Motorsport News May 5, 2022

Former World Rally Championship star Kris Meeke says his future could be in rallycross, following a test in an all-new FC1-X electric rallycross car in Barcelona last month. The five-time WRC round winner has said he harbours no ambition to chase a full-time World rallying return, but that rallycross could suit him well alongside his Skoda Rally2 testing commitments and desire to continue in cross-country rallying. “Maybe a Dakar and rallycross programme would be ideal, I think that would tick all the boxes,” Meeke told Motorsport News. His test in the FC1-X that will be used in the headline Nitro Rallycross category this year was his first experience of an electric competition machine. “I’ve never been in a car with so much instantaneous torque and power,” he said. “It’s mesmerising what the potential can…

Motorsport is all about heroes. And heroes are usually decided upon when the mind is in its formative stages. As a kid, there weren’t posters of footballers on my bedroom wall – there was only space for one man, Gilles Villeneuve. I was only nine when he was killed and it was a heart-breaking weekend for me. It didn’t dilute my passion for motorsport, which was ramping up at that stage, but I can honestly say that I have never felt the same way about a driver since Gilles passed in Belgium 40 years ago. Sure, I have backed certain racers – Johnny Herbert being prime among them – but the hero-worship has never been as strong. We look back on his legacy in the company of a couple of other Villeneuve…

Formula 1’s governor the FIA has blocked plans to expand the number of Sprint qualifying races at grands prix. While the teams were in favour of pushing the number of Saturday events up to six in the future and Formula 1 Management was in agreement, the FIA blocked the proposals when it went to a vote last week. The FIA’s new president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is said to have told stakeholders at the meeting that he was only prepared to back the plan should more revenue be made available to the FIA. When that condition was not met, the FIAstood in the way of the proposals. In a statement issued by the FIA following the meeting, the governing body said: “With the first of three sprint events of the 2022 season popular with…

The Mercedes F1 team is aiming to boost the performance of its struggling W13 chassis with a raft of upgrades in time for this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix. The machine has been liable to porpoising this season which has left seven-time World title winner Lewis Hamilton struggling for performance. While Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell is fourth in the points table, Hamilton himself is seventh and has had only one podium finish so far this season. The team has worked hard to try and understand the issues with the chassis and said it is optimistic of taking steps forward in Florida. Mercedes’s trackside engineering boss Andrew Shovlin said: “Alot of the work that is going on in [the factory in] Brackley has been to understand the phenomenon [of porpoising] and whether we can actually…

The reborn TVR marque, which is soon to start production of a new Griffith model, has linked up with Formula E as a backer and could field its own team in the category. The British-owned firm has inked an agreement that meant it backed the Monaco race last weekend and it will also be supporting the London E-Prix later this year. TVR was bought in 2013 by Les Edgar and the firm will open a new factory in south Wales. Edgar explained that alongside the road-car production, there was an interest in joining the grid of the all-electric championship. “As a sports car company, we need to be in racing; all sports car companies need to prove their mettle,” Edgar explained. “Racing is one of the ways to do that. And the pressure…

Williams F1 reserve driver JackAitken will make his debut at Le Mans in the LMP2 class later this year. The Briton, who is currently contesting the 2022 European Le Mans Series with TF Sport, has been nominated to drive anAlgarve Pro Racing Oreca-Gibson on the entry list for the 24-hour event, and he is likely to share the car with Sophia Florsch and John Falb. Aitken toldAutosport: “This has happened quite quickly and we are planning that it is all going ahead, but we still need to cross the ts and dot the is. “I did the test last year and it went pretty well, but things didn’t align for the full season. “I wasn’t really looking at Le Mans this year, because it is early days in my LMP2 career and teams want…