Henry Hassid was crowned world champion in the Coppa Shell category thanks to a superb race in comeback style. Starting from P8 on the grid, the Frenchman stamped his authority on the competition right from the start, quite literally flying on the damp track of the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola.

The Kessel Racing driver took just one lap to pass from eighth place to first as he looked to be perfectly at home in the mixed conditions, while another of the leading protagonists, his teammate and polesitter Ernst Kirchmayr quickly lost several positions, dropping to sixth position.

In the early stages, the battle for second place was between Rey Acosta (The Collection) and Yasutaka Shirasaki (Rosso Scuderia), with the Japanese driver passing his American rival on lap 3 to move into second place.

Acosta was unable to reply and came under pressure from Andrea Ritzi, fourth and eager to take a prestigious podium. On lap 6 the driver of the CDP – D&C Racing team made a decisive attack to move into a provisional third place.

The next piece of on-track action came when John Dhillon, while he was battling for seventh position, lost control on the straight between Acque Minerali and Variante Alta, ending up by violently crashing into the wall. The front left wheel of the British driver’s 296 was detached and a fire broke out in the engine, all of which meant that the Race Direction sent the Safety Car out onto the track.

The race resumed with four minutes to go, and Hassid immediately tried to break away from Shirasaki, Ritzi and Kirchmayr, who had climbed to fourth place after overtaking a struggling Acosta.

On lap 12, Ritzi managed to overtake Shirasaki, but just before the braking point of the Variante del Tamburello, Kirchmayr and Shirasaki flanked each other and made contact, with the latter ending up against the wall. This time the Race Direction brought the red flags out, and that was followed by the chequered flag as there was no further action on track.

The final standings, therefore, saw Hassid as the Coppa Shell World Finals champion ahead of Ritzi and Kirchmayr.

There was also a good scrap in the 488 class. Qwin Wietlisbach, who started from pole, held onto first place but halfway through the race he ended up in the sights of Fabrizio Fontana (Formula Racing). The Italian, shaving off tenth after tenth, eventually caught up with the category leader.

When the race resumed after the first intervention of the Safety Car, Wietlisbach managed to hold off the attacks launched by Fontana and was crowned champion. Third place went to Maurizio Pitorri, several seconds adrift of the first two.

Continue reading with advertising …

… or with a subscription

Visit motorsport.com as usual with advertising and tracking. You can revoke your consent at any time via the data protection page.¹

Use motorsport.com without any advertising banners, personalized tracking and commercials for a small fee.

Accept and continue

More information about advertising and tracking in our Data protection notice, the List of our partners and in Data protection information center.

Already a subscriber?

Log in here

Tyler Reddick won the opening stage at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, only for his race to go upside down moments later — literally.

On lap 89, Reddick had a run on the outside and made it three-wide with Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. beneath him. They drifted up and contact was made between Elliott and Reddick, leading both drivers to crash. As they moved across the track, Brad Keselowski was collected, and all three cars spun out of control through the infield grass.

Then, in a surprising flip / roll, Reddick’s car dug in and flipped over as it slid sideways over the transition between infield asphalt and grass. His race was over. Reddick will finish 36th.

Keselowski’s car went back up the track in the final moments of the incident, causing the Team Penske drivers of Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric to slam the outside wall in avoidance. Cindric, Keselowski, and Reddick were unable to continue. Defending champ Blaney went multiple laps down and Elliott went to the garage for extensive repairs after meeting minimum speed. 

“You just gotta be aggressive on restarts,” said Reddick after being released from the infield care center. “It’s how this Next Gen racing has been since the beginning. I kind of saw them both have a moment and I had just a split second to make a decision. You gotta be aggressive. You gotta try and get those spots back on a restart. It can be hard to pass after a while.”

“By the time I realized I was in trouble, it was just too late. The No. 19 [Truex] starts sliding, the No. 9 [Elliott] was coming up and I was pretty much already on their outside. At that point, there is nowhere to really go. I needed to make the decision earlier when I saw them sliding. Just be a little more conservative. That would have avoided the incident. Just not who I am, not what we do.

“It’s unfortunate. It took us out of the race. We had a really fast Camry. Thought we would have been in the mix all day long.”

Continue reading with advertising …

… or with a subscription

Visit motorsport.com as usual with advertising and tracking. You can revoke your consent at any time via the data protection page.¹

Use motorsport.com without any advertising banners, personalized tracking and commercials for a small fee.

Accept and continue

More information about advertising and tracking in our Data protection notice, the List of our partners and in Data protection information center.

Already a subscriber?

Log in here

Continue reading with advertising …

… or with a subscription

Visit motorsport.com as usual with advertising and tracking. You can revoke your consent at any time via the data protection page.¹

Use motorsport.com without any advertising banners, personalized tracking and commercials for a small fee.

Accept and continue

More information about advertising and tracking in our Data protection notice, the List of our partners and in Data protection information center.

Already a subscriber?

Log in here

Sebastien Ogier says he needs a “reset” after a third consecutive incident cost Toyota valuable points in its bid to defend the World Rally Championship manufacturers’ title.

The eight-time world champion was in the box seat to deliver a fourth victory from his partial campaign at the Central European Rally, having ended Saturday with 18 provisional points after building a 5.2s lead over Hyundai’s Ott Tanak.

However, his rally began to unravel when he overshot a left-hander in Sunday’s first stage, dropping the Frenchman 1.9s behind the 2019 world champion.

That gap was shortened to 1.5s heading into the penultimate run, where Ogier’s rally came to an abrupt halt six hundred metres into a stage where route note crews were unable to traverse beforehand to pass on crucial road information to drivers.

Ogier ran wide into a fast right-hander, clattering the trees and causing terminal damage to his GR Yaris, and was unusually visibly angry in the aftermath of the incident that threw away the 18 points earned on Saturday.

The accident is the third incident in a row for Ogier after crashing on the final stage in Greece, while in Chile he clipped a rock that sent him into retirement on the Saturday.

“It was another example that the gravel crew are doing a crucial job for us. It was the only stage of the weekend where they were not allowed to go through and basically we didn’t have the information of the road evolution,” said Ogier at the scene of the crash.

Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

“This first long corner under the trees people have been cutting more [than we were] anticipating. The corner was becoming very greasy and at the end I couldn’t turn basically and I understeered and went wide at the exit and hit the trees on the outside.

“I feel angry with myself in the moment and I’m very sorry for the team. I tried my best. It was really my main target to help them achieve the manufacturers’ title.

“I think I was doing a good job so far but unfortunately it is a third weekend in a row that has not gone my way. It is a tough time.”

Reflecting on the incident hours later, Ogier added: “I need a reset for sure. Right now I feel very disappointed for the team as it could have been another strong weekend for us.

“In France, we say ‘never two without three’ and now it is three rallies in a row that we have really tough luck. I’m very happy with the speed obviously but unfortunately, again this was even worse than the last weekends as we didn’t score any points this time. Let’s hope we still have some in Japan.”

Despite the crash, Toyota reduced the deficit to Hyundai to 15 points in the manufacturers’ race thanks to points scored by Elfyn Evans, who finished the rally third overall, while Takamoto Katsuta picked up the maximum 12 Super Sunday points.

Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala admitted that it had been strange to see the mistakes from Ogier, but also believes safety note crews must be allowed to pass through each stage in the future.

“It was looking very good after Saturday and I thought we would be able to catch back on points and take it closer for Japan, but it has unfortunately changed quite rapidly,” Latvala told Motorsport.com.

“It’s strange [to see these errors from Seb] and he has apologised.

“This time, what he told me [is] they didn’t allow the safety crews to go through because of the timetable so there was more mud on this corner and he anticipated higher grip and he lost control of the car.

“With these cars, we should always have the safety crews going on stage. It is a different story with the slower cars but when the speeds are higher the risk levels are higher.

“I think it has hurt him quite hard because he had done a great fight and tried to help the team but when the accidents happen in a row… it starts to affect your confidence and everything it is not easy to handle that kind of thing.”