Formula 3 – Budapest

Australian James Wharton secured his first top ten Qualifying of the 2025 season, converting it into a points finish in the Hungarian Grand Prix Sprint Race.

Qualifying, held under overcast skies, Wharton delivered a 1:32.839, placing 10th. A result that under the reverse grid rule, promoted him to third for the Sprint Race start.

At lights out in the Sprint Race, Wharton held third, immediately engaging in a three-way battle with James Hedley and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak for the lead.

However, on lap seven, Ugo Ugochukwu executed a switchback at Turn 1 to take P3, after which Wharton began struggling with tyre degradation.

In the closing stages, Wharton reeled Hedley back in but, with tyres at the end of their life, the Victorian was overtaken by Charlie Wurz, ultimately finishing in P5 and securing six points.

The Sunday Feature Race began behind the Safety Car with Wharton retaining P10 on the opening racing lap, fending off Inthraphuvasak.

Multiple Safety Car interventions followed, allowing Wharton to climb to eighth.

However, a drop in pace saw him fall to 14th, prompting a strategic call to pit for slicks as the racing line began to dry. The gamble, however, failed to pay off, and Wharton ultimately retired from the race.

“It’s been a real mix of ups and downs,” Wharton said.

“Going into qualifying, we made a strong step forward. I put together a great lap on the final set of tyres, felt confident with the car, and was happy to finish P10.

“During the Sprint Race, we still lacked pace but managed to bring it home in P5, solid enough. In the Feature Race, however, on the wet tyres, we simply didn’t have the speed we needed, and we’ll need to analyse what went wrong.

“Still, there are positives to take: qualifying was a step forward, I’ve scored my first top ten of the year in qualifying, and I had a solid Sprint Race. Now, I’m looking ahead to Monza.”

With six points on the board and now sitting 17th in the driver standings, Wharton now heads into the break ahead of the FIA Formula 3 season finale at Italy’s Autodromo Nazionale Monza on 5–7 September.

F1 – Budapest

Oscar Piastri put in an impressive effort to finish second by less than one second, as his teammate Lando Norris pulled off the Hungarian Grand Prix victory.

Starting the 70-lap race in second, Piastri maintained his position behind pole sitter Charles Leclerc in the opening phase.

Norris and McLaren gambled on stopping just once and it paid off, with the British driver holding off a fast-finishing Piastri by 0.698 seconds.

Piastri had chances in the final laps to make a move on Norris, and came just inches away from hitting his teammate having locked up on the penultimate lap.

The Melbournian leads the Drivers’ Championship by nine points, as F1 heads into the mid-seasonbreak.

The next round of the 2025 Formula 1 Championship takes place at Zandvoort on 29-31 August.

GB3 Championship – Silverstone

Round 5 of the 2025 GB3 Championship saw four Australians deliver some incredible racing at Silverstone, battling for victories, podiums and top ten finishes.

Rodin Motorsport had a very successful weekend, with Championship leader Alex Ninovic securing an impressive double pole position, coming away with his fourth career win in Race One.

He managed to keep the chasing pack just at arm’s length during the opening stages, before extending as the fight behind intensified, crossing the line almost five seconds ahead.

Race Two was not as strong, with Ninovic starting from pole and finishing in 21st. The Aussie made several bold moves which saw him run off the track and loose positions.

In the final race, Ninovic crossed the finish line in fourth after impressively working his way through the midfield throughout the race.

Race One saw Pat Heuzenroeder start from fifth. A clean getaway gave him the chance to showcase his defensive driving and in a race that demanded both resilience and precision, he held on to finish P6, earning valuable points.

Heuzenroeder claimed second in Race Two, his fourth podium of the season and a major boost for both his Championship hopes and for Xcel Motorsport.

Heuzenroeder made a fast start in Race Three, charging up to fifth and looking well on course for another podium.

Unfortunately, failure by another car to leave racing room on the Hamilton straight exit forced him onto the escape road, costing 11 positions.

Undeterred, he launched a fightback, with a series of aggressive overtakes to recover to 11th before a steering issue limited further progress, finishing in 12th.

Ninovic’s teammate, Gianmarco Pradel also had a successful first race at Silverstone, coming home with second place.

Pradel had a setback in Race Two, finishing the 12-lap race in ninth.

The final race at Silverstone concluded with Pradel taking victory, collecting a haul of points towards the Championship fight.

Pradel made a strong start from pole to lead from lights to flag, making it a highly successful weekend for the Aussie.

Noah Lisle had a less than ideal first race, retiring early due to a mechanical failure, however, the young Australian made a great recovery to finish fifth in the second race.

Lisle continued this strong performance in Race Three, securing a podium with third place.

Round 6 of the 2025 GB3 Championship takes place at the legendary Brands Hatch GP Circuit, on 22-24 August.

GB4 Championship – Silverstone

Jack Taylor has finished his weekend in Silverstone on a major high, coming home with two GB4 Championship victories.

The Aussie claimed his maiden win in Race One, leading every lap from pole position to finish almost three seconds in front of teammate Thomas Ingram Hill.

Taylor also dominated in a rainy second race, collecting his second victory of the weekend.

The race began with majority opting to give up track position to pit for wet tyres. Taylor was the lead hunter for Fortec Motorsport, passing Ava Dobson on lap two before moving ahead of Mayer Deonarine.

In the final lap, Taylor picked up where he left off after a safety car, setting the best lap of the race that put him a second clear of any of his rivals’ fastest efforts.

The final race wasn’t as lucky for Taylor, finishing last after early contact with Dayton Coulthard, costing him his front wing.

The next round of the 2025 GB4 Championship is on 23-24 August for the Brands Hatch GP.

Junior WRC – Rally Finland

Taylor Gill has produced a near-perfect drive to finish second in the Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC) at Rally Finland, extending his Championship lead with one round left for the 2025 season.

At the scene of where he took his maiden JWRC win in 2024, Gill and co-driver Dan Brkic recovered brilliantly from a puncture on Saturday, finishing just 8.3 seconds behind rally winner Eamonn Kelly.

Second place and five stage wins mean that they have doubled their Championship lead, putting them in the box seat to take the crown.

Gill was in prime podium position from the second stage of the rally, and took the lead on SS8 until SS17, when a after puncture caused them to fall to third place, with three stages to run.

Sunday’ss final stage, Ouninpohja was highly successful for Gill, dominating the iconic 24-kilometre stage on both occasions. Gill’s big push allowed him to cut Kelly’s 30 second lead to just 8.3 seconds by the end of the event.

“Today we really needed to take those two stage wins, so we just threw everything at both passes, and were able to win them both,” Gills said.

“I was basically shaking at the end of the first pass. It was just incredible, but honestly, we had two almost perfect runs, I would say. There was not a lot left in the tank.”

While his main rival for the title, Sweden’s Mille Johansson, took seven stage wins, he finished sixth in the overall standings, giving Gill a small buffer going into the final round in Central Europe in October.

The Aussie holds a 14-point advantage over Johansson. Further to his Junior World Rally Championship success, Gill and Brkic also hold a comfortable lead in the WRC3 category, taking top spot over the weekend.

The final round of the JWRC is a double points scoring rally based in Germany, with stages also in the Czech Republic and Austria, held on 16-19 October.

Formula Regional European Championship – Imola

Round six of the 2025 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine involved highs and lows for Australian Jack Beeton.

After a strong first Qualifying that saw the Aussie begin the first race in fifth, Beeton was pushing for a podium finish. However, an incident with Zachary David on the last lap resulted in Beeton finishing P21.

This incident led to Beeton receiving a grid penalty, with the Aussie starting Race Two in 13th.

Beeton’s bad luck unfortunately continued, with him launching to P8 before being taken out in a high-speed crash, resulting in a DNF.

Beeton is now back in Australia for a break and to reset, with plans to come back much stronger in Spielberg on 7 September.

Italian F4 – Imola

Australian Dante Vinci has finished Round 5 of the 2025 Italian F4 Championship at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola.

Free practice looked promising for the Aussie, showing some decent pace. However, Qualifying didn’t go as expected, with traffic preventing Vinci from securing a front grid position for the three races.

Race One saw Vinci begin from 18th, with the race proving to be complex due to multiple safety car interventions. Undeterred, Vinci made some strong overtakes the finish in 13th.

With Race Two suspended due to a start-line incident involving eleven cars, the Italian F4 drivers moved on to Race Three. Vinci’s last race at Imola was unfortunate, finishing in 28th and receiving a 25 second time penalty.

The Aussie is now back in Australia for the summer break and will be back on track in Barcelona on 21 September.

IMSA SportsCar Championship – Road America

Australian star Matt Campbell and his teammate Mathieu Jaminet had an action-packed weekend at Road America for the Motul SportsCar Grand Prix.

Starting the 4.048-mile race in fifth, the Porsche Penske Motorsport team had a rocky start, dropping to the back of the field.

Campbell and Jaminet made a strong recovery, jumping back up to first to then finish the race back where they started, crossing the line in fifth.

The team are focused on improving their performance to fight for podiums, with the next round taking place on 22-24 August for the Michelin GT Challenge At Vir, held at Virginia International Raceway.

New Zealand Rally Championship – Wyndham Rally

Queenstown based driver Caleb Macdonald and Australian co-driver Larisa Biggar powered home to win the 2025 Barry Robinson Memorial Wyndham Rally, becoming Macdonald’s first outright rally victory.

The event was held in difficult weather conditions, reducing visibility that added extra challenge to the race.

Coming into the final stage, Macdonald and Biggar lead by 18 seconds, with the rest of the pack closing in.

However, the duo were able to pull off the win, taking the Barry Robinson Memorial Trophy back to Queenstown.