Motorsport Roundup: Dakar 2021 Updates, National Karting Champions Crowned And More

Dakar 2021

This week saw the Dakar 2021 rally soldier on with stages 7 and 8 taking place over the weekend. As things stand, Stephane Peterhansel (cars), Jose Ignacio Cornejo  (bikes), and Dmitry Sotnikov (trucks) lead the overall standings. The Hero MotoSports pair of Joaquim Rodrigues and Sebastian Buhler are ranked 16th and 19th. The sole Indian rider of the rally, Harith Noah, stands at the 32nd spot.  

In the latest stage, Nasser Al-Attiyah (cars), Jose Ignacio Cornejo (bikes), and Anton Shibalov (trucks) secured the top spots. It was another consistent showing for Hero MotoSports with Sebastian Buhler and Joaquim Rodrigues finishing 10th and 27th respectively. Harith Noah maintained his consistency to eventually finish at the 29th spot.

Stage 7 saw Yazeed Al Rajhi (cars), Ricky Brabec (bikes), and Dmitry Sotnikov (trucks) coming out on top. As for the Hero MotoSports squad, while Joaquim Rodrigues finished 9th, Sebastian Buhler grabbed the 23rd spot in the end. Harith Noah had one of his strongest finishes in the rally with a 25th-place finish.

The next stage will cover 579km as a loop within Neom.

Indian motorsport

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This week saw the MECO-FMSCI National Karting Championship 2020 Rotax Max season crown its champions at the Meco Kartopia circuit in Bangalore. In the end, it was Ishaan Madesh (Peregrine Racing), Rishon Rajeev (Birel Art India), and Arjun Maini (NK Racing Academy) who took the season titles in the Micromax, Juniormax, and Seniormax categories respectively. In the team standings, Peregrine Racing ( Micromax), Birel Art India (Juniormax), and NK Racing Academy (Seniormax) came out on top. 

The trio will represent India at the Rotax Max Grand Finals in Portimão from January 21 to 28.  

That aside, Jehan Daruvala, who is recovering from COVID-19, is reportedly set to join Mumbai Falcons along with Kush Maini to form an all-Indian lineup for the upcoming 2021 F3 Asian Championship. The season will be held predominantly in the UAE, with the opening round kicking off on January 29. The season will come to a close with round five on February 19-20. Fortunately, these dates won’t clash with Daruvala’s upcoming 2021 F2 campaign.

Formula One

Off-track news continues ahead of the 2021 season as Williams has announced a closer technical partnership with Mercedes with the team set to use Mercedes gearboxes and related hydraulic components starting 2022. Aston Martin has announced it would switch to a British racing green livery and agreed on a multi-year deal with IT consulting company Cognizant Technology Solutions as its title sponsor. Aston Martin will reveal its 2021 challenger in March.

With Renault set to be rebranded as Alpine this season, the company has announced that team boss Cyril Abiteboul will be leaving the team effective immediately. Laurent Rossi has been appointed as Alpine CEO with Marcin Budkowski expected to take over Cyril Abiteboul’s  role of team principal.

MotoGP

It was a shocking week in the world of two wheels as Suzuki team boss, Davide Brivio announced his exit from the team. This comes off the back of leading the team to championship success in both the team’s and rider’s 2020 campaign. He was earlier linked for a move to Alpine Formula One squad, but nothing has come of his future so far. This is quite a huge blow to Suzuki with not a lot of time to find a replacement before the 2021 season kicks off in March.

WRC

A new venue made its way into the 2021 FIA World Rally Championship calendar. Rally Belgium will be held in August as the eighth round of the 11-round season. The dates are yet to be finalised. 

Formula E

While both Audi and BMW will leave Formula E after season seven, another Formula One team has moved a step closer to entering the grid. McLaren announced it has acquired the option to join the Gen3 era of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship slated for a 2022/23 kickoff.