Innholdsfortegnelse for 05/09/24 i Autosport

Even for non-Ferrari fans, a victory for the legendary team in the Italian Grand Prix is special. While we’ll have to see whether the SF-24’s latest upgrades have truly put it back in the frontrunning frame on more conventional circuits, the Monza event raised a few questions about McLaren, now that it arguably has Formula 1’s fastest car. On the cover, we’ve asked if McLaren got it wrong at Monza. We think the team did, but not chiefly because of the decision to go for a two-stop strategy instead of the one-stopper that Leclerc used so brilliantly to win. As Alex Kalinauckas investigates on page 11, allowing Oscar Piastri to attack Lando Norris on the opening lap not only risked contact, but allowed Leclerc into second and made it much…

McLaren’s one-make series is set for an upgrade in 2025 with the launch of the Artura Trophy EVO. It features increased power from its three-litre, twin-turbo V6 engine, which a new push-to-pass facility boosts from 585bhp to 620bhp. Existing Artura GT4 and Trophy cars can be upgraded into the new EVO spec. The series has also introduced a new Pro category for silver-rated drivers, with those under 26 years old enrolled into an Academy programme with the opportunity to potentially join the marque’s roster of factory drivers. For its third season, the category is adding a parallel series in North America for the first time. SAFETY CAR SHUNTS The first crash of the Italian Grand Prix event last weekend came courtesy of the safety car. Bernd Maylander was conducting his…

International rallying returned to Britain for the first time since 2019 last weekend as Rali Ceredigion made a successful European Rally Championship debut. The event certainly filled British rally fans with hope, and just maybe this can be a catalyst for a Rally GB revival. Last weekend was yet another impressive step for a Welsh asphalt rally that has managed to put Britain back on the international sphere in only its fourth running. It’s been achieved thanks to the tireless efforts of a team led by event director Charlie Jukes, who has managed to unite a community and secure funding from local councils and businesses to bring an idea to reality, through an army of 1250 volunteers. The organisers deserve huge credit for achieving this, and even more recognition after…

“It just didn’t feel like a nailed lap,” was Lando Norris’s explanation for why he’d initially described the effort that netted pole for the Italian Grand Prix as a “s*** lap” from aboard his McLaren. He’d led after the first Q3 runs with a 1m19.401s – heading team-mate Oscar Piastri, with their frontrunning rivals also arranged two-by-two behind. Practice pacesetter Mercedes was closest, then Ferrari, and Red Bull bafflingly at the back. Norris’s advantage sat at 0.035 seconds, with the whole group covered by 0.671s. The much-discussed Monza track changes were key – the new surface gripped up as ever more rubber went down and car balance had to change around this significant evolution, with the required adjustments to aerodynamic balance. And, with the top four teams much closer than…

George Russell reckoned that he was “half a centimetre” from an airborne crash with Sergio Perez, and took a dim view of the Red Bull driver’s defence into the Rettifilo chicane on the 38th lap. In his recovery from a miserable first lap, where he was forced to take to the first-corner run-off and later suffered damage to his front wing, Russell caught Perez after both drivers had completed their respective pitstops and attempted to make a move into the opening chicane. To defend, Perez moved to block in response to Russell’s passing attempt, forcing the Mercedes to dip a wheel onto the grass. It looked as though Russell was set to back out, but Perez went to the racing line for the chicane and this gave the Briton space…

INDYCAR MILWAUKEE (USA) 31 AUGUST-1 SEPTEMBER ROUND 14/15 The long-awaited return to The Milwaukee Mile provided more twists and turns in the IndyCar title race than a kite flying in a hurricane. North America’s premier open-wheel championship hadn’t competed at the historic oval since 2015, and roared in with a double-header weekend for the ages, with Pato O’Ward capturing a rousing victory for Arrow McLaren in the opening race last Saturday night. Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske then fended off a furious late charge by six-time series champion Scott Dixon to claim the second act on Sunday afternoon. O’Ward led 133 of the 250 laps in race one to finish 1.8 seconds clear of title contender Will Power’s Penske machine. Conor Daly, in just his fifth start of 2024, boosted…

INDY NXT MILWAUKEE (USA) 31 AUGUST ROUND 11/12 Louis Foster stamped his authority on the 2024 Indy NXT campaign by clinching the title with a powerful flag-to-flag victory from pole at The Milwaukee Mile. The 21-year-old Briton remained solidly in control of the race for all 90 laps, gapping the field any moment pressure started to arise while managing his Andretti Global car’s tyres. In the end, he was untouchable en route to beating his only remaining championship threat, Jacob Abel, by 4.3602 seconds for his seventh victory of the season. “It’s amazing,” said Foster, whose title comes with one round to spare. “I’ve got to thank the team; they’ve been behind me the last two years. It’s just been a crazy two years and I’m super-happy to come out…

MOTOGP MOTORLAND ARAGON (ESP) 1 SEPTEMBER ROUND 12/20 Marc Marquez scooped the headlines for his 60th career victory in the premier class, but the 31-year-old Catalan’s first success on Ducati machinery, after a decade as a Honda racer and more than two years in his own injury and competitive wilderness, was rivalled by the controversial clash between his brother Alex and world champion Francesco Bagnaia while disputing the final podium berth five laps from the flag. The crash dumped both Ducati riders into the Spanish gravel, ended Bagnaia eight-race podium streak (including six victories), and elevated runner-up Jorge Martin into the championship lead by 23 points. Elsewhere, 20-year-old rookie Pedro Acosta – Marquez’s heir-apparent as the next genius of his generation – uncorked prosecco for the third time in 2024…

2014 Stirling Moss Trophy (Members’ Meeting) Wolfgang Friedrichs/Simon Hadfield (Aston Martin DB4 GT) 2016 Kinrara Trophy (Revival) Joe Macari/Tom Kristensen (Ferrari 250 GT ‘SWB/C’) 2017 Kinrara Trophy (Revival) Jon Minshaw/Phil Keen (Jaguar E-type) 2018 Stirling Moss Trophy (Members’ Meeting) Jon Minshaw/Phil Keen (Jaguar E-type) 2018 Kinrara Trophy (Revival) Niklas Halusa/Emanuele Pirro (Ferrari 250 GT ‘Breadvan’) 2019 Kinrara Trophy (Revival) Gary Pearson/Andrew Smith (Ferrari 250 GTO, above) 2020 Stirling Moss Trophy (Speedweek) Harvey Stanley/James Cottingham (Jaguar E-type) 2021 Stirling Moss Trophy (Revival) Harvey Stanley/James Cottingham (Jaguar E-type) 2021 Stirling Moss Trophy (Members’ Meeting) Nigel Greensall (Jaguar E-type) 2022 Stirling Moss Trophy (Revival) Mike Whitaker/Andrew Jordan (AC Cobra Dragonsnake) 2023 Stirling Moss Trophy (Members’ Meeting) James Cottingham (AC Cobra)…

MOTORSPORT UK Proposals from Motorsport UK’s race committee to place restrictions on series’ calendars and names have been dropped in their entirety following a backlash from organising clubs and drivers. The governing body launched a consultation last month into plans that would limit a series to running a maximum of six events per year, ban any overseas rounds and also prevent words like ‘cup’ and ‘trophy’ from appearing in their names. The clampdown was intended to create a greater distinction between points-scoring championships and series, particularly in the wake of some series organisers producing points tables or effectively crowning a winner at the end of a season. But these proposals sparked an angry response from clubs that operate series. They believe the rule changes placed unfair and unnecessary restrictions on…

The 2004 DBA 03S Zytek returned to the track at Paul Ricard last week having been acquired by Le Mans Classic and Peter Auto veteran Xavier Micheron. The car, which has been restored by Aaron Scott and his team at Scott Sport, was driven in period by Nicolas Minassian, Jamie Campbell-Walter and Andy Wallace in the 2005 Le Mans 24 Hours, placing 14th overall and seventh in class. MG TITLE FOR COLE AT LAST Long-time MG Trophy competitor James Cole did enough to secure his first title at the end of last month at Brands Hatch. The 33-year-old, whose MG ZR 170 is run by father Doug’s DC Motorsport squad, has dominated Class B this year, scoring maximum points in nine of 12 races. With only Snetterton’s doubleheader later this…

PEMBREY An ex-Ayrton Senna McLaren Formula 1 car is among the star attractions for this month’s inaugural Welsh Motorsport and Supercar Festival at Pembrey. The 22 September event falls 31 years to the day since the three-time F1 champion set the fastest lap around the Welsh venue at the wheel of a Lamborghini-powered MP4/8B, and organisers were therefore keen to celebrate the Brazilian at the festival. An example of the MP4/4B from 1988 – used to prepare for the following year’s regulation changes – will be in attendance, a car that Senna also tested at Pembrey. “In the spring of 1989, this particular car, the MP4/4B-2, made the journey to Carmarthenshire, in the company of a then current 1989 MP4/5 race car,” said Neil Oatley, director of design and development…

How an organisation responds to criticism is always a true test of its leadership. And Motorsport UK has passed that assessment in recent days, following the uproar sparked by its consultation into plans to overhaul series regulations and place severe restrictions on their calendars and names (see Autosport, 22 August). Yes, the furore was completely unnecessary and avoidable, but the governing body equally deserves credit for the way it has reacted. Aware that the proposals had generated a wave of fury, a meeting of the race committee was scheduled for as soon as the consultation concluded to immediately review the plans. Inevitably, the suggested changes were scrapped (see News, p67) and this was quickly communicated to the club racing world, so everyone knew where they stood. “We’ve got to praise…

Contesting your first full British Touring Car Championship season with a factory-backed team when that manufacturer has recently returned to the series after a decade away can be quite a daunting scenario. It’s one in which Sam Tordoff found himself back in 2013 when he joined the Triple Eight-run MG squad. But, fortunately for Tordoff – who was at least familiar with the team after contesting the 2010 BTCC finale as a one-off outing – there was someone with mountains of experience to call upon in the sister MG6 GT. Jason Plato may be a Marmite character and considered the BTCC’s pantomime villain in some quarters, but Tordoff believes he was the perfect driver to have alongside for his full-time bow. “That was an eye-opener!” recalls Tordoff. “I learned a…

FORMULA 1 Mercedes finally confirmed at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix that its 18-year-old protege Andrea Kimi Antonelli will replace Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton in its Formula 1 line-up for 2025. Antonelli had long been Mercedes’ preferred in-house pick to succeed the Briton, but team boss Toto Wolff kept a sliver of hope that he would be able to prise world champion Max Verstappen away from Red Bull. In talks between Wolff and the Verstappen camp over the summer, it was agreed that door has closed for now, meaning that there was no longer any obstacle to Mercedes announcing Antonelli as George Russell’s new team-mate. “I made up my mind five minutes after Lewis Hamilton told me that he’s going to Ferrari,” Wolff said about his decision to promote Antonelli. “Obviously,…

WEC The push to prevent teams in the World Endurance Championships from running two-driver line-ups in Hypercar appears to have been rebuffed. The proposal put forward by the WRT BMW squad has not met with favour from the other participants. Even WRT boss Vincent Vosse, who led the calls for a rule change following Cadillac’s decision to run only two drivers in the six-hour races this year, has conceded that the status quo is likely to be maintained into 2025. “I would be surprised if there is a change,” he said. “It seems that most of the manufacturers are against imposing a new rule.” The complexities of mandating three-driver line-ups and the raft of rule changes it would entail explains why the majority appear to be against a shift. At…

FORMULA 3 Formula 3’s new machine for 2025 was unveiled at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, replacing the Dallara F3 2019 that has served the category for six seasons. The F3 2025 is powered by the same 380bhp, 3.4-litre Mecachrome V6 engine as its predecessor, and will form the basis of the series until at least the end of 2027. The car, which has covered 2000km of testing since its shakedown in the hands of Tatiana Calderon at Varano, is said to have been designed to “boost overtaking capabilities”. “Just like the current F2 car, together with the FIA, we have designed a machine that is challenging, safe, and the perfect tool to prepare young drivers who aspire to race in F1 in the future,” said series boss Bruno Michel.…

NASCAR Chase Briscoe became the last driver to punch his ticket to the NASCAR Cup playoffs via a surprise victory in a thrilling showdown last Sunday at Darlington. He held back a charging Kyle Busch to give Stewart-Haas Racing one last shot at a Cup championship before the team closes down at the conclusion of the 2024 season. The race was thrown into chaos with fewer than 30 laps to go when Ross Chastain boldly chose to stay out on old tyres in an effort to save his season. Briscoe made a daring three-wide move for the lead (pictured), passing Chastain and, more importantly, Kyle Larson who had dominated the race up until that point. The fight to make the playoffs was between Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace for most…

For the first time since he lost his AlphaTauri Formula 1 drive halfway through 2023, Nyck de Vries was back at the wheel of a conventionally powered single-seater last month when he made his Super Formula debut at Motegi with Toyota squad Team Impul. And while the results may have been nothing special on paper – 18th in qualifying, 13th in the race – it’s clear that de Vries impressed many people in the paddock with his approach and demeanour, while the Dutchman was in turn full of praise for the Japanese series. De Vries became the fourth different driver of the year to fill the seat, first vacated by Theo Pourchaire after just one race. Following Ben Barnicoat’s cameo at Autopolis, Toyota junior Hibiki Taira acquitted himself well in…

The €21million upgrade to the Monza circuit was a key talking point ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, particularly what the organisers had called “the demolition and reconstruction of the kerbs” at several famous corners. So, for FP1, Autosport heads to the Ascari chicane to see how the drivers are treating the three-part sequence now its kerbs have been lowered and flattened. It’s been a particular bone of contention for the drivers during the Thursday media day, with RB’s Daniel Ricciardo saying “it’s very flat now”, while Mercedes racer George Russell reckons “it’s going to offer the opportunity for drivers to cut the corner”. After heading out of the top of the paddock and observing the Renault engine staff protesting at Alpine’s idea of becoming a Mercedes engine customer –…

Aston Martin walked away from Monza without any added points on the board, despite Fernando Alonso’s claims that the race was “much better than expected”. The Spaniard spent the opening period of the race in the points, but the British squad’s struggles with tyre degradation effectively locked it into a two-stop strategy. This put Alonso behind the one-stopping duo of Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen, and he missed out on overcoming the Dane’s 10-second penalty by just over 0.1 seconds to register a scoreless afternoon. “It is very painful to lose the points because I think we deserve it in a way with a well-executed race,” Alonso mused. Lance Stroll attempted a late pitstop for soft tyres in a bid to nullify the fastest lap point, but his best effort…

BMW posted its most competitive display yet in Hypercar with the M Hybrid V8 LMDh at Austin. Yet the factory WRT team failed to improve on its best result of the season, sixth at Imola in April. The Lone Star Le Mans weekend was, reckoned BMW M Motorsport boss Andreas Roos, “a mixture of positives and negatives”. The big positive was that the BMW was able to race with a Ferrari – if not the Ferrari – and the Cadillac. Ongoing improvement over the course of BMW’s first season in the WEC, a fast and flowing circuit layout favoured by the M Hybrid, and a bit of help from the Balance of Performance contributed to the upturn in fortunes. The negative was that BMW missed out on bettering its Imola…

FORMULA 2 MONZA (ITA) 31 AUGUST-1 SEPTEMBER ROUND 11/14 Gabriel Bortoleto stole the Formula 2 headlines at Monza with a stunning last-to-first victory in the feature race, after Ollie Bearman had got his season back on track by winning the Saturday sprint. Grid order meant nothing across the Italian weekend, with Haas-bound Prema Racing driver Bearman winning from eighth, and Invicta Racing’s McLaren protege Bortoleto victorious from 22nd. Bearman was serving a five-place grid penalty for his clash with Pepe Marti at the start at Spa last time out. But the Briton swiftly climbed the order in the opening laps, and took just seven tours to move to the front. He went wheel to wheel for second place with the ART Grand Prix car of Victor Martins before slipping through…

PORSCHE SUPERCUP MONZA (ITA) 1 SEPTEMBER ROUND 8/8 While Alessandro Ghiretti took his maiden Porsche Supercup victory on the morning of the Italian Grand Prix, second place for his team-mate Larry ten Voorde was enough for the Dutchman to be crowned champion for the third time. Only Harry King had a chance of denying ten Voorde the title, but the Briton admitted after the race that the damage was all done in qualifying, in which he placed his Lechner Racing car fifth on the grid, with team-mate Robert de Haan on pole. De Haan couldn’t stay ahead at the start. Compatriot ten Voorde, alongside him on the front row, got the best getaway, and the sister CLRT machine of Ghiretti went around the outside of de Haan into the Rettifilo…

INGRAM JOINS TT V8 WRESTLERS Eighteen V8-engined cars take on a dozen Jaguar XK and Porsche ‘sixes’ as the Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy Celebration race provides Sunday afternoon’s sensational centrepiece. Tom Ingram, 2022 British Touring Car champion and hot on points leader Jake Hill’s heels in the current title fight, tests his reflexes in Mike Whitaker’s TVR Griffith 400. A lone wolf among 10 venomous AC/Shelby Cobras, a brutal Sunbeam Tiger Le Mans coupe and lowline Tojeiro EE powered by similar Ford V8s, plus three Chevrolet Corvette Stingrays, a Bizzarrini 5300 GT and a Cheetah, the short-wheelbase TVR has been honed into a competitive beast by marque specialist Nigel Reuben and the Jordan Racing Team. Hill is the latest ace to share Olly Bryant’s Cobra – winner in 2021…

Racing for sports-prototypes and GT cars from up to five years ago is not historic in the true sense, yet it is the fastest growing element of the overall historic racing industry. It was Masters Historic Racing founder Ron Maydon who pioneered racing for this generation of cars as a way of widening the appeal of his offering. In the space of three or four seasons, it has grown impressively and more than 80 cars, dating from 2000 to as recent as 2018, ran across two grids at the Silverstone Festival last month. Even Maydon was surprised by the response to the twin Masters Endurance Legends and Masters GT Trophy grids. A significant number of existing historic racers took the chance to move forward a generation and have been joined…

GB3 Runaway Italian Formula 4 Championship leader Freddie Slater will make his debut in the GB3 Championship this weekend at Donington Park with Rodin Motorsport. Slater, who turned 16 last month and is therefore now eligible to race in GB3, has already tested the Tatuus MSV-022 car extensively over the past year. He has moved into single-seaters after claiming 16 wins from 21 races on his way to dominating Ginetta Junior in 2023. Following his title success and some impressive late-season F4 outings, Slater was voted Autosport’s 2023 National Driver of the Year and has been selected as one of the final 10 drivers for this year’s Silverstone Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year award. His nomination comes on the strength of his 11 wins from 15 races to…

GOODWOOD A Porsche 904 will be driven by ex-Formula 1 driver and five-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Emanuele Pirro and his son, Goffredo, at this weekend’s Goodwood Revival. The car features a bespoke livery that showcases a collaboration between contemporary artist Daniel Arsham and Team Ikuzawa, with a limited-edition capsule collection featuring clothing and other memorabilia set to be on display in the paddock. Tetsu Ikuzawa became Porsche’s first Japanese factory driver, and in 1973 was the first from the country to race at the Le Mans 24 Hours, six years after claiming victory in the 1967 Japanese Grand Prix in a privately entered Porsche 906. He also drove the famed pink Kremer 935 in 1980. Continuing Ikuzawa’s legacy, his daughter, Mai, drove at last year’s Festival of Speed…

KIRKISTOWN 500MRCI 31 AUGUST Tony Greenan and his Formula 3 Dallara bossed both BOSS Ireland races on their second Kirkistown visit of the year last weekend but, unlike their first back in June, it wasn’t all plain sailing. Indeed the man from nearby Hilltown spent most of the first race viewing the rear end of Michael Connolly’s World Series Dallara at close quarters, and was only shown a clear road ahead when Connolly, coping with an increasingly long brake pedal, spun at Colonial on the final lap. He was unable to restart, leaving Greenan with a 17-second advantage over Martin Daly’s Dallara WS, with former saloon specialist Robert Copeland third in a depleted field in Jonathan Fildes’ Ralt RT4. Race two started twice. The first attempt produced some confusion with…

Exactly three years ago, Cedric Bloch’s battered body was lying in a Norwich hospital bed, his racing dreams shattered – along with his back, ribs, lungs and a multitude of other injuries. But last month, the French-born motorcycle racer made his TCR UK debut at Silverstone in an Audi RS3 LMS run by Simon Green Motorsport in conjunction with Will Powell’s Sport77 squad. It has been an arduous journey for the former British Supersport rider paralysed in a 110mph Snetterton qualifying crash. Motorcycles were Bloch’s passion since his grandfather first put him on a dirt bike aged three, but his racing career started in cars. “I had to wait until I had my own business and could afford it,” says the 36-year-old, who has lived in London since his university…

WEC Aston Martin’s test programme with the new Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar is in full swing. The first car has already completed 6000km (3700 miles) as the British manufacturer gears up for its campaigns in the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship with the Heart of Racing team next year. The Valkyrie AMR-LMH has completed the distance over the course of six days of testing. Following its shakedown on the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit, it has undertaken two days at Donington Park, and then a further pair at Silverstone were followed by a move to mainland Europe for two more days at Motorland Aragon in Spain. Aston Martin head of endurance racing Adam Carter expressed his content with testing so far: “We have set out a test programme with…

WEC Alpine appears unlikely to introduce the engine upgrade to overcome the problem that resulted in the early retirement of both its cars from the Le Mans 24 Hours before the end of the season. But it has insisted that it is not facing a performance deficit as a result – and backed that up at the Austin World Endurance Championship round last weekend with the best results so far for the A424 LMDh. Charles Milesi qualified the best of the cars fourth, and he and team-mates Ferdinand Habsburg and Paul-Loup Chatin took fifth in the race. That was achieved without the new hardware to solve the valve problem that resulted in the early bath at Le Mans. Alpine motorsport boss Bruno Famin explained that it is “most likely” that…

McLaren has one of the best problems any team can have in Formula 1. It’s got two highly rated, hard-charging drivers capable of winning races – and, it seems, challenging for the championship. But for now, although it doesn’t have the ugly animosity and crashes, Lando Norris-Oscar Piastri feels more Ayrton Senna-Alain Prost than Lewis Hamilton-Jenson Button. Full credit to McLaren for getting to this position. It now has F1’s best car and has secured arguably the championship’s best and most-balanced driver line-up, albeit with plenty of competition from Mercedes pair Hamilton and George Russell. But now, as much as McLaren hates it internally, the manner of its defeat at the hands of Charles Leclerc last weekend – with nous and precision for which the Ferrari star often doesn’t get…

A contentious opening-lap pass at the Roggia chicane that had a Formula 1 title hopeful, facing already slim chances, in a proper pickle; the weekend’s fastest team eating into its tyres and snatching defeat when victory was surely possible. But unlike in the 2018 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari came out on top last weekend at Monza. This time, it was McLaren struggling to understand how it had lost what looked to be a commanding position as it exited the Rettifilo chicane on lap one with a secure 1-2. At this stage, not even eventual winner Charles Leclerc thought a second Monza victory for Ferrari was possible. “Just as sweet as the 2019 one,” Leclerc would say afterwards. “I did not expect it going to the race. I thought that we…

Alex Albon added to Williams’s points tally with his third ninth-place finish of the season thanks to a successful one-stop strategy, although admitted he was having to “underdrive” to make the distance after suffering with front-tyre graining throughout the grand prix. After qualifying ninth, Albon managed to hold position through the opening stint, but following the pitstops he lost a position to the faster Kevin Magnussen on the road. He then accused his Williams engineers of being “indecisive” over the radio, having asked whether he should push the Haas driver, but instead backed out of the fight and focused on sticking with him to ensure he moved up a position when Magnussen’s 10-second penalty was applied. Reflecting on the strategy, Albon felt that a two-stop would not have offered the…

Nico Hulkenberg was at the epicentre of RB’s difficult weekend, pushed off the road by Daniel Ricciardo and subsequently taking his revenge on Yuki Tsunoda. After losing positions in the opening lap thanks to getting boxed in through the opening corners, Hulkenberg was shown the door by Ricciardo at Ascari and ended up going off-road. This forced the Haas driver off the throttle and sent his car into anti-stall, which cost further positions. He tried to recover with a move on Tsunoda, but locked up at the first corner and went into the Japanese driver’s sidepod, causing floor damage and eventually forcing Tsunoda’s retirement after seven laps. Hulkenberg got a 10-second penalty and Ricciardo a 5s penalty for their incidents. Ricciardo’s ended up getting worse when he collected a further…

FORMULA 3 MONZA (ITA) 31 AUGUST-1 SEPTEMBER ROUND 10/10 Leonardo Fornaroli became Formula 3 champion thanks to pulling off a sensational last-corner pass to snatch the glory away from fellow Italian Gabriele Mini. Trident driver Fornaroli, who remarkably has not won a single race over his two seasons in F3, reclaimed third place from Christian Mansell with a bold dive at Parabolica to finish in the wake of the Prema Racing car of Mini. That settled things in favour of Fornaroli, even before Mini was later excluded from the results. On the farewell weekend for the Dallara 2019 car, there was a controversial qualifying session, which had been split into two groups to avoid all of the usual messing about seen at Monza. But this instead meant we saw the…

EUROPEAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP RALI CEREDIGION (GBR) 30 AUGUST-1 SEPTEMBER ROUND 7/8 British rally fans had been yearning for international competition to return to these shores even more than Hayden Paddon had been striving for a perfect weekend. Both came true as Rali Ceredigion hosted the penultimate round of the European Rally Championship – the first international rally in the UK since the 2019 Rally GB. The 1250 volunteers who have helped grow the event to achieve ERC status in only its fourth edition were treated to an event that captured the imagination of rally fans, who turned out in their droves to witness a masterclass from former World Rally Championship round winner Paddon. Reigning ERC champions and 2024 title-race leaders Paddon and co-driver John Kennard were never headed. The duo…

The RAC Tourist Trophy Celebration for closed GTs and prototypes built between 1960 and 1964 has been the blue-riband race at Goodwood since the first Revival in 1998. Goodwood describes it as “perhaps the most important race in historic motorsport”, and the various pre-1966 GT contests around the world are among the highlights every season. But there’s a similar group of machines that is once again threatening to steal the limelight. Pre-1963 GTs first appeared at what was then known as the Silverstone Classic in 2009, made their Goodwood debut at the 2014 Members’ Meeting, and became part of the Revival with the Kinrara Trophy in 2016. The pace of the top pre-1966 GTs, which now lap Goodwood six to seven seconds faster than they did in the late 1990s,…

MOTORSPORT UK Motorsport UK hopes that a new StreetCar Festival it is running for the first time this weekend will grow into a major national event in the future. The inaugural festival takes place at Bicester Motion on Sunday and is designed to celebrate the grassroots, affordable disciplines that operate under the StreetCar banner and help encourage more people to get involved. Various clubs will be in attendance for this year’s event, with autosolo, production car trial, cross country punch hunt and table-top rallying competitions held as part of the festival. For the £10 entry fee, an attendee can be a passenger in various contests and, for an extra £5, can enter their road car into an autosolo taster or the punch hunt. The South Oxon Car Club will also…

TCR UK A new initiative to provide promising young drivers with subsidised drives in TCR UK, under a Junior Team banner, is being launched for next year. Championship promoter Maximum Motorsport is also Hyundai’s UK distributor for TCR cars and is targeting drivers aged between 16 and 25. They will be given the chance to contest a full seven-weekend season of TCR UK in a Hyundai i30 N on an arrive-and-drive basis for £85,000+VAT. “It’s about the young kids who have got a bit of talent and are trying to progress, because it’s tricky at the moment,” said Maximum boss Stewart Lines. “They’ll be able to race as a junior driver for the UK distributor, they’ll be able to use our logos and try and attract sponsorship through the fact…

MALLORY PARK VSCC 31 AUGUST On a day when young drivers won six of the 10 races, 19-year-old Archie Collings’ victory from the back of the Vintage Sports-Car Club’s Edwardian showcase, first run in 1955, taming his family’s 13.5-litre 1907 Mercedes on his Mallory Park debut, was the talking point of last Saturday’s Bob Gerard Memorial Trophy meeting. Insufficient emergency medical cover in the morning precluded timed practice. The Motorsport UK steward thus pragmatically sanctioned each group to complete three laps behind a safety car and the handicappers ordered grids, with Mallory newcomers at the back, while another doctor was sought. With father Ben Collings at the front in the dynasty’s 1912 Zust-Brixia, could anybody negate his three credit laps, or Simon Scott’s five in a 1909 Talbot, in the…

BOOK REVIEW TEXAS LEGEND – JIM HALL AND HIS CHAPARRALS George Levy RRP £60.00 When winning an Indycar race on the first outing for your new single-car team, against the likes of Team Penske and Newman/Haas, constitutes little more than a footnote in your life’s volume of work, then it’s clear that the individual in question is someone rather special. Such is certainly the case for Jim Hall, whose influence in motorsport is evidenced by the fact that one Adrian Newey owned a model of his Chaparral 2E creation as a boy. John Andretti’s victory for the Hall-VDS Racing team – in which Hall and son Jim Jr were among the co-owners – at Surfers Paradise in 1991 and subsequent success with Gil de Ferran is naturally covered off in…

Fernando Alonso signals from the cockpit of his Renault his tally of wins so far during the 2005 season as he heads for parc ferme following his fortuitous victory in the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. Sixth-place qualifier Alonso was running in second during the closing stages, pushing like crazy, chasing down the hobbled McLaren of championship rival Kimi Raikkonen when the flatspot that the Finn and his car had been enduring for the last third of the race – damage to the Michelin rubber that caused vibrations so severe they were visible and audible to onlookers – took its final, dramatic toll. As Raikkonen braked for Turn 1 on the last lap, bearings in his front-right wheel assembly collapsed, causing the lower wishbone to break, pitching the McLaren…