Scott McLaughlin earned his first career IndyCar pole position on the streets of Saint Petersburg, Florida during the first qualifying session of the 2022 season.

 

The three-time Australian Supercars champion found the speed on his final lap to oust his Penske team mate Will Power from the top spot in the Fast Six stage of qualifying, setting a lap time of 59.482 seconds to secure his maiden IndyCar pole.

McLaughlin had only managed a best qualifying result of fifth place throughout his first full season in IndyCar last year.

 

Power, who starts second, set a new course record at 59.347, during the second stage of qualifying.

 

Defending St. Petersburg race winner Colton Herta will line up third on the grid for Sunday’s 100-lap opening race, next to Rinus VeeKay in fourth.

 

 

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Danny Ongais, the Hawaiian driver admired by fans and competitors for his speed and bravery in an Indianapolis 500 career spanning three decades, died Feb. 26 of congestive heart complications in Anaheim Hills, California. He was 79.

 

The versatile Ongais made 11 Indianapolis 500 starts between 1977 and 1996, with four top-10 finishes. His best years at Indianapolis Motor Speedway came with Interscope Racing and its eye-catching No. 25 Parnelli and Penske chassis powered by Cosworth engines, with a best finish of fourth in 1979 and a top start of second next to pole sitter Tom Sneva in 1978.

BTCC 2022 Driver Update:

 

Team BMW:- Colin Turkington, Stephen Jelley

Toyota Gazoo Racing UK:- Rory Butcher

Excler8 Motorsport:- Tom Chilton, Tom Ingram

Laser Tools Racing:- Rick Parfitt Jr

Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport:- George Gamble, Adam Morgan

Power Maxed Racing:- Michael Crees

World Touring Car Cup Driver Update:

 

Cyan Performance Lynk & Co- Thed Bjork (Sweden), Santiago Urruita (Uruguay), Ma Qing Hua (China)

 

2022 XPEL 375 Result:

 

1st Josef Newgarden (Team Penske)

2nd Scott McLanghlin (New Zealand) [Team Penske]

3rd Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) [Chip Ganassi Racing]

4th Will Power (Australia) [Team Penske]

5th Scott Dixon (New Zealand) [Chip Ganassi Racing]

6th Jimmie Johnson [Chip Ganassi Racing]

7th Alex Palou (Spain) [Chip Ganassi Racing]

8th Simon Pagenaud (France) [Meyer Shank Racing]

9th Santino Ferrucci [Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing]

10th Rinus VeeKay (Netherland) [Ed Carpenter Racing]

 

Championship Standings:

 

1. Scott McLaughlin- 97pts

2. Will Power- 69pts

3. Alex Palou- 67pts

4. Josef Newgarden- 65pts

5. Marcus Ericsson- 58pts

Race Highlights:

 

BTCC 2022 Drivers Update:-

 

Excler8 Motorsport:- Jack Butel, Dan Lloyd

Laser Tools Racing:- Dexter Patterson

TEAM HARD:- Bobby Thompson

World Touring Car Cup Driver Update:

 

Lynk & Co Cyan Racing:- Yann Ehrlacher (France), Yvan Muller (France)

Race Highlights:

 

Di Francesco was an utter liability yesterday. Managed to effectively put four other cars in the wall as well as himself.

 

 

Harsh on McLaughlin too, to lose it on the final corner after being so comfortable for so long but credit to Newgarden for being smarter

Britain's Jamie Chadwick will defend her title as five drivers make their debuts when the 2022 W Series returns for a third season in May.

 

Chadwick has won both titles since the women-only motor racing series started in 2019 and she is among 17 drivers, including the top eight from last year.

 

Nine other drivers have come through pre-season testing.

 

The championship will again share the global stage with Formula 1, with eight support races at grand prix weekends.

 

W Series racing director Dave Ryan said: "As the profile of W Series grows, the talent pool and standard of our driver line-up increases, and the 2022 W Series grid is the strongest yet.

 

"This year, we expanded our driver search and testing programme by staging pre-season tests in both the USA and Europe, and that decision has paid dividends."

 

Competition organisers say Russia's Irina Sidorkova will not compete until further notice following her country's invasion of Ukraine.

 

W Series line-up 2022

Tereza Babickova (Cze), Bianca Bustamante (Phi) Jamie Chadwick (GB), Chloe Chambers (US), Emely de Heus (Ned), Belen Garcia (Spa), Marta Garcia (Spa), Jessica Hawkins (GB), Emma Kimilainen (Fin), Nerea Marti (Spa), Sarah Moore (GB), Juju Noda (Jpn), Alice Powell (GB), Abbi Pulling (GB), Bruna Tomaselli (Brz), Beitske Visser (Ned), Fabienne Wohlwend (Lie)

 

Race calendar

 

Miami, USA - 6-8 May

Barcelona, Spain - 20-22 May

Silverstone, GB - 1-3 July

Le Castellet, France - 22-24 July

Budapest, Hungary - 29-31 July

Suzuka, Japan - 7-9 October

Austin, USA* - 21-23 October

Mexico City, Mexico - 28-30 October

2022 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Result:

 

1st Josef Newgarden (Team Penske)

2nd Romain Grosjean (France) [Andretti Autosport]

3rd Alex Palou (Spain) [Chip Ganassi Racing]

4th Will Power (Australia) [Team Penske]

5th Pato O'Ward (Mexico) [Arrow McLaren SP]

6th Scott Dixon (New Zealand) [Chip Ganassi Racing]

7th Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing)

8th Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport)

9th Helio Castroneves (Brazil) [Meyer Shank Racing]

10th Kyle Kirkwood (A J Foyt Enterprises)

 

 

Championship Standings:

 

1. Josef Newgarden- 118pts

2. Scott McLaughlin- 103pts

3. Alex Palou- 103pts

4. Will Power- 102pts

5. Scott Dixon- 83pts

 

 

 

What the hell:

 

 

The FIA - motorsport's governing body - is investigating after a 15-year-old Russian karting champion appeared to make a Nazi salute on a podium.

 

Artem Severiukhin seemed to perform the offensive gesture after winning the first round of the European Championship in Portugal on Sunday.

 

He was competing under the Italian flag because of the sanctions put on Russian athletes following their country's invasion of Ukraine.

 

His team has terminated his contract.

 

Ward Racing - a privately owned Swedish team - said it condemned Severiukhin's behaviour in the "strongest possible terms", adding: "Ward Racing is deeply in shame of the pilot's behaviour.

 

"The actions of Artem Severiukhin during the award ceremony on April 10, 2022 were exclusively individual and do not represent the views and values of Ward Racing in any manner.

 

"On the contrary, Ward Racing stands with the international community condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine and expresses its solidarity with the people suffering because of this unprovoked and horrific attack."

 

It added: "Ward Racing sees no possibility for continued cooperation with Artem Severiukhin and will proceed with terminating his racing contract."

 

The FIA announced it had launched an immediate investigation into Severiukhin's "unacceptable conduct" on Monday.

This is a Roman salute not a Nazi salute. The connotations are still vile but they are distinctly different.

 

I can't work out if he's just stupid or a fascist

Having watched it a few times I'm thinking more stupid.

Hopefully he'll reconsider his actions and recognise that the salute wasn't appropriate. If his team have terminated his contract he should have some time to do so.

[Catching up on various series for you all]

 

2022 Honda Grand Prix of Alabama Result:

 

1st Pato O'Ward (Mexico) [Arrow McLaren SP]

2nd Alex Palou (Spain) [Chip Ganassi Racing]

3rd Rinus VeeKay (Netherlands) [Ed Carpenter Racing]

4th Will Power (Australia) [Team Penske]

5th Scott Dixon (New Zealand) [Chip Ganassi Racing]

6th Scott McLaughlin (New Zealand) [Team Penske]

7th Romain Grosjean (France) [Andretti Autosport]

8th Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing)

9th Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport)

10th Colton Herta (Anretti Autosport)

 

Championship Standings after Honda Grand Prix of Alabama

 

1- Alex Palou- 144pts

2. Scott McLaughlin- 141pts

3. Josef Newgarden- 135pts

4. Will Power- 134pts

5. Pato O'Ward- 114pts