Tabla de contenidos para May 2026 en AUTOSPORT

Three rounds into Formula 1’s new era and some things are becoming clear. Mercedes has an edge, Kimi Antonelli is learning fast, and Ferrari and McLaren aren’t that far off the pace. And these regulations are perhaps the most polarising in championship history. There’s been a lot of noise, some of it perfectly legitimate, some bordering on misinformation. So, what do we know? The 2026 F1 cars are more nimble and can follow closer than their predecessors, and there is more wheel-to-wheel racing. All three grands prix so far have featured some great passing – not all has simply been due to differences in deployment of electrical power – and the 2026 Japanese GP was much more entertaining than last year’s soporific affair. But, clearly, that’s not the end of…

Autosport contributor Roberto Chinchero has followed Kimi Antonelli’s career ever since the now-19-year-old was a karting hotshot. Over a convivial dinner at a popular Italian eatery in Melbourne, the purpose of which was to conduct an exclusive interview for our sister website Motorsport.com, Roberto suggested to Kimi that, given Mercedes’ position of dominance, if he won one of the first two races of the season he should “celebrate like Jim Clark”. Naturally some exposition was required. Chinchero then showed Antonelli the famous image of Clark crossing the finish line in the 1967 United States GP, giving the thumbs-up as ‘Tex’ Hopkins – in signature lavender suit – leaped into the air flourishing the chequered flag. Cool as you like, despite having driven the last two laps with the right-rear wheel…

Formula 1 has embarked upon an impromptu spring break due to the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix owing to the current conflict in the Middle East. The United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, which retaliated with strikes on US military bases in Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, and the UAE. Iran has also closed the Strait of Hormuz, making it impossible for F1 to use the route for any sea freight, allied to myriad air traffic restrictions in the region. The result is a five-week gap from the Japanese GP to the Miami GP, and a cut in the F1 calendar from 24 events to 22. “While this was a difficult decision to take, it is unfortunately the right one at this stage…

A RED-AND-WHITE BOLT rushed out of its starting blocks with the pace of a startled impala and approached the opening right-hand turn of the Bahrain International Circuit, now as the figurehead of the chasing pack. The Ferrari had left its competitors in its wake; the remaining cars seemingly suspended in time as the starting lights receded into the night’s sky. It was evident during Bahrain’s pre-season tests that the getaway speed of the 2026 Ferrari was effortlessly potent versus that of the non-Ferrari-powered machines, which were decidedly more ponderous in the practice starts. Even with the addition of a five-second pre-start window, one introduced to give the grid more time to spool their turbos and counteract the turbo lag present in the new powertrains, Ferrari and its ‘customer’ teams were…

Simple, easy to work on, conventional. On the face of it, the Tyrrell 008 of 1978 was just the antidote for one of grand prix racing’s best-loved ‘indie’ teams following the withering decline of its sensational but complex six-wheeler. And yet, was the return to four-wheeled normality really just a safe option for Tyrrell? That certainly wasn’t the intention, given what 008 could have been. This car might have beaten Gordon Murray and Brabham to the punch by whooshing on to the grid as Formula 1’s first ground effect-inducing fan car – if only it had worked in its one and only test in that configuration, and if Tyrrell had persevered with a concept it quickly abandoned. The ungainly, never-to-be-forgotten Tyrrell P34, with its four mini wheels at the front…

While IndyCar’s inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington was generally regarded as a smash hit by organisers, fans and drivers – the temporary street circuit’s unexpectedly bumpy surface aside – Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist was left smarting after a penalty dropped him from sixth place at the flag to 20th. The Swede, whose #60 car sported a special livery celebrating the 150th anniversary of Texas A&M University, was deemed by officials to have jumped the late-race restart. He said afterwards on social media: “Even if extremely harsh and disappointing I do accept the penalty. Now it’s time to move on, and eye forward.” Turn over for our round-up of the IndyCar season so far. Photographer Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images Where Arlington, Texas, USA When Sunday 15 March 2026 Details Canon…

Two-time World Rally champion Kalle Rovanpera’s plans to race in Super Formula this year have been scuppered due to ongoing medical issues. The Finn had been gearing up to kick off his campaign in the Motegi season opener on 4-5 April, and completed both days of pre-season testing at Suzuka in late February for the KCMG team after illness forced him to miss most of December’s post-season test. But it was announced in March via a statement from Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda that a collective decision had been taken for Rovanpera to sit out the entire 2026 campaign following a recent medical consultation. Toyoda was nonetheless keen to stress that the Japanese firm will continue to support Rovanpera’s single-seater ambitions, which included a Formula Regional Oceania campaign. Explaining the decision…

Four races is a small sample set for declaring that the 2026 IndyCar championship will be a closer affair than recent years, especially since Alex Palou won two of them by a combined total of nearly 26 seconds. But Palou ended March not leading the IndyCar standings for the first month since June 2024. The four-time champion’s reign at the top came to an end when Kyle Kirkwood won the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington, a new showcase event for IndyCar run on the grounds of the Dallas Cowboys football stadium that was the third of four quickfire races to open the season. Kirkwood won by surprising Palou with a decisive pass for the lead before pulling away for his sixth career race win. That triumph, along with top-five finishes…

A strategic call from the Porsche Penske Motorsport pitstand decided the outcome of the 2025 Daytona 24 Hours in favour of Felipe Nasr and his team-mates. A year and a bit on, another decision from the pits looked set to deprive the Brazilian of victory in one of the IMSA SportsCar Championship enduros – only for Nasr to decide otherwise at the Sebring 12 Hours. Or at least that’s how Kevin Estre, the driver who followed him across the line to complete a PPM 1-2, saw it. With a little more than an hour to go, Nasr, aboard the leading #7 Porsche 963 LMDh he shared with Julien Andlauer and Laurin Heinrich, was asked to cede position at the front of the field to Estre. The Frenchman, driving the #6…

Max Verstappen made it two wins from two starts in the top class of the Nurburgring NLS series in March, only for his Mercedes-AMG GT3 to be thrown out of the results. The four-time Formula 1 world champion lost the victory with Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella when it was found that they had used one too many sets of tyres. The Verstappen Racing Merc, run by the Winward team, took victory at the Nordschleife by over a minute in the four-hour race on 21 March, the opening round of the NLS after the cancellation of the race scheduled for earlier in the month. It followed a victory for Verstappen back in September, driving an Emil Frey-run Ferrari 296 GT3 after one race aboard a Porsche Cayman GT4 CS to…

Takamoto Katsuta claimed his maiden World Rally Championship victory after coming through a Safari Rally Kenya that will be remembered as one of the most brutal in history. Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston won by 27.4 seconds from Hyundai man Adrien Fourmaux to extend Toyota’s unbeaten run of wins on the event since it rejoined the calendar in 2021. “I don’t know what to say,” said a tearful Katsuta after he became the first victorious Japanese driver since Kenjiro Shinozuka won the Ivory Coast Rally in 1992. “We had so many difficult moments. Aaron worked very hard with me and the team always believed in me, even when I failed. Thanks to the whole team. Thank you to Ott [Tanak]. He’s been there every moment, sending me messages. I did…

The new Formula 1 racers have made their public debut and, in the lengthening evening shadows at Albert Park, it’s Supercars’ turn to take to the stage. On the other 51 Friday afternoons of the year the traffic on Lakeside Drive is busy and slow, but on this day the city commute seems far away. In 2026 there is a three-way battle for superiority between Ford, GM and Toyota. The Triple Eight Mustang of Will Brown fights off Cameron Hill in the Brad Jones Racing GR Supra, while Anton De Pasquale chases hard in the Team 18 Camaro. Ford won all four races at the second Supercars meeting of 2026. Photographer Mark Horsburgh/Red Bull Content Pool Where Melbourne, Australia When Friday 6 March 2026…

A gloomy Silverstone test day is brightened by the sight of this new Zakspeed Capri clone. The Jagermeister monster was built by Ric Wood Motorsport for Nigel Mustill, however with it requiring “finishing touches”, it was a different beast that the 72-year-old recently debuted at Donington Park’s Classic Sports Car Club opener. Mustill gave his BMW M4 GT3 its race bow in the Slicks Series bout – with a broken wrist! The car was not ideally suited to the wet conditions, but Mustill was also contending with injuries sustained when he tripped putting up his awning. Photographer JEP Where Silverstone, UK When Sunday 8 March 2026 Details Canon EOS R3 RF100-500mm lens, 1/50th @F9…

TCR UK and Civic Cup promoter Maximum Motorsport has added a third category to its portfolio for 2026 with a series for Audi TT machinery. The new Audi Cup has evolved from tentative plans to relaunch the mothballed VAG Trophy, which catered for a broader range of cars from the Volkswagen Group. Running as a non-championship series in its first year, the one-make category will kick off with a triple-header at Thruxton in May. Four further rounds will follow the burgeoning Civic Cup’s calendar at British Automobile Racing Club events. Carl Swift (pictured above) and Andrew Rogerson, both multiple race winners in the British Racing & Sports Car Club’s equivalent Audi TT Cup Racing championship, have already signed up to the new series. Having experienced a drop in numbers over…

Brothers Will and Henry Sharpe have purchased their late father’s old Austin A35 and plan to race it together at their local Mallory Park circuit with the Classic Sports Car Club in April. Andy Sharpe died in January and some of his ashes were scattered around Mallory while a plaque was installed at a Gerard’s Bend marshal post. Although all three Sharpes raced various MGs in recent years in the MG Owners’ Club series, Sharpe Sr’s original interest was in bikes before he competed in the A35 with his brother in 1988. Despite only owning it briefly, the car produced some vivid memories. “We all went to watch at Snetterton – I was six and Will was 16,” recalled Henry Sharpe. “Dad went out and rolled it at Riches. Dad…

A pair of Sabre Buick FC45 ‘Indycar’ machines will tackle the Historic Sports Car Club’s Derek Bell Trophy this year, driven by series chairman Mike Bainbridge and Graham Ridgway. The cars feature a 4.5-litre Buick engine that produces in the region of 500bhp and were originally created for a proposed one-make American series. But this never get off the ground and instead 30 of them were ordered for the shortlived Formula Crane category run at the Japanese Autopolis circuit from 1991-92. “Mike found a pair of these FC45s that a guy in Australia had bought,” said Ridgway, who has raced a variety of cars, including a Formula 2 March 742 and Lotus Elan. “He had this pair of cars and had them restored at significant expense. They did a couple…

THE SHENINGTON KART CIRCUIT on a cold, wet, miserable day in February is not the most obvious setting for a piece of motorsport history to be made. But the humble Oxfordshire venue was recently the starting point of a new five-day FAT Racing Shootout for one of the most lucrative prizes in car racing. Four teenagers were battling it out to secure a fully-funded season in British Formula 4, a reward worth approaching £500,000. The quartet were all at the wheel of FAT Karting League machinery having starred in the contest’s World Finals in California last year. But the soaking Shenington circuit meant for a tricky start to the abundance of assessments they would face. “It’s very damp, it’s very cold – my shoes are full of water right now!”…

1989 ARROWS A11 (X2!) What could be better than one 1980s Formula 1 car? Two of course! This is also the second issue in a row where we’ve picked one of Derek Warwick’s favourite cars… Designed by Ross Brawn, the 3.5-litre Ford DFR V8-engined A11 showed promise in 1989 but reliability issues and budget constraints limited Arrows to seventh in the constructors’ table. The design continued through 1990 and appeared briefly in 1991, in ‘C’ form. Chassis A11-03 (wearing #10) was taken to third in the 1989 United States Grand Prix, while Warwick (A11-02, #9) famously led the wet Canadian GP before engine failure. Nick Padmore also used A11-02 to lap the Goodwood circuit in an unofficial record of 69 seconds in 2020. These cars are offered as a pair…

The fixed smiles and ‘what do I do with my hands?’ poses of the Formula 1 pack, corralled for the traditional opening-round photo call, are something of a new-season staple, so the moments before everyone – all 22 this year, of course – takes their allotted position can usually be relied upon to present a rather more relaxed and off-beat perspective on the 2026 grid’s collective dynamic. And the gathering on the Melbourne pitstraight, before the drivers find out exactly how their new cars perform in race conditions, is no exception (reckon this pic is crying out for a caption competition – ed). Turn the page for our new, extended Australian, Chinese and Japanese Grand Prix debriefs. Photographer Jayce Illman/Getty Images Where Melbourne, Australia When Sunday 8 March 2026 Details…

It would not be unreasonable to suggest that, given the power of clean air and no traffic, Kimi Antonelli had little chance of converting his Japanese Grand Prix pole into a race win – at least, not when a lacklustre start whisked him into sixth place after the opening corners. Not for the first time in 2026, the safety car changed the game once it had entered from stage left at Suzuka. Ollie Bearman’s monster shunt, a result of taking evasive action when his greater electrical energy brought him upon Franco Colapinto faster than the Haas driver expected on the approach to Spoon Curve, came to Antonelli’s rescue. First, Antonelli’s start: he and George Russell, the Mercedes team-mates once again sharing the front row, appeared to be anchored in place…

Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore has confirmed that Mercedes is among the bidding to take over a minority stake in the Renault-owned team. Otro Capital, which counts actors and Wrexham FC owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac among its investors, is looking to sell its 24% stake. Ex-Red Bull boss Christian Horner has also been linked to the shareholding bought by Otro for $200m almost three years ago. It is now worth around three times that sum.…

“I THINK IT’S the best racing that I’ve ever experienced in Formula 1,” gushed Lewis Hamilton in China after taking his first grand prix podium for Ferrari, following a battle with team-mate Charles Leclerc that had clearly thrilled the local crowd. “It felt like go-karting, back and forth, back and forth, and you could really position your car in a nice way where there was a thin piece of paper between us sometimes.” Autosport readers may not agree, and they would be in good company, for the effect of F1’s new technical regulations has been truly polarising. And for all that the commercial rights holder is determined to trumpet the increased number of overtaking manoeuvres this season as a success, many of the drivers, let alone the time-served fans, feel…

I can only assume Max Verstappen has misplaced my number. I could have told him a thing or two about juddering starts and preserving battery power when it matters. You see, I spent a couple of years in the early 1970s driving (happily, I should add) a 1200cc Volkswagen Beetle. The relevant point here is that this 1964 model had a six-volt battery – as standard. For a ‘People’s Car’ that was meant to last for yonks, VW clearly didn’t intend to get you there quickly. Or see where you were going. Driving the Beetle required cunning and a degree in mechanical juggling while coping with an electrical output that wouldn’t power Adrian Newey’s pencil sharpener (especially, I fancy, when coping with massive use in recent months). For starters (literally),…

Red Bull Junior Nikola Tsolov became the early leader of the Formula 2 standings after victory in the feature race supporting the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. The Bulgarian’s triumph with Campos Racing came after Alex Dunne and Martinius Stenshorne crashed on the third lap as they fought for the lead. After his departure from the McLaren junior scheme, Dunne has been picked up by Alpine for his second season of F2 with Rodin Motorsport. The Irishman and team-mate Stenshorne were the beneficiaries of poleman Dino Beganovic bogging down at the start and slipping to fifth. Dunne chased Stenshorne over the opening two laps, and used DRS at the start of the third tour in his bid for the front. He then pulled across the front of the Norwegian to…

Three F1 Academy racers are among the five new recruits to the British Racing Drivers’ Club’s SuperStars scheme for the 2026 season. Red Bull athlete Alisha Palmowski and McLaren protegees Ella Lloyd and Ella Stevens, who kicked off their F1A campaign at Shanghai in March, join the intake along with reigning European Le Mans Series LMP2 champion Oliver Gray and McLaren GT3 hotshoe Tom Fleming. They join a roster that also comprises Formula 3 racers Freddie Slater and Louis Sharp, GB3 aces Deagen Fairclough and Abbi Pulling, endurance young guns Seb Priaulx, Joseph Loake and Jonny Edgar, and Carrera Cup GB newboy Callum Voisin.…

Mercedes has lifted the lid on its next-generation GT3 racer a little further. The German manufacturer has confirmed that the car dubbed the Concept AMG GT Track Sport, which has been up and running since last autumn, will form the basis of the new racer. Like its predecessor, the new car will be known as the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and is being developed in parallel with a road car known as the AMG Black Series. Black Series is the name AMG applies to its track-focused range. The announcement at the end of March offered a tacit confirmation that Mercedes has built a racing car first and a road car second. “The road legal variant of the concept car serves as a homologation model for the GT3 successor,” it said. Mercedes’ statement…

Imagine Formula 1 without the British Grand Prix. It’s unthinkable, isn’t it? Well, the World Rally Championship without Rally GB is a similar scenario to many. The WRC without Great Britain just didn’t sit right, so news that Scotland will bring top-tier rallying back to British shores in 2027 has been well received and will provide a real shot in the arm for British rallying. The impact on the sport’s profile and ability to unearth new talent cannot be underestimated. At its peak, Rally GB was one of Britain’s most attended sporting events. Who can forget the hundreds of thousands of spectators who ventured into the Welsh forests to witness Colin McRae wrestle a navy-blue Subaru to glory, becoming Britain’s first world rally champion in 1995? At the Rally Scotland…

Reigning TCR Europe champion Jenson Brickley is to step up to the touring car category’s top level this season by contesting half of the World Tour season. The Briton, 22 in April, has joined Estonian team ALM Motorsport to race a Honda Civic FL5 in the European rounds of the TCR World Tour. This kicks off at Misano on 9-10 May, replacing the cancelled Mexico City round, before heading to Valencia, Paul Ricard and Vila Real. Brickley acknowledged the prize fund for winning TCR Europe in playing a crucial role. TCR supremo Marcello Lotti added: “One of the founding principles of TCR has always been to create a ladder that allows the best drivers from national and regional championships to progress to the world stage. Brickley’s move with ALM Motorsport…

The final pieces of the British Touring Car Championship jigsaw were expected to be in place by the time of its Brands Hatch launch on 8 April, but one or two may lurk hidden among the sofa cushions for a few days longer before the Donington Park opener on 18-19 April. Among them are exciting young West Surrey Racing BMW pair Daryl DeLeon and Charles Rainford. They finished the two-day Croft test in March first and fourth respectively, with a late effort from DeLeon on the very last run propelling him to the top of the times. While Rainford’s deal for a second season with WSR is widely known to be done, DeLeon’s wasn’t… but all the signs are that he will continue for another campaign in the 330i M…

The famous Jaguar E-type ‘Egal’ is being returned to its original specification and is set to make a racing comeback at Silverstone’s BRDC Classic and the Goodwood Revival this year. The Egal, developed by Rob Beck and Geoff Richardson, featured a seven-litre Ford Galaxie Holman Moody engine fitted to a Jaguar E-type roadster instead of the usual 3.8-litre XK powerplant. It first raced in 1964 and became famous in UK club racing during the 1960s, taking numerous victories in the hands of the late Barrie ‘Whizzo’ Williams. The Egal was developed throughout its life and resided in America for many years with an even bigger V8 and further body tweaks. Historics racer Bonamy Grimes has bought the car and Jaguar specialist CKL Developments is returning it to its mid-1960s form.…

The Classic Sports Car Club’s Magnificent Sevens series has enjoyed a strong turnaround after attracting only 15 cars on average last year, to securing 36 entries for its Donington Park opener. “Tom [Suckling, new coordinator] deserves the credit and the drivers that have stuck with it,” said David Smitheram, CSCC managing director. “Two 20-minute races, plus the Open Series at some rounds so drivers can get extra track time at half price [seems to work].”…

First-generation Formula 4 cars are now eligible to take part in the Monoposto championship after being incorporated into the 2000 class regulations. Dozens of the cars were used in the UK, including the Mygales of British Formula 4 from 2015-21. There have been occasional F4 outings in Monoposto in the past, but these always ran as invitational entries (above) so have now been given a formal home, although the cars must be run in their original specification. “The introduction of these F4 chassis is a natural fit for Monoposto,” explained the series’ technical director Terry Clark. “Our championship has always thrived on competitive mixed multi-class racing where different generations of single-seaters share the same track and every driver has something to fight for. “Adding F4 cars to our 2000 class…

PHIL KEEN WILL (probably) forever go down as the greatest British GT Championship driver to never win the title. The 42-year-old, also known for his stint as The Stig, is second to Jonny Adam on the all-time race wins list (one off, on 19) after spending a decade at the front, with three consecutive runner-up finishes from 2016 to 2018. It was just a combination of bad luck at crucial moments that prevented Keen from taking glory. In the 2016 finale at Donington Park, for example, his Barwell Motorsport co-driver Jon Minshaw slid their Lamborghini across the Old Hairpin gravel trap and into retirement. This wiped out the 11.5-point advantage they had gained and effectively handed that year’s crown to TF Sport Aston Martin duo Derek Johnston and Adam. But…

Only a last-minute High Court injunction secured by Ken Tyrrell permitted Stefan Bellof (and stand-in team-mate Stefan Johansson) to appear on track at Brands Hatch for the 1984 British Grand Prix. The order had been sought after the Tyrrell squad was banned from the season’s remaining races – later expanded to full exclusion – for infractions found at the Detroit GP. Competing under such a cloud, Bellof could finish only 11th, his Cosworth-powered 012 well off the pace. Autosport’s editorial employed a robust turn of phrase over the FISA executive committee’s initial ruling: “A variety of unsavoury things have occurred in grand prix racing over the years, and many of them have gone unpunished. We cannot have a governing body which seems on occasion to turn a blind eye to…

It’s said that Mercedes team principal and co-owner Toto Wolff has been nursing one deep-seated resentment these past few seasons. Not the presence of Christian Horner as a political thorn in his side, nor even Mercedes’ ultimately unrewarding struggle for competitiveness in the recent ground-effect era. No, what really rubbed Wolff’s rhubarb was having it handed to him on track by a customer, when McLaren claimed two constructors’ titles and a drivers’ championship while the works team scratched about for the odd race win at best. That angst is now a diminishing speck in the rear-view mirror after Mercedes made good on suggestions that it had the most competitive package for the latest era, claiming a dominant 1-2 in Australia. George Russell won from pole position as Ferrari pair Charles…

The Formula 1 managerial merry-go-round has thrown up its latest surprise turn, with Jonathan Wheatley leaving his post as Audi team principal on the eve of the Japanese Grand Prix, and it widely expected that the Briton will eventually take over from Adrian Newey at Aston Martin. Wheatley had only been in charge at Audi for a year, joining when the Hinwil squad was still operating as Sauber, and has elected to return to the UK for personal reasons. CEO Mattia Binotto assumed Wheatley’s responsibilities for the Suzuka weekend. He will reconvene with his management structure during the ‘spring break’ to determine the next steps. Although Audi may look for a replacement for Wheatley, it also has the option to keep Binotto in de facto charge of the team and…

Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi, who contested the late-summer European rounds of the 1976 grand prix season in a privateer Tyrrell 007, has died aged 83. Pesenti-Rossi was an ace in Italian Formula 3 – runner-up in the rankings in 1974 and 1975 – before stepping up to F2 for 1976 with his own Scuderia Gulf Rondini. Then, aboard the ex-Depailler Tyrrell, he made his F1 debut in the German GP at the Nurburgring and took a best result of 11th in the Austrian GP. Pesenti-Rossi retired in 1978 and turned to farming.…

F1 SHOULD LISTEN OLEG KARPOV It’s very difficult to judge how seriously Verstappen is considering leaving Formula 1. He’s clearly not happy – not only with the direction the championship has taken, but perhaps also with the competitiveness of the Red Bull package. It’s been a while since he started a season knowing he’s unlikely to win – and this year, it’s not just about the title, but even individual races. Looking elsewhere may well be on his mind. But how much of what he says reflects genuine intent to step away from F1 is something only he knows. Ignoring that possibility, however, wouldn’t be wise for F1. After all, its defining promise is “the best drivers in the best cars” – and Verstappen is arguably the best driver currently…

New Zealand and Australia are separated by 1500 miles or so of Tasman Sea, but the result was the same: after beating Freddie Slater to the Formula Regional Oceania Trophy, Ugo Ugochukwu stole bragging rights in the Formula 3 opener at Melbourne’s Albert Park. The lanky American appears unrecognisable this year from the mistake-prone youngster who was removed from the McLaren junior programme. He was beaten to pole by Campos Racing team-mate Theophile Nael, and was also beaten away at the start by the Trident car of Audi protege Slater, but calmly pickedhisway intothelead over the opening four laps and was then never truly threatened. Slater finally got the job done to demote Nael for second with a few laps remaining – just in time before a late safety car…

AO Racing’s Porsche leaves the pits as the Sebring 12 Hours moves towards its conclusion deep in the Florida night. The car shared by Nick Tandy, Harry King and Alessio Picariello led GT Daytona Pro during the penultimate hour, but there was to be no repeat of the team’s 2025 class victory in the second round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship in March – King trailed the best of Manthey’s Porsches with Thomas Priening at the wheel across the line by just 1.4s to seal second position. AO’s hopes were carried by the pink ‘Roxy’ rather than the team’s regular endurance car, the green-liveried ‘Rexy’. She was nursing her wounds after the Daytona 24 Hours in January. Photographer Brandon Badraoui/Lumen/Getty Images Where Sebring, Florida, USA When Saturday 21 March 2026…

The World Endurance Championship reacted swiftly to the Middle East crisis. The opening round of the series, scheduled for 28 March, was postponed just four days after the US and Israel began their offensive against Iran. A new date in October for the race was announced 10 days later. An initial statement from the WEC said that the safety of its competitors and personnel was of “utmost importance” and that it was “monitoring developments across the region”. The second announcement set the Qatar 1812Km for 24 October, two weeks before the scheduled curtain-closer in Bahrain on 7 November. The official pre-season prologue test had been due to take part on the Sunday and Monday ahead of the Qatar race. The prologue now becomes a one-day affair on the Tuesday of…

Bruno Famin has gone from poacher to gamekeeper for a second time. The Frenchman has left his position as vice president of Alpine Racing in March and become the Automobile Club de l’Ouest’s new deputy director of competition. Between leaving Peugeot Sport – where he was technical boss and then in charge of motorsport – and joining Alpine in 2022, he was the FIA’s director of operations. The announcement that Famin was joining the ACO, co-organiser of the World Endurance Championship with the FIA, followed three days on from news that he was stepping down from Alpine ahead of its final season in the series. The Renault marque revealed in February that it will end its programme with the A424 LMDh on the completion of this season. ACO president Pierre…

The rainy season arrived early in Kenya. Downpours in the lead up to this year’s Safari Rally turned stages into mud baths, reminiscent of the Safari of old. Crews had to slip and slide their way through, pushing their machines to the very limit, and in several cases beyond. The mud ultimately triggered the end of the rally for Toyota duo Oliver Solberg and Sebastien Ogier, with muck getting into their alternators. Elfyn Evans also succumbed to suspension failure in the Sleeping Warrior swamp. But the mud failed to stop Toyota’s Sami Pajari (pictured) as he went on to finish third, claiming back-to-back WRC podium finishes for the first time in his career. Photographer Tom Banks/Toyota Where Naivasha, Kenya When Saturday 14 March 2026 Details Canon EOS R3 EF100-400mm lens,…

A DOYEN OF Italian rallying, a phenomenon of his generation, an inspiration and the author of some of Lancia’s most important chapters in world rallying. This was Sandro Munari, who to many was simply known as Il Drago – the dragon. In late February, Italy lost one of its key rallying figures after a battle with illness, aged 85. Munari became the nation’s first mainstream rally star, elevating the sport’s profile during a golden era of manufacturer competition. When Lancia is mentioned in rallying circles Munari’s name follows closely, and without Il Drago the Italian marque’s dominance of the World Rally Championship and the emergence of the cult classic Stratos may never have eventuated. “For us, Munari is a god,” says renowned Italian rally journalist and author Marco Giordo. “He…

What do drivers do when the single-seater path runs out after they have competed in Formula E, F2, F3, and been an F1 junior team protege? If they’re Brazilian, they go home to race in the hugely popular Stock Pro Series. Latest recruit is three-time F2 race winner, ex-Red Bull and McLaren F1 junior and 68-time FE race starter Sergio Sette Camara. Following an interim season racing LMP2 machinery in the European Le Mans Series, he has joined RC Team to race a Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross in Stock Pro, which these days is based on SUV crossovers. After four races at two rounds, Sette Camara lies 10th in the standings, with best result of sixth. Ex-F1 heroes Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello are third and fourth respectively, while Nelson Piquet…

MAX VERSTAPPEN’S PARTICIPATION is now confirmed, so there will be no shortage of interest in this year’s Nurburgring 24 Hours. But it isn’t just entrants into the SP9 class for GT3 cars that are garnering attention. BMW’s announcement that it is entering its M3 Touring 24H – an estate version of its M4 GT3 EVO that was originally announced as an April Fools’ jape in 2025 – into the SPX class for special vehicles has delighted fans by evoking Volvo’s arrival into the British Touring Car Championship with the 850 estate in 1994. But HWA has gone the extra mile to indulge retro touring car aficionados with its three-car programme – also entered in SPX – in an eye-catching start to life as an independent entity. As a silent partner…

Rodin Motorsport has finally announced the driver pairing that will contest its maiden British GT campaign as Australian duo Josh Buchan and Cameron Campbell will form a Silver-Am entry. The pair will share a Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo afterRodinmade a shock announcement in December that it would move into sportscar racing following vast success in junior single-seaters. Neither driver is a recognised name in UK motorsport but they have competed Down Under, as Buchan is the reigning, three-time TCR Australia champion and took a class win at the 2025 Bathurst 12 Hour. He was also victorious in the Macau Guia race last year. The Silver-graded driver will make his full-season GT3 debut this year and will dovetail British GT with a campaign in GT World Challenge Australia alongside Campbell. “This…

Barry Wood, fabled designer of the Shapecraft Coupe derivative of the Lotus Type 26 Elan, has succumbed to cancer aged 90. While running Surbiton Motors, Wood evolved the concept of the Elan GT coupe, with an aluminium fastback roof bonded to the GRP shell. His vision (above) was realised with Shapecraft, based in nearby Tolworth. The low-drag conversion cost £165 or for £1260 customers could buy a complete car in kit form. Production ran into double figures. Wood first raced on 7 April, 1961 – the day son Neil was born, unexpectedly early – in a Ford Anglia 105E, then campaigned a frog-eyed Austin-Healey Sprite. Having evolved his Elan Shapecraft Coupe demonstrator, based on chassis 26R-20, it was natural to race it. Despite his tall broad build, Wood also tried…

Multiple saloon car champion Gary Prebble plans a Pre-’66 Touring Car title tilt after being the class pacesetter in a Hillman Imp in Donington Park’s opener. Prebble’s switch to the ex-Ed Gibbs Imp evokes memories of father Brian’s career. “My dad raced them in the 1970s, and I keep looking at the Pre-’66s and seeing how popular it is,” he said. “With Pre-’03 diminishing, we were a bit restricted what we could do with the Honda [Civic EG] and the opportunity arose.”…

Former Porsche Club GB champion Simon Clark has progressed to a McLaren 570S GT4 for a Britcar Endurance campaign this season. Having raced various Porsches since 2018, Clark aimed to graduate to a factory-built race car, and the FormEvo Racing McLaren is owned by his sponsors. Clark qualified second in class for his Donington Park debut but missed out during the stopsandfinished sixth. “Trying to step up from a sponsorship perspective and doing something like Britcar in a McLaren just helped us expand our reach,” said Clark, with FormEvo Racing having developed an app to keep race day guests updated. “It stirs the soul quite a bit and I underestimated the interest in the McLaren brand. As soon as I ran through some options with my sponsors and uttered the…

Amid the hullabaloo over the entry of Plato Racing, there’s been a lot of work going on at an established championship winning team to build a new car for 2026. Except it’s not a completely new car. Ever since Pete Osborne’s takeover of Motorbase Performance before the 2021 season, through its new-for-2022 title sponsorship from NAPA Racing UK to its change in identity in late 2023 to Alliance Racing, there had been moves afoot to switch from the fourth-generation Ford Focus ST hatchback to a saloon. Now it has, in the form of the Focus Titanium. Most notably this was on the cards in late 2022, when the desire was a rear-wheel-drive car to reflect the success achieved together with the Infiniti Q50 by Ash Sutton and engineer Antonio Carrozza…

Matt Griffin reckons there are approximately “six to eight” cars with the potential of contending for the 2026 British GT title but, for now, that could be any one of the grid. Several leading drivers have left, so that presents the opportunity for a surprise package to come through and make a serious challenge. Reigning champions Kiern Jewiss and Charles Dawson have instead opted for a full campaign in GT World Challenge Europe, Jonny Adam is back in the World Endurance Championship, Sandy Mitchell is in IMSA, and Marvin Kirchhofer and Maximilian Gotz have also moved onto pastures new. So, the grid has been shaken up but, amid the chaos, eyes will always look towards Barwell and its Lamborghini Huracans. Running three cars instead of two might present logistical headaches…

FOREVER FORWARD – THE INSIDE STORY OF McLAREN FORMULA 1 velopress.com RRP £10.99 Ben Hunt has updated his retelling of the McLaren F1 team’s roller-coaster story, now concluding with Lando Norris’s 2025 drivers’ championship win. Hunt talked to key figures from the squad’s past and present, proving that however storied a team’s history may be, there’s always something new to discover. McLAREN FORMULA 1 TEAM x SUNGOD 2026 COLLECTION sungod.co RRP From £60 British sunglasses brand SunGod has launched its latest collaboration with the McLaren Formula 1 team, for its sixth year as the squad’s official eyewear partner. Each frame in the collection features lightweight and robust construction utilising a super-flexible memory polymer and screwless hinges, polarised lens options and a McLaren lens engraving, finished with a Papaya logo plate…