Automotors

Toyota driver Katsuta, starting sixth on the road, produced a strong and consistent pace across Friday morning’s four stages to take a 2.9s lead over Neuville at the midday tyre fitting zone.Reigning world champion Kalle Rovanpera managed to drive around an ill-handling Toyota to sit third, 3.3s adrift, ahead of Hyundai’s Ott Tanak [+4.1] and Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier [+7.5s], who also …Keep reading

Based on a concept car first presented at the 2022 Paris Motor Show, the 340 bhp Alpenglow Hy4 is powered by a turbocharged 2.0-litre in-line four-cylinder internal combustion engine fuelled by hydrogen.This is currently stored in gas form in three tanks, but Alpine plans to switch to liquid storage which it believes can be better integrated into the car and improve refuelling speeds.Demonstration …Keep reading

Last year Red Bull won all but one of the season’s 22 grands prix, and at the start of this year, there was scant evidence to suggest the team and its dominant driver Max Verstappen could be prevented from repeating its walkover.But while it still has the fastest car in F1, Red Bull first slipped up in Australia due to reliability issues, and it was beaten again in Miami by Lando Norris, whose …Keep reading

Zero, a synthetic fuel producer headed up by former McLaren, Mercedes and Williams Formula 1 technical chief Paddy Lowe and Professor Nilay Shah, is gearing up to test its synthetic fuel in the motorsport sphere for the first time this autumn.The company, founded in 2020, is set to fuel a 2B Motorsport-run Porsche 991 rally car driven by Gwen Lagrue, Mercedes F1’s driver development advisor, in …Keep reading

Martin comes into this weekend’s fifth round of the 2024 campaign 17 points clear in the standings after a crash out of the lead of the Spanish GP denied him the chance to move 47 out of reach.Run under perfect conditions, the 45-minute FP1 session was led by the Pramac rider with a 1m31.421s lap set on a fresh soft rear tyre.One of only a handful of riders to do so on FP1, Martin led the way by …Keep reading

Former Ferrari performance engineer Steven Petrik was installed as a replacement for Bottas’ engineer Alex Chan, whom the Finn had worked with since joining the team in 2022.Bottas noted that the decision was “not in my hands”, suggesting that this was part of Audi’s “reconstruction” of the Sauber team ahead of the German brand’s entry as a full works outfit in 2026.Sauber representative Alunni …Keep reading

The Frenchman logged a 2m04.125s aboard his #6 Penske Porsche Motorsport 963 LMDh in the early minutes and, as he had done in Thursday’s second practice, was never headed for the remainder of the hour-long session. Estre usurped the #51 Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar that had briefly headed the times in James Calado’s hands, with the Briton’s time ending up 0.215s shy.Mikkel Jensen split the two …Keep reading

Mercedes dominated the series during the previous rules era, winning both the drivers’ and the constructors’ titles every year from 2014 to 2020.But the rules overhaul in 2022 left the team on the back foot and has so far been unable to recover to mount a challenge for race wins on a regular basis.A change to its car concept for 2024 appears to also have failed to help Mercedes lift its form, with …Keep reading

Pramac rider Jorge Martin leads the standings on 92 points, with reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia sitting 17 points behind in second on the factory Ducati following his victory in Spain a fortnight ago.Bagnaia’s team-mate Enea Bastianini holds third place, with GasGas’s Pedro Acosta the lead non-Ducati rider in fourth.2024 MotoGP French Grand Prix session …Keep reading

In the closest finish in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series, Kyle Larson defeated Chris Buescher to win at Kansas Speedway. Just 0.001s separated the two drivers, capping off a fantastic race at the 1.5-mile oval.NASCAR now heads to Darlington Raceway, which never fails to put on a show. Last year, Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson crashed while battling for the lead late, allowing William Byron to …Keep reading