Innholdsfortegnelse for 30/11/23 i Autosport

Max Verstappen has led 1003 laps this season on his way to 19 wins out of 22 in the Formula 1 World Championship. That’s an incredible achievement by both him and the Red Bull team, and one we salute. But let’s go back to 1982… That year, Keke Rosberg led just 84 laps and took a measly one victory out of 16 during his journey to the F1 crown with Williams. That was in the days of jeopardy, unreliability, and 11 different winners in a season. And not one person looks back on Rosberg’s title as undeserving. He had no perceived advantage, although Williams bosses Frank Williams and Patrick Head would have bemoaned the unfair advantage of the French! That was in the form of turbo-boosted Renault pair Alain Prost…

Felipe Massa scored his first race win since his bitter-sweet 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix victory in the Brazilian Stock Car Championship at Cascavel last weekend. He started his Chevrolet Cruze from the front row of the top-10 reversed grid, and led home Atila Abreu, Ricardo Mauricio and Ricardo Zonta. Ex-GP3 racer Bruno Baptista won the opener from pole ahead of Daniel Serra. Massa lies 12th in the standings with one round to go, so is unlikely to take legal action about any races in 15 years’ time! WELL DONE WHELDON JR Sebastian Wheldon, the 14-year-old son of the late Indy 500 winner Dan, scooped the Skip Barber Race Series title at Circuit of The Americas last week at the end of his rookie season of car racing. Wheldon, who is…

It’s been a very active season for me in 2023. I started off doing some endurance racing and the Asian Le Mans Series, all while carrying out preparations for my Porsche campaign in the Carrera Cup Middle East, which went really well. We claimed a win in every race we entered, so the programme was looking very strong. The expectations for the European season were very high and I had everything I needed in terms of testing mileage, physical preparation, and all the ingredients to attack the Porsche Supercup season with the best approach possible. We started off at Spa with the Carrera Cup Deutschland, which was my first race in the series. Going to Allied Racing – a brand-new team for me, with new mechanics and engineers – was…

We’ve become accustomed to layering up as the British winter sets in, so the opportunity to bask in one final blast of sunshine at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is most welcome. And boy, it’s warm – but thankfully not too humid. We meander to Turn 14, the corner just after the W Hotel underpass, for our first viewing of the day to get a sense of how close each car in FP1 is getting to the exit wall. GP Racing editor Stuart Codling has joined us, and he elects to label the corner ‘Latifi’s Folly’ in honour of the amiable Canadian dropping his Williams in 2021 to set up that year’s last-lap title showdown. “There are 10 rookies in this session, so a prudent approach is evident in the…

AUSTRALIAN SUPERCARS ADELAIDE (AUS) 25-26 NOVEMBER ROUND 12/12 Brodie Kostecki and Erebus Motorsport secured the 2023 Supercars Championship at the Ford-dominated Adelaide 500. Mustangs took both 250km races around the Parklands circuit, with Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters leading a Blue Oval 1-2-3-4 on Saturday and rookie Matt Payne scoring a crushing maiden win on Sunday. After a pair of impressive pole positions, Kostecki’s battle with Shane van Gisbergen for the title ended within 30 seconds of the start of Saturday’s race. In his final weekend as a Supercars driver, van Gisbergen was caught up in a clash involving Erebus’s Will Brown (ironically, the man who will replace him at Triple Eight for next season). Both Chevrolet Camaros were out on the spot and the title fight was effectively over. Under…

TAYLOR BARNARD AGE 19 2023 10th in FIA Formula 3 with Jenzer Motorsport “It’s an experience that I’ll never have again and I had to make the most of it. Everyone was friendly and helpful but it was very high pressure as well. “I’m happy with what I’ve done. We did a pursuit run and in that I got a puncture and had to get the car back to the pits. I got back out there and finished the run really strong. To have that hiccup and come back I think I did a good job. “When you look at the names of the people who have won the Award, to add my name to that list would mean so much to me. It’s hard to take my mind off…

CTCRC The Classic Touring Car Racing Club’s Pre-’66 Touring Car category will make a guest appearance on the British Touring Car Championship’s support package at Croft next summer. The event, on 27-28 July, will feature three non-championship races for the Pre-’66 field, taking the place of British Formula 4, which has instead added an overseas round at Zandvoort to its schedule (see right). Guest categories have been a regular element of the BTCC support bill since Ginetta switched its series to the British GT package ahead of the 2023 season. But this will represent the first time that historic tin-tops from a variety of marques have featured since the Historic Sports Car Club’s Super Touring Challenge made single appearances in 2014 and 2015. Prior to that, the Scottish Classic Sports…

BRITISH F4 Mercedes Formula 1 junior Yuanpu Cui and Ginetta Junior race winner Reza Seewooruthun are the latest drivers to be announced as part of the British Formula 4 grid for next year. Chinese racer Cui, 15, has impressed in karting, joining Mercedes’ programme this year, and his move into single-seaters will be made with Argenti Motorsport. “We are very happy to welcome Yuanpu to the team,” said Argenti boss Michael Meadows. “He has been working hard in testing, and we are excited to see his development and where this will take him.” Seewooruthun, meanwhile, finished third in this year’s Ginetta Junior standings after taking four wins. He will take his first single-seater steps with Hitech GP in the UAE F4 series before the British championship begins. “Working with a…

HISTORICS A new showpiece event at the Enna-Pergusa circuit in Sicily will put the Mediterranean island firmly on the historic racing map as members from long-established UK-based clubs look set to make the trip. Sponsored by the municipality of Enna and the Sicilian tourist board, Settimana Motoristica Ennese, the event running from 15-17 May, is billed as a sporting and cultural festival a week after the Monaco GP Historique, with fast ferry links to the home of the Targa Florio from Genoa and Livorno ideal for those attending both. Celebrating the best of hospitality and history, racing on the fabled Autodromo di Pergusa – which has hosted motorsport around the nearby lake since 1950 – will include the Gran Premio del Mediterraneo F1 events (Historic Grand Prix Cars Association), GP…

There is a lot of truth to Hillspeed team boss Richard Ollerenshaw’s assessment that the GB3 Championship has returned to the halcyon days of British Formula 3, as mentioned in our story about next season’s calendar (see News). The UK single-seater category’s 2024 schedule includes three international race meetings as the Hungaroring in Hungary joins Spa in Belgium and Zandvoort in the Netherlands as foreign destinations. Add in two visits to the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit here in the UK and five of the eight race meetings next term will be held at current Formula 1 venues – a vital aspect for any junior single-seater championship. The past four champions in the category – Luke Browning, Zak O’Sullivan, Kaylen Frederick and Clement Novalak – have all progressed up the single-seater…

“Reverse?!? Sh*t! First? First!” In complete darkness and somewhere along a B-road on the outskirts of Basingstoke, it’s been a shaky start to this writer’s first exploits on a 12 Car Rally: only minutes into the event a three-point turn is being attempted after missing the required junction. Not helping is the maddening gearbox layout of the borrowed 2011 Mini Cooper I’m at the wheel of, which has reverse and first gear next to each other and means selecting the wrong gear becomes an unwelcome and frequent theme throughout the evening. More important, and certainly on a more positive note, is that I’m competing in the event in a standard road-going vehicle, which is at the heart of governing body Motorsport UK’s StreetCar initiative. The concept was launched in the…

VIDEO GAME GRAN TURISMO SPEC II UPDATE Gran Turismo 7’s update 1.40 has been christened ‘Spec II’ and it includes several requested features alongside fresh content. In what seems like a significant update, Spec II of Gran Turismo 7 will include Sony-AI powered rival cars, a new track, seven additional cars, a new game intro and, surprise, a refreshed single-player structure. Top of the list of changes is the reintroduction of GT Sophy, which reappeared in November’s Gran Turismo 7 update – only this time it’s more adept. The AI learns your driving style and, in theory, is much smarter than previous single-player rivals seen in GT7 or prior GT titles. It has the possibility to not only be quick, but also learn your driving style and defend and attack…

WEC Mick Schumacher and Robert Kubica are among the big-name signings for the World Endurance Championship as the grid for next season continues to come together. They will be part of a 19-car Hypercar field in 2024, which was confirmed when the provisional entry list was unveiled on Monday. Schumacher and Kubica will race respectively for Alpine and an AF Corse satellite operation running a customer Ferrari. The German was announced by the Renault brand when it took the wraps off its full line-up – but not the driver combinations – last week, while the Pole was revealed as an AF signing. His programme was then confirmed on the publication of the entry list when his name was listed against the additional Ferrari. Schumacher has signed up to combine his…

FORMULA 1 Formula 1 drivers were banned from overtaking in the pit exit at last weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after Max Verstappen caused consternation during FP2 on Friday, when the three-time champion muscled his Red Bull past rivals in the narrow tunnel under the Yas Marina circuit. Most notably, Verstappen barged his way ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and then found his path briefly blocked by Lewis Hamilton and came close to brushing the wall. Having accelerated past the lead Mercedes, he was then held up by Pierre Gasly’s Alpine. Verstappen blamed the others: “They have to move. They are all driving slow. I want to go out because we are limited on time. They just keep on driving in the middle. When I tried to pass,…

WEC Seven-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi will switch to the World Endurance Championship in the new LMGT3 class for his third season in cars. The Italian is moving over from the GT World Challenge Europe to race one of two WRT-run BMW M4 GT3s confirmed when the 2024 entry list was published this week. Rossi was listed against one of the cars and confirmed by BMW, for which he became a factory driver this year, at the same time. He has made no secret of his desire to race at the Le Mans 24 Hours, the centrepiece round of the WEC, and took part in the Road to Le Mans event on this year’s support bill to gain experience. He described the move as “the next step for me” and…

GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE The Spa 24 Hours-winning Walkenhorst Motorsport squad is swapping from BMW to Aston Martin for a factory-backed campaign incorporating the GT World Challenge Europe and the Nurburgring 24 Hours. It will run one Vantage GT3, the latest-evolution version for 2024, in the Pro class with a roster of factory drivers. It is a significant move, not just because the German team is moving away from the manufacturer with which it won the blue-riband Spa round of the GTWCE in 2018 (pictured), but also because it means that Aston will have a full-season presence in the Pro class of the GTWCE for the first time since 2019. Walkenhorst returns to the Pro class of the GTWCE after a two-season absence: it was BMW’s factory team in the…

Formula 1 has now had 10 successive season finales in Abu Dhabi. But so few of these races have been thrillers. And when they have been exciting, this has come via tense affairs, such as Nico Rosberg hanging on as Lewis Hamilton backed him into threatening traffic in 2016, or 2021’s jaw-dropping off-track drama. So, a week on from Max Verstappen’s wild Las Vegas win, his latest Abu Dhabi triumph at the conclusion of the season – and the devastatingly dominant circumstances in which he secured the year’s final victory – raises quite the question. With Sin City’s race sitting pretty in the rear-view mirror, is it time to seriously entertain what some were already saying: how about Vegas as the climax instead? F1 has its financial affairs to consider…

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton rolled back the years with an on-track disagreement that led to Hamilton accusing the Spaniard of brake-testing him ahead of Turn 5. This came after Alonso’s lap 36 pitstop where his Aston Martin moved to the right upon rejoining the track, which caught Hamilton by surprise and almost led to contact between the two. The Mercedes subsequently overtook with DRS, but Alonso reclaimed the position and finished seventh, two positions ahead of his former team-mate. Alonso contended that he was attempting to get Hamilton to pass before the corner, so that he could benefit from DRS instead on the run to Turn 6, citing a move from over a decade ago as an example. “Lewis is obviously very clever and understands the sport really good…

Alpine driver Pierre Gasly was left frustrated by a clash with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton that he claimed “destroyed the diffuser” on his A523, and was then unhappy with his team’s pitstop strategy. This helped team-mate Esteban Ocon get ahead during the opening third of the race. On lap 15, Gasly briefly locked up approaching Turn 6, and was hit from behind by the chasing Hamilton. The stewards decided that the incident didn’t warrant a penalty because Gasly ended up “on a slightly different line at a slightly lower speed, which was obviously unexpected by [Hamilton]”. After this, Alpine pitted Ocon at the end of lap 15 to switch his medium tyres for hard Pirellis. Hamilton, running just ahead, did likewise. When Gasly stopped two tours later, he rejoined behind the…

MOTOGP VALENCIA (ESP) 26 NOVEMBER ROUND 20/20 Just six times has the championship gone down to the wire in the modern era of MotoGP; Francesco Bagnaia has been involved in two of them, and ended up triumphant in both. His success over Fabio Quartararo in 2022 was a nervous-but-assured affair, and a 23-point gap with only one race to consider stacked the odds in the Ducati rider’s favour. While he led arriving at the 2023 Valencia Grand Prix finale, that was nothing to take for granted. Rival Jorge Martin, 21 points adrift, was on an identical Ducati package – albeit in Pramac colours – and had arguably been the fastest of the two since September’s San Marino GP. On Saturday, Bagnaia had to fight through Q1 but recovered to qualify…

LIGIER JSP320 (LMP3) Run by United Autosports Engine Naturally aspirated 5.6-litre V8 Power 455bhp Tyres Pirelli 2023 benchmark driver Wayne Boyd WILLIAMS JPH1B (F2) Run by MotorSport Vision Engine 1.8-litre turbo R4 Power 425bhp Tyres Pirelli 2023 benchmark driver N/A ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE (GT3) Run by Beechdean AMR Motorsport Engine Four-litre turbo V8 Power Over 500bhp Tyres Pirelli 2023 benchmark driver Jonny Adam Ex-Formula 1 driver and 1992 world sportscar champion Derek Warwick is the chairman of the judging panel. This year’s panel also included Award winners Dario Franchitti, Darren Turner, Andrew Kirkaldy and Alexander Sims, successful Lola and McLaren designer Mark Williams, Le Mans-winning engineer Leena Gade, leading commentator Ian Titchmarsh, and Autosport Chief Editor Kevin Turner. The guest judge was three-time grand prix winner and 1991 Le Mans victor…

GOODWOOD The entirety of the Goodwood Revival is set to run using sustainable fuels for the first time next year. The popular annual event, which will take place on 6-8 September at the Goodwood Motor Circuit, will require all competitors to use a fuel that has a minimum of 70% advanced sustainable components, in accordance with the FIA’s current requirements for sustainable fuel. Despite the changes to the fuel, no modifications to the cars will be required and on-track performance is expected to remain unchanged. The Duke of Richmond, founder of the Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival, said: “Goodwood has an illustrious motorsport history and one which we are delighted to continue with the announcement that at next year’s Revival, all of our races will run on sustainable fuel.…

GB3 The GB3 Championship has included a visit to the Hungaroring for the first time on its 2024 calendar. The eight-round schedule will begin at Oulton Park on 30 March-1 April, before the first of two trips to Silverstone’s Grand Prix layout (27-28 April and 27-28 July). It will then embark on a trio of overseas events, beginning with Spa in Belgium (1-2 June), the Hungarian round, where it will be on the support bill of International GT Open (22-23 June), and Zandvoort in the Netherlands (13-14 July). The final two rounds will take place at Donington Park (7-8 September) and Brands Hatch (28-29 September), both in support of British GT, as are the first two events. “It’s an exciting new chapter for the championship,” said CDR team boss Chris…

EQUIPE Equipe Classic Racing is set to run a special race celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Lotus Elan 26R at its Silverstone Grand Prix circuit meeting next June. While the first Elans rolled off the production line in 1962, the 26R version that came along two years later was created specifically for motorsport. Equipe, which has run celebration contests for the MGB, plans to commemorate the 26R with a packed grid at Silverstone for an hour-long race for cars shared by two or driven solo. A number of special cars are due to take part, including all three original Shapecraft models. “We will be trying to get a world record of 26Rs in one place at one time – that will be the MGB 50 and 60 races we’ve…

PORSCHE Lurani Trophy Historic Formula Junior champion Horatio Fitz-Simon is to make the switch to modern racing next season. The British-born 23-year-old recently drove a Porsche Carrera Cup car and a Duqueine D08 LMP3 sports-prototype (right) at Silverstone and Barcelona’s Catalunya circuit respectively. “The Porsche Carrera Cup is really where my focus is,” said Fitz-Simon. “I’m very deep into it with personal sponsors and have been offered a seat with a new team with great ambitions for the future. My run at Silverstone was in extremely wet conditions, but I found the GT3 car surprisingly easy to drive in the rain. It had loads of grip and did not feel heavy. I can’t wait to try it in the dry.” Fitz-Simon also received a call-up to take part in Muhlner…

ROGER ALBERT CLARK RALLY 23-27 NOVEMBER The big stars came and tried but it was event experts Martin McCormack and Barney Mitchell who finally triumphed on this year’s Roger Albert Clark Rally. This was the longest and toughest version to date in the rally’s 20-year history, with 350 competitive miles in the forests of Wales, Scotland and England, and a record entry of 160 cars. In the field were international stars Oliver Solberg, Kris Meeke, Chris Ingram and Osian Pryce, and it was Solberg who built a big lead over the first days until a driveshaft failed. Instead, McCormack swept ahead for his fourth win in the same Ford Escort Mk2 as record crowds packed the forest stages. McCormack said: “To do this for the fourth time is unbelievable. We’re…

Its status as a GT-only round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship means that Virginia International Raceway doesn’t get the same attention as some of the calendar’s traditional heavy hitters. But to drivers who have sampled its 3.270 miles of narrow winding asphalt, VIR is a highly respected track that rewards commitment and accuracy. Although he has never won there, factory Ferrari GT driver Toni Vilander holds VIR in the highest of esteem as it demands “a lot of dedication” to nail the lap. Calling it “a great place to test, great place to race as well”, the Finn says the circuit “takes your breath away” because the margin of error is so small: “You have a very narrow racing line and all these long, long areas of green grass, so…

FORMULA 1 McLaren has renewed its vows with Mercedes to keep running the manufacturer’s Formula 1 power units until the end of 2030. Woking hierarchy had tentatively considered other options, with McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown notably inspecting the nascent Red Bull Powertrains project earlier this year, reasoning that world championships can still be won while working with a customer engine. By sticking with Mercedes powerplants, McLaren will maintain a relationship with the Three-Pointed Star that was rekindled in 2021 after an ill-fated Honda works programme and a brief dalliance with Renault. The fresh paperwork replaces a deal that was due to expire in 2025 and will span the entirety of the 2026-30 engine cycle, which ditches the expensive and complex Motor Generator Unit–Heat. Team principal Andrea Stella explained: “Above…

FORMULA 2 We’re used to the Formula 2 line-up in the Abu Dhabi post-season test being pretty indicative of how the grid will shape up for the following year. And this time around, rather than waiting weeks to announce what everyone already knows, some teams have come clean: a third of the grid for 2024 took shape early this week before mileage was clocked up at Yas Marina. Recently crowned FIA F3 champion and new McLaren protege Gabriel Bortoleto is heading to Norfolk to join Virtuosi Racing alongside Kush Maini, who transfers from Campos Racing after an impressive rookie season – so much so that the Indian has picked up an Alpine junior role and the patronage of Mika Hakkinen. “Gabriel has visited us at our base and kept in…

WEC Long-time Audi factory driver Kelvin van der Linde will race for the Auto Sport Promotion Lexus squad in the World Endurance Championship’s new LMGT3 class next year. The South African (left), a two-time winner of the Nurburgring 24 Hours, has taken the seat originally earmarked for Toyota Hypercar reserve Ritomo Miyata before it was decided that the Japanese will race in Formula 2 (see p7) alongside an LMP2 programme in the European Le Mans Series with Cool Racing. His announcement followed a successful try-out in ASP’s first Lexus RC F GT3 at Barcelona last week. Gregoire Saucy, 2021 Formula Regional European champion driving for ART Grand Prix, will switch to sportscar racing with the United Autosports McLaren WEC squad. The Swiss, who raced in Formula 3 with ART in…

After 22 races, the usual end-of-term air ran all around at last weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. But for many people who had crossed the globe on the 8200-mile journey (as the crow flies, at least) from Las Vegas, exhaustion reigned supreme. Which brand or form of melatonin might help best with time zone realignment? Did you hear Christian Horner quip “I sincerely hope that subscriptions to Lemsip are not within the budget cap”? What had kicked off the illness making its way so determinedly through the Mercedes camp? Team boss Toto Wolff decried that he had been “the last of the Mohicans here standing” before being struck with a debilitating cough. George Russell certainly had an uncomfortable race around the Yas Marina track as a result. Having been “really…

Well, that was more like the Pirelli-era Formula 1 qualifying. After the chilly conditions and smooth track surface in Las Vegas eight days earlier meant the pack pushing on for multiple runs, trying to coax their rubber into life, at the Yas Marina circuit they were desperately working to keep it alive. Out-lap, flier, back to the pits – pray your red-walled softs had enough still about them to get through the Turns 15-16 double-right at the end of the lap without being spat wide of track limits just before the finish line. That was the challenge. And, funnily enough, armed with the tyre-massaging Red Bull RB19, Max Verstappen aced it. He ends his most dominant season to date with 12 poles, thanks to his efforts against the clock in…

Yuki Tsunoda handed retiring AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost a near-perfect send-off with a superb eighth place, but it was not enough to help the Italian squad overhaul Williams in the constructors’ championship at the chequered flag. AlphaTauri had started the weekend seven points short of Williams in their battle for seventh place in the overall standings, needing at least a sixth-place finish to claim a few million dollars extra in prize money. Tsunoda had helped the team’s cause by qualifying a career-best sixth, and remained there in the opening laps. He maintained a strong level of pace despite having to extend his medium-tyre stint to make a one-stop strategy possible, and moved up the order when the two-stoppers made their first stops. This gave him the lead for five…

The closing stages of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix featured an unusual stewards’ investigation – all the teams were suspected of having pitcrew members working on cars while wearing insufficient eye protection during tyre changes. This started with specific investigations into the second round of pitstops involving Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly, but by the end of the race Max Verstappen, Williams drivers Logan Sargeant and Alex Albon, and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu had also been cited. After the race, the stewards summoned all team managers to discuss the situation, which is understood to have been spotted by pitlane marshals and officials. It centred on Article 34.13 of F1’s sporting regulations, which specifies what headgear pitcrew mechanics must wear and states “the use of appropriate eye protection is compulsory”. While…

FORMULA 2 YAS MARINA (ARE) 25-26 NOVEMBER ROUND 13/13 Theo Pourchaire clinched the Formula 2 title with an understated weekend at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, finishing seventh in Saturday’s sprint race and recovering to fifth in Sunday’s feature instalment. The ART Grand Prix-run Frenchman entered the season-ending weekend with a 25-point advantage over rival Frederik Vesti of Prema Racing, but saw his event get significantly more difficult when he qualified down in 14th for both races. With Mercedes junior Vesti qualifying ninth – and therefore second for the top-10 reversed-grid sprint race – this pain was further increased. Saturday was all about Vesti, with the Dane making an aggressive move for the lead at Turn 5 on the opening lap before being slipstreamed by polesitter Enzo Fittipaldi (Rodin Carlin),…

Motorbase Performance is no more. But, then again, it hadn’t really been pure Motorbase anyway. Since 2021, the team had been operating in the British Touring Car Championship with a significant contingent from the old AmD squad; since 2022, with the addition of the nucleus behind Ash Sutton’s three titles at BMR. ‘Time for a new name’, thought owner Pete Osborne as he neared the end of his third year at the helm of the company. “We decided to sit down, looked at lots of different things, looked at everybody’s names and initials to try and put them together,” smiles Osborne. “And then we said, ‘Hold on, we’re an alliance of people, we’re together, and it works for us’. Hence why Oly came up with this great idea of Alliance…

Aston Martin trainee performance engineer and GB4 race winner Megan Gilkes offered a unique perspective during Luke Browning’s test. The former F1 Academy driver is working towards an aeronautical engineering degree at Imperial College London, and will return to the team full-time once she graduates next June. For now, Gilkes is working with the team’s testing programme part-time, as part of which she also engineered on fellow W Series alumna Jessica Hawkins’s Hungaroring F1 outing. “I LOOK AT THE DATA WITH THE ENGINEERING MIND AND A BIT OF THE DRIVER’S MIND” “It’s been a fantastic day,” she says after Browning’s runs. “Luke performed really well, he looked after the car, really got down in the lap times as well, so he did a fantastic job. It was great to see…

CASTLE COMBE Castle Combe’s Autumn Classic was named Competitive Event of the Year at the Royal Automobile Club’s 2023 Historic Awards dinner last week. Brainchild of the Wiltshire circuit’s late marketing director Rodney Gooch, the Autumn Classic has been run annually since 2012. This season’s offering was adjudged exceptional by the dedicated panel, chaired by veteran commentator Ian Titchmarsh. Super Touring Power at Brands Hatch and the Vintage Hot Rod Association’s Pendine Sands races were shortlisted for the award, previously won by Chateau Impney Hillclimb, the Historic Sports Car Club’s Legends of Brands Hatch Superprix, the Vintage Sports-Car Club’s Light Car Race and Rally the Globe Generations Rally. “On behalf of the circuit and the Autumn Classic team, we are honoured to win the RAC Competitive Event award,” said Castle…

BRITISH F4 British Formula 4 is set to make its first-ever trip overseas next season now that a round at Zandvoort has been added to its 2024 calendar. While the bulk of the category’s schedule remains in support of British Touring Cars, British F4 will now have two rounds away from the TOCA package. It will again visit the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit alongside the British Endurance Championship in June, in place of BTCC’s Oulton Park outing, while F4 will also be absent at Croft to make way for the July Zandvoort event, where it will join GB3 in the Netherlands. “I am very proud that we continue to innovate with British F4,” said Hugh Chambers, CEO of British F4 promoter Motorsport UK. “The addition to the calendar of the…

PORSCHE TCR UK race winner Darelle Wilson will switch to the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB next year as part of a two-car team alongside George Jaxon at JWB Motorsport. Wilson has been a mainstay of TCR UK since its inaugural season in 2018, twice placing third in the standings. But, with his Vauxhall Astra less competitive against second-generation cars, the 34-year-old is returning to rear-wheel-drive machinery for the first time since his Britcar campaigns with former British Touring Car driver Ian Heward’s Porschesport entry. “It’s time for me to step up now,” said Wilson, who plans to continue running two cars in TCR UK for customers. “I’ve been racing for 17 years and I’ve always been doing it all myself. It’s time to make some noise and prove myself.”…

ROGER ALBERT CLARK RALLY 1 Martin McCormack/Barney Mitchell (Ford Escort Mk2) 5h48m26s; 2 Cathan McCourt/Liam Moynihan (Escort Mk2) +5m30s; 3 Jason Pritchard/Phil Clarke (Escort Mk2, below); 4 Dyfrig James/Emyr Jones (Escort Mk2); 5 Mike Stuart/Sinclair Young (Escort Mk1); 6 Vivian Hamill/Andrew Grennan (Escort Mk2). Class winners Pete Stimson/Mark Butler (Ford Anglia); Martin Linden/Rickard Forsell (Volvo PV544); Steve Graham/Tony Graham (Lancia Fulvia); Alex Waterman/Chris Davies (Datsun 1600SSS); Ben Smith/Steven Smith (Escort Mk1); Robert Woodside/Dean Beckett (Porsche 911); Stuart/Young; David Hopkins/Richard Wise (Talbot Sunbeam); Adrian Young/Gwynfor Jones (Escort Mk2); Ben Jemison/Dean Kellett (Vauxhall Chevette HSR); Mark Constantine/Andrew Constantine (Vauxhall Nova Sport); Ian Tunney/Chris Sanderson (Mitsubishi Starion); Aaron McLure/Simon Taylor (Peugeot 205 GTI); Pritchard/Clarke; Frederico Polese/Nicola Arena (Porsche 911SC); Aaron Rix/Abi Haycock (Escort Mk2); Neil Weaver/Jack Morton (Opel Corsa S1600); Dave Hemingway/Simon Ashton…