The real reason Verstappen is drawn to GT3 racing

Max Verstappen is drawn to GT3 racing because it offers him a chance to make a difference in a level-playing field, according to the category’s architect Stephane Ratel.
While Formula 1 drivers have largely stopped competing regularly outside grand prix weekends in recent decades, aside from an occasional appearance in the Race of Champions, Verstappen has bucked the trend by exploring a wide …Keep reading
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WRC – Ogier heads Neuville after dramatic Portugal Friday

WRC – Ogier heads Neuville after dramatic Portugal Friday

Sport news

Adrien Fourmaux had looked in control for much of the day after moving ahead of overnight leader Oliver Solberg on Friday morning. But the Hyundai driver’s challenge unravelled on SS8, Góis, when an off-road moment left him with front and rear-right tyre damage.

Ogier, who had spent the morning searching for pace and balance in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, avoided the trouble and surged into the lead. The seven-time Portugal winner then reinforced his position with the fastest time on Lousã 2 before Neuville responded on the final Mortágua test to close the gap to just 3.7s overnight.

“I’m happy to finish the day,” said the Frenchman, the reigning FIA World Rally champion. “Tomorrow is the start of a new rally. I think we can be happy with what we have done this afternoon as the morning was tricky.”


Friday had initially belonged to Fourmaux and Sami Pajari. Pajari won both Mortágua 1 and Arganil 1, moving from sixth to second overall, while Fourmaux’s consistent speed and strong tyre strategy call gave him a 7.7s lead by remote service.

The Frenchman was still leading after SS7, but his rally turned on the following Góis stage. Solberg first went off and rejoined after nearly rolling his car, then Fourmaux suffered a near-identical moment at the same place and stopped after the finish to change two wheels. He fell from first to sixth overall, 34.3s behind Ogier.

“I lost the brakes, so I couldn’t slow down and we went wide,” Fourmaux explained. “We checked everything with the car and we carry on. It is part of the rally.”

Neuville also endured an imperfect day, fighting the balance of his Hyundai through the morning, but the Belgian stayed out of major trouble and came alive as conditions evolved. He won Lousã 1 before ending the day fastest again on Mortágua 2, taking 1.2s from Ogier on the final stage. “At least the performance is there,” said Neuville. “I think we did okay.”


Pajari completes the overnight podium, 15.2s off the lead, after one of his strongest gravel days in a Rally1 car. The Finn’s morning pace lifted him firmly into contention, though a tyre off the rim on SS7, a half-spin on SS9 and a broken windscreen on the final stage cost him a handful of seconds.

“It has been a really okay day,” Pajari said. “Unfortunately, we did lose a few seconds but that is rallying. Two more days to go and we are in the fight.”

Solberg sits fourth, just 1.2s behind Pajari, after a frustrating day in which he struggled for feeling in the car and lost the lead on Friday morning. The Swede remained within reach despite his Góis moment, then took second-fastest time on the final stage.

Championship pacesetter Elfyn Evans ended the day fifth, 28.1s from the lead, after spending Friday first on the road. The Welshman described the final Mortágua pass as “like a beach inside the ruts”, but completed the day without drama.


Fourmaux is sixth, 1.8s behind Evans, with Takamoto Katsuta seventh after a difficult day searching for grip and confidence in his Toyota. Dani Sordo holds eighth for Hyundai after being hampered by an incorrect tyre choice in the morning and losing further time through the afternoon.

Josh McErlean is ninth for M-Sport Ford despite receiving a 50s penalty after being delayed leaving remote service when his Puma Rally1 struggled to start. Team-mate Jon Armstrong, meanwhile, wrestled his car through the afternoon loop without powersteering, with co-driver Shane Byrne helping by changing gears and pulling the handbrake in slower corners.

Mārtiņš Sesks showed improved pace for M-Sport, including fourth-fastest and third-fastest times on Góis and Lousã 2 respectively, before a double deflation on the final stage of the day cost him more than three minutes.

Nikolay Gryazin completed Friday as the leading Rally2 runner in 10th overall for Lancia, ahead of Jan Solans, who tops FIA WRC2 in 11th. Roope Korhonen and Yohan Rossel are second and third.


Calle Carlberg is 7.3s ahead of Thursday FIA Junior WRC pacesetter Ali Türkkan, while Matteo Fontana tops the FIA WRC3 leaderboard.

Saturday is the longest day of the rally, with two passes each of Felgueiras, Cabeceiras de Basto, Amarante and Paredes before the Lousada superspecial. The action begins at 07:00 local time.
 

World Rally Championship

WRCWRCSEASON 2026SportRallies1SportWorld Rally ChampionshipRalliesWRCSEASON 2026WRC00Friday, May 8, 2026 – 9:25pmFriday, May 8, 2026 – 9:25pm

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Ford in talks with Verstappen about WEC Hypercar opportunities

Ford will make its Hypercar debut in the World Endurance Championship next year, and the company’s racing chief Mark Rushbrook would love to see Max Verstappen race the car one day.
Ford has returned to Formula 1 this year thanks to its partnership with Red Bull Racing. The two parties have joined forces for the development and production of power units for Red Bull and its sister team Racing …Keep reading
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WEC: Peugeot on pole in Belgium as Jakobsen stuns at Spa

WEC: Peugeot on pole in Belgium as Jakobsen stuns at Spa

Sport news

Earlier on in the Hypercar qualifying session, that kind of result had looked far less likely, when the Dane spun at high speed at the top of Raidillon on his ‘out’ lap from the pits, fortunately avoiding any impact but obliging him to return to the box for a fresh set of tyres.

Determined to atone for his error, Jakobsen subsequently rejoined the track to post the second-quickest effort, sandwiched between the two Alpines. In the ten-minute Hyperpole shootout, the 22-year-old then soared to the top of the timesheets behind the wheel of the #94 Team Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 Hypercar that he shares with fellow young gun Théo Pourchaire and former FIA World Endurance Champion, Loïc Duval.

The result represented the first pole for ‘The Lions’ in any international endurance racing series in 15 years and first in world championship competition since 1992, and Jakobsen was unsurprisingly delighted with his headline-grabbing achievement. 

“It definitely wasn’t the ideal start to the session!” he joked. “A bump caught me out and unfortunately I had a spin; luckily, I didn’t hit anything, but at times like that, your heart stops for a moment and then I immediately felt some vibrations. We decided to box for new tyres, and luckily, we still had time to do two build laps and a proper ‘push’ lap, then the break between qualifying and Hyperpole was good to take a deep breath and get the focus back.

“It’s the best feeling to drive around this track on low fuel and new tyres, and I’m very happy for the team. This is a great boost for everybody in terms of motivation to keep working hard. It really shows that even though we’ve had a challenging past couple of years, everything is possible and you should never, ever give up.”

As in the curtain-raising contest at Imola last month, the margins at the sharp end of the field were miniscule, with less than eight-hundredths-of-a-second blanketing the top three around the 7.004km ‘Ardennes rollercoaster’ and an unprecedented 0.664s covering the entire top ten.  

Will Stevens pushed Jakobsen hardest as the Brit put Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s FP3 pace-setting #12 entry on the front row of the grid, a scant 0.043s adrift of his Peugeot rival. 

Alpine Endurance Team was ultimately not quite able to replicate its stellar turn-of-speed  from the first part of the session, but the pair of striking blue A424 Hypercars will nonetheless start from the second row in tomorrow’s six-hour contest, following excellent efforts from Frenchmen Charles Milesi and Jules Gounon. 

On his series debut, veteran of four Le Mans starts Jack Aitken underlined the pace of Cadillac’s V-Series.R by bagging fifth spot, ahead of Aston Martin THOR Team’s brace of Valkyries and the best-placed Ferrari 499P, with Antonio Fuoco managing just eighth in the #50 scarlet prototype.

The Italian was the only Prancing Horse driver to progress to Hyperpole, as Robert Kubica (13th in the #83) and defending world champion Antonio Giovinazzi (15th in the #51) failed to advance to the top ten showdown. The Ferrari duo was joined in the ‘drop zone’ by championship leader Toyota, with Kamui Kobayashi 12th in the #7 TR010 Hybrid and Brendon Hartley in the Imola-winning #8 car 1.5 seconds adrift of the pace in 16th. 

The TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, round two of the 2026 FIA WEC campaign, will get underway at 14:00 CEST tomorrow (Saturday, 9 May).

World Endurance Championship

WECEnduranceTOTAL 6 Hours of Spa-FrancorchampsWECSEASON 2026SportCircuit1SportWorld Endurance ChampionshipCircuitWECSEASON 2026WECEnduranceTOTAL 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps00Friday, May 8, 2026 – 6:37pmFriday, May 8, 2026 – 6:37pm

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