Innholdsfortegnelse for 19/10/23 i Autosport

Charles Leclerc has unquestionably been the man most likely to restore Ferrari to title-winning glory ever since he rocked up at the Maranello squad in 2019 at the age of 21 and, within two years, finished off Sebastian Vettel’s career as a Formula 1 top-liner. But things haven’t been entirely plain sailing since then. As rapid as Leclerc is, he finds himself behind team-mate Carlos Sainz in the points. From time to time, Ferrari has technically and operationally fallen behind the other leading teams, but there have been a few mistakes from the cockpit too. Super-quick, exciting, perhaps enigmatic. Not for the first time in history does this apply to a native French speaker not from France representing the Prancing Horse! Alex Kalinauckas, who got to know Leclerc in his…

WEC Moves are afoot to reduce the scope of the Balance of Performance in the Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship. But for the moment at least they appear to have been rejected by the manufacturers. A meeting was called by WEC rulemakers the FIA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest in Paris late last month at which changes to the current system for 2024 were discussed. It is understood that the majority of manufacturers favoured maintaining the status quo and want to retain the current system introduced for this season, although it is far from clear whether any final decisions were made. Exact details of what was discussed have not been revealed: manufacturers are forbidden in the series’ sporting regulations from discussing the BoP, and the FIA has…

Five years after the IndyCar crash at Pocono in which he sustained spinal cord injuries that led to paralysis, Robert Wickens and co-driver Harry Gottsacker claimed the TCR class title in the Michelin Pilot Challenge at Road Atlanta last weekend. The duo needed eighth place to become champions, and drove their Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR to fourth in a race won by team-mates Mark Wilkins and Mason Filippi. Wickens and Gottsacker failed to win a round, but took six second places from the 10 events. “I’d much rather have this feeling right now than the short-term ecstasy of winning a race,” said Wickens. POLE DEFEATS F1 JUNIORS Polish talent Kacper Sztuka snatched the Italian Formula 4 title from under the noses of Prema Racing’s raft of F1…

LE MANS 24 HOURS A third-generation of hydrogen fuel cell racer has been announced by the MissionH24 group involving Le Mans 24 Hours organiser and World Endurance Championship promoter the Automobile Club de l’Ouest. The new car set to hit the track in 2025 will be lighter and more powerful than its predecessor. A machine that will be named after polling fans on social media is being built around a chassis developed by German constructor ADESS, like its LMPH2G and H24 forebears. The reduced weight and increased power are among a raft of developments over the H24 that raced in the Michelin Le Mans Cup in 2022. The weight has been reduced by 150kg to 1300kg, while maximum power has been increased to 650kW (872bhp) from the 350kW of the…

The stories are still essentially the same as they were in Melbourne for the 2019 Formula 1 season opener. Lando Norris is hoping to become McLaren’s next world champion. George Russell is determined to prove that he is Mercedes’ long-term star bet. And Charles Leclerc is trying to end Ferrari’s lengthy title drought. At this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, all three will hit the same milestone: it’s 100 races since that weekend in Australia. For Norris and Russell, it will be a century of race starts. Norris is the only non-F1 race winner of the trio. But even as he edges towards Nick Heidfeld’s unenviable record of most podiums without a victory, Norris retains a surrounding sense of inevitability – that his time atop the podium will surely come…

Meyer Shank Racing made a late surge for its Acura to strike for victory with Tom Blomqvist, Helio Castroneves and Colin Braun in a drama-filled Petit Le Mans, while Action Express Racing Cadillac duo Alexander Sims and Pipo Derani captured the first title of the IMSA SportsCar Championship’s new GTP era. The turning point of the 10-hour season finale at Road Atlanta came with an hour to go when Filipe Albuquerque, driving the Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06, attacked Derani in the AXR Cadillac V-Series.R for second place in the pivotal championship-deciding battle. Albuquerque followed Derani through traffic as they exited Turn 12 and was able to get a run going down the front straight. As they approached Turn 1, Albuquerque attempted an outside pass and managed…

FORMULA REGIONAL EUROPEAN ZANDVOORT (NLD) 14-15 OCTOBER ROUND 9/10 Andrea Kimi Antonelli wrapped up the 2023 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine crown early with a battling and then majestic drive to victory in the wet last Sunday. The Italian Mercedes F1 protege lined up eighth after a rain-and-red-flag-infested qualifying, but was third within two laps, then passed Laurens van Hoepen for second into Tarzanbocht and, two corners later, dived down the inside of Marcus Amand for the lead at the banked Hugenholtzbocht. Antonelli’s Prema Racing car was running away with it when team-mate Rafael Camara put himself in the gravel trap at Turn 13 when he drove into Nikita Bedrin in their fight for fifth, causing a safety car. This then became a red flag when Emerson Fittipaldi Jr…

Sylvie Mullins arrived at the final Irish Championship Circuit Racing meeting of 2023 at Mondello Park last weekend with just one aim: to break Cian Carey’s outright lap record. For many years, the mark was stuck at 50.22s courtesy of Nigel Greensall. But Carey, in his Formula 3 Dallara F317, slashed this to 49.275s last year. A determined Mullins, in his four-litre Gould GR55B hillclimb car, obliterated it to 48.129s in the first race while, in race two – after a few adjustments – he incredibly lowered the mark to 47.380s, almost two seconds under Carey’s old record. TURKINGTON THWARTED Four-time British Touring Car champion Colin Turkington was denied a debut in modern GT machinery when gremlins struck the McLaren 570S GT4 he was due to share with fellow ex-MG…

MAZDA MX-5 New CityCar Cup champion Elliot Lettis will graduate to the Mazda MX-5 Supercup next year. Lettis has been a frontrunner in the CityCar Cup since it was inaugurated as a championship in 2021. The Sussex racer clinched the 2023 title in his Peugeot 107 with two third-place finishes in the final round at Silverstone this month. Lettis won 11 of the 19 races this season, including eight of the first nine. “I think it’s time to move on to something different,” said Lettis, who will test his ex-Jake Swann-Dixon MX-5 Mk3 for the first time at Snetterton next month. Lettis will continue to run his car independently for his first taste of racing rear-wheel-drive machinery. “It’s going to be a new challenge,” he added. “We take pride in…

DONINGTON PARK BARC 14-15 OCTOBER Holden fought Holden in the battle of the Aussie V8s at Donington Park last weekend before Andy Wilson’s Monaro twice beat the Commodore VH of Abbie Eaton in Classic Thunder. Wilson was making his first appearance of 2023 in the seven-litre ex-British GT Monaro, now equipped with more robust differential and beefed-up aerodynamics. But he was beaten to pole position by former British GT driver Eaton in her dad Paul’s earlier car, which also sported a heavily revised aerodynamic package. Wilson made the better start in Saturday’s race, but Eaton dived inside at Redgate a lap later, only for Wilson to power back ahead through the Craner Curves. Eaton kept up the pressure but couldn’t find a way through. She leapt ahead at the start…

SILVERSTONE HSCC 14-15 OCTOBER Formula Ford in its Historic and Classic flavours shone like a beacon across a bracingly cold and sunny Historic Sports Car Club championship finals weekend at Silverstone, over which seven races were decided by less than seven tenths of a second. With four corners, plus the Maggotts and Woodcote kinks – flat-out for the brave – and two big braking zones to compress packs, the National circuit’s reputation for superlative racing continues. Triple Historic FF1600 champions Callum Grant (Merlyn) and Benn Simms (Jomo) engaged in two breathtaking duels, the lead chopping and changing throughout. Double winner Grant prevailed by 0.084s in the opener, but that was not the closest finish. Pipped in Saturday’s Classic race by Joe Ahrens (Royale), Jake Shortland (Lola) towed out of a…

GB3 Race 1 (13 laps) 1 Alex Dunne; 2 McKenzy Cresswell +6.081s; 3 Joseph Loake; 4 Nico Christodoulou; 5 Souta Arao; 6 Matthew Rees. Fastest lap Dunne 1m30.392s (105.40mph). Pole Dunne. Starters 24. Race 2 (12 laps) 1 Dunne; 2 Cresswell +4.884s; 3 Christodoulou; 4 James Hedley; 5 Loake; 6 Callum Voisin (below). FL Dunne 1m30.023s (105.83mph). P Cresswell. S 25. Race 3 (9 laps) 1 Daniel Mavlyutov; 2 Noah Ping +0.878s; 3 Arthur Rogeon; 4 David Morales; 5 Voisin; 6 Shawn Rashid. FL Tymek Kucharczyk 2m24.470s (65.94mph). P Patrick Heuzenroeder. S 25. Points 1 Voisin 406; 2 Loake 393; 3 Dunne 389; 4 Cresswell 351; 5 Rees 309; 6 Hedley 297.…

SNETTERTON BRSCC 14-15 OCTOBER We’re becoming ever more used to track-limit infringements affecting results in racing and, on occasions at Snetterton last weekend, not even TSL Timing could keep pace with the number of penalties being handed out. One series that largely avoided the penalties was the BMW Compact Cup, and a brace of podiums for Gareth Claydon was enough for him to seal the title. He arrived with a healthy lead on dropped scores, and only needed to score well in the first two outings to secure the crown. A dominant pole position – by a second – on Saturday morning made the task look easier, but then a rocket fourth-row start from Guy Davis set up an incredible battle between the two; Davis brave and deep on the…

BOOK CHARLES LECLERC: A BIOGRAPHY Adam Hay-Nicholls RRP: £14.99 Icon Books Charles Leclerc is a driver whose career has been forged in heartbreak and loss. While this may have been common for drivers of a certain vintage, the Monegasque stands out in this respect in the modern world of Formula 1. This aspect of Leclerc’s character is tackled head on by Adam Hay-Nicholls in Charles Leclerc: A biography, with the opening chapters explaining his upbringing and the closeness of the ties he had built, before describing the losses of his godfather, Jules Bianchi, and his father, Herve Leclerc. Further tragedy would follow with the death of close friend Anthoine Hubert. In all these instances, the focus is on answering the question of how the losses affected Leclerc rather than simply…

Jean-Pierre Jabouille and Ligier designer/team linchpin Gerard Ducarouge confer beside the former’s Matra V12-powered JS17 in the Imola pit garage at the 1981 San Marino Grand Prix. Jabouille, who was still suffering the effects of his leg-breaking accident in the previous year’s Canadian GP, qualified 18th and was not classified in the race (round four of 15), and after three more fruitless outings called time on his F1 driving career. Ducarouge also failed to see out the year in his role, although his mid-season exit was involuntary: he was sacked by volatile team owner Guy Ligier. For classic motorsport DVDs and downloads head to dukevideo.com For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

FORMULA 1 In the unlikely event that Formula 1 gives Andretti Global the nod to form an 11th team, the American operation should still be assured of an engine supply deal despite its pre-contract agreement to run Renault power units now having lapsed. Although the bid has been formed with General Motors marque Cadillac, any plans for a transatlantic engine programme would almost certainly not come to fruition in time for a 2025 arrival, as approved by the FIA earlier this month. As such, Andretti would initially need to establish a customer deal. Originally, Renault – which has been sounding out paddock support for performance breaks to help it close an estimated 30bhp power deficit – had been tapped up. “We had a pre-contract with Andretti, which has expired because…

FORMULA 1 Bernie Ecclestone has been given a 17-month prison sentence suspended for two years and must pay HM Revenue & Customs more than £650million to cover 18 tax years after pleading guilty to fraud for failing to declare over £400m of assets held in Singapore. The ex-Formula 1 tsar, worth £2.5billion, established overseas accounts to support his three daughters but had declared that he had no trusts outside the UK. Following a “complex and worldwide” investigation by the government tax authority, Ecclestone was charged by the Crown Prosecution Service in July 2022 after a single count of fraud was made on 7 July 2015. Last Thursday, he appeared in Southwark Crown Court to confirm his personal details and spoke only to tell the judge “I plead guilty”. He had…

WEC/IMSA Jenson Button is looking increasingly certain to run a full race programme next year for the first time since his final season of Super GT in 2019. The 2009 Formula 1 world champion has revealed that he has opportunities for the new season in the World Endurance Championship and the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Button made the revelation on his return to the prototype ranks for the first time since 2018 at the Petit Le Mans IMSA finale at Road Atlanta last weekend in the JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963 LMDh (above). “I have a couple of options in IMSA to do a full season and to do enduros; I also have a couple of options to do WEC,” he said ahead of the race. “First of all, I need to…

IMSA Le Mans 24 Hours winner Mike Rockenfeller will drive the new Ford Mustang GT3 in the IMSA SportsCar Championship next season. The German, who stepped away from long-time employer Audi at the end of 2021, has joined a raft of Ford regulars in the GT Daytona Pro line-up announced last week. Rockenfeller was named alongside Joey Hand, Harry Tincknell and Dirk Muller, all veterans of campaigns with the Ford GT in either IMSA or the World Endurance Championship, in the two-car squad run by Multimatic Motorsport. Hand was revealed as the team’s lead test driver on the announcement of the programme at the start of last year, while Tincknell and Muller had existing Multimatic contracts. Hand and Muller will renew the partnership that yielded four GT Le Mans class…

WEC/IMSA Lamborghini has resumed full testing with its 2024 World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar challenger after a break of more than a month. The SC63 LMDh prototype returned to the track at Almeria in southern Spain last week in the wake of a major shunt at the end of August. Romain Grosjean got his first taste of the SC63 run by Iron Lynx as he and Andrea Caldarelli completed approximately 2000km over the course of three days. The car, built up around a new chassis, ran in carbon black rather than the green livery in which it was testing at Paul Ricard before Mirko Bortolotti crashed heavily. The test, which followed a shakedown in Italy, was a productive one according to Iron Lynx team principal Andrea Piccini, who played…

My deal to compete in the FIA Formula 3 Championship with Hitech this year came together very late on and, to be honest, I didn’t expect to be doing it. It finally happened just a couple of weeks before the first race in Bahrain. We were the last driver signed coming into the year, so I was a bit on the back foot, not doing any testing, and not knowing any of the circuits bar Silverstone, Red Bull Ring and of course Spa. Winning the 2022 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award after claiming the GB3 title with Hitech really, really helped me get that F3 seat. It shows you the opportunity you have as a British racing driver to show what you can do in equal machinery to…

The list of Max Verstappen’s Formula 1 title rivals is very short: Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc. The former famously missed out in the controversial 2021 contest, while the latter led Ferrari’s faltering charge a year ago. But Leclerc’s history with Verstappen goes back over a decade to their rise through the karting world as, at times, bitter rivals, while Hamilton was already an F1 world champion. Verstappen versus Hamilton is blockbuster viewing – even if their 2023 skirmishes have had none of the colourful excitement of 2021 nor even shades of their coming-together in Brazil last year. But when it comes to racing drivers he’s competed against earlier in his career, Verstappen has a much cleaner track record. He thinks it’s because they know each other better – that things…

There’s no doubt that Kyle Kirkwood was one of the breakout stars of the IndyCar Series in 2023. After a rookie campaign with AJ Foyt Racing in 2022, he joined Andretti Autosport and immediately made his presence known this past season by scoring a pair of victories – the only driver to find the podium’s top step from a team that included Colton Herta and Romain Grosjean. But Kirkwood’s showing was the epitome of feast or famine. Those wins – at Long Beach and Nashville – stood as his only top five results from 17 rounds en route to 11th in the championship standings. “I bounced back and forth from [what could be considered] a good year, almost between like an A-, to a D-, if you look at the…

GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE SPRINT CUP ZANDVOORT (NLD) 14-15 OCTOBER ROUND 5/5 Attempto Racing Audi pairing Ricardo Feller and Mattia Drudi clinched the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup title thanks to a dominant display in the season finale at Zandvoort, and disaster for their main rivals: ASP Mercedes duo Raffaele Marciello and Timur Boguslavskiy. While Drudi and Feller won both races, a rare error from Marciello gave the Italo-Swiss pair the edge in Saturday’s opener, while Boguslavskiy was forced out by a collision on the first lap on Sunday. The Attempto crew charged through from ninth on the grid to claim another win and ensure that Audi’s grip on the Sprint Cup remains as firm as ever. “We showed everyone what we can do,” said Feller. “Super-happy with the…

FF1600 US F1600 champion Porter Aiken is among the drivers heading to the UK this week to compete in the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. Aiken is due to be driving one of Oldfield Motorsport’s Van Diemen JL13s and arrives fresh off defeating Team USA scholars Ayrton Houk and Jack Sullivan to the F1600 title. Other notable names on the entry list for the end-of-season showpiece include previous winners Niall Murray (Team Dolan Van Diemen RF99), Rory Smith and Jamie Sharp (both Medinas). Regular frontrunners Chris Middlehurst (Van Diemen LA10) and Jordan Dempsey (Van Diemen RF00), along with National champion Jordan Kelly (Van Diemen RF06) are also among the entries, which stood at 53 cars as Autosport closed for press on Tuesday, but with further late additions possible. Also…

HSCC The Historic Sports Car Club has become the latest organiser to reveal a new series for 1970s and 1980s tin-tops. Unlike other recent creations that have focused on Group 1 cars, the new Touring Car Legends category from the HSCC is for the more powerful Group 2 machines as well as the subsequent Group A era. BMW M3s and CSLs, Ford Sierra Cosworths and ‘Cologne’ Capris, Nissan Skylines and Chevrolet Camaros are among the cars expected to feature. Touring Car Legends will complement the club’s existing pre-’66 Historic Touring Car division. The HSCC has attempted to run similar series in the past, including the shortlived Dunlop Saloon Car Cup, but CEO Andy Dee-Crowne says this latest contest has been sparked by competitor interest. “We are absolutely thrilled to launch…

SCOTTISH LEGENDS Double Scottish Mini Cooper Cup champion Michael Weddell will jump ship to race in the Legends Championship next season with Beaty Motorsport. Weddell, who won the Mini title in 2021 and 2022, enjoyed a one-off Legends outing last month and this convinced him that the time was right for a new challenge. “I’ve done six years in Minis and I just decided that I wanted to do something different,” said Weddell. “Legends was the only thing that really enticed me, with the budget I’ve got. “At the September round, I was meant to race the Legends on the Saturday and the Mini on Sunday, and Mark Beaty [Beaty Motorsport owner] told me to do two laps and come in. And after two laps, I decided I wasn’t going…

BARC Roddie Paterson won both of the CNC Heads Sports/Saloon races in his Caterham at Oulton Park last weekend as the championship celebrated its 40th anniversary with a 40-car entry. Paterson dominated race one after expected rival Andrew Southcott spun his MG Midget Lenham off at Cascades on the opening lap. Jon Woolfitt (Spire GTR) just held onto second from Garry Wardle (SEAT Cupra TCR) as the race was red-flagged. Paterson had to battle his way past the Subaru Impreza of Oliver Thomas in race two. He made it by on lap two, just before a safety-car intervention and, from the green flag, there were only two more laps before it was red again. Paterson, Thomas and Thom Evans (Caterham) completed the podium, while Ian Bamber clinched the title in…

CLASSIC THUNDER Races 1 & 2 Andy Wilson (Holden Monaro) PRE-’66 TOURING CARS Race 1 James Everard (Alfa Romeo Sprint GT, below) Race 2 Barry Sime (Morris Mini Cooper S) BRITISH ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP Peter Erceg/Marcus Clutton (Audi R8 GT3) BRITCAR TROPHY Race 1 Marco Anastasi (Ginetta G56 GTA) Race 2 Jasver Sapra/Bryan Bransom (BMW M3 E46) PRE-’93 & PRE-’03 TOURING CARS/BOSS Races 1 & 2 Piers Grange (Ford Escort Mk2) PRE-’83 TOURING CARS Race 1 Howard Spooner (BMW 635i) Race 2 Stephen Primett (Ford Escort Mk1) JUNIOR SALOONS Races 1 & 2 Oskar Dix MINI CHALLENGE CLUBSPORT Races 1, 2 & 3 Stephen Berry JAGUAR CHALLENGE Races 1 & 2 Guy Connew (XJS) For full results visit: tsl-timing.com…

CROFT CSCC 14 OCTOBER Sam Polley displayed incredible driving skills in his Mini Marcos to fend off James Hughes in a thrilling race at the Classic Sports Car Club’s 20th anniversary meeting at Croft last weekend to win a red flag-halted contest. Polley started fourth in the Swinging Sixties Group 1 and Classic K race and initially slipped to sixth but, in an outstanding first stint, he climbed to second behind leader Hughes’s Austin-Healey Frogeye Sprite. Hughes, who pitted after Polley, had to serve a 20-second ‘success’ penalty due to a win earlier in the season, which gave Polley the lead. As they battled fiercely in the closing stages, Hughes made a critical mistake after overtaking Polley – he went wide into the chicane, and this allowed Polley to regain…

MONDELLO PARK JUNIOR MINI CHALLENGE Race 1 Bobby-Joe McFall Race 2 Logan Hoey IRISH LEGENDS Races 1, 2 & 3 Jamie Moylan FIESTA ZETECS Races 1 & 2 Alex Denning FIESTA STs Races 1 & 2 Max Turley SEAT SUPERCUP IRELAND Race 1 Eddie Peterson Race 2 Graham McDonnell IRISH STRYKERS Races 1 & 2 Michael Cullen BOSS IRELAND Races 1 & 2 Hywel Lloyd (Dallara-Mercedes F317, above) For full results visit: timing.ie SNETTERTON BMW COMPACT CUP Races 1 & 2 Guy Davis Race 3 Rudi Macmillan C1 ENDURANCE RACING SERIES Race 1 Emax Motorsport (Stuart Ratcliff/Jake Little/James Little) Race 2 Trojon Motorsport (Chris Freeman/Jonathan Munday) AUDI TT CUP RACING Race 1 Adam Blair Races 2 & 3 Richard Forber (below) ZEO PROTOTYPE SERIES Races 1 & 2 Mike Jenvey…

You might imagine that one-time grand prix winner Jarno Trulli would pick the mount that took him to his only Formula 1 success as his all-time favourite car – even more so since the backdrop for that success was Monaco. But the Italian instead plumps for the final truly competitive car of his F1 tenure, the Toyota TF109 of 2009. The Renault R24 in which he scored his Monte Carlo win in 2004 was, in Trulli’s words, “extremely good only at Monaco, which is a particular circuit”. On the other hand, the double diffuser-equipped TF109 was “the best-handling car I ever had – the kind of car that gives you the feeling you can push, with a good front end and good traction on corner exit”. Trulli scored three podium…

FORMULA 1 The FIA has launched a review into Lewis Hamilton’s crossing of a live track during this month’s Qatar Grand Prix as he walked away from the scene of his first-corner collision with Mercedes team-mate George Russell. The seven-time world champion was initially investigated for his hasty return to the pits since he only just made it across the circuit before the lead pack came past. The stewards noted at the time that he was very apologetic before slapping him with a €50,000 fine, half of which was suspended for the remainder of the season pending no further breach of a similar nature. But the governing body now notes that “in view of [Hamilton’s] role model status, the FIA is concerned about the impression his actions may have created…

Ferrari handed FIA Formula 2 race winner Ollie Bearman his first outing in an F1 car at its Fiorano test track last Wednesday. The Ferrari protege and two-time Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award finalist completed 250 miles aboard the two-year-old SF21 as he prepares to pilot the current Haas VF-23 in FP1 at the Mexican and Abu Dhabi GPs. Around 200 miles of running enables the Brit to meet the criteria to drive at a world championship event. Bearman, 18, said: “I don’t think I’ll ever forget this day… I’m told my mother got quite excited when I drove out of the garage in the Ferrari.”…

WEC Glickenhaus has drawn the veil on its World Endurance Championship participation with its Le Mans Hypercar. Team boss Jim Glickenhaus has confirmed that he has no plans to file an entry for what would have been his squad’s fourth season in the WEC in 2024. The American manufacturer had previously stated that another campaign for the Pipo-engined 007 LMH was dependent on sponsorship. That has not been forthcoming and the team will gracefully retire with what Glickenhaus labelled an enviable record for a privateer squad. “We won’t be entering – it doesn’t make sense for us,” said Glickenhaus. “To be competitive we’d need to do an evo version of the car and to run two of them. That’s not viable for a privateer. The days of teams like us…

NASCAR star Kyle Larson was among those to complete their Indianapolis Motor Speedway Rookie Orientation Programme last week. The 2021 Cup champion plans to run in the 500 next May with Arrow McLaren, and joined Tom Blomqvist (Meyer Shank Racing) plus Linus Lundqvist and Marcus Armstrong (both Chip Ganassi Racing) in turning their first laps of the 2.5-mile superspeedway. “Just to feel what an IndyCar feels like, be low to the ground, feel the acceleration through the gears was pretty crazy,” said Larson.…

UK START TIMES Friday 20 October FP 1830 QUALIFYING 2200  Saturday 21 October SPRINT QUALIFYING 1830 SPRINT RACE 2300 Sunday 22 October RACE 2000 CATCH THE RACE LIVE SKY SPORTS F1 BBC RADIO 5 LIVE TV Highlights CHANNEL 4 0030 (Monday) TYRE ALLOCATION CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS Drivers Constructors AUSTIN STATS Previous winners 2022 POLE POSITION Carlos Sainz 1m34.356s POLE LAP RECORD Valtteri Bottas 1m32.029s (2019) RACE LAP RECORD Charles Leclerc 1m36.169s (2019) Laps led Lewis Hamilton 249 Sebastian Vettel 105  Max Verstappen 77 Nico Rosberg 44 Kimi Raikkonen 40 Valtteri Bottas 31 Daniel Ricciardo 7 Sergio Perez 4 Romain Grosjean 2 Charles Leclerc 1…

Best way forward for F1 is to open up The myopic attitude of the current grandee team managers to the potential arrival of Andretti as a new fellow competitor is very disappointing. It is a good job the then existing teams were more welcoming in 1996 when Stewart Grand Prix joined their ranks, otherwise where would Red Bull be now? Likewise, when Eddie Jordan started his own team in 1991, he was welcomed in the paddock and his original determination now lives on, after a number of different labels, as the Aston Martin F1 team. Similarly, Ken Tyrrell entered Formula 1 in 1968 before becoming a constructor in 1970 and the spirit of the Tyrrell Racing Organisation now lives on, via BAT, Honda and Brawn, as the Mercedes team. Further…

CHARLES LECLERC is approaching 100 Formula 1 appearances with Ferrari, the team that brought him through the junior ranks to consecutive GP3 and Formula 2 titles, as well as assisting his grand prix debut with Sauber in 2018. Back in the summer, Autosport sat down with Leclerc to take a trip through the best memories of his career so far at Ferrari. The 26-year-old can be considered the team’s first junior driver success story, since he’s the only racer to rise to represent Ferrari in F1 since its Driver Academy was founded back in 2009. Here’s what Leclerc makes of some of the standout moments along the way… 2017 MONZA FORMULA 2 ROUND Results: 17th (feature race) 9th (sprint) I remember it was one of my best friends actually, Antonio…

SUPER GT AUTOPOLIS (JPN) 15 OCTOBER ROUND 7/8 TOM’S Toyota drivers Sho Tsuboi and Ritomo Miyata seized control of the Super GT title fight with a spectacular victory in the penultimate round of the season at Autopolis. Tsuboi and Miyata fought their way through from 12th on the grid to score their second win of 2023 in their Toyota GR Supra, one that puts them seven points clear in the title race ahead of next month’s season finale at Motegi. After taking over from Tsuboi at the first round of pitstops in the 450km race, Miyata charged up the order in the final stint, quickly making his way up from fifth to second before challenging the leading ARTA Honda of Hiroki Otsu. The ARTA NSX-GT started on pole position courtesy…

MOTOGP MANDALIKA (IDN) 15 OCTOBER ROUND 15/20 The MotoGP title battle literally changed from day to day in Indonesia, with the balance shifting dramatically between Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia from the Saturday sprint to the Sunday Grand Prix. MotoGP’s second visit to the optimistically named Mandalika International Street Circuit provided Pramac Ducati rider Martin with the championship lead for the first time in his premier-class career, only for the Spaniard to then lose it in gallingly unnecessary circumstances just 24 hours later. Martin has been MotoGP’s form man of late, pounding his title rivals with double victories at Misano and Motegi, as well as with a sprint win in India. This coincided with a dip in form for Bagnaia instigated by his horrifying accident at last month’s Catalan GP,…

FF1600 A special celebration of the Elden marque will be held at this weekend’s Formula Ford Festival, with several period racers expected to be in attendance at Brands Hatch. The reunion has been organised by Super Classic Pre-’99 FF1600 coordinator Alan Bowles, and former works Elden drivers Chris Smith and Ted Wentz are due to travel over from the US. Sunday also coincides with the 51st anniversary of Johnny Gerber winning the 1972 World Final at Brands in an Elden, and he is set to join the celebrations of the constructor, which was founded in the late 1960s. Other figures due to be attending include Mike Catlow, Denny Shattock, Frank Bradley – a former owner of Elden – and ex-gofer Graham Fuller. Bowles explained that the event was the idea…

BRITISH F4 British Formula 4 champion Louis Sharp has already experienced one of his prizes for winning the title after getting the chance to sample the Mercedes Formula 1 simulator last week. Sharp spent half a day at the team’s Brackley base and received feedback and coaching from Mercedes engineers before, during and after a spell on the simulator, in which he completed a similar programme to those carried out by Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. “It was a super-cool experience,” said the Rodin Carlin driver, who admitted he was not aware he would get the chance to try the simulator just five days after claiming the F4 title. “The prizes you get for winning the championship are fantastic and it’s something I’m going to remember for a long time.…

EQUIPE CLASSIC RACING The long-running MG BCV8 and MG Cup categories will join the Equipe Classic Racing portfolio and run as non-championship series next year following the MG Car Club’s withdrawal from organising race events. The BCV8 championship, which caters for standard MGBs and MGCs, plus modified models and V8-powered versions, dates back to 1977. It has regularly appeared at Equipe meetings in recent years. “This is great news for MG BCV8 drivers, the BCV8 racing family and BCV8 fans,” said coordinator James Wheeler. “Equipe Classic Racing has kindly offered to set up a series for BCV8s to retain our race format and class structure, together with the invitation of MGA [non-FIA] cars, so we can all have somewhere to keep racing our cars and keep the BCV8 racing family…

BRITISH RALLYCROSS Reigning British Rallycross champion Patrick O’Donovan scored another victory as the series’ top-tier Supercar class teamed up with its French equivalent at Dreux last weekend. O’Donovan guided his Hansen Motorsport-built Peugeot 208 to an overall podium, and he was best of the British runners to boost his chances of retaining his title, despite missing some of this year’s events due to his European commitments. O’Donovan’s fifth win of 2023 has lifted him to second in the standings, but fellow Peugeot driver Jack Thorne maintained his championship lead after finishing runner-up in France. O’Donovan’s father Ollie took the points for third in his Proton Iriz, while Citroen DS 3 racers Tristan Ovenden and Michael Sellar were fourth and fifth. The deciding rounds of the championship are now due to…

Jaguar specialist and Classic Touring Car Racing Club stalwart David Howard tracked his newly acquired XJS TWR recreation for the first time in the Jaguar Challenge at Donington last weekend. “It’s a faithful reproduction,” explained Howard of the factory-original manual V12 first prepared for racing by Justin Rockett in the 1980s. “It’s not just some green paint with a white stripe down it. It’s a very well-prepared car. It’s been looked after; it’s been made to run properly. You look underneath it, you think, ‘Wow, this car is really good.’” Powered by a six-litre V12 with a five-speed Getrag gearbox, the car spent more than a decade based in Northern Ireland with Robin Patterson. It was then brought back to England and raced by Mark Russell, who gave it a…

ZANDVOORT GB3 14-15 OCTOBER Alex Dunne claimed a double victory as GB3’s maiden visit to Zandvoort blew this year’s title battle wide open. The reigning British Formula 4 champion had won two races already this season, both at Spa in June, but a retirement last time out at Brands Hatch had left him 42 points adrift at the top of the standings. But any thoughts of a two-horse race between long-time championship leader Callum Voisin and main challenger Joseph Loake were wiped out in a dramatic qualifying session that produced Dunne’s first pole position of the year. Loake was fourth quickest but Voisin hit trouble – his Rodin Carlin car was left with floor damage after Michael Shin collided with him at Tarzan, a move that led to the South…

MONDELLO PARK MPSC 14-15 OCTOBER Mondello Park’s 2023 Junior Scholarship winner Bobby-Joe McFall wrapped up the Junior Mini title in the best possible fashion by taking a win and a new lap record from last weekend’s opener. McFall led again in race two, but an inspired Logan Hoey forged his way past for his maiden win. Holly Dunnion was right with the pair for the duration and also got past McFall to grab second. Jamie Moylan scythed his way through from the back to win the first Irish Legends race with apparent ease, crossing the line over 12 seconds ahead of his closest challengers, Willie Lawrence and Declan Burke. Moylan repeated the feat in the second race and also topped the final, although this time it was a much closer…

THE DRIVERS GERRIT VAN KOUWEN (1984) “People say that my final was boring. They’re wrong – it was the best ever! I’d enjoyed winning across Europe in 1983, but nothing prepares you for your first time at Brands Hatch. I made the final that year, but that was it, so for 1984, we set about doing things right. I had fantastic backing from Lola and, weekend after weekend, we transformed the T644E, carefully building up a very different car to what we’d started with. “I worked closely with Minister too. Dave [Minister] and Graham [Fuller] were developing a way to pre-heat oil, as this showed an instant benefit of 2-3bhp on leaving the line. We fitted an industrial kettle element into the bell housing and ran it off a portable…