Six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez will start Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi from pole, after topping a wet qualifying on Saturday. It marked his first pole in MotoGP since the 2019 Japanese GP – 1071 days ago – and the first big result of his comeback from a fourth major arm operation in
3:57 PM ET Associated Press FORT WORTH, Texas — Brad Keselowski has his first pole as an owner-driver at NASCAR’s highest level, a week after RFK Racing’s other car went to Victory Lane. While never in playoff contention after joining a rebranded team with longtime owner Jack Roush this season, 2012 Cup champion Keselowski had
First free practice of the French Grand Prix has just ended when we get invited to Paul Ricard’s airport. The man we’re meeting is Belgian Lieven Hermans, who started working as an aerial camera operator for Formula 1 in 2007. In one of the hangars sits a helicopter with an impressive camera system mounted underneath.
Butcher set the time 10 minutes into the session – he picked up a tow from Ash Hand in the middle sector, but then lost time behind the Vauxhall in the final portion of the lap, and they both had to pass a slower car at Luffield. Despite this, it was enough for the Scot
The Yamaha rider traditionally struggled in wet conditions on the M1, but was strong in March in the rain-hit Indonesian GP when he finished second – and was inside the top 10 in FP2 on Saturday morning at Motegi. But Quartararo could do no better than ninth, missing pole by 1.1 seconds. The Frenchman was
Vettel won all four of his world titles during his six-season stint at Red Bull between 2009 and 2014 before joining Ferrari for 2015. Ferrari opted against renewing Vettel’s contract when it expired at the end of the 2020 season, paving the way for the German driver to switch to Aston Martin for the following
Heavy rain and forecasted 100mph winds forced a meeting to be held at Motegi on Saturday morning between MotoGP and the teams about altering the qualifying schedule. With the extreme winds staying away for the moment, the decision was made to carry on with the current qualifying schedule. With the rainy conditions affecting FP2, Friday’s
Track action at Motegi was paused as a thunderstorm forced the Moto2 Q2 session to be red-flagged 9m37s in. MotoGP was due to have a final 30-minute practice at 2:30pm local time, but that was cancelled following a delay of around an hour to the end of the Moto2 qualifying. As a result, MotoGP has
Ricciardo will leave McLaren at the end of the season after agreeing a mutual split with one year remaining on his contract following a difficult stint at Woking. Ricciardo has been clear he is not looking to rush into any decision about his future, but remains keen to keep racing in F1 if the right
The Enstone-based squad has endured headaches in recent weeks after finding out Fernando Alonso was switching to Aston Martin for 2023 and that reserve Oscar Piastri had signed for McLaren. Their shock departures have left Alpine on the hunt for a new team-mate for Esteban Ocon, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly still a firm favourite if
The Yamaha test rider and three-time MotoGP race winner is standing in for the retired Andrea Dovizioso at RNF for the final rounds of the 2022 season, having made his comeback at Aragon last week. Crutchlow has recent track experience at Motegi from his tests on the 2023 Yamaha, and spent much of Friday’s FP1
Herta was being lined up by Red Bull to take a seat at AlphaTauri for 2023, with the squad open to an offer from Alpine to take currently contracted Pierre Gasly. However, the energy drinks giant’s plans rested on Herta being granted the mandatory F1 superlicence that he needs to compete in grand prix racing.
Dakar has changed its roadbook philosophy in recent years, with the pacenotes handed out to crews just minutes before the start of each stage instead of the previous evening. This leaves co-drivers with no time to make their own additions to the roadbook, meaning they rely entirely on the information provided by the organiser. While
Former team president Taylor Kiel resigned this week and is expected to take up a similar role at Chip Ganassi Racing once his non-compete clause has expired. However, it’s understood that he will not be directly replaced within the team, which next year expands to three cars, as Alexander Rossi joins incumbents Pato O’Ward and
Nakagami suffered lacerations to his fourth and fifth fingers on his right hand in his race-ending collision with Marc Marquez in last weekend’s Aragon Grand Prix. Having had treatment on the Monday before coming to his home round at Motegi to ride, Nakagami was just under four tenths off the best pace in FP1 in
5:14 AM ET Williams has confirmed Nicholas Latifi will leave the team at the end of the current Formula One season, the team confirmed on Friday. The Canadian driver has looked unlikely to remain with the team for several months. Dutch driver Nyck de Vries, who stood in for Latifi’s unwell teammate Alex Albon at
Take a lap around VIRginia International Raceway with Matt Campbell in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R.
Latifi made his F1 debut with Williams at the start of 2020 on a three-year contract, but struggled to match team-mates George Russell and Alex Albon for form during his time at the team. The Canadian’s departure has been widely expected for a number of months, but Williams confirmed the news on Friday, revealing his
They will be joined in the four Endurance Cup events by seven-time IndyCar race winner Colton Herta, with more drivers for the long-distance races to be announced at a later date. De Phillippi and Yelloly will share one of the two BMW M Hybrid V8 entries, while the other works car will be piloted by
The 32-year-old won his first MotoGP race this season in Argentina having raced full-time in the class since 2012, after making his debut back in 2010. Since that Argentina win, Espargaro has scored five further podiums and is just 17 points from championship leader Fabio Quartararo after finishing third last weekend at Aragon. With just
12:22 PM ET ESPN News Services McLaren Racing is in serious conversation about running a fourth Indianapolis 500 entry for NASCAR star Kyle Busch. Busch, who last week left Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing after 15 years to sign with Richard Childress Racing, has permission to compete in the Indy 500 with a Chevrolet team.
Amid all the dominant form that means he could capture the crown at next weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, it is easy to forget the dramas that overshadowed the start of the campaign. In fact, early on in the year, it appeared that his championship challenge could be over before it started, as a spate of
Sims was confirmed as Pipo Derani’s co-driver at the team for the start of IMSA’s new era, in which the premier class is rebranded GTP, and DPi cars are replaced by Le Mans Daytona hybrid cars and Le Mans Hypercars. Sims accrued five wins in IMSA’s now defunct GT Le Mans class racing Rahal Letterman
This weekend marks the first Japanese GP to be staged by MotoGP since before the COVID-19 pandemic enveloped the world in 2019. But Moto2 squad Marc VDS’ preparations for this weekend’s 16th round of the 2022 season were hindered when a fire erupted in its garage on Thursday evening at Motegi. The pit box –
1:00 PM ET Former MotoGP world champion Joan Mir has endured some of the biggest crashes of his career in 2022. RONNY HARTMANN/AFP via Getty Images The U.S. is witnessing something of a renaissance in motorsport. Call it the “Drive to Survive” effect, but Formula One isn’t the only series seeing a resurgence in television audiences.
AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost had indicated for some time the plan was always to keep Tsunoda alongside Pierre Gasly – confirmation of whom was given back in June – pending sign-off from Red Bull. Tsunoda said a few weeks ago that his future depended on “things in the background”, but that he was satisfied
Kiel’s surprise decision comes after two years as president of a team he first joined almost 15 years ago, when it was still Sam Schmidt Motorsports and was mainly in Indy Lights with annual forays into the Indy 500. As reported on IndyCar.com, Kiel posted on social media: “What a ride it’s been with Arrow
The developments of cars throughout the 2022 campaign have been different to previous years, with teams having to balance the desire for update steps against the costs of building new parts. Some outfits like Alpine have elected to bring small changes to every race, while other squads have chosen instead to unleash new parts in
Not since the 2017 season has a MotoGP title battle gone down to the wire. In a thrilling year, Andrea Dovizioso pluckily kept his and Ducati’s outside hopes alive against Marc Marquez through to the final round in Valencia. Ultimately Marquez prevailed, and through 2018 and 2019 the Honda rider dominated. The COVID-delayed 2020 season
3:59 AM ET Yuki Tsunoda will remain in Formula One with AlphaTauri for another year, the Italian team has confirmed. Tsunoda, who is a part of the Red Bull young driver programme and backed by engine supplier Honda, is currently in his second season at AlphaTauri. His future in F1 beyond the end of the