Formula One – São Paulo
Oscar Piastri’s deficit behind McLaren teammate Lando Norris in the World Drivers’ Championship was extended by 23 points following the São Paulo Grand Prix, setting the Australian a difficult task to claim his maiden Formula One World Drivers’ Championship over the remaining three stops of the 2025 season.
The Sprint Race portion of the weekend ended prematurely for Piastri after starting from P3, following a crash on Lap 6 after taking too much of the kerb and then spinning into the barriers at Turn 3. Norris, who started the race on pole was first to cross the finish line, taking the full eight points.
The Victorian rebounded with another strong Qualifying performance, starting from fourth on the grid and beginning the race cleanly.
After an early Safety Car phase, Piastri attempted a move on Kimi Antonelli for second place into Turn 1 at the restart, but a lock-up saw the McLaren bump the Mercedes, and consequentially sent the latter into the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who was then forced to retire.
Piastri received a 10-second time penalty for the incident, throwing a spanner into his efforts to keep up with Norris. Ultimately, Piastri would finish fifth and claim 10 Championship points from the placing.
Next up for Piastri is the Las Vegas Grand Prix in two weeks, before the two more stops in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
World Endurance Championship – Bahrain
Matt Campbell’s season with the Porsche Penske Motorsport team came to a close at Bahrain International Circuit, taking part in the 8 Hours of Bahrain.
The final round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the 8 Hours of Bahrain crowned Ferrari as the Manufacturers’ Champions following a triple top five finish for the Italian marque, meanwhile Campbell and his teammates pushed for a top 10 finish.
Campbell, Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor did not get off to an ideal start, placing last among the Hypercar teams in Qualifying.
The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport vehicle answered back in a big way, climbing its way up the race order come race day.
Following the eight hours of racing and 236 laps, Campbell and the team had clawed all the way back to 13th outright.
In LMGT3, Martin Berry and Yasser Shahin also made appearances for Iron Lynx and The Bend Team WRT respectively.
Berry and his teammates drove the #61 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to a 21st position overall in qualifying and third in-class after a fastest third practice time. Shahin and company clocked the 23rd-fastest lap in qualifying and fifth among the LMGT3 competitors.
Iron Lynx would finish the race 19th outright after 216 laps and The Bend Team WRT in its #31 BMW M4 GT3 settled on 24th outright close behind.
Porsche closed out the season third in the Manufacturers’ Championship with 165 combined points. Campbell finished eighth in the Drivers’ Championship with 65 points, with more than half of the total coming from the team’s performance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans earlier in the year.
New Zealand Rally Championship – Whangarei
A strong combination of Aussies put their best feet forward at the final round of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship at the Vertex Oil International Rally of Whangarei.
Navigator Larisa Biggar, alongside driver Caleb Macdonald, led the Rally Challenge Trophy by a slender 10 points prior to the event.
Closely behind, Queensland navigator Neill Woolley was seated alongside local driver Josh Keighley. Starting the event second in the Rally Challenge Trophy, and first in the Classic 4WD Class class, Woolley needed a strong showing with his driver to finish 2025 with some silverware and to catch up to Biggar and Macdonald in the standings.
Biggar and Macdonald managed to finish seventh among the Rally Challenge Trophy competitors, which secured enough points to be crowned 2025 NZRC Rally Challenge Trophy winners.
Woolley and Keighley secured a Rally Challenge Trophy podium finish in third for the event and a Rally Challenge Classic 4WD Class win for 2025.
The rally was not straightforward for Biggar and Macdonald, having sustained damage to their Mitsubishi Evo last time out at Rally Bay of Plenty.
The duo’s first responder competitor and rival Ben Huband, had offered his spare rally car, a Subaru H6 to drive at Whangarei.
The show of sportsmanship earned Huband the Ken Block Memorial Trophy for the act of kindness.
Robbie Stokes won his second career NZRC round by taking out the season-closer.
NZRC winner Ben Hunt did enough on Day One on Saturday to wrap up the title – his fourth of his career. The championship will return in 2026 with the first round to be held in Otago in April.
