IndyCar will reintroduce grid penalties for unapproved engine changes this season for the first time since 2013. Any car that has its engine changed before a manufacturer’s pre-determined mileage limit has been reached will suffer a grid penalty in the next race – a six-place drop for road/street courses and a nine-place drop on ovals.
Month: March 2020
Two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso will contest the Indianapolis 500 for a third time with the Arrow McLaren SP IndyCar outfit. Alonso’s #66 Chevrolet-powered car, a third entry in addition to those driven by the team’s full-time 2020 IndyCar drivers Patricio O’Ward and Oliver Askew, will hit the track for the first time
McLaren CEO Zak Brown has admitted that Fernando Alonso’s return with Arrow McLaren SP for this year’s Indianapolis 500 came about after his negotiations with Andretti Autosport broke down. Two-time Formula 1 world champion Alonso, who made his highly impressive Indy 500 debut with a McLaren-backed Andretti Autosport entry in 2017, failed to qualify for
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing will partner with Citrone/Buhl Autosport to give Spencer Pigot IndyCar lifeline entries in the Indianapolis road race and the Indianapolis 500. The new team, a partnership formed between sometime Indycar driver Robbie Buhl, his brother and business partner Tom, Robert Citrone – the founder of Discovery Capital Management and the largest
Fernando Alonso’s decision to contest the Indianapolis 500 with Arrow-McLaren SP instead of Andretti Autosport was driven by his “loyalty” to his former Formula 1 team McLaren. Alonso will return to the famous Brickyard event this year having failed to qualify for it in 2019, but previously insisted it would be just a one-off appearance
Double Xfinity champion Tyler Reddick believes he can make the playoffs in his first NASCAR Cup season in 2020, despite admitting that prediction ‘sounds crazy’. Reddick won NASCAR’s second tier Xfinity series in 2018 and 2019, but a move to Richard Childress Racing last year realigned his path to the Cup series. He will contest
The Daytona 500 has been suspended until Monday afternoon for only the second time in the history of the season-opening NASCAR Cup series race after rain in Florida. The race was originally scheduled to begin at 3.18pm local time, but the 40-strong field was held on pit-road for an hour as a light rain shower
Denny Hamlin became the fourth driver in NASCAR history to win back-to-back Daytona 500’s with victory in overtime, though a frightening Ryan Newman crash overshadowed the season-opening Cup race’s finish. The race was rescheduled from Sunday to Monday for just the second time after rain forced postponement with just 20 racing laps possible. Hamlin, who
Ryan Newman is in a “serious condition” in hospital following his final-lap accident at the NASCAR Cup season-opening Daytona 500, but his injuries are not life threatening. Newman, driving for Roush Fenway Racing, was dicing for the lead of the race in the second round of overtime with Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin, with his
NASCAR driver Ryan Newman’s Rousch Fenway Racing team says he is “awake and speaking” after suffering serious injuries in a horror crash during the Daytona 500. Newman, 42, was injured in a last-lap wreck in Monday’s race at Daytona International Speedway, which was delayed from its original Sunday slot due to poor weather. He was
Roush Fenway Racing has offered an update on injured NASCAR driver Ryan Newman, saying he is “fully alert and walking around” in hospital in Florida. Newman, 42, was injured in a last-lap wreck in Monday’s rain-delayed Daytona 500, when contact at the final corner tipped him hard into the barrier, which in turn sent him
Ryan Newman’s NASCAR Cup rivals say they are relieved by his recovery from last weekend’s Daytona 500 crash, which they say offered a warning about the dangers of the series. Newman suffered what was initially described as “serious but non-life threatening” injuries when his car turned into the wall, went airborne and was hit by
Joey Logano won the second round of the 2020 NASCAR Cup season at Las Vegas as a last-lap incident denied Matt DiBenedetto the opportunity to snatch the victory. A caution was brought out just six laps before the chequered flag when Ross Chastain, filling in for Ryan Newman, spun the #6 Roush Fenway Ford. All
NASCAR Cup driver Ryan Newman continues to receive treatment for a head injury after his dramatic Daytona 500 accident, but is determined to get back to racing when fit again. Newman, the 2008 Daytona 500 winner and 2014 Cup Series runner-up, was leading the rain-delayed race in the closing stages when his Roush Fenway Racing
Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman took his second NASCAR Cup win after claiming victory at Fontana – a venue he previously hadn’t finished in the top 10 at. Bowman, who started third, was one of the fastest drivers across the 200-lap race in his Chevrolet Camaro and was towards the front of the field throughout. He
AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost believes it would be “unfair” for Formula 1 to allow the Australian Grand Prix to go ahead if several teams are absent over Coronavirus travel restrictions. While a host of major sporting events, including the MotoGP season opener in Qatar and the following Thailand Grand Prix, have been called off because
Sebastian Vettel believes Mercedes looked “more at ease” with its new Formula 1 car through winter testing, leaving Ferrari trailing ahead of the new season. Mercedes ended pre-season testing with the fastest time and more laps completed than any other team, prompting Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto to declare his team was behind on pace. Vettel
Haas Formula 1 team boss Gunther Steiner has said that the championship promoter will ensure all the competitors are able to enter Australia for next week’s grand prix. The Australian Grand Prix Corporation has also confirmed that the event will go ahead. Fears about the spread of coronavirus COVID-19 caused disruption to last week’s Formula
Lando Norris says McLaren’s 2020 Formula 1 car feels “less on edge” compared to its predecessor after the conclusion of winter testing. Norris’s best time from across the two three-day tests at Barcelona last month ended up as the slowest lap in the combined standings, but his team-mate – Carlos Sainz Jr – put McLaren
Gene Haas says his team’s start to the new season will decide whether or not he commits it to staying in Formula 1 beyond the end of this year. The American has long been clear that he is only interested in continuing to invest in F1 if his outfit can be competitive, and he is
11:59 AM ET BARCELONA, Spain – An engine issue curtailed Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes’ running on the penultimate day of Formula One’s preseason tests, while Sebastian Vettel went quickest in the Ferrari. With reigning champion Hamilton at the wheel in the afternoon session, Mercedes was uncharacteristically slow to emerge from the garage as work took
The coronavirus epidemic is giving Formula One teams a logistical headache as they prepare for a new season and the run of long-haul races scheduled to start in Australia on March 15. The Chinese Grand Prix on April 19 has been called off but the first three races involve the teams traveling from Europe to
12:22 PM ET BARCELONA, Spain – Mercedes recovered from its difficult Thursday to go quickest on the final day of preseason, but a late Max Verstappen lap meant Red Bull finished just 0.073s behind the world champions. Mercedes suffered its worst session of testing on the penultimate day, with an engine issue forcing its car
8:10 PM ET Ed Jackson After racing in just one event, Supercars star James Courtney has walked out on his new team. After nine years with Walkinshaw Andretti United, Courtney announced last year he was joining Team Sydney for the 2020 championship. The new team has had a rocky start to life despite having the
4:50 AM ET Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, has concluded an investigation into the way Ferrari was operating its power unit and reached a settlement with the team. The FIA offered no further details about the findings of the investigation and said the subsequent agreement with Ferrari would remain private between the team and
BARCELONA, Spain — It’s always risky to ready too much into preseason testing time, but after crunching the numbers it is possible to rank the grid based on the information we have. It’s not necessarily the order that will line up on the grid in Melbourne (Albert Park is a very different type of track
7:17 PM ET The season-opening MotoGP race in Qatar has been cancelled as travel restrictions from Italy have been put in place in the wake of coronavirus, which continues to spread and wreck havoc around the globe. The restrictions have meant dozens of Italian-based riders and team personnel are unable to fly out of the
10:34 PM ET Ed Jackson Team Penske says it will be doing all it can to secure Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin multiple IndyCar races in 2020. The New Zealander is already set to debut in the United States open-wheel championship at May’s Indianapolis Grand Prix. After impressing in off-season testing however, Team Penske president Tim
10:42 PM ET Ed Jackson Walkinshaw Andretti United boss Ryan Walkinshaw has moved swiftly to quash any suggestion James Courtney could return to the Supercars team in 2020. Courtney announced on Saturday he has quit Team Sydney after just one event with the new outfit, leaving the 2010 Supercars champion’s future up in the air.
5:45 AM ET The promoter of Formula One’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix insists the race will go ahead as planned on March 15, despite concerns about the spread of coronavirus. A number of international sporting events have been cancelled or postponed in recent weeks due to the Covid-19 epidemic, including the opening round of the