IN THE HEADLINES

WILLIAMS AERO MAN OUT

Williams aero head Dirk de Beer is the latest technical man to leave the team after its poor start to the Formula 1 season. His departure follows that of chief designer Ed Wood at the start of May. Ex-mclaren aero chief Doug Mckiernan has effectively assumed the outgoing duo’s responsibilities.

INDY PACE CAR SHUNT

Last Sunday’s second leg of the Indycar Series double-header at Detroit Belle Isle was delayed when Mark Reuss, General Motors’ executive vice-president of global product development, crashed the Corvette ZR1 pace car on the parade lap. Reuss was relieved of his duties and replaced by Oriol Servia. Chevrolet felt moved to put out a statement describing the incident as “unfortunate”, to hilarity on social media.

FORTEC BACK IN F3

British team Fortec Motorsport featured on the F3 European Championship grid at the Hungaroring last weekend, its first race in the series since 2015. Romanian Petru Florescu, a graduate of Fortec’s Euroformula Open team, raced the Dallara-mercedes, which was shaken down in free practice. Florescu plans to complete the season and the team is hopeful of a second driver.

SLOVAKIA ON WTCR BILL

The Slovakia Ring has replaced Rio Hondo on this year’s World Touring Car Cup calendar. Economic difficulties in Argentina forced the cancellation of the August date. The Slovakian event is due to take place on July 14-15, with the tin-tops sharing the bill with the European Truck Racing series.

COMINI IN TCR HONDA

Two-time TCR International champion Stefano Comini will contest the remainder of the TCR Europe season in a Honda Civic Type R. The Italo-swiss will be run by Belgian team THX Racing.

ALPINE SERIES BEGINS

The Alpine Elf Europa Cup – a new series for A110 Cup cars – kicked off at Paul Ricard last weekend with a 16-car field. The races were won by Pierre Sancinena (a former French F4 rival of Pierre Gasly’s) and Vincent Beltoise (nephew of Jean-pierre). The series visits Silverstone on September 1-2.