IN THE HEADLINES

O’WARD SKIPS OVAL RACES

Red Bull junior Pato O’ward is to skip the remaining oval rounds of the Indycar Series he had planned to contest during his rookie season with Carlin. The Mexican, who failed to qualify for the Indy 500 following a heavy practice crash, was scheduled to race at Iowa Speedway and Gateway, with Charlie Kimball taking the wheel at Pocono and this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Team boss Trevor Carlin has confirmed “we will run two cars for the whole season” alongside Max Chilton, meaning Kimball could get extra rides in O’ward’s place.

MALDONADO, DAVIDSON SWITCH

Long-shot World Endurance Championship LMP2 title contenders Pastor Maldonado and Roberto Gonzalez plus co-driver Anthony Davidson are switching teams for the 2019-20 season. The trio finish their programme with Dragonspeed’s ORECA at this month’s Le Mans 24 Hours, with the team scaling back its sportscar commitments to focus on its Indycar programme. They will join another ORECA team, Jota Sport, which is also vying for the LMP2 crown at Le Mans under the guise of Jackie Chan DC Racing.

LAURENT GETS TOYOTA LMP1 ROLE

WEC rising star Thomas Laurent has been named as test and reserve driver for Toyota in the 2019-20 series. The 21-year-old Frenchman, who tested the TS050 HYBRID in the Bahrain rookie test in 2017, will begin work with the Japanese manufacturer after the Le Mans 24 Hours 2018-19 series finale and will participate in its pre-season test programme. Laurent runs third in the LMP standings with Rebellion Racing, but it is unclear whether he will enjoy a parallel race programme in 2019-20 – he has been linked with a move back to LMP2 for the season with the Signatech Alpine squad.

EDWARD NELSON 1934-2019

A former member of the British bobsleigh team who arguably completed more racing miles in a Ford GT40 than anyone else, Edward Nelson has died. He was 85. Nelson started racing in a Jaguar E-type in 1964, and acquired the ex-peter Sutcliffe GT40 in late 1966. In 1967 Nelson won at Hockenheim, scored a class win on the Mugello road course, and took a pair of thirds with Mike Hailwood in South Africa’s Springbok Series. He also claimed a class win with David Piper in the 1968 Sebring 12 Hours. After retiring in 1969, he was team manager for Jackie Epstein’s Speed International Formula 5000 squad and served on the BRDC board.

ALONSO PROTEGE IN F3 CAR AT SPA

Franco Colapinto, a protege of Fernando Alonso, will make his debut in an F3 car at Spa this weekend. The 16-year-old Argentinian, a title contender in Spanish F4, will race with Drivex in the Euroformula Open round.