Motorsport News

In a word ' average ' is how Clearwater Racing's Matt Griffin described last nights qualifying session. The team spoke about who would start the car in relation to where they qualified. "W e spoke about different scenarios before qualifying, if we qualify in the top six I’m (Matt) going to start the race, if we qualify outside of the top 6 Weng is going to start the race… I think some sort of divine forces were in action that decided that Weng should start the race! " said

We sat down with Clearwater Racing’s Matt Griffin after Quali 1 to chat about the first 2 sessions of the week and his hopes for the final qualifying sessions, and of course the race! During practice there were struggles with over steer and a general lack of pace which had been carried through from test day, this may have been in part due to the engine: “ When we reviewed the data we saw the previous engine was quite high on mileage, when turbo engines get high on mileage

LMP2 – Formula ORECA Oh dear. If the ACO’s idea of the new cost-capped P2 formula was to balance the field and increase competitiveness then this has backfired massively. At the test day, the ORECA/Alpine chassis filled the first thirteen places, leaving the Dallara/Ligier/Riley contingent in a variety of moods from head-scratching to outright anger. As these cars are homologated up to 2020, then there is no way that any change can be made to even up the field. Therefore,

It’s June so it must be time for the annual pilgrimage to La Sarthe, the highpoint of the season for any endurance racing fan (apart from me who left it too late, again! Next year, though… Let’s take a look at the runners & riders who will be competing in the 85th Grand Prix d’Endurance: LMP1 – is 3 better than 2? The smallest category, with only 6 cars only one of which is not a hybrid. However, it’s from this class that the overall winner is likely to emerge, barring so

The week of Le Mans kicks off on Sunday 11th and Monday 12th of June with scrutineering and administrative checks or "Pesage" in the traditional location of the Place de la République in the town centre of Le Mans. All 60 cars and 180 drivers must attend to be able to race and this gives the fans and passers by a great opportunity to see them up close. Image, ACO So what goes on? There are 3 "posts" which are basically big white tents through which the cars pass through o

The festivities for the 24 Hours of Le Mans begin this Sunday with the traditional scrutineering ceremonies at the Place de la République in the town center of Le Mans. There's always a big crowd on hand, as it provides fans an opportunity to get up close to the cars and drivers in a relaxed setting. The weather looks good for scrutineering this year. Sunday will have warm temperatures and plenty of sunshine, with highs in the upper 80s F and around 31 C. A cold front is exp

So with 8 hours of running completed we are starting to get an idea of how the teams may perform in 10 days time. Topping the timing sheets were the 3 Toyotas with Kamui Kobayashi with an 03:18.132, over a second quicker than last years pole time of the Porsche of Neel Yani. Next were the Toyotas of Davidson and Lapierre, the Porsche of Bernhard was next up in 4th with a 3:21.512. The LMP2 class was in short a revelation, drivers prior to the test had said how fast these

With the test day for the 85th Le Mans 24 hour race, the paddock has come alive with the teams setting home for the next 2 weeks, meeting old friends - making new ones. During today the teams have been working with the safety crews and allowing them to get to know their cars, how to extract drivers, lift them out of gravel and so on. There have also been the start of the technical checks for both drivers and cars. Join us tomorrow for the latest updates form the test v

So, first time at Le Mans? Want to know what not to miss? Well check out our handy guide. The “Grand prix d'endurance” as it is often referred to will be run for the 85th time over the 17th and 18th of June 2017. It is the oldest, active motor race and covers approximately the same distance as 18 Formula One races or 6 times the distance of the Indy 500 – some 3,300 miles in total. The distance covered is of course dependant on the conditions and if there are any off tra

Rules for the Clearwater Racing, Le Mans competition in association with Revo Sunglasses, Yearone custom flip flops and Stickered up 4 Le Mans. 1. The winning entries will be drawn at random from the correct choices entered on the competition page 2. Top prize will be 1 pair of Revo CUSP C sunglasses, 1 pair of XL Yearone flip flops, a selection of Le Mans 2017 stickers from Stickered up 4 Le Mans. 2nd prize will be as above minus the sunglasses 3. No cash alternative 4. En

Two chassis set for 2018 FIAWEC and Le Mans 24 Hours British motorsports engineering company PERRINN has announced that it has received the first order for a brace of its new LMP1 car to race the 2018 FIA World Endurance Championship. With the design work already completed alongside preliminary digital and crash test simulations, the as yet unnamed car is expected to be revealed in late November before testing starts in December. With the programme already at such an adva

Following their 3rd place finish Clearwater are now sitting in 2nd place for the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGTE AM teams, 5 points behind Aston Martin Racing; Clearwater Racing continue on their inaugural season in the FIA World Endurance Championship and next up is the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This is not their first trip to the Circuit de la Sarthe in central France, in 2016 they became the first Singaporean to compete in the 24 hour race, this short film from Motul documents

FIA WEC, SPA 6hrs – And it’s a 1-2 for Toyota LMP1 Toyota Gazoo Racing scored a 1-2 at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, with the #8 TS050 - Hybrid of Sébastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima finishing just 2 seconds ahead of a late charge from the sister car #7 of Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi. Although the #9 finished 5th and 2 laps off the pace, Toyota’s entry of 3 cars showed that reliability was strong in the Japanese outfit as they pursue their quest fo

The entire Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps is expected to remain dry, but rain will be on the doorstep near the end of the race. The day will start with sunny skies, but clouds will be increasing through the afternoon. Temperatures will be quite pleasant, with highs in the lower 60s. In the closing hours of the race, clouds will be covering the entire sky. During this time, rain will be spreading across central and northern France, moving toward the northeast. The expected ar

With a time of 1:54.097 around the 7.003km circuit buried deep in the Ardennes, the #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Neel Jani, André Lotterer and Nick Tandy took pole position for tomorrow’s FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Four minutes into the session saw it red flagged after Russia’s Vitaly Petrov put the #25 CEFC Manor TRS Racing Oreca 07 into the tyre barrier up at Turn 9 – too much damage meant the car did not record a time. A spinning Bykolles

The weather pattern over western Europe during the middle of the week will feature an area of low pressure that will be drifting eastward. Belgium will still be under the influence of this system on Thursday, so there will likely be numerous showers around the track for the opening practice sessions. With wet and cloudy conditions, temperatures will only be in the 40s on Thursday. Most of the rain showers should be fairly light, and I expect that rainfall amounts on Thursday

The GT category of the FIA WEC enters the new season in very good shape. After a successful 2016 season, the class gets an increased car count for 2017, (8 in PRO and 5 in AM), with the return of the works Porsche team in PRO, running the new mid-engined 911. With factory efforts from Aston Martin and Ford joining the established private Ferraris of AF Corse in PRO and newcomers Clearwater Racing in AM, as well as the AM Porsches of Gulf Racing and Dempsey Proton, we will s

There is just under a week to go until the Ardennes will be ‘alive with the sound of WEC’… and we can’t wait! The iconic 4.35 mile circuit of Spa-Francorchamps is sure to provide us with thrills and spills as it always does, and no doubt a good dose of rain somewhere along the way! Race two out of nine on the WEC calendar, Spa is a firm favourite and one of the most picturesque circuits there is (our opinion but I’m sure thousands will agree). If you’ve never been there i

Pretty gloomy weather greeted the drivers in the opening round of the Protyre GT5 Ginetta Challenge on Bank Holiday Monday at Oulton Park. Matt Palmer did not fair too well in qualifying for race 1 in the wet saying that "Car set up was way off in quali and race 1, we need to work on a wet set up!" However from a qualifying position Matt was able to make up 6 places to finish 10th in race 1. In race 2, Matt gambled on slicks, as there was a dry line appearing, then it sta

Below is a statement from Billy Mongers family and JHR Developments about Billy and his injuries following one of the worse crashes motorsport has seen in, thankfully a long time. We at Prescott Motorsport wish Billy all the best for his recovery and our thoughts are with his family, loved ones and all those touched by this terrible accident. There is a Just Giving Page which has been set up for Billy and his family, we would urge you to donate if you are able to do so -...