Williams Racing have revealed their brand new livery for their Formula One contender, the FW45. The design is based on their previous car the FW44 with the most notable changes being towards the rear of the car with a different design and an outline of the numbers. The design also features a matte colour finish.
Speaking about the FW45, returning Williams Racing driver Alex Albon said “The car looks great and will hit the track at Silverstone. The team has worked really hard last year and over the winter to address some key areas in our car, putting in the work to try and maximise what we get out of the car for 2023, so I’m looking forward to seeing what the FW45 can do.”
One of the few changes coming to Williams in 2023 is rookie Logan Sargeant. Regarding the car, Logan said “I’m super motivated and we’ve put a lot of hard work in. The car is looking amazing and it shows the huge effort the team has put in the off-season, so I’m looking forward to getting started at Silverstone before heading out to Bahrain.”
Many new sponsors also join the team in 2023. Gulf Oil International, Stephens and Michelob ULTRA are just to name a few. These feature across the livery and racing suits.
Gulf Oil International and Williams reveal a partnership-Image courtesy of Williams Racing
Speaking about the upcoming year, the chairman of the board Matthew Savage said “We are excited about this year’s car, and I cannot thank the entire team at Grove enough for their hard work to get ready for the season.
“I am delighted to welcome both new and existing partners to our journey. With our new Team Principal James Vowles joining us later this month, as well as our exciting driver lineup of Alex and Logan, Williams Racing will be giving its all in 2023.”
Both Albon and Sargeant will take the FW45 to the Silverstone Track on 13th February as it undertakes its first laps of the season.
Red Bull Racing have revealed the RB19 livery and a partnership with Ford during an event in New York
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 03: The Oracle Red Bull Racing RB19 is unveiled during the Oracle Red Bull Racing Season Launch 2023 at Classic Car Club Manhattan on February 03, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Oracle Red Bull Racing) // FIA / Getty Images / Red Bull Content
The event from New York features interviews from Christian Horner, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. However, the main points of interest from the event were the reveal of the RB19 and the announcement of the Ford and Red Bull Racing Collaboration from 2026.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 03: The Oracle Red Bull Racing RB19 is unveiled during the Oracle Red Bull Racing Season Launch 2023 at Classic Car Club Manhattan on February 03, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for Oracle Red Bull Racing) // FIA / Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
To The livery of the RB19 is very similar in relation to the design. The only main differences seem to be the changes of the sponsors from Puma to Castore in terms of merchandise. Rokt has also appeared on the side of the livery .Other than that, the livery has remained the same.
The main feature of the long stream, however, was the announcement of Ford and Red Bull Racing’s collaboration from 2026. According to Formula One’s official website, this collaboration will start in 2023 with Red Bull Racing and Alpha Tauri taking the engine from 2026 until 2030, at least. Speaking about the collaboration, Christian Horner said “It’s fantastic to be welcoming Ford back into Formula 1 through this partnership.” He goes on to say “They are a manufacturer rich in motoring history that spans generations. From Jim Clark to Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, the lineage speaks for itself.” Jim Farley, CEO and President of Ford Motor Company, also stressed, however, that, with this new collaboration, Ford will be looking to win in F1 with Red Bull.
What do you think of the RB19? Do you think the the Ford and Red Bull Racing collaboration will be a success?
Image courtesy of Formula E RIYADH STREET CIRCUIT, SAUDI ARABIA – JANUARY 28: Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing, Jaguar
Qualifying
This session started with Jake Hughes, Sebastian Buemi, Stoffel Vandoorne and Jake Dennis getting through from Group A. Both Nio cars of Dan Ticktum and Sergio Sette Camara got knocked out which came as a shock given their past history of qualifying. Pascal Wehrlein, Rene Rast, Eduardo Mortara and Mitch Evans went through from Group B.
Vandoorne and Buemi went head to head for the first quarter final with the reigning world champion being knocked out of the duels by Buemi.
It was Jake Hughes VS Jake Dennis for the second quarter final of the day with Hughes having the advantage over Dennis to win the battle.
Wehrlein and Rast went against each other for the third quarter final which saw Rast take a surprise victory over the German.
Mortara and Evans lined up for the final quarter final of the weekend with Evans just taking victory.
Buemi and Hughes had deja vu as they went head to head for the second time this weekend. However, Hughes got his revenge from yesterday with him getting victory over the world champion.
Evans and Rast went head to head for the final semi final of the weekend with Evans catching Rast after an early lead from the McLaren driver. Evans went through to the finals.
It was Hughes vs Evans for the final duel of the weekend with Hughes taking victory and taking his first pole in his third race of his Formula E career.
Jake Hughes gets his first Formula E Pole Position. Credit: Formula E.
Race
We went racing in Diriyah and Evans made the most of the situation. He overtook Hughes into turn 1 and maintained the lead throughout the early laps. By lap 9, Evans went for an early 3 minute attack mode. Hughes responded to this by taking attack mode on the next lap but only for 2 minutes. This risk did not pay off early on, however, as he came out behind Evans. Rast then goes for the attack and manages to stay ahead. Wehrlein went on a charge after starting P5 and got up to P3 by lap 12 with 3% more energy than his counterparts in the grid. It only took him until the next lap to get Evans for P2.
Further down the field, on lap 21, Dennis got Mortara as he also made a charge through the field. Things went from bad to worse for Mortara as Bird also got him. Within the next few laps, Dennis continued his charge as by lap 24, he gets up to P2 with him wanting to charge down Wehrlein. On lap 27, Muller hit the wall in the chicane and that brought out the safety car. It neutralised the race which helped the top few drivers. By lap 31, the safety car came in and the top 3 were pushing from that moment on. Lap 33 saw Dennis, Bird and Evans all go for attack mode but the McLarens got in between them. Bird was going to attack Rast but he went wide into turn 18 and Rast managed to keep P3. On the last lap, Evans and Hughes were both fighting but Hughes ran out of energy on the line. However, Evans pushed him and Buemi managed to overtake Evans due to Hughes holding him up.
Wehrlein took the win in Diriyah to make it a double header, double win. Dennis made it 2 for 2 for P2 in Saudi Arabia with Rast taking McLaren’s first podium in Formula E. Bird finished P4 ahead of Hughes and Buemi in P5 and P6. Evans finished P7 with Fenestraz taking their first points in Formula E. Mortara picked up Maserati’s first points of the season in P9 and Ticktum picked up the final points paying position in P10.
After many months of speculation, the Formula 2 Grid for 2023 has been announced and there are a lot of changes in comparison to the 2022 Grid.
Felipe Drugovich, Liam Lawson, Logan Sargeant, Juri Vips, Jake Hughes, Marino Sato, Marcus Armstrong, Olli Caldwell, Calan Williams and Cem Bolukbasi have all left the series. Bolukbasi was replaced mid season in 2022 by Tatiana Calderon but she will not be returning either.
2023 will see a lot of drivers make the step from Formula 3 to Formula 2 this season. Arthur Leclerc, Oliver Bearman, Brad Benavides, Roman Stanek, Isack Hadjar, Kush Maini, Victor Martins, Jak Crawford and Zane Maloney have all made this jump. Maloney finished P2 in the F3 2022 season finishing behind Martins with Bearman, Hadjar, Stanek and Leclerc rounding out the top six.
In total, six Red Bull Junior Drivers make up the 22 places on the grid. Of the eleven teams on the grid, eight of them are holding at least one rookie, with MP Motorsport, VAR Amersfoort Racing and Virtuosi Racing are the only teams without any rookies this season.
The Red Bull Junior Drivers for Formula 2 and Formula 3 in 2023. Credit: Formula 2 on Twitter
Some returning faces to the F2 grid also include Roy Nissany, Frederik Vesti, Dennis Hauger, Jehan Daruvala and Richard Verschoor to name a few. Juan Manuel Correa will also be returning to the sport full time since his accident in Spa 2019. All have competed in at least one F2 season before with some proven winners, pole sitters and points scorers.
The Formula 2 2023 Grid. Credit: Formula 2 on Twitter
What do you think of the F2 2023 grid? Will this be a year of redemption for some returning drivers or will a rookie grasp the fame? Who do you think will take the all important F2 2023 World Champion title?
Image courtesy of Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
The dust has just started to settle on the highly controversial season finale of the third running of the Virtual LeMans Series 2022-2023, with a lot of heated comments being thrown towards Motorsport Games, the organisers of the series, and license holder to the Virtual LeMans name. In case you have missed the latest fire being started in the sim racing world, here is a brief overview. LMP favourites Team Redline were leading the championship coming into the final round at LeMans, the number 1 car being driven by Sim racing stars Diogo Pinto & Jeffery Rietveld alongside two pro drivers, Aston Martin BRDC Driver of the year 2022 Luke Browning, and double Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen.
People like Luke and Max will bring a considerable amount of attention with them from their respective fanbase, and the event is a great opportunity for the sim racing world to show the real racing fans and champions what it has to offer, however the event won’t be remembered for the great battles that took place throughout the event (particularly in the night hours), the Team Redline number two car came home to win the LMP class, or the Romain Grosjean backed R8G esports car won the GTE class. Alas, the event will be remembered for the public scathing from Max Verstappen in particular, the champion labelling the event as “a clown show”.
Let’s take a look at what happened. In the first half of the event, the race had to be stopped due to a security breach on the servers hosting the race, on two separate occasions. Reports suggest that a DDOS attack had been initiated on the servers, making the game unplayable for all concerned, forcing the organisers to halt the race until the issue was resolved. Whilst this attack on the servers is, quite frankly, pathetic on the part of those conducting the attack, it raises questions about the management of the servers themselves.
After the DDOS situation had been resolved, the race continued through the night without too much drama, with plenty of racing action to keep the audience entertained, but in the latter part of the race, driver disconnects were a concern. This is always a concern for endurance sim racing, irrespective of the event, but there had been an alarming number of disconnects reported.
In the rulebook, it is stated that if four or more cars disconnect at the same time, the stewards have the discretion to award the lost laps back to the affected teams. However, if three or less cars disconnect in short succession, no consideration is given to awarding the laps back to the affected team, and this was the straw that broke the Verstappen back. Max had disconnected from the race whilst in the lead, and because Team Redline had been informed that they were not being awarded the laps back (for the above reason), Max parked the car in the garage, thus retiring them from the race.
On the surface, this may seem a rash decision, especially as the championship was on the line and the team had prepared for months for this event alone, but this was the culmination of numerous disconnects for the number 1 team (not just Max), and all the other teams affected by this same issue, and the feeling of injustice when laps had been awarded back to other teams but not to Redline (again, for the above reasons).
Max has vowed never to participate in this event again, and the sim racing world will be seen in a negative light because of this event. The fans took to social media to call for Motorsport Games to relinquish the license, and for another platform to be used for this event in the future. Sim racing is always trying to prove itself in the eyes of real-world racing fans, as well as drivers and sponsorship opportunities, which this event has done no favours to at all.
Should Max have retired the car in anger? Should the organisers have treated the situation differently? There are always two sides to each argument, as strictly speaking, the organisers did enforce the rules that were set out before the season began, and all participants agreed to adhere to, but when the servers themselves are identified as the issue, lessons must be learnt from this event.
F1 esports has seen a changing of the guard this year. Brendon Leigh, driving for Mercedes AMG Petronas, took the title in 2017 and successfully defended the crown in 2018 in dominant fashion, before Scuderia Ferraris David Tonizza took the title to Italy for the prancing horse in 2019, narrowly fending off the advances of Denmarks Frederik Rasmussen. Since then, the wonder-Dutchman Jarno Opmeer has held dominion in the F1 esports arena, taking the crown in 2020 and 2021, both times seeing off fierce competition, and both times Rasmussen taking the second spot in the championship.
Mercedes and Redbull have been the teams to beat throughout F1 esports history (that sounds familiar), with two titles each (there was no constructors championship awarded in 2017). The constructors this year has already been sealed, McLaren Shadow will be crowned 2022 F1 esports constructors champions following the great work from Scotlands Lucas Blakeley, and the Man from Iranhaveari Boroumand.
Image courtesy of Ferrari
So who are the main contenders for Opmeers title this year?
Lucas Blakeley
Hailing from the highlands, Blakely was signed by BWT Racing Point in 2019. This would prove to be a somewhat difficult start to Blakeleys esports career, despite proving himself a very capable driver in the league racing scene. Whilst the speedy Scotsman did score a podium in 2019, he only raced anoBlakeley’sces that year, with results that did not reflect his talent. He was retained by Racing Point for 2020, in which he raced almost every race, but again the results didn’t go as expected. When Aston Martin took over Racing Point for 2021, Blakeley was now really getting into his stride, finishing third in the season, and this year, he has been a major component in McLaren Shadows championship winning season, and leads the drivers championship.
Thomas Ronhaar The new rising star from The Netherlands is Ronhaar. He absolutely stormed the league racing scene and currently drives in Haas colours. Ronhaar sits just five points behind Blakeley, and has been doing everything to win his debut championship and keep the title in Dutch hands.
Frederik Rasmussen
You can never keep a good man down, or a good diver back. Rasmussen has finished in the top three in the drivers championship in every year F1 esports has existed, and was a force in league racing before 2017 as well. The great Dane has been in the Redbull family since being signed by Toro Rosso in 2018 and moved over to the main squad in 2019, where he has been ever since. Only 14 points separates him to Blakeley, and the competition is as fierce as ever.
Bardia Boroumand
The man from Iran has been in the league racing scene a long time, and is no stranger to competing at the front, but didn’t enter the F1 esports world until 2020, where he was the third driver for Mercedes behind Leigh and Bono Huis. Boroumand only raced once that year, and after moving to McLaren in 2021, he has gone from strength to strength. A regular points scorer and occasional podium saw Bari finish fifth in 2021, and this year he has scored a far bigger haul of podiums, and a win at Spa, all of which sees him fourth in the standings, just 16 points behind teammate Blakeley.
Jarno Opmeer A man that is known throughout the F1 esports and league racing world, he hit the ground running, being signed by Renault in 2019 and coming home in fourth in the championship, before commencing his dominance in 2020 with Alfa Romeo and continuing with Mercedes in 2021. The champion is still mathematically able to retain the crown, but with a 34-point deficit to Blakeley, it will need a big helping of luck to swing the momentum his way
With two races still left, Brazil and Abu Dhabi, the stage is set for a thrilling conclusion to a season that has seen a huge shake-up in the establishment.
Gen goes Green! Expect the phrase in a few weeks! The first day of the 2022/23 test at Ricardo Tormo went ahead today and the machinery is fantastic! The previous generation had a maximum of 250kw but they now have a further 100 with 350 at their disposal.
Wehrlein now an experienced driver in the field was quickest out the blocks early on in the Porsche, with a 1:27:492.
We have the introduction of Maserati and Mclaren, the latter who took over the defending Champions Mercedes with big boots to fill. Jake Hughes fits in and the Papaya orange was perfect especially in Spain.
Rowland hopes to have a better string of results especially with Di Grassi alongside in this Season’s battle, and laid down an early gauntlet for the field with a 1:26:351 which was seven tenths quicker than anyone else before Max Guenther joined him in the 1:26’s too, but still 0.559 away from the time. A few yellow flags with a spin or two but only one real flag of concern early on when Cassidy’s Envision got stuck in the gravel at turn six which brought the session to a brief stoppage. DS Penske duo paired with reigning drivers champion Vandoorne not Da Costa continue to look strong early on being within the top 5 as the track gripped up Stoffel went 0.322 behind Rowland.
Abt name is back in the sport with Cupra, and just getting mileage in the morning session, this was held by Mueller being unable to get out early on but he eventually did manage to get out alongside Frijns both lapping in the low 1:28’s, at the back of the field and further interrupted late on in the session with Mitch Evans spinning at T5, causing a red flag for 10 minutes. We had 18 of the 22 drivers before lunch on track and Jake Hughes in Mclaren finally toppled Rowland’s impressive lap to a 1:26:178 with Guenther after in Maserati a 1:26:096, the new teams wanting to take the headlines at lunch. The second Maserati in P4 whilst Rast must’ve been focusing on long runs in P20. The Top 10 covered by 1.050.
The second session went green at 14:00 hours and Guenther who went straight to top carrying on where he left off with a 1:26:852 amongst eight others. Sam Bird who failed to win in last year for the first time in a full Season looks to build slowly after sustaining a wrist fracture missing the Seoul double finale he had a fairly quiet morning, and was one of those who just looked to continue to plow away, getting the data for Jaguar. One that also jumped out of the blocks was Jake Dennis with Andretti only P17 in the morning, who improved on his time by three tenths to be P2 after the first rush of action.
Guenther improved to a 1:26:221 as they came to an hour in the afternoon running whilst Porsche hot on the heels, another team with a switch Wehrlein under a tenth but Antonio Felix Da Costa making it P2 and P3 for the team. Porsche with that line up look to see better than P7 in the final standings. Continous action, only a brief yellow as Mortara’s Maserati coming to a stop, a quick reset let it go on its way, as the times begin to fall, the top five now being in the 1:26’s with Mortara being one of them. Jake Hughes brought the afternoon to an abrupt end for 20 minutes as the NEOM Mclaren came to a stop, and failed to restart.
The teams had 90 minutes remaining of Day One Norman Nato joined the track for the first time but only a sightseer, Buemi still yet to be seen in the afternoon. The top twelve all within a second of Guenther, with eight different teams.
With under an hour the drizzle threat began to become into play, and the track became damp, so the fastest times of the day were not going to be touched but it is interesting information for these new Hankook tyres, Michelin being the supplier since the inaugural season in 2014.
No spins in the rain happened to cause any flags showing the true skill of the drivers at hand. The running was interrupted further with further teething problems on reliability as Sette Camara’s NIO halted between T5 and T6. Ticktum currently in the top 10 ahead of his Brazilian team-mate in the sister car.
The track returned to green flag running under dark clouds and damp track so it continued to be a reliability test and data collection for the teams rather than outright speed. A really wet track with 20 minutes remained so Guenther would take plaudits for being fastest in both the morning and afternoon session before the rain came. Porsche and DS Penske as duos looked solid, whilst Nissan had a difficult day in at the back on average being 1.6 off the pace across both sessions. Buemi seemingly had a reliability issue as no time was set in the afternoon.
A full qualifying and race exercise is due to happen in Valencia tomorrow before they a further day of testing on Thursday, so some gremlins found, and much running done today.
Motorsport at present will not be interrupted by any third party events, so according to current calendars we have racing from the weekend we go into 2023 with the Dakar Rally, through to December with national events and eSports. Here are just a small selection of dates to keep free as a motorsport enthusiast!
Photo: Zak Mauger/LAT/Formula E
14th January
Formula E starts its third generation at the beloved Autodromo Hermamos Rodriguez in Mexico City, where we shall see the new era of cars reach 200mph hour and a new format of racing begin. McLaren and Maserati enter the fray with a mix up of drivers, so keep the date free! Formula E expects more overtaking in much smaller and lighter machinery, and don’t forget that all the qualifying and racing in one day so an action-packed day looms!
19th February
On this day, you shall see the 65th running of the “Great-American Race” at Daytona Beach in Florida. Daytona is one of three Superspeedways in the States, the others being Indianapolis and Talladega. Fan-favourite Jimmie Johnson is expected to return for the Stock Car Series, which would have seven former winners in the field. Even if NASCAR is not your taste, I do advise it as a watch as they do race on tracks of COTA and Road America throughout the year. There is also the conclusion of the Asian Le Mans series at Yas Marina on the same day, which is a four-hour event.
YAS MARINA CIRCUIT, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (Photo by Mark Sutton / LAT Images)
26th-28th May
This weekend is a belter. In Europe and stateside we have two of the three legs of the ‘Triple Crown’ running simultaneously. On Saturday is the F1 Monaco Grand Prix, where on most occasions qualifying could be more important than the Sunday. On Sunday we have the 107th running of the Indy 500 at the Brickyard. Monaco could be more of a tactical battle strategy, followed by seeing the complete flipside of motorsport with cars going at 220mph for nearly three hours! Do not forget to finish off the day one of the speedways. NASCAR has the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, so if no problems do arise with cautions and delays you could watch all three consecutively, a true treat to a motorsport fan!
10/11 June
The final third of the ‘Triple Crown’ would be the famous Le Mans 24 hours which celebrates its centenary this year. The categories for this season have either been revamped or doubled, especially the hypercar which should make it the most contested battle, with Ferrari and Peugeot joining Toyota in the battle at the top for overall victory.
Ferrari seek for victory for the first time since 1965 when legendary Jochen Rindt won as part of the team and Peugeot more recently with the 908 in 2009. The middle classes of LMP2 and GTE will continue to be as close as ever throughout the race and season, a race that is 6/7 times longer than Indy 500 can be separated by seconds overall. The go-to section if you want to go would be the Porsche Curves, a fantastic section to see a car hooked up in qualifying or race mode!
MotoGP heads to India. The Buddh International Circuit was first used in 2011 by F1, the banked 10-12 turns having an Istanbul Park feel. India is second most populated country with nearly 1.4 billion people and with reports of over 200 million owning a motorcycle which is a 75/25 ratio making it perfect sense for bikes to race here.
It will be great to see the track return to the world stage as the Grand Prix of Bharat and with bikes it has the chance to provide some fantastic overtaking opportunities. National racing has taken place there from 2016, but do expect the likes of WSBK to strike a deal in the future as this will be an instant success! Along with this, F1 hosts the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, the European Le Mans Series is at Spa and British Touring Cars is at Silverstone. Three of the most iconic tracks in use along with MotoGP possibly breaking into India.
19th November
Is it another cash cow or F1 gone bust with a third race in America with the race in Vegas? It is not the first time F1 has gone racing in Vegas, as they had two races in the 80’s. They raced at Caesars Palace in 1981 and 1982. It is expected that they will be using the Las Vegas Strip in the night race featuring 17 corners going past the previously used palace and Casinos.
The festival in 2022 that announced the race went well and it comes across as an unique event. With the race being the penultimate round of the season we could see a driver or constructor be crowned here – what a place to do so!
Qatar continues to go strength to strength with MotoGP at Losail for another race in penultimate round of this year’s series this weekend as well. An honourable mention for WRC which concludes in Japan on this day too.
Just a few dates to advise! We will give you weekly updates of all events from Speedway to F1 happening on that weekend. Looks like a fantastic year ahead.
In a surprise twist to the British Superbike silly season, championship winning OMG Racing Yamaha have announced former Superstock 600 Champion, Ryan Vickers will be joining them for the 2023 and 2024 seasons in a 2-year deal.
Ryan Vickers – OMG Racing Yamaha
After a frustrating season aboard FHO’s BMW M1000RR Vickers has surprised Superbike fans by bagging what many believe to be one of the best and most sought-after rides on the grid. With newly crowned BSB Champion Bradley Ray rumoured to be stepping up to the World Superbike Series next year, Ryan Vickers, his personal team and OMG Racing have pounced on the opportunity to put themselves in the spotlight again and have some big boots to fill.
Riding alongside 2022 race winner and 6th place finisher overall Kyle Ryde, I’ve no doubt the pairing will be expected to perform from the get-go after the team have become accustomed to British Superbike success. Ryde more so than Vickers as there will be an adjustment period to be taken into account, hence the 2 year deal to allow Vickers to settle in a find his feet. You also have to bear in mind the calibre of riders he will be up against next year in British Superbikes. Staying on the bike and being inside the Top 10 has to be Vickers’ first priority in year 1. If he can regain the confidence he oozed in his days with the Lee Hardy Racing team, where Ryan was a regular runner inside the top 6 during races, success, podiums and potential race wins will come at some point.
Vickers has experience on Yamaha machinery from his championship winning season aboard an R6 in 2018 before debuting in Superbikes, though personally I’m unsure as to whether data and riding styles from a stock R6 can translate to a British Superbike spec R1 with instant results. Stranger things have happened. We have seen high calibre riders struggle on BMW machinery due to the integral characteristics of the bike whereas the R1 has long been seen as the friendliest bike to ride being it’s such an allrounder, it could just be that this is the move Vickers needs to settle things down, renew his confidence and start bringing some BSB trophies, if not in 2023 then definitely in 2024.
The one thing Vickers has been universally commended on, when life became tough in the FHO Racing BMW camp, his attitude towards the team, improving himself and the bike were never in doubt. On and off the bike his character has shone through.
Good luck to him I say. Kudos on his negotiating skills and well done that man for being brave enough to go even further down the rabbit hole to find himself and chase his dream. Vickers could easily have gone back to a series he has had success on (i.e. 600’s) but it takes a brave man to dig in and crack on for another year. Congratulations to both Ryan and OMG Racing for putting together what will hopefully be a belter of a lineup for 2023.
Ryan Vickers – OMG Racing Yamaha
On the move, Vickers said: “I’m so pleased to be given the opportunity to ride what I and many others perceive to be the best bike on the Bennetts British Superbike Championship grid, with a team have that have impressed a huge number of people by winning the championship.
“My love of Yamaha stems from my Superstock 600 Championship win onboard an R6, so I’m looking forward to gelling with the R1, and being able to deliver OMG Racing the level of success they’ve become used to.
“I can’t thank Alan [Gardner] and Paul [Curran] enough for their belief in my abilities, and I’ll be working harder than ever to give them the results the team deserve. I appreciate that to step into the boots of the Championship winner is a big ask, and Brad has set the bar high, but I relish the challenge and I’m excited for what I’m hoping will be my best season yet.”
Alan Gardner, OMG Racing Team Owner said:“Ryan is a rider that OMG Racing have had their eye on for quite a while and has really impressed with both his performance on-track, and his attitude off it.
“He’s a well-known and liked character within the paddock and has proven himself to be a rider that will go above and beyond to constantly improve and better his lap times and ability, and that fits perfectly with us and our goals moving forward.
“We plan on pulling no punches in our pursuit of our second championship victory in 2023, and with both Ryan and Kyle on board our Yamaha R1s, are feeling strong as we move into our sixth BSB season.”
Paul Curran, OMG Racing Team Principal commented: “I’m really looking forward to working with Ryan, and he’s a rider that I’ve admired for quite a while. His success on the R6 in the Superstock 600 Championship back in 2018 demonstrates his comfort on Yamahas, and from experience we know this normally translates well to the R1 – you only have to look at Brad [Ray]’s results and progression to see that.
“His drive and positivity will see him slot perfectly into the team, and I’m confident he’ll be at the sharp end of the grid from the off.
“We head out to Cartagena in a few short weeks, and we’re all looking forward to giving both Ryan and Kyle the opportunity to get some track time under their belts. I have no doubt that Ryan will get his head around the bike very quickly and we’re really looking forward to seeing what he can do.
Gen goes Green! Expect the phrase in a few weeks! The first day of the 2022/23 test at Ricardo Tormo went ahead today and the machinery is fantastic! The previous generation had a maximum of 250kw but they now have a further 100 with 350 at their disposal.
