IN THE HEADLINES
HAMILTON GETS BOWLED OUT
Six-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton finished runner-up in the coveted BBC Sports Personality of the Year award for the second time running last weekend. Hamilton, who won the 2014 award and who paid tribute to the late Niki Lauda – who was instrumental in signing him to Mercedes – on the night, was beaten by cricketer Ben Stokes.
MCLAUGHLIN’S INDYCAR TEST
Australian Supercars champion Scott Mclaughlin will get his first Indycar test at Sebring next month with Team Penske. The New Zealander, who has NASCAR aspirations, won his 2019 title with DJR Team Penske, and will drive in the Indycar rookie test. Mclaughlin spent “a few hours” in a simulator earlier this year, and said: “It’s going to be a blast to see what one really feels like at a place like Sebring.”
KATSUTA GETS EIGHT RALLIES
Toyota protege Takamoto Katsuta will tackle eight rounds of next year’s World Rally Championship in a Yaris WRC, including his home event, the season-closing Rally Japan. The car will run alongside the three factory machines of Sebastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanpera but is likely to be serviced separately by Tommi Makinen Racing. Katsuta starts his programme on next month’s Monte Carlo Rally.
GOODYEAR’S LMP2 DEAL
Goodyear will become the official tyre supplier for the LMP2 class of the World Endurance Championship from next season. The arrangement with the American company, which re-entered international motorsport in P2 at the start of the current WEC campaign, will mean all cars in the secondary prototype category will run on its tyres and will bring Michelin’s involvement in the division to an end.
FIA F3 RACERS AT SUZUKA
A trio of FIA Formula 3 Championship drivers are contesting this week’s Japanese F3 test at Suzuka, indicating that they could be set for a move east to race in the replacement Super Formula Lights series in 2020. Honda-backed Teppei Natori will run with Toda Racing, while Simo Laaksonen and Raoul Hyman will take the wheel of B-max with Motopark machines – Laaksonen in the new Dallara F320 chassis.