Last weekend the rallying world paid tribute to Colin McRae, the 1995 world champion who died 10 years ago last month. DAVID EVANS explains what it meant to those involved The big fella took a step back. He turned, grabbed the arms of his friend and whispered. “Sua figlia…” Mystified, I asked an Italian colleague
Red Bull has blamed the “debacle” of a raft of post-race penalties after last year’s Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix for the rush to punish Max Verstappen in Austin. A five-second post-race penalty stripped Verstappen of his third placed finish in the United States Grand Prix after the FIA ruled he had overtaken Kimi Raikkonen
Aprilia MotoGP rider Aleix Espargaro will not be able to take part in this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang due to injury. Espargaro fractured the fourth metacarpus in his left hand after crashing out in last weekend’s Phillip Island race at Turn 1. The Spaniard opted against having surgery on the injury, as this
Maverick Vinales has turned his focus to beating Andrea Dovizioso to the runner-up spot in this year’s MotoGP standings after his title hopes were dashed at Phillip Island. Having dropped 41 points behind championship leader Marc Marquez at Motegi, Vinales was mathematically eliminated from contention in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix as he finished third behind
A total of eight winners of keynote races at Macau are on the entry for next month’s FIA GT World Cup on the Chinese street circuit. Past winners of the World Cup (formerly the Macau GT Cup), the Formula 3 Grand Prix and the Guia touring car race are all represented on a 20-car entry
Max Verstappen’s penalty for going off track to overtake Kimi Raikkonen at the end of the United States Grand Prix sparked debate all over the world between Formula 1 fans. Verstappen and Red Bull were outraged at the decision, along with several ex-F1 drivers, while a lot of fans have argued that the penalty was
Brendon Hartley will retain his seat with Toro Rosso in Formula 1 following his debut in the United States Grand Prix, with Daniil Kvyat making way for Pierre Gasly in Mexico. Toro Rosso drafted in Porsche World Endurance Championship driver Hartley to replace Gasly last weekend so the Frenchman could try to win the Super
IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden has backed the series’ decision to reject the adoption of a Formula 1-style halo and pursue its own cockpit protection system instead. The single-seater series plans to test its own “windshield” cockpit protection device in the coming months after rejecting the halo as a viable solution. Newgarden told reporters at the
Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne says singling out team principal Maurizio Arrivabene or technical director Mattia Binotto for the Formula 1 team’s recent poor performance would be “idiotic”. A first-lap crash ended both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen’s race in Singapore, followed by engine trouble at Malaysia and Japan derailed Ferrari’s hopes in both championships. Mercedes
Suzuki MotoGP rider Andrea Iannone says he is “surprised” if people still doubt his ability after scoring a second strong result in as many races at Phillip Island. The Italian spent much of last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix fighting in the lead group before eventually finishing sixth, and also enjoyed a strong run to fourth
The ‘Dayinsure Wales Rally GB’, as it will be called for the second year, is being held in Wales on October 26-29 of October, and will feature the penultimate round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Dayinsure are known for providing short term car insurance and so this event in particular seems to be the
Schnitzer will return to Macau for next month’s FIA GT World Cup eight years after its record 13th victory in the Guia touring car race on the Chinese street track. The German team will field a solo factory BMW M6 GT3 in the World Cup on November 18-19 for DTM driver Augusto Farfus, who recorded
Furniture Row’s playoff leader Martin Truex Jr claimed back-to-back wins at Kansas in 2017 at the end of the final race of the last eight, having already secured his passage. Truex started the race from pole position and led until lap 39 of 267 when he was given a penalty for changing lanes before the
Fernando Alonso believes his performance during Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix weekend was “sublime”, before he retired from the race with engine problems. The McLaren driver was running eighth when he reported a lack of power from his Honda F1 engine and was asked to drive back to the pits to retire. It was
Mercedes Formula 1 chairman Niki Lauda has called Max Verstappen’s penalty for going off track when passing Kimi Raikkonen in the United States Grand Prix the worst decision he’s ever seen. Verstappen was given a five second penalty after passing Raikkonen on the last lap, dropping him back from third to fourth, after he was
The future of Red Bull’s Formula 1 drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen has been a talking point in 2017, but Verstappen has now extended his deal with the team. Verstappen’s contract was going to expire at the end of the 2019 season, a year which is likely to be key to the driver market
World Superbike regular Michael van der Mark will replace the ill Jonas Folger and make his MotoGP debut with the Tech3 satellite Yamaha team at Sepang, it has been announced. Earlier this year, Van der Mark had looked set to race for the factory Yamaha squad at Aragon in place of Valentino Rossi. But when
Ducati MotoGP rider Andrea Dovizioso says a simple lack of speed, not his early error, was the worst thing about his potentially championship-defining run to 13th at Phillip Island. Starting from 11th, Dovizioso’s race took an early turn for the worse when he ran wide at Turn 1 at the start of the second lap,
Marc Marquez says the fact he is now 33 points clear of Andrea Dovizioso in the MotoGP title race is more important to him than his Australian Grand Prix victory. After being beaten in an epic battle at Motegi last weekend by Dovizioso, Marquez struck a decisive blow against his rival at Phillip Island, taking
Aprilia MotoGP rider Aleix Espargaro has fractured his left finger after an early crash during Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island. The Spaniard, who put Aprilia on the top of the timesheets for the first time in the premier class on Friday by topping second practice, crashed out of sixth place at the start
Valentino Rossi reckons he had the potential to stay with MotoGP Phillip Island winner Marc Marquez were it not for a “crazy” late overtake from Andrea Iannone. The majority of the Australian Grand Prix featured eight riders running in the front group, with Rossi, Maverick Vinales, Johann Zarco and Marquez all taking turns leading. After
Marc Marquez gave his MotoGP title hopes a boost with a commanding win at Phillip Island, while main rival Andrea Dovizioso struggled to 13th position. The Honda rider played a patient game across the 27 laps, pulling clear of what had been a frantic scrap for the lead with Valentino Rossi and Johann Zarco with
Joan Mir wrapped up this year’s Moto3 championship with two rounds to spare after taking his ninth victory of the season in a shortened Phillip Island race. The Spaniard arrived in Australia with a 55-point advantage over nearest rival Romano Fenati, after his lead was slashed dramatically the previous weekend at Motegi following a dismal
Lance Stroll has been penalised for blocking Romain Grosjean in Formula 1 qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. Grosjean had to take avoiding action at high speed between the final corners on a flying lap in Q1 as Stroll attempted to move out of his way to the right, at the same time the
Lewis Hamilton claimed his 72nd Formula 1 pole position with a dominant performance in qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver was fastest in all three segments of qualifying, ending up 0.239s clear of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. This was despite a poor final sector on his Hamilton’s second Q3 run preventing him
MotoGP’s top riders have called for the start time of the Australian Grand Prix to be moved an hour earlier from next year onwards. Riders are campaigning for the race start to be pushed forward from its traditional 4pm local time slot, with calls for it to start no later than 3pm in the future.
Cal Crutchlow is expecting a chaotic start to Sunday’s MotoGP Australian Grand Prix, and claims several “nuts” riders who lack long-run pace will try to make an early impact. LCR Honda rider Crutchlow will begin the Phillip Island event, which he won last year, from 10th on the grid after crashing at the Honda corner
Formula 1 plans to launch an online live streaming service in 2018 as part of a radical overhaul of its digital and broadcast strategies. A big effort is being made to expand F1’s digital presence under new owners Liberty Media, and a live streaming service from races, plus other offerings in between events providing extra
MotoGP title contender Andrea Dovizioso says his crash in fourth practice at Phillip Island was behind his disappointing run to 11th in qualifying for tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix. Dovizioso fell at the Lukey Heights corner during FP4 before going on to finish second-to-last in Q2, trailing pacesetter and championship rival Marc Marquez by 1.110-seconds. The
Valentino Rossi admits he needs to “find something” if he is to have a chance of winning MotoGP’s Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island after qualifying seventh. Rossi had to fight his way through Q1 on Saturday as he finished outside the top 10 across the first three practice sessions, and eventually ended up 0.817-seconds