Race wins

Miyata, a race winner in both SUPER GT and Super Formula, will accompany the Toyota World Endurance Championship squad for the remaining rounds of the season that don't clash with his existing commitments in Japan, starting with the Le Mans 24 Hours next month. The 23-year-old will also be involved in development work at Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe's Cologne base. Toyota's statement revealed that Miyata already participated in a simulator session at TGR-E last year and "impressed the team with his driving performance, and set competitive lap times, to earn his selection as a WEC Challenge driver". It added that Miyata's "continued participation in the programme will be decided based on performances and development progress". Miyata, who has been vocal about wanting to race overseas in the future, currently represents leading Toyota squad TOM'S in both SUPER GT's top GT500 class and Super Formula. He stepped up to Super Formula full-time in 2021 after winning the previous … [Read more...] about Toyota adds Ritomo Miyata to WEC Challenge programme

Van der Linde scored just five points across the two races at the 3.7km track in Germany, and his lack of one-lap pace was a particular cause of concern as he failed to qualify higher than 15th in his BMW M4 GT3. His woes were compounded by a botched pitstop in Saturday’s opening contest, with the Schubert mechanics dropping his car off the jack while the front-left tyre was still to be fitted. Sunday’s race panned out comparatively better for the South African, who charged from 15th to 12th in the opening laps before finishing 11th at the flag - although a battle with Benhard Porsche driver Ayhancan Guven allowed Winward Mercedes’ Auer to get through and break inside the top 10. Schubert team manager Marcel Schmidt was naturally disappointed after the weekend, with new signing Rene Rast also failing to finish higher than fifth, but expects things to get better when DTM heads to Zandvoort for the second round on June 24-25. “For Sheldon it was simply a jinxed weekend. He … [Read more...] about DTM champion van der Linde was “jinxed” in season opener

Lance Stroll’s failure to show up in Monaco comes at a time when Aston Martin are attempting to secure their place near the front in F1, but this is a team originally created to be his platform. Going back just three months, it seemed unfathomable that Fernando Alonso would prove one of the revelations of the season, with the two-time World Champion scoring five podiums from six races and only just missing out on third place in the other. Only Max Verstappen can boast more podium appearances, and Alonso’s metronomic consistency, long a critical weapon in his armoury, shows no sign of fading away any time soon. Alonso is no stranger to competitive F1 cars, having won two world titles in 2005 and 2006 with Renault, plus his 2007 season at McLaren and spending years trying to bring glory to Maranello during his Ferrari stint. But that same comfort and ease isn’t there for team-mate Lance Stroll, who appears to be struggling to come to terms with the competitiveness of the … [Read more...] about Aston Martin dilemma? The Lawrence Stroll headache caused by his own son

Fernando Alonso “still respects Honda and its staff”, according to his manager Alberto Fernandez, with Alonso’s previous comments about the Japanese marque having been brought back into the limelight in recent days. The news of Honda and Alonso’s current team, Aston Martin, announcing a works power unit partnership from the 2026 season onwards brought up questions surrounding the two-time World Champion’s feelings surrounding the last time he worked with them – infamously dubbing their then-underperforming PU a “GP2 engine” while at McLaren. Given their previous association from 2015 to 2017, Honda figures were asked about Alonso at the announcement of their deal and whether or not they would be willing to work together again – and they did not rule out a future partnership with the Spaniard, dubbing him a “genius” driver whom they “respect highly”. “If the team decides we’ll have Alonso as a driver again, we will have no objections whatsoever on him driving,” Honda Racing … [Read more...] about Fernando Alonso’s manager lifts lid on actual Honda relationship status