David Beckmann set the fastest time on the third day of Formula E pre-season testing as reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein showcased Porsche’s strength by leading a 1-2 in the simulation race.

Wehrlein became the first driver to lap the Jarama Circuit just outside Madrid below the 1m28s barrier in the morning session on Thursday but was eventually pipped to the top spot by 0.008s.

Kiro’s Beckmann posted a 1m27.755s in the final hour to go fastest while also setting the quickest time of the test so far, with just Friday’s morning session remaining ahead of an all-female test in the afternoon.

The German, who is Porsche’s Formula E test and development driver, has yet to make his debut in the all-electric championship and has not been confirmed with Kiro for the upcoming season.

The second Porsche of Antonio Felix da Costa finished the morning session third, just 0.058s behind Beckmann’s time, as three Porsche-powered cars occupied the top three spots.

The Portuguese driver followed Wehrlein home in the 24-lap simulation race which was held at the start of the afternoon’s session and was the first chance for teams to see the new Gen3 Evo in close-quarters action.

Reigning teams’ champions Jaguar occupied the front row with the grid determined by a random draw, and Mitch Evans led for the opening segment of proceedings after a delayed start.

Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

Advertisement

This was due to Zane Maloney, who will make his Formula E debut this season, being unable to launch off the line in his Lola/Yamaha-powered Abt, and the driver from Barbados completed no laps.

Evans held the lead until lap nine before da Costa moved to the front, with DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne taking the lead on the following lap.

The Frenchman’s new team-mate Maximilian Guenther moved into first at the halfway point, as 11 drivers made a mandatory pitstop to receive a pit boost charge.

The concept, whereby drivers receive a 10% battery charge at 600kW which is achieved in approximately 30 seconds, has been under development for more than two years.

The simulation was the first time teams were able to run the procedure during a race, with a decision set to be made by the FIA and championship on whether it will be implemented at points this season.

With all drivers completing the mandatory stop by lap 15, Vergne resumed in the lead but just three laps later, and after a planned safety car test, Wehrlein hit the front and began to pull away.

Team-mate da Costa moved into second at Turn 3 on the penultimate lap at the expense of Nick Cassidy.

António Félix da Costa, TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Advertisement

Cassidy finished third ahead of Andretti’s Jake Dennis and team-mate Evans, with Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries completing the top six.

Normal running resumed for the remained of the afternoon, as Mahindra finished on top. De Vries posted a 1m28.010s which left him 0.451 clear of team-mate Edoardo Mortara in third, with Evans between the pair.

Formula E Race Test Result

DREAM TEAM managers have some extra time to decide upon their transfers for Gameweek 11 as the deadline isn’t until 1:30pm on Saturday.

The upcoming Gameweek simply consists of a full round of Premier League fixtures to take place over Saturday and Sunday before the international break takes centre stage.

As usual, we’ve assembled some transfer recommendations for your perusal…

4

Advertisement

Tottenham players

Spurs v Ipswich leaps out of the schedule as a mismatch to target.

Ange Postecoglou’s side are the Premier League’s top scorers this season while only Wolves have conceded more goals than the Tractor Boys.

Dominic Solanke (£4m) is the most popular recruit ahead of Gameweek 11 following his 21-point mega haul against Aston Villa last Sunday.

But truth be told, gaffers are spoiled for choice.

Son Heung-min (£5.3m) boasts the highest points-per-game average among his team-mates but Brennan Johnson (£3.8m) is the club’s top goalscorer in 2024/25.

James Maddison (£4.6m) has flourished (he’s a bonus point magnet) but his minutes are becoming harder to predict.

Last but not least, assist specialist Dejan Kulusevski (£3.1m) offers excellent value for money and has been at the heart of Spurs’ best attacking moves in recent weeks.

4

Bruno Fernandes (£5.9m)

Manchester United’s captain is the most in-form player in Dream Team at the time of writing having taken 37 points from his last three outings.

That may change later when the Red Devils take on PAOK but the point is that Fernandes is a very strong option right now.

Ruud van Nistelrooy’s final game as interim head coach comes in the form of a home game against Leicester, which is handy for the Dutchman as he oversaw a 5-2 win against the Foxes in the Carabao Cup in Gameweek 9.

Fernandes banked 18 points that night and while Steve Cooper is likely to name a stronger side this time around, the Portuguese playmaker will fancy his chances of another successful outing.

See also: Alejando Garnacho (£4.2m)

4

Advertisement

Kostas Tsimikas (£2.9m)

Liverpool are flying right now.

You don’t need us to explain the benefits of selecting the likes of Mohamed Salah (£7.3m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£6m) but the Reds’ Greek left-back is worth flagging.

Tsimikas currently features in just 0.9% of teams but he’s seemingly leapfrogged Andy Robertson (£4.1m) in the pecking order.

He started against both Brighton and Bayer Leverkusen in Gameweek 10 and returned 19 for his efforts.

Recruiting Tsimikas ahead of Gameweek 11 comes with risk as Aston Villa are relatively difficult opponents on paper and it wouldn’t be a total surprise if Robertson was given the nod by Arne Slot.

However, the prospect of an in-form defender starting for the league leaders at just £2.9m is hugely appealing.

4

Advertisement

Rayan Ait-Nouri (£3.6m) and/or Matheus Cunha (£4.4m)

A couple of one-week punts to finish.

Wolves are yet to win a league game this season but their most talented players have the ability to bank plenty of points against Southampton at Molineux on Saturday.

Score Predictor

Advertisement

Play Score Predictor with Dream Team this season!

• FREE to play
• £250 weekly prize
• Predict scores of five selected Premier League fixtures and earn points for accuracy
• Most points wins weekly cash prize
• PLAY NOW

Ait-Nouri leads the way for goal involvements (three goals, two assists) among Dream Team defenders this season.

The Algeria international is a left-back in the loosest possible sense; he takes up some extremely advanced positions.

Cunha is a class act and a man in form having taken 24 points from his last three games.

The Brazilian forward ranks highly in his position for bonus points and big chances created.

Gaffers who like to seek out differential options for short-terms gains should look to Wolves this weekend.

BetMGM sign up offer

BetMGM: Get £40 in free bets — HERE*

*New cust only. 7 days to opt in by placing a £10 qualifying bet at 1/1 (2.0) odds or greater to receive 4x Free Bets: 1 x £10 horse racing, 1 x £10 Bet Builder, 1 x £10 Acca and 1 x £10 football. 7 day expiry. Exclusions apply. Stake not returned. 18+. T&Cs apply.

Commercial content notice: Taking one of the bookmaker offers featured in this article may result in a payment to The Sun. 18+. T&Cs apply. gambleaware.org

It’s been a week since welterweight champion Belal Muhammad revealed news of a foot infection forced him out of UFC 310, and there’s been a lot of talk about what will happen with his opponent, Shavkhat Rakhmonov, but still nothing has been set.

One possibility being talked about is for Rakhmonov to meet former 170-pound champ Kamaru Usman for an interim belt at the Dec. 7 pay-per-view event from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While Rakhmonov has lobbied for that matchup to take place, things are still up in the air.

On Thursday’s episode of his “Pound 4 Pound” podcast with Henry Cejudo, Usman expressed a willingness to step in on short notice but wasn’t clear about being contacted by UFC matchmakers as he commented on the situation for the first time.

“The UFC is gonna call who they think is gonna be legit tough enough and man enough to step in there, is crazy enough to step in there on short notice, and go out there and possibly shock the world,” Usman said. “Definitely the UFC knows who to call when that situation happens. And if they do give me a call, I’m gonna answer the call, get a couple things straight, and if we’ve got to do it, we’ve got to do it. I don’t shy away from any of that.”

Usman has been called upon for two major short-notice fights in recent years. While he was champion, he accepted a fight with Jorge Masvidal on six days’ notice in July 2020 at UFC 251. Usman last year stepped in on less than two weeks’ notice to fight Khamzat Chimaev in a middleweight bout at UFC 294. Usman beat Masvidal by unanimous decision but lost a majority decision to Chimaev.

Usman, 37, is on a three-fight losing, having not competed since the loss to Chimaev in October 2023. Prior to that, Usman dropped back-to-back title fights against Leon Edwards – first losing his title by fifth-round knockout at UFC 278 then coming up short in the rematch (trilogy) by majority decision at UFC 286.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 310.

Bob Pockrass

FOX NASCAR Insider

Research many of the stats on William Byron’s season, and they will tell the reader absolutely nothing about the likelihood of Byron winning the NASCAR Cup Series title on Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.

His three wins this season match those of each of his three competitors for the title — Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick. But Byron rides a 27-race winless streak into Phoenix, while the other three drivers have combined to win the last three races.

Byron’s average running position in the nine playoff races is 7.48 and his average finish is 9.33. None of the other three has an average running position better than 11th and an average finish of better than 15th. And, yet, Byron still enters with arguably the least momentum thanks to that winless streak.

So which Byron gets in the car on Sunday? The one who runs and finishes well on average or the one who hasn’t won a race since April?

“I feel like the driver that is capable of winning this championship,” Byron said. “And the reason I say that is because, yes, we haven’t won yet [in the playoffs], but it’s coming, and we’ve been working towards it nonstop.

“We’ve been incredibly consistent, incredibly fast, and it’s just a matter of time for our team.”

The Hendrick Motorsports driver opened the year with a victory in the Daytona 500 and then added wins at Circuit of the Americas and Martinsville. Winning at three different style of tracks — a superspeedway, a road course and a short track — buoyed talk of him potentially dominating the season.

It never happened.

“I should have enjoyed it a little more,” Byron said with a laugh about the quick start. “But it’s just the nature of the sport. It’s challenging, man. We got a little bit off through the summer, just in terms of what we were looking for in the car and some of our communication.

“We formed that bond again through these last seven, eight weeks, and I feel like our team is just on the cusp of winning another race.”

The team never expected the dominance to last, and it had nothing to do with the competition’s improved performance.

“To be honest with you, early in the year, we were outkicking our coverage in some of those races,” Byron crew chief Rudy Fugle said. “We were finishing better than our cars were performing, and we were confident and got the wins.

“And since then, I think we’ve had four second-place finishes — those are one thing here or there that gets you another win. …. We think we found our stride at the right time.”

Byron agreed with the Fugle assessment, that he had a little bit of angst in winning so many races so early.

Kevin Harvick reacts to William Byron’s Daytona 500 win

“We were not where we wanted to be, and we had conversations about that, and it was tough because we were still winning races even though we weren’t where we wanted to be,” Byron said.

“We’ve worked really hard. It’s been, in some ways, a trying year, but the team that we have has really stayed together and the bond has grown really strong. And now we’re ready to go out there and win.”

Fugle indicated that he felt they had 10th-place cars at best during the summer, but the playoffs have shown that they have top-five speed at the right time.

Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon, a four-time Cup champion, indicated that in the playoffs, a driver sometimes can’t take risks if the driver doesn’t have a dominant car, because the driver needs to maximize points.

“This weekend. It’s just all or nothing,” Gordon said. “It’s throw it all out there, make the aggressive calls, aggressive setups, and be aggressive on the racetrack as well if you’re going to win the championship.

“And they’re ready to do that.”

Kevin Harvick pitches a NEW playoff format the NASCAR Cup Series

Byron and Fugle also have experience of competing for the Cup title, having come up short last year in their first attempt as they won the pole for the championship race but faded over the second half of the event, finishing fourth in the race and third among the title contenders.

“[Byron] has learned a lot,” Gordon said. “And he’s matured a lot, and the team has as well to be able to handle the pressure that comes along with this week — and walk through the paces, and know what to expect, and be able to still stay focused on what they need to do to go out and execute.”

Byron knows exactly what he learned last year after that first trip as a championship contender.

“I hate to lose, and I hate that feeling after the fact of that we didn’t have enough,” Byron said. “This year is going to feel different in that way. I know it will. I just learned a lot of lessons about what we need to do on the car side and throughout the race to be good by the end.

“I just want to get back to that opportunity. That’s what we’ve been chasing all year.”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

Get more from NASCAR Cup Series Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis’ appeal against a five-game stadium ban was dismissed to “send a clear message” after he “undermined respect for the game of football,” says the Football Association (FA).

The 57-year-old was found guilty of improper conduct for spitting on the floor as the match officials walked past following Forest’s 1-0 Premier League defeat by Fulham at the City Ground on 28 September.

Marinakis denied the charge and appealed against the Regulatory Commission’s outcome, before it was later dismissed by an Appeal Board.

In a statement adding clarity to the appeal rejection, the FA said: “Showing such contempt for match officials in a place where that can be seen by other individuals, significantly undermines respect for the game of football.

“Such behaviour is only more serious when it comes from an individual who himself has a position of both power and responsibility within the game.

“It is therefore vital that a clear message is sent that this behaviour will not be tolerated in any part of football.”

Gainsborough Trinity’s tie at Harrogate Town and Kettering Town’s home match with Doncaster Rovers in the FA Cup second round will be broadcast live on BBC Two.

Seventh-tier Trinity are the lowest-ranked side left in the competition after they beat fellow Northern Premier League team Hednesford Town on penalties in the first round.

Kettering – leaders of the Southern League Premier Division Central – produced the biggest shock of the previous round by defeating League One Northampton Town.

Harrogate host Gainsborough on Friday, 29 November at 19:45 GMT, before Kettering and Doncaster meet on Sunday, 1 December at 12:00.