Watch this weekend’s Bathurst 12 Hour – the opening round of the 2020 Intercontinental GT Challenge – in full, live and for free, on Autosport. A record nine manufacturers have committed to this year’s IGTC, which begins at the the epic Mount Panorama circuit. The race commences before dawn on Sunday morning Australian time and
Month: March 2020
Jules Gounon survived a late puncture to take a first Bathurst 12 Hour win for Bentley amid an ongoing threat of rain, alongside Maxime Soulet and Jordan Pepper. The #7 Continental was in the fight all afternoon, leading at both the race’s half and three-quarter marks during a see-sawing battle with the #999 GruppeM Mercedes.
GT World Challenge series promoter SRO Motorsports has has donated fines incurred during the 2019 season to a selection of charitable causes. Six projects including a movement to continue the legacy of the late Maria de Villota and the rebuilding of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris will benefit from support from SRO, which organises series
The team of which 2009 Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button is a partner is switching to McLaren from Honda for its 2020 GT World Challenge Europe campaign. Jenson Team Rocket RJN will field a solo McLaren 720S GT3 in the five races that make up the Endurance Cup segment of the GTWCE this season.
A contingency plan has been drawn up should the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup opener at Monza in April be cancelled as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. The plan has been put in place by series organiser the Stephane Ratel Organisation following a concentration of coronavirus cases in Lombardy, the province in which
The GPX Racing Porsche squad that won last year’s Spa 24 Hours will mount a full assault on the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup with factory backing. The Dubai entrant will field a pair of Porsche 911 GT3-Rs in the five-round series that incorporates the Spa enduro with a line-up boasting five factory drivers.
Wales Rally GB will move back to its Deeside service park in 2020, after one year in the Llandudno town centre for Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship. The move to the North Wales coastal town Llandudno last year was hailed as taking the teams and cars closer to the people, as Deeside is
Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier is hopeful that a new position in the road order will help him overcome his recent Rally Sweden “struggle” in the World Rally Championship. Ogier has three wins in Sweden, more than any other non-Scandinavian driver. However, the last two editions of the event have not gone to plan for the six-time
Rally Sweden’s opening Karlstad superspecial has been cancelled as concerns continue over the unseasonably warm temperatures affecting the World Rally Championship’s only snow-based event. The rally’s traditional curtain-raiser uses the city’s trotting track with drivers normally competing in pairs on the 1.18-mile course. It had been scheduled for 2000hrs local time tomorrow (Thursday), but following
Elfyn Evans has opened up a lead of almost eight seconds over his Toyota World Rally Championship team-mate Kalle Rovanpera following the opening loop of stages on Rally Sweden. The Welshman won two of the morning’s three stages in changing road conditions to hold a lead of 7.9s over Rovanpera, who impressed in the second
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans remains in control of Rally Sweden at the end of the opening day of the shortened event, as reigning champion Ott Tanak reclaimed second. Evans dominated proceedings in the morning, winning two of the first three stages to take an eight-second lead into service after four stages over his team-mate Kalle Rovanpera.
World Rally Championship returnee Jari-Matti Latvala will take no further part on Rally Sweden following his Friday exit with an electrical issue. The four-time Rally Sweden winner was making his first start of the season in a privateer Toyota Yaris WRC, having lost his factory drive with the make at the end of last year.
Toyota World Rally Championship driver Elfyn Evans has extended his Rally Sweden lead to 16.9 seconds after winning all three of Saturday morning’s stages. Evans started the day with an 8.5s advantage over the Hyundai of Ott Tanak but managed to double that lead, making the most of the tricky terrain in the warmer weather.
Elfyn Evans is closing in on his second World Rally Championship win as he leads Rally Sweden by 17.2 seconds to Ott Tanak. Toyota’s Evans set the fastest time on all three of Saturday morning’s stages and, though he was only fourth on the afternoon’s Torsby Sprint stage, he went quicker than reigning world champion
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans claimed his second career World Rally Championship victory after coming through the final stage of a shortened Rally Sweden. Evans dominated the event from the opening stage on Friday morning, winning five of the nine stages, and beat defending world champion, Hyundai’s Ott Tanak, by 12.7 seconds. Kalle Rovanpera took a sensational
Elfyn Evans will be allowed to push for the World Rally Championship title in 2020 following his first win for Toyota in Sweden. After beating reigning champion Ott Tanak to victory last weekend having led after every stage, Evans is now equal top of the championship standings with Tanak’s Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville, albeit Evans
Valentino Rossi admits he is worried about the 2020 Yamaha’s race pace ahead of the first race of the new MotoGP season, as he is still ‘suffering’ with tyre wear. In recent years Yamaha riders have constantly struggled in races with rear tyres beginning to fade too much halfway through a race distance. Michelin’s new-for-2020
MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez says Honda has “found the way” with its troubled 2020 RC213V, following a pre-season testing phase that “worried” the injured Spaniard. Marquez’s pre-season has been hindered by his ongoing recovery from a shoulder operation in November, though he admitted after a difficult Sepang test that he was more worried about
Marc Marquez says his younger brother and works Honda MotoGP team-mate Alex must “earn” a contract renewal, and that he will not “impose” his preference on the Japanese manufacturer. Reigning Moto2 champion Alex was brought in to replace the retiring Jorge Lorenzo at the factory Honda outfit for 2020, joining his elder brother for his
Johann Zarco says his “main target right now” is to establish a “base” of top 10 finishes in the early part of his first MotoGP season on the Avintia Ducati. After quitting KTM midway through last year – and then being dropped outright after the Misano round – Zarco was thrown a lifeline by Ducati
MotoGP has announced its 2020 season-opener in Qatar will not go ahead due to travel restrictions brought about by the coronavirus outbreak. The virus – known as Covid-19 – originated in China and is reported to have infected more than 80,000 people globally and resulted in at least 3000 deaths since the outbreak. In recent
The MotoGP Thailand Grand Prix has been postponed due to coronavirus fears, the country’s government has announced just hours after Dorna Sports and the FIM cancelled the opening Qatar race. Dorna Sports and the FIM officially confirmed the postponement of the Thailand GP later on Monday morning. A statement read: “Due to the ongoing coronavirus
The opening two rounds of the 2020 MotoGP world championship have been scrubbed from the schedule due to travel restrictions put in place over coronavirus fears. On Sunday night series organisers Dorna Sports and MotoGP’s governing body the FIM announced it had to cancel the Qatar Grand Prix for the premier class due to the
CEO of Dorna Sports Carmelo Ezpeleta insists “there will absolutely be a 2020 MotoGP season” in a statement responding to the cancellation of the first two races due to coronavirus. On Sunday evening, series organisers Dorna confirmed it had cancelled this weekend’s Qatar MotoGP race owing to all travellers from Italy – which saw a
Dorna Sports may move the Aragon MotoGP race forward by two weeks to accommodate the postponed Thailand round on October 4. The MotoGP promoter is continuing to work through a revised calendar amid the COVID-19 crisis, with the season-opener at Qatar already called off and the second round in Buriram postponed. It is yet to
Penske’s Will Power played down the issue of rain water leaking into his cockpit from IndyCar’s new-for-2020 aeroscreen during the ongoing test at the Circuit of the Americas. At the two-day test at COTA beginning on Tuesday, drivers were met with rain and fog as well as low temperatures, meaning most drivers didn’t run in
Penske’s two-time Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin will take part in IndyCar’s oval rookie test at Texas on Friday. McLaughlin drove on both days of IndyCar’s ‘spring training’ test at Austin on Tuesday and Wednesday in preparation for his debut in the Indianapolis road course race, and will be back in Penske’s #2 car this week
IndyCar owner Roger Penske has announced the prize fund for the Indianapolis 500 will rise by $2million, and that the controversial guaranteed starting spots concept will not be adopted. The overall pot for this year’s race will be $15m, the biggest in the event’s history, while the winner will receive at least $2m. While qualifying
James Hinchcliffe will return to Andretti Autosport to contest at least three IndyCar rounds this season, including the Indianapolis 500, after being dropped by Arrow McLaren SP last October. The 33-year-old Canadian, who won three times in as many seasons with the team between 2012 and 2014, will drive a sixth Andretti entry backed by
Two-time IRL race-winner Robbie Buhl is part of a new IndyCar Series team, Citrone/Buhl Autosport, that aims to contest this year’s Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500. The team is a partnership between former Dreyer & Reinbold Racing co-owner Buhl, who beat the likes of Adrian Fernandez and Bryan Herta to the 1992