Erik Evans’ grand tour

Twenty-year old Erik Evans, the Atlanta-born, UK-based surprise winner of the 2023 British GT4 Championship, recently signed back on for another year in the British GT4 Series, and also announced that he would be in an Academy Motorsports …

Twenty-year old Erik Evans, the Atlanta-born, UK-based surprise winner of the 2023 British GT4 Championship, recently signed back on for another year in the British GT4 Series, and also announced that he would be in an Academy Motorsports new-generation S650 Mustang GT4 in this year’s GT4 European Series Powered by RAFA Racing Club.

The first American driver to nail down such an accolade, Evans, hopes, with Ford Performance’s support, to become the first driver ever to defend the British GT crown.

“It has been awesome with Ford,” said Evans. “We did it last year with Ford when we won the championship, and we are ready to race the new generation Ford S650 Mustang. We’re excited to see what it is able to do.”

Last week, Evans put the No. 61 Multimatic Motorsports-built Ford Mustang GT4 through its paces at Donington Park, getting both himself and the Ford in fighting trim.

“I’m racing in the British GT4 Championship and the European GT4 Championship this year,” said Evans. “There is a lot going on. I’m trying to repeat my championship from last year in the British championship, and then I want to try and leave a mark on Europe and show that Americans can come over here and beat them. Last season was my rookie year in GT racing. It was pretty crazy because I didn’t know any of the tracks and had never done any racing in GT cars before. I think it was a little unexpected, but completely welcomed.”

Evans set out on his motor racing journey in 2017 when he attended AMP Karting School. By 2021 he was lining up in the Road to Indy categories, but long the way was introduced to VRD Racing’s Dan Mitchell, who found him a ride in the final British GT4 race of 2022. It was at Donington Park where he caught the gaze of the Academy Motorsports outfit.

“Basically, I did F4 and then the following year I did USF2000,” he said. “Reality set in a little bit and you start looking at the bigger picture of schemes and open wheel racing is very, very, very, very, very expensive and very, very talented and very hard to get a spot because there are so few spots available. Basically, what happened was that I was racing for this team called Velocity Racing Development out of Atlanta and the team owner actually grew up five minutes away from Donington Park here in England and basically I started looking at the big picture. I said, ‘Hey, as much as I’d like to go do Formula 1 or IndyCar, that’s an unrealistic situation for me.’ I turned to Dan Mitchell and said, ‘Hey man, big picture, if I really, really want to make a carer driving race cars, what would I do?’ He said, ‘Go GT racing.’

“So from there, we looked at the IMSA championships and we really looked into that. I started to see a status quo with things going on in IndyCar and in IMSA. I could see that all the guys that were winning everything are Europeans. There are a couple of Americans that can hang up in there, but most of the time it’s these European kids that are trying to make it to F1 or to F2 or stuff like that. They were coming over here and kicking ass in America, so I said, ‘I want to be the best. Why not go where the best come from and learn their way of doing it?’ That’s what I’m doing over here.’”

Shortly after impressing Academy Motorsports team owner Matt Nicoll-Jones at Donington, Evans began considering a full GT4 season in 2023.

“Dan Mitchell and myself were looking at the bigger picture of making a career out of it all, because I would give everything to drive race cars for the rest of my life,” he said. “So, Dan said to me, ‘If you want the best opportunity to get paid to drive cars, go GT. There are so many opportunities for everyone. There are multiple drivers per car, long races and it all just opens up the opportunities. There are so many different championships. There’s no there’s no learning curve. The GT3 and the GT4 cars are the same anywhere you go in the world no matter championships are doing.’

“Going into the 2023 season, I knew that Ford was working on a new GT program. The Ford GT car had been long gone for a couple of years and no-one knew if Ford was going to come back. However, I’d been told that they’re developing a GT3 and a GT4 car and so I was like, ‘Okay, well, I think that’d be really cool with an American brand with an American driver who wants to go and conquer Europe and Le Mans and all this other stuff.’

It all came down to the final race of the year and it took something of a racing miracle, but Evans and teammate Matt Crowley showed up at the 2023 British GT4 Championship finale at Donington Park and managed to claim the series title.

“I started the race and everyone was just kind of stagnant except for our car and I worked myself all the way up to third,” said Evans of his Donington race. “I almost made it up to second position as well as first overall in GT4. Then the safety car came out. And then the biggest miracle happened in our favor. The championship-leading Optimum Motorsport car, which basically just had to finish in the top 10 to win the title, had a battery issue in the pitstop and they couldn’t restart the car and they lost a lap. At the same time, our car was absolutely on rails. We went from about 11th place all the way up to the lead and then gapped everyone by the time the checkered flag fell. So it was just something that was completely unexpected.”

Evans’ story drew a lot of fan support.

“The fans were great to me and took notice, but I think there’s more hype on the car,” he said. “We’re racing against Aston Martins and McLarens and BMWs and all these like cars that, I hate to even say it, your average person can’t afford. I think that’s why people love the Mustang so much. It’s a car that people can relate with. They can go buy one. And it just it sounds so different to everything else out there, and it looks so different to anything else out there. You have these sleek sportscars and supercars and then you just have this big old broody Mustang that’s just out there making the V8 sound that only a naturally aspirated 5.2 liter V8 can create.”

About to fight a two front war come 2024 GT4 competition, Evans firmly believes that both he and his racing allies – Academy Motorsports, Multimatic Motorsports and Ford Performance – are certainly armed for battle.

“This year Ford and Multimatic have taken on a whole new level. With the testing that we just did at the Paul Ricard circuit the other week, we had five engineers from Ford Performance just for our two cars. They’re really ramping up to support and they really want this car to do well in Europe and they really want my teammate Marco Signoretti, who is also a Multimatic development driver, to excel. They really want us to go to go out and just conquer everything. Ford and Multimatic are really excited to see what we’re going to do for the Ford brand over in Europe.

“And the new car is pretty freaking cool. Essentially, it’s an evolution rather than a revolution. It’s like having an EVO kit. They’ve changed so many little things that it just feels completely different. But, I mean, it’s a pretty exciting car. They’ve made it a lot more ergonomical for the driver. It’s got the square steering wheel, like an F1 car. It’s really slick and nice.

“We were talking to Jeff Ripley directly. Jeff is the guy Multimatic who basically designed the car. That car is his baby and his imagination. The ethos behind the car is different from the last car. It’s more set up to for a worldwide scale. They’ve spent lots of money researching and developing this car and it’s a pretty crazy piece of kit. I think, by far, it is the most race car out of any GT4 car out there.”

So what will come next as part of Evans’ motor racing master plan?

“My goal is next year to move up to GT3,:” he said. “I actually wanted to move up to GT3 this year. However, with the delayed production of the GT3 cars, our team was not available to get one until about August. So, I said, ‘I’ll step up to the plate. We’ll go run British and European GT in 2024. And it’s also good because I’ll get to go learn the European tracks before stepping up to GT3.’ That was kind of my decision behind that.

“The long-term dream at the end a day is to just have fun for the rest of my life driving race cars. I don’t really care about making big bucks or anything like that. If I could just break even try and race cars my life, I’d be happy. I think it’s the coolest thing ever and the coolest job on the planet. Every little boy when there wants to be a race car driver at some point. That’s really what I want to do. I want to go win the biggest races in the world in the premier class. I want to win in the Hypercar class. I want to win the overall at the Daytona 24 Hours. That’s the stuff I want to do.”

So now Evans will look to Oulton Park circuit and the curtain-raising round of the 2024 British GT4 Championship.

“On Easter weekend, we have the first race at Oulton Park,” he said. “It’s the first race of the British GT Championship. It’s a sprint race weekend which means it is two one-hour races arnd you have to do a pit stop at about the halfway mark to change drivers. No fuel, no tires and just driver change. And that’s an exciting track because it’s really narrow and it’s barely two GT4 cars wide, and then you have the GT3 class out there with you, which is even wider and it just makes it chaotic and awesome.

“From our driver standpoint it can be really stressful, but for sure from a viewership standpoint, looks awesome. It’s the perfect time of year in England. You have no idea what the weather’s going to be. It will be 60 degrees and sunny, and then the next minute, it’s just chucking it down rain. You don’t know and I think that’s what makes it exciting. I’m really looking forward to that. And then the next week after that we have the first race in the European GT season at Paul Ricard in France. I’m excited and we’re getting thrown into the deep end, I’ve never done anything in the European GT series. I have no idea where it’s going be like, but I am just super excited for it.”

Middle East now a key center of motorsport, says McLaren’s Brown

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says that the Middle East should now be considered in the same group as the likes of the U.S and the UK when it comes to motorsport powerhouse regions following two decades of rapid expansion. Brown pointed to his own …

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says that the Middle East should now be considered in the same group as the likes of the U.S and the UK when it comes to motorsport powerhouse regions following two decades of rapid expansion.

Brown pointed to his own team’s Bahrain ownership and importance of the region for partners and sponsors for legitimizing its importance for the motorsport industry as a whole.

“On the Formula 1 schedule, we’ve got four grands prix in the region, and then when I talk to business leader and our partners, they talk about how important the region is to them,” Brown said. “I think it’s great that it all kind of started in Bahrain, which of course is the owner of McLaren Racing, with the first grand prix in the region and the first racing team in the region, so I think we’re already a very important market for the fans, the racing teams, for the sport, and for our sponsors.”

A key player at the moment is Saudi Arabia, which as well as hosting the second and third rounds of the Formula E season, the Dakar Rally at the start of this year, the inaugural E1 electric powerboat race, this week’s Extreme E opener and a Formula 1 grand prix all in the space of nine weeks. But His Royal Highness Prince Khalid Bin Sultan Al Abdullah Al Faisal, president of the Saudi Arabia automobile and motorcycle federation reiterated previous comments that the country isn’t just about hosting events, and wants to increase its motorsport presence further in the coming years.

“A lot of things are happening in Saudi, and there are a lot of things that we’ve done,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a place in the world that hosts all these events, and still we haven’t finished our infrastructure.

“When (a planned purpose-built motorsport facility in) Qiddiya opens, that’s going to take us to a different level. And all the plans that we have for the grassroots that will transform our participation in motorsports — the potential in Saudi Arabia is very big.

“We’re halfway; we’ve achieved a lot of things in terms of hosting events so now we need to discover and give the new generation the platform so they can shine and rise and succeed and also take us to the next level. We have lots of boys and girls in Saudi that are very ambitious, very committed, and very talented and by hosting Formula E and other events, they’ve been inspired.”

Chambers believes F1 Academy ‘opens a lot more doors’

American racer Chloe Chambers believes her move into F1 Academy with support from Haas “opens a lot more doors” to future career progression. Chambers has been signed by Haas as the driver who will run in the team’s colors in F1 Academy this year, …

American racer Chloe Chambers believes her move into F1 Academy with support from Haas “opens a lot more doors” to future career progression.

Chambers has been signed by Haas as the driver who will run in the team’s colors in F1 Academy this year, with all ten constructors doing the same. The all-female category was established last year and had its finale at Circuit of the Americas, but will be part of the F1 support schedule for all seven of its 2024 rounds and Chambers says the potential exposure is why the series was so attractive.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=6787]

“I had tried to pursue F1 Academy this time last year actually, and unfortunately I was a little bit too late on getting things going for that so I ended up missing out on the 2023 season of F1 Academy,” Chambers told Speed City Broadcasting. “So I ended up going off and doing some sportscar racing in the States, did very well in that, and then sort of in the middle of the year we started going back and thinking ‘maybe we should try and go back into F1 Academy again because the opportunities it can bring are massive’.

“Especially in 2024 with them changing it to be on Formula 1 race weekends as well as live streamed on all the Formula 1 channels, it just opens a lot more doors that weren’t really there in 2023. So I pushed really hard to get into it for this year, went out to Spain to do some testing with the teams and show myself to them so they were at least aware of me and the fact I was trying to pursue it.

“Ultimately we got into talks with A14 Management – who is now managing me – and they were a big help because they have so many connections over in Europe that my dad and I don’t have. So they helped a lot with getting everything sorted for me and I ended up getting paired with Haas F1 Team, which obviously makes a lot of sense.

“It’s the only American Formula 1 team on the grid and I’m an American driver, so that pairing really just made sense with me. Obviously who would say no with being partnered with a Formula 1 team? So I graciously accepted their offer, and I’ll be racing with Campos Racing at seven of the Formula 1 races this year.”

Chambers says the Haas deal extends beyond the F1 Academy backing too, and that she’ll spend time with the team at select other events.

“Part of my deal with Haas is that I will get to experience the inside of the team on a race weekend. I will obviously be at the tracks during the F1 race weekends where I am racing, but I also will get the opportunity to go to a few of the other races where I won’t racing. So I’ll be able to be with the team throughout the entire weekend, sit in on driver debriefs, watch the on-track action with the engineers, and kind of immerse myself so I understand how it works.”

Chambers doesn’t see the departure of Guenther Steiner as team principal as a negative development, after being welcomed by new team principal Ayao Komatsu.

“It’s cool. Guenther was such a face and a personality, especially from Drive to Survive, and I’ve seen some of the comments saying ‘Oh we want Guenther back’, but also you have to think about it from the perspective of the team.

“They did a really good interview with Gene Haas … and basically the way he said it was it was time for a change in the higher tiers of the team because the team had finished last place in the constructors’ championship two of the last three years. So it really does make sense to change something around with the team to try and figure out what the problem is.

“So as much as Guenther is a really cool personality, very funny, I think it will be good for Haas in the long run.”

U.S. racer Chambers gets Haas F1 Academy spot

American racer Chloe Chambers will be the Haas-supported driver in F1 Academy in 2024, the team has announced. The 19-year-old from Indiana will race in Haas colors for Campos Racing in the all-female series’ second season, with 2024 seeing F1 …

American racer Chloe Chambers will be the Haas-supported driver in F1 Academy in 2024, the team has announced.

The 19-year-old from Indiana will race in Haas colors for Campos Racing in the all-female series’ second season, with 2024 seeing F1 Academy switch to become a support championship on the Formula 1 calendar. After competing in W Series in 2022, Chambers raced Porsches in North America last year, as well as finishing ninth in the Formula Regional Oceania Championship — formerly Toyota Winter Series — with one victory.

“I’m super excited to be driving for MoneyGram Haas F1 Team with Campos Racing in F1 Academy,” Chambers said. “Having the backing of Haas is going to open many doors for new experiences and it’s going to be a place where I can learn.

“I’m excited to be going to Miami for Haas’ and my home race — that’s a race I’m looking forward to. It’s my first season in F1 Academy, so I’m looking forward to getting good results and developing as a driver. I did some testing over the winter with Campos Racing, and the team and I work very well together.”

All 10 F1 teams have committed to supporting one driver each in F1 Academy, with that driver running the F1 team’s livery regardless of the junior team they are driving for. New Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu says Chambers has been integrating herself at Banbury.

“As a father to two karting enthusiasts myself, I know the importance of representation in encouraging the next generation to take that leap and follow their dreams,” Komatsu said. “It was great to meet Chloe and see her enthusiasm for the season ahead, and the team thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her at the factory — from speaking with our engineers, participating in pit stop practice and undertaking her first media obligations.

“MoneyGram Haas F1 Team fully supports Formula 1 and F1 Academy in its objectives, and we’re committed to increasing the talent pool of young girls and women entering the sport, utilizing our resources.”

Chambers is the second American on the grid, with Lia Block joining Williams and racing for ART Grand Prix in 2024.

Seven F1 teams have now announced the drivers they are backing in F1 Academy, with Doriane Pin and Tina Hausmann — Mercedes and Aston Martin respectively — racing for Prema. Alpine-backed Abbi Pulling will race for Rodin Motorsport, while McLaren’s Bianca Bustamante joins Block at ART and Sauber junior Carrie Schreiner is paired with Chambers at Campos.

iRacing convert Esterson set to become only U.S. driver in F3

Max Esterson is stepping up to Formula 3 full-time in 2024, and looks set to be the only American driver in the category this year. Kaylen Frederik and Hunter Yeany started the 2023 season but Yeany was replaced by Esterson for two rounds at Carlin …

Max Esterson is stepping up to Formula 3 full-time in 2024, and looks set to be the only American driver in the category this year.

Kaylen Frederik and Hunter Yeany started the 2023 season but Yeany was replaced by Esterson for two rounds at Carlin mid-season and did not secure another seat in the series after that point. Frederik has since tested Indy NXT and Super Formula Lights machinery and looks unlikely to return to F3 for a fourth year.

While Esterson only made those four race starts in Silverstone and Budapest in FIA F3, the iRacing star turned racer will now join the grid full-time with Jenzer Motorsport, who he drove for at Macau in November.

“I’m excited to be joining Jenzer Motorsport and to be racing in FIA F3,” said  Esterson. “Jenzer has a great history of success and has proven they can run at the front in F3, which has to be considered one of the most competitive series in the world.

“It’s a big step up for me with more power, more downforce, and a heavier car, but I feel like I’ve gelled well with Jenzer’s family environment in the post-season tests last year and at the Macau Grand Prix in November.

“I’m grateful to Andreas [Jenzer] and everyone at the team for the opportunity and to all my supporters including iRacing who have stepped up and helped me make this move. We’re working hard to be well prepared for Bahrain in February and I’m excited to get going!”

Esterson only made the transition from iRacing to real racing in 2020, and the Jenzer team principal believes he can go all the way through the ranks to emulate Logan Sargeant as a grand prix driver.

“After completing the official post-season 2023 test days with our team as well as the prestigious Macau World Cup, American racing driver Max Esterson will take on the challenge of competing as a rookie in the FIA F3 Championship with Jenzer Motorsport this season,” Jenzer said. “As Max is competing with the American flag and sponsors, we will work to bring the next American driver into the FIA F1 paddock!”

Esterson moved to the UK in 2021 to pursue the European ladder towards F1, becoming the first American to win both the Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy while representing the Team USA Scholarship in 2021, and competing in the GB3 Championship (pictured) prior to his step up to F3. For now he’s the only American in the field, although seven of the 30 slots are yet to be confirmed.

America does have Jak Crawford a rung further up the ladder in Formula 2, with the 18-year-old race-winner switching to DAMS for his second season in the feeder series following his departure from the Red Bull junior program.

Prema considering IndyCar program

Prema Racing, one of the most successful teams competing on the European open-wheel ladders that lead to Formula 1, is considering an expansion into the U.S. with an NTT IndyCar Series program. The Italian organization, which won FIA Formula 2 …

Prema Racing, one of the most successful teams competing on the European open-wheel ladders that lead to Formula 1, is considering an expansion into the U.S. with an NTT IndyCar Series program.

The Italian organization, which won FIA Formula 2 championships with Charles Leclerc (2017), Mick Schumacher (2020), and Oscar Piastri (2021), and earned the European Le Mans Series LMP2 title in 2022, is currently evaluating a North American move that would complement its global presence with formula cars and prototypes. Speaking with RACER, a team representative confirmed Prema is “investigating” the formation of an IndyCar program but declined to go into greater detail.

Along with its positions in F2 and LMP2, Prema also races in most of the known junior open-wheel championships in its home continent and internationally with programs across nearly a dozen series.

Prema’s reach within the past and present IndyCar paddock is significant. Among the current drivers in the field for 2024, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong and Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist have driven for team, and two of its better graduates in Robert Schwartzman and Nick Cassidy tested for Ganassi within the last year. Its roster of IndyCar alumni also includes eight-time race winner Ryan Briscoe, Stefano Coletti, Callum Ilott, Charlie Kimball and Carlos Munoz.

Felix Rosenqvist won a Formula 3 title with Prema Racing and also got his start in GP2 (pictured) with the team. Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

“That would be a dream come true,” Rosenqvist told RACER. “It would reunite me with my old friends there. I raced with them in 2008 for one race in Spa and in 2015 when we won the FIA European Formula 3 championship together. They’re awesome. They’re the best team in Europe, outside of F1. If they were to come over here, they would be a force to reckon with.”

In Formula 1, Prema can count Leclerc, Piastri, Pierre Gasly, Logan Sargeant, Zhou Guanyu and Lance Stroll — more than 25 percent of the grid — as graduates of its program.

If Prema is able to establish itself in IndyCar, it would continue in the tradition of Carlin Racing, another powerhouse open-wheel ladder team from Europe which made the expansion into North America in 2015. Carlin, now known as Rodin Racing, won the Indy Lights championship in 2016 with Ed Jones and moved to IndyCar in 2018, where it competed for four seasons.

RACER understands former Arrow McLaren and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team executive Piers Phillips has been recruited by Prema to assist in the endeavor, and the earliest it would happen is for 2025.

Among IndyCar’s 10 full-time entrants, Juncos Hollinger Racing and Meyer Shank Racing rank as its newest teams, with both joining the series as part-time ventures in 2017 before ramping up to season-long campaigns. With Prema added to the list, IndyCar has a wave of newfound interest for 2025 and beyond with at least three teams, including Pratt Miller Engineering and Abel Motorsports, in the process of either evaluating or actively building towards participating in the championship.

[lawrence-related id=344694,344294]

Carlin renamed Rodin Motorsport

Open wheel juggernaut Carlin has been rebranded as Rodin Motorsport ahead of the upcoming season following the departure of founder Trevor Carlin late last year. New Zealand-based track car manufacturer Rodin Cars invested in the outfit in 2023, …

Open wheel juggernaut Carlin has been rebranded as Rodin Motorsport ahead of the upcoming season following the departure of founder Trevor Carlin late last year.

New Zealand-based track car manufacturer Rodin Cars invested in the outfit in 2023, purchasing a stake previously owned by Grahame Chilton, father of former F1 and IndyCar driver Max Chilton. That led to the team being renamed Rodin Carlin, before Rodin assumed full control at the turn of the year.

“I am thrilled to lead Rodin Motorsport in this new era of our racing history,” said Rodin Motorsport director David Dicker. “The team has a tremendous racing pedigree which we will continue to build upon moving forward. The 2024 season is once again going to be an exciting year for everyone at Rodin Motorsport and I for one can’t wait to get back on track where we belong.

“Our core values remain the same and we continue to strive to be the leading junior motorsport team. Our commitment to the drivers, championships and staff remains unwavering; we are here to race, develop drivers and keep winning.”

The renaming will also see the team ditch its famous blue color palette for New Zealand’s black and white, but it will remain based in the UK. Rodin Cars itself is headquartered on New Zealand’s South Island.

The Carlin name has been synonymous with junior racing since the team’s founding in 1996, competing in the likes of Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 4, GP2, GP3, Formula Renault, Formula Renault 3.5, and Indy Lights. The team also previously ran programs in IndyCar, Formula E (running the Mahindra team for the inaugural season in 2014-15), GP3, A1 Grand Prix (where it ran entries for Portugal, Japan, Lebanon, and Korea), and Porsche Supercup.

It has won a total of 456 races, with over 30 of its drivers progressing to Formula 1, including seven of the current grid.

Among the long list of Carlin alumni is 2023 Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden, who had a stint with the team in GP3 in 2010. Motorsport Images

Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz Jr. raced for the team in British and European Formula 3 as well as the Macau Grand Prix during their time as Red Bull juniors; Lando Norris also raced for the team in F3, as well as MSA Formula (now British Formula 4) and Formula 2; George Russell had a stint with the team in Formula 3, while Yuki Tsunoda raced for it in F2 in 2020. Kevin Magnussen raced for the team in British F3 back in 2011, graduating to Formula Renault 3.5 with the outfit the following year, while Logan Sargeant raced for the team in British F4 in 2017, before returning to the team for the 2022 F2 season.

Sebastian Vettel, Robert Kubica, Brendon Hartley, Felipe Nasr, Daniil Kvyat and Antonio Giovinazzi are among Carlin’s other F1 alumni. Formula E champions Nelson Piquet Jr., Sebastien Buemi, Jean-Eric Vergne, Antonio Felix da Costa, and Jake Dennis also raced for Carlin at various points in their careers, as did 2022-23 title contender driver Nick Cassidy.

From the current IndyCar crop, Takuma Sato, Josef Newgarden, Marcus Ericsson, Will Power, Colton Herta, Conor Daly, Jack Harvey, Devlin DeFrancesco, Callum Ilott, and Tom Blomqvist spent parts of their junior careers with the team, while the team itself competed in IndyCar between 2018-21, with Chilton, Daly Charlie Kimball, Pato O’Ward, and Sage Karam among its drivers.

Rodin has affirmed its commitment to its programs in F2, F3, F1 Academy, GB3, Spanish F4, and British F4 for 2024, although the team’s announcement made no mention of Extreme E, where it ran Lewis Hamilton’s X44 Vida Carbon Racing team in 2023, taking over from Prodrive which carried it to the 2022 title. RACER has reached out to X44 for clarification on that program’s current status.

Last year, Rodin revealed it had unsuccessfully applied to join the Formula 1 grid with a New Zealand-based operation that would have guaranteed a seat for a female driver had it been approved.

QEV Technologies partners with Formula G

Formula G has announced QEV Technologies as the technical partner for the upcoming electric development series. The partnership will see QEV develop the Formula G car’s powertrain and battery from its base near the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in …

Formula G has announced QEV Technologies as the technical partner for the upcoming electric development series.

The partnership will see QEV develop the Formula G car’s powertrain and battery from its base near the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain, which houses production facilities for road and race vehicles.

“Of course, we are delighted to be working with QEV Tech,” said Dilbagh Gill, founder and CEO of Formula G.“We share the same aims and goals and we have worked together in Formula E and other projects. QEV Tech is the perfect partner for this championship. I have every confidence in QEV Technologies to deliver two fantastic cars for our two categories.”

[lawrence-related id=340683,340604]

The Spanish electromobility firm, which develops solutions for urban mobility through its ZEROID brand, is no stranger to motorsport, having developed Nitrocross’ FC1-X — the most powerful all-electric racing car in the world — as well as the ZEROID X1 used in the FIA World Rallycross championship’s RX2e feeder category. It also runs the Acciona Sainz team in Extreme E.

“Motorsport is our passion. It provides the ‘halo effect’ for everything we are creating in the factory and gives the company an exciting, vibrant environment for all our technicians,” said QEV CEO Joan Orus. “I was involved in Formula E from the outset and I have been saying to Alejandro Agag and others within Formula E and Extreme E that we need a junior category for drivers entering the electric journey.

“I am delighted that we are involved in Formula G and that it creates two categories for drivers to specialise in this field. Formula 1 has Formula 2 and Formula 3 which is the proving ground for drivers graduating into the top echelon. To be successful in Formula 1 you need to be quick and have the fastest car. In electric motorsport you need to have a number of more complex skills as well; you need to be able to understand how to conserve energy and use the power intelligently. These are skills which can be learned in the Formula G series.”

Browning dominates F3 Macau GP

British driver Luke Browning dominated the 26-car field to win the Macau Grand Prix FIA F3 World Cup race on Sunday in a two-part race that was interrupted by a fiery crash for Estonian driver Paul Aron. The 70th edition of the event run on the …

British driver Luke Browning dominated the 26-car field to win the Macau Grand Prix FIA F3 World Cup race on Sunday in a two-part race that was interrupted by a fiery crash for Estonian driver Paul Aron. The 70th edition of the event run on the streets of the former Portuguese colony, now a special administrative region of China, marked the return of F3 cars for the first time since 2019, as the single-seater portion of the weekend had featured China’s F4 series for the past three years due to restrictions on international travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Browning, who drives for the Hitech Pulse-Eight team, made brilliant getaways at both the original start and the crucial red flag safety car restart to seal his success. With the race ultimately ending under a safety car, Browning came home ahead of MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger and SJM Theodore PREMA racing’s Gabriele Minì.

“This is an absolute dream,” said Browning of winning the famous Guia street race. “Words can’t describe how I’m feeling right now, but to win at this level against this grid is properly humbling.”

At the original start, Browning made a strong getaway from pole position to defend the inside line all the way down into Lisboa, with Minì tucked in his slipstream. But as the field braked for the tight right-hander, Browning’s teammate Alex Dunne tried to pull off a move around the outside to grab second but slid into the barriers.

As Browning pulled clear at the front, Minì was under attack on lap two as his teammate Dino Beganovic slipstreamed past him on the run down to Lisboa. But Beganovic was carrying too much speed into the corner and, after locking up, ran wide into the tire barriers.

Following a short virtual safety car period, Browning stretched his advantage once again at the front as Minì pulled clear with him. Behind them, Hauger moved up to third on lap five as he drafted past Aron (SJM Theodore PREMA Racing) on the run to Lisboa. Aron lost another place to Mari Boya a lap later.

Aron appeared to be struggling and on lap eight, going through the Solitude Esses, he crashed into the barriers — with his car breaking in half and erupting into flames. Aron was able to climb out of the car unaided, but debris across the track and barrier repairs prompted a lengthy red flag period.

At the restart on lap 12, Browning perfectly controlled his getaway as Minì found himself under attack from Hauger — who was able to draft past on the run into Lisboa and even had a sniff of the lead. Browning held on though and his win was assured when, on lap 13, the safety car was called out to allow marshals to retrieve the crashed car of Nikola Tsolov, who had hit the barriers at Fisherman’s Bend.

The race duly finished under caution. Behind the top three, MP Motorsport’s Boya came home in fourth, ahead of Josep Maria Marti in the Campos Racing car and Trident’s Richard Verschoor. IndyCar racer Marcus Armstrong finished 18th for MP Motorsport.

 

Crawford suggests he’s been moved up too fast as Red Bull exit confirmed

Jak Crawford has left the Red Bull junior team setup and suggests he was pushed through the ranks too quickly, as he maps out his updated path towards Formula 1. The American joined Red Bull in 2020 and completed one year in German and Italian …

Jak Crawford has left the Red Bull junior team setup and suggests he was pushed through the ranks too quickly, as he maps out his updated path towards Formula 1.

The American joined Red Bull in 2020 and completed one year in German and Italian Formula 4 before moving up to Formula 3 for two years. Promoted to Formula 2 this season, Crawford has one win and one pole position as well as four further podiums, but sits 11th in the championship with one round remaining.

He has now confirmed he won’t be with Red Bull in 2024, and in announcing his departure, the press release suggested the way Crawford was moved up rapidly and has never spent consecutive seasons with the same team was not beneficial to his development.

“Once he was moved early to F3, it became nearly impossible to slow his upward progress inside of the Red Bull junior program,” the release stated. “While the 2023 season has seen rapid acclimatization to the incredibly competitive F2 landscape that has included, to date, a race victory, a handful of podiums and a pole position, it could be argued that the debuts in both F3 and F2 each came one year too early.”

Quotes attributed to Crawford himself say he will now try and take a more patient approach to gaining experience, with a 2024 seat in F2 already agreed.

“We are thankful for the Red Bull funding for four years, and honestly, we could not have done much of it without their substantial support,” said Crawford. “We were wanting to make key decisions and we let them know mid-year. After that, they didn’t pick up my fifth and final year, so we are in control now. I truly appreciate everyone at Red Bull, especially Rocky (Guillaume Rocquelin). I really enjoyed the last two years with him at the factory.

“Everyone has a different path, but mine has been to be moved up fast and to a different team every year. In two years, I will be only 20 years old, so we are going to slow it down and work a more thoughtful plan. That is all I can say about our plans at this point in time. Again, I am grateful for Red Bull for four years of support.”