Motorsport Roundup: Sebastien Ogier Wins WRC Season Opener, MotoGP And WEC Calendar Reshuffled, Alfa Romeo Car Launch Date And More

WRC

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s reigning seven-time WRC champion Sebastien Ogier picked up from where he left off with a win at the season opening Rallye Monte Carlo. This was Ogier’s 50th world rally win and a record-breaking eighth triumph at Rallye Monte-Carlo. The Frenchman won by 32.6 seconds to teammate Elfyn Evans, with Hyundai Motorsport’s Thierry Neuville rounding off the top three finishers. This leaves Toyota Gazoo Racing taking the opening salvo in the driver’s and manufacturers standings over Hyundai Motorsport. Racing action will resume at the Arctic Rally Finland which commences on February 26.  

F1

With 2021 preseason testing less than a couple of months away, Alfa Romeo has become the first team to set a launch date for their 2021 challenger. Codenamed the C41, the car will debut on February 22 in Warsaw, Poland. Expect more teams to start lifting the lid on a set launch date for their 2021 challengers as we get closer to preseason testing that’ll commence from March 12-14 in Bahrain. 

MotoGP

This week saw the 2021 MotoGP calendar go through a bit of reshuffling. While the season opener remains as is at Qatar on March 28, another race at the same circuit, will follow on April 4, with Portimao being the third race of the season on April 18. The Argentine and US grand prix that were scheduled to run in April have been postponed towards the end of the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That being said, revised dates for the two races are yet to be determined.

WEC

Another motorsport season to have its calendar rescheduled with the season opener originally planned for March 19 at Sebring being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, Portimao will host the season opener of the 2021 World Endurance Championship on April 4. As things stand, the rest of the six-round season remains unchanged.

Indian motorsport

Back home,there was some eSports action in the form of Season 4 of the Mumbai Falcons Indian eRacing Championship. With over 300 participants from over 40 cities, it was Pune’s Muhammad Ibrahim who took the Pro Class title with 12 race wins out of the 16. Amitesh Rao won the Junior Class title, with Muskaan Jubbal crowned the Women’s Class champion.  With this title win, Muhammad Ibrahim  has won a one-day test in a Volkswagen Race Car, while the other winners will be awarded training programs & kart racing entries.