Rally Australia officials are becoming increasingly concerned by the onset of bush fires in New South Wales ahead of next week’s 2019 World Rally Championship finale. Because of the fires, the roads being used for the WRC event are currently closed to all traffic – including event officials hoping to set stages up for the
Month: November 2019
Richard Petty Motorsports NASCAR driver Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace Jr has been penalised after admitting that he intentionally caused a caution period in last weekend’s race at Texas. Wallace was fined $50,000 and docked 50 championship points for his actions. His Chevrolet had suffered a deflating rear tyre but he appeared only to have successfully caught
Meyer Shank Racing will contest a full IndyCar season in 2020, signing Andretti Autosport as a technical partner as its previous deal came to an end and McLaren replaced it. The team – with Jack Harvey confirmed as the team’s driver – had gradually increased its participation from three races in 2017 to six in
Meyer Shank Racing will contest a full IndyCar season in 2020, signing Andretti Autosport as a technical partner as its previous deal came to an end and McLaren replaced it. The team – with Jack Harvey confirmed as the team’s driver – had gradually increased its participation from three races in 2017 to six in
Jonas Folger has announced he has split with Yamaha after less than a year as the manufacturer’s European MotoGP test rider. Folger joined Yamaha’s European test team at the start of 2019 season and also added five Moto2 outings with the Petronas-backed SIC Moto2 team to his schedule. He claims he had verbally agreed to
MotoGP boss Carmelo Ezpeleta has urged Jorge Lorenzo to make a decision on his future, having described the three-time premier class champion’s recent struggles with Honda as “sad”. Lorenzo is approaching the conclusion of what has been a nightmare first season as a Honda rider, sitting 19th in the championship with just 25 points to
Ott Tanak is heading to Australia for the season finale as World Rally champion but about to leave the Toyota team for Hyundai for 2020. That’s already a tricky enough psychological situation even without the added factor that Hyundai and Toyota are still battling for the manufacturers’ championship. While no one’s expecting Tanak to be
Iker Lecuona will stand in for Miguel Oliveira at the Tech3 KTM team in the final round of the MotoGP season in Valencia. It means Lecuona, who will race alongside Oliveira at the team in 2020, will make his MotoGP debut at the Ricardo Tormo circuit. “To have this opportunity in my home Grand Prix
Aprilia’s MotoGP engine is set for a fundamental redesign in 2020 as part of the RS-GP’s overhaul for next season, racing department CEO Massimo Rivola has revealed. Aprilia has finished at the bottom of the MotoGP manufacturers’ standings in the last two yaars and holds the same spot in this year’s table, 13 points behind
IndyCar series officials have held “exploratory” discussions about staging a race in Sydney, according to series president Jay Frye. The US series has made no secret of its ongoing desire to return to Australia, talks of a revived Gold Coast Indy event stretching back several years. But while the Queensland government has shown genuine interest
Sebastien Bourdais believes IndyCar lap times will be three quarters of a second per lap slower in 2020 due to the addition of the aeroscreen cockpit protection system. Bourdais experienced the aeroscreen for the first time in a simulated street course test at Sebring on Tuesday in preparation for the system’s introduction next year. Red
NASCAR’s plan to revise its technical ethos and think about its long-term future has opened up the prospect of a fourth manufacturer. Could it be Honda that steps forward? In recent years, the topic of who the next manufacturer is in NASCAR could be answered by the question: When is Dodge coming back? But NASCAR
Maverick Vinales says his improved form in the second half of the MotoGP season is down to avoiding new parts and focusing on extracting the maximum from his Yamaha bike. Since the summer break, Vinales has scored three podiums and victory in Malaysia, and came close to adding a third win to Yamaha’s tally for
Roger Penske hops his “credibility” will prevent accusations of a conflict of interest following his corporation’s purchase of IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Hulman and Company. Penske, who has worked with Will Power for the past two seasons with the exception of the Indianapolis road course race and Indianapolis 500, announced on Monday he
Elfyn Evans has been tipped as Ott Tanak’s Toyota World Rally Championship replacement after he visited the team’s Finnish headquarters squad last week. Autosport revealed before Rally Spain two weeks ago that Tanak would make a shock switch to Hyundai, leaving the Toyota Gazoo Racing team with which he sealed the 2019 drivers’ championship for
Phillip Island could move to the start of the 2021 MotoGP calendar, as promoter Dorna Sports pushes to stage the event in better weather conditions on safety grounds. A run of cold, windy spring conditions during recent Australian Grands Prix has resulted in the October date falling further and further out of favour in the
Penske Entertainment will assess options for bringing a more adventurous roster of events at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – including a possible IndyCar/NASCAR double-header, endurance racing and the return of Formula 1. It was announced on Monday that the Penske Corporation’s new entity, Penske Entertainment, has purchased IMS, as well as the IndyCar championship and IMS
Mark Miles, the president of Hulman and Company, believes that Penske’s purchase of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar will make US open-wheel racing more attractive to manufacturers and sponsors. Following the announcement that Roger Penske’s new entity, Penske Entertainment, has bought the Speedway, IndyCar and IMS Productions from Hulman and Company on Monday, a media
Jack Miller was critical of riders attempting forceful overtakes on the inside of Sepang’s final corner in the MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix, after receiving a heavy hit from Alex Rins. Rins clattered into the side of Miller at the Turn 15 hairpin while trying to take fifth away from the Pramac Ducati, with the Suzuki
Jenson Button says his SUPER GT season was compromised by Honda’s new 2019 aero package being too “unpredictable” to race, leaving his car short of upgrades to match the competition. Last year’s champions Button and Naoki Yamamoto endured a winless campaign in 2019, finishing eighth in the drivers’ standings with 37 points – less than
Kyle Larson says only penalties from NASCAR will stop drivers spinning intentionally, after he accused Bubba Wallace of deliberately causing a caution at Texas that hurt his Cup title hopes. Larson was running fourth when he pitted during a green-flag period in the second half of the race, five laps before Wallace spun his Richard
A subsidiary of the Penske Corporation has purchased the IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway among other assets from the previous owner, Hulman and Company. The blockbuster purchase has been made by a Penske division named Penske Entertainment Corp, which means Penske’s three-car IndyCar team will compete in a championship that is owned by
McLaren will continue to pay James Hinchcliffe’s salary during the 2020 season after its controversial decision to oust him from its new IndyCar team. Hinchcliffe had an existing contract with the Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team that McLaren has partnered with to create Arrow McLaren SP for its full-time IndyCar return. After an initial suggestion
SUPER GT’s 2020-spec GT500 cars made their public debut in a demonstration run ahead of the final round of the season at Motegi on Sunday. The new cars, which conform to the Class One regulations SUPER GT will share with the DTM next year, were first unveiled in September and have since been tested behind
LCR Honda MotoGP rider Cal Crutchlow says his Malaysian Grand Prix was compromised by power loss that led to a “horrendous” start and left him mired in the pack. Crutchlow had qualified fifth at Sepang, but was muscled down the order on the opening lap and was running only 12th when he crashed out with
Kevin Harvick overcame a mid-race penalty to lead home a Stewart-Haas 1-2-3 in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas, booking himself a spot in the championship decider. Harvick was slapped with the penalty for loose equipment on pitroad following a stop just after half-distance in the 334-lap race. That dropped him into the midfield
Malaysian Grand Prix poleman Fabio Quartararo says a “total disaster” of a first lap put him on the back foot for the rest of the Sepang MotoGP race. The Petronas SRT rider was expected to challenge for his first race win at Sepang, having set lap records in practice and taken a convincing pole position.
Tension between NASCAR Cup title rivals Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin over their Martinsville pitlane scuffle lingers going into this weekend’s Texas Motor Speedway race. Logano confronted Hamlin in the pitlane after being knocked into a spin during last weekend’s race, and shoved the Joe Gibbs Racing driver as he walked away – which triggered
Three-time NASCAR Cup champion Tony Stewart has slammed the decision to hold Formula 1 and NASCAR events in Texas on the same day as “asinine”. This weekend’s United States Grand Prix at Austin is clashing with NASCAR’s event at Texas Motor Speedway 200 miles away – forcing motor racing fans to choose which event they
Suzuki rider Joan Mir criticised MotoGP race direction for penalising him for his Malaysian Grand Prix clash with Johann Zarco – saying Zarco apologised to him for it. Zarco and Mir were running right behind Jack Miller in ninth and 10th beginning the final quarter of the race when they collided at the long Turn