Motorsport News

The third stage of the 2019 Afriquia Merzouga Rally entered the first day of the marathon run with the riders completing 230 km. The first half of the stage concluded with Hero riders Joaquim Rodrigues and Oriol Mena finishing in second and third place respectively. Rodrigues completed the day 02m23s over the stage leader Adrien Van Beveren of Yamaha Racing, while Mena was 03m08s behind Beveren. In overall rankings too, Rodrigues and Mena stand at second and third place, promising a podium finish for the team at the end of the rally.

The Dakar Rally has been expected to witness change a change of venue next year and it's now believed that the world's most challenging rally will make its way to Saudi Arabia. As per a recent report by Motorsport.com, the Dakar Rally will leave South America to start afresh in the Middle East, marking the beginning of a new era. Dakar organisers Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) have reportedly signed a five-year agreement with Saudi Arabia to host the rally and will be conducted in Saudi alone in the first year. An official confirmation is yet to come from the organisers, but an announcement is expected in the coming weeks.

The second stage of the 2019 Merzouga Rally saw both Indian teams - Hero MotoSports Team Rally and Sherco TVS Rally Team post a strong finish in top five positions. TVS' Michael Metge was the fastest rider for the day completing the stage in 03h42m09s, followed by Hero's Oriol Mena who finished the stage, 01m16s behind Metge. Teammate Joaquim Rodrigues (JRod) finished at the end of the stage, +01m 37s off the race leader behind Adrian Van Beveren of Yamaha Racing. The second stage saw riders face a 212 km special section divided into two parts.

Wearing red overalls, a Schumacher was entering the cockpit of a Ferrari again after 13 years. Only this time, it wasn't the legendary Michael Schumacher but his son Mick Schumacher driving the Formula 1 car at the Bahrain test earlier this week. The 20-year-old is part of the Ferrari Driver Academy and has been carving out a name for himself in the world motorsport. Mick made his F1 test debut with Ferrari, almost completing a circle for the Schumacher family.

After putting a spectacular fight in the first race of the season last month, Honda's Marc Marquez took a dominant win in the 2019 MotoGP Argentina Grand Prix. The rider completed the race with a massive lead of 9.816s over the rest of the pack, having led the race right from pole position. Coming in second was Yamaha's Valentino Rossi, going strong even as newer and younger riders take space on the grid. The Italian managed to pass Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso take P2, with each rider of the top three teams making it on the podium.

In an absolutely gutting moment for Scuderia Ferrari, Charles Leclerc missed on his first-ever Formula 1 win in the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix as Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas passed the driver to take a 1-2 finish. Leclerc did manage to finish on the podium coming in third, but only as a consolation to his fantastic drive through the 57 lap race. The pole-sitter led right from the first lap only to face an engine issue in the closing stages, which cost him his maiden win in the championship.

Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc secured his first Formula 1 pole position for the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix. The 21-year-old driver made his Ferrari debut this year with the Australian GP and managed to put a dominant performance beating teammate Sebastian Vettel and both the Mercedes drivers. Vettel finished second, 0.294s behind Leclerc who posted a time of 1m27.866s in his second attempt improving from his initial run of 1m27.958s. Leclerc managed to post a faster time thanks to a new set of Pirellis over his teammate, while Vettel did not attempt an initial run.

Volkswagen Motorsport has entered its tenth year in India and we were recently invited to test out some of its popular racing and rally cars, right from the first Polo Cup car to the latest-gen Ameo Cup car, at the Madras Motor Race Track (MMRT).