Motorsport Reviews

The Alfa Romeo Formula One team have appointed Jan Monchaux as technical director, replacing Ferrari-bound Simone Resta who leaves at the end of July.

All set to make its Formula E entry soon, Porsche has signed on Andre Lotterer as its second driver for the FIA Formula 2019-20 season. While the German driver was contracted to drive with DS Cheetah for the sixth season as well, he has now chosen to race with Porsche instead. Lotterer joins German marque after his stint at DS Cheetah, which won the constructors' title in the recently concluded 2018-19 Formula E season. The 37-year-old will drive alongside Neel Jani at Porsche, who was confirmed earlier this year.

After Ducati rider Carlin Dunne's tragic death at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, there have been reports about the future of motorcycle racing at Pikes Peak under question.

Hero MotoSports Team Rally completed the Silkway Rally 2019 in a top 10 posiiton in the overall rankings. With a consistent performance across all the stages, the team's rider Oriol Mena finished in sixth place, while rider Paulo Goncalves finished in 15th place in what was his first race with Hero. Mena was at his consistent best over all the stages and even secured three stage podiums including the team's maiden stage win in an international rally. Goncalves, meanwhile, had a raked in four stage podiums over the 10 stage rally and had an impressive run, barring the mechanical failure in Stage six that denied him a better result.

The fourth round of the JK Tyre-FMSCI National Karting Championship concluded on Sunday and young talents Nirmal Umashankar from Chennai and Ruhaan Alva from Bengaluru maintained their dominance in the championship. Held at Meco Kartopia near Bengaluru, Nirmal retained the top spot in the Senior category of the X-30 Class winning the first three out of the four races on Saturday. On Sunday though, the driver had a temporary setback after finishing fifth in the first race of the day, but more than made up by finishing first, second and again first in the following races.

Hero MotoSports Team Rally rider Paulo Goncalves finished second in Stage 9 of the ongoing Silkway Rally 2019. The ninth stage was one of the most challenging yet for the participants and saw Goncalves complete the day just 43s behind the stage winner. This was also the sith stage podium finish for the team in the rally. Hero's second rider Oriol Mena had a solid run as well and worked his way up the rankings to finish in the top 10. Mena completed Stage 9 in ninth place, 20m 51s off the stage leader. The Dakar rider managed to finish sixth, while Goncalves is placed 16th in the overall standings.

It was fitting finale to the 2018-19 FIA Formula E series with DS Cheetah driver Jean-Eric Vergne defend his world championship title. In doing so, he became the first-ever driver to become a two-time world champion of the electric racing series that completes five seasons. Vergne finished seventh in the second race of the New York e-Prix, securing crucial points as championship contenders Mitch Evans of Jaguar Racing and Lucas di Grassi of Audi Sport crashed on the final lap. It was Envision Racing's Robin Frijns who took a win in the season finale, while Vergne needed to take a points-finish to defend the title.

It has turned out to be spectacular Sunday for sports enthusiasts with the ICC Cricket World Cup final, Wimbledon Men's final and the British GP, all happening simultaneously. The Formula 1 British Grand Prix turned out to be by far the most dramatic of 2019 with close overtakes, crashes and some genuine wheel-to-wheel action in the play. Emerging on top turned out to be Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton as he beat his teammate Valtteri Bottas to take another of win of the season. In fact, this is Hamilton's sixth straight win at Silverstone as he edges further towards the world title with a lead of 39 points. Finishing second on the podium was Bottas while Scuderia Ferrari's Charles Leclerc secured third place after a dramatic fight for the spot.