Mekies pleased Ricciardo’s “back in great form”

In brief

Mekies pleased Ricciardo’s “back in great form”

After Daniel Ricciardo drove his RB to his first points of the season in the Miami Grand Prix sprint race last weekend, RB team principal Laurent Mekies says his team’s senior driver is “back in great form”.

Ricciardo qualified fourth on the grid in sprint race qualifying and finished there, securing five points for RB. Team mate Yuki Tsunoda added another seven across the sprint race and the grand prix.

“It was particularly gratifying to see Daniel back in great form, demonstrating the skills and determination we know have always been there,” Mekies said. “Unfortunately, he started on the back foot on Sunday from P20. In the second stint, he got stuck in traffic and could not move up the order and had to settle for P15.

“As for Yuki, his fourth Q3 appearance out of six races this season underlines how consistently he is performing and today, he underlined his maturity with an intelligent, yet aggressive and super quick drive from tenth on the grid to seventh at the flag.”

Porsche Penske quickest in Spa practice

The number six Porsche Penske team of Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor were quickest at the end of the first day of practice for the Six Hours of Spa World Endurance Championship event.

The number six car set the best time of the day with a 2’04.162, a tenth quicker than the number 50 Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen, with the number two Cadillac of Earl Bamber and Callum Ilott third.

Qualifying for tomorrow’s race will take place this afternoon.

Andretti extend Formula E deal with Porsche

Andretti’s Formula E team has announced it will remain with Porsche powertrains until the end of the 2026 season.

The team have run with Porsche power since the arrival of the Gen3 car at the start of 2023. The team’s driver, Jake Dennis, secured the world championship title last season.

“There was never any doubt in our mind about who we’d want to be working with,” said team principal Roger Griffiths. “We have had a very special relationship with Porsche Motorsport, both on and off the track, and we have seen an awful lot of success together. Hopefully, we can share more success in the future.”

Rasmussen wins simraing title

Red Bull driver Frederik Rasmussen clinched the 2023 F1 Simracing championship title after a dramatic final round saw a three way showdown between Rasmussen, Thomas Ronhaar and Bari Broumand.

Rasmussen had finished runner up in the last four seasons of the series, but won three of the 12 races before a fourth place finish was enough to secure his first F1 Simracing world championship title.

Ronhaar finished second in the championship for Sauber with Broumand third for Ferrari and Mercedes’ Jarno Opmeer fourth.

Links

Motor racing links of interest:

F1 car wheel arches tested by Ferrari to combat wet race spray (Motor Sport)

‘The new devices, which encompass the entire top half of the tyre with cut-outs at the front to allow for cooling, are meant for ‘extremely wet’ conditions — which were seemingly simulated during the test at Fiorano. The results of the test have not yet been officially published, but from initial photographs it looks as if the new wheel arches are creating less upward spray and are instead pushing standing water outward.’

Red Bull to reveal Adrian Newey’s RB17 hypercar at Goodwood Festival of Speed (Independent)

Christian Horner: ”We are excited to debut the RB17 to the public for the first time and couldn’t think of a better world stage than Goodwood Festival of Speed. The RB17 exudes rarity and engineering excellence. We’ve channelled everything we know about racing into making the ultimate performance car and can’t wait for the public to see the result.”

Wayne Taylor getting chance to live out lifelong F1 dream (IMSA)

‘Taylor is entered in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix on the famous street course in Monte Carlo where F1 will race in two weeks. And the 67-year-old won’t be cruising around in any old F1 car. He’s piloting the same 1978 Wolf-Cosworth WR4 that his childhood hero and fellow native South African Jody Scheckter once drove.’

Neom: Saudi forces ‘told to kill’ to clear land for eco-city (BBC)

Disney and Warner to bundle streaming services (BBC)

‘Walt Disney and Warner Bros Discovery say they will start to offer a bundle of the Disney+, Hulu and Max streaming services to customers in the US this summer. In February, Walt Disney’s ESPN, Fox Corp and Warner Bros Discovery announced a new sports platform to be launched in the autumn. Between them they own a wide range of portfolios of sports rights including those for the FIFA World Cup, Formula 1, NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball.’

IndyCar developing improved bellhousing (Racer)

‘Due to the unanticipated nature of the bellhousing production needs while within an active racing season, the exact timing for mass manufacturing and delivery of the revised units awaits confirmation. Once the fortified bellhousings are in hand, they will be outfitted to the entire field; it’s unclear if the uprated bellhousings will be used from the outset of the series’ anticipated move to hybrid powertrains, which is widely expected — but as yet unconfirmed — to take place at Mid-Ohio on July 5-7.’

Spa Thursday Notebook (Sportscar 365)

‘Kamui Kobayashi believes that bumps, possibly related to recent work at Spa, are partly to blame for the slow pace. ‘We are a bit surprised that it changed so much,’ said the Japanese driver. ‘The bumps are much worse, especially turn 15 (Stavelot), the last chicane, turn one (La Source) but a bit everywhere to be honest.”

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