AO by TF was one of several teams to secure an automatic invitation for the 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours after it won the overall title in this year’s European Le Mans Series.

The Tom Ferrier-led squad secured the entry for the next edition of Le Mans after Jonny Edgar, Robert Kubica and Louis Deletraz finished second in 4 Hours of Portimao, the European Le Mans Series season finale, behind the race-winning Cool Racing entry of Lorenzo Fluxa, Ritomo Miyata and Malthe Jakobsen.

In a grandstand conclusion to a tightly-contested season, two of the championship battles were decided on the very last lap of the race.

A drive-through penalty for United Autosports for contact with Panis Racing gifted Cool the lead. Miyata and then Jakobsen did not relinquish it, winning the race by 2.4 seconds.

It made the Cool Racing trio the first repeat overall winners in the six-round championship, having also claimed the Barcelona season opener back in April.

Second place for AO by TF was enough for Spa winners Edgar, Kubica and Deletraz to be crowned champions as nearest rivals Inter Europol Competition finished fourth.

The title is Edgar’s first in endurance racing since making the switch from single-seaters, it’s a second for Kubica (who won the 2021 title with Deletraz) and a third for Deletraz in four years. Also, it marked a second consecutive success for Kubica and Deletraz together after they claimed the final LMP2 title in the World Endurance Championship last year with WRT.

Inter Europol, meanwhile, was left disillusioned by the outcome of the finale, pointing to a improper 10-second pitstop penalty as key to its defeat. It was initially handed to Sebastian Alvarez, Tom Dillmann and Vlad Lomko for an alleged Virtual Safety Car infringement. That was eventually rescinded, but only after it had already been served. This, crucially, put the Polish-flagged squad behind AO by TF – a setback they would not overcome.

“They rescinded the penalty two minutes after we had already taken it,” said Dillmann. “I find it shameful at this level when you are going for the championship.”

#43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA crew was left disgruntled with fourth

Photo by: Eric Le Galliot

However, the Polish-entered squad would still secure an automatic invitation to the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2025 in P2, along with AO by TF, and the champions of LMP2 Pro-Am and LMP3.

These were also decided at Portimao, each in decidedly dramatic fashion.

AF Corse successfully retained its crown in LMP2 Pro-Am after a bold strategic attempt at an upset from Algarve Pro Racing was only foiled on the last lap.

APR’s Alex Quinn tried to significantly extend his final fuel stint to grab the class win that would have landed a shock title together with Richard Bradley and Kriton Lendoudis.

However, Quinn was overtaken by Proton Competition’s Bent Viscaal on the final lap, which in turn gave AF Corse drivers Matthieu Vaxiviere, Alessio Rovera and Francois Perrodo the crucial two-point advantage to seal the title by finishing fourth in class.

The Italian squad was put in that position thanks to the efforts of Vaxiviere, who had fought his way past Richard Mille by TDS’s Mathias Beche in a battle that had seen the two repeatedly come to blows. The Alpine Hypercar driver duly defended the crown he had won in 2023 alongside Perrodo.

Even more dramatic was the conclusion to the LMGT3 championship battle, which wasn’t decided until the very final corner.

It was then that Iron Lynx Lamborghini driver Andrea Caldarelli passed stablemate Michelle Gatting (Iron Dames) for the lead, in a move that looked like it might have been orchestrated.

Iron Lynx claimed LMGT3 title

Photo by: Iron Lynx

That was because the scenario played out in such a way that Caldarelli, Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Axcil Jefferies required a win to deny fifth-placed trio Takeshi Kimura, Esteban Masson and Daniel Serra (Kessel Racing Ferrari) the title and a Le Mans LMGT3 class entry.

In LMP3, meanwhile, a late-race charge meant RLR M Sport driver Gael Julien rose past both of his direct championship rivals from Eurointernational and Team Virage to finish second behind outgoing champions Cool Racing, securing the title for himself, Michael Jensen and Nick Adcock in the process.

ELMS Portimao Race Results

Mercedes has denied there is a “fundamental” problem with its Austin Formula 1 upgrade and plans to stick with it for this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.

The German manufacturer introduced a raft of aero changes for its W15 at the United States Grand Prix, but endured a tough weekend where both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton struggled with car characteristics.

And with the pair of them suffering costly near-identical spins at Turn 19 – Russell crashing off in qualifying and Hamilton putting himself out of the race – there were suggestions that the car developments had perhaps triggered some aero instability.

Hamilton himself reckoned that the upgrades could be to blame for the incidents, as he said the team needed to review whether or not to stick with them for this weekend’s race in Mexico.

But reflecting on the weekend, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said the problems that were encountered were not to do with the upgrade and were instead more based around the ride of the car on the bumpy track.

“I don’t think we have a fundamental issue on the upgrade, very much,” he said. “My thinking is it’s more interaction on aero and on mechanical stuff.

“Therefore we’re going to continue with the upgrade. It makes no sense to not, because there’s a lot of lap time you leave on the table.

“However, on the other side, you need to be very open-minded. George drove the July upgrade [in the race] because we didn’t have the [new] floor, and that seemed pretty competitive.”

George Russell, Mercedes W15

Photo by: Andreas Beil

While Mercedes plans to stick with its upgrade, the squad remains tight on spare parts after Russell’s qualifying crash.

And with only one of the new floors undamaged following that incident, the team looks set to split packages in Mexico.

“Clearly, we will be missing the floor that needs to go back to the UK and then be repaired for Brazil,” added Wolff. “So we’ll be running the spare specification. 

“With Lewis, normally he would have all the parts, but I’m not 100% sure that he’s keen on running that. So we’re going to find out how we want to tackle that weekend.” 

Wolff thinks the key thing that Mercedes needs to understand from what happened in the United States was why it was quick on Friday, with Hamilton having been fast enough for sprint pole, and then faded for the rest of the weekend.

“We need to get on top of why do we have a car that on Friday is by far the quickest, before the [Franco Colapinto situation [with the yellow flag]. Lewis was four tenths up and he would have been quickest.

“Then on a Saturday, it’s transformed. In the sprint race, we had a broken suspension. That’s one explanation. We fixed that in qualifying, but nothing would go anymore, and we struggled to have pace.

“Then in the race was the incident [for Hamilton] in that corner that came out of nowhere. He was not pushing at all. And where I sit at the moment, it’s 100% not Lewis’s fault.”

Formula E will run an all-female session during its official pre-season test for the 2024-25 campaign in November.

It has been organised to help accelerate the growth of women drivers in world championship single-seater machinery and will be the second time the all-electric series has held a female test after Diriyah in 2018.

For that session in Saudi Arabia, teams were only allowed to start with two cars if one was driven by a woman, which resulted in nine female racers taking part.

In 2024, all 11 teams are mandated to run at least one female driver, but encouraged to field two in the latest Gen3 Evo cars which are set to make their debut in the upcoming season.

Jeff Dodds, Formula E CEO, said: “We know there isn’t a simple solution for greater diversity in motorsport.

“If we’re going to truly give women equality, opportunity and visibility in our series, however, conditions for all need to be the same to aid their development and test themselves against those already on the starting grid.

“Unlike other series where women drivers have to use old or restricted machinery, they’ll be using the state-of-the-art Gen3 Evo car that accelerates 30% faster than an F1 car, just as our championship drivers do.

“We also recognise that one test will not solve the longstanding issue, but we have to start somewhere, knowing there is a long way to go and making sure we’re making proactive, consistent steps that continue to make forward progress.”

When is the Formula E all-female test?

Powell has tested for Envision several times but has never raced in Formula E

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Date: Thursday 7 November 2024
Start time: 1pm GMT/2pm local time

The Formula E all-female pre-season test will take place on Thursday 7 November 2024 and is scheduled to run for three hours, starting at 1pm in the United Kingdom and 2pm local time in Valencia.

It will be held at Formula E’s version of Circuit Ricardo Tormo, a 2.098-mile track on the outskirts of the Spanish city that was part of the championship’s 2021 calendar.

This will occur during pre-season testing on the 4-7 November. The afternoon session of the final day is exclusive to female drivers who will have already competed in a wide range of motorsport championships.

Formula E will stage this test ahead of its Sao Paulo season opener on the 7 December, where Pascal Wehrlein arrives as the defending champion having pipped two-time runner-up Mitch Evans to his maiden crown.

PLUS: The top 10 Formula E drivers of 2023-24

Who is competing in the Formula E all-female test?

There are eight drivers who have so far been confirmed for Formula E’s all-female test in November. Andretti was the first team to confirm its full line-up and that will consist of F1 Academy pair Chloe Chambers and Nerea Marti, who respectively sit fourth and fifth in that championship.

Chambers, 20, is currently affiliated with the Haas Formula 1 Team but will switch to representing the Red Bull Ford Academy Programme next season.

The American’s single-seater career dates back to 2021, where she contested the Formula 4 United States Championship. She has since progressed to W Series, the Formula Regional Oceania Championship and F1 Academy, winning this year’s second race in Barcelona.

Chambers is a race winner in F1 Academy, and will join Marti at Andretti

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Marti is also a race winner in the all-female series, as she won at Circuit Paul Ricard in 2023, yet this season the 22-year-old has three podiums but no victories. Her single-seater career goes back to 2019 with Spanish F4, with Marti also part of the W Series alumni.

McLaren was next to confirm a driver, as 19-year-old Ella Lloyd will drive for the British squad having recently joined its development programme. This comes after starting her career in 2022, where the Welsh driver competed in the Ginetta Junior Championship before progressing to Ginetta GTs the following year.

In 2024, Lloyd competed across various championships like the Formula Winter Series and British F4 before racing at F1 Academy’s Singapore round in September as a wildcard entry, where she finished ninth and seventh in the two races.

Lloyd will be partnered by Bianca Bustamante, who has been part of the McLaren Driver Development programme since October 2023. That came after an encouraging F1 Academy season in which the Filipino claimed two victories – Valencia and Monza – en route to seventh in the championship.

Envision Racing has also announced both its drivers, as Alisha Palmowski and Alice Powell will test for the British outfit. Palmowski is a BRDC Rising Star, having won the 2022 Ginetta Junior Scholarship before finishing runner-up in this year’s GB4 Championship.

The 18-year-old won on her GB4 debut at Oulton Park in March leading to her becoming one of the final 10 candidates for the 2024 Silverstone Autosport BRDC Award.

“My phone blew up [after the Oulton win],” she told Motorsport.com. “I’m still replying to messages now from that win. I had hundreds of notifications from people like Karun Chandhok and Susie Wolff. It’s nice to have my name on the map, people are noticing what I’m achieving now.”

Powell, meanwhile, is a racing veteran and the 31-year-old has been a Test and Development Driver for Envision since 2019.

Bustamante will continue McLaren affiliation from F1 Academy into Formula E test

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

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Porsche has also confirmed its line-up, which consists of 2023 F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia and Gabriela Jilkova.

Jilkova’s call-up was expected, as the 29-year-old is Porsche’s Development and Simulator Driver who completed 43 laps for the team in pre-season testing last year.

But Garcia is a surprise addition as the Spaniard, who contested the 2024 Formula Regional European Championship, drove for ERT – now known as Kiro Race Co – in May’s Berlin rookie test and was expected to once again join the recently acquired squad that will now use Porsche powertrains.

Has a woman ever competed in Formula E before?

Garcia has previous test miles with the ERT squad that has morphed into new Kiro Race guise, but will try out for Porsche in Valencia

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

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Three women have competed in a Formula E race since the all-electric championship began in 2014.

That year’s Beijing season opener saw Katherine Legge and Michela Cerruti become the first females to do so. Legge lined up alongside Takuma Sato for Team Aguri and finished 15th in a frustrating outing for the Briton, who received a drive-through penalty converted into 57s for crossing the white line at pit exit following the mid-race car swaps.

The Indianapolis 500 regular returned for the following round in Malaysia and came 15th again having received another penalty – this was a drive-through converted into 23s for causing an opening lap collision with Cerruti.

Legge was subsequently dropped ahead of the next race and the 44-year-old has predominantly raced in sportscars.

Cerruti, meanwhile, contested the opening four races of the 2014-15 campaign for the Trulli Formula E Team. The Italian finished 14th in Beijing and retired in Putrajaya following her collision with Legge, before placing a series-best of 12th in Uruguay.

She then retired from the following round in Argentina and was replaced by ex-F1 driver Vitantonio Liuzzi ahead of Miami. Following her Formula E stint, Cerruti contested the TCR International Series in 2016 and 2017 before focusing on management as the team principal of Alfa Romeo ETC outfit Romeo Ferraris.

Simona de Silvestro became the third female to compete in a Formula E race, as the Swiss-Italian joined Andretti for the final weekend of the championship’s debut year. She finished 11th and 12th in the two races in London before contesting a full campaign for the American squad the following season.

Silvestro finished 18th in the 2015-16 standings having scored points in Long Beach and Berlin, yet did not return the following year. Subsequently, the 36-year-old has competed in IndyCar, Supercars and GT Masters, while being a Formula E test driver for Venturi and Porsche too.

De Silvestro achieved a best result of ninth in Formula E after making her debut in London in the 2014/15 season finale

Photo by: Ralph Hardwick

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has slammed Red Bull Racing‘s front bib adjustment device as “outrageous”, as he suggested the FIA may yet look further into the matter.

Red Bull was at the centre of technical intrigue over the United States Grand Prix weekend after it emerged the FIA was ramping up monitoring of a system the Milton Keynes-based squad has to raise and lower its front bib height.

While the presence of the device, which has to be adjusted by a tool, is allowed, what would be against the regulations would be for it to be changed under parc ferme conditions.

That is why the FIA fitted a seal to it over the Austin weekend to ensure it was not altered between qualifying and the race. Furthermore, the team has promised to make more permanent changes to its car for later this season.

The FIA’s head of single-seater matters Nikolas Tombazis says there is no indication that Red Bull used the device in the past, and so considers the matter closed. However, that may not necessarily be the end of the matter.

Wolff, whose team has battled Red Bull hard in the past, thinks that the situation is far from acceptable as he hinted that senior figures at the FIA – including its president Mohammed Ben Sulayem – may yet be pressured to take things further.

Speaking about the Red Bull system, Wolff said: “My view is, from the distance of what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard, it’s outrageous.”

Explaining more about why he felt that way, Wolff said that it was highly suspicious for Red Bull to have fitted such a complicated device to its car, simply to help change ride heights in practice sessions.

“I think we’re all designing parts that are F1 standard, and that are to the highest specifications that are within the regulations.

“Sometimes on things like aero elasticity, you would probably try to go as far as you can — but there’s other things overall and certain parts where you would question why they exist.”

He added: “Why would you design such a thing and put two marks on it for two positions, like you want to (change things)? Is that the precise decision-making [we have] in F1?”

Red Bull Racing RB20 front bib detail

Photo by: Andreas Beil

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A ‘Bugs Bunny’ tool

Wolff also suggested that Red Bull pulled off a charade in showing to the FIA a tool that it said was used to alter the device. He reckons that the settings could easily be altered in a much simpler way.

“I really like that when they put this real broom [device] in the car to demonstrate that that is the only way of that getting changed! I wonder how long it took them to make this up, and to stick it in there.”

One rival team has nicknamed the two-foot long socket that Red Bull showed the FIA a ‘Bugs Bunny’ device – because it seemed such a cartoon-type tool considering the sophistication levels normally expected in F1.

Wolff backed this idea. “I didn’t know that in F1, we were using such Bugs Bunny devices. It’s not good enough to say that this is it, and we promise that we are not going to do it again.”

And while Tombazis said over the United States Grand Prix weekend that he believed the matter was closed, Wolff does not think this will be the end of things.

“I cannot speak for the FIA at all. I cannot speak for Nikolas,” he said. “Obviously, that’s something that’s been not spotted for a long time.

“But I think the leadership of the FIA is going to look at that, and say, ‘What are we doing with this?’”

Ott Tanak says if team-mate Thierry Neuville is “smart” at the Rally Japan there will be no chance for him to claim a second WRC title despite Hyundai allowing its drivers to fight.

Both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles will go down to the wire in Japan next month after last weekend’s dramatic Central European Rally. 

Neuville could have sealed a maiden world title if he had outscored Tanak by two points at the three-nation rally, but instead left with his 29-point lead cut to 25 after Tanak claimed a 21st career win.

It means the title fight will be decided on Japan’s asphalt roads with the advantage firmly in Neuville’s hands, while Hyundai leads Toyota by 15 points in the manufacturers’ race.

Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul has confirmed that his drivers are able to do battle unabated in Japan, but is also eager to secure a first manufacturers’ crown for the Korean brand since 2020.

While Neuville has a significant advantage with 30 points remaining on the table, securing the title is not an absolute certainty.      

“I don’t know what difference we can make but we will try our best, but with this scoring system it doesn’t make much difference,” Tanak told Motorsport.com.

“It is true [a retirement can change things] for sure, I guess it depends how much Thierry wants it. 

“If he is smart in Japan and does a good job then nobody has a chance, but we also have a responsibility for the manufacturers championship. It is still a big job ahead of us so we can’t really focus only on drivers title. We are responsible for the team too.”

Ott Tänak, Martin Järveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

Neuville was on course to beat Tanak last weekend to potentially clinch the world title before two errors in stage 12 dropped him from the lead to fourth.

Reflecting on a weekend where his lead over Tanak decreased, the Belgian believes he fulfilled his main objective of maintaining a comfortable championship lead. 

“If we look at our targets ahead of the event we completely fulfilled all of the targets by leaving here with a big lead in the championship for the last round, but also having finished the rally and taken some good Sunday points,” Neuville told Motorsport.com.

“So in that perspective we have achieved but nevertheless we can be disappointed because we were not able to keep the lead. 

“If I look at the conditions we faced on Saturday and even on Sunday…I’m not sure on the last day, when the points are validated, I would have been able to go with the same risks as the others. 

“It is a comfortable lead. The worst-case scenario we need to take six points. In any other scenario, we are pretty fine.

“We need to find the right balance [in Japan] because there is still manufacturers’ championship to fight for and nevertheless we have that third car with Andreas [Mikkelsen] who will go for a push. We need to find a good balance between a safe but good drive.”

Regardless of the outcome of the drivers’ championship, Hyundai boss Abiteboul is relieved to have secured one of his two main objectives.

“What we can say is we are halfway on our objective we have secured a driver title we don’t know which one yet which is why we don’t want to celebrate,” he added.

“We have accomplished our mission so that is a relief and for the rest let’s see what we can do in Japan.” 

The ADAC has unveiled a brand new logo for the DTM as part of a revamped brand identity for the championship.

Designed in cooperation with sports branding agency UnitedSenses in Munich, the new logo was showcased to the public for the first time at last weekend’s Hockenheim finale and will come into effect immediately.

The new design features the yellow and black colours of the German automobile club ADAC, which bought the DTM from its previous owner the ITR at the end of 2022.

After the purchase, the ADAC implemented an updated version of the logo originally introduced by the ITR, but has given it another overhaul at the conclusion of the series’ 40th season.

In a statement, the ADAC said the logo will be accompanied by a “new broadcast and digital identity, and various design solutions for printed products and events will achieve a consistent branding for all brand experiences in the DTM.”

The ADAC also announced that the DTM will switch to 100 per cent synthetic and fossil-free fuel from 2025.

Start action

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Produced by P1 Fuels company and certified by the FIA, the switch to synthetically-made petrol will help the series cut down its carbon emissions by 75%.

P1 Fuels is already involved in motorsport and has experience supplying fully sustainable fuel to the World Rally Championship.

“We are now taking a significant step in the further development of the series and are strengthening the DTM’s role as a pioneer in the field of sustainability in motorsport,” said ADAC Motorsport Director Thomas Voss.

“We are bringing greater sustainability to the DTM platform with a new, synthetic and climate-friendly fuel. In doing so, we are demonstrating the potential of synthetic fuels within one of the most popular racing series in Europe.

“We are also presenting the series with a dynamic look; a new brand image will give us a modern branding.”

Factory Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti was crowned the 2024 DTM champion after he finished second to Luca Engstler in Sunday’s final race at Hockenheim.

The next DTM season, the 41st in the championship’s history, will begin at Oschersleben on 26-27 April.