Motorsport Roundup: TVS Racing Out Of Dakar 2021, All-Indian Asian LeMans Team Announced, Formula E Season Opener Postponed And More

Dakar 2021 

Less than a week before the Dakar Rally 2021 kicks off, and TVS Racing has announced that it won’t be competing in the prestigious rally as a factory team. Instead, the company will sponsor Harith Noah, who will be competing with the Sherco Rally Factory Team as a privateer entry, . Harith Noah will piloting the Sherco TVS RTR 450 Rally motorcycle. The rally will kick off on January 3, 2021, at Jeddah and conclude in the same city on January 15.

WEC

This week saw another established factory outlet pull out of a series in the form of Aston Martin axing its GTE Pro programme. After nine years and seven seasons in the FIA WEC, Aston Martin has recorded 47 class wins and 103 podiums, nine class championships and four 24 Hours of Le Mans class victories. The carmaker claims that it will focus more on customer operations. 

Indian motorsport

 

It was a big week for Indian motorsports as an all-Indian endurance racing team called Racing Team India has been announced for the 2021 Asian LeMans series. The lineup consists of Narain Karthikeyan, Arjun Maini and Naveen Rao. The team will compete in the LMP2 category with an ORECA 07 car and will have technical backing from the defending Asian LeMans teams champions Algarve Pro Racing. The season kicks off on February 5-6, 2021 and comes to a close on February 19-20 with all races being held at the Yas Marina circuit, Abu Dhabi.

Formula E

Less than a month to go before the start of the 2021 Formula E season and the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rear its ugly head. Formula E confirmed that the season opening double-header Santiago E-Prix that was scheduled for January 16 and 17 has been postponed due to strict travel restrictions. A new date for the season opener is yet to be announced.

F1

While there weren’t any on-track related news this week, there was some good news for former Williams Racing chief Sir Frank Williams, as he was discharged from hospital after being admitted for a private medical matter.  

MotoGP

Currently, Suzuki is the only manufacturer team aside from Aprilia that runs without a customer team. But a satellite team for Suzuki in 2022 could be on the horizon. Reports suggest that Suzuki team boss Davide Brivio has set a deadline for April 2021 to make a decision regarding an attempt at a satellite outfit for 2022.