The weekend as usual started with the 85cc Demo class race where Thailand rider, Brian Gayles of Gujrat Trailblazers dominated the race with a fastest lap of 57.937 seconds followed by his teammate Yash Shinde with a fastest time of 1:08.126 minutes.  

This was followed by the most anticipated race of the day, the 450cc International class. Entering the weekend, the Australian rider Matt Moss of BigRock Motorsports had a comfortable lead in the championship table over Jordi Tixier of BB Racing. While the former got a decent start in race 1, the latter fell back in 9th position. That I must say was a blessing in disguise as the Supercross World Champion, Jordi, put up an absolutely stunning show to make up 8 positions to take the win in the race followed by Matt Moss in second position and Thomas Ramette of Reise Motorsports finishing third. The trio were again the front-runners in the second race with Thomas leading the pack for most of the race. He was later overtaken by Jordi Tixier while Matt Moss finished in third position. This was enough for the Australian rider to seize the championship but the final points table revealed that he had finished just four points ahead of Jordi. 

While Reid Taylor of BigRock Motorsports had mostly dominated the 250cc International category throughout the season, he only managed to finish fourth behind Hugo Manzato of SG Speed Racers, Enzo Polias and Clement Briatte of Gujrat Trailblazers in first, second and third respectively, in race 1. He finished third in race 2 which was enough for him to clinch the championship title in the respective category.

The 250cc India-Asia mix category was mostly dominated by the Thailand riders Ben Prasit Hallgren of Mohite’s Racing team in first, Thanarat Penjan of BigRock Motorsports in second and Athison Ruadero of BB Racing in third position in race 1. Ben and Athison exchanged positions in race 2 while Thanarat finished at the same position, which again was good enough for him to win the championship. This being said, Rugved Barguje of SG Speed racers put forth an impressive performance by finishing fourth in both races and overall championship, despite an injury to one of his arms.

Finally we had the All-stars race in which riders from all categories (except 85cc) raced together and as expected, the 450cc riders, especially Jordi, Matt and Thomas, dominated and finished one, two and three. 

Overall, the inaugural season of Ceat Indian Supercross League was action-packed throughout the three rounds with lots of flying motorcycles, some fights and great overall racing actions! This should be enough to get people excited about the next season which is expected to commence in late 2024.

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Coming to the racing, CS Santosh led BigRock Motorsport experienced great success with its riders winning a podium in each category, starting with Thanarat Penjam from Thailand competing in the 250cc India Asia mix category taking the top spot on the podium in both rounds. Similarly, Australian racer Reid Taylor comfortably won both rounds in the 250cc International category. 

The 450cc International category presented the most competitive races with French rider and World Supercross Champion, Jordi Tixier from BB Racing winning both rounds followed by BigRock motorsport riders Cedric Soubeyras and Matt Moss finishing second and third respectively (Round 1). Round 2 saw Jordi and Cedric engage in a close battle for the first position before the latter fell behind his teammate Matt Moss in third position due to an unfortunate crash.

The next round of the Indian Supercross League will take place on February 11 in Ahmedabad followed by the third and final round on February 25, 2024 in New Delhi. Stay tuned to this space for more updates. 

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Team JK Tyre’s recent outings in the Indonesian round of APRC, which was running side by side with the Danau Toba round of the Indonesian National Rally Championship (INRC) had been rather successful. Jahaan Gill (co-driver Suraj Prasad) won the Junior class of APRC in the rally, while Suhem Kabeer (co-driver PVS Murthy) won the NVA class. 

Suhem came fourth in the overall standings, while Jahaan was eighth. This was Jahaan’s maiden international rally victory as well. That’s not all, as Lokesh Gowda (co-driver Ashwin Naik) came in second in the NVA class while finishing fifth overall. 

The rally was an all-gravel affair, with varied stage conditions such as wide open sections through plantations and twisty mountain roads. The rally started in Kaldera with a 2.07km Super Special stage, followed by 86.4km spanning six stages on Saturday. The Sunday stages used repeated and reversed stages from Saturday.

The top three places all went to local drivers – Rifat Sungkar won the rally, followed by Rizhal Sungkar and Atuy Faturrahman – all from Jakarta.

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Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia is the latest rider to win back-to-back championships in the premier class since Marc Marquez in 2019. The 2023 season of MotoGP came to a close with the final round at Valencia, with Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi completing the top three in the championship. Ducati won the constructor’s trophy with nearly twice the points as KTM, with Aprilia rounding off the top three.

How the race transpired:
There was drama aplenty at the final round, as Bagnaia did not have enough cushion in points to secure the championship. Though he started from pole after Maverick Viñales was handed out a pre-race penalty, Jorge Martin, the only other title contender going into the season finale, was on his tail. Martin ran wide on lap three, dropping to eighth, before coming into contact with Marc Marquez, who was on his final race with Repsol Honda. They both crashed out of the race.

Bagnaia held onto the lead up to this point but was overtaken by the KTM of Brad Binder, with his teammate Jack Miller running him down. However, both KTM riders made mistakes and Binder crashed out, handing the lead back to Bagnaia. Pecco successfully defended his lead from Johann Zarco, and later Di Giannantonio who overtook Zarco and hounded Bagnaia on the final lap.

There was some more drama left in store as Giannantonio was handed a 3-second post-race time penalty dropping him down to fourth, moving Zarco and Binder up to the final steps of the podium.

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The race start was chaotic, as the coldest race of the year made it very difficult for drivers to stop and make the first turn as the tyres and brakes could not get up to temperature quickly. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen went wide in turn one and pushed Charles Leclerc off the track to gain the first position. This action was penalised with a five-second time penalty. Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso also spun out and tapped other cars around them. Both had to pit early but made up ground to finish in points-scoring positions.

Lando Norris had an unfortunate incident when his car lost grip due to a bump on the track and spun and crashed into the wall, ending his race in just the third lap, adding to the McLaren team’s Las Vegas woes, as both the drivers had qualified quite low to begin with. Oscar Piastri was able to salvage the damage, by scoring the 10th position, and getting the fastest lap as well.

There were other retirements in the race too, with Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg having to end their race prematurely, both due to technical failures.

Teams up and down the grid had broken out special liveries to commemorate the race at Sin City. Alpha Tauri, Red Bull, Alfa Romeo and Alpine, to name a few, had liveries showcasing the casino theme of Las Vegas.

There were quite a few overtakes during the race, and the drivers were very closely packed too. Even cars like the Alpine, which have been off the top-end pace of the field, were able to not just keep up, but also overtake others in the race. 

Sergio Perez, who had started the race P11, made up quite a few positions in the race and showcased his street-circuit mastery. He was able to challenge for the race lead as well when he overtook Charles Leclerc in lap 32. Max, fought his way through the field and took back the lead in lap 37. The Ferrari driver had an intense battle with Perez, and the Monegasque snatched the second position from the Mexican in the 14-15-16 corner sequence in the last lap of the race.

With only one race remaining on the 2023 calendar, we will have to savour as much racing action as we can, at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which arrives in less than a week!

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But even as the dust settled on the track, it was announced that Lewis Hamilton had been disqualified from the race, along with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc- who finished sixth in the race, for a technical breach. They were disqualified because of excessive plank wear, which goes against the rules set in Article 3.5.9 e of the 2023 Formula One Technical Regulations. That means Norris is now bumped up to second position, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz promoted to third.

The start of the race was as action-packed as it could get. Norris got a great run from second position to take the lead, Leclerc battling with his teammate Sainz for second position, while Hamilton had a big scruff with Verstappen looking to overtake him at turn one.

Piastri was able to charge up the field to gain a whopping four positions even before the first lap ended! But a contact with Ocon damaged Piastri’s side pod and later resulted in both drivers retiring early from the race.

Hamilton’s Mercedes showed great pace the whole race, with overtakes done on both Ferraris in a span of three laps. Verstappen on the other hand seemed to have his hands full with the car. While he did have good race pace, he also had brake issues which meant he had to be extra careful in his driving. 

Norris was able to keep his lead for nearly half the race, being able to show great pace at the start of each tyre stint, but high degradation meant he could not keep the pace for long. Verstappen was able to overtake him at lap 28 and from then on, Norris was unable to match the Red Bull’s pace.

Further down the order, even though Fernando Alonso started the race from P17, he was able to overtake others to get to tenth position. But all that was short-lived, as he had to retire from the race at lap 51 because of loss of floor performance. This has been a weekend to forget for Aston Martin, salvaged only by Lance Stroll’s P9 which was upgraded to P7 due to the aforementioned disqualifications.

The disqualifications also meant that Alexander Albon got P9, with his Williams teammate Logan Sargeant scoring his maiden point in 10th position, that too on home soil.

The drivers championship seems to be heating up for P2 and P3 as a disqualification for Hamilton sees Sergio Perez extend his lead, and Alonso’s DNF sees Sainz and Norris closer to him than Alonso would like. In less than a week’s time, Formula One will be heading to Mexico for the Mexican Grand Prix scheduled to be held at the  Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

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As the race happened

It looked like a dream weekend for Jorge Martin. A sprint win and then a spectacular from sixth on the grid to take the lead. The Spaniard was in full control, with a comfortable lead of three seconds over Vinales. But disaster struck as Martin crashed out of the race, causing huge complications in the title race for the man who had taken the championship lead for the first time this season after the sprint race. 

Meanwhile, Bagnaia, starting 13th was on the attack, slicing his way through the field and was running second when Martin crashed out. That wasn’t enough for the reigning champion as he hunted down Vinales and grabbed the race lead. But it wasn’t all over as Vinales was keeping him honest and Fabio Quartararo showed ominous late race pace to be right in the mix for the win. Once the chequered flag dropped however, it was Bagnaia who came out on top as a stern reminder to the grid on why he’s world champion and that No.1 is on his Desmosedici.  

With this race win, Bagnaia retakes the lead of the riders’ standings, now extending his lead to 18 points over Jorge Martin with five rounds to go. Racing action will resume in less than seven days at Phillip Island for the Australian Grand Prix, scheduled to run between October 20-22.

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How the race transpired

The race weekend was anything but straightforward as extreme heat, excessive tyre wear as well as tyre safety concerns thanks to the kerbs on the Lusail International Circuit meant the FIA mandated a three-stop race stint distances not going beyond 18 laps. That wasn’t the end of it as a chaotic start meant the two Mercedes of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and George Russell made contact into the first corner, wiping out the former, while the latter was forced into an early pitstop, dropping him down to 18th and last of the field. 

Nevertheless, Russell scythed his way through the field to finish a commendable fourth in the end. Meanwhile up front, Verstappen had things under control with Piastri closely shadowing the Dutchman. Lando Norris managed to claw his way up to the podium, finishing third after starting 10th on the grid. 

Now that the drivers’ title is all wrapped up, the fight is on for second position as Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez sits 30 points ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes. In the constructors’ standings, McLaren are rapidly catching up to Aston Martin for fourth place in the standings with the former just 11 points behind thanks to their recent double podium finish. Next up is the 2023 Formula One United States Grand Prix which is set to take place between October 20-22. 

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As the race happened

Drama began mere minutes before the race as rain had begun sprinkling down on the circuit. However, it was just a drizzle and the field started on dry slick tyres. But that only lasted one lap as the majority of the field quickly peeled into the pits to switch over to their wet weather bikes as the conditions got worse.

Amongst the chaos, Martin did initially lead proceedings until a mistake cost him a few positions. But the Spaniard began slicing through the field and was back in the lead in no time. While Martin had things under control, Bagnaia was second and kept himself within touching distance to capitalise on any mistake from his championship rival. But the factory Ducati rider eventually had to look behind him as Marquez had begun making his way up the field and was within striking distance of Bagnaia.

All this was teasing us for an almighty Motegi wet weather classic over the final 12 laps, but the weather conditions got even worse, and we were unfortunately robbed of that fight for the win as the red flag was called due to the poor track conditions. While the field did go back out for a sighting lap, it was decided that the conditions were too poor to continue proceedings. Thus, full points were awarded for completing more than 50 percent of the race distance. 

With Jorge Martin’s ominous recent form, the Spaniard is now only three points behind Bagnaia, further intensifying the fight for the world championship with just six rounds to go.

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As the race happened

Unlike the sprint, Bezzecchi did manage to get through the opening lap without much trouble aside from Martin taking the lead early on. Bezzecchi took back the lead in quick succession and never looked back enroute to taking the win.

Meanwhile, behind him there was an almighty scrap for second place between championship leader Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin and even the Repsol Honda of Marc Marquez at one point before a mistake at Turn 1 had Marquez slide out of contention. But disaster struck in the closing stages as Bagnaia crashed out of the race. 

The drama didn’t end there as Martin had begun dropping back to the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo with issues like his riding leather needing to be zipped up again that cost him a second worth of lap time. On the final lap, Martin going wide after the back straight had Quartararo take second place, only for Martin to snatch it back with a bold move in the second sector. Such was the heroic defence of second place for Martin, the Spaniard almost collapsed in parc ferme due to dehydration from the extreme weather conditions over the duration of the 21-lap race.  

Thanks to Francesco Bagnaia’s costly DNF on the factory Ducati, the title race is getting even more intense as the Italian’s lead over Jorge Martin in the riders’ standings has been cut down to just 13 points. 

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