The famous California street race was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, meaning second-year driver Palou had never previously driven around the 1.968-mile track. But the Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who heads nearest rival Patricio O’Ward in the standings by 35 points and needs only an 11th place finish to be guaranteed the title,
Month: September 2021
38 teams, 21 LMP2’s and 17 LMGTE machines will go head to head for their starting positions in the 4 Hours of Monza, Italy. The driver line-up for Monza was revealed earlier in the week and will feature three drivers per team. Louis Deletraz, Sérgio Sette Câmara, Beitske Visser, Will Stevens, Timmy Hansen and Néstor
With three wins and five other podium finishes – including runner-up last weekend at Laguna Seca – Chip Ganassi Racing’s series Palou arrives at the finale with a 35-point margin over his nearest opposition, Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward. Even if O’Ward wins the race, and gains the bonus point for pole, the bonus point
Jackson has been the runaway table-topper for much of the season but the Historic Formula Ford ace has not contested a full campaign this year and his large lead has gradually been eroded. Having taken five wins at the previous Legends event at Donington Park, the 2019 champion added a further three at Snetterton on
Grosjean, 35, scored three podium finishes in his first season in America’s premier open-wheel series, and came into the series off the back of his 10-year Formula 1 career, which ended prematurely with his horrendously fiery crash in the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. “We are thrilled to welcome Romain to the Andretti Autosport family,”
The Trident driver grabbed the top spot by just two-hundredths of a second from the Australian, who is embroiled in a tight title fight with Prema’s Dennis Hauger. The top 10 was covered by just 0.2 seconds in a session interrupted by a red flag and plagued by the usual slow lap congestion. Doohan, who
When it was pointed out to Romain Grosjean after his spectacular run to third place at Laguna Seca last Sunday that he was only 20 points behind Scott McLaughlin in the IndyCar championship, and therefore the Rookie of the Year battle was still on, the Frenchman was gracious in his response. Rather than point out
The all-female championship had been set to hold its next two rounds at the Circuit of the Americas on 23 October, and Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on 30 October. But it will now race twice in Austin after Formula 1 moved the Mexico City race to the first weekend of November, citing logistical challenges. The series’
Dan Cammish knows what it takes to win Porsche Carrera Cup GB races. His 31 triumphs in a three-year period of domination of the series is proof of that. And, yet, on his return this season, he had only added one more win to his tally – an inherited victory in the Snetterton opener. That
Ferrari revealed over the summer break that it was planning to bring a “significant step” in the performance of its power unit by bringing evolutions for its power unit through the season half of the season. Under the regulations, teams are permitted to make one specification update per year on each of its power unit
Wednesday’s running at Misano was notable for the first outings on a MotoGP bike for Raul Fernandez and Remy Gardner on the Tech3 KTMs they will race in 2022. The current Moto2 championship leaders and team-mates took over from Iker Lecuona and Danilo Petrucci at Tech3. Fernandez was 0.726 seconds quicker than Gardner in 22nd
New regulations governing the main rally-raid car category have forced the top teams to modify their existing 4×4 prototypes for the next edition of Dakar in January, as reported by Autosport earlier this year. Audi, which is making its debut in the legendary event, was the first manufacturer to reveal its innovative hybrid vehicle RS
It will be the first time that the second-generation Vantage GT3 has raced on the Nordschleife since the formal debut of the car in what was then known as the VLN in October 2018. The appearance also marks the first time that the Prodrive-run Aston Martin Racing squad has run a car with an all-professional
Franchitti, who works with both Palou and Dixon in his role as driver advisor at Chip Ganassi Racing, says that the working relationship between them this year has been key to Palou’s remarkable first season with the team. Franchitti won three of his titles with Ganassi and Dixon was his teammate throughout his five-year stint
The paddock has stayed behind at Misano for two days of official in-season testing following the San Marino Grand Prix, with 2022 developments and set-up work for October’s Emilia Romagna GP at the same venue the primary focus for teams. Rain in the morning left the circuit saturated for the first three-and-a-half-hour session to begin
With a 35-point margin over his only real rival now, Pato O’Ward, Palou needs to only finish 11th on the streets of Long Beach to seal the deal. Even if O’Ward was to match Palou’s tally of three wins, and earn all bonus points available with Palou classified 11th, the Arrow McLaren SP driver would
Having claimed pole position for the second time this season, Lawson led the field for a double-file rolling start in his AF Corse Ferrari, with Marco Wittmann positioned alongside him on the front row. Lawson didn’t go on the power until moments before crossing the start line, with his clever strategy giving him a clear
Grosjean, who this week is expected to be confirmed at Andretti Autosport, switched to IndyCar after five increasingly frustrating years at the Haas Formula 1 team bled away the career momentum he had gathered with 10 podiums for the Lotus team. His F1 career came to an end in an even more abrupt manner than
Bagnaia stormed to his first MotoGP win at Aragon a week ago after a race-long battle with Marc Marquez, and resisted immense pressure from a charging Quartararo late on at Misano to seal a famous home win on his factory Ducati. Quartararo kept his championship lead at a healthy 48 points as he was spared
Newgarden used a four-stop strategy after starting 17th, including two sets of Firestone alternate compound tyres [red side-walled] to charge up to seventh in the closing stages of the race. However, on a day when championship leader Alex Palou finished second, Newgarden saw his deficit grow from 34 points coming into the weekend to 48
Herta, who led 91 of the 95 laps, was under greatest threat during the race whenever he reached backmarkers, allowing championship leader Alex Palou to close up to within a second of the Andretti driver. Asked by Autosport if he felt it was time for IndyCar to wave blue flags at backmarkers and encourage them
O’Ward qualified sixth and finished fifth at the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey but championship leader Alex Palou of Ganassi qualified fourth and finished second. The result left O’Ward trailing by 35 points heading into next Sunday’s season finale at Long Beach. Consequently, even were O’Ward to clinch all bonus points and win the race,
O’Ward qualified sixth and finished fifth at the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey but championship leader Alex Palou of Ganassi qualified fourth and finished second. The result left O’Ward trailing by 35 points heading into next Sunday’s season finale at Long Beach. Consequently, even were O’Ward to clinch all bonus points and win the race,
During the 25th anniversary event of two-time series champion Zanardi’s famous ‘the pass’ move on Bryan Herta at the Corkscrew in 1996, Grosjean paid homage to the great Italian by overtaking a number of cars at the signature corner of the Laguna Seca track – including six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon. Grosjean, whose future IndyCar
Herta suffered a late scare after running over an animal, asking his team to check any damage to his front wing – but the Andretti Autosport driver was given the all-clear. He only had to stay ahead of Palou, who spent the second half of the race having to contend with traffic and a resurgent
Turkington, who was drawn on reversed-grid pole position, got the jump on front-row partner Gordon Shedden off the line, and never looked back. Turkington’s West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330i M Sport was carrying 27kg of success ballast compared to the 33kg of Shedden’s Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R. Once again, the race was neutralised
Of particular note is St. Petersburg shifting forward to February, and the second round being Texas Motor Speedway, which reverts to a one-race weekend after hosting two races this year. The Detroit event at Belle Isle will move back to its usual week after the Indy 500, but becomes a single race for the first
It was confirmed on Sunday morning that Arrow will continue to be title sponsor of the IndyCar squad, as well as a partner of McLaren’s F1 team. The renewal is a key element to the IndyCar team’s expansion, which was confirmed last month as McLaren Racing acquired a 75 percent stake, and its third car
Do you prefer the McLaren F1 GTR or Panoz GTR-1? Both 1990s cars are now fondly remembered, but you’d probably not have thought twice about which one you’d rather drive heading into the 1997 FIA GT Championship. David Brabham was in that sort of position and it seemed like an easy decision. The short-tailed competition
With tomorrow’s race set for 95 laps, compared with 90 run in 2019, teams and drivers are likely to struggle to stretch their tyre life for increased stint length. Fuel-wise, the race is expected feasible on three stops, as per this same event two years ago, but with the track surface at Laguna Seca being