Robert Wickens says his goal is to return to the “elite level” of motorsport after getting behind the wheel of a single-seater for the primary time since a 2018 IndyCar crash that left him paralyzed.
The Canadian driver accomplished 11 laps behind the wheel of Formula E's Gen3 machine at Portland International Raceway ahead of this weekend's all-electric championship race.
The 35-year-old was given the chance after being approached by Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds last yr, as Wickens looks to resume his motorsport profession using hand controls.
The 30-minute session, held Friday afternoon on the American track, marks six years since Wickens' accident at Pocono, where he suffered a severe spinal cord injury that left him paraplegic.
Speaking to Motorsport.com ahead of his start and asked if he had ambitions to race in Formula E, Wickens said: “For me it’s not about single-seaters, it’s concerning the elite level of motorsport [that I want to race]whether it's IMSA, whether it's the World Endurance Championship or Formula E.
“I think it's just racing with the best drivers in the world, like I did in IndyCar and DTM before my accident. For me, that's what I need to get back to.”
Wickens returned to racing in 2022 within the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series aboard Bryan Herta Autosport's factory Hyundai TCR machine, having won the category last season.
Speaking after his Formula E appearance, Wickens said: “It was only a few laps but I loved it and it left me wanting so much more. We hope this will lead to greater opportunities in the future and perhaps a test for newcomers.”
Despite never having driven a Formula E automobile before, Wickens got here very near joining the championship when he was offered a drive for the 2018-19 season, just per week after signing an IndyCar contract with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
He added: “It was an away goal but there was such fierce competition within the paddock that it was difficult to get a foot in goal.
“Fortunately, with the help of Jeff and Formula E, they helped open that door and gave me the opportunity, so now my goal is to pass the novice test and rate on par with any other driver.”
The Super Formula round that took place last weekend on the Sugo track was the primary in almost 50 years during which no international team took part. All 20 drivers who lined up in the beginning, in addition to Naoki Yamamoto, who couldn’t start as a consequence of an accident in the course of the warm-up, were of Japanese nationality.
Super Formula/Formula Nippon and its forerunners All-Japan Formula 3000 and All-Japan Formula 2 have had many ups and downs over the past fifty years, but there has at all times been an influx of “gaijin” – championship placing drivers within the country's premier singles event. So the proven fact that the Sugo race was run with an all-Japanese lineup was simply a travesty for promoter JRP.
Only last yr, CEO Yoshihisa Ueno spoke of 10 foreign drivers in the long run as a part of an expanded 30-car grid. With Ueno and his team having to begin from scratch after Theo Pourchaire moved to IndyCar, that goal now looks like a pipe dream.
It is the COVID pandemic and subsequent travel restrictions in Japan which have caused the present decline in international participation in Super Formula. For the 2021-2022 season, the championship featured almost a 3rd of the sector, with players from overseas all the way down to just two full-time players.
This trend began to reverse last yr when current driver Giuliano Alesi was joined by Red Bull juniors Liam Lawson, Raoul Hyman and Cem Bolukbasi, but all 4 either left the championship of their very own accord or were unable to seek out a spot on the grid for the 2024 season. consequently, rookie Pourchaire was the one non-Japanese driver in the beginning of the season.
This wasn't all that bad considering the Frenchman was arriving because the reigning Formula 2 champion and had something to prove in Japan. Ultimately, nonetheless, Pourchaire's Super Formula campaign lasted just one weekend, as a surprise call-up to IndyCar from Arrow McLaren prompted him to part ways with Team Impul and move to North America.
Pourchaire spent only one weekend in Super Formula before deciding to begin in IndyCar
Photo: Masahide Kamio
Even after his sudden blow from McLaren's Arrow last week, each Pourchaire and his Sauber supporter remain keen to seek out a brand new home in IndyCar slightly than return to Japan, showing that Super Formula just isn’t as attractive a proposition as its American rival .
In Impul’s favour, he initially signed one other international driver – and a really high-class one at that – to switch Pourchaire in Lexus works ace Ben Barnicoat at Autopolis, but with the Briton having ongoing commitments within the IMSA SportsCar Championship, he was at all times intended to be a one-off alternative for Pourchaire slightly than a everlasting alternative.
Even now, Impul is yet to make your mind up who will take the seat within the #19 SF-23 automotive after Hibiki Taira joined the team on an analogous one-round basis at Sugo, nevertheless it is probably going that a homegrown driver might be called upon again. So why does Super Formula don’t have any foreign drivers on the grid after three rounds of the 2024 season?
The series went from hosting races that were almost so long as a full Grand Prix to 180-kilometer, no-fuel sprints within the wake of the pandemic. Additionally, downforce has been lowered to enhance performance
This is actually not as a consequence of an absence of effort on the a part of stakeholders. JRP is working hard to extend the international appeal of the series and goals to extend the participation of drivers from abroad, especially from Asia. Both Super Formula and Suzuka Circuit also remain concerned with hosting a race under the Japanese Grand Prix Support Act within the near future, which is able to actually put the series within the international highlight.
Honda, actively involved as an engine manufacturer, also ran a scholarship program within the U.S. that provided a $600,000 budget for a Super Formula campaign for the winner of the Formula Regional Americas. However, Hyman was the one driver to take up the offer for the reason that program began almost 4 years ago, and it seems that Honda has dropped the scholarship, partly since the Tokyo brand was replaced by Ligier as the only engine supplier to the U.S. series.
Given these issues, it becomes clear that the true reasons for Japan’s international driver shortage run deeper. It may very well be argued that Super Formula isn’t as strong a proposition for a younger driver hoping to make it to F1 because it was when the likes of Stoffel Vandoorne and Pierre Gasly joined the grid in 2016-17 and sparked a renaissance in Japan.
The series featured races lasting almost so long as a Grand Prix, and post-pandemic 180km sprints without refuelling, and reduced downforce to enhance the spectacle, which in fact had a negative impact on lap times. For example, Sena Sakaguchi’s pole position on the SF23 circuit in March’s Super Formula round at Suzuka was 7.5s slower than the time with which Red Bull F1 driver Max Verstappen won qualifying for the Japanese GP in April.
Furthermore, three of the highest five drivers in the general standings from last yr is not going to be on the grid in 2024. Toyota-backed Ritomo Miyata and Ryo Hirakawa are among the many exiles.
Gasly got here through Super Formula on his technique to F1, and Felix Rosenvist used it as a springboard to IndyCar, but attracting international talent is proving difficult for the promoter today
Photo: Masahide Kamio
But even then, the SF23 stays the fastest automotive outside F1, while Super Formula as a championship remains to be one of the competitive on the earth. So there should be other aspects behind the show's inability to draw international drivers.
One factor that’s clearly playing a giant role is the price of entry into the series. Some teams in Japan are increasingly counting on driver income to run a Super Formula campaign. Whereas previously only teams on the lower end of the grid required drivers to contribute a budget, now a bigger a part of the grid is trying to drivers paying to maintain their funds afloat. Super Formula budgets are still a fraction of those in F2, and even the highest teams on the lower end of Formula 3, nevertheless it remains to be a giant commitment for drivers with out a wealthy background.
It also marks a serious change within the Japanese motorsports landscape, as Super Formula and its forerunners previously offered aspiring drivers the possibility to change into skilled racing drivers and pocket big paychecks. That's to not say that teams on the back end of the grid don't provide drivers with high wages, either directly or through Honda and Toyota, however the series is not any longer as lucrative for foreign drivers because it was in its heyday.
It also needs to be remembered that many international drivers once lived in Japan and spent their entire careers competing in Super Formula and Super GT under factory contracts. However, over time, most of them focused solely on Super GT, leaving Super Formula with limited gaijin involvement.
This yr’s Super GT field, for instance, includes quite a lot of foreign drivers within the GT500 and GT300 classes, including Ronnie Quintarelli and Joao Paulo de Oliveira, who’ve long since left their home countries for everlasting residence in Japan. But de Oliveira last competed commonly in Super Formula in 2016, while Quintarelli’s last season was in 2008, a yr before Loic Duval, Benoit Treluyer and Andre Lotterer took the highest three places within the standings.
There are many the explanation why the likes of Quintarelli, de Oliveira and others not race in Japan’s premier single-seater series. Results are undoubtedly an element, especially for drivers of their 30s and 40s, but manufacturer involvement also plays a giant part.
While Honda, Toyota and Nissan have full factory teams within the GT500 Super GT class, their involvement in Super Formula is far smaller by comparison. With budgets growing, it’s becoming harder for Honda, Toyota and particularly Nissan to seek out space for all their factory drivers in Super Formula, especially as some teams are turning to paid drivers.
In Super GT competitions, where the manufacturer's budget plays an even bigger role, international talents resembling Bertrand Baguette still appear often
Photo: Masahide Kamio
Then there's the query of Super Formula's sheer popularity. While the series could also be well-known to those that follow Formula 1, and is actually viewed with great respect by outsiders, the truth is that it just isn’t as famous as its sister variant run by GTA. In fact, despite all of JRP's efforts, Super Formula remains to be scuffling with the repercussions of the pandemic and has yet to attain its 2019 results. Many small tracks still struggle to draw greater than 10,000 fans through the gates on race days.
Super GT, with all its manufacturers, is on one other level. Not only are the attendance figures significantly better on the lower level, but its flagship event Fuji Golden Week drew 53,900 spectators on race day this yr.
Ultimately, though, the recognition of Super Formula and Super GT go hand in hand. While it’s necessary that more rising stars take up the Dallara-built SF23 trade and use it as a springboard to land some place else, more must be done to make Super Formula (and Super GT) a long-term destination for foreign drivers. Only then will JRP have the opportunity to avoid a repeat of the situation that occurred after Pourchaire’s abrupt departure from the series.
Can a promoter increase the attractiveness of Super Formula within the eyes of international drivers?
With the news that the FIA has updated its Appendix L of the International Sporting Code to make superlicence requirements for drivers under 18 years of age more flexible, the superlicence points system has once more come under query. I agree that a framework must be established to manage who can drive and when. However, the present system is imperfect, and this latest update goes some approach to acknowledging that.
The current system was introduced in 2016 to forestall a repeat of the ‘Max Verstappen scenario’ – in other words, a 17-year-old with only one season of motor racing under his belt went straight into Formula 1. But that ‘solution’ didn’t see the entire picture.
Max has been driving since he was three and has been karting competitively for 10 years or more. Under current rules, he would only gain 20 Super Licence points – for ending third within the FIA Formula 3 European Championship – and would obviously be too young for F1.
All he needed to do was race one other 12 months in F3, finish in the highest three again, and he would have been there. What was the perfect preparation for F1 for him: one other 12 months in F3 or a 12 months in F1 with a small team?
The Superlicence points system was created to encourage drivers to enter the total junior racing ladder – to realize experience, prove themselves and forestall drivers with money from buying seats in F1. These ‘paid drivers’, while not necessarily the fastest on the earth, have all the time provided much-needed funding to maintain the smaller teams alive, so that they have been essential.
However, those days are gone as F1 teams at the moment are sufficiently funded and subsequently the main focus has shifted towards hiring the fastest drivers. I say “gone,” but there are still just a few anomalies while you consider the needs of rich team owners and/or sponsors that allow just a few barely less capable drivers to seek out their way.
The current rules were introduced in 2014 to forestall other drivers from emulating Verstappen by skipping GP2
A driver who has won a Super License qualifying championship but still not received his full allocation of Super License points is Briton Jamie Chadwick, who won three consecutive seasons of the now defunct W Series. However, for the reason that path to F1 was still almost inconceivable for her, she was forced to go across the Atlantic to proceed her profession within the States.
She’s now on the Road to Indy show, competing within the Indy NXT Championship, and dominated the ultimate round at Road America, converting pole position into victory, the primary woman in history to accomplish that. It definitely can’t be out of the realm of possibility that she’ll be racing in IndyAutomotive next 12 months.
After all, there aren’t any barriers to entry for her from a licensing standpoint; is supported by an incredible partner, DHL, and the knowledge that motorsports is attracting an increasing variety of female spectators is rapidly accelerating sponsorship and marketing activities.
What are the probabilities of a female driver moving into F1? With the present super license points system, that's a few years and hundreds of thousands of dollars
DHL isn’t the one company to become involved. Beauty brands elf and Charlotte Tilbury are launching major support for Katherine Legge on the Indy 500 and Lola Lovinfosse on the F1 Academy respectively, and other brands are sure to follow suit.
Chadwick is among the finest female drivers on the earth, but she's not the primary woman with real skill. We at Carlin had the pleasure of testing Danica Patrick in our British F3 automobile in 2001, as she made the brave decision to go away the comfort of her hometown within the USA and take a look at her luck within the UK to proceed her profession in the recent house that was British Formula Ford.
While her results were mixed – she got here second within the 2000 Formula Ford Festival – they were adequate to catch the attention of Bobby Rahal, then team principal of Jaguar Racing (now Red Bull Racing). Ultimately, Rahal couldn’t support her as she climbed the F1 ladder, but he could and did help her find her way back to the US, namely IndyAutomotive, and he or she went on to set latest records for a girl in skilled racing by winning an IndyAutomotive race at Motegi in 2008.
Twenty years passed between Patrick's first steps towards success within the United States and Chadwick's excellent performances in the identical country. This delay shouldn’t be as a consequence of lack of talent or insufficient physical fitness, as is often claimed.
Chadwick has established herself as an Indy NXT winner and is a viable candidate for an IndyAutomotive spot in 2025
Photo: James Black
It’s more a consequence of the low number of ladies moving into racing in the primary place. This has been recognised by Susie Wolff, whose F1 Academy is flourishing, and the further excellent news is that the Girls on Track initiative within the UK can have long-term advantages by enabling more women to get into racing.
So what are the probabilities of a female driver making it to F1? With the present superlicence points system, it’s a matter of years and hundreds of thousands of dollars. But due to the F1 Academy and Girls on Track, the door is now a minimum of barely ajar.
In just a few years, the FIA could give special permission to award an excellent license to a reliable woman who could a minimum of make her first few Formula 1 flights and thus turn into a task model for women who wish to race at the best level.
F1 Academy has succeeded in getting F1 teams to support talented female drivers, but next steps unclear
The 20-year-old Briton performed as he did on Saturday, once more leading all 35 laps and winning by 4.3962 seconds on the two.238-mile, 11-turn natural terrain course. Thanks to the victory and an error by rival Jacob Abel, Foster now takes the lead within the championship by 35 points.
“Like I said yesterday, Andretti gave me an amazing car, I just do my thing,” Foster said.
“It was an excellent weekend. Sunny California skies, you couldn't ask for anything more. I'm very blissful about it. We worked really hard to be here, so I'm really blissful that it's paying off now.
HMD Motorsports rookie Caio Collet finished second ahead of Andretti Global rookie Bryce Aron in third.
Yuven Sundaramoorthy finished fourth, taking twenty second place for Abel Motorsports, the identical position he finished in the primary race.
Andretti Cape’s Salvador de Alba Jr began from eleventh on the grid to complete fifth, while pseudo-teammate Jamie Chadwick passed essentially the most cars in her Andretti Global machine to maneuver up from 14th to sixth.
Race
Having almost made a repeat start within the opening race, Collet tried to pass Foster on the surface going into Turn 2. Foster successfully defended the lead, but Collet was in a position to stay close within the short term.
After five laps, Foster had gained a lead of 1.4467 seconds over Collett, with Gold and Abel in third and fourth place respectively.
The order of favourites remained unchanged, with Foster increasing his lead by over 3 seconds on lap 15.
However, contact between HMD Motorsports teammates Callum Hedge and Christian Brooks during his debut weekend in Indy NXT resulted in a caution on lap 16 after the pair collided in a battle for tenth place at Turn 2. Brooks continued on but Hedge stalled in the course of the Andretti hairpin.
When the race resumed on lap 17, Foster made a clean jump and cleared the sphere. Over the subsequent 4 laps he gained a bonus of 1.5513 seconds.
With lower than 10 laps remaining, Foster had a 2.7-second advantage over Collet, while Gold was in third position, 12.3 seconds behind.
The final podium step modified hands with eight laps remaining when Gold and Abel met within the Corkscrew, causing suspension damage to Gold's No. 10 HMD Motorsports automobile, resulting in a premature retirement. Meanwhile, momentum pushed Abel off beam and allowed Andretti Global's Bryce Aron to pass them each for third place.
Abel was given a drive-through penalty by race control for unavoidable contact. He finished eleventh.
Foster’s advantage was 3.3 seconds with five laps to go, with the tightest battle for sixth place between Andretti Global’s Jamie Chadwick, HMD Motorsports/Force Indy’s Myles Rowe and Brooks.
Rowe's probabilities of staying within the fight diminished with three laps to go and he dropped to sixteenth.
Foster sailed to the checkered flag to scrub up the weekend, while Collet finished second in each races.
Hyundai's Ott Tanak took the lead in Rally Poland, overtaking his teammate and World Rally Championship general classification leader Thierry Neuville in the primary stage of the race on Thursday evening.
Poland's return to the WRC for the primary time since 2017 began with a run across the adjoining Mikołajki Arena spectator stage in front of a packed audience.
Tanak faced Adrien Fourmaux from M-Sport in a direct duel, beating the Frenchman by 1.9 seconds. The time was so good that he won the stage with a bonus of 1 second over Neuville, who beat Elfyn Evans from Toyota by 0.3 p.
“I like these roads, but they are not easy at all, everything has to be in place,” said Tanak at the top of the stage, looking forward to Friday's race. “You have to have complete trust in everything around you so that we can find out how we feel tomorrow.”
Evans set the third fastest time, 0.3 seconds faster than his Toyota teammate Takamoto Katsuta.
Andreas Mikkelsen, starting for the third time within the season within the third Hyundai i20 N, finished the stage in fifth place [+1.8s] after defeating current world champion Kalle Rovanpera.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo: Toyota Racing
Fourmaux finished sixth [+1.9s] before Rovanpera [+2.1s]after being called up on the last minute to exchange Toyota team-mate Sebastien Ogier, who was forced to withdraw from the event following a road accident during a site survey on Tuesday.
Rovanpera, who only accomplished his reconnaissance of the competition today, believes it’s unimaginable to fight for victory after his hasty and limited preparations for the competition.
“I don’t think we can win, at least not in a sensible or safe way,” Rovanpera said. “It’s super annoying while you come here just to complete well, but while you go, it’s shit for those who don’t attempt to win.
“I'm not attempting to win this time, there's no point, we're late for every thing and tonight will likely be a really long evening [preparing for tomorrow’s stages]”So it won't be easy.”
M-Sport's Gregoire Munster was furious at the top of the stage after his Ford Puma had its windscreen damaged by gravel kicked up during his qualifier against Katsuta.
“When they [organisers] they said they would drain the water [on the gravel] they should do it properly because it's way too dry,” he said. “My windshield isn't completely damaged, but if there's an impact tomorrow, it'll be worse. It's stupid.”
Grégoire Munster, Louis Louka, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo: M-Sport
Martins Sesks beat WRC2 runner Oliver Solberg to finish the Rally1 field on his class debut in a non-hybrid Ford Puma M-Sport.
Solberg won the WRC2 class despite losing outright wherein his Skoda's windscreen was also damaged by airborne gravel. Solberg was 1.6 seconds faster than his nearest WRC2 rival and Citroen driver Nikolay Gryazin, while Skoda's Gus Greensmith was third, 0.1 seconds behind Gryazin.
On Friday, the crews will face six gravel stages divided by a tire fitting zone.
BMW has no plans to make use of evo jokers in its LMDh automobile before the tip of the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship seasons, says motorsport boss Andreas Roos.
The BMW M8 Hybrid V8 is currently in its second 12 months of operation after debuting on the 24 Hours of Daytona in January 2023 alongside other LMDh competitors reminiscent of Cadillac, Acura and Porsche.
However, the Dallara LMP2 rider has only had limited success in IMSA thus far, with last 12 months's Watkins Glen round being the one event where he claimed victory in the brand new GTP class.
Meanwhile, the Bavarian marque’s WEC program with WRT continues to be in its infancy and has expanded into the world championship in early 2024 after putting all its resources into an IMSA project with Rahal Letterman Lanigan last 12 months.
All manufacturers are allowed to make use of a maximum of 5 development jokers over the lifetime of an LMDh or LMH automobile, which may be used to update performance as equipment changes.
Peugeot became the primary manufacturer to make the most of the system and introduced an updated version of the 9X8 LMH at Imola in April, while Porsche also got here near upgrading the engine of its 963, which might “probably” count as certainly one of its jokers.
However, speaking ahead of this month's 24 Hours of Le Mans, where no BMW was classified, Roos made it clear that the M Hybrid V8 would survive the season in its current specification.
When asked if there are plans to take the joker in 2024, he replied: “No, not in the mean time.
Andreas Roos, Head of BMW Motorsport M
Photo: BMW
“We are definitely exploring and seeing where we could improve or where you think that we could improve.
“But there's nothing happening right away to point that we’d like a joker for this or that.
“We will certainly check now, especially with our first 24-hour race behind us, if there are areas where we feel we’d like to do something.
“But overall I still think the cars are pretty close together.”
Roos also believes that introducing regular improvements could make it harder for regulators to develop an accurate balance of performance system since it relies on course data to equalise the speeds of various cars.
“There is a BoP behind which should be able to bring the cars even closer together and this approach should require rebalancing the field,” he said.
“If everyone seems to be going to make use of jokers and develop the automobile, then to begin with it’s an expensive thing and it also makes it difficult to get the BoP in the appropriate window again because you then start all all over again.
“We all also see in other championships that so long as the cars and every little thing are reasonably stable, it's much easier to bring the cars in and get them in the identical window.
“So we clearly need to look at whether there are topics where we can say, 'OK, this is a topic you really need to look at and maybe use a joke,' or whether there are other ways, let's say, to even it out.”
#24 BMW RLL Team BMW M Hybrid V8: Jesse Krohn, Philipp Eng
Pressed further on whether there could be any Joker improvements by the tip of the 12 months, he said: “No, nothing is planned at the moment.”
Roos has previously spoken about the opportunity of BMW introducing a 3rd automobile at next 12 months's Le Mans race, with the extra entry more likely to be handled by its IMSA partner RLL.
Porsche and Cadillac have already used their North American crews to field three cars at Le Mans in 2023 and 2024, giving them a numerical advantage over rival manufacturers.
Roos still believes in the advantages of a wider presence in La Sarthe, but reiterated that it must make sense from an operational viewpoint.
“I've at all times said it's nice to have three cars at Le Mans because I've often said prior to now that one automobile has technical problems, the second has a crash and the third wins. But we’ve to see it,” he said.
“It's at all times nice to have more cars on the grid, but it surely also needs to be completely consistent by way of the best way we drive.
“It's not just about getting the car on the grid if we want to do that and if we want to have a competitive third car on the grid.”
Following last Friday's announcement of a multi-year media rights extension between NBC Sports and IMSA, either side have now confirmed five events that might be broadcast on the NBC Network in 2025.
Coverage will begin with the 24 Hours of Daytona on January 25-26, 2025, followed by a two-hour and 40-minute race at Laguna Seca on May 11.
To align with the network window, the Six Hours of The Glen date has been modified to June 22, a move from one weekend sooner than the unique 2025 IMSA schedule announcement revealed in March.
The Battle of the Clays on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway continues in coverage with a September twenty first date set and the conclusion of Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on October eleventh.
As announced last week, starting in 2025, NBC's total programming will increase to 17 hours, a rise of just about 50 percent over 2024 and former seasons.
#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr
NBC Sports' IMSA viewership has increased 37% over the past five years because it acquired media rights ahead of the 2019 season.
The 2023 IMSA season was NBC Sports' most-watched season thus far (since 2019), driving a 13% year-over-year increase in viewership for coverage on NBC and USA Network. Additionally, this 12 months's IMSA coverage on Peacock saw a rise in total streaming minutes of roughly 60% in comparison with last 12 months.
“As we expected, the response from fans and the industry to the announcement of our extended partnership with NBC Sports was overwhelmingly positive,” said IMSA President John Doonan.
“The addition of more hours on the NBC network has been particularly well received, and we’re pleased to follow this news by confirming which races our fans will give you the chance to search out on NBC in 2025.
“We are grateful to NBC Sports for these expanded opportunities, and to our colleagues at Watkins Glen International for the date flexibility that allowed us to adjust this television window to a week earlier than we originally announced.”
In addition to race coverage, the NBC network can even broadcast hour-long season previews and weekend programs preparing for the championship.
The exact dates for these programs, in addition to the times at which NBC Sports will cover next 12 months's IMSA SportsAutomotive Championship schedule – which also includes coverage on Peacock and USA Network – might be announced at a later date.
The Super Formula round that took place last weekend on the Sugo track was the primary in almost 50 years by which no international team took part. All 20 drivers who lined up initially, in addition to Naoki Yamamoto, who couldn’t start because of an accident in the course of the warm-up, were of Japanese nationality.
Super Formula/Formula Nippon and its forerunners All-Japan Formula 3000 and All-Japan Formula 2 have had many ups and downs over the past fifty years, but there has all the time been an influx of “gaijin” – championship placing drivers within the country's premier singles event. So the incontrovertible fact that the Sugo race was run with an all-Japanese lineup was simply a travesty for promoter JRP.
Only last 12 months, CEO Yoshihisa Ueno spoke of 10 foreign drivers in the longer term as a part of an expanded 30-car grid. With Ueno and his team having to start out from scratch after Theo Pourchaire moved to IndyCar, that goal now looks as if a pipe dream.
It is the COVID pandemic and subsequent travel restrictions in Japan which have triggered the present decline in international participation in Super Formula. The championship has gone from almost one-third of the sphere consisting of foreign drivers to only two everlasting competitors for the 2021-22 season.
The trend began to reverse last 12 months when Red Bull junior Liam Lawson, Raoul Hyman and Cem Bolukbasi joined incumbent Giuliano Alesi, but all 4 either left the championship of their very own accord or were unable to search out a spot on the grid for 2024, leaving newcomer Pourchaire because the only non-Japanese driver in the beginning of the season.
This wasn't all that bad considering the Frenchman was arriving because the reigning Formula 2 champion and had something to prove in Japan. Ultimately, nevertheless, Pourchaire's Super Formula campaign lasted just one weekend, as a surprise call-up to IndyCar from Arrow McLaren prompted him to part ways with Team Impul and move to North America.
Pourchaire only spent one weekend in Super Formula before deciding to take up the IndyCar stick
Photo: Masahide Kamio
Even after his sudden blow from McLaren's Arrow last week, each Pourchaire and his Sauber supporter remain keen to search out a brand new home in IndyCar reasonably than return to Japan, showing that Super Formula isn’t as attractive a proposition as its American rival .
It should be admitted that Impul initially signed one other international driver – and a really high caliber one at that – to switch Pourchaire in the shape of Lexus factory ace, Ben Barnicoat at Autopolis. However, because of the Briton's firm commitment to the IMSA SportsCar Championship, he was all the time intended to be a one-off alternative for Pourchaire, reasonably than a full-time alternative.
Even now, Impul is yet to make a call on who will take the No. 19 seat within the SF-23 after Hibiki Taira joined the team in the same situation for one round at Sugo, however it is probably going that a homegrown driver might be called upon again. So why are there no foreign drivers in Super Formula for 3 rounds of the 2024 season?
The series went from hosting races that were almost so long as a full Grand Prix to 180-kilometre, non-refuelled sprints within the wake of the pandemic, with downforce also being reduced to enhance the spectacle
This is definitely not because of a scarcity of effort on the a part of stakeholders. JRP is working hard to extend the international appeal of the series and goals to extend the participation of drivers from abroad, especially from Asia. Both Super Formula and Suzuka Circuit are also concerned with hosting a race on the companion bill to the Japanese Grand Prix within the near future, which is able to definitely thrust the series into the international highlight.
Actively involved as an engine manufacturer, Honda also ran a scholarship program within the US that provided a $600,000 budget for the Super Formula campaign to the winner of Formula Regional Americas. However, Hyman was the one driver to just accept the offer because the program began almost 4 years ago, and Honda appears to have abandoned the stipend, partially because Ligier replaced the Tokyo-based brand as the only real engine supplier to the American series.
Taking these issues into consideration, it becomes clear that the true causes of Japan's international driver shortage go deeper. It could possibly be argued that Super Formula isn’t as strong an option for a younger driver hoping to make it to F1 because it was when the likes of Stoffel Vandoorne and Pierre Gasly joined the grid in 2016-17 and sparked a resurgence in Japan.
The series included races lasting almost so long as your entire Grand Prix, and after the pandemic, 180 km sprints without refueling. In addition, downforce was reduced to enhance the spectacle, which after all had a negative impact on lap times. For example, Sena Sakaguchi's pole position on the SF23 circuit in March's Super Formula round at Suzuka was 7.5 seconds slower than Red Bull F1 driver Max Verstappen's winning time in April's qualifying for the Japanese GP.
What's more, three of the highest five drivers in last 12 months's rankings aren’t any longer on the grid for 2024, with Toyota-backed Ritomo Miyata and Ryo Hirakawa joining Lawson on the exile list.
Gasly got here through Super Formula on his option to F1, while Felix Roseqnvist used it as a stepping stone to IndyCar, but attracting international talent today is proving difficult for the promoter
Photo: Masahide Kamio
But even then, the SF23 stays the fastest automotive outside F1, while Super Formula as a championship remains to be one of the vital competitive on the planet. So there should be other aspects behind the show's inability to draw international drivers.
One factor that clearly plays an enormous role is the price of entry into the series. Some teams in Japan are increasingly counting on driver revenues to organize their Super Formula campaigns. Whereas previously only firms at the underside of the grid required drivers to have a budget, much of the grid now seeks paying drivers to assist support their funds. Budgets in Super Formula are still a fraction of those in F2, and even the highest teams at lower levels in Formula 3, however it remains to be an enormous challenge for drivers and not using a wealthy background.
It also marks a significant change within the Japanese motorsports landscape, as Super Formula and its forerunners previously offered aspiring drivers the possibility to grow to be skilled racing drivers and pocket big paychecks. That's to not say that teams on the back end of the grid don't provide drivers with high wages, either directly or through Honda and Toyota, however the series isn’t any longer as lucrative for foreign drivers because it was in its heyday.
It must also not be forgotten that many international drivers made Japan their home and spent their lives competing in Super Formula and Super GT under factory contracts. However, over time, most of them focused entirely on Super GT, leaving Super Formula with limited gaijin participation.
For example, this 12 months's Super GT grid features numerous foreign drivers in each the GT500 and GT300 classes, including the likes of Ronnie Quintarelli and Joao Paulo de Oliveira, who way back left their home countries and relocated permanently to Japan. However, de Oliveira last began recurrently in Super Formula in 2016, while Quintarelli's last season was in 2008, a 12 months before Loic Duval, Benoit Treluyer and Andre Lotterer rounded out the highest three within the standings.
There are many the explanation why the likes of Quintarelli, de Oliveira and others now not race in Japan's premier single-seater series. Performance is undoubtedly a very important factor, especially for drivers of their 30s and 40s, but manufacturer commitment also plays an enormous role.
Although Honda, Toyota and Nissan have full factory teams within the GT500 Super GT class, their involvement in Super Formula is way smaller as compared. Faced with rising budgets, it's harder for Honda, Toyota and particularly Nissan to search out a spot for all their factory drivers in Super Formula, especially as some teams lean toward paid drivers.
International talent, including Bertrand Baguette, remains to be common in Super GT, where manufacturer budgets are more vital
Photo: Masahide Kamio
Then there's the query of Super Formula's sheer popularity. While the series could also be well-known to those that follow Formula 1, and is definitely viewed with great respect by outsiders, the fact is that it isn’t as famous as its sister variant run by GTA. In fact, despite all of JRP's efforts, Super Formula remains to be combating the repercussions of the pandemic and has yet to attain its 2019 results. Many small tracks still struggle to draw greater than 10,000 fans through the gates on race days.
Super GT, with all the facility of its manufacturer, is on a complete other level. Not only are the attendance figures for the lower half of the race a lot better, however the flagship Golden Week event in Fuji drew 53,900 spectators on race day this 12 months.
Ultimately, nevertheless, the recognition of Super Formula and Super GT goes hand in hand. While it's vital that more rising stars take up the Dallara-built SF23 trade and use it as a springboard to land elsewhere, more must be done to make Super Formula (and Super GT) a long-term destination for foreign drivers. Only then will JRP have the opportunity to avoid a repeat of the situation that occurred after Pourchaire's sudden departure from the series.
Can the promoter increase the attractiveness of Super Formula within the eyes of international drivers?
Gran Turismo's Predict the Winners campaign returns for the 2024 World Series 29
Viewers tuning in to Gran Turismo World Series live streams in 2024 can have the chance to win in-game prizes for the third yr in a row, starting with next month’s event in Montreal.
The special promotion will return in a well-known format, bringing each the “Taxes to Viewers” campaign and the “Pick the Winners” campaign to the Montreal event in what appears to be a repeat of the 2023 version.
This implies that when you participated in last yr's campaigns, you need to know what to anticipate from two different promotions, one in all which is barely more involved than the opposite.
We're pretty sure you'll have the opportunity to guess what the Predict the Winners contest is anyway. You can have to make use of your prediction skills and guess which driver will win in each of two competitions: the Nations Cup and the Manufacturers' Cup.
In each case, there are 12 drivers to select from, including the 12 best competitors from world wide qualified for the Nations Cup and (with one exception as a consequence of visa issues) the very best competitors from the Americas for the highest 12 brands within the Manufacturers' Cup.
To make a selection, go to a special tab on the web site Gran Turismo 7 and choose a driver from each event. However, you don't need to do that immediately, as you’ll be able to make your selection as much as the beginning of the last race in each event. These shall be the 30-lap Interlagos race in Gr.3 cars for manufacturers and the 35-lap Road Atlanta race in 2019 X cars for nations, so select correctly.
For each correct selection, you’ll receive 1,000,000 cr, which shall be given as a present ticket to your in-game garage on Monday, July 8. This implies that a maximum of two,000,000 cr shall be available in Montreal – and we assume that similar promotions will proceed into Prague, Tokyo and the ultimate.
Gran Turismo's Predict the Winners campaign returns for the 2024 World Series 30
Additionally, rewards can be found for simply joining the event via an in-game tile as a part of the Viewer Gifts campaign. To do that, simply click “Watch the broadcast” in a special section Gran Turismo 7 and – no matter whether you watch any of them or not – you’ll receive rewards.
In fact, you'll have a bit more time to accomplish that, as anyone who clicks on it any time before 00:59 UTC on Tuesday, July 16 will receive the rewards. However, only players who watch the event before July 8 will receive rewards on the Monday after the event; those that watch later can have to attend longer.
Those who watch the Manufacturers' Cup broadcast will receive a rare and worthwhile Six Star Roulette (Car) ticket, while a daily Six Star Roulette ticket can also be available to observe the Nations Cup broadcast.
Live broadcasts from Montreal begin at 21:00 UTC and 23:30 UTC on Saturday, July 6, respectively.
Aston Martin is to construct a road-legal version of its Valor sports automotive – the Valiant – to the non-public order of its Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso.
Aston will produce 38 Valiants, which can feature a front-engined, 745-hp 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12.
The automotive also features hubcaps inspired by those used on Aston's 'Muncher' which raced disastrously on the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The automotive is produced by Aston's 'Q' production division, which allows potential owners to individually style the looks of their cars.
“The Valor was a spectacular celebration of Aston Martin's 110th anniversary and inspired me to create a more extreme, race car-inspired version that focuses on the track while still providing a thrilling drive on the road,” Alonso said in Aston's official press release.
“Valiant was born from my passion for driving to the limits. It was a pleasure to work closely with the Q by Aston Martin team on both the design and technical specifications and I believe we have created a masterpiece.”
Aston's press release also stated that the Valiant “continues a robust line of Aston Martins that deliver true driving intensity on each road and track, with the last word hypercar, the Valkyrie, the brand's most focused sports automotive, the Vantage and its speed sibling , the Vantage GT3 race automotive and, in fact, the upcoming mid-engine supercar, Valhalla.”
The Valkyrie, co-designed by Adrian Newey and now set to unveil its accomplished RB17 hypercar before leaving Red Bull, will probably be entered by Aston within the World Endurance Championship from 2025.
Aston's decision to supply the Valiant follows Alpine's construct of a track-specific version of the Alpine A110 R, dubbed the 'Alpine A110 R Fernando Alonso'.
Aston Martin Valiant
Photo: Aston Martin
In October 2022, Alpine revealed it was continuing work on producing 32 versions of the automotive – a number chosen to reflect Alonso's total Grand Prix victories up to now – after the two-time F1 world champion had already decided to depart the Renault-owned manufacturer will join Aston in 2023.
He recently signed a brand new deal to race in F1 with the green team beyond 2025, which included an as yet unspecified off-track role that Alonso described as a “lifelong project” with the manufacturer.
“The Valiant is a modern masterpiece,” said Marco Mattiacci, Alonso's temporary boss on the Ferrari F1 team in 2014 and now global brand director and chief business officer of Aston Martin Lagonda.
“The creation of the Q by Aston Martin, inspired by a racing legend and designed using the newest F1-inspired technology, exotic materials and obsessive weight reduction.
“The focus is on providing the driving force with a very unique, intense and exciting driving experience.
“The ultimate blend of performance, track-focused dynamics and hypercar intensity, the Valiant embodies Aston Martin's resolute commitment to creating rare and extraordinary cars for real drivers.”
