KTM CEO Stefan Pierer has labelled new MotoGP signing Johann Zarco’s performance so far in the 2019 season as “simply unacceptable”, and suggested his current struggles are “psychological” in nature. Zarco, who was aggressively courted by KTM after impressing right away on the Tech3-run satellite Yamaha on his arrival to MotoGP, has been unable to
World Rally Championship teams have warned that the FIA is now leaving it too late to finalise its plans for introducing hybrid technology to the series in 2022. FIA rally director Yves Matton has made clear there will be an electric element in the next WRC rules cycle, and intends to outline further details next
George Russell hopes his Formula 1 reputation will be lifted by what fellow rookies Alex Albon and Lando Norris are achieving, amid his current Williams struggles. Toro Rosso newcomer Albon and McLaren protege Norris have both starred in the opening stages of the 2019 season, and were the drivers Russell beat to last year’s Formula
Silverstone has secured a one-year extension to its current MotoGP deal, following the announcement that the circuit will be resurfaced again, keeping the race until at least 2021. Plans for the resurfacing were first confirmed back in March, coming as the consequence of the cancellation of the British motorcycle Grand Prix at the venue last
Ferrari will introduce its first engine upgrade of the Formula 1 season at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, two races earlier than planned. The Italian team intended to wait until the Canadian Grand Prix, round seven of the season, to run its second-specification power unit for the first time. However, ahead of the weekend Ferrari
Audi sport chief Dieter Gass says differences in sporting regulations need to be ironed out before the manufacturer can commit to Japan’s Super GT Championship. Gass has identified the open-tyre rules in Japan and the testing restrictions in the DTM as potential obstacles for adding a Super GT programme with the RS5 DTM. That is
Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship, Wales Rally GB, will include a new Saturday night spectator stage up and down the Colwyn Bay promenade on the North Wales coast. The two-mile asphalt test will be completed following the mid-Wales forests on the run into final service in Llandudno on Saturday, day two. This Colwyn
Marc Marquez says the carbon-covered Honda bike he sampled in Monday’s post-Spanish Grand Prix felt “different” to his usual MotoGP machine. Fresh from winning the Jerez race on Sunday, Marquez tried the bike raced by HRC test rider Stefan Bradl, which features some carbon-coated chassis elements in a bid to save weight and gain flexibility.
Yamaha MotoGP rider Maverick Vinales says his Jerez podium, which felt “like a victory”, was all down to a rare strong start. The Spanish GP marked the first race in 2019 – and only the third race since the start of last year – at which Vinales gained a position on the opening lap, the
Red Bull is planning a “fairly subtle” upgrade for the Spanish Grand Prix, having “closed the gap” to Formula 1 pacesetters Mercedes and Ferrari since the start of 2019. The team scored a podium in the first race of the season on its debut with Honda engines but finished fourth in the three races that
Romain Grosjean says it is “almost like everyone’s going to have a B-car” at the Spanish Grand Prix, as his Haas Formula 1 team readies a major upgrade package. The first non-flyaway race of the season is traditionally when teams bring significant updates, although it has become more common for those with greater resources to
NASCAR Cup Series points leader and Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver Kyle Busch says the series’ new aero package for this season “sucked” at Dover. Busch – who equalled Morgan Shepherd’s 1990 record of 11-straight top 10 finishes to start the season – struggled in the rain-delayed race on Monday, hitting the wall in what
Formula 1 teams are edging towards an October compromise over the finalising of the 2021 car regulations, in a bid to make things fairer for all teams. As Autosport revealed earlier this year, teams have pushed for a delay in publishing the new 2021 regulations because of fears that going too early with them could
Martin Truex Jr stormed from the back of the NASCAR Cup Series field to take his second victory of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing in the rescheduled Dover race. Truex was sent to the back ahead of the race after his Toyota machine failed pre-race inspection prior to yesterday’s abandoned race. The 2017 champion
Record breaking MotoGP polesitter Fabio Quartararo set the fastest-ever MotoGP lap of Jerez in the post-Spanish Grand Prix collective test at the same circuit on Monday aboard his Petronas Yamaha. The 20-year-old rookie ended the day with a best effort of 1m36.379s, which was half a second quicker than the lap that had made him
Mercedes Formula 1 team boss Toto Wolff believes the thinner-gauge tyres introduced for this season have made what teams learned last year about the vital “science” involved less relevant. In 2018, Pirelli introduced tyres with a slightly thinner tread for the races in Spain, France and Britain to prevent blistering, and decided to make that
MotoGP manufacturer Yamaha will reduce the target mileage on the component that failed on Fabio Quartararo’s Yamaha M1 bike in the Spanish Grand Prix. Rookie Quartararo, who became MotoGP’s youngest-ever pole-sitter the day prior to the race, was running a comfortable second with what he described as “incredible pace” and looked on course for a
Reigning Super GT champion Jenson Button says he was concerned he might not even score points at Fuji after qualifying only 12th for the season’s second-longest race. Button and Kunimitsu Honda team-mate Naoki Yamamoto failed to progress to Q2 for the first time since last August’s Fuji 500-mile event, and 12th place marked their worst
Honda rider Jorge Lorenzo says the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez left him “sad, disappointed and worried” about his current MotoGP form. After a difficult start to life at Honda, Lorenzo had high hopes for the first race of the European leg but his second place in Friday morning practice proved a false dawn. The
Alex Albon believes Toro Rosso is not getting the results it deserves in Formula 1, and has the potential to be higher than ninth in the constructors’ championship. Although the Faenza-based team had looked strong throughout practice and qualifying at the last race in Azerbaijan, Albon and team-mate Daniil Kvyat were unable to turn their
Alex Rins says he was amused by the footage of a marshal at Jerez taking a minor component from his Suzuki MotoGP bike at the end of the Spanish Grand Prix. Rins finished second in the race and stopped on track to celebrate, which is when the onboard camera on his GSX-RR captured a track
The NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover has been postponed to Monday after persistent rain in Delaware left cars unable to run more than a handful of formation laps. Running of the race has been pushed back to 12:00pm Eastern Time, (17:00pm in the UK), on Monday. Monday’s forecast is for clear and sunny skies,
Black Falcon Mercedes pair Maro Engel and Luca Stolz won the second Brands Hatch Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe race of the season-opener, after surprise poleman Fabian Schiller dropped back. Reigning Endurance Cup champions Stolz and Engel had finished runner-up to Silver Cup competitors Nico Bastian and Thomas Neubauer in a Akka ASP Mercedes in
Petronas Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo says his “incredible” race pace was in part due to learning from his front-running rivals in the Spanish Grand Prix. Quartararo, 20, qualified on pole position for the Jerez race – becoming the youngest rider to do so, beating the previous record held by Marc Marquez – but fell back
Honda rider Marc Marquez says the dominant manner of his victory at Jerez was a way of proving to his rivals that his confidence hadn’t been knocked by his Austin crash. Marquez fell from a comfortable lead at the Circuit of the Americas, marking the first time he had been defeated at the venue. But
Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez dominated the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, becoming the first repeat winner of the 2019 campaign. Marquez grabbed the lead off the line and swiftly escaped from the chasing pack, his job made easier when rookie Fabio Quartararo – who had succeeded him as MotoGP’s youngest-ever poleman on Sunday –
Silver Cup competitors Nico Bastian and Thomas Neubauer took a sensational Blancpain win in the Brands Hatch season-opener in a Akka ASP Mercedes, having seized the lead during the pitstops. Reigning Silver Cup champion Bastian ran a close third from the off in his #89 Mercedes, behind poleman and reigning Endurance Cup champion Luca Stolz,
Haas team principal Gunther Steiner believes the large impact that Pirelli’s 2019 tyres are having on the Formula 1 pecking order is “not the right thing” for grand prix racing. The American outfit has been affected badly by tyre warm-up issues at the start of the campaign, scoring just one top-10 finish in the first
Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto says Mercedes currently has a “slightly better” Formula 1 car, but insists the gap between the two squads in the championship is not representative. Ferrari’s new SF90 was the benchmark in F1’s pre-season testing in Barcelona, yet it was Mercedes instead that picked up four consecutive 1-2 finishes to begin
Aprilia rider Andrea Iannone has been declared unfit to participate in MotoGP’s Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez following a crash on Saturday. Iannone hurt his left ankle in a heavy tumble at Turn 11 in FP4, which took place right before qualifying. He was taken away on a stretcher and was later seen to be