1 Rory Butcher Toyota Corolla Toyota Gazoo 21:21:142
    2 Tom Ingram Hyundai i30N Excelr8 +3.262
    3 Dan Lloyd Vauxhall Astra Power Maxed +3.666
    4 Aiden Moffat Infiniti Q50 Laser Tools +4.263
    5 Josh Cook Honda Civic Type R BTC Racing +6.674
    6 Colin Turkington BMW 330i M Sport Team WSR +6.929
    7 Ash Sutton Infiniti Q50 Laser Tools +7.379
    8 Dan Rowbottom Honda Civic Type R Team Dynamics +8.113
    9 Stephen Jelley BMW 330i M Sport Team WSR +10.154
    10 Jason Plato Vauxhall Astra Power Maxed +10.564
    11 Tom Oliphant BMW 330i M Sport Team WSR +10.757
    12 Ollie Jackson Ford Focus ST MB Motorsport +16.981
    13 Chris Smiley Hyundai i30N Excelr8 +17.270
    14 Senna Proctor Honda Civic Type R BTC Racing +17.621
    15 Carl Boardley Infiniti Q50 Laser Tools +18.009
    16 Sam Osborne Ford Focus ST Motorbase +18.763
    17 Aron Taylor-Smith Cupra Leon Team HARD +19.410
    18 Jack Butel Hyundai i30N Excelr8 +19.886
    19 Jack Goff Cupra Leon Team HARD +23.460
    20 Tom Chilton BMW 330i M Sport Ciceley +23.822
    21 Jake Hill Ford Focus ST MB Motorsport +24.904
    22 Jade Edwards Honda Civic Type R BTC Racing +25.239
    23 Rick Parfitt Jr Hyundai i30N Excelr8 +26.015
    24 Nicholas Hamilton Cupra Leon Team HARD +28.099
    25 Andrew Jordan Toyota Corolla Hybrid – +30.593
    Retirements
    DNF Andy Neate Ford Focus ST Motorbase Wheel
    DNF Adam Morgan BMW 330i M Sport Ciceley Damage
    DNF Sam Smelt Toyota Corolla Toyota Gazoo Crash
    DNF Gordon Shedden Honda Civic Type R Team Dynamics Crash
    DNF Jack Mitchell Cupra Leon Team HARD Mechanical

     

  • F2 Sochi: Piastri wins feature and extends championship lead

    F2 Sochi: Piastri wins feature and extends championship lead

    Oscar Piastri won the Sochi Formula 2 feature race with a dominant performance over Theo Pourchaire who finished second. Jehan Daruvala rounded out the podium with the rest of the top four in the championship standings finishing one behind the other in fourth, fifth and sixth, setting up a tight fight in the final leg of the championship.

    The feature race was only the second of this unusual weekend. After a huge crash in the sprint race yesterday Felipe Drugovich was declared unfit for this race. He is OK but the chief medical officer was not happy for him to compete in the race today.

    Piastri had the best start of anyone, pulling out a gap immediately on Daruvala who bogged down off the line and lost two places down into fourth. The virtual safety car came out before the end of lap 1 with contact between Bent Viscaal and Roy Nissany in Turn 3 leaving Viscaal’s car stranded. Nissany was given a 5 second time penalty for his part which he served during his pitstop.

    Jehan Daruvala, Carlin (Lars Baron, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F2)

    As Juri Vips came into the pits he suffered a problem and on the way out couldn’t get it resolved. This meant he had to stop on track but managed to park in a good place and no flags were needed. This brought in the first of the mandatory pitstops early on lap 8 for Daruvala and Robert Shwartzman. Both had quick stops but with a lot of traffic in the pit lane they struggled to get out of the box.

    Piastri pitted just one lap later leaving Pourchaire, Guanyu Zhou and Dan Ticktum at the front of the pack. A radio message from Ticktum to say ‘let me chase him’ as he was only a couple of tenths off Zhou. Importantly, he made a great move on track around Turn 6 and then came out in front once they went in for tyres.

    With warmer tyres, Piastri manage to get past Pourchaire who had come out from the pitstops in front. However, once Pourchaire’s tyres were warmed up he was on a charge, consistently getting fastest laps in an attempt to get back to the top. On lap 15 both drivers were behind Nissany on the alternative strategy. Piastri got past quickly, but Pourchaire took an extra lap, which meant that Piastri open up a gap on Pourchaire.

    With work to do, Daruvala was closing the gap on Ralph Boschung in the last 8 laps. By lap 23 Boschung was feeling the pressure and had a huge left front lock up down the back straight, sending him wide and allowing Daruvala to make an easy move back into third.

    Ralph Boschung, Campos (Lars Baron, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F2)

    Boschung lost out again with no grip left as Shwartzman took advantage of the mistake and dropped Boschung down to fifth. Just three laps later that lock up came back to bite Boschung. The tyre began to fall apart, and a puncture meant he had to retire from the race with just two laps left.

    Importantly for the championship Ticktum was able to keep Zhou behind him, despite only a three tenth gap between them for several laps, and they finished fifth and sixth respectively. However, championship leader Piastri extended his lead with a dominant win. Pourchaire finished with a strong performance in P2 and Daruvala made up for his poor start, finishing on the final step of the podium.

    For the championship, Shwartzman finished in fourth, gaining points on Ticktum and Zhou but still significantly behind Piastri. Pourchaire with that second is now just nine points behind Shwartzman in the standings in fifth.

    Theo Pourchaire, ART (Bryn Lennon, Getty Images / FIA F2)
  • F3 Sochi: Doohan seals Trident teams’ title with contentious feature win

    F3 Sochi: Doohan seals Trident teams’ title with contentious feature win

    Jack Doohan took his fourth win of the season in the Sochi feature race and helped Trident to snatch the Formula 3 teams’ championship away from Prema, albeit by ignoring team orders in his battle with Clement Novalak.

    Doohan and Novalak started alongside each other on the front row, and although Novalak got a quick launch to challenge Doohan into Turn 2, Doohan was able to hold his lead from pole position. Behind them Jonathan Hoggard kept third place while Frederik Vesti dropped from fourth to sixth behind Juan Manuel Correa and Lorenzo Colombo.

    Vesti soon took those places back however, repassing Colombo by the end of the first lap and Correa on lap 3. On lap 5 he then caught and passed Hoggard’s Jenzer to bring himself up into the podium positions with just over three seconds separating him from the Tridents out front.

    Jonathan Hoggard, Jenzer (Lars Baron, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F3)

    Colombo and Correa continued to fall back through the field after those opening laps. Colombo dropped to ninth place after running wide while being passed by Vesti, and was then bumped out of the points altogether by Oliver Rasmussen by the end of lap 1. Meanwhile Correa lost fifth and sixth to Logan Sargeant and Jak Crawford, although he managed to hold seventh by seeing off the new F3 champion Dennis Hauger.

    Hauger continued to pressure Correa for seventh, closely pursued himself by Victor Martins. Their battle came to a head on lap 7 as the three of them ran side by side through Turn 7. Correa came out ahead as Martins ran wide, but Hauger was spun around by Rasmussen who tried to take advantage of the melee.

    Hauger dropped to the back of the field while Rasmussen and Martins both ended up outside the points. Arthur Leclerc benefited from the incident to sneak through and take seventh from Correa, while Ayumu Iwasa and Alex Smolyar were promoted into the points.

    Arthur Leclerc, Prema (Courtesy of Prema Racing)

    At the front of the field Doohan and Novalak were separated by just a few tenths of a second as they fought for the lead. Novalak set the pace early on with the fastest lap and ran just two tenths behind Doohan by lap 7. On lap 9 Novalak tried a move around the outside of Turn 2 for the lead, but he ran deep into the corner and was forced to slot back into second.

    While Doohan and Novalak battled, Vesti was closing in fast on the pair of them. By lap 10 he’d halved his gap to 1.5 seconds behind the Tridents, while Novalak was being visibly held up by Doohan who was sliding through the hard right-handers.

    With Vesti coming up fast behind them and the team needing to protect the win to take the teams’ title, Trident instructed Doohan to let Novalak through as he appeared to be the faster driver. But unsurprisingly with a win on the line Doohan didn’t let his teammate past, even though that allowed Vesti to close to just half a second by lap 15.

    Trident were spared some anxiety a lap later when Vesti ran wide and dropped out of DRS range of Novalak. But Doohan also ran wide on the same lap which gave Novalak a run on his teammate down the straight at the start of lap 17. Novalak initially got ahead through Turn 2, but Doohan used the corner to set up the inside line into Turn 3 and retake the lead.

    Clement Novalak, Trident (Rudy Carezzevoli, Getty Images / FIA F3)

    To make matters worse for Novalak he then lost grip in Doohan’s wake and not only dropped out of DRS range of Doohan, but into Vesti’s clutches. Vesti was just a tenth behind Novalak heading through the middle sector while Novalak was warned about weaving in his defence.

    When they got to the DRS straight out of Turn 10 Vesti had little trouble pulling alongside and passing Novalak for second. But despite his earlier speed, Vesti’s brief but close battle with Novalak had given Doohan the opportunity to open up a slight lead with two laps remaining, and he ended up crossing the line with two seconds in hand.

    Vesti held onto second while Novalak completed the podium in third, but despite losing the 1–2 Trident were still able to take the teams’ title by six points from Prema. Sargeant completed a quiet race in fourth ahead of Crawford and Hoggard, while Leclerc finished seventh and Martins, Iwasa and Olli Caldwell rounded out the points.

    Winning the race meant that Doohan keeps his second place in the championship, while Novalak finishes the season in third place ahead of Vesti and Martins.

    Frederik Vesti, ART (Bryn Lennon, Getty Images / FIA F3)
  • F2 Sochi: Ticktum dominates sprint race in tricky damp conditions

    F2 Sochi: Ticktum dominates sprint race in tricky damp conditions

    Dan Ticktum took his second win of the season in the Sochi F2 sprint race, surviving the difficult conditions while drivers behind him fell afoul of the damp track in an assortment of incidents.

    The race got off to a dramatic start before the grid had even formed, as first Guanyu Zhou spun on the lap to the grid and stalled his engine, then his teammate Felipe Drugovich spun into the wall and wrecked his car. As a result neither UNI-Virtuosi was able to take the race start.

    With the track still wet in places the race began with a rolling start after two formation laps behind the safety car. Ticktum made the most of that rolling start to get a good gap over second-placed Juri Vips across the line, while Christian Lundgaard was the only driver in the field able to pull off a lap 1 overtake as he passed Marcus Armstrong for tenth.

    Although Ticktum got the jump on Vips at the start, Vips responded through the opening lap to be just two tenths behind the Carlin at the start of lap 2. But Ticktum then put in his own answer with a fastest lap to open the gap up again, which began a game of trading lap times between the two of them.

    Just a few tenths behind Ticktum and Vips, Liam Lawson was defending third place from Robert Shwartzman. Shwartzman appeared to have the better pace than Lawson and looked at a move out of Turn 3 on lap 3, but with the track still wet outside the racing line he couldn’t get alongside the Hitech. Shwartzman then ran wide through Turn 18 and lost several tenths to Lawson.

    Liam Lawson, Hitech (Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool)

    On lap 4 Bent Viscaal spun out at the Turn 15/16 chicane and brought out the Virtual Safety Car. When it was withdrawn on lap 6 Oscar Piastri tried to overtake Jehan Daruvala for eighth place, but he immediately lost tyre temperature when he moved out to the wetter part of the track and instead fell to 12th behind Lundgaard, Armstrong and Richard Verschoor.

    The VSC then made an immediate reappearance when Lawson, lacking brake temperature from the first VSC, couldn’t get his car stopped heading into Turn 13 and damaged his left rear suspension on the exit wall. With Lawson out, Shwartzman moved up to third place ahead of Jake Hughes, Ralph Boschung, Theo Pourchaire and Daruvala.

    Once again, the VSC restart caught out several drivers. Shwartzman ran wide through Turn 10 with cold tyres and was passed down the straight by Hughes, although Shwartzman was able to regroup and take back third into Turn 13. Meanwhile Boschung was slow to react and was passed by both Daruvala and Pourchaire, with Daruvala coming out on top in fifth.

    Daruvala then set the fastest lap shortly after and joined the battle for third at just half a tenth off Hughes and Shwartzman. But despite his speed he also couldn’t find a way past, and on lap 15 Daruvala then spun at Turn 15 and dropped all the way down to 12th place.

    Jehan Daruvala, Carlin (Lars Baron, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F2)

    Back at the front Ticktum had come out best over Vips in both of the VSC restarts and had a four-second lead by the start of lap 10. Vips started to come back at the Carlin with a series of fastest laps and brought the gap down to 2.5 seconds by lap 13.

    But Vips also ran wide several times as he struggled to keep temperature in his brakes and tyres, and so he was never able to get on the back of Ticktum. He managed to close to within two seconds on lap 16, but with only two laps remaining there wasn’t enough time to challenge for the lead.

    After Vips had a few more offs in the final laps, Ticktum crossed the line to take victory with 4.5 seconds in hand over the Hitech while Shwartzman finished third.

    Hughes took his first F2 points with fourth place ahead of Pourchaire, who also recorded the fastest lap late on for an extra two points. Boschung survived a pair of lockups late in the race to finish in sixth place over Lundgaard, and Verschoor come home in eighth to deny Piastri the final point.

    Ralph Boschung, Campos (Lars Baron, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F2)
  • F3 Sochi: Hauger seals title at first chance as Sargeant wins Race 1

    F3 Sochi: Hauger seals title at first chance as Sargeant wins Race 1

    Dennis Hauger clinched the 2021 Formula 3 title with a podium finish in the opening Sochi sprint race, which was won by Logan Sargeant for his first victory of the season and Charouz Racing System’s first victory in the series.

    Sargeant started the race from second on the reverse grid alongside Victor Martins but seized the lead around the outside of Turn 2. Meanwhile Hauger tried to take third place from Jak Crawford, but after backing out he was forced to defend against Caio Collet in fifth and Alex Smolyar in sixth instead.

    But although Hauger’s start didn’t go to plan, things were much worse for his title rival Jack Doohan. Starting from 12th on the reverse grid after claiming pole for the feature race, Doohan found himself caught up in the middle of the pack and bounced onto the kerbs at Turn 2, which dropped him down to 17th in the order.

    Logan Sargeant, Charouz (Rudy Carezzevoli, Getty Images / FIA F3)

    With Doohan out of the points and Hauger only needing six points to claim the title he didn’t need to make up any more places in the race. But despite that, Hauger continued pushing forward and putting the pressure on Crawford in third.

    On lap 4 Hauger forced Crawford to take a deep defensive line through Turn 2 and used the opportunity to line up a move through Turn 3, putting himself into the podium positions. He then set the fastest lap and started cutting into Martins’ gap in second.

    By lap 7 Hauger had gotten within four tenths of Martins and tried the same Turn 2 setup as he had on Crawford three laps earlier. But Martins was able to better hold off Hauger through Turn 3 and used Hauger’s championship considerations to force the Prema to back out.

    But despite coming out on top in that battle, Martins couldn’t keep Hauger behind for much longer. On lap 10 Hauger ran within a tenth of Martins as he set up a move, which he then completed to take second a lap later.

    With Sargeant little more than three seconds up the road, Hauger set off with the win in his sights. But with half the race done he started to struggle with his rear tyres losing temperature, and found Martins and Collet in fourth filling his mirrors. Meanwhile Clement Novalak, who had taken the fastest lap from Hauger, was rapidly closing on all three of them.

    Victor Martins, MP Motorsport (Dan Istitene, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F3)

    Sargeant ran wide on lap 14 and lost seven tenths from his lead, but Hauger wasn’t able to take advantage of the mistake as he had Martins just two tenths behind him. But before Martins could capitalise on Hauger’s tyres and reclaim second, the virtual safety car was brought out when Tijmen van der Helm retired on the side of the road with an engine failure.

    When the VSC was withdrawn a lap later Hauger was able to get the better restart to pull out of DRS range of Martins, while Sargeant was just under two seconds ahead of him. Hauger continued to cut that gap as Sargeant’s own tyres fell off, and he closed to within DRS range of the Charouz on the final lap.

    Going through the DRS zone after Turn 10, Hauger closed to four tenths behind Sargeant, but with the title in his hands he held back rather than making a lunge into Turn 13. Sargeant crossed the line just ahead of Hauger, and Martins finished third for his sixth podium of the year.

    Novalak come through to take fourth from Collet in the final laps. Lorenzo Colombo took sixth for Campos ahead of Arthur Leclerc, Frederik Vesti, Juan Manuel Correa and Ayumu Iwasa. Crawford fell through the top ten in the latter stages of the race to finish 11th, while Doohan came home in 15th.

  • F2 Sochi preview: will winning experience prove key at Sochi?

    F2 Sochi preview: will winning experience prove key at Sochi?

    Formula 2 returns this weekend for Round 6 of the championship at Russia’s Sochi Autodrom.

    The Sochi circuit is one that’s well known to the F2 championship and plenty of this year’s drivers. In fact, of the 24 drivers taking to the grid this weekend, 18 of them have raced around Sochi in the last three years, and six — Guanyu Zhou, Juri Vips, Richard Verschoor, Christian Lundgaard, David Beckmann and Marcus Armstrong — have won before in their various feeder series outings.

    Only Oscar Piastri, Theo Pourchaire, Lirim Zendelli and Enzo Fittipaldi have yet to turn a racing lap around Sochi in their careers. And given that Piastri, and to an extent Pourchaire, are in the title fight this year, that difference in experience could prove crucial this weekend.

    Oscar Piastri, Prema (Michael Regan, Getty Images / FIA F2)

    Zhou, who currently sits second in the standings and 15 points behind Piastri after Monza, will certainly be hoping his experience plays its part. Along with Marino Sato, Zhou has the most knowledge of Sochi in an F2 car, having raced there in the last two seasons of F2 — but as well as that, Sochi was also the site of Zhou’s first F2 win in last year’s sprint race.

    After Piastri dominated last time out in the Monza feature race, Zhou will be looking to repeat his 2020 win at Sochi and return to the top of the standings. But on the other hand a lack of experience hasn’t hampered Piastri so far this year, as he won at Bahrain and found the podium at Baku despite having never raced at either circuit before this year.

    Shwartzman looking for big points on home soil

    Robert Shwartzman, Prema (Joe Portlock, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F2)

    It’s not just Guanyu Zhou who will come to Sochi motivated by memories of past results. Robert Shwartzman will take to the track this weekend not only buoyed by his home support, but also by the fact that it was at Sochi that he clinched the 2019 Formula 3 title.

    If that brings Shwartzman any extra confidence in 2021, then it will be gratefully received. Shwartzman was keen to point out in Monza that despite the title focus being firmly on Piastri and Zhou, he was far from out of the equation himself.

    After all, Shwartzman is still third in the championship with two wins to his name. And although he had a rocky start in the first two rounds, since his breakthrough win in the first Baku sprint race he has actually outscored Zhou by 75 points to 66.

    Shwartzman doesn’t need a perfect weekend in Sochi, he just needs a solid one. That starts with qualifying well, which has largely been his Achilles heel this year compared to Piastri and Zhou. But Shwartzman knows how to get one lap pace at this track, as he showed when he took pole for the 2019 F3 feature race.

    If Shwartzman can start high up the grid and close the gap to Piastri and Zhou, then he’ll be in a great position to really challenge for the title on the home stretch in Jeddah and Abu Dhabi.

  • IndyCar Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Preview: The Final Showdown

    IndyCar Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Preview: The Final Showdown

    IndyCar returns this weekend for the final time this season, as California’s Long Beach plays host to the championship showdown between Chip Ganassi’s Alex Palou and Arrow McLaren’s Patricio O’Ward.

    Palou has a commanding lead with three wins and eight podiums to his name, the most out of any driver. This mix of consistency and speed has given him a sizable 35-point advantage over O’Ward with 54 points on offer for the season finale.

    What this means is Palou can take the championship on Sunday as long as he finishes 11th or better This situation becomes even better if the Spaniard is able to seize pole position and lead the race into Turn One which would give him the extra two points to make 15th enough for the title.

    Patricio O’Ward has everything to do this weekend and more. Without bonus points, the minimum target is third to stay with a shout of Palou’s points tally. But in reality, the Mexican needs to win and his nearest rival to be beset with issues.

    The first thing on O’Ward’s mind will be to take pole position, putting himself in control of Sunday’s proceedings. He has the leading number of pole positions this year and has a good track record at street circuits, including a double podium at Detroit. But we have learned to expect the unexpected in IndyCar, and who knows what could happen to those in the mid-pack throughout a full race distance.

    Of course, this provides Palou doesn’t qualify near the front – which unfortunately for O’Ward, he has – in four of the last five occasions, the Spaniard has qualified in the Top Six.

    O’Ward has the slight advantage of having raced here once before in 2019, but how much that will favor the Mexican remains to be seen. In any case, it is set to be a thriller of a showdown with either driver set to take their first IndyCar title and become the youngest champion since Scott Dixon at age 23.

    Patricio O’Ward, Josef Newgarden, and Scott Dixon arrive at Long Beach with an interesting subplot in the fight for runner-up. Photo Credit: James Black

    Is the Runner-Up Position Up For Grabs?

    The short answer is, yes.

    While O’Ward remains in the hunt for the title, he is still within reach of a host of drivers who, until last week, were within championship contention.

    Josef Newgarden is mathematically in with a chance of the title himself but is adrift by a whopping 48 points. The two-time champion’s hopes of a third are remote, but not impossible. Effectively, a win and for both O’Ward and Palou to retire will do.

    Therefore, we must turn our attention to what is entirely realistic. He is only 13 points behind O’Ward and could sneak into the runner-up position in the standings by Sunday evening. Scott Dixon is 34 points behind the Mexican and has won at this track on two occasions, could he sweep in under the radar and make it a one-two for Chip Ganassi in the standings?

    Romain Grosjean and Scott McLaughlin are the main protagonists in the Rookie of the Year battle. Photo Credit: Chris Owens.

    Two-Way Rookie of the Year Fight

    There are remarkably few names to watch out for this year as the two premier contenders for this award are between Penske’s Scott McLaughlin and Dayle Coyne’s Romain Grosjean.

    McLaughlin holds a 20-point lead over the Swiss Frenchman, with one podium to his name versus three in Romain’s favor. In fact, the latter is coming off a magnificent showing at Leguna Seca where an electric final stint saw him climb up to third having started outside the Top Ten.

    However, you may be remiss in forgetting that Grosjean has missed three races this season, due to agreeing not to take part in the first few ovals on the season including the Indianapolis 500 worth double points. Therefore, to be only 20 points behind heading into the final race is remarkably impressive and by all accounts should be considered the Rookie of the Year no matter where he finishes.

    He has found a place to call home in the IndyCar series, with a new lease of life where he has pulled of some incredible qualifying performances and overtakes along the way. No doubt he is part of the IndyCar family and will likely earn himself a place at the highly sought-after Andretti team next year.

    Colton Herta has taken two wins and three pole positions this season. Photo Credit: James Black.

    Watch out for Herta and Rossi

    Put simply, Herta is our most recent race winner and has been one of the most in-form drivers in the second half of the season. He took his seventh IndyCar victory and will likely want to finish the season in style.

    Meanwhile, Alexander Rossi has taken the victory at Long Beach on the past two consecutive visits to the famous street course. He qualified on the front row at Leguna Seca and was pushing his teammate for the win until unfortunately spinning out of contention on Lap Two. Both will undoubtedly be the ones to watch to steal the limelight this weekend.

  • F3 Sochi preview: title beckons for Hauger in Sochi finale

    F3 Sochi preview: title beckons for Hauger in Sochi finale

    Formula 3 returns to action this weekend for the final time this season, as Russia’s Sochi Autodrom plays host to the championship showdown between Prema’s Dennis Hauger and Trident’s Jack Doohan.

    That title fight is now Hauger’s to lose. With four wins, eight podiums and two pole positions to his name so far, Hauger comes to Sochi with a 43-point advantage over Doohan, with 65 points still left to play for this weekend.

    That advantage means that Hauger can clinch the title after Saturday’s second sprint race, provided he doesn’t concede any more than 13 points to Doohan across the two sprint races. And even if Doohan still has a chance going into Sunday’s feature race, he’ll be aiming for almost every point available for victory, pole and the fastest lap unless Hauger’s Saturday really falls apart.

    Jack Doohan, Trident (Red Bull Content Pool)

    Doohan needs a lot of things to go his way if he’s going to snatch the title from Hauger. But pressure can play a big part in title showdowns, even for drivers who have otherwise been as composed all year as Hauger.

    If Doohan can start applying that pressure early, such as by taking pole or closing the gap in the first sprint race, then he can start using that to try and force a mistake from Hauger when it really matters.

    Neither driver has raced at the Sochi Autodrom so far in their careers, so both will be learning the circuit fresh this weekend. With only one practice session, whoever can hit the ground running fastest will have a big advantage over the weekend’s three races.

    Fight for third as tight as ever

    Victor Martins, MP Motorsport (Joe Portlock, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F3)

    It may just be Hauger and Doohan battling for the F3 title this weekend, but there is still an equally intense fight for third place in the championship yet to be resolved — and a four-way fight at that.

    Clement Novalak is currently leading that quartet on 122 points after his double podium result at Zandvoort. The Trident driver has shown impressive consistency all year long to reach this position in the championship, with points finishes in all but one of the last nine races — although what’s arguably more impressive is that he is the only driver of these four still yet to win this season.

    Just behind Novalak are Victor Martins and Frederik Vesti, both level on 117 points and each with a win to their name. Martins’ victory came in the second Zandvoort sprint race and was the peak of a brilliant bounce back after a disappointing run leading into the summer break. He seems to be riding on a second wind right now, which is the perfect momentum to have running into the season finale.

    But Vesti is almost in the opposite situation. He showed great pace early in the season and is still the only driver outside of Hauger and Doohan to take a feature race win this year, but as Novalak and Martins hit their stride Vesti dropped back from the front of the championship.

    Frederik Vesti, ART (Dan Istitene , Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F3)

    Vesti was back on the podium at Zandvoort — his first since his feature race win at the Red Bull Ring — so hopefully that will give him the boost he needs to end his season on the form it started.

    And lastly there’s Alex Smolyar, who is 15 points behind Novalak in sixth despite having more wins than both Martins and Vesti and more podiums than Novalak. But he’s also missed the points on six occasions and consistency has been his main weakness this year.

    However, Smolyar is the only one of this pack of drivers with any racing experience of the Sochi Autodrom, and his last visit during his 2017 SMP F4 days resulted in a double podium. That will surely give Smolyar confidence as he comes into the weekend needing a great result to overhaul the drivers ahead of him.

  • ELMS Round 5 – The Spa 4 Hours

    ELMS Round 5 – The Spa 4 Hours

    It was a beautiful day whether wise at the Spa-Francorchamp circuit in the Ardennes unusual for this time of year.

    The race got under way with its usual rolling start but as the cars went for the first corner at La Source chaos erupted with 4 or 5 cars coming together most cars would recover with only 2 with severe damage, Nielsen Racing #Car6 was one of the them after limping around part of the circuit it finished up in the gravel this brought out the first safety car of the day G Drives #Car26 had rear end damage and needed a new rear wing it entered the pits for repairs but on leaving the pits it still had a problem with Rusinov onboard #Car26 pulled over on the Kemmel straight and out of the race, with all the cars recovered it was back to green racing but this wasn’t to last long and the 2nd safety car of the day was out on track #Car 24 of Algarve Pro Racing runs into the back of the RLRM Sport #Car15 this then caused the Ferrari of AF Corse #Car55 to make contact both cars 24 & 55 had to much damage and are out of the race.

    Just before the first hour we are back to green and the leaders after one hour of racing are WRT Racing #Car 41 in LMP2, in LMP3 #Car18 of 1 Aim Villorba Corse leads while in LMGTE it’s the Porsche #Car 93 of Proton Racing after the dramatic but exciting first hour the race settles into some kind of rhythm and battles carry on right through the field as we approach the 2nd hour its the WRT Racing #Car41 leading in LMP2 with a new leader in LMP3 #Car19 of Cool Racing is in front while in LMGTE the Iron Lynx #Car83 as taken up the lead, the fight still rages on in the LMP3 class with another lead change DKR Engineering are now in the top spot after a brilliant bit of driving on the Kemmel straight the drama keeps on unfolding as #Car13 of Inter Europol Competition as a big impact with the tyre barriers thankfully the driver Aidan Read is out straight away and ok this brings out our first Full Course Yellow and a flurry of pit stops all the top 6 in LMP2 are in for fuel and tyres , with an hour and 30 minutes remaining its back to green racing.

    As we arrive at the final hour WRT Racing #Car14 still leads in LMP2 while in LMP3 DKR Engineering #Car4 leads with the AF Corse #Car88 now leading in LMGTE, all through the field exciting battles are taking place as we move into the final part of the race with only 4 minutes of the 4 hours remaining more drama as #Car5 of MV2S racing in LMP3 class hits the barriers at Eau Rouge its another Full Course Yellow the 2nd of the race but its not for long as the marshal’s do a fantastic job of clearing the car and debris from the track and with only 1 minute and 15 seconds to go we are back green its going to be a minute sprint to the flag, as the chequered flag falls it’s a win for WRT Racing #Car41 and not only that they are crowned LMP2 Champions for 2021 with a race to spare.

    In LMP3 DKR Engineering #Car4 win again their 3rd straight victory in the LMP3 class and in LMGTE AF Corse #Car88 return to winning ways and their 2nd victory of the season.

    Images courtesy of ELMS

    Classification LMP2 (Top 4)

    1 Car 41 – Team WRT – R. KUBICA, L. DELETRAZ, Y. YE

    2 Car 30 – Duqueine Team – T. GOMMENDY, R. BINDER, M. ROJAS

    3 Car 65 – Panis Racing – J. CANAL, W. STEVENS, J. ALLEN

    4 37 COOL – Racing – A. COIGNY, N. LAPIERRE, C. MILESI

    LMP3 (Top 4)

    1 Car 4 – DKR Engineering – L. HORR, M. DE BARBUAT

    2 Car 19 – COOL Racing – N. MAULINI, M. BELL, N. KRUETTEN

    3 Car 2 – United Autosport – W. BOYD, R. WHELDON, E. CAUHAUPE

    4 Car 8 – Graff Motorsport – E. TROUILLET, S. PAGE, D. DROUX

    LMGTE (Top 4)

    1 Car 88 – AF Corse – F. PERRODO, E. COLLARD, A. ROVERA

    2 Car 80 – Iron Lynx – M. CRESSONI, R. MASTRONARDI, M. MOLINA LMGTE

    3 Car 83 – Iron Lynx – R. FREY, S. BOVY, M. GATTING

    4 Car 93 – Proton Competition – M. FASSBENDER, F. LASER, R. LIETZ

     

    Next stop Portimao for Round 6 and the final race of the 2021 ELMS season on the weekend of 24th October 2021.

  • 2021 Russian Grand Prix Preview

    2021 Russian Grand Prix Preview

    It has perhaps been massively overblown, but the fact of the matter is that in each of the last two races that Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have gone side-by-side, they have not only made contact – but produced two frightful crashes.

    Thankfully, both Hamilton and Verstappen were okay after their clumsy crash in Monza – Courtesy of Mercedes F1 Media

    It has, unfortunately, begged the question as to whether these two elite racing drivers are actually able to go side-by-side cleanly, and it has frankly been a frustrating plot to an otherwise sublime title story. The events of Monza two weeks ago gave us a first McLaren one-two finish in over 11 years, with Daniel Ricciardo leading Lando Norris to the finish and putting a tremendously positive spin on a difficult opening campaign with the Woking-based team for the Australian.

    It is no less than McLaren deserve following years of development having fallen behind since their switch to Honda engines in 2015. Even before that in 2013, Jenson Button and Sergio Perez experienced an almost insufferable car, but nobody imagined it would take this long to climb back into a winning position.

    What it certainly has done is display that, when the chips are down for the front-runners, they are the midfield team that will step up and take advantage. Ferrari and Charles Leclerc had a similar opportunity in Silverstone, albeit Lewis Hamilton was still in the race following his crash with Verstappen. Hamilton of course went on to win on that occasion.

    Almost mercifully, this weekend veers back away from the sprint format, which has seen the two collisions between our protagonists, but the format is not so important as the technical prowess of the cars and drivers.

    The 5.8 kilometre Sochi Autodrom is a notoriously tough track to race at, so qualifying will be vital, and strategy will be crucial. This does not mean to say there can be no racing in Krasnodar – Lando Norris, George Russell and Alex Albon can testify to that.

    Alex Albon, George Russell and Lando Norris gave us a wonderful battle last year – Courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool

    Further to their entertaining wheel-to-wheel racing last season, is the story emerging through Mercedes’ Finnish departure Valtteri Bottas. He made an excellent recovery to third in Monza after his grid penalty, and there is still the odd chuckle at his defiance of team orders – setting the fastest lap again Mercedes’ wishes. This is a track that Bottas has always done ever so well at, and the seemingly new-found shackles off attitude to the nine-time race winner would lead one believe we will not be seeing the same passivity as 2018 if he ends up in a similar position this weekend. he did of course win this race last year.

    Bottas took victory here last year – Courtesy of Mercedes F1 Media

    His compatriot Kimi Raikkonen will also return, having missed the last two races by virtue of contracting COVID-19.

    But the focus will sadly be on Verstappen and Hamilton, whose close shaves have now come to a head twice, and let’s hope they can keep it clean if they end up side by side in Russia this weekend. Either way, this is now set to be a thrilling final run-in to what has been an enticing 2021 for Formula One so far.