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MotoGP: Jorge Martin is the 2024 World Champion

It may have been the most boring race of the season, but #TheRematch has delivered an emotional, stressful and ultimately hugely enjoyable final weekend of the 2024 MotoGP season.

For the first time in MotoGP’s history, a satellite rider has won the championship. Jorge Martin only needed a 9th place finish today to seal the title but he took a comfortable podium to round out his season in style.

He started 4th on the grid, kept his nose clean at the start and spent the rest of the race in 3rd. Whilst there were battles further behind him, Martin had a lonely race and only needed to keep the bike upright to take the championship. He crossed the line in tears and quickly retreated to the celebration area where he appeared in his new Martinator leathers.

It was a difficult day for peerless Pecco Bagnaia. There was nothing more the Italian could have done this weekend – he took pole and a sprint win on Saturday before leading every single lap of the feature race today. Ultimately, it was mistakes earlier in the season that left him stuck with 2nd in the championship.

Despite the close title race, it was Marc Marquez who was Bagnaia’s closest rival today. He has had a very difficult weekend and has himself said that he was struggling with the track surface and challenges that the Barcelona circuit throws up. But he was able to stay close on the tail of his future team mate, and was typically within 1 second of Bagnaia for the entire race today.

Image Credit: MotoGP on X

Behind the podium finishers, there was a hot battle for “best of the race” in today’s race. Firstly, we had Alex Marquez and Aleix Espargaro battling hard for 4th place. It was Marquez who came out on top, rounding out a fantastic weekend of blistering form for him.

Just behind them was another battle between Brad Binder, Franco Morbidelli and Pedro Acosta. As Acosta dropped back towards the end of the race, Marco Bezzecchi was also drawn into the battle. After plenty of dicing and lots of on-track fun, this group finished the day with Binder in 6th, Enea Bastianini in 7th and Morbidelli in 8th. Bezzecchi and Acosta then rounded out the top 10, in 9th and 10th respectively.

It was a tricky day for Bastianini – he started the day in battle with Aleix Espargaro for 4th, but drifted back as the race progressed.
Espargaro is an incredibly close friend of Jorge Martin and he spent his last MotoGP race clearly acting as his ally out on track today. Firstly, he was fending off Bastianini and then Alex Marquez.

Our only non-finishing rider today was Joan Mir who ended the day in the same way he has most races this weekend – in the gravel. He will be eager to put 2024 behind him and start fresh when testing kicks off later this week.

TOP TEN
Image Credit: MotoGP on X
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Image Credit: MotoGP on X
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2025

Believe it or not, the paddock is already making plans for the 2025 season – we will give Jorge Martin some time to celebrate his title but testing begins bright and early on Tuesday morning.

This will be our first time to see riders on their new machines. Martin will take his #1 plate to Aprilia, Marc Marquez will be on the factory Ducati and our new rookies, Ai Ogura, Fermin Aldeguer and Somkiat Chantra, will also be on their new premier class machines.

Crew On Two will have all the updates for you so stay tuned.

See you in 2025!

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP on X

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David Alonso Claims Stunning 6th Consecutive Victory at Sepang

It seems now that writing ‘David Alonso wins…’ is getting slightly repetitive, but that is the reality of what this phenomenal young talent is accomplishing. Alonso claimed his 13th win of the season and 6th consecutive victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix, mirroring some of the great feats achieved by Marc Marquez. Though this triumph would call for huge celebrations, the podium was a solemn one, dedicated to Valencia following the recent floods.

The CFMoto Gaviota Aspar team, based in Valencia, celebrated their new world champion as he triumphed at Sepang, donating his win bonus to the team’s GoFundMe to aid the region impacted by the disaster.

On race day, Alonso started third on the grid at the Sepang circuit. He dropped back to eleventh on lap three after avoiding Daniel Holgado, who fell off his bike, but quickly set to work moving up the field, where he soon found himself back in the leading group.

While in third, Alonso closed the gap to front-runners Joel Kelso and Taiyo Furusato, claiming second with seven laps remaining. Once in the lead, Alonso proved unstoppable, even recovering from a wide run that saw him clip the kerb.

In a standout performance, Honda Team Asia’s Taiyo Furusato, who started 17th, surged through the field, reaching the top ten within a lap. From there, the Japanese rider pressed on, eventually leading the race but narrowly missed the win by just 0.088 seconds.

Ortola, who had a strong start, ultimately finished fourth for MT Helmets.

Jose Antonio Rueda, who started tenth on the grid, also delivered a strong performance. He charged up to third on the penultimate lap, overtaking Ivan Ortola at the start of the final lap to claim the final podium spot for Red Bull KTM Ajo.

 

Featured image courtesy of Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool

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ABB FIA Formula E Season 11: Everything You Need to Know Before Season 11 Pre Season Testing Begins

Formula E returns next week for Pre Season Testing in Valencia so here is everything you need to know before the first session of Season 11 begins! 

Gen 3 Evo Specifications

The ABB FIA Formula E Gen3-Evo car is an evolution from the Gen-3 car, first being raced in Season 9. Many major evolution changes have taken place, presumably to be taken up for Gen-4 as well.

    • All Wheel Drive (AWD): One major change is the use of all wheel drive for these electric cars. This will be useable in qualifying, the duels and the race for active attack mode. This will supply more active overtakes and some tactical strategy. 
    • Faster acceleration: The Gen-3 Evo is estimated to be the fastest FIA single seater car in terms of acceleration, going from 0-60 in 1.82 seconds, 30% faster than the current Formula 1 car.
    • More Grip: The new specified Hancook tyres will supply the drivers will more grip and made from more recycled parts. This will increase to 10% compared to the 9% from Gen-3.
    • New body: The Gen-3 Evo will have a sleeker body in comparison to the Gen-3 car.

 

Visual Car Changes

As shown on the images above, the Gen3 Evo (left) has seen the majority of its bodywork similar to Gen3 (right). The most obvious changes are:

  • More bodywork on the front wing to stop the endplates detaching. 
  • Gen3 Evo has more of a sleek and smooth design in comparison to Gen3 to improve aerodynamics.
  • The mirrors are bigger to allow more of a viewpoint for the drivers.

Season 11 Calendar

The calendar for ABB FIA Formula E Season 11 has some quite big changes, some classics remain, others are gone, venues have been changed and others have been added. Lets have a look!

 

Round Number E-Prix Date Previous Race Winner
Round 0 Pre Season testing at Valencia 4th-7th November N/A
Round 1 Sao Paulo E-Prix 6th December 2024 Sam Bird
Round 2 Mexico City E-Prix 11th January 2025 Pascal Wehrlein
Round 3 Jeddah E-Prix 14th February 2025 N/A
Round 4 Jeddah E-Prix 15th February 2025 N/A
Round 5 Miami E-Prix 12th April 2025 N/A
Round 6 Monaco E-Prix 3rd May 2025 Mitch Evans
Round 7 Monaco E-Prix 4th May 2025 Mitch Evans
Round 8 Tokyo E-Prix 17th May 2025 Maximilian Guenther
Round 9 Tokyo E-Prix 18th May 2025 Maximilian Guenther
Round 10 Shanghai E-Prix 31st May 2025 Mitch Evans
Round 11 Shanghai E-Prix 1st June 2025 Mitch Evans
Round 12 Jakarta E-Prix 21st June 2025 Maximilian Guenther
Round 13 Berlin E-Prix 12th July 2025 Antonio Felix Da Costa
Round 14 Berlin E-Prix 13th July 2025 Antonio Felix Da Costa
Round 15 London E-Prix 26th July 2025 Oliver Rowland
Round 16 London E-Prix 27th July 2025 Oliver Rowland

Overall, the calendar is generally similar to Season 10, however there are some pretty major changes:

  • The first round will happen last THIS year, in comparison to starting in Mexico City in January in previous years. 
  • There are a few more double headers, including the iconic Monaco E-Prix. 
  • Diriyah has been removed with the Jeddah Cornic circuit replacing the street track. It is understood that it will be a shorter version for Formula E in comparison to the layout Formula 1 and Formula 2 races at.
  • There is a “TBC” slot for round 5, rumoured to be related to an E-Prix in Thailand.
  • We are NOT returning to Portland, a first for this era for gen-3 and instead we head to Miami. 
  • The Berlin E-Prix double header has been moved to July but there will still be a clash with the World Endurance Championship. 

Driver Lineup for Season 11

Formula E is no stranger to crazy driver silly seasons, as Season 10 saw champions returning, drivers retained and other drivers let go. However, with Season 11, there are some changes which I did not expect to see. Lets see who is remaining, shall we?

Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team: Pascal Wehrlein and Antonio Felix Da Costa.

This one is a half-surprise, half-not a surprise. Throughout the start of Season 10, Season 7 champion Da Costa really struggled to be up to pace with teammate eventual champion Wehrlein. However, he pulled off what can only be described as a comeback of the greats as he managed 4 wins over 3 races in the latter half of the season. This managed to save his seat at the German team despite rumours of a certain Abt Cupra driver being poised to hop in. That plan has, for now, been placed on the backburner. 

Season 10 champion Pascal Wehrlein staying at Porsche is no surprise, however, due to his sheer determination to snatch the title from the 2 Kiwi’s of Cassidy and Evans going into the double header in London. The pairing is a strong one in which Porsche will hope to repeat their success from last year.

Jaguar TCS Racing: Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans

This is not a big shock as both Cassidy and Evans were on par for the vast majority of the season. Luck had its advantages and disadvantages for both drivers throughout the entire season as well as some driver errors, most noteably the error Cassidy made on the penultimate lap in Portland which cost him the championship and Evans wasn’t able to capitalise as much as he potentially should have when Cassidy failed to reach the top step or even the podium. Still, Jaguar are using a tried and tested method of stability within their team which will hopefully pay dividends.

Envision Racing: Sebastian Buemi and Robin Frijns.

This driver lineup is…a bit of a shock. Buemi and Frijns both had decent seasons with podiums for both drivers but due to the clashes with the World Endurance Championship (WEC), changes were expected from the Jaguar customer team. Nevertheless, a strong lineup with a lot of experience but with many younger drivers joining this grid and others in seperate series’ like Paul Aron who raced for Envision last year in Berlin in Formula 2 and even Victor Martins, this duo could be under pressure to deliver.

Mahindra Racing: Nyck De Vries and Edoardo Mortara.

This duo was not too much of a surprise either. De Vries struggled after his stint in Formula One with Alpha Tauri which wasn’t exactly what everyone wanted to see. Nyck did the one thing he could do: get back up! He got a deal to return to Formula E with Mahindra and he found his grove at the end of the season, with a sensational P4 finish in Shanghai! Him and Mortara could be the future of Mahindra. both have the experience to do well.

DS Penske: Jean-Eric Vergne and Maximilian Guenther: 

While one stays at DS-Penske, one shall leave. The one replacing the Season 8 champion is the driver who did an insane job in the CUSTOMER team of Maserati MSG Racing: Maximilian Guenther! Yes, Guenther gets the promotion to the Stallantes main team for the GEN3-Evo debut! Vergne will remain at the gold and black coloured schemed American manufacturer team but he will be hoping new boy Guenther doesn’t overthrow him.

Neom McLaren Formula E Team: Sam Bird and Taylor Barnard. 

McLaren will enter Season 11 as a race winner and from the minute the lights go out in Sao Paulo, the pressure will be on for Sam Bird to replicate his win in the Brazilian capital. Beside him will be a Briton, but it won’t be Jake Hughes. Instead will be Sam Bird’s replacement when he had to miss Monaco and Berlin last year: Taylor Barnard. After a debut season in Formula 2 with a debut win at Monaco in the sprint race, McLaren saw enough in the 19 year old to send him up and allow Jake Hughes to set sail. 

Maserati MSG Racing: Jake Hughes and Stoffel Vandoorne:

 The Monaco based team will have an entirely new lineup in Jake Hughes and Stoffel Vandoorne. It looked like both drivers wanted a fresh chapter and a new challenge with them leaving their former teams, both are proven winners and it will be interesting to see if they can finally gift Maserati some success.

Andretti Formula E: Jake Dennis and Nico Mueller:

When 1 stays, 1 goes. After 1 season at Andretti, Norman Nato departs for another team (more on that soon) but in his place is the underdog of Season 10; Nico Mueller. Nico comprehensively beat his experienced teammate of Lucas Di Grassi at Abt Cupra and earned a promotion up to the customer team of Porsche. As the former world champion of Jake Dennis remains at Andretti, Season 11 could be a big test for both drivers.

Nissan Formula E Team: Norman Nato and Oliver Rowland: 

As previously revealed, Norman Nato moved to another team, well that team is the same team that let him go after Season 9. Nato returns and replaces Sacha Fenestraz after the Argentinian driver underdelivered in his 2nd season in Formula E in comparison to his teammate who won many races and podiums. Oliver and Norman will both be wanting to make a mark on each other in Gen3 EVO. 

Lola Yamaha Abt: Lucas Di Grassi and Zane Maloney:

While not unexpected, Di Grassi remains at Abt to help them transition into Lola Yamaha Abt. Besides Di Grassi is a driver who set the 2024 season of Formula 2 alight at the beginning of the new regulations: Zane Maloney. The Boy from Barbados joins the team as a rookie after doing sessions with Andretti. This will be an important season for both Lola and Maloney as they both embark on a new motorsport journey.

Kiro Race Co: TBC and TBC

Don’t worry, TBC aren’t the 2 new driver names but ERT has transitioned into Kiro Race Co. after new investors were brought in. In another massive bombshell, the team is no longer and manufacturer as they now run older Porsche powertrains which have been modified for Gen 3 Evo. Both drivers have not been confirmed yet but rumours suggest Dan Ticktum will remain at the team while the pre season testing at Valencia will be seen as an audition for David Beckmann.  

Season 11 Liveries

As with a new season, cars have been launched! While not every team has announced their Season 11 liveries, here are some which have been announced! Jaguar’s Livery is for pre season testing only.

Nissan Formula E Livery Season 11. Image credit: Nissan Newsroom
Mahindra Racing’s Season 11 Car: M11 Electro. Image Credit: Mahindra Racing’s X account
DS Penske’s new Season 11 livery. Image Credit: Formula E News Article announcing this livery.
Display of the Porsche 99X Electric. Image Credit: Porsche Press Release
Andretti Formula E Season 11 Livery. Image Credit: Andretti’s Press Release
Jaguar TCS Racing’s pre season testing livery. Image Credit: Jaguar TCS Racing’s X account.
Kiro Race Co Season 11 Livery. Image Credit: Formula E’s Gallery Article
 
 
 

Women’s Pre Season Test Details

Announced a few weeks ago, Formula E will be running a fully woman’s test in Valencia. This is a big step forward for equality in the sport as well as gathering more feedback. The test will take place on November 7th in Valencia.

Driver lineups: 

Andretti Formula E: Chloe Chambers and Nerea Marti

Both of these drivers are currently in F1 Academy, with Marti in her second and final year and Chambers confirmed to be continuing in 2025 as well as joining the Red Bull family after being supported by Haas in her rookie season. Both have scored one win with Marti in Le Castelle in 2023 and Chambers in Barcelona. 

Neom McLaren Formula E Team: Bianca Bustamante and Ella Lloyd 

Bustamante is supported by McLaren in her second and final year of the F1 Academy series with multiple podiums and race wins behind her name. Ella Lloyd, however, was a wild card at a previous event and managed to impress a lot of people. She impressed McLaren with her talent so much that she joined their academy and will take over the keys when Bustamante leaves F1 Academy after this year to continue on the papaya colours. 

Envision Racing: Alisha Palmowski and Alice Powell

Palmowski has won many events in the past including being vice champion in GB4 in 2024 with 3 wins and 11 podiums. She has also made it through to the final 10 of the Autosport Young Driver Award. Powell has participated in W-Series prior to its administration in 2022. She won races in the series against a few drivers on this list and is now coaching F1 Academy standings leader Abbi Pulling. 

Maserati MSG Racing: Tatiana Calderon and Carrier Schreiner: 

The 2 ladies participating under the Monegasque team have a lot of experience. Calderon has participated in Formula 2, Super Formula, World Endurance Championship in LMP2 class and Indycar. Schreiner is currently racing in F1 Academy with Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber supporting her. 

Tag Heur Porsche Formula E Team: Marta Garcia and Gabriela Jilkova. 

Garcia is the reigning F1 Academy champion after competing in the series’ debut season with Prema Racing. She has raced in FRECA this season. Jilkova is a simulator and development driver for the German team with 43 laps being completed last year. 

Nissan Formula E Team: Abbi Pulling and Sophia Floesch: 

Pulling currently leads the F1 Academy standings as they enter the final 2 rounds at Qatar and Abu Dhabi in November and December. She is racing under the Alpine colours. Floesch is also in the Alpine family with her finishing another Formula 3 season. 

DS Penske: Jess Edgar and Beitski Visser

Edgar made her single seater debut in 2022 with GB4, picking up 1 podium in round 2. She made the jump to F1 Academy last year with her picking up 1 victory last year at Circuit Of The Americas. She is currently racing in F1 Academy again for her final year. Visser has competed in Formula 4, Formula 3.5 and W Series with many points being picked up. 

Lola Yamaha Abt: Miki Koyama

Koyama became the first female to win in a FIA Championship in Formula Regional Japanese Championship in 2022. She is also currently a Toyota Gazoo Racing development driver with competing in W-Series from 2019 to 2021. Lola Yamaha Abt have not yet announced a second female driver for this session.

Jaguar, Mahindra and Kiro Race Co have not announced either drivers yet. 

 

Costcap Breaches

Recently, it was announced that 2 teams broke the cost cap for the first year of Gen3: Jaguar and Nissan. Both teams were fined €100,000 and €300,000 respectfully. As a result of this, both teams will miss the first half day of testing. 

These have been described as a “Minor Breach” according to Formula E and the FIA with the breaches being in the region of “procedural and minor overspending”. 

Both teams have issued statements. 

Nissan describing the outcome and the result  as “…exclusively related to the process of interpretation and adaptation of the new financial regulations at a time when the team was also facing specific challenges…”

Jaguar said that “we believe that had we filed correctly we would have been fully compliant with the teams’ cost cap and the minor overspend breach would not have occurred”. 

Both statements are from the Formula E article announcing these breaches. 

Make sure to follow us on X here in order to stay up to date with all Formula E news! Let’s make this new season a good one! 

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Mexico Grand Prix Qualifying – Brilliant Sainz takes a dominant pole position for Ferrari

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz will start from pole for tomorrow’s Mexican Grand Prix.

The Spaniard took his first pole position since Singapore last year with an excellent pair of laps in the third qualifying session.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will start second ahead of championship rival Lando Norris, with Charles Leclerc a slightly disappointing fourth after a mistake cost him and Ferrari a chance of a front row lockout.

In the last week Ferrari have proven themselves to be spoilers for the two main championship protagonists, with a 1-2 last week headed by Leclerc in Austin  ahead of Verstappen and Norris.

Norris is 57 points behind but couldn’t have picked a better placed to start third from, with a 730 metre run to the first corner sure to offer the chance of a tow away from the grid.

The first qualifying session brought about two huge shocks in a frenetic and fast paced opening 18 minutes.

Home hero Sergio Perez was knocked out and will start 18th in the Red Bull, while Oscar Piastri ended his run of Q3 appearances that stretched back the entirety of 2024 to line up 17th.

That result is likely to damage Perez more than Piastri, whose error strewn session was much more of an anomaly for the man who was quickest in final practice versus the Mexican, who has been struggling all weekend.

They were joined by the less surprising trio of Franco Colapinto in 16th, Esteban Ocon in 19th and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu in 20th.

The second qualifying session was ended ten seconds early as the RB of Yuki Tsunoda, who was on a lap destined to reach the top ten, crashed out at Turn 12 to leave himself stranded in 11th ahead of teammate Liam Lawson.

The two Aston Martins will share Row 7 with Fernando Alonso, on his 400th Grand Prix weekend, starting 13th and Lance Stroll edging Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas out for 14th.

Ferrari had looked like they were going to battle for the second row heading into Q3 with Norris and Verstappen having been the class of the field, but finally got their act together as Sainz set an early benchmark of 1:16.055.

That lap would have been enough for pole on its own, but he went again to dip below the 1:16s to clock 1:15.946 – a quarter of a second clear of the field.

Leclerc’s wobble in the second sector was compounded by another error at the final corner when the Monegasque was looking at second on the grid, but Ferrari will be satisfied nonetheless.

The Scuderia have designs on the Constructors’ Championship even still, being eight points behind Red Bull and 48 behind leaders McLaren with five races to go.

Elsewhere in the third session, George Russell beat Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to fifth in the final session, while Haas’ impressive form continued with seventh for Kevin Magnussen and an unfortunate tenth for Nico Hulkenberg.

They sandwiched Pierre Gasly’s resurgent Alpine and Alex Albon’s Williams in eighth and ninth,

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MotoGP: The Beast Strikes In Misano

Image Credit: @Bestia23 on X

Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) clearly reflected on his Sprint race performance and upped his game for Sunday’s main event. ‘The Beast’ Enea hunted down Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) and simply wouldn’t let anyone else take the victory.

Was the winning overtake controversial? Yes! Of course it was, that said we have seen far worse moment’s in the heat of battle! It was a last lap battle for glory. It was hard racing and to some it crossed the line, but Bastianini took the chance and it paid off. Enea was rewarded for his relentless pursuit to win at his home Grand Prix in Misano.

Martin had given everything to win and I’m sure would have been far angrier had title rival Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) not crashed out of the race. With the world champion in the gravel from a comfortable 3rd, Martin now has a 24pts lead in the championship as we head to Indonesia next weekend.

Image Credit: MotoGP
Image Credit: MotoGP

AS IT HAPPENED

Martin made a great start off the line and took the lead into turn 1. It was short lived as Martin ran in too hot into turn 2 and Pecco went around the outside of Martin and retook the lead into turn 2.

Pecco looked strong on lap 1 with almost half a second gap to Martin at the end of the lap. Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) had a great start and gained 7 places on the 1st lap and Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) gained 5 places.

Yellow flags waved in sector 1 as Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) crashed out at turn 4. Binder was ok and re-joined the race to later finish in last place. The crash left a Binder sized gap between the front 3 of Pecco, Martin & Bastianini to the chasing back behind lead by Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3).

Into lap 3 and Martin was late on the brakes into turn 4 but unable to get it stopped as Bagnaia retook the lead into turn 5. Bagnaia, Martin and Enea all within touching distance at this point in the early stages of the race.

In the opening stages Bagnaia was under immense pressure from the GP24’s behind him. Acosta in 4th looked to bridge the gap to the front 3 setting the fastest lap of the race. Into lap 4, through turn 6 and down the straight Martin went up the inside of Pecco and the move stuck for the Spaniard taking the lead of the race. Much to the dismay of the partisan Italian crowd.

Bagnaia seemed to have less grip and pace with Enea seemingly being held up behind his Ducati teammate. Martin already stretched out a gap to 6 tenths of a second as Enea finally got by Bagnaia. Acosta however was still pushing that KTM to the limit and nearly lost the rear through turn 13.

Quarter race distance completed and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team) was having his race of the season riding in 7th at this point on the factory Yamaha. Martin lead with Bastianini setting the quickest lap of the race.

 

Onto lap 10 and Acosta’s KTM couldn’t hang on any longer as Acosta went down in sector 4 at turn 15.

Bastianini continued the hunt of Martin out in the lead, as Bagnaia’s fortune turned for the better with blistering pace out of nowhere for the Bologna man. However, the world champ had an almost impossible task of closing the gap of 3 seconds to the leader.

All the hard work from Bagnaia came to nothing as Bagnaia went tumbling into the gravel on lap 21 of 27. Devastating for the championship and could possibly of handed a 29pts gap lead to Martin at this point.

Into the final few laps of the race and Bastianini was on the rear wheel of Martin. Bastianini planned his attack looking for any weakness in Martin as we headed to the conclusion of the race.

There was nothing between Martin and Bastianini as Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) cruised around in the final podium position in 3rd.

Into the last lap we went and Martin was still hitting every apex and not willing to give up the race win. Bastianini had other ideas though and forced his way through to take victory!

 

Race Classification 

Image credit: MotoGP
Image credit: MotoGP

 

Image Credit: MotoGP
Image Credit: MotoGP

Constructors Champions 2024
Image Credit: MotoGP

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Formula 1 Exhibition London

A cloudy morning in London with a dreaded tube journey ahead of me but at the end of that the Formula One exhibition awaits.

As we passed through the doors you’re handed a set of headphones and a remote that will guide you through the exhibition, up the stairs and into the first gallery where you’re greeted by four of the most beautiful Formula One cars there has ever been. A Ferrari, A Lotus A Williams and a beautiful West McLaren.

As you’ve venture through the experience you’re greeted by not only more cars but trophies helmets, race suits busts of drivers and various interactive screens that take you through the history of Formula One.

The third room is centred around the safety aspect of F1 it’s there you’ll find Romain Grosjean Haas or the burnt out remains of it, you stand there and gaze and wonder how anyone could have possibly survived that! In the background a video of the incident plays.

Moving on around the exhibition into an immersive video experience followed by the Formula 1 race sims, I’m sure they will be extremely popular when the exhibition opens on Friday the 23rd of August.

Click below for tickets

https://f1exhibition.com/london/

Don’t miss out on this fantastic experience, the venue is fully wheelchair accessible and there’s a store to spend your money in when exiting.

Excel is well served by the Docklands light railway and the Elizabeth line, London’s famous Black Taxis are also available.

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Moto3: Win No.7 for Alonso in Spielberg!

Image Credit: @AsparTeam on X

David Alonso (CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team) with a long lap penalty (LLP) charged his way back through the pack to take victory here in Austria. It was a superb comeback after taking his first ever LLP and punished the rest of the field. Alonso celebrated and showed us the dance moves to match his riding skills  in the LLP loop.

It will take something monumental now for the rest  of the season for any rider to stop Alonso winning the championship this season. 71pts adrift to Alonso in the championship, Ivan Ortola (MT Helmets – MSI) had a perfect Saturday but a nightmare Sunday starting from the back of the grid for the race.  Ortola fought hard though to finish 9th and clearly would of had a chance at victory today had Ortola started from pole.

David Munoz (BOE Motorsports) after a manic battle snatched 2nd place away from Daniel Holgado (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) on the line who finished in 3rd. It was a great race today in the Styrian mountains!

AS IT HAPPENED

Ortola was nowhere to be seen at the front of the grid as the riders got underway in the overcast conditions. Joel Kelso (BOE Motorsport) with a great start and into the lead on the first lap as Alonso was up and attacking Holgado for 2nd after starting 6th on the grid.

Alonso and Holgado diced with each other and was enough for Munoz to dive by and up into 2nd. At the end of lap 1 it was both BOE Motorsports riders leading the way in Austria.

Lap 2 and a lead group started to develop in the race with 6 riders at the front. Alonso and Piqueras took their long lap penalties and re-joined the race in 10th and 11th places. Across the line and to start lap 3, Munoz with the slip stream looked at the inside line for turn 1, but Kelso full of confidence defended the move last on the brakes.

Championship leader Alonso now up into 8th place and had a mountain to climb 3.5seconds back to the leaders. Holgado seemed to be relaxed at this point in 3rd, keeping pace with the squabbling BOE Motorsport teammates ahead of him.

As Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets – MSI) had a scare almost losing the front, Alonso went by up into 6th. Pole sitter and race winner last time out at Silverstone, Ortola set the fastest lap of the race at the quarter race distance. Ortola still keen to get on with business despite the nightmare start.

Lap 7 and into turn 1 Kelso was late on the brakes and held onto the lead but Holgado’s patience had left him staring at the back of Munoz’ wheel. Holgado went by Munoz up into 2nd into turn 1 and was now gunning for Kelso. As a track limits warning was issued for Kelso, Holgado into the last sector  of the lap blasted up the inside of Kelso into the lead of the race.

As we approached the half way race distance, the 3 way fight for the win became a 7 way fight for the win with newly promoted to Moto2 Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) catching and dispatching Kelso up to 3rd.

11 laps to go, Holgado lead to Munoz 2nd and Veijer in 3rd. Kelso, Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Alonso and Angel Piqueras (Leopard Racing) were all still with a shout of taking victory at this point. Veijer continued his charge and up into 2nd going by Munoz,

Lap 11 of 20 and Veijer down the hill into turn 9 hit the front of the Grand Prix for the first time. Rueda shoulder barged his way by Kelso which shoved Kelso to the back of the lead group.

Turn 9 seemed to be a favourite spot for everyone as Veijer went by Holgado to retake the lead of the race. Every rider in the lead group were fighting and dicing with each other in an epic battle in Spielberg.

Alonso even with a long lap penalty was back now up into 2nd as Munoz and Piqueras fought with each other through turn 1.

Into the last quarter of the race, pole sitter Ortola fought his way back up to 9th after starting in the pit lane. Veijer lead from Alonso in 2nd and Munoz in 3rd. Holgado and Piqueras went by Munoz as the lead group order was ever changing. Down the hill into turn 9 Alonso went by Veijer to take the lead of the race for the first time.

Into the last few laps and Alonso lead the field through turn 6 as Munoz and Holgado were on the back of Alonso’s wheel. A couple of tenths separated Holgado to Veijer and Piqueras behind. The lead group shrunk to 5 at this point all still in contention to take the win in the last couple of laps.

THE LAST LAP

Championship leader Alonso took us across the line to start the final lap. Both Munoz and Holgado bombed into turn 1 with Munoz coming off worse and ran wide re-joining into 4th place.

Piqueras now up into 3rd and looked to go up to 2nd by Holgado but unable to make it stick in the early part of the lap. Dropping down through turn 6 it was still Alonso leading from Holgado fending off Piqueras in 3rd.

Munoz out of nowhere rubbed shoulders and barged by Piqueras into 3rd.  Across the line Alonso held on to take victory and Munoz snatched 2nd place away from Holgado who took 3rd.

Alonso on fire today and danced in the long lap penalty loop. What a rider and what a race in Moto3!

Race Classification 

Image Credit: MotoGP
Image Credit: MotoGP

 

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Moto3: Ortola Takes Pole in Spielberg!

Image Credit: MotoGP

Fresh off his promotion into Moto2 for next season and in the form of his life. Ivan Ortola (MT Helmets – MSI) took pole position today in the Syrian mountains! The 3rd pole position of the season for Ortola and will be eager to catch David Alonso (CFMOTO Aspar Team) in the championship in the second half of the season.

It was a 6th front row start of the season for Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) in 3rd and Aussie Joel Kelso (BOE Motorsports) qualified in 2nd. Championship leader Alonso starts from 6th on the grid in tomorrow’s race.

AS IT HAPPENED

Qualifying 1

Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing) and Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) were some of the big names in Q1 in the glorious Austrian sunshine.

Scott Ogden (MLav Racing) took a tumble early on in the session at turn 2 and quickly got back up to his feet in frustration. As sector 1 waved yellow flags, the first batch of riders crossed the line with Furusato sat at the top of the timings.

After the first few spins on the circuit, the top 4 with half of the session remaining headed through to Q2 were Furusato, Fernandez, Nicola Carraro (MTA Team) and Vicente Perez (MLav Racing).

3mins left of the session and all of the riders headed back out of the pits for their final attempts. As per usual in Moto3, the riders all slowly made their way out of the pits and picked who to follow on the lap.

Riders nearly pushed each other onto the grass in their final flying lap, but only 1 change in the top 4 as Furusato topped the session with a 1:40.882. The top 4 headed through to Q2 were Furusato, Fernandez, Tatsuki Suzuki (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) and Luca Lunetta (SIC58 Squadra Corse).

Qualifying 2

The battle for pole position was on in the Styrian mountains and after the first batch of laps tumbled through, Daniel Holgado (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) sat a the top for a moment briefly before Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) marched to the top of the timings. We were still waiting on championship leader David Alonso (CFMOTO Aspar Team) to post a time at this point.

Alonso crossed the line and went up onto the front row after the first run into 3rd. Holgado sat on provisional pole with 7mins still left of the session.

Back out for the 2nd runs and Kelso blasted his way up to provisional pole just as Rueda crashed at turn 10. Rueda quickly got back on his KTM Ajo machine and back into the action. Veijer went up to 2nd with all to play for now as the final seconds ticked away in the session.

Into the last attempts at pole and with a slipstream to the line Ortola jumped up into pole as Kelso went down at turn 2. No final pole attempt for Kelso as Alonso went through but only qualified in 6th place. As David Munoz (BOE Motorsports) crossed the line into 9th, Ortola celebrated another pole position. A great qualifying session for the MT Helmets – MSI rider.

Classification

Image Credit: MotoGP
Image Credit: MotoGP

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Formula E Season 10 Finale: Wehrlein snatches the Drivers Championship from Jaguar’s Kiwis at nail biting finale

 

Formula E Season 10 concluded this past weekend and it is fair to say that it went down to the wire. Ultimately, Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein claimed his maiden FE title of the series, beating both Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans.

Race 1

  • Mitch Evans led the field away from Sebastian Buemi in P2 and Pascal Wehrlein in P3.
  • Robin Frijns and Jake Dennis had a lap 1 accident and the safety car was deployed.
  • By the time the safety car came in on lap 4, Cassidy made up two  places after a terrible qualifying and Nico Mueller had a puncture so he went into the pits.
  • Two incidents occurred at once as former champion Dennis and Jean-Eric Vergne came together, whilst Oliver Rowland took Antonio Felix Da Costa out of title contention.
  • Evans and Buemi battle for the lead on lap 14.
  • Cassidy and Stoffel Vandoorne had a coming together but the Kiwi ended up
  • Wehrlein took the lead on lap 22 and he managed to take both attack modes and stay P1 while Max Guenther was battling Evans for P2.
  • Norman Nato and Sacha Fenestraz ended up colliding bringing out another safety car.
  • After we went green, Wehrlein went for the lead as did Guenther but he had a gearbox failure and had to stop on track from P2, bringing out a full course yellow.
  • Wehrlein managed to hold on and take the win from Evans in P2, Buemi claimed P3, with Nyck De Vries P4 and Edo Mortara in P5. Mueller took P6 ahead of Cassidy P7.  Bird finished P8 ahead of Vandoorne and Nato snatched the final point.

  • Race 2:

    • Championship hopeful Cassidy claimed pole position after missing FP3 with a BBW failure.
    • Evans made it a Jaguar 1-2 on lap 2, until Mortara and Dennis made contact bringing the safety car. However, he was soon disposed.
    •  Bird, Nato, Dan Ticktum and Jehan Daruvala are all involved in an incident, which brings out the safety car. Daruvala and Bird collided and collected both Nato and Ticktum.
    • Cassidy stays in lead after taking his attack mode, but Evans is not going to give up the championship without a fight and he soon retakes the lead.
    • Wehrlein begins to pile the pressure on the Jaguars ahead, nipping past Cassidy in his quest for the title.
    • Dennis got a 5 second time penalty for that collision with Mortara, however it could turn into a grid drop for Brazil.
    • Evans and Wehrlein made contact but attack mode still had to be taken.
    • Da Costa and Guenther had a battle which allowed the German up to P6.
    • Disaster struck for Cassidy as he got a puncture from Da Costa, ending his title hopes and bringing out the safety car.
    • Rowland snatched the lead from Evans and Wehrlein, as Evans missed attack mode.
    • Three added laps due to the safety car, however, Evans was in a position that he could not attack the leaders as he had to ensure his attack mode was used up before the end of the race.
    • As Rowland took the win, it was Pascal Wehrlein, snatching P2, who became the ABB FIA Formula E World Champion!
    • Evans finished in P3 which sealed Jaguar the manufacturer’s championship.

    Final Formula E Season 10 Championship

    Position Driver Team Points
    1st Pascal Wehrlein Tag Heur Porsche Formula E Team 198
    2nd Mitch Evans Jaguar TCS Racing 192
    3rd Nick Cassidy Jaguar TCS Racing 176
    4th Oliver Rowland Nissan Formula E Team 156
    5th Jean-Eric Vergne DS Penske 139
    6th Antonio Felix Da Costa Tag Heur Porsche Formula E Team 134
    7th Jake Dennis Andretti Formula E 122
    8th Maximilian Guenther Maserarti MSG Racing 73
    9th Robin Frijns Envision Racing 66
    10th Stoffel Vandoorne DS Pesnske 61
    11th Sebastian Buemi Envision Racing 53
    12th Nico Muller Abt Cupra 52
    13th Sam Bird Neom McLaren Formula E Team 48
    14th Jake Hughes Neom McLaren Formula E Team 48
    15th Norman Nato Andretti Formula E 47
    16th Edoardo Mortara Mahindra Racing 29
    17th Sacha Fenestraz Nissan Formula E Team 26
    18th Nyck De Vries Mahindra Racing 18
    19th Dan Ticktum ERT Formula E Team 12
    20th Sergio Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team 11
    21st Jehan Daruvala Maserati MSG Racing 8
    22nd Taylor Banard Neom McLaren Formula E Team 5
    23rd Lucas Di Grassi Abt Cupra Formula E Team 4
    24th Joel Eriksson Envision Racing 2
    25th Sheldon Van Der Linde Abt Cupra Formula E Team 0
    26th Jordan King Mahindra Racing 0
    27th Paul Aron Envision Racing 0
    28th Caio Collet Nissan Formula E Team 0
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BRITISH GP: Arise, Sir Lewis Hamilton!

Sir Lewis Hamilton emerged as the winner on Sunday afternoon at Silverstone in a classic British GP as he took his record 9th win at a single venue. It was a Mercedes front row to start the race with George Russell on pole and Hamilton in 2nd. The race had a threat of rain hanging over it right from the start and it became real from as early as lap 6.

George Russell taking the lead from pole. Image courtesy of Pirelli F1 Media

Russell started the race well and the top 4 kept their order until lap 6, as the rain began and the conditions changed quickly for everyone’s liking. Lando Norris in the McLaren and Max Verstappen in the Redbull picked up right where they left off in Austria, albeit a lot cleaner this time. As the rain picked up, Hamilton pipped his teammate Russell to the lead of the race before Lando Norris was quickly over the back of both the leading Mercedes’ as they went off in turn 3 due to tricky conditions.

Norris was leading the race in wet weather with both the Mercedes and Verstappen chasing him. The rain intensity increased as Verstappen and Sainz in the Ferrari were the first ones to pit for inters. McLaren were 1-2 at this point before they got it horribly wrong with Piastri’s pitstop timing and the Australian was relegated to P6. He ultimately salvaged P4 towards the end of the race but could’ve been much higher if not for the mishap. It was the switching of the conditions from wet to dry that changed the fate of McLaren as a brilliant Mercedes undercut meant that Hamilton assumed the lead of the race on lap 40. It was a three-way fight to the finish as Hamilton was in the lead on soft tyres, Norris was 2nd on soft tyres with Verstappen chasing them both on hard tyres. At a stage it seemed that Verstappen would take the win but he just about ran out of laps towards the end and could only finish 2nd to Hamilton.

Perez with the first stop on to inters. Image courtesy of RedBull Content Pool

Elsewhere, George Russell’s day ended in a horrible fashion as he started from pole but had to retire on lap 34 due to a water system issue in his car. Sergio Perez in the other Redbull and Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari had a bad day out in rainy Silverstone as they were experimented with tyre strategy to battle in changing conditions. Perez finished a lowly P17 while Leclerc could only manage a P14 and the Monegasque will hope for a much better showing in Hungary in 2 weeks time after a sorry couple of weeks in the Ferrari.  Carlos Sainz in the other Ferrari managed a quite race amidst the chaos and racked up a handy P5.

Haas continued their good showing with Hulkenberg finishing P6, not losing any ground from yesterday’s qualifying. Kevin Magnussen in the other Haas could not manage a points finish and could only manage P12. Aston Martin had a decent home race as they finished in double points with Lance Stroll at P7 and Alonso at P8.  Among the points, were ‘home’ team Williams with Alexander Albon at P9, the Thai driver suffered early damage to the bodywork of his car but had an impressive drive afterwards. Logan Sargeant in the other Williams was just one position shy of points as he ended up in P11. It was Yuki Tsunoda who claimed the final points spot after a P10 finish, while his teammate Ricciardo finished P13.

Alpine had a day to forget, with Gasly retiring on the formation lap and Esteban Ocon only managing a P16 finish. Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas finished P15 while his teammate Zhou finished P18.

Max Verstappen has increased his lead at the top of the championship standings in his bid for the 4th title but  with about half the season to go, it would be wise to not think that the title is wrapped up, as McLaren seem promising in fighting for wins alongside Mercedes, who have picked up back to back race wins. A lot at play awaits in 2 weeks time in Hungary before the summer break, as Mercedes will be looking for a hatrick of wins and Verstappen himself will be itching to get back to the top of the podium.

 

The top 3 and Bono on the podium. Image courtesy of RedBull content pool.

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