Category Archives: racing

Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto – Formula One’s Newest Driver

The second driver for Audi’s entry into Formula 1 in 2026 will be the 20-year old Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto. He will drive alongside German Nico Hülkenberg (37) for Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber next year, which will become the Audi F1 factory team in 2026.

The experienced Hülkenberg, who was announced in April, and the promising F1 rookie Bortoleto form a Mutt and Jeff or opposite-experience driver pairing for Audi’s Formula 1 project. Bortoleto in 2023 stood out in his debut season winning the FIA Formula 3 Championship. The São Paulo native is currently leading the FIA Formula 2 Championship standings. His career began at the age of six in karting, and by twelve, he had moved to Europe with his family to pursue his Formula 1 dream. Continue reading

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Porsche Penske Motorsport Wins – Rename the 963 to 967?

The 2024 season was one of the most successful in Porsche’s long-distance racing history as the Porsche 963, won seven of eight possible titles together with the works team Porsche Penske Motorsport. Maybe it should be call 967 to honor the success in only the second year of racing the 963. The overall result of the 2024 season in the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship was six out of six possible titles in North America, as well as the world championship crown for the works drivers Kévin Estre from France, André Lotterer from Germany and Laurens Vanthoor from Belgium in the FIA WEC. Porsche missed the manufacturer’s title in the world championship with the 963 this year by two points.

‟ ‘Nobody’s perfect’ – we already used this slogan in 1983, when only one third-party manufacturer appeared in the top 10 of the 24 Hours of Le Mans,” said Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport in a release celebrating the season today. It turns out that 41 years ago, Porsche publicized the Le Mans result under the ‘Nobody’s perfect’ on a now well-known poster. It depicted the racing cars from Stuttgart in the first eight places in the overall classification and in tenth place, with a Sauber BMW in between in the ninth spot. In AutoInformed’s view it also is just another example of Porsche’s sense of humor – counter the false stereotype on the lack of German humor. Remember the pink pig Porsche 917 endurance racer at Le Mans in 1971with the cuts of ham stenciled on the car? Continue reading

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Man vs Autonomous Machine Race Coming to Suzuka

The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL)* said today that a “Man vs Machine Showdown” is coming to the Suzuka Circuit in Japan next month. The exhibition race will be the first time Japanese spectators  can see a head-to-head race between human drivers and AI technology. It will take place on the Super Formula double-header season finale on November 9-10.

“In partnership with Japan Race Promotion, A2RL’s ‘Man vs Machine’ challenge will pit two Super Formula race cars against each other in a head-to-head competition. One car will be piloted by former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat, A2RL’s development driver, while the other will be entirely controlled by advanced autonomous algorithms and robotics, showcasing cutting-edge technology,” A2RL said. Continue reading

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Mattias Ekström Joins Ford Performance for 2025 Dakar Rally

“Joining the Ford Dakar program is really exciting for me,” said Mattias Ekström. “Ford and M-Sport have built a vehicle that looks, sounds, and drives awesome and we all have a common ambition to win the Dakar Rally. I have had four tries at Dakar so far and now I can say that I have some experience to be able to aim for the top. There is also a lot of knowledge and experience in the team to back up the ambition – starting with the long motorsport heritage of Ford, proven track record of M-Sport, very impressive driver line-up, smart engineers, technicians, and the rest of the team. I look forward to the first competitive outing with the Ford Raptor T1+ at Rally du Maroc and later at the Dakar Rally. I am in it to win it and I hope we will have very successful and great years ahead of us. I will do everything in my power to make it happen.” Continue reading

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McLaren W1 Supercar Global Reveal This Sunday

McLaren Automotive today said that the next version of its legendary ‘1’ car lineage – a new supercar named W1, will be revealed at 13:00 BST on Sunday 6 October 2024. The McLaren W1 is the successor to the McLaren F1. The W1 name “celebrates McLaren’s World Championship mindset.” The public reveal date marks the 50th anniversary of McLaren winning its first Formula 1 Constructors’ World Championship, and Emerson Fittipaldi winning the 1974 World Drivers’ Championship with McLaren.

“The McLaren W1 is defined by real supercar principles and is the ultimate expression of a McLaren supercar. Born of our rich racing history and World Championship mindset, W1 pushes the boundaries of performance and is worthy of the ‘1’ name. Like its predecessors the F1 and McLaren P1™, W1 defines the rulebook of a real supercar,” Michael Leiters, Chief Executive Officer, McLaren Automotive. Continue reading

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Performance Driving – Acura Integra Type S HRC Prototype

Acura today debuted the Integra Type S HRC Prototype, showcasing a potential new line of street and track-focused Honda Racing Corporation* performance parts. Introduced during Monterey Car Week, a congregation of automotive and motorsports enthusiasts, the Acura Integra Type S HRC Prototype is said to build “upon the dynamic capabilities of the most powerful, best performing Integra ever to deliver ultimate street and track performance for Acura enthusiast customers to enjoy on their own Integras.”

“HRC performance parts is an exciting concept focused on building a stronger connection with Acura and Honda enthusiasts eager to access exclusive HRC race engineering to augment their performance driving experience,” said Jon Ikeda, Senior Vice President, Honda Racing Corporation USA.”Every spec of the Acura Integra Type S HRC Prototype screams performance. Everything is functional – if it doesn’t add performance it isn’t on the car.” Continue reading

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Cadillac Racing Expands WEC Entries to Two Cars in 2025

Cadillac Racing said today that its FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC)* Hypercar program will expand to a two-car factory program to be named Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA** beginning with the start of the 2025 season. It’s a major realignment of two separate racing programs that have tried to beat each other for two seasons now. Jota is leaving Porsche. Drivers of the No. 12 and No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R racecars, powered by the purpose-built Cadillac 5.5-liter DOHC V8 engine, will be announced in the future. Continue reading

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Honda 1964 RA272 F1 Car to Lap Laguna Seca Historic Races

Honda engines have powered four drivers to a combined eight Formula One Drivers’ Championships. Engines created by Honda have twice set F1 records for the most race wins in a season, including a historic 2023 season, with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez winning all but one race in dominant fashion. This beat the previous win-rate record set by McLaren Honda in 1988 with drivers Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. As this run went on and on veteran racing journalist Chris Economaki said into an open mike during ABC’s Wide World of Sports coverage that “I have seen better racing in a Cornfield in Iowa on Saturday night.”  ABC fired him. When I caught up with him later in the press room of the New York Auto Show I said, “sorry to hear about your ABC gig,”  Chris said, “They bought my voice, not my mind.” The lack of competition for the past couple of season in F1 has been well noted by others – but not as succinctly as Chris did.  Continue reading

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AC Cars Revives Cobra GT Coupe

AC Cars released today the first images of the new AC Cobra GT Coupe. The first ever official AC Cobra coupe set for production, working from an augmented version of the existing AC Cobra GT Roadster architecture. This road-going model, you might remember – if you are of a certain age and Monte Carlo Rally, LeMans and Kammtail resonate – draws on AC’s racing heritage. Continue reading

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Mattia Binotto Returns to F1 as CEO at Sauber Motorsport

“I am delighted that we have been able to recruit Mattia Binotto for our ambitious Formula 1 project,“ said Gernot Döllner, CEO of AUDI AG. “With his extensive experience of more than 25 years in Formula 1, he will undoubtedly be able to make a decisive contribution for Audi.“ Following his university degree in mechanical engineering at EPFL in Switzerland, the Italian immediately joined the F1 test team of Ferrari in 1995. He subsequently had various positions, from chief engineer to manager of the engine department and technical director. In 2019 he was additionally appointed as team head of Scuderia Ferrari.” Continue reading

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Annals of Marketing 2026 – Audi Formula One and bp

“Audi and bp have always worked together successfully in motorsport. We are delighted that we can take this special partnership to the next level in Formula 1. Audi stands for ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ and bp and Castrol also aspire to deliver the best technologies in the field of fuels and lubricants. This is a perfect match. It is a strong signal for Audi’s future F1 factory team that we have been able to establish this partnership at such an early stage,” said Andreas Seidl, CEO Audi F1 team. Continue reading

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Honda Racing has a New UK Formula One Base

Honda is celebrating its 60th anniversary of its first F1 participation this year. The company is currently providing technical support and marketing cooperation as a team partner to Oracle Red Bull Racing, which is enmeshed in an ongoing alleged inappropriate sexual behavior scandal. Honda also supplies the VISA Cash App RB Formula One Team. As part of this technical support, HRC manufactures and supplies PUs along with support for PU operation throughout the season to Red Bull Powertrains (RBPT)*. This partnership will continue until the next year’s 2025 season.

*RBPT is a Red Bull group company responsible for F1 PU building. They are in charge of production and operation of ESS (Energy Storage System) for current F1 PU. Continue reading

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Annals of Marketing and Racing – Cadillac Opulent Velocity

Cadillac said today that its view what the future of electric performance is contained in teaser look released of the Opulent Velocity concept vehicle. It is designed to market the past, present and future of Cadillac and its performance brand, V-Series. In marketing speak, Opulent Velocity represents the duality of the Cadillac brand defined in the name, Opulent + Velocity.

“Opulent Velocity is designed to foreshadow a zero emissions expression of performance and modern luxury leadership,” said Bryan Nesbitt, executive director, Cadillac Global Design. “We will share more later this year, so stay tuned.” Continue reading

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Taycan Turbo GT Sets Records at Laguna Seca, Nürburgring

Porsche said today that the upcoming Taycan Turbo GT with Weissach package set the fastest electric production car lap at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca. The Taycan is scheduled to go on sale this spring as part of the expansion of the premium line of its all-electric sports sedan to include the Taycan Turbo GT and the Turbo GT with an optional Weissach package. The Weissach setup is built for the track and eliminates the rear seats for a higher power-to-weight ratio. At peak power, both models can deliver more than 1100 PS (pferdestarke) or 1084.51 horspower. Continue reading

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Chevy Camaro Beats Toyota Camry at Atlanta Motor Speedway

In a real photo finish, Daniel Suarez, driver of the #99 Freeway Insurance TrackHouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1,claimed victory on Sunday 25 February 2024, at the NASCAR Cup Series Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Ryan Blaney in the #12 Ford Mustang took second. Kyle Busch, driver of the #8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was third. They finished three wide across the line with less than one-hundredth of a second making the difference. Continue reading

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