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The father of reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen turned heads on his WRC debut, running as high as 25th overall and leading the Masters Cup class at the wheel of a DG Sport Competition-prepared Citroen C3 Rally2 car. Verstappen and co-driver Harm van Koppen eventually finished the rally 60th after running off the road during Stage 13, but the Dutchman did finish ahead of WRC championship ...Keep readingView the full article

The NASCAR Cup Series had a record number of countries represented in a single race this past weekend at Watkins Glen, with seven nationalities involved, including former F1 drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Daniil Kvyat. This number could have been higher, both in the number of 'foreigners' and former F1 drivers, with the presence of Marques. Originally, the ex-Minardi racer was to start eight Cup ...Keep readingView the full article

His #91 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was driven for the first time at Watkins Glen over the weekend by 2007 Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, who ran in the top 10 before crashing out in the final stage. Project 91’s stated intention is to field “world-class drivers from other disciplines to compete at NASCAR’s highest level”. Trackhouse already fields two full-time Cup cars with drivers ...Keep readingView the full article

His #91 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was driven for the first time at Watkins Glen over the weekend by 2007 Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, who ran in the top 10 before crashing out in the final stage. Project 91’s stated intention is to field “world-class drivers from other disciplines to compete at NASCAR’s highest level”. Trackhouse already fields two full-time Cup Series teams with ...Keep readingView the full article

Rockenfeller made his first Cup race start on Sunday at Watkins Glen, driving the #77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports. Already in an unfamiliar setting, the German road racer got to experience NASCAR’s version of racing in the wet before the track dried out, ran near the front early in the event and even duelled with former Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen on the ...Keep readingView the full article

Rockenfeller, a two-time Le Mans class winner and former DTM champion, made his first Cup Series start on Sunday at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, driving the No. 77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports. Already in an unfamiliar setting, the German road racer got to experience NASCAR’s version of racing in the wet before the track dried out, ran near the front early in the event and even ...Keep readingView the full article

The runaway championship leader made the first costly error of the season on the Belgian asphalt roads when he crashed out of Stage 2 while leading the rally. The accident was the 21-year-old's first since Rally Finland in October last year, and since then he's finished in the points at every WRC event that has followed. Heading into Belgium, the Finn had built up a 94-point lead after ...Keep readingView the full article

Will Kimi Raikkonen's appetite have been sufficiently whetted by his first taste of the NASCAR Cup Series to come back for more? That's the million dollar question. Over the years, this writer has covered ex-Formula 1 stars Mika Hakkinen, Jean Alesi, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and David Coulthard in the DTM and the likes of Nigel Mansell, Gianni Morbidelli, Derek Warwick and Johnny Herbert in the ...Keep readingView the full article

The Finn was entering his first competitive event after retiring from F1 at the end of 2021, and from 27th on the grid his Trackhouse Chevrolet progressed into the top 20 early in the wet early phases of Sunday's race. As the track dried, he was on a strategy that would allow him to progress inside the top 10 at the start of the second stage. He held his own and ran as high as eighth until ...Keep readingView the full article

Elliott led the field on the restart with five of 90 laps remaining, Larson pressuring him alongside, and as the two exited Turn 1 Larson appeared to lock up his brakes and drifted wide, which forced Elliott to take avoiding action and allowed Larson to move into the lead. Larson then had to hold off a furious challenge from A.J. Allmendinger to take the win by 0.882 seconds. It’s just the ...Keep readingView the full article

The 2019 world champion claimed back-to-back WRC victories for the first time since his championship-winning season after fending off Toyota’s Elfyn Evans in an attritional Ypres Rally. Tanak’s win arrived two weeks after scoring an against-the-odds triumph in Finland, but the Estonian admitted it was a “big surprise” to win on tarmac in Belgium. The rally wasn’t without its ...Keep readingView the full article

The Ford squad has struggled for results in recent months with its last podium arriving in June, courtesy of Craig Breen’s second-place finish in Sardinia. This weekend in Belgium the team’s fortunes failed to improve as all three drivers Breen, Gus Greensmith and Adrien Fourmaux were involved in costly incidents. Breen was running fifth when a mistake in Stage 10 of the asphalt rally ...Keep readingView the full article

The 2019 world champion came under pressure from Evans early on Sunday morning’s asphalt stages before going on to seal the win by 5.0s. The victory arrived just two weeks after his triumph in Rally Finland. Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja produced a faultless drive from start to finish. The Estonian was in contention from the beginning after ending Friday 2.5s shy of teammate Thierry ...Keep readingView the full article

Evans emerged fastest on the pair of stages that kicked off the rally’s final day to close to within 6.7s of leader Tanak, who started Sunday with an 8.2s advantage. Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi completed the loop in a comfortable third, 1m29.8s adrift, while Hyundai’s Oliver Solberg hung onto fourth, but saw his gap to M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux cut 10.1s. Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta ...Keep readingView the full article

The M-Sport Ford driver found himself caught in spectator traffic on a road section before the day’s penultimate stage. Fourmaux elected to overtake the queue of cars but was stopped by local police. Fourmaux eventually arrived at the stage start two minutes late which resulted in a 20 second penalty and dropped the Frenchman from fourth to fifth position heading into Sunday’s final four ...Keep readingView the full article

The 2007 world champion navigated through his first Cup Series practice and qualifying sessions on Saturday at Watkins Glen without any on-track incidents and will line up 27th for Sunday's race. His fellow international Cup debutants, 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours winner Mike Rockenfeller (Spire Chevrolet) and fellow ex-F1 racer Daniil Kvyat (Hezeberg Toyota), will start 33rd and 36th ...Keep readingView the full article

Elliott posted the fastest time with a 1m10.477s lap to beat Hendrick Motorsport Chevrolet team-mate and defending Cup champion Kyle Larson to the top spot. The pole is the third of the 2022 season for Elliott, who claimed back-to-back wins at the track in 2018 and 2019 and finished second in last year's race on its return to the calendar. “My car has been solid, I felt like we had some ...Keep readingView the full article

Tanak will head into Sunday’s final four stages with an 8.2s advantage over Evans after long-time later Neuville crashed out of the day’s penultimate stage. Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi managed to navigate through the Saturday’s tricky asphalt stages in third after Neuville’s demise, but the Finn is some 1m09.8s adrift of the lead two. Hyundai’s Oliver Solberg is on ...Keep readingView the full article

The defending event winner appeared to be in control of the rally, having opened up an 17.2s lead over Tanak after winning three of the six asphalt tests before Stage 15 commenced. However, Neuville threw away his chance of a first victory in 2022 when he understeered wide at tight left-hander. The Belgian slipped into a deep ditch, which left the car stranded momentarily. Spectators rushed ...Keep readingView the full article

“We’ve come a long way together in less than two years and we’ve checked off some major goals along the way – including the team’s first win and first pole. We know we still have work to do, both on and off the race track, but I feel good about our team and the direction we’re heading.” Given the recent form of Bubba Wallace in the NASCAR Cup Series, it was perhaps unsurprising ...Keep readingView the full article

Neuville completed the morning loop with a 16.2s lead over Tanak, who briefly snatched an overnight lead away from his teammate. However, a strong showing from the home hero coupled with a transmission problem for Tanak resulted in the 2019 world champion falling away. Toyota’s Elfyn Evans was unable to produce a sustained challenge to the Hyundai duo as the Welshman ended the morning ...Keep readingView the full article

The M-Sport driver had been setting a blistering pace through the Dikkebus stage, the second of the day, and was ahead on the leading split times set by Kalle Rovanpera following an overnight rebuild of the World Rally Championship leader's Toyota. However, Breen ran wide into a left-hander and ran into a deep ditch 11.2km into the 14.2km stage. The impact with the ditch catapulted the ...Keep readingView the full article

Evans inherited the rally lead on Stage 2 after team-mate and World Rally Championship leader Kalle Rovanpera crashed out in spectacular fashion. The Welshman held the advantage until midway through the afternoon when his rally began to unravel, beginning with a slow puncture on Stage 6. Evans had gambled on taking a mixture of wet and slick compound tyres for the loop but the anticipated ...Keep readingView the full article