Honda MotoGP test rider Stefan Bradl says Cal Crutchlow’s outspoken nature is generally ‘not productive’ for the development of the manufacturer’s bike. Bradl spent three years with the LCR Honda squad that Crutchlow now rides for, though has not raced in MotoGP full-time since losing his ride with Aprilia at the end of 2016. He
Month: August 2019
Matt DiBenedetto says he is “fighting” to remain in the NASCAR Cup Series, with his seat under threat from Joe Gibbs Racing protege Christopher Bell. The 28-year-old Leavine Racing driver scored his fourth top 10 finish of the year at Watkins Glen, having scored all of those results in the last seven races, and is
Ducati MotoGP rider Danilo Petrucci says he “can’t afford” more “negative” races like last weekend’s Czech Grand Prix, his “worst” showing this season. While fellow GP19 riders Andrea Dovizioso and Jack Miller – who rides a satellite Pramac Racing current-spec bike – finished second and third in Brno behind race winner Marc Marquez, Petrucci struggled
Heikki Kovalainen will join fellow ex-McLaren Formula 1 driver Mika Hakkinen competing in the Suzuka 10 Hours, driving a Ferrari 488 GT3. Kovalainen will share HubAuto’s #27 Ferrari with fellow Super GT champion Nick Cassidy and team regular Nick Foster on August 23-25. Meanwhile double F1 champion Hakkinen is making his first international racing start
Elfyn Evans will miss Rally Germany later this month while he still recovers from the back injury he sustained at Rally Estonia, and will be replaced by Gus Greensmith. While Autosport understands M-Sport Ford driver Evans is nearing full fitness, there’s concern about the nature of the roads in Germany aggravating his injury again, which
Seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson has hit out at Penske’s Ryan Blaney following their clash at Watkins Glen, hinting that he could retaliate in a future race. Blaney started from the rear of the field after making unapproved pre-race adjustments, but climbed to fifth at the finish. But Blaney had pitched Johnson into a
The FIA has instructed World Rally Championship manufacturers to comply with a clarification document concerning the rear wings on their World Rally Cars after anomalies were discovered during Rally Finland. The governing body emphasised no parts were being run illegally – all manufacturer World Rally Cars comply with the homologation documents – but that the
Suzuki rider Alex Rins says he feared his rear tyre might explode during last weekend’s Czech Grand Prix after missing out on a place on the podium to Jack Miller. Rins held third place for the majority of the Brno race, but slipped behind the Pramac Ducati of Miller on the penultimate lap and was
Andrea Dovizioso says MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez has “changed the management” of races, which has put his rivals in “crisis”. Marquez has won six of the 10 races run in 2019, which has netted him a 63-point lead over Dovizioso, and has made it into the top two for the last 19 races he
Jenson Button says it will be “difficult” for he and Naoki Yamamoto to defend their SUPER GT title, despite returning to the podium in last weekend’s Fuji 500-mile round. The Kunimitsu Honda duo charged from 10th on the grid to finish second in the bonus-points race, accumulating 18 points to move up to fifth in
Suzuki MotoGP rider Joan Mir will remain in hospital overnight following his high-speed crash during Monday’s post-Czech Grand Prix test. Mir, who ended the Brno test seventh-fastest, fell entering Turn 1 with less than an hour to go at a speed of almost 190mph, hitting the airfence. The 2017 Moto3 champion was firstly evaluated by
Valentino Rossi admits he “expected a lot more” from the 2020 Yamaha MotoGP prototype rolled out for Monday’s post-Czech Grand Prix test, in which he was sixth fastest. For the first time in recent years, Yamaha brought the initial variant of the bike it will race the following season to the traditional summer Brno test
Fabio Quartararo ended the post-Czech Grand Prix MotoGP test at Brno fastest of all by 0.012 seconds from Yamaha stablemate Maverick Vinales. The Petronas SRT rider set the early pace, as he evaluated different suspension components, and Quartararo fired in a 1m56.225s lap in the opening hour of the test. Brno race winner and current
Long-time Moto2 squad Kiefer Racing has been informed it will not be granted a slot on the grid for the 2020 season. The German team downsized from two bikes to one at the start of the 2018 season, following the tragic loss of team co-founder Stefan Kiefer on the eve of the 2017 Sepang weekend.
Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick says William Byron had to “stand his ground” in his NASCAR Cup Series clash with Kyle Busch at Watkins Glen. Busch had started the race in third and ran alongside Bryon for second at Turn 1 before spinning out as the pair battled, seemingly without contact. The two then had
The MotoGP Czech Grand Prix could have been like “tenpin bowling” if it started with all riders on slick tyres on a partially wet circuit, said Pramac rider Jack Miller. A heavy downpour around 20 minutes before the race at the Brno circuit was originally due to start left the track wet, though the circuit
Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott resited pressure from Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr to clinch a second NASCAR Cup win of 2019 at Watkins Glen. Polesitter Elliott led 81 of 90 laps and swept the stages at the venue at which he claimed his maiden Cup victory last season. But Truex posed a significant threat
Sandy Mitchell and Andrea Amici moved to within five points of Corey Lewis and Richard Antinucci after claiming a double Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America victory at Road America. The Prestige Performance/Wayne Taylor Racing duo profited from a well-timed mandatory pit-stop during a full course caution to claim their first series win in Saturday’s opening
Franco Morbidelli and Joan Mir have both pointed the finger at Johann Zarco for causing them to crash on the opening lap of MotoGP’s Czech Grand Prix. Morbidelli and Mir were first-lap casualties at Brno, with both the Petronas Yamaha rider and Suzuki runner tumbling at Turn 4. The incident was the result of contact
MotoGP Czech Grand Prix winner Marc Marquez says he “pushed 100% from the beginning” as he was “afraid” of an attack from Yamaha duo Maverick Vinales and Fabio Quartararo. The Honda rider eased to his sixth win of 2019 by a margin of 2.4 seconds over Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso in the Brno event, which was
Toyota’s Ott Tanak increased his lead at the top of the World Rally Championship to 22 points over Sebastien Ogier after taking a second successive victory on Rally Finland. Running first on the road, Tanak led the way after the opening loop on Friday, but lost the lead to team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala in the afternoon.
The LeMans Lexus team took a shock victory in Fuji 500-mile from 11th on the grid, while Kunimitsu Honda duo Jenson Button and Naoki Yamamoto finished second to keep their SUPER GT championship hopes alive. LeMans’ Kazuya Oshima and Kenta Yamashita were left to squabble in the lower reaches of the top 10 in the
Ott Tanak is one stage away from securing his second consecutive Rally Finland victory, while his World Rally Championship rival Thierry Neuville moved up a place following Hyundai team orders. Toyota driver Tanak topped the first stage of the morning on Laukaa before taking it easy on the remaining passes of Ruuhimaki and Laukaa 2
Marc Marquez and Alex Rins have both been summoned by MotoGP race direction over their run-in during qualifying at the Czech Grand Prix on Saturday. The incident in question occurred in the second 15-minute session, when Rins aggressively passed Marquez at Turn 7, which nearly sent the latter into a crash. Marquez re-passed the Suzuki
FFF Racing’s Juuso Puhakka and Takashi Kasai extended their Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia points lead with a first overall victory of the year at the Korea International Circuit. The pair grabbed two extra points by claiming pole for Saturday’s opening encounter at the former Formula 1 venue, and now hold a five-point cushion over the
The 2019 SUPER GT season is being broadcast live and for free by Motorsport.tv, and you can watch this weekend’s prestigious Fuji 500-mile race live on Autosport too. Nissan is aiming to score its first GT500 victory of the season after locking out the front row of the grid for the bonus-points race. But a
Marc Marquez says the risks he took during a drying MotoGP Czech Grand Prix qualifying to take pole left Honda management “angry” with him. Marquez was the first rider to switch to slicks on the drying Brno surface midway through Q2, and went on to equal five-time 500cc champion Mick Doohan’s record tally of 58
Johann Zarco says qualifying third for MotoGP’s Czech Grand Prix made him feel like he “still has the ability” amid a largely miserable debut season at KTM. Zarco has endured a torrid first half of the 2019 campaign, but took advantage of wet conditions in qualifying at Brno by topping Q1, and then securing KTM’s
World Rally Championship points leader Ott Tanak will take a 16.4 second advantage into the final day of Rally Finland after edging away in the Saturday afternoon loop. Tanak took just one stage win after service but extended his lead over Esapekka Lappi over the remaining stages to move to within touching distance of a
Toyota World Rally Championship team principal Tommi Makinen has criticised Kris Meeke and Jari-Matti Latvala for ‘forgetting the plan’ for this week’s Rally Finland. Meeke retired from Saturday’s stages with damage to the left-rear of his Yaris WRC, while Latvala emerged from the same Kakaristo stage with a left-rear puncture. His car suffered bodywork and