Innholdsfortegnelse for 12/12/24 i Autosport

When McLaren took its eighth Formula 1 constructors’ title, the cars were silver, Ron Dennis was still at the helm and Lando Norris hadn’t been born. It’s been a long wait for the second-most successful team in championship history, and there was a feel-good factor to McLaren clinching its ninth crown in Abu Dhabi last weekend. Zak Brown’s squad has been through an impressive transformation and the pace of the MCL38 since May’s Miami Grand Prix has made the season more interesting than anyone expected. Congratulations to McLaren – and Ferrari for coming close to ending its own long wait. The way Norris absorbed pressure to win the season finale and clinch McLaren’s prize (page 16) indicates he is ready to fight Max Verstappen for the drivers’ championship from the…

WRC Adrien Fourmaux has joined Hyundai to pilot its third entry on a full-time basis in the World Rally Championship next year. The five-time WRC podium finisher had been expected for several months to leave M-Sport Ford to join the South Korean marque. With co-driver Alex Coria, he signed off their five-year stint with M-Sport by winning the Masters Show at last weekend’s WRC celebration at Monza. Fourmaux and Coria now join an experienced driver line-up at Hyundai that includes newly crowned world champion Thierry Neuville and 2019 title winner Ott Tanak. It represents a change in strategy for the third car from Hyundai, which narrowly lost the manufacturers’ title to Toyota this year. Traditionally the seat has been shared across multiple crews, with Esapekka Lappi, Dani Sordo and Andreas…

ASIAN LE MANS SERIES A debut win for Romain Dumas’s RD Limited LMP2 team was the highlight of Sepang’s opening double-header in the Asian Le Mans Series, for which the reward is a prized Le Mans 24 Hours invitation. Tristan Vautier kept the RD ORECA 07 in the lead in the last stint on degenerating tyres. After an interrupted first stint for Fred Poordad, RD had cycled James Allen and Vautier into the car, but Vautier was reeled in by a charging Matthieu Vaxiviere (AF Corse ORECA). Vaxiviere grabbed the lead at the penultimate corner of the last lap but ran wide at the final hairpin, allowing Vautier to pounce. They flashed across the line side by side, 0.055s apart. In Sunday’s race, an inspired Harry King (Pure Rxcing ORECA)…

SUPER FORMULA Formula 1 newcomer Ollie Bearman is due to take part in this week’s post-season Super Formula test at Suzuka. Bearman (below) will drive for Toyota-powered team KCMG on the final ‘rookie’ day of the three-day test tomorrow (Friday) in a bid to learn Suzuka ahead of next April’s Japanese Grand Prix. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was also set to test with Rookie Racing, only to pull out due to the fever that sidelined him from the F2 finale in Abu Dhabi. Other international drivers to feature in the Suzuka test include Formula 2 podium finisher Juan Manuel Correa, GB3 racer James Hedley (both Kondo Racing) and former Jota Sport World Endurance man Oliver Rasmussen (Impul). There are also several notable clues to how the 2025 Super Formula grid will…

They’ve got their formation finish at least. The Leclerc brothers are running line astern for Ferrari out of the W Hotel that straddles sector three at Yas Marina. Arthur is in Carlos Sainz’s SF-24, as one of six rookie/reserve drivers (excluding new Alpine racer Jack Doohan) taking part in this one-hour session, for which Autosport has wandered down to the Turn 14 off-camber left-hander made famous by the controversial finish to the 2021 finale here. Charles occupies his usual Ferrari cockpit, having made way for Ollie Bearman back in Mexico City. “My younger brother and I had one dream: to become professional drivers” He’s been effusive the day before on this unusual situation – the Leclerc brothers are the first to appear in an F1 world championship weekend session for…

Liam Lawson’s outside shot at points was derailed by a loose wheel after his front-left was not attached properly during his scheduled pitstop. The RB driver needed an extra visit to attach it properly, and also took a 10-second stop-go penalty for his team’s error. The Kiwi’s pitstop was paused as an apparent problem emerged during the tyre change, but he was sent out regardless when the light was triggered green. The subsequent stop and penalty took him out of points contention, although his race was ended a lap early by a power unit issue. “When I turned right to come out onto the track, I could see then that it was sparking and shaking,” Lawson said of the incident. Team-mate Yuki Tsunoda’s points chances were effectively over on lap…

FORMULA 2 YAS MARINA (ARE) 7-8 DECEMBER ROUND 14/14 Gabriel Bortoleto was crowned Formula 2 champion following a pair of second-place finishes in Abu Dhabi. The Brazilian arrived at the season-ending event with only a half-point lead over Isack Hadjar and with Paul Aron still in with a mathematical chance, but kept his nose clean to top the table in a title battle that fizzled out with appalling luck for Hadjar at the start of the season-defining feature race. Sauber F1-bound Bortoleto qualified his Invicta Racing car second behind ART Grand Prix-run Alpine junior Victor Martins. This meant he started Saturday’s reversed-grid sprint race from ninth, with both of his title rivals ahead. But the biggest movers at the start were team-mates to two of the title rivals. Hadjar’s Red…

Six winners, a controversial new points systems, the joint-closest winning margin, champions making uncharacteristic errors, a mid-season regulations ‘hokey cokey’, young guns coming to the fore and a title decider for the ages. That was the 2024 World Rally Championship in a nutshell. But ultimately it was the year that transformed the WRC’s nearly man Thierry Neuville into a world champion, alongside co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe. The Belgian has strived for 17 years to achieve his childhood dream and that dream is now reality – he is the 20th WRC drivers’ champion. Hyundai’s first drivers’ world rally champion repeated the feats of the great Sebastiens Loeb and Ogier to win the title by leading the championship from start to the finish. This epitomised the 2024-spec Neuville, who not only showed the…

THIERRY NEUVILLE 1 Achieved his dream by leading title race from start to finish. Scored two impressive victories but mastered new points the best, and speed and consistency were rewarded. Displayed a much stronger resolve under intense pressure, resulting in fewer errors. KALLE ROVANPERA 2 Contested only seven rallies but led all of them. Scored the most wins with four, more than his tally from a full 2023 season. Best was in Poland, as late replacement for injured Ogier. Made errors, crashing in Sweden and Portugal. Rock in road robbed him in Finland. SEBASTIEN OGIER 3 Persuaded to extend his partial campaign to 10 rounds and found himself in drivers’ title hunt, also critical in manufacturers’ fight. At 40, delivered his very best to score three wins and top the…

SWIFT SPORT CHALLENGE More details have been revealed about the 750 Motor Club’s new Swift Sport Challenge, including interesting initiatives such as giving additional points to drivers who complete a day’s marshalling and removing a couple of qualifying times for those who take part in Friday testing. The new series, for Mk1 models of the Swift built between 2006 and 2010, is designed to be a low-cost and accessible entry point into motorsport. But, as well as focusing on developing the right specification for the car, the 750MC is also using it as the chance to trial several new concepts that could potentially be rolled out to other categories. “I do like the idea of encouraging people to marshal,” explained 750MC managing director Giles Groombridge. “The feedback we always have…

500CC F3 A new race for 500cc Formula 3 cars on the Sunday of next year’s Silverstone Festival is among the special attractions at the event, which will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the world championship British Grand Prix. Half-Litre Club members competed at the venue throughout the motorcycle-engined cars’ contemporary era, supporting the 1948 GP at Silverstone on their debut. Two heats and a final are due to be held next August and response to the initiative, brokered by indefatigable racer Duncan Rabagliati with Festival prime mover Nick Wigley, has been phenomenal from the 500 Owners Association. “We already have towards 70 expressions of interest,” said 500OA racing secretary Gordon Russell. “The ultimate entry may not be that high but we are confident of attracting the largest historic field…

There have been 258 drivers who have triumphed in a race in one of the support categories at a British Touring Car Championship event in the past 10 seasons. That’s a truly staggering number and certainly makes picking the best 10 of these a very tricky task. Given that 39 of those 258 drivers also won one of the regular TOCA championships, Autosport has decided not to include anyone who failed to win a title in the final 10. But that still leaves a significant number to choose from (and some talented racers on the sidelines, see overleaf). This is very much a personal selection of the drivers who have stood out the most from their time on the BTCC undercard and does not reflect what they have gone on…

FORMULA 1 The Formula 1 paddock was still waiting to learn of the fate of Sergio Perez as Autosport went to press, in the wake of Red Bull crunch talks following last weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to determine its 2025 driver line-ups. Perez signed a two-year contract extension earlier this year but, as is well documented, his enduring struggles in the RB20 alongside Max Verstappen have made Red Bull think twice on keeping the 34-year-old in the car. While Perez is well-liked and is also well-supported by Mexican backers, his alarming form has led to Red Bull slumping to third in the 2024 constructors’ championship, which not only reduced Red Bull’s prize money but has also impacted staff bonuses. Red Bull held talks on Monday to make a final…

WEC Four-time Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Gianmaria Bruni is leaving Porsche’s factory roster after eight seasons. The departure of the Italian passed without fanfare when the German manufacturer published its full list of drivers last weekend – with his name missing. There was no place for Bruni as a full factory driver, nor as one of its so-called contracted drivers, who do not have the same works status. It brought the curtain down on a stint that included his fourth Le Mans class win, in GTE Pro, in 2022 with the factory Manthey team. Bruni (below) was a big-money signing by Porsche from Ferrari ahead of the 2017 season, but he failed to go on to match his successes with the Italian marque. He took a pair of…

For once amid the ugly on-track clashes that somewhat marred the 2024 Formula 1 season in some quarters, while galvanising it in others, Max Verstappen had a point in raging at his penalty for whacking McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at the start of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. That clash should have gone down as a racing incident. Those dramatic spins, wrecked races and sassy team radio responses should have been a combined punishment enough. On consistency in F1 stewards’ rulings, Autosport gleaned further information in Abu Dhabi about the upcoming changes to the ‘Driving Standards Guidelines’ document that were postponed to a 2025 introduction in Qatar the previous weekend. Rather than clamping down solely on Verstappen’s tactic of turning defence into attack when running on the inside into a corner…

The entrance to the McLaren pit garage stank of champagne, barely 20 minutes after Lando Norris had crossed the line to take victory in the Abu Dhabi season finale. His fourth win sealed the team’s first constructors’ crown since 1998, and the whiff of the fizz was fittingly reminiscent of Norris himself just seven months ago, when he bounced into the Miami Grand Prix press conference fresh from his maiden Formula 1 triumph. So much has happened since then. Both Norris and McLaren became title contenders – the former for the first time at this level, the latter for the first time in a generation. Both made mistakes, both learned and rebounded convincingly. “Proud is my biggest thing,” Norris reflected. “Of course, I’m happy I finished the season this way,…

Valtteri Bottas and Franco Colapinto both said goodbye to F1 – for the time being, at least – with somewhat miserable outings in Abu Dhabi that ended in retirement. In Formula 1’s under-used DNF tombola, Colapinto’s number was called first: surprisingly, this was not from the fallout from his floor damage and puncture sustained in his clash with Oscar Piastri, but through a suspected power unit issue that prompted Williams to bring the young Argentinian into the garage. “It just hasn’t been the last couple of races I wanted: really unlucky, but it’s part of F1,” Colapinto mused post-race. “It still was my dream come true.” Bottas endured an error-laden final race for Sauber. He was apportioned blame in the Turn 6 clash with Sergio Perez and given a 10-second…

If Abu Dhabi was to be Sergio Perez’s last race for Red Bull, then his tenure at the team ended with him plumbing new depths of disappointment – although this was not entirely his fault. While being overtaken at Turn 6 on the opening lap of the race by Charles Leclerc and Kevin Magnussen, Perez was knocked into a spin by Valtteri Bottas and later pulled up at the side of the road with an apparent repeat of the clutch issue he faced in Qatar – again, after spinning at the Losail race. Perez contended that there was an issue with the car before that, citing upshift troubles in the opening corners before the problem proved terminal. “The engine was damaged before the touch,” the Mexican explained. “Every time I…

SUPER GT SUZUKA (JPN) 8 DECEMBER ROUND 8/8 TOM’S Toyota pair Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita clinched the Super GT title with another faultless performance in last weekend’s postponed Suzuka finale. From pole, Tsuboi and Yamashita scorched to a third win of the season in the 300km race, rescheduled from its usual late August date due to a typhoon, to cap off a dominant season aboard the #36 Toyota GR Supra. The three bonus points from qualifying were enough for Tsuboi and Yamashita to put the title beyond the reach of their rivals, with Tsuboi taking his third GT500 crown in the space of four years – all with TOM’S – and Yamashita his second. Yamashita had to withstand pressure in the second stint of the race, first from the…

You might not have even heard of Genesis when it announced in September that it was building an LMDh prototype. And for good reason: Hyundai’s premium brand is not yet 10 years old. That explains why it has been absent from the world of motorsport until now. But the time was right for an entry into the World Endurance Championship in 2026 and the IMSA SportsCar Championship the year after. There was no point in going racing before there was something to promote, points out Luc Donckerwolke, chief creative officer of Genesis Motors since the foundation of the brand. He describes its motorsport entry in the top echelons of sportscar racing as “a natural evolution” for a marque that was announced in 2015 and hit the market with its first…

Monte Carlo Rally 1 Neuville/Wydaeghe  2 Ogier/Landais  3 Evans/Martin Neuville sets his stall out in spectacular fashion, scoring the only maximum points finish of the season under the controversial new system. The Hyundai driver wins nine of 17 dry asphalt stages to defeat Monte Carlo maestro Ogier by 16.1s, with another Toyota, driven by Evans, in third. A sheet of ice catches out Tanak on the 2019 champion’s return to Hyundai but he recovers to fourth after an engine issue, ahead of the M-Sport Ford of Fourmuax. Rally Sweden 1 Lappi/Ferm 2 Evans/Martin  3 Fourmaux/Coria Lappi ends a six-and-a-halfyear WRC victory drought after a head-to-head fight with Katsuta ends with the Toyota driver finding a snowbank. Evans, fastest on Sunday, outscores winning Hyundai driver Lappi by five points as the…

GB3 Reza Seewooruthun will graduate to GB3 with the new Argenti and Prema partnership in 2025, while race winner Will Macintyre return to Elite Motorsport for his sophomore campaign. Seewooruthun raced in British Formula 4 this season, in which he finished third overall with two wins and six further podiums with Hitech upon his switch to single-seaters. Before that, the Dorset 18-year-old raced in Ginetta Junior in 2023 and also finished third in the standings. The move comes as GB3 welcomes its new-for-2025 Tatuus MSV GB3-025, which features DRS and will be raced on four European circuits, including Monza for the first time. “With the arrival of the new car for the 2025 season, it was great to be speaking to Argenti and Prema and hearing about their plans for…

PRODUCTION GTI Older Mk2 models of the VW Golf will return to the Production GTI series next year to race alongside more modern Mk5s in a bid to boost grid numbers. The category was originally created for classic Mk2s, but gradually more and more of the newer cars began to enter and it has solely featured these Mk5s in recent years. But organisers have now worked to tweak the specifications of the cars to ensure that the faster Mk2 drivers are able to fight with those towards the rear of the Mk5 field. “There were several people with Mk2s that wanted to race with us over the past few seasons but didn’t want to become a mobile chicane for the Mk5s,” said MotorSport Vision Racing commercial and competitions manager Joe…

HISTORIC RALLYING British crew James Ford and Neil Shanks repeated their 2022 Silver Fern Rally success last month when they triumphed again in the gruelling New Zealand event. Comprising 52 stages totalling almost 1000 kilometres over seven days, the route took crews and cars to the edge over smooth and remote gravel tracks resembling race circuits and mountain passes with giddying views. There were also river crossings to navigate and crests to fly over with snowcapped mountains in the background. Ford and Shanks were brave and committed from the get-go, building a good lead in their Viking-built Ford Escort Mk2. The big push, though, had consequences. After surviving the first off, which caused gearbox damage with battered bodywork front and rear, the second incident literally ripped the axle out of…

Inevitably, there are plenty of impressive drivers who failed to make the cut – including four who went on to race in Formula 1. McLaren star Oscar Piastri and Williams reject Logan Sargeant were both outpaced by Jamie Caroline in British Formula 4 in 2017, while new Alpine recruit Jack Doohan was a distant fifth to Kiern Jewiss the following year. Elsewhere, Nicholas Latifi’s unconventional path to F1 featured an unimpressive half-season in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB in 2015, where he achieved only one podium. Alongside Jewiss, other British F4 champions who performed admirably but did not quite make the grade include Zane Maloney in 2019 and Matthew Rees, who starred in 2021 to win the title in his first season in cars. Alex Dunne was also dominant in…

Ronnie Peterson prepares for action at Monza in September 1977, but his Tyrrell team-mate Patrick Depailler has yet to jump aboard his P34. By now, the six-wheeler was a much less competitive proposition than it had been during its first season in 1976. Peterson and Depailler could only qualify 12th and 13th, although the Swede did at least pick up a point for sixth in the Italian GP. Depailler was out after 24 laps with an engine problem. A year later, Peterson – who returned to Lotus for 1978 – was caught up in a collision at the first turn. He suffered severe leg injuries, yet his life wasn’t deemed to be in danger as team-mate Mario Andretti celebrated securing the world championship. But an embolism developed overnight and Peterson…

SAINZ OF THE (TOP OF THE) TIMES Ferrari refugee Carlos Sainz sported an incognito white lid for his first run-out at his new home at Williams. The Spaniard put the Mercedes-powered machine fastest in the morning session, a mere 0.126 seconds clear of ex-team-mate Charles Leclerc. MERCEDES’ GREAT HOPE Andrea Kimi Antonelli was still suffering from the illness that sidelined him from the F2 finale, so Frederik Vesti filled in for the morning running. But the Italian was in the pit garage making himself comfortable before a planned run in the afternoon. HONDA ACCORD? After four years with the team currently known as RB, Yuki Tsunoda’s first test with Red Bull came at the behest of engine supplier Honda. But with the unfolding situation at the senior team (see left),…

Fittipaldi, Scheckter, Schumacher… The Leclerc brothers joined an exclusive club in Abu Dhabi last weekend when they both took part in a grand prix race weekend. Arthur Leclerc, younger brother of Charles and this season’s Italian GT Endurance co-champion, replaced Carlos Sainz at Ferrari for FP1. But Leclerc Sr was worried that he wouldn’t drive due to sickness and then a battery problem. “I got food poisoning and I couldn’t sleep all night,” said Charles. “But obviously the huge motivation of the day was doing FP1 with my brother. This was a dream that came true, for all of our family that travelled from Monaco to see that.” CAREY GRANTED NEW ROLE Ex-Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey has returned to series owner Liberty Media. Carey stepped down from the CEO…

FORMULA 2 Hard on the heels of his Formula 1 FP1 debut at last weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Luke Browning has been named by Hitech GP as one of its drivers for next year’s Formula 2 season. The 2022 Aston Martin BRDC Autosport Award winner therefore continues his association with a team with which he won the GB3 title (also in 2022), the 2023 Macau Grand Prix and claimed third place in this season’s Formula 3 standings. He then moved up to F2 for the final three rounds with ART Grand Prix. He is joined in the Hitech line-up by Dino Beganovic, the Swedish Ferrari protege also stepping up from F3 after spending almost his entire car racing career to date with Prema. That’s the good news for Hitech,…

BTCC The British Touring Car Championship field continues to take shape for 2025, with a driver with rear-wheel-drive roots landing a car he really feels he can do something with and effectively replacing a competitor who has gone the opposite way. Crowd favourite Daryl DeLeon, whose entertaining handling of Cupra Leon machinery for Team Hard in 2023 and Un-Limited Motorsport this year prompted observers to suggest that here is a BTCC star of the future, has secured a plum drive with West Surrey Racing, where he will line up alongside newly crowned champion Jake Hill in a four-car team of BMW 330i M Sport machinery. Leaving WSR is 11-time race winner Adam Morgan, who joins 2022 champion Tom Ingram and veteran Tom Chilton at Excelr8 Motorsport to race a Hyundai…

“I saw him for about two corners and then I was trying to spot him but then I was like, ‘S***, he’s in the lead. This thing is powerful.’” Mitch Evans’s victory from last on the grid in the Formula E Sao Paulo E-Prix season-opener last weekend was certainly a surprise to the Kiwi, his Jaguar team and many others, but a close second was the impact of the new Attack Mode. After dropping to the fringes of the top 10, a few positions ahead of team-mate Evans, Nick Cassidy became the first driver to activate the 350kW mode on lap seven, which for the first time provides all-wheel drive courtesy of the new Gen3 Evo machine. Armed with the extra power after going off-line, the performance advantage it offered…

“It might look glorious for now, but I think we’re still going to have a tough fight,” reckoned Lando Norris after McLaren had finished 1-2 in FP2 at Yas Marina, and before it did so again in FP3. He was not wrong about the challenge the team would face in qualifying and, inevitably, the opposition was one Max Verstappen of Red Bull. After struggling badly in FP2 with the understeer he so detests, the Dutchman and his squad settled on a set-up choice that would put him out of kilter with his rivals but would provide the best shot of settling his car’s ongoing balance problem. This was to run a sleeker rear wing and lower-downforce arrangement. These aligned to give him the pointy front end he prefers but, with…

Pierre Gasly’s fine run to seventh ensured that Alpine’s late assault on sixth in the world constructors’ championship came to fruition, with Haas unable to outscore the French squad by the six points it needed to reclaim the position it held earlier in the season. Alpine’s job was made easier when Nico Hulkenberg’s excellent fourth on the grid was diluted by a three-place grid penalty for overtaking in the pitlane in qualifying, and the Oscar Piastri-Max Verstappen incident ahead allowed Gasly to rise to third in the order, he and Hulkenberg separated by George Russell. Gasly absorbed early pressure from Russell and managed to maintain good pace during the opening of his hard-tyre stint, which briefly kept him ahead of the Mercedes when Russell eventually pitted. It was inevitable that…

Formula E’s two previous visits to Sao Paulo both produced memorable and enthralling races and this year’s edition, which played host to the start of the 2024-25 campaign, could go down as one of the championship’s most compelling events. In a contest where Porsche’s reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein and Nissan star Oliver Rowland both seemed to have the fastest outright packages on the day, it was Jaguar and Mitch Evans who ended the first race of the new Gen3 Evo era on top in the most unlikely of circumstances. The 1.82-mile street circuit is a happy hunting ground for Evans – the Kiwi won the inaugural event in 2023 before claiming the runner-up spot last season after being passed for the lead in the final few corners. His remarkable victory…

F1 ACADEMY YAS MARINA (ARE) 7-8 DECEMBER ROUND 7/7 Abbi Pulling was crowned F1 Academy champion for the second time in Abu Dhabi. After apparently sealing the deal the previous weekend in Qatar, the midweek addition of a third race at Yas Marina to replace the cancelled Losail leg left her needing one more point in the Emirates. This was laid to rest in qualifying, when the Alpine-backed Rodin Motorsport driver stormed the session to secure all three pole positions for the weekend and the six points that went with them. The remainder of the event was far less straightforward for Pulling than her two wins and a second place indicate. She started alongside Chloe Chambers in all three races, and Campos Racing’s Haas protegee took the lead in the…

Picking a WRC2 champion was a tough prospect, such was the talent that lined up to take on the WRC’s second tier. Toyota added spice by joining the fray with its all-new Yaris Rally2, led by Printsport ace Sami Pajari, who ultimately emerged from a three-way fight as champion. Citroen man Yohan Rossel won in Monte Carlo in a dramatic final-stage thriller, but Oliver Solberg (Skoda) showed his hand with a commanding win on the Swedish snow. Punctures in Kenya resulted in Solberg finishing second behind Gus Greensmith, before a high-speed crash in Portugal dented his bid. Pajari, second in Sweden, also exited Portugal in unceremonious fashion as Jan Solans claimed Toyota’s first WRC2 win. Now Rossel led the championship from Solberg thanks to his second place behind Citroen team-mate…

GINETTA JUNIOR Ginetta Junior frontrunners Alfie Slater and Max Cuthbert will remain in the category this season with reigning champion squad R Racing. Slater, younger brother of single-seater star Freddie, secured an overall pole position at Snetterton and a podium finish at Brands Hatch in his maiden campaign before narrowly missing out on the Winter Series crown. Cuthbert also starred in the Winter Series, setting the pace in qualifying and taking a maiden top three result as he landed the rookie class title. A new addition to the Ginetta paddock for 2025 will be Cameron Pratt-Thompson in the GT Championship with SVG Motorsport. He made his car racing bow in the Junior Saloon Car Championship two years ago, with an impressive campaign ending with him finishing as runnerup in the…

Former F3 Cup and now prototype racer Stuart Wiltshire has bought the Nissan-powered Courage C52 that took Alex Caffi, Andrea Montermini and Domenico Schiattarella to sixth place in the 1999 Le Mans 24 Hours. The car had been in Xavier Micheron’s Ascott Collection and Aaron Scott drove it at Donington Park last week, following a shakedown at Turweston Aerodrome (above). It was handed over to ERA Motorsport, which will now run the machine in Peter Auto Endurance Racing Legends. MIKE HAYSELDEN 1946-2024 Yorkshire motor trade legend, successful racer and longtime Barnsley FC director Mike Hayselden, winner of Britain’s fourth Formula Vee championship in 1970, has died aged 78. He joined father Tom’s business, appointed a Volkswagen agent in 1972, and the eponymous concern thrived under his dynamic leadership since 1989.…

OBITUARY David Gurney Brown, who has died aged 88, started racing cars later than most, but is fondly remembered for his tall, moustachioed stance, gentle nature and taste in fine machinery. The Kentish commercial landlord and motorcycle dealer sponsored Damon Hill’s two-wheeled racing career before he switched to Formula Ford, taking his first steps towards the 1996 F1 world championship. Having decided to race himself, Brown became synonymous with Brabhams. He initially acquired a BT23 and a BT21, sold to long-time pal Richard Kendle. Brown raced several of Ron Tauranac’s iconic designs over 15 years, from a Formula Junior BT6 to the ex-Gerard Racing/Henri Pescarolo F2 BT30, which he fitted with a correct 1600cc FVA engine. Undeterred by a heavy Silverstone shunt, Brown graduated to Historic F1, driving a V12…

Rory Butcher is best known for winning 11 races during an accomplished British Touring Car Championship career that he elected to pause at the end of 2023. But the amiable Scot, also a handy historic racer who pedalled a Lotus Elan 26R to third in September’s Spa 6 Hours, had also proven himself a force in GT racing before beginning his six-and-a-half-year BTCC run in 2017. Butcher still regards his 2016 season with Andrea Bertolini and Rob Smith in the European Le Mans Series with JMW Motorsport as “my favourite ever season of car racing”. The Ferrari 458 GTE he raced that year “just ticks a few more boxes” for Butcher when selecting it as his favourite car over the Honda Civic FK2 he raced to three BTCC wins in…