A 59-year-old driver has died after being taken ill while competing in the Michelin IMSA SportsCar Encore at Sebring International Raceway. Dr. Timothy George, from Austin, TX, was racing the ANSA Motorsports LLC-entered Ligier JS P3, which he shared with Neil Alberico and Jon Brownson.
Michael Olinger, M.D., who served as IndyCar’s medical director from 2006 to 2018, died November 7. Dr. Olinger joined the AMR IndyCar Safety Team when the Indy Racing League was formed in 1996, as an on-track physician. He was promoted to IndyCar’s senior medical director in 2006 following the retirement of Dr. Henry Bock. Dr. Olinger had served as Bock’s deputy medical director at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for more than a decade and In 2003, Dr. Olinger was recognized with the Safety Award from the Championship Drivers Association.
The five-round calendar for the 2020 FIA Junior WRC Championship has been revealed* including two new rounds with three returning from the 2019 calendar. *(subject to FIA World Motorsport Council approval)
Dakar Rally icon Marc Coma will serve as Fernando Alonso’s co-driver at Toyota Gazoo Racing as the two-time Formula 1 champion gears up for an assault on the legendary rally-raid. Coma, 42, won the Dakar title on two wheels five times for KTM between 2006 and 2015 in a career that spanned the event’s African and South American eras and stood down from active competition following his final title.
An exciting new prize has been created for the 2019 FIA Junior WRC Rookie Award. The highest placed rookie in the 2019 FIA Junior WRC Championship will receive a prize of €15,000 to go towards their 2020 FIA Junior WRC campaign. The same prize will be available for the winner of the 2020 Rookie Award, to contribute to their budget for the 2021 FIA Junior WRC Championship.
Jordan Gronkowski clinched his first Scottish FF1600 title at Knockhill, while Neil Broome claimed a pair of thrilling wins on the circuit’s reverse layout. A low entry of five cars forced organisers to merge FF1600 with the guesting Formula Junior grid for the weekend, with the latter playing a key role in the outcome in both races.
Jan Kopecky survived a final stage puncture to hang onto the lead of WRC 2 pro at the ADAC RALLYE DEUTSCHLAND on Saterday Night. The Czech carried a comfortable lead of more than a minute into the final marathon speed test on the intimidating Baumholder military ranges in his Skoda Fabia. However, he limped to the end of the 41.17km special stage with a rear right puncture.
The 2017 SUPER GT Series champion will race a Ligier-Gibson JSP217 for the Philippine-based Eurasia Motorsport squad in the four-round series, which runs from November through to February next year. Red Bull-backed Cassidy will share the car with fellow New Zealander Daniel Gaunt, a sometime Indy Lights and Australian Supercars driver, and European Le Mans Series LMP3 regular Nobuya Yamanaka. Eurasia boss Mark Goddard said that the signing of Cassidy was a “real coup for the team” and that Yamanaka, who is backing the programme, had “really shown his intent to succeed by adding Nick and Dan to the car”.
FIA Junior WRC Rally Finland leader Tom Kristensson finished Saturday with a comfortable 25.2-second lead over Dennis Rådström after an action-packed day of thrills and plenty of spills.
INDYCAR, in partnership with Chevrolet and Honda, will implement a single-source hybrid system in its race cars for the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season that will provide key enhancements ranging from competition to safety. In keeping with INDYCAR’s history of integrating innovation into the sport, the hybrid powertrain will mark the first time that the vehicles will depart from the traditional, manual hand-held electric starters to a hybrid component that can be activated by the driver from the cockpit.
