Leading World Rally Championship figures have told Autosport they are refusing to give up on the 2020 season, despite the cancellation of the Finnish and New Zealand rounds this week. Four events have now been called off this year because of COVID-19, leaving series promoters facing a battle as they attempt to safeguard half of
Pol Espargaro is set to leave KTM at the end of the year and join Marc Marquez at the factory Honda team for the 2021 MotoGP season, Autosport has learned. The 2013 Moto2 world champion made his MotoGP debut in 2014 with the Tech3 Yamaha squad, before moving to KTM to spearhead its works effort
NASCAR Cup racer Bubba Wallace has called on his peers to join him in condemning racial injustice, saying “the silence from the top drivers in our sport is beyond frustrating”. Wallace made a one-hour guest appearance on the Dale Jr. Download show on NBCSN this week, where hosts Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mike Davis discussed
Reigning IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden says the rookie class will struggle at this weekend’s Texas Motor Speedway season-opener and throughout the season, due to the lack of seat time. This year’s IndyCar rookies took part in a test at Texas Motor Speedway two days after the Spring Training session at Circuit of The Americas in
KTM insists the MotoGP engine freeze introduced to control costs in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic will not affect its progress. The Austrian marque became the first to resume testing this week since the COVID-19 crisis placed the 2020 campaign on hold, as it undertook two days of running at the Red Bull
Rally New Zealand has become the fourth World Rally Championship round to get the axe as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was widely expected the Auckland-based event, scheduled for 3-6 September, would prove impossible with the New Zealand government having closed the country’s borders to shield itself from the worst of the coronavirus
IndyCar president Jay Frye admits the coronavirus pandemic may delay the introduction of a new chassis and hybrid motors, and will outline the latest plans in the next 30 days. Last August, IndyCar revealed the next-generation engines would incorporate hybrid units – although didn’t specify what size the engines would be – and stated the
Ducati has agreed a deal with Moto2 frontrunner Jorge Martin to replace works team-bound Jack Miller at the Pramac MotoGP squad for 2021, Autosport has learned. Ducati announced last week that it had signed Miller to its works outfit for 2021, with Danilo Petrucci confirming he’d be leaving the marque at the end of the
Ducati has signed Moto2 frontrunner Jorge Martin to replace works team-bound Jack Miller at the Pramac MotoGP squad for 2021, Autosport has learned. Ducati announced last week that it had signed Miller to its works outfit for 2021, with Danilo Petrucci confirming he’d be leaving the marque at the end of the year. Current KTM
MotoGP has outlined its plans to ensure paddock safety from coronavirus upon its hoped return to action on 19 July with the first of two races at Jerez. The outbreak of COVID-19 has put the MotoGP season on hold since its aborted effort to stage the Qatar Grand Prix back in March, with Moto2 and
Rally Finland has become the latest major motorsport event to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, further delaying the resumption of the 2020 World Rally Championship season. Finland was due to host the next round of the WRC on 6-9 August, but organiser AKK Sport announced on Wednesday that the event has now been
Honda has rubbished allegations by Ducati test rider Michele Pirro that it was responsible for the ban on wildcard entries in MotoGP this season. As part of its efforts to reduce the cost of competition amid the coronavirus crisis, the Grand Prix Commission has prohibited MotoGP manufacturers from fielding wildcards in 2020, although it has
Carlin will enter just one car for this weekend’s 2020 IndyCar Series opener at Texas, as the #31 originally to be driven by Felipe Nasr has been withdrawn. The British team has cited the COVID-19 pandemic behind the economic reasons for scaling back to one entry for Conor Daly, but underlined its plan to complete
Craig Breen says his confidence is “higher than normal” ahead of his planned return to Hyundai’s World Rally Championship line-up for Rally Finland. Last month, the Irishman was named in the South Korean manufacturer’s three-car team for Rally Finland, alongside Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville. Running from 6-9 August, the Jyvaskyla meeting is due to
Danilo Petrucci has confirmed that he will no longer be a Ducati MotoGP rider as of next season, following Jack Miller’s promotion to the factory team. Miller was given the nod for a 2021 Ducati factory seat last week, and while his teammate’s identity remains unconfirmed, it appears highly likely that Andrea Dovizioso will stay
Scott Dixon says he wishes the IndyCar Series hadn’t been so radical with the regulation of tyre usage ahead of this weekend’s 2020 opener at Texas Motor Speedway. IndyCar officials have introduced a 35-lap limit for tyres this Saturday’s Genesys 300, to mitigate the fact that Firestone will be bringing the same compound and construction
Ducati will bring in a fresh perspective to its 2021 MotoGP line-up after it signed Jack Miller on a one-year deal last week. Miller has been part of the Ducati stable since 2018 and has proven to be a valuable asset for the Italian marque in the development of the Desmosedici, upon which last year
Valentino Rossi admits being in a coronavirus lockdown for the past two months has given him a more relaxed perspective on retirement as he deliberates his MotoGP future beyond 2020. The 41-year-old nine-times grand prix motorcycle world champion has lost his place at the works Yamaha squad for 2021 to last year’s rookie sensation Fabio
The World Rally Championship has pledged to wait until the last minute before cancelling any of its remaining rallies and remains confident of hosting at least four more events before the end of the year. The WRC was able to complete its opening three rounds in Monaco, Sweden and Mexico before the worsening coronavirus pandemic
The Aprilia MotoGP squad will resume testing for the first time since the coronavirus-forced shutdown took hold in March at Misano next weekend. The outbreak of coronavirus has forced MotoGP to go on hiatus since the aborted premier class opener in Qatar at the beginning of March, with only the Moto2 and Moto3 classes having
MotoGP has announced that the 2020 Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, with all overseas races on hold until mid-November. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced MotoGP to go on hiatus since the beginning of March, when it was only able to run the Moto2 and Moto3 races in
Brad Keselowski inherited victory in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol as leaders Joey Logano and Chase Elliott took each other out with two laps to go. After a caution period instigated by long-time leader Denny Hamlin spinning on tyre marbles ended with five laps of a scheduled 500 to run, Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports
One-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski favours the current policy of abandoning qualifying and practice for midweek races – regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic that necessitated the condensed format. Team Penske’s Keselowski, who won Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, was drawn on pole for the first race following NASCAR’s return at Darlington with the new random
Scott Redding says the Aprilia MotoGP team was like an “empty void” in 2018, two years on from his disastrous final premier-class campaign with the Italian manufacturer. The 27-year-old Briton replaced fellow countryman Sam Lowes at the Team Gresini-run Aprilia squad in 2018, having previously raced both Honda and Ducati machinery in his first four
Fifty years on from the first of Al Unser’s record-matching four Indianapolis 500 triumphs, Autosport’s IndyCar correspondent DAVID MALSHER-LOPEZ recalls the career of an Indy hero No fan of the Indianapolis 500 needs telling that last weekend was a weird one. For media folks – who are merely fans paid to write about it –
For many fans, Group B was the golden era of the World Rally Championship, but it came at a high price. DAVID EVANS looked back at the rise and demise of the WRC’s most spectacular machines in the 18 August 2016 issue of Autosport magazine Rally cars go around corners far faster today than they
Aleix Espargaro has revealed he is “really close” to finalising a new Aprilia MotoGP deal for 2021 and beyond, admitting that this will likely be his last contract before retirement. Espargaro has often been critical of the Gresini-run Aprilia squad since coming on board in 2017, having achieved only a best finish of sixth in
As Autosport launches the latest episode in its Race of My Life podcast series, we take a look back at Roger Penske’s choice as the race of his life – the 1994 Indianapolis 500 Race: 1994 Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Car: Penske PC23 (Driven by Al Unser Jr) It was a race when Penske’s
The British and Australian MotoGP races have been called off for this season, bringing the total number of race cancellations in 2020 up to five. The British MotoGP at Silverstone had been scheduled for 30 August, while the Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island was in the initial race calendar for 25 October. But with the
Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott overtook an ailing Kevin Harvick late on to claim his first victory of the season in the rescheduled NASCAR Cup Series second race at Charlotte. After Tropical Storm Bertha had battered Charlotte on Wednesday which led to the initial postponement, Team Penske’s Joey Logano emerged as the early front-runner when the