Fresh from victory in Argentina, Carlos Sainz Sr’s World Rally Championship future was under serious consideration in 2004 as bigger priorities emerged. In Autosport’s 29 July issue, the Spaniard hints at what was to come both for himself and the WRC Up on the podium after Rally Argentina, Carlos Sainz’s face was a picture of
Month: October 2020
The MotoGP Aragon Grand Prix on Sunday has been pushed back by an hour as part of a shake-up to the rest of the weekend schedule, beginning on Saturday. The opening practice session for the Aragon GP on Friday was delayed by 35 minutes to allow for the track to warm to a safe temperature
Joan Mir says he has “recovered the good feelings” that went missing at Le Mans but admits he’s “not that fast” after Friday’s running at the MotoGP Aragon Grand Prix. Mir qualified down in 14th at Le Mans and only managed 11th in the wet race, allowing Fabio Quartararo to extend his championship lead to
This could prelude to a major overhaul within BMW that could see all its factory and customer racing programmes being transferred under its high-performance M division. This echoes Renault’s move to rebrand its Formula 1 team as Alpine – and return to the Le Mans 24 Hours under the same brand – and Mercedes’ decision
Jens Marquardt is set to step down from his role as the director of BMW Motorsport with an official announcement expected later on Friday, Autosport can reveal. This could prelude to a major overhaul within BMW that could see all its factory and customer racing programmes being transferred under its high-performance M division. This echoes
Maverick Vinales topped a Yamaha 1-2-3 in a delayed first practice of the MotoGP Aragon Grand Prix as championship leader Fabio Quartararo crashed. The first 45-minute session of the Aragon weekend was delayed by over half an hour owing to the extremely low temperatures, as Michelin’s tyres need a minimum of around 12 degrees on
Valentino Rossi will miss this weekend’s Aragon Grand Prix and likely next week’s Teruel GP after testing positive for COVID-19, becoming the first MotoGP rider to do so. MotoGP has been operating tight restrictions to quell the spread of COVID-19, though it has recorded several cases from paddock members – including Moto2 rider Jorge Martin,
Maverick Vinales says he was inspired to start the MotoGP French Grand Prix without launch control because he saw KTM’s Dani Pedrosa do so successfully at the Algarve test. Yamaha’s Vinales opted to start last Sunday’s wet Le Mans race without use of the electronics launch control system as he had tried several in practice
The factory Honda MotoGP squad is set to agree a new two-year title sponsorship deal with Spanish oil giant Repsol, Autosport has learned. Repsol became title sponsor to the works Honda outfit back in 1995, beginning one of the most enduring partnerships in MotoGP and yielding 15 riders’ world titles spread between Mick Doohan, Valentino
Six cars have been entered in the Silver category this year, comprising over half of the GT3 grid after several withdrawals from prominent pro-am entries resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic left just five full-season entries. Typically comprised of aspiring professional drivers, Silver cars run more weight than pro-am cars to compensate for their greater performance
British GT will scrap its GT3 Silver class next year, with Silver-graded drivers able to compete only alongside a Bronze-graded amateur in a move designed to keep pro-am pairings competitive. Six cars have been entered in the Silver category this year, comprising over half of the GT3 grid after several withdrawals from prominent pro-am entries
Aleix Espargaro believed he could replicate his brother Pol’s MotoGP podium success at KTM on the Aprilia before this season, and says the Austrian marque must be “an example”. Pol Espargaro has managed three podiums so far in 2020 aboard the factory KTM, the latest of which coming last weekend when he finished the wet
Newly crowned Formula E champion Antonio Felix da Costa has been called up by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to test an IndyCar for the first time in his career. The DS Techeetah FE driver is set to drive the Honda-powered Dallara at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, which lost its 5 April slot on the
Alex Marquez “agrees” with the critics of his form on the Honda in his rookie MotoGP season, admitting he is “not as fast I want” to be, especially in qualifying. The younger Marquez brother was selected by Honda to replace the retiring Jorge Lorenzo for the 2020 season, though this move was questioned owing to
Senior government and tourism bosses in Northern Ireland are considering “in detail” a fresh business case for moving the UK World Rally Championship round across the Irish Sea in 2021. Having refused to entertain the idea for many months on the grounds it did not represent good value for money in the current climate, the
Felix Rosenqvist is set to leave Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of the IndyCar season to partner Pato O’Ward in the Arrow McLaren SP team in 2021. Multiple sources have confirmed to Autosport that the Swedish driver will next week end his time at Ganassi, where he made his race debut with the team
The 2009 champion and 15-times grand prix winner will drive a McLaren 720S GT3 entered by the Jenson Team Rocket RJN outfit he co-owns with RJN boss Bob Neville and lifelong friend Chris Buncombe, who will share the car with GT3 rookie Button. Since concluding his F1 career with McLaren at the 2017 Monaco GP,
One-time Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button will make a one-off British GT appearance in the championship’s final round at Silverstone next month. The 2009 champion and 15-times grand prix winner will drive a McLaren 720S GT3 entered by the Jenson Team Rocket RJN outfit he co-owns with RJN boss Bob Neville and lifelong friend
Pato O’Ward will remain with the Arrow McLaren SP team for the 2021 IndyCar season, having shown “incredible form this year” according to team co-owner Sam Schmidt. The 2018 Indy Lights champion has been one of the stars of IndyCar this year despite it being his first full season in the top tier of American
Three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves is aiming to announce his 2021 plans in the next four weeks, with a return to IndyCar “the ideal” option. Castroneves, who is currently focusing on his IMSA title challenge with Acura Team Penske alongside Ricky Taylor, has been speaking with several IndyCar teams about returning full-time to the
KTM’s Brad Binder says the amount of grip on offer from Michelin’s MotoGP tyres was “insane” after finishing his first race in the rain at the French Grand Prix 12th. Rookie Binder, along with the likes of Alex Marquez, Iker Lecuona, Fabio Quartararo, Joan Mir, Francesco Bagnaia and Miguel Oliveira had very limited wet MotoGP
Petronas SRT’s Franco Morbidelli says his MotoGP French Grand Prix took a “whirl downwards” after his “strange” qualifying and ended up crashing out on lap 17. Morbidelli was fighting for pole position in the early stages of Saturday’s Q2, but a “strange” inability to improve his lap time in his second run on fresh tyres
A “heartbroken” Bradley Smith says the electronics on his Aprilia MotoGP bike “let me down” and led to his crash out of the top 10 in the French Grand Prix. Smith topped the wet FP1 session at Le Mans on Friday and stormed through from 19th on the grid to run seventh by the fourth
Sebastien Ogier believes the decision to extend this year’s World Rally Championship season with the late addition of December’s Rally Monza is “great news” for fans. Monza becomes the third entirely new event to join rallying’s top flight after Rally Estonia – the home round of defending World Rally champions Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja
Oliver Askew will not be retained by Arrow McLaren SP for 2021, but may still race for the team in the IndyCar finale at St. Petersburg. Reigning Indy Lights champion Askew had scored a podium at Iowa Speedway and was leading the rookie standings up until the August Indianapolis 500 when he suffered a heavy
Maverick Vinales comes away from finishing a distant 10th in the MotoGP French Grand Prix “more positive” and feels he only needed a stronger qualifying for a different result. Sunday’s Le Mans race was a bruising one for Yamaha, with the top M1 Fabio Quartararo in ninth, with Vinales trailing him 10th while both Valentino
Jack Miller says his MotoGP French Grand Prix retirement was the result of having to switch to his second bike for the wet race which already had an engine issue. After qualifiying second, the Pramac rider led briefly on the opening lap of Sunday’s Le Mans race and remained in the lead battle up until
Valentino Rossi “didn’t understand” why he crashed on the opening lap of the MotoGP French Grand Prix and called his third-successive non-finish a “great shame”. The Yamaha rider started from 10th and was in the middle of the pack on the run up to the Dunlop chicane on the opening lap of Sunday’s Le Mans
World Rally Championship leader Elfyn Evans has said a top-five performance in last weekend’s Rally Italy was what he expected to come away with because of his road opening responsibilities. Evans finished fourth on the antepenultimate round of the championship to retain top spot in the WRC drivers’ standings despite his lead over Toyota team-mate
Chase Elliott scored his third NASCAR Cup Series win of the season at the Charlotte Roval, as reigning champion Kyle Busch was eliminated from the Playoffs. For the first time ever in the Cup Series, and the first race to be run in the wet since 1956, the 109-lap encounter around the 2.28-mile combination of