IN THE HEADLINES
PATRESE, DEPAILLER…
Ex-formula 1 star Riccardo Patrese is to make his racing comeback in next week’s Spa 24 Hours with Honda. The 64-year-old winner of six grands prix will share the JAS Motorsportrun NSX GT3 with Honda-contracted Esteban Guerrieri and Bertrand Baguette, together with 1990s single-seater racer Loic Depailler, the son of the late Patrick Depailler. Both Patrese (due to his age) and Depailler (who is now a magazine editor) qualify as bronzerated drivers for the car, which will run in the Pro-am class. They have tested the NSX at Spa and the Cervesina track in northern Italy.
…AND MORBIDELLI…
Another popular Italian ex-f1 driver, Gianni Morbidelli, parted company with the Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo World Touring Car Cup team on the eve of last weekend’s round at the Slovakia Racing. Former GP2 and GP3 racer Kevin Ceccon slotted in to the vacant Giulietta alongside Fabrizio Giovanardi.
…AND LARINI AND CAFFI
And while we’re on the subject of old Italian F1 battlers, here’s a story about two of them! Nicola Larini and Alex Caffi, both 54 years old, have teamed up in a Bentley Continental GT3 run by Petri Corse for the remainder of the Italian GT Championship. They took a best result of seventh first time out at Mugello last weekend in a race won by… Giancarlo Fisichella in a Ferrari.
DRAGONSPEED INDYCAR
World Endurance Championship team Dragonspeed has begun talks with Indycar about joining the series in 2019. The team, which would likely be Honda-powered, is aiming to run its LMP1 driver Ben Hanley. Briton Hanley, 33, was one of the UK’S leading single-seater talents of the 2000s before he returned to karting. Team boss Elton Julian said: “I want to make it happen while we have momentum and intention.”
CARLIN DOWN TO FIVE
Top Formula 3 European Championship team Carlin was down to five cars for the second successive event at Zandvoort last weekend due to the continued absence of recent GP3 debutant Devlin Defrancesco. The team is believed to be close to replacing the Canadian for the upcoming Spa round.
LEGGE STEPS IN TO JAG
Former Indycar racer Katherine Legge is the first driver announced for the new Jaguar I-PACE etrophy, which will support Formula E for the 2018-19 season. Legge, who is active these days in the IMSA Sportscar GTD class, will drive for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. A 20-car grid is anticipated.