The RACER magazine hitting mailboxes and inboxes right about now is our annual Great Cars Issue, but it could well have been called The Adrian Newey Issue, such is the Formula 1 design genius’s presence in it. We take a look at some of his …
The RACER magazine hitting mailboxes and inboxes right about now is our annual Great Cars Issue, but it could well have been called The Adrian Newey Issue, such is the Formula 1 design genius’s presence in it.
We take a look at some of his groundbreaking cars from three decades of F1, but we’re also looking forward to the next chapter of Newey’s still-cutting edge journey.
With Formula 1’s 2014 turbo-hybrid revamp and its 2022 ground effects redux as Exhibit A and B, it’s fair to say that when new rules come into play, you only get one chance to crack the code or you’ll be a long time playing catchup.
Which is where Newey comes in…
In 2014, Mercedes’ dominant W05 Hybrid was the total package, a car and power unit in harmony. But Newey’s Red Bull RB10 was arguably the better chassis/aero combo — one only let down by Renault’s lackluster PU.
In 2022, with Honda power supplanting the previous weak link, Newey’s RB18 was the class of the field. It remained so through two more iterations and into 2024’s RB20, until McLaren’s in-season revamp of its MCL38 finally unlocked Red Bull-matching — and now Red Bull-beating — performance.
Coming next, there’s another major F1 rules reset in 2026 — prime Newey territory. Which explains why Aston Martin has made F1’s enduring design trendsetter an offer he couldn’t — and didn’t — refuse.
The terms of Newey’s Red Bull contract put him out of play until next spring — too late to have a significant bearing on Aston’s 2025 car. But for 2026, with the playing field leveled and another opportunity for its new Chief Technical Officer to find the right answers at the first time of asking, expect Aston Martin to shine.
The “Newey Effect” has already produced title-winning F1 cars at Williams, McLaren and latterly Red Bull — albeit with an ever greater and more complex matrix of technical talent around him — but for this issue of RACER we’re going all the way back to his first F1 design, 1988’s March 881. With its naturally aspirated engine an obvious second best to the still-dominant turbos, it didn’t win a championship, or even a grand prix, but it did redefine F1 aero thinking in ways that still resonate today.
And 35 years on, we’re still wondering where Newey can take F1 next. That’s staying power.
Continuing the Great Cars theme — and moving it outside of Adrian Newey territory — we recall the early years of one of rallying’s most evocative cars, the Subaru Impreza (with Colin McRae at the wheel, power down and sideways, of course), and we tell the fascinating story of 1994’s Dauer 962LM, the race-to-road-to-race car that provided Porsche with a last-minute, left-field — and winning — solution to the question, what are we doing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year?
Also in this issue, we sit down with 2024 NTT IndyCar Series champ Alex Palou as he continues to forge a Hall of Fame career in double-quick time, find out how the storied Williams team is putting the pieces in place for a return to F1’s sharp end, and check out Tyler Reddick’s upward-trending NASCAR Cup Series arc. On two wheels, we meet a second-gen Deegan — as in, Haiden — as he unleashes a breakout year in motocross.
We enjoyed putting this one together, and we hope you enjoy it, too. Oh, and thanks for the storylines, Adrian Newey…
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Timing is everything, as 2024 Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden explains in the new issue of RACER magazine. The culmination of a duel worthy of one of the world’s legendary races, Newgarden’s last-lap move on Pato O’Ward, when he passed the …
Timing is everything, as 2024 Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden explains in the new issue of RACER magazine.
The culmination of a duel worthy of one of the world’s legendary races, Newgarden’s last-lap move on Pato O’Ward, when he passed the Arrow McLaren around the outside through Turn 3, proved decisive in securing a second-successive win for the Team Penske driver. You can plan, you can run the scenarios through your head, but in the end this was reactive — the defining moment when instinct takes over.
Fittingly, Indy’s first back-to-back winner in more than two decades graces the cover of RACER No. 329, our annual Legendary Races Issue. And could he become the first driver in “500” history to earn three straight wins? The 2025 cover is yours if you do, Josef…
Speaking of defining moments, victory for the No. 50 Ferrari 499P in the 2024 24 Hours probably came down to an inadvertent tap from its No. 51 sister car on the No. 8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID. With just two hours to run, that likely cost Toyota a sixth win in seven years at La Sarthe, but — and a theme develops here — secured back-to-back wins for the Prancing Horse.
We’ve got fascinating insight on Ferrari’s 24 Hours win, and we also look at how the little things added up to thwart the Action Express Racing Cadillac’s chances of a strong result at La Sarthe on its road trip away from the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship “day job.”
Little things? That would also be the constant trickle of changes that every Formula 1 team brings to its cars during the cut-and-thrust of the season. Each one in isolation might barely register on lap time, but cumulatively, they can be the difference between winning and losing, as we find out.
Also in this issue, we chat with one of the breakout stars of the 2024 F1 season, as well as a cult hero of Netflix’s “Drive to Survive,” Yuki Tsunoda, check in with Ford and Chevrolet on their new-for-2023 GT3 Mustang and Corvette programs, and get JR Hildebrand’s high-speed impressions on McLaren’s ultimate track-day car, the no-compromise Solus GT.
We also bid farewell to one of the undisputed legends of U.S. racing, 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner Parnelli Jones, who passed away in June. As our own late, great Robin Miller noted, a Mount Rushmore of American race drivers would have to include Parnelli, a man whose successes stretch way beyond the Indy 500 and into Trans-Am, off-road racing, and even a brilliant run of success as an owner.
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Subscribe to RACER Magazine, or buy the May/June 2024 issue. With 20 factory cars on the Hypercar entry list for the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans, it would be easy to look past the trio of privately-run Porsche 963s that are part of the storied German …
With 20 factory cars on the Hypercar entry list for the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans, it would be easy to look past the trio of privately-run Porsche 963s that are part of the storied German marque’s six-car fleet tasked with earning it a 20th overall victory. But ignore them at your peril, as both HERTZ Team JOTA and Proton Competition are in it to win it, and both believe they have a shot.
Privateers have long been the bedrock of sports car racing. Through thick and thin they’ve been on hand, pushing hard to keep factory-funded outfits honest. The 963 customers are no different and have been threatening to win races since JOTA became the first to run one at the 6 Hours of Spa in May of 2023.
Offering customer 963s so early was a colossal task for Porsche, and significantly impacted its ability to deliver cars on time and focus on results in year one of the LMDh/Hypercar era. Now, though, the gamble is beginning to pay off and it heads to the year’s biggest race with six expertly-run challengers.
Since JOTA’s Hypercar debut, there have been real flashes of potential from the Porsche privateers. JOTA led the centenary Le Mans into the fifth hour before an off at the Porsche Curves, and came achingly close to winning the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship opener in Qatar. Proton, meanwhile, scored a ’23 podium at Petit Le Mans in IMSA’s GTP class and challenged the front runners in the final hour of the Twelve Hours of Sebring in March.
Of course, matching and beating the likes of Toyota, BMW, Ferrari, Peugeot, Cadillac and Porsche’s revitalized Penske factory effort will be a monumental task. But for the first time since the mid-2000s, it genuinely feels like a privateer could win Le Mans on merit, without relying on a wafer-thin entry or disaster striking the factory teams.
Previously, JOTA gained a reputation for operating at the highest level in LMP2, winning titles and Le Mans three times. Now in the top class, the feeling is that it’s taken a further step and is on par with the factories. That’s why it’s equipped to throw a cat among the pigeons with its pair of handsomely-liveried 963s, crack team of engineering staff, and suite of high-end commercial backers that includes HERTZ, Singer… and NFL legend Tom Brady.
The work behind the scenes to build up the team’s resources has been tireless and began long before the program was launched in March 2023. Looking back, the efforts of co-owners David Clarke and Sam Hignett were worth their weight in “HERTZ Racing Gold.”
JOTA’s 963 started at the back in the 2023 24 Hours, but led into the fifth hour before a crash put it out of winning contention. Image by Steffen Heise
“It’s been a crazy journey going from zero cars, to surviving Spa last year, to now running two,” says Hignett. “To do it, we’ve stuck to what we know. There’s a lot of ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ in this paddock. We’re not in that game. To make this happen, all the money we have we invest in human talent, keeping our group together and giving them resources.”
The commitment to pouring as much of its resources as possible into the personnel side is why JOTA’s been able to attract star drivers like Jenson Button, Will Stevens and Callum Ilott. Button, who drives the No. 38 963, has a unique perspective on this. Prior to the start of the 2024 WEC season, he drove an Acura ARX-06 for WTR with Andretti at the Rolex 24.
“Wayne Taylor Racing is probably the best team you’re going to find racing in the States,” he tells RACER when asked for a comparison. “I’ve come from that, to a pure racing team that is probably the best I’ve ever been with. Factory teams are different; this is a true out-and-out race team. That’s what’s exciting for me.
“It’s what I’ve always loved about Formula 1. The privateer teams stay, while manufacturers dip in and out. Coming here has been fun, yet so professional; I was surprised. Stepping up to two cars in Hypercar is a big challenge, but it’s been so natural to them. They focus on the fine details, more than some F1 teams. I certainly have more meetings with them on a race weekend than I did when I was in F1!”
Phil Hanson, who shares the No. 38 with Button and Oliver Rasmussen, raced against JOTA for years in the LMP2 class with United Autosports before signing for the team late last year. He feels the same.
“You’d be hard-pressed to find a team with a better Le Mans record,” he says. “It’s their strongest circuit, which is great, because it’s the one we all care about the most.”
The way a team operates is one thing. The capability of its car is another. The question, therefore, is if Porsche’s early-season wins in IMSA and WEC are a sign of things to come?
Jenson Button, the 2009 F1 world champion, is among JOTA’s driver firepower. Image by Porsche AG
“You have to look at the season on a race-by-race basis really,” Dieter Gass, JOTA’s team principal and previously a major figure in Audi’s all-conquering Le Mans efforts, says. “The BoP [Balance of Performance] is something you can’t influence, and with more than 20 Hypercars, anything can happen. You need to have good drivers; you need to stay out of trouble.”
The BoP table will clearly play a role in the outcome. It will have an impact on pace over a single lap and over a stint. But in WEC, racing is more than that. Raw speed alone cannot be the defining factor. “It really is a matter of who on the day does the better job,” says Gass.
And in the case of Porsche’s privateers, while some information and data is shared between Penske and the customer teams, both Proton and JOTA are left to their own devices when the track action begins. All six 963s are identical and there will be no pressure to play second fiddle to the factory cars.
“Being a privateer brings positives and negatives. We don’t have to do all the testing – Penske can do it for us,” Button says. “But the negative is…you’re not doing all the testing, so you’re taking information from another team…
“The big manufacturers like Toyota and Ferrari, who were up front last year, have to be favorites. But with JOTA’s experience, there’s no reason we can’t be challenging. You see what they did last year – they led the race from last on the grid.”
Two cars improves JOTA’s odds. During race week at La Sarthe, a second car to explore additional setup or strategy options is valuable, particularly if the weather’s changeable.
For Proton Competition, minimum time spent in the pits is essential for any podium challeng. Image by JEP/Motorsport Images
The 963 is also a more mature package now. It’s now reliable and far better on tire life over a stint. Gass is pleased with the progress both his team and the factory have made. This is a car, he feels, that’s finally ready to meet the challenges that Le Mans will throw its way.
“The Qatar podium, in a field of 19 Hypercars, was a huge reward,” he says. “I think the car’s good enough now, not only in performance, but because it’s improved so much in reliability.”
Proton Competition, on the other hand, is slightly less bullish about its prospects. Christian Ried, who co-owns the team, believes its 963, driven by Julien Andlauer, Neel Jani and Harry Tincknell, can fight up front. But he isn’t as confident that an overall win can be on the cards.
“In the end, we have to see what the BoP will be; it’s going to be interesting,” he says. “We have to be realistic. We have a great driver lineup, the car can do 24 hours, so if we stay out of trouble, do the basics and stay out of the pits, I think we could fight for a podium. We are still learning, though – even Penske is, too.”
Nevertheless, you shouldn’t underestimate Proton’s ability to win big races. This is a team that on the outside looks like a small, family-run unit, yet that paints a picture that couldn’t be further from the truth. The scale of its operation is astonishing. At Le Mans, it’s running five cars across the three classes and could nab a podium or better with all of them.
“Ultimately,” Hignett concludes, “we know there’s a huge amount of luck, experience and speed needed to win Le Mans. Luck is about whether the car breaks down or not. Experience, there’s massive value in that. Third is speed – if you have that, you can be there or thereabouts.
“I would put Christian (Ried) and his team in with a chance. He’s capable and things might go his way. Same with us. If one of us pulls it off, I don’t think the party would ever finish. We could dine out on it for the rest of our lives!”
It’s been 30 years since Ayrton Senna lost his life at Imola’s San Marino Grand Prix, May 1, 1994. Naturally, given such a milestone, Ayrton graces the cover of RACER No. 328, our annual Heroes Issue. The Brazilian’s Formula 1 career stands among …
It’s been 30 years since Ayrton Senna lost his life at Imola’s San Marino Grand Prix, May 1, 1994.
Naturally, given such a milestone, Ayrton graces the cover of RACER No. 328, our annual Heroes Issue.
The Brazilian’s Formula 1 career stands among the all-time greatest, but accomplishments aside, he had a charisma and a complexity that continues to resonate not just with motorsports fans, but with a wider audience in a way that few sports stars attain.
Inside the issue, we explore two chapters from opposite ends of his F1 career: The bidding war for his F1 services that saw him test for four different teams in a frenetic few weeks in the summer and fall of 1983 — and choose a less than obvious destination for his ’84 rookie campaign — and his final McLaren season in 1993.
With McLaren on the back foot after losing factory engine partner Honda and forced to run customer-spec Ford HB V8s, it was touch and go if Senna would even drive for McLaren in 1993. But once committed, and taking on the role of underdog to a rampant Williams-Renault team, Ayrton delivered one of his finest F1 seasons.
Staying with the Brazilian theme, we also head back to the second act of Emerson Fittipaldi’s illustrious career. Four decades ago, in 1984, the two-time F1 champ came out of self-imposed racing exile to test the waters in the U.S. racing scene; five years later, he’d added an Indy 500 win and the ’89 CART title to his resume. And there’d be more to come with a switch from Patrick Racing to Team Penske.
We also recall that it’s 50 years since France’s Michele Mouton made her first FIA World Rally Championship start from the driver’s seat, having switched from a co-driver’s role.
After being signed by Audi to drive its rally-redefining Quattro, she took her first WRC victory in 1981, and a year later came within a handful of points of winning the world championship.
A trailblazer and a role model, Mouton remains the only woman to win a WRC rally as a driver. But as impressive as that is, it’s a singular accomplishment we hope is emulated within years, not decades.
Our heroes are of a current nature, too, beginning with Kyle Larson.
In an era when so many of motorsports’ stars tend to “stay in their lane” and concentrate exclusively on their destination championship of choice, Larson is a refreshing throwback to a time when the top drivers of the day would shuttle between series as a matter of course.
Sure, 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champ Larson’s decision to run the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s longest race, Charlotte’s Coca-Cola 600, on the same day is an extreme, yet not unprecedented example of old-school versatility, but keep in mind that this is a racer whose norm is to run a whirlwind schedule of sprint car races in between the Cup Series “day job.” Add in the 2015 Rolex 24 At Daytona win on his resume, and we’re impressed by his desire and his ability to switch disciplines and perform at the highest level. On May 26, it will be fascinating to see how Larson performs in his quest for “The Double.”
Ditto when NTT IndyCar Series standouts Scott Dixon and Alex Palou head to France in June as part of Cadillac’s lineup for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Dixon, a three-time winner of IMSA’s Rolex 24, has five Le Mans starts to his name; Palou has raced the Cadillac at Daytona, but is a neophyte at La Sarthe. That each is motivated to take on the challenge – on track and logistical – of the world’s greatest endurance race in between IndyCar stops at Road America and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is laudable.
In contrast, Ayrton Senna put his sole focus on Formula 1, bar one Group C start and an eye-catching sedan-racing performance in his 1984 F1 rookie season – which is perhaps another example of how the great Brazilian defined the template for modern F1 drivers. Fernando Alonso’s laps-leading debut in the 2017 Indy 500 is the outlier, but how cool would it be to see Max Verstappen or Lando Norris competing in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing”?
Also in RACER No. 328, we take a look at jilted Ferrari F1 driver Carlos Sainz’s options for 2025, mull the chances of a privateer Porsche 963 taking a 24 Hours of Le Mans victory, check out Winward Racing’s winning ways in IMSA GTD, and head for two-wheeled territory with a chat with Ducati MotoGP rider Enea Bastianini on his prospects for 2024 and beyond.
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It was 12 years ago this past weekend that the RACER 3.0 Era began, as we revealed the first new-look issue featuring the radical Delta Wing IMSA racecar on the cover. This followed the company being reacquired by the founders only a month before. …
It was 12 years ago this past weekend that the RACER 3.0 Era began, as we revealed the first new-look issue featuring the radical Delta Wing IMSA racecar on the cover. This followed the company being reacquired by the founders only a month before. It was a brave reset of the magazine — and the ambitions of our small but mighty RACER team. As fate would have it, this was also on same weekend of the 20th anniversary of RACER’s original debut…
On the evening of April 11, 1992, RACER magazine issue No.1 was revealed to racing’s insiders on the eve of the Long Beach Grand Prix. My friend and media hero, the late Chris Economaki, raised a toast to RACER’s success, and added, “this sport is big enough for both of us” in reference to him being the publisher of National Speed Sport News (now SpeedSport.com). I once had a discussion with Chris about who each of us, actually worked for. It’s you, our audience. You are why we do what we do, and this is something we never forget at RACER, because we’re also fans — just like you.
The launch of RACER fulfilled a long-held shared vision between myself and my friend Jeff Zwart, who is a talented photographer and director, and who would join me in investing in the business. I’m eternally grateful to him for his friendship, talent, wisdom, and commitment. The birth of the RACER dream is covered in Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 of our Forging Ahead video series on The RACER Channel.
Many were skeptical about our survival, but RACER magazine overcame numerous and daunting challenges because many more people believed in us than those who doubted us. It is gratifying to now look back and realize that RACER is still standing while other long-established titles have faded and died.
Call me Captain Obvious, but this is the result of those who chose to subscribe or advertise. A heartfelt ‘thank you’ if you did either, or both! If you haven’t yet done so, please click the links above to join those who believe in RACER — and in racing.
By 1996, RACER was well established and growing rapidly. So was our internal creative agency, that is today known as RACER Studio. We’d landed a deal to publish the CART IndyCar Fan Guide, and we’d been involved in creative projects for the Skip Barber Racing School, ESPN and the action sports fashion brand No Fear.
In truth, no fear was exactly what we’d need to get through the next five years, as the world of motorsports and media began to evolve rapidly. IndyCar was entering a period of painfully destructive division, NASCAR was ascendant, and IMSA in a period of decline. But media was in for an even greater period of disruption as the web 1.0 revolution began.
By this time we’d attracted new investors, led by IMSA racer, team owner and successful businessman Rob Dyson. My longtime friend Skip Barber also invested in our company, as did CART team owner Bruce McCaw, active racers Mark and Brian Simo, who’d founded No Fear, my colleague Bill King and the late Michael Dingman, who was a racer and served on the board of the Ford Motor Company.
RACER was ready, and on the grid early for the race to media’s future. RACER.com launched in May 1997. This was a result of vision and hard work of RACER’s founding publisher Bill Sparks, and our original website editor Bill King.
During that same period, our agency attracted GM, Honda, Penske Motorsports and Porsche as clients. Our business was growing, and so was interest in racing.
Soon we were approached by several leading media companies to acquire our company, but one was particularly persistent, and ultimately successful. UK-based Haymarket media was the publisher of Autosport, F1 Racing, Motorsport, Motorsport News, What Car? and Classic & Sports Car. They pursued the deal for three and a half years and in January 2001, RACER became part of the Haymarket family. I remained with the company, as did all our staff. We soon had new teammates who spoke proper English, and were great fun and full of creativity and passion.
I won’t bore you with the details, but by late 2005, I was restless and wanted to personally evolve, and do something new and different. So I decided to leave the company I founded, and we continued with the agency work that Haymarket’s leadership had kindly allowed me to take forward. I was joined by RACER colleagues Bill Sparks, Celia Shambaugh and Paul Laguette. Our clients included ALMS/IMSA, IndyCar, The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, International Speedway Corporation, iRacing and Swift Engineering,
But what we really wanted to do was move into the world of video creation and online distribution. Bill Sparks developed plan for new business that would eventually be branded as OnCars. In 2008, we formed a partnership with media entrepreneur Jay Penske, along with my friends, TV legends Terry Linger and Conrad Piccirillo, to develop a video-first website produced by their brilliant team at Innovative I. We would create video reviews of exciting cars and develop episodic features about new cars, racing and new technologies. Former racer, automotive designer and performance driver Emile Bouret hosted the shows, and RACER contributor Rick Graves directed all the programming while talented editor Andrew Snider pulled it all together. We Launched OnCars in May 2008, but a global economic storm was brewing just beyond the horizon. We produced hundreds of high-quality reviews and racing-related videos during the next two years, including the 2009 Launch Vehicle series introducing the prototype for the revolutionary Tesla Model S. Now, with 20/24 hindsight, OnCars was just too early to the marketplace, and badly timed in the context of the Great Recession and resultant Carpocalypse. Let’s just say we have unfinished business there…
Regardless, we learned so much, and the experience gained helped us seize the moment to reacquire our company from Haymarket Media in the March 2012. That would have not been possible without the faith and investment of Rob and Chris Dyson. It is also important to acknowledge the wise counsel and hard work of racer and serial entrepreneur Chris McMurry, our Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. advising board member who has been working with us to plan what’s next for the RACER brand in 2024 and beyond.
Everything that’s happened since the RACER 3.0 era began in 2012 has been the result of the brilliance and hard work of my RACER teammates: Editor-In-Chief Laurence Foster; RACER.com Editor Mark Glendenning; Editor-At-Large David Malsher-Lopez; Executive Editor Andrew Crask; Art Director Rob French; RACER Artist-in-Residence Paul Laguette; VP of Operations Sandra Carboni-Alexander; Advertising Director Raelyn Stokes; Advertising Operations Manager Victor Uribe; Global Sales Director John Chambers; partner sales representative Rick Bisbee, circulation and promotions manager Nick Lish; Racer Studio Creative Director George Tamayo; Racer Studio manager Molly Binks; illustrator Riccardo Santos; RACER.com site editors Dominik Wilde and Cody Globig; digital interns Morgan Raynal and Maria Rojas; digital artist Ree Tucker; and digital pre-press manager Miguel Vega.
Kudos to our talented and tenacious correspondents: Marshall Pruett, Chris Medland, Kelly Crandall, Richard S. James, Stephen Kilbey, Michael Lomanato and Dominik Wilde.
Bravo to our awesome photographic team at Lumen Digital, led by Michael Levitt. Our sincere thanks also extend to the team at Motorsport Images.
Most importantly, thank you to our loyal RACER readers and advertisers for going the distance with us as we race onward to RACER’s future in print, digital and video content. Learn more about RACER magazine.
Last, but certainly not least, I also must also thank my understanding family, and the wonderful families of my RACER teammates, for enduring the brutal travel schedules and the commitment of time required to do what we do in a lifestyle that has no rev limiter.
But it’s been worth it. RACER was created to convey the winning can-do culture and brave spirit of racing, and the relentless passion that drives the sport forward in the endless race to the future.
We’re in it, to win it, so onward to what’s next.
Celebrating the RACER 3.0 Era
In this video, we look back at the issues produced by Editor-in-Chief Laurence Foster and the RACER team since the company was reacquired by the founders in the Spring of 2012. We refer to this period as the RACER 3.0 era. Every RACER cover since May 2012 through April 2024 is shown in this video.
Take a peek inside the March/April issue of RACER magazine. Whether you’re after an analysis of the growing IndyCar rivalry between Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Ganassi’s Alex Palou, in-depth profiles of Linus Lundqvist and Lando Norris, or a look …
Take a peek inside the March/April issue of RACER magazine. Whether you’re after an analysis of the growing IndyCar rivalry between Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Ganassi’s Alex Palou, in-depth profiles of Linus Lundqvist and Lando Norris, or a look at IMSA’s wildly popular GTP class, we’ve got you covered. Learn more about RACER Magazine Print+Digital subscriptions: https://info.racer.com/subscribe.
Has Red Bull Racing changed the game again with its “controlled aggression” RB20 as Max Verstappen goes for a fourth straight Formula 1 World Championship, or can Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren or Aston Martin Martin close down the gap? The opening two …
Has Red Bull Racing changed the game again with its “controlled aggression” RB20 as Max Verstappen goes for a fourth straight Formula 1 World Championship, or can Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren or Aston Martin Martin close down the gap? The opening two grands prix showed Max taking up where he left off, but the chasers have all made progress, too. Question is, can they build on that, or are they just chasing a moving target?
In RACER’s 2024 Season Preview Issue that’s out now, we look for some answers on whether Red Bull’s rampage is unstoppable, run the ruler over the battles in the midfield and back of the grid, and check in with McLaren re-signee Lando Norris and F1 returnee Daniel Ricciardo on their big-picture plans.
In the NTT IndyCar Series, one won the 2023 Indy 500, but fell short in his quest to win a third championship. The other put on a season-long road- and street-course masterclass to clinch his second IndyCar title, but has yet to turn potential into a victory at the series’ most defining oval.
Call it unfinished business, but reigning Indy 500 winner and 2024 St. Petersburg victor Josef Newgarden and defending IndyCar Series champ Alex Palou are men on a mission in 2024, and possibly the guys to beat when it comes to picking favorites for the full-season championship and its centerpiece race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But with another dozen drivers — maybe more? — with the potential to fight for race wins at a minimum, it’s a season that’s set to be too close to call.
Check out our season guide that includes a look at a resized and refocused Andretti Global program, gets the lowdown on Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Linus Lundqvist, gets ready for an oval-heavy climax to the campaign, and sets the scene on the much anticipated, but oft delayed introduction of hybrid power (er, assuming that it does happen in 2024, of course…).
Elsewhere, we focus on the enduro-focused Risi Competizione, one of the teams to beat when it comes to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s long distance races, recap William Byron’s delayed, but deserved win in NASCAR’s Daytona 500, and find out why Boris Said still rates Trans Am as his go-to race series.
Add in an interview with Kawasaki’s World Superbike Championship team leader Alex Lowes on his return to winning ways, some good old speculation on who’ll take Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton’s seat in the Mercedes F1 team, and insight on the one-make action from the Mazda MX-5 Cup and we hope you enjoy RACER No. 327.
CLICK HERE to purchase the new issue of RACER. Interested in having RACER delivered to your mailbox? CLICK HERE to find out more about print and digital subscriptions.
If the build-up to last year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship was all about the new hybrid GTP prototypes, then 2024 is the year when the GT classes are cranking up the excitement and anticipation levels. That’s not to say that GTP isn’t …
If the build-up to last year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship was all about the new hybrid GTP prototypes, then 2024 is the year when the GT classes are cranking up the excitement and anticipation levels.
That’s not to say that GTP isn’t providing its own share of fresh storylines — try record-breaking lap times in qualifying for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, or Lamborghini coming in as the fifth manufacturer, to name just two. But in the GTD Pro and GTD classes, exciting new cars, even bigger fields, and what’s set to be even closer competition make IMSA’s production-based classes just as compelling as the high-tech prototypes chasing overall wins.
Out now, the new issue of RACER sets the scene for a 2024 GT battle royal, with the latest installment of one of racing’s best and biggest rivalries, Ford vs. Chevrolet, taking center stage.
Sure, the official line from the Blue Oval and the Bowtie is that their all-new Ford Mustang GT3 and Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R have to beat everybody to win a GTD Pro or GTD championship. But for fans of each marque, this classic Motor City matchup between two V8-powered heavyweights is going to be the biggest story of what’s set to be a classic season.
In 25 packed pages, our 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship preview runs the tape over all four classes in the big show and sets the scene on a bumper field of support championships, too. We’re not predicting who’ll win it all — it’s way too close to call for that — but we are setting you up to enjoy the excitement and unpredictability of a must-see season for North American sports car racing.
Elsewhere in a packed issue, we take a look at the fall and rise of Alex Albon, a driver dumped by Red Bull Racing who’s now dragging Williams Racing back to respectability and beyond in the Formula 1 pecking order.
Plus, heading into the first-ever F1 season with zero rookies on the grid for the opener, we ask why? For the teams, it’s all about stability, but for a new generation of talent forced to kick its heels, it’s more like stagnation.
One driver who is getting his big break in 2024 is David Malukas, NTT IndyCar Series heavyweight and Arrow McLaren’s new signing. He’s yet to win an IndyCar race, but Malukas’s performances with Dale Coyne Racing were enough to convince his new team of his potential. We sat down with the Chicagoan and got his take on a massive opportunity.
On a very sad note, we remember 2003 Indy 500 winner and good friend of RACER Gil de Ferran, who passed away suddenly in December. An incredibly intelligent racer, but one who could still push the limits when it was called for (check out his throttle-bending, 241mph-plus lap of Fontana in 2000 for vivid confirmation), Gil was always fascinating to talk to about racing — or anything, really — and his columns for RACER merely confirmed that.
We’re also saying goodbye to NASCAR legend Cale Yarborough, a driver as tough as he was successful, as you’ll read in our tribute to the three-time Cup Series champ.
Add in a scene-set for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, including an interview with rising star Ty Gibbs, plus insight from World Superbike G.O.A.T. Jonathan Rea on his switch to Yamaha and a look at Ferrari’s tragic 1957 season — the subject of Michael Mann’s new “Ferrari” movie — and we think there’s something for everybody in RACER No. 326.
CLICK HERE to purchase the new issue of RACER. Interested in having RACER delivered to your mailbox? CLICK HERE to find out more about print and digital subscriptions.
The star of RACER’s annual Champions Issue that’s now heading to mailboxes and available for digital subscribers is Formula 1 dominator Max Verstappen. For us, there’s something refreshingly old school about the three-time champ and shatterer of F1 …
The star of RACER’s annual Champions Issue that’s now heading to mailboxes and available for digital subscribers is Formula 1 dominator Max Verstappen.
For us, there’s something refreshingly old school about the three-time champ and shatterer of F1 records.
Not for Verstappen the endless, micro-obsessing debriefs fueled by seemingly infinite amounts of available data. Instead, his interactions with Red Bull Racing’s engineering cadre are succinct, yet obviously effective: this is what I feel, and this is what I like/don’t like. The what and the how of making his car better is left to others, and Max’s next interaction with the process is climbing aboard and performing even more effectively.
Of course, the superiority of 2023’s Red Bull RB19 was such that the team rarely struggled to find its sweet spot, a misstep in Singapore being the obvious exception. And as RACER Formula 1 writer Edd Straw notes, Verstappen’s ability to be comfortable with the uncomfortable and to thrive at the edge of RB19’s performance envelope — that arcane feel thing again — meant that the sum of driver and car was even greater than the parts.
For six-time NTT IndyCar Series champ Scott Dixon, who provides some fascinating insight to our man Mark Glendenning, adaptability is a key to his incredible longevity at the top of open-wheel racing. He won his first title 20 years ago, and despite losing out to Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Alex Palou this time around, Dixon’s late-season form showed that the 43-year-old Kiwi is still very much one of the drivers to beat.
Next year, IndyCar introduces hybrid power. As always, rather than trying to bend the new tech to his will, Dixon will adapt to it — likely more quickly than anyone else — and no doubt be a major factor as he guns for that seventh title.
Also in this issue, we explore the debut season for IMSA’s GTP hybrids, celebrate Ryan Blaney’s first NASCAR Cup Series crown and look at the end of an era for Corvette Racing — all without getting bogged down in the data.
And the champions theme continues with insight on why two-time FIA World Rally champion Kalle Rovanpera is scaling back his schedule in 2024 and what Robert Wickens is planning next after his inspirational title win in IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge TCR class.
Plus, how Toyota got the better of a whole wave of new opposition in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s headlining Hypercar class and who Eli Tomac feels he’ll need to beat to get back on top of Monster Energy AMA Supercross after his 2023 season-ending injury.
Beyond the 2023 champions, former NASCAR Cup Series champ Kurt Busch looks back on a dead-cert Hall of Fame career, we check out a weekend of bust to boom at Formula 1’s return to Las Vegas, and NASCAR ace Kyle Larson begins his journey to the 2024 Indianapolis 500.
Enjoy the issue, and happy holidays!
CLICK HERE to purchase the new issue of RACER. Interested in having RACER delivered to your mailbox? CLICK HEREto find out more about print and digital subscriptions.
Coming next, there’s another major F1 rules reset in 2026 — prime Newey territory. Which explains why Aston Martin has made F1’s enduring design trendsetter an offer he couldn’t — and didn’t — refuse.
Continuing the Great Cars theme — and moving it outside of Adrian Newey territory — we recall the early years of one of rallying’s most evocative cars, the Subaru Impreza (with Colin McRae at the wheel, power down and sideways, of course), and we tell the fascinating story of 1994’s Dauer 962LM, the race-to-road-to-race car that provided Porsche with a last-minute, left-field — and winning — solution to the question, what are we doing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year?
