Motorsport News 17/12/20

Porsche will be back to fight for overall Le Mans 24-Hour race victory from 2023 and have full-season top-class World Endurance Championship and IMSAassaults under the forthcoming LMDh regulations. The revered 19-time Le Mans-winning marque’s motorsport boss Pascal Zurlinden confirmed the return, stating that the LMDh rules’cost-effectiveness and ability to compete with the same car in WEC and America’s IMSAsportscar championship were key. He added that having competing Porsche customer teams is a possibility. The news means Porsche,Audi and Peugeot are all set to join Toyota in top-level Le Mans and WEC competition over the next three seasons.…

For the first three months of 2020, we were looking forward to a highly enjoyable season of motorsport on the stages and on the race tracks. And, despite everything the world has gone through over the last nine months, fans can look back on a year that has delivered much excitement despite the global health pandemic. I remember very well putting this newspaper to press on a Monday in March and designer Mike Stokoe and I looking at each other in despair as grand prix after grand prix was being axed. Little did we realise the full implications of what was about to unfold. But motorsport rebounded in the best way it could. The World Rally Championship and Formula 1 were both able to adjust and adapt and national racing, including the…

McLaren has sold a stake in its Formula 1 team to anAmerican consortium as part of a $185 million investment programme in a move the squad hopes will return it to the front of the grand prix grid. An investment group fronted by MSP Sport Capital, UBS O’Conner and The Najafi Companies will initially hold a 15% stake in the team, which will rise to 33% by the end of 2022. There will be no direct staff changes at the team, which secured third place in the F1 constructors’championship following the final grand prix of the season atAbu Dhabi on Sunday. McLaren boss Zak Brown said: “They are a partner as much as a shareholder, with the ability to leverage their network and knowledge for the long-term benefit of McLaren Racing. “This new investment…

Race winner Jack Goff will remain with the Team Hard British Touring Car Championship squad for the next two seasons as it introduces the new Cupra Leon onto the grid. The five-time race winner made his BTCC debut with the Kent-based team in 2013 and has raced its VW CC for the last two campaigns. He took Team Hard’s first victory at BTCC level at Silverstone in 2019. Goff said: “The previous seasons have been tricky on track but an absolute delight off it. I can’t fault the team’s commitment to winning and family ethics; for me, that is something really important. There is always a great vibe around the place which lifts your confidence as a driver. “Now, we’re well underway with the build of the brand-new Cupra Leons and I’m…

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen hopes that victory in the final Formula 1 race of the season can give Red Bull the impetus to start its 2021 campaign on the front foot. The Dutchman was in total command of the last race of the season to dominate from pole position. He was able to pull away at will from the Mercedes pair of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton. An early-race safety car meant that most of the leading drivers were forced onto the same strategy and were condemned to a long stint on the harder tyres to complete the 55-lap race. Verstappen, whose win was his second of the season after glory in the 70thAnniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone earlier in the year, said the duration of the longer final stint…

Juan Pablo Montoya will return to the Indianapolis 500 next season at the wheel of a McLaren-run machine. The Colombian will make a comeback to single-seater racing for the first time since 2017 and it marks a return to the team with which he spent the final two of his six seasons in Formula 1. The 45-year-old said: “I have some great history with McLaren from my F1 days, and I’m looking forward to making some more at next year’s Indianapolis 500.” He will form part of the Arrow McLaren SP line-up alongside Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist. McLaren head Zak Brown said: “[Juan] is an intensely competitive, highly versatile driver, with deep experience at the top level of motorsport and a big following. Having him with us at the 500 next year…