Jorge Lorenzo feels team-mate Marc Marquez’s imperious MotoGP form means Honda is reluctant to make changes to its RC213V that may help out other riders. The three-time MotoGP champion replaced a struggling Dani Pedrosa at the Honda works team at the off-season, but has so far struggled to attain results. Marquez, who has given Honda
Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi claimed pole position for the first race of IndyCar’s double-header around the streets of Belle Isle in Detroit. An acrobatic lap from Rossi in the faster Group 2 session netted the American his sixth career pole, as he beat Scott Dixon by two-tenths of the session. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden was
The Williams Formula 1 team’s Heritage arm ran its inaugural client trackday at Jerez early last month. The privately owned cars that ran included Keke Rosberg’s 1983 Monaco Grand Prix-winning FW08C, Nigel Mansell’s legendary 1992 FW14B and one of the FW17s that took pole position at 12 out of 17 races in 1995 in the
Renault is considering building a ‘qualifying’ car for 2020 as part of its effort to move up the order in Formula 1. Although it has faced a difficult start to the current campaign, the team is convinced that the baseline of its 2019 challenger is good enough to help it break free of the midfield
Marc Marquez secured his fourth pole position of the 2019 MotoGP season, beating Fabio Quartararo by 0.214s at the end of a frenetic qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix. Reigning champion Marquez established a new lap record at Mugello with his best time of 1m45.519s on his Honda, eclipsing the 1m45.733s set by Quartararo
Toyota’s dominance of the World Rally Championship on Rally Portugal continued on Saturday morning, but Jari-Matti Latvala has sliced rally leader Ott Tanak’s advantage to just 5.1 seconds. Tanak’s morning was not plain-sailing, as the Estonian “f*cked” the brakes aboard his Yaris to lose nine seconds to stage eight winner Kris Meeke. Tanak’s lead gap
Bentley Team M-Sport claimed a maiden pole position for the 1000-kilometre Blancpain GT Endurance Cup race at the Paul Ricard Circuit. Jordan Pepper, Steven Kane, and Jules Gounon took the top spot in the three-part qualifying session with a 1m53.338s average aboard their Bentley Continental GT3 and claimed Team M-Sport’s first pole position. Their average
Ducati works rider Danilo Petrucci topped Saturday morning practice at the Italian Grand Prix with a new fastest-ever MotoGP lap of Mugello. The local hero recorded a 1m46.056s, surpassing the previous record held by Valentino Rossi, while both Rossi and Petrucci’s teammate Andrea Dovizioso ended up missing the cut for automatic progression to Q2. Despite
Formula 1 championship leader Lewis Hamilton believes his start to the season has been “quite an average performance from myself”, despite winning four of the six races so far. Hamilton’s Monaco Grand Prix victory moved him 17 points clear of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the title battle. It came after only his second pole
Alexander Rossi topped Friday IndyCar practice in Detroit, but Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud halted the afternoon session by smacking a wall. The red flag for that incident prevented most of Rossi’s rivals setting a representative time on the alternate compound tires. Rossi’s Andretti Autosport Dallara-Honda had jumped half a second clear of the first
Former Honda rider Dani Pedrosa will get his first full-blown test with KTM’s 2019 MotoGP bike at Brno next week, Autosport has learned. Pedrosa opted to retire from grand prix racing last year, having been part of the works Honda MotoGP team since 2006, before accepting an offer to join KTM in a test capacity.
IndyCar rookie and new Red Bull junior Patricio O’Ward will not contest the remaining two oval races he was originally lined up to enter with Carlin. Reigning Indy Lights champion O’Ward signed to drive for Carlin this season after breaking his ties with Harding Steinbrenner Racing in February. Originally O’Ward was supposed to start all
Toyota World Rally Championship driver Ott Tanak leads Rally Portugal after Friday’s seven stages, holding a 17.3 second advantage over team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala. Tanak hit the front on stage three when Hyundai driver Dani Sordo was slowed with fuel related issues, and didn’t look back as others suffered minor woes. The Estonian finished the leg
Racing Point technical director Andy Green believes the current Formula 1 engines are “too incredible” and reckons F1 could benefit from a simpler power unit. The current hybrid V6s, introduced in 2015, have been labelled as an “incredible piece of engineering” and the Mercedes powerunit became the most efficient engine ever by passing 50% thermal
Pol Espargaro says KTM’s MotoGP engine is now stronger than that of Yamaha, after he passed Valentino Rossi “like he was stopped” during Friday practice at Mugello. After securing KTM’s best dry-weather MotoGP result with sixth at Le Mans, Espargaro maintained that strong form by finishing fourth in second practice for the Italian Grand Prix.
Ott Tanak continues to lead the World Rally Championship’s Rally Portugal ahead of his Toyota team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Kris Meeke, as Teemu Suninen’s podium challenge for M-Sport faded. Latvala reduced Tanak’s advantage from 6.9 seconds to 5.4s on the first stage of the afternoon, but immediately fell back again on stage five as he
NASCAR could adopt one of the Gen-7 components planned for the next generation of Cup Series cars by as early as 2020. Two Gen-7 components were tested in the All-Star Race at Charlotte last weekend, with the single-piece carbonfibre splitter radiator pan receiving positive feedback that could lead to a 2020 inclusion. NASCAR and its
Honda is optimistic its latest Formula 1 engine is capable of lasting seven grands prix, which would mark an important step in its bid to produce a title-challenging product. The Japanese manufacturer introduced its second-spec engine ahead of the fourth round of the 2019 season in Azerbaijan, after successfully bringing a reliability-focused upgrade forward. After
Toyota World Rally Championship driver Ott Tanak leads team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Kris Meeke after the opening morning of Rally Portugal, as drama befell early leader Dani Sordo. Hyundai’s Sordo was 4.2 seconds faster than Tanak’s Toyota on the opening Lousa stage, with both M-Sport’s Teemu Suninen and Tanak’s team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala within 0.6s of
Formula 1 races into the French Grand Prix this June for what is sure to be an action-packed weekend – and one that won’t break the bank. Motorsport Live looks at why the French Grand Prix is excellent value for money. France returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2018 and has already established itself
The organisers of the Spanish Grand Prix, the RACC, have urged the government to step in and find a solution “urgently” in order to save the Formula 1 race. The Barcelona-based race has been on the F1 calendar since 1991 and its future is now in doubt as its contract comes to an end this
The Dakar Rally hopes to expand the event beyond Saudi Arabia and into other countries for 2021, according to the event’s director David Castera. In April it was confirmed that the 2020 edition of the Dakar will take place in Saudi Arabia after a five-year deal was signed and began a move that takes it
Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez topped the first practice session for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello ahead of Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci. Honda’s Marquez set his best lap – a 1m47.558s – just 10 minutes into the 45-minute session. In doing so he improved on the 1m47.804s set by Ducati tester Michele Pirro, who is
MotoGP star Valentino Rossi will contest this year’s Gulf 12 Hours alongside his half-brother Luca Marini and his long-time advisor and friend Uccio Salucci in Ferrari 488 GT3. Rossi told Sky Italia that the trio will share the car for the event, which will take place at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi on
Porsche has built and tested an engine that would have been Formula 1 compatible and formed the basis of a 2021 entry had it committed to joining the world championship. The German manufacturer was known to be considering an F1 programme, its first for almost three decades, as it joined the process establishing new engine
Leading MotoGP riders have called for modifications to be made to Mugello’s famous start/finish straight to improve safety, as racing speeds continue to increase. Ducati tester Michele Pirro’s huge practice crash at the Italian Grand Prix venue last year led to numerous riders renewing criticism of the track’s first corner, San Donato, which riders approach
Niki Lauda’s remarkable Formula 1 career is the subject of the latest edition of The Autosport Podcast, which evaluates where he stands among the all-time greats. Kevin Turner and Edd Straw delve into the qualities that made the remarkable Lauda so successful and discuss some of the strengths that are sometimes overlooked when the Austrian’s
Jorge Lorenzo says dealing with his MotoGP struggles at Honda is more difficult than it was during his Ducati spell. Lorenzo’s best result in 2019 was 11th at Le Mans and he said it was “encouraging” to match the pace of the Honda satellite bikes, having left Jerez “sad” and “worried”. The three-time champion’s 2019
Leading World Rally Championship crews have called on Rally Portugal’s organisers to increase the gaps between cars on safety grounds. Recent hot weather has caused significant dust problems and, following the pre-event recce, drivers spoke of visibility problems, especially on the stages running south of the event’s Matosinhos base. The current start list for Friday’s
Gus Greensmith says he has now got his head around M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta ahead of his World Rally Car debut on this weekend’s Rally Portugal World Rally Championship round. The 22-year-old drove on Rally Portugal last year in the WRC2 category, although the majority of the opening part of this year’s event takes place on