Motorsport News October 6, 2022

Kalle Rovanpera’s march to this season’s World Rally Championship became something of a formality following his record-busting year. The 22-year-old had a flourish in the middle of the campaign where he took five wins from six events from February to July. That he sealed it with yet another win – the eighth of his career – was highly appropriate. This has, after all, been his year. There has been a lot written about the fact that he has taken five years off the record for the youngest man to win the World Rally Championship, and that truly is a remarkable feat. He easily eclipsed Colin McRae’s benchmark from 1995. Rallying is a sport where knowledge and experience are required to conquer all that is put before a driver. Most competitors will not…

Formula 1’s return to the Lion City produced a typically dramatic and controversial race – filled with safety cars, real and virtual. But the floodlit streets of Singapore wasn’t to be the place where Dutch lion Max Verstappen could claim his second World title. His coronation will have to wait until next weekend in Suzuka… or perhaps in the Americas. After such a commanding year, Verstappen’s weekend was uncharacteristically scrappy. Errors from his team (under-fuelled in qualifying) and himself, resulted in a lowly seventh-place finish. In contrast his team-mate Sergio Perez produced one of the greatest performances of his career to withstand immense pressure to take the chequered flag ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. A renown street race ace, Perez can add Singapore to his victories in Baku and Monaco (which was the…

Carl Boardley will return to the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch this weekend at the wheel of a Team Hard Cupra R. The Hot Rod title winner stepped away from the BTCC category at the end of 2021, but will make a return to substitute for Will Powell, who is unable to take part in the rounds in Kent. Boardley said: “[Team Hard boss] Tony [Gilham] and the guys at Team Hard knew that a tempting offer for a one-off would always be greeted positively! “Having seen the championship from the sofa so far has been strange but I am looking forward to the Brands Hatch rounds with the sole aim of trying to enjoy it. Obviously, I have ties with the team so seeing some familiar faces will be good…

There is a question mark over the final rounds of the W Series this season as the category is reportedly in financial trouble. The all-female series hosted its latest round at Marina Bay in Singapore last weekend, supporting the Formula 1 event, and Beitske Visser took the race win. Despite retiring from the weekend’s race, double champion Jamie Chadwick continues to lead the standings. The category is due to sign off with rounds in America on October 22 and a double-header in Mexico on October 29-30. Championship boss Catherine Bond Muir told the Telegraph that she was confident that the series would continue. “We’ve had to fight from day one,” she said. “It has always been a struggle but we’re fighters. We’re looking at our budgets. We’re confident that we’ll continue to raise money.”…

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has hit back at suggestions that his title-winning team overspent in 2021. Ferrari and Mercedes top brass both suggested in Singapore that Red Bull had broken the budget cap, along with another operation, which is believed to be Aston Martin Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said: “As far as we understand, there’s a team in minor breach, which is more procedural, and another team that is fundamentally massively over and that is that is being still looked after. So that’s an open secret in the paddock.” Horner hit back and said that the comments were defamatory and he would seek to take action should the rumours persist. However, Wolff was adamant that Horner knew about the overspend, despite the team head denying all knowledge “It’s funny Christian says…

Zhou Guanyu will stay with the Alfa Romeo team for a second season in 2023 after tying up a new deal. Team boss Frederic Vasseur said the driver had impressed with his work ethic in his debut year after graduating into the top-flight. Vasseur said: “The way he adapted to Formula 1 in a short time has been one of the best surprises of our season. He is a very nice guy, everyone in the team likes both his personality and attitude.” “He has had the humility to ask questions and learn, and the intelligence to apply all the information he got to improve race after race. He will have this experience to draw on next season, and I am sure he will make another step forward as we continue to grow…