Al-Rajhi leads Tabuk-NEOM rally after qualifiers

The competitors line up before the Tabuk-NEOM rally. (SAMF)

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Updated 19 May 2023

Arab News

May 19, 2023 11:01

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Al-Rajhi leads Tabuk-NEOM rally after qualifiers

Race action in car, motorcycle and quad categories gets underway with a 205km selective section on Friday morning

Updated 19 May 2023

Arab News

May 19, 2023 11:01

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TABUK: Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Sultan Al-Balooshi and Haitham Al-Tuwaijri set the quickest times in the car, motorcycle and quad categories in front of huge crowds on the Qualifying Stage, held on the outskirts of Tabuk, that kickstarted the weekend’s action in the first Tabuk-Neom Rally on Thursday afternoon.

Al-Rajhi and German co-driver Timo Gottschalk stopped the clocks in 2 min 42 sec to win the 3.5km stage by 43 seconds in their Toyota Hilux. National championship contenders Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh and Khalid Al-Feraihi were second and third.

Khalid Al-Jafla topped the times in the T2 category for lightweight prototype cross-country vehicles, and Maha Al-Hameli won the stage in T4.

The motorcycle times were then multiplied by a coefficient, and quad category winner Haitham Al-Tuwaijri topped the overall stage times on his Yamaha Raptor, with Emirati Sultan Al-Balooshi winning the stage on two wheels from Mishal Al-Ghuneim and his brother Mohammed (Al-Balooshi).

Ibrahim Al-Muhanna was the only starter in the T5 category in his Mercedes truck.

After technical scrutineering and administration checks for the second round of the Saudi Toyota Rally Championship, 23 cars, 12 motorcycles and three quads were permitted to start the event. The car section was broken down to one T1+ machine for Al-Rajhi, seven T1 machines, six in T2, four Can-Ams in each of the T3 and T4 categories and a T5 truck.

Al-Rajhi was joined by Saudi Toyota Rally Championship leader Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh, Khalid Al-Hamzani, Ahmed Al-Shegawi, Saleh Al-Saif, Dania Akeel, Maha Al-Hameli, Ibrahim Al-Muhanna, riders Mishal Al-Ghuneim and Mohammed Al-Balooshi and SAMF officials at the pre-event press conference earlier in the afternoon.

Crews tackled the Qualifying Stage at the start of a challenging route laid on by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, which is run under the chairmanship of Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal.

The event is being held in conjunction with the ministry of sport and in partnership with official sponsor Abdul Latif Jameel Motors and strategic sponsor Saudi Investment Bank.

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Topics: Motorsport

Max Gunther makes motorsport history with Formula E win in Indonesia

Updated 05 June 2023

Arab News

June 05, 2023 10:34

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Max Gunther makes motorsport history with Formula E win in Indonesia

German driver claims first victory for Maserati in single-seat category since 1957
Second race in the 2023 GulaVit E-Prix doubleheader sees Jake Dennis take a consecutive runner-up position

Updated 05 June 2023

Arab News

June 05, 2023 10:34

JAKARTA: Maserati MSG Racing driver Maximilian Gunther converted a second consecutive Julius Bar Pole Position into the race win in Jakarta, returning the manufacturer to the top step of the podium in single-seater motorsport for the first time since 1957.

The second race of the 2023 GulaVit Jakarta E-Prix doubleheader saw German Gunther claim his fourth win in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship and his first in the iconic blue livery of automaker Maserati.

The last time the trident was seen on the top step of a single-seater championship was in 1957 when the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio won the German Grand Prix on his way to that year’s Formula One title.

Gunther was followed home by Jake Dennis from the Avalanche Andretti team who started and finished second in both races on the competition’s return to Indonesia. Dennis is now within just one point of standings leader Pascal Wehrlein of the TAG Heuer Porsche team.

Following a dramatic first race in which he was hit by his own teammate, leaving the Jaguar TCS Racing team pointless on the day, Mitch Evans recovered superbly to produce a classy defensive drive and round out the podium places in third.

Envision Racing’s Nick Cassidy lost his championship lead to the previous day’s race winner Wehrlein — who finished sixth — after an ill-judged overtake led to contact and a point-less day. Cassidy now trails Dennis by five points with six points separating the top three drivers in a tight tussle for the title.

TAG Heuer Porsche lead the way in the team standings with 212 points, pulling further clear of Envision Racing on 190, with Jaguar TCS Racing third on 171.

Just five races remain in season nine of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, with the next stop on June 24, which is a fourth debut city this campaign at the 2023 Southwire Portland E-Prix.

Gunther said: “Very proud moment, I am over the moon with this victory — already yesterday was great with another podium. We have made such good progress over the past couple of races, it is fantastic, and to take my first win here in Jakarta is outstanding. I am just so happy.

“In Formula E you always need to keep your feet on the ground, like life in general,” he added. “It can change so quickly, I am just really enjoying this moment here, I know there will be tracks that suit us more, there will be tracks that suit us less. We try to always maximize our package, that is what we have been doing the past few races. I am very proud.”

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Topics: Indonesia

Motor racing-Verstappen wins in Spain to continue Red Bull sweep

Updated 04 June 2023

Reuters

June 04, 2023 15:33

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Motor racing-Verstappen wins in Spain to continue Red Bull sweep

Updated 04 June 2023

Reuters

June 04, 2023 15:33

LONDON: Max Verstappen won the Spanish Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday to stretch his Formula One championship lead to 53 points and continue Red Bull’s sweep of the season with the team’s seventh success in as many races.
Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton was second for Mercedes, but a distant 24.090 seconds behind, with team mate George Russell completing the podium on a cloudy but dry afternoon at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s closest rival in a season that looks sure to crown the dominant Dutch 25-year-old for a third time, finished fourth after fighting back from 11th at the start.
The win was Verstappen’s fifth of the season, third in a row, third in Spain and the double world champion’s 40th in Formula One.
The man who took the first grand prix win of his career at the Spanish circuit in 2016 and also triumphed last year, secured the bonus point for fastest lap to cap a day of domination.
“It’s a big pleasure to drive with a car like this. I think it showed again today,” said Verstappen, who fended off Ferrari’s home hero Carlos Sainz at the start in the only challenge of an otherwise straightforward afternoon.
“I had the harder compound so I knew the start would be a bit tricky. Going around the outside at Turn One is always quite difficult but luckily nothing happened.”
Verstappen was also shown a black and white flag for exceeding track limits late in the race but the risk of a five second penalty was hardly going to trouble someone so far up the road from the rest.
“Well done Max, that was mega. Very well controlled, even though you went over the white lines a few times,” said team boss Christian Horner.
McLaren’s Lando Norris, who started third on the grid, suffered a broken front wing on the first lap after contact with Hamilton and had to pit, plunging down the order and finishing 17th.
The form of the Mercedes drivers, with a re-designed car after a disappointing start to the season, provided a main talking point.
Mercedes moved up to second in the championship on 152 points to runaway Red Bull’s 287 and with Aston Martin dropping to third on 134.
“Mega job guys, mega job,” said Hamilton over the radio. “Thank you so much to everyone back at the factory, continuing to push. This is a real showing for all your hard work. Let’s keep pushing.”
Russell went off into the gravel on his way to the grid, where he lined up 12th, but his car was undamaged and his pace strong.
“It definitely feels better,” he said of the car. “You are just putting in those lap times and comparing it to the guys around you — the Ferraris and Astons — and you are going quicker and quicker.”
Sainz was fifth with the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso sixth and seventh.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was eighth, Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou ninth and Pierre Gasly, who qualified fourth before a six-place grid penalty, took the final point for Renault-owned Alpine.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who started from the pitlane after a nightmare in qualifying left him on the back row, finished 11th.

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Topics: Max Verstappen Spanish Grand Prix Formula One Red Bull

Verstappen takes pole for Spanish Grand Prix

Updated 03 June 2023

AFP

June 03, 2023 18:48

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Verstappen takes pole for Spanish Grand Prix

The championship leader took his fifth pole of a season already dominated by Red Bull to start ahead of Ferrari's Spanish driver Carlos Sainz
"Not bad," said Verstappen, with his customary understatement

Updated 03 June 2023

AFP

June 03, 2023 18:48

MONTMELO, Spain: World champion Max Verstappen claimed his maiden pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix after leading qualifying Saturday on the Montmelo circuit outside Barcelona.
The championship leader took his fifth pole of a season already dominated by Red Bull to start ahead of Ferrari’s Spanish driver Carlos Sainz with Britain’s Lando Norris of McLaren in third.
“Not bad,” said Verstappen, with his customary understatement. “It’s very nice to come here and get my first pole. I like the circuit and I have a lot of good memories here.”
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton took fifth place on the grid, ahead of Canadian Lance Stroll of Aston Martin.
Local hero Fernando Alonso could only set the ninth fastest time after damaging his car when going off the track in the second qualifying period.
Frenchman Esteban Ocon of Alpine, who took third place in Monaco last weekend, will start in seventh, ahead of German Nico Huelkenberg of Haas, while Australian Oscar Piastri will complete the top 10 in a McLaren.
Qualifying was contested on a slippery track at the start of the session and it featured several big surprises.
First it was Monaco’s Charles Leclerc who was eliminated in Q1 and he will only start in 19th and penultimate place.
Then Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate, Mexican Sergio Pérez, who made a mistake and took a lap in the gravel, was taken out in Q2 and will start in 11th, ahead of Briton George Russell, who also disappointed with the other Mercedes.

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Topics: Spanish Grand Prix Max Verstappen Red Bull

Newgarden wins crash-filled 107th Indianapolis 500

Updated 29 May 2023

AFP

May 29, 2023 05:33

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Newgarden wins crash-filled 107th Indianapolis 500

The American Penske Racing driver, a two-time IndyCar series champion, won the showpiece event for the first time
American Kyle Kirkwood escaped serious injury in a crash that had his AJ Foyt Racing car skidding upside down against the wall with sparks flying

Updated 29 May 2023

AFP

May 29, 2023 05:33

LOS ANGELES: Josef Newgarden won the 107th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, diving past Marcus Ericsson in the dramatic last sprint of a race that saw heavy crashes bring out three late red flags.

The American Penske Racing driver, a two-time IndyCar series champion, won the showpiece event for the first time as he denied Ericsson a repeat. American Santino Ferrucci was third.

“Everyone kept asking me why I haven’t won this race,” an emotional Newgarden said. “They look at you like a failure if you don’t win it. I wanted to win it so bad.”

He had to survive a chaotic final 14 laps that saw the race halted three times before he finally took the checkered flag.

American Kyle Kirkwood escaped serious injury in a crash that had his AJ Foyt Racing car skidding upside down against the wall with sparks flying and brought out the red flag with 14 laps remaining.

“All I know is I was up in the fence, which is never a good thing in IndyCar,” said Kirkwood, whose on-board camera showed a remarkable in-cockpit angle on his slide.

Sweden’s Felix Rosenqvist had hit the wall and careened across the track and Kirkwood was unable to avoid contact, but, after his frightening ride, emergency workers righted the car and helped him climb out.

“Thank God these cars are so safe,” he said. “I saw sparks flying everywhere. That’s the scary part. You’re upside-down and you’re kind of stuck at that point.”

Miraculously, the tire that went flying over the catch-fencing missed the grandstand, landing in a parking lot with no reported injuries.

Shortly after the restart, Mexico’s Pato O’Ward lost control as he challenged to regain the lead and crashed into the wall. Augustin Canapino and Simon Pagenaud were caught up in the aftermath, bringing out another red flag with six laps remaining.

O’Ward had just been overtaken by Newgarden for the lead and was under Ericsson entering turn two when he spun.

“I was way too nice, I got onto the apron to give (Ericsson) room and I got squeezed,” O’Ward said. “I’ll remember that one.”

A chaotic restart saw five cars caught up in a mid-pack crash that brought out first the yellow and then the red flag.

Ericsson was in front when the caution came out, but he couldn’t hold off Newgarden after the green flag flew to set off the final shootout.

“I just thought it was a very unfair and dangerous end to the race,” Ericsson said of restarting on cold tires with just two laps remaining.

“Congratulations to Josef, he’s a worthy champion, but I’m very disappointed with the way it ended.”

Newgarden, who gave Penske a record-extending 19th Indy 500 victory, was weeping before he climbed out of his car to kiss the yard of bricks at the finish line.

“I was trying to stay locked in,” he said. “I was emotional the whole last 10 laps because I knew we were in position to fight for the win.”

The chaotic late stages were a contrast to a smooth start on the 2.5-mile (4km) oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Chip Ganassi’s Alex Palou and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay started one-two on the grid and patiently traded the lead through the first quarter of the race.

After the second round of pit stops, Felix Rosenqvist had filtered to the front ahead of Arrow McLaren teammate O’Ward and that’s where they stood when rookie Sting Ray Robb brought out the first caution of the race on lap 93 — slamming his Dale Coyne Racing car into the outside wall and sliding sideways to a stop in the middle of the track.

The caution brought the leaders swarming into the pits and VeeKay got loose pulling out of his stall, veered left and slammed into the exiting Palou — who was left to claw back from 28th place to finish fourth.

It was just one of the scary pit-lane incidents of the day, which also included Katherine Legge getting sideways as she tried to exit, a collision between Andretti teammates Colton Herta and Romain Grosjean and a tire getting loose during one of Ferrucci’s stops.

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Topics: Indianapolis 500 Josef Newgarden

Max Verstappen wins Monaco Grand Prix to extend F1 championship lead

Updated 28 May 2023

May 28, 2023 16:26

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Max Verstappen wins Monaco Grand Prix to extend F1 championship lead

Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso was a season’s best second for Aston Martin
Heavy rain played havoc with about 20 of the 78 laps left

Updated 28 May 2023

May 28, 2023 16:26

MONACO: Formula One champion Max Verstappen’s lights-to-flag victory at the Monaco Grand gave the Red Bull driver his fourth victory of the season and a record 39th overall for the team as he extended his championship lead to 39 points over teammate Sergio Perez on Sunday.
Verstappen’s wins have all been with Red Bull since his first on debut for the team at the Spanish GP in 2016 when he became the youngest F1 winner at 18 years old.
Seven years and two world championships later, the Dutchman set a team record for wins as he passed former Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel’s previous tally of 38 victories when he won four straight titles from 2010-13.
“It’s great, I never thought I’d be in this position in my career,” Verstappen said. “It’s better than I could have imagined for sure.”
Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso was a season’s best second for Aston Martin as he collected a fifth podium in six races, albeit 28 seconds behind Verstappen, while Frenchman Esteban Ocon secured third place and a rare podium for Alpine.
Red Bull has won all the races so far.
“It’s super nice to win it in the way we did today with the weather and everything to stay calm and bring it home,” Verstappen said.
For most of the race, he coasted on a dry and narrow track where overtaking is the hardest in F1.
But an incident-free race in Monaco is rare and heavy rain played havoc with about 20 of the 78 laps left. Some drivers had pitted for the wrong medium tires shortly before the downpour and slid around.
“It was incredibly slippery,” Verstappen said.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. glided sideways into the barriers and was lucky not to damage his Ferrari. Kevin Magnussen lost control of his Haas and Lance Stroll retired after damaging his Aston Martin.
Red Bull had wisely put Verstappen on the versatile and more suited to the wet conditions intermediates on Lap 56 and they carried him to his second win in Monaco. The first was in 2021.
Lewis Hamilton finished fourth for Mercedes and picked up a point for fastest lap. His teammate George Russell was fifth, having earlier almost slammed into Perez as visibility worsened. A serious crash was somehow avoided in a hectic few minutes before the rain eased off.
“Braking was extremely fragile,” Alonso said. “I think everyone did an amazing job today to keep the cars on track.”
Alonso is third in the standings and closed the gap on Perez to 12 points. The 41-year-old Alonso’s podium was his 103rd in F1, while Ocon grabbed his third.
“I’m speechless at the moment,” Ocon said. “A little bit on my cloud at the moment.”
Russell was given a five-second penalty for rejoining the track in an unsafe manner but had just enough to keep fifth place ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Pierre Gasly (Alpine), a seething Sainz, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri (both McLaren) rounded out the top 10.
On Saturday, Verstappen just edged out Alonso to deny him his first pole for 11 years.
Perez, who won the race last year, started from last after a clumsy crash in qualifying and finished 16th.
The sinewy 3.4-kilometer (2.1-mile) street circuit gives the pole sitter a massive advantage if he makes a clean getaway, which is what Verstappen did as Alonso’s gamble to start on hard tires didn’t work.
“Max drove super well on the medium tires on that first stint,” Alonso said. “We (went) for all or nothing. We started on the hard tire and didn’t have the pace.”
After 26 of the 78 laps Verstappen was 12 seconds clear of Alonso, who even persuaded himself he had a puncture. Twice his team assured him it wasn’t the case.
Eventually Verstappen started losing time and wanted to pit for new tires but his team told him he’d fall behind Alonso if he did that.
At the same time Perez stuck among the back markers was getting tense, almost clipping Stroll and then bumping into the back of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.
Sainz, meanwhile, was furious that Ferrari — a team with a worrying reputation for still making bad strategy calls — pitted him too early and put on the wrong tire to cover Ocon’s stop and let his team know with an outburst over team radio.
The Spaniard had already endured a difficult day after his front wing clipped Ocon’s Alpine as he tried to overtake. A portion of the wing came off subsequently but Sainz got away with just a warning for the incident.
The sky then darkened and rain started to fall heavily soon after drivers had completed 50 laps.
“I have to drive super slow because my tires are (expletive),” Verstappen lamented on Lap 54, while Alonso pitted a lap later for mediums.
Early on, Sainz’s front wing clipped Ocon’s Alpine as he tried to overtake coming out of the tunnel. A small piece of debris came off but the wing stayed on the car, and Sainz got away with a warning.

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Topics: Motorsport Formula One Formula 1 F1 Max Verstappen Monaco Grand Prix Red Bull Racing

Al-Rajhi leads Tabuk-NEOM rally after qualifiers

Al-Rajhi leads Tabuk-NEOM rally after qualifiers

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Motor racing-Verstappen wins in Spain to continue Red Bull sweep

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Verstappen takes pole for Spanish Grand Prix

Verstappen takes pole for Spanish Grand Prix

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Al-Rajhi leads Tabuk-NEOM rally after qualifiers

Al-Rajhi leads Tabuk-NEOM rally after qualifiers

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