Category: 6. Sports

“I’m really happy, because that’s what we had decided in the team briefing. I was free to break away. Once I took the first point, I needed a second to secure the polka dot jersey, and it all came down to Mont Cassel.

It’s a place I know well because we often ride there during the 4 Jours de Dunkerque. And yet I attacked too early, Matteo came back and we had to sprint. On the cobbles, you always sprint sitting down, but when I threw the bike forward, I lost my balance, my front wheel came off and we fell. I didn’t even know if I had crossed the line first!

It was entirely my fault, so I went to apologise to him and luckily he’s fine. I’m a bit sore and I’ll be aching for two or three days, but nothing too serious.

It’s my first climber’s jersey, in any race, so I’m really happy. And of course, the one in the Tour is legendary. We’ll see tomorrow if it’s worth trying to break away, but I’d like to keep it.”

FIA Formula 2: Hello and welcome to Silverstone for the press conference of our top three finishers in today’s FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race. In third place we have Roman Stanek from Invicta Racing, in second is Sebastián Montoya from PREMA Racing and your race winner for the first time in FIA Formula 2 is Leonardo Fornaroli also from Invicta Racing, Leo not only your first win in F2 but by my calculations your first win in 1491 days, how are the emotions right now?

Leonardo Fornaroli: I am very happy, very satisfied with the race. It wasn’t a very good start and Kush past me. Then I said no please I have to regain that P1. We fought quite a bit going to T7 and then luckily managed to repass him. There was no Safety Car so it was like a Qualifying race. I knew what to do to have a nice gap to keep P2 behind before the big DRS zone, otherwise they would pass me. It was fun, very happy about the tyre management and everything because I was able to drive in good conditions at the end to be able to fight with Sebastián. It was quite close, we were pushing like crazy. Very satisfied with today, it’s a Sprint Race of course but still P1 feels good.

FIA Formula 2: You said you’d been trying to get that win and how much you wanted it, I know you say it is just a Sprint Race but you have consistently been at the front the last few years, were you confident once you got into the lead that you could convert?

Fornaroli: Yes today I was quite confident that I could take it. The last round I started on Pole a few times and I couldn’t get the win; I really wanted that P1 and finally I took it. I am very satisfied.

FIA Formula 2: Were there any nerves in the car on those closing laps, you mentioned that Sebastián was putting you under pressure in those final few laps?

Fornaroli: Well there was also a bit of pressure at the start because Kush was quite close. I knew that the pace was good. We had changed quite a lot of things, compared to yesterday, it is also nice to bounce back from a disappointing quali. I saw the pace was good today, so I am also quite happy about that, happy that the adjustments we made worked. Speaking of the race, mid-race I saw Kush dropping back and five, six laps to go Seb overtook him and he was looking strong, so I said okay it’s time to push. Luckily I was in good conditions with the tyres. I was able to remain in front of him. Happy about today.

FIA Formula 2: Congratulations on the win, Seb second place for you, your third podium of the season, how strong did you feel out there?

Sebastian Montoya: Very! I was very fast, very competitive. Last week we had a very competitive race car but due to the contact in the Feature Race I kind of dropped back quite a way with damage and had to drive through. I was hoping to have that speed advantage again this weekend and I guess I got it. I was really happy from the first lap of FP we have been very competitive. It was a really fun race.

FIA Formula 2: You put in one quick lap on the penultimate lap of the race to cut that gap to about a second to Leo, were you saving a bit to push late at the end?

Montoya: Yeah it was quite difficult to overtake, especially with Kush sometimes having DRS it was hard to know exactly when I was going to be able to overtake. But I knew I had the pace advantage so I managed the best I could. I saw I was catching Leo and then I realised that we were doing the same lap time so one lap I decided to drop back a bit and take care of my tyres before pushing again. The moment I closed the gap he started pushing more and more as well. At that point I think, I spent a lot of laps behind Kush trying to fight with him, so my tyres were a bit off. I was trying to catch at the end but as I said the wind was hectic and the dirty air is quite big, Leo had strong pace, so it was hard to overtake. But I’m happy with P2.

FIA Formula 2: This result means four top five finishes in a row for you now, do you feel like you are really starting to hit your stride in Formula 2?

Montoya: I think I have been hitting my stride since Jeddah honestly, even in Australia I was really competitive I just made a mistake in Qualifying but still finished P6 in the Sprint. Bahrain was difficult for us but then we bounced back in Jeddah. We had some unfortunate luck and then we came back to Europe, and we have been very competitive the whole time. I am very grateful for the team and the people I have around me. We are doing a mega job and working really hard to keep improving and that’s our goal. Just take it race by race, day by day and just get better every time we go out on track.

FIA Formula 2: Thanks well done today, Roman onto you now another third place for you, your second in three races but how tough was that one?

Roman Stanek: Well, it wasn’t so tough, physically a little bit because Silverstone is a tough track. It was quite fun I have to say. I managed to get a good start, I actually tried to overtake Seb but I wasn’t able to do it. Then I had quite strong pace, it was quite difficult to overtake Kush so Seb and I stuck behind him for a while. Then Seb overtook him and then I managed to overtake him at two laps to go I think. He defended a lot but I managed to open the DRS and stay close and stick it around the outside of T15 which felt quite nice. Really enjoyed that race, it’s a shame that we started further back, maybe if we could start further up, but it’s a Sprint Race so good that we start further up tomorrow.

FIA Formula 2: Just talk us through that move with Kush late in the race there, were you concerned that the stewards were going to take a look at it at any point? They did clear you of any wrong doing there.

Stanek: No because I knew that I was ahead of him at the apex of the corner, so I just kept it flat on the exit of the corner. I don’t even remember if I ran wide, most likely yes. But he was defending the whole race a lot, so I felt relief to overtake him finally. Even if I was going to get a five second penalty, I don’t even know how much in front I finished, maybe three or four seconds, it wouldn’t have been enough but no I enjoyed that race.

FIA Formula 2: With Leo’s win and your podium, it is a big day for the team as well, how well are you guys all working together at the moment?

Stanek; Since the beginning of the season I have to say that the team is amazing. They have been very welcoming and supportive. Everyone actually, I enjoy it so much and I learn, although it is my third season in F2, every day you keep learning knew and knew information. With these guys I have learnt a lot so far. I am just very grateful that I can represent Czech Republic in this sport and be racing at a high level of motorsport.

FIA Formula 2: Well done Roman, congratulations everyone.

Crashes, infighting and relentless stress characterised a frantic opening stage of the 2025 Tour de France, which was won by Jasper Philipsen, of Alpecin-Deceuninck, in Lille Metropole.

Winner of three stages in 2024, the Belgian sprinter was too quick for the Eritrean Biniam Girmay, of Intermarché Wanty, and Norway’s Søren Wærenskjold, of Uno-X Mobility, and claimed his first yellow jersey.

Eighteen kilometres from Lille, the gusting crosswinds forced a decisive coup, as a select group, including Philipsen, moved ahead. In the front group were the favourites, Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Jonas Vingegaard of Visma Lease-a-bike.

Behind, there were multiple splits in the bunch, with more scrambling required by those who had lost the wheel in front of them. Among those cut adrift were the Olympic road race champion, Remco Evenepoel of Soudal Quick-Step, and Primoz Roglic of Bora Hansgrohe, five times a Grand Tour winner.

In a chaotic opening stage, raced at breakneck speeds through incessant crosswinds, there were soon crashes, punctures and dropped riders, with many left chasing back frantically through the race convoy. Among the casualties were Filippo Ganna of Ineos Grenadiers, Visma Lease-a-bike’s Simon Yates, the Giro d’Italia winner, the former world champion Julian Alaphilippe, now with Tudor Pro Cycling, Bahrain Victorious’s French hope Lenny Martinez, and Florian Lipowitz of Bora Hansgrohe.

The sight of first Martinez and then Yates, battling alone to rejoin the peloton, was puzzling, given their supposed protected status. Eventually all of them, apart from the stricken Ganna, who quit the race, rejoined the back of the peloton, but with frayed nerves after a typically stressful start to the Tour.

The stage looped south-west and then headed north, through the Pas de Calais, before turning back towards Lille and skirting the Belgian border as the peloton sped towards the finish.

The early breakaway of five riders survived 70km before the peloton reeled them in shortly before the first intermediate sprint, at La Motte au Bois, won by Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek from Bryan Coquard, riding for Cofidis, and Girmay.

The subsequent lull was filled by the French duo Benjamin Thomas, a gold medallist on the track in last year’s Paris Olympics, and Matteo Vercher.

A momentarily at ease peloton was content to give them their head on the approach to the stage’s two short climbs, the Mont Cassel and Mont Noir, as they built a lead nudging a minute.

But in a moment that seemed to epitomise the home nation’s malaise, the pair somehow managed to sabotage each other when sprinting for the climbing points at the fourth category climb to Cassel, Thomas’s rear wheel sliding across the cobbles and taking a furious Vercher down, as they crested the top of the climb.

Max Verstappen claimed pole for the British Grand Prix for Red Bull, a blistering run beating the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris into second and third. Mercedes’s George Russell was fourth, with Lewis Hamilton very much in the mix, taking fifth for Ferrari.

The pole was somewhat against odds for Verstappen, who absolutely wrung the neck of the Red Bull to beat a very strong assault from both McLaren and an improved Ferrari. The world champion has not been particularly happy with his car all weekend, having struggled with its balance all season. With the team using a trimmed back low-downforce configuration at Silverstone, it required every bit of his considerable skill to wrangle across the old airfield. As he has demonstrated previously this season, sometimes he can be the ultimate differentiator.

It was a salutary reminder of quite why there is so much interest in his future, with Mercedes considering him again and Red Bull just as anxious to hang on to their prized asset.

With Red Bull having brought what is likely to be their last major upgrade of the season to the last race in Austria, with a revision to the floor of the car aimed at helping address the balance issues that have plagued it all year, they will be buoyed that this time they had the advantage over McLaren, at least in Verstappen’s mercurial hands.

The team have been honest in that no quick fix was expected to the problems, with a disconnect between wind-tunnel predictions and real-world performance at the heart of their inability to solve the problems, but Verstappen enjoyed his lap at Silverstone perhaps more than many of late to take his fourth pole of the year and his first since Miami, six races ago.

Verstappen opened the running in Q3, taking the top spot, but was swiftly eclipsed by Piastri, who set a time of 1min 24.995sec. Norris followed but could not quite hook it up and was just under two-tenths back, while Hamilton was enjoying his best qualifying of the season to grab second place just over one-tenth back from Piastri, with Verstappen fourth.

The final laps would prove decisive and were a suitably tense affair. Norris went out first and pushed hard but did not improve enough over Piastri, while Hamilton set a superb first sector but was unable to quite make the difference. However, behind them Verstappen was flying, putting together his best lap of the session when it really mattered. Hammering it to the very limit, he took the top spot with a time of 1:24.892, a full tenth up on Piastri and Norris.

Ollie Bearman was in eighth place for Haas but has a 10-place grid penalty for failing to slow under a red flag in third practice. Kimi Antonelli was seventh but has a three-place penalty for his crash with Verstappen in Austria.

RangeGoats GC star Peter Uihlein shot a 1-under 72 on Saturday at The International Series Morocco to put himself in position for a run at the trophy at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat.

Uihlein, who won twice on The International Series last season, enters Sunday’s final round tied for eighth and four shots back of leader Scott Vincent. Uihlein is at 7-under for the week at the par-73 layout.

LIV Golf reserve player John Catlin, who has been a force on The International Series recently, is T12 after he recorded a 3-under 70 in the third round. He is 5-under for the week and six back of the lead.

Stinger GC’s Charl Schwartzel is T18 after a stellar 4-under 69 in the third round and sits seven shots off the lead. Torque GC’s Mito Pereira (T24), HyFlyers GC GC’s Andy Ogletree (T24) and RangeGoats GC’s Ben Campbell (T41) will look to go low on Sunday. Campbell is the defending champion in Morocco.

Click here for scores from Morocco

PUIG GRINDING ON DP WORLD TOUR

Fireballs GC’s David Puig continued his gritty play at the BMW International Open in Munich, Germany, and is six shots off the lead after a 2-under 70 in Round 3. Puig, who is tied for 12th, had five birdies and three bogeys on Saturday.

Cleeks Golf Club Captain Martin Kaymer, playing in his home country, is tied for 34th entering the final round. He shot 2-under 70 on Saturday.

Click here for scores from Munich

(Uihlein photo courtesy of Steve Bardens/Asian Tour)

(The International Series staff contributed to this story)

Schuring, the younger brother of Porsche DTM driver Morris Schuring, fended off a strong challenge from his Schumacher CLRT teammate Alessandro Ghiretti. Thanks to his second place, the French Porsche Junior extended his lead in the overall standings of the one-make cup with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Robert de Haan crossed the line in third place. With this result, the Dutchman from Proton Huber Competition maintains his second position in the overall standings.

Flynt Schuring, a member of the Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Deutschland Talent Pool, built up a lead of nearly four seconds in the opening laps, only to have a safety car phase wipe out his advantage. ‟After the restart, I couldn’t pull away again. Alessandro put me under a lot of pressure in the second half of the race,” said the Dutchman after securing his second victory of the season. ‟It’s really something special to win on my debut here at the Norisring.” With this result, Schuring moved up to third in the overall standings.

‟Flynt was simply too fast for me today,” admitted Porsche Junior Alessandro Ghiretti. ‟But I’m happy with second place, I’ve extended my lead in the standings, and it’s a fantastic result for Schumacher CLRT.” Robert de Haan echoed the sentiment: ‟I tried everything to force Alessandro into making a mistake – but it didn’t work,” said the Dutchman, who completed the podium in third place.

Behind him, compatriot Huub van Eijndhoven (Team GP Elite) crossed the line in fourth. Fifth place went to German Porsche Junior Theo Oeverhaus (Bonk Motorsport), who successfully fended off Kas Haverkort (Team GP Elite).

In the Rookie classification, Sacha Norden continued his winning streak. The 24-year-old Dutchman claimed his fifth Rookie victory of the Carrera Cup season. Despite the success, the Proton Huber Competition driver was not entirely satisfied: ‟Of course I’m proud of the Rookie win, but I was hoping to finish further up in the overall results,” admitted Norden, who finished 13th overall. The Rookie podium was rounded out by Norden’s British teammate Joe Warhurst and Brazil’s Matheus Ferreira (Target). Michael Schrey claimed his third ProAm class win of the season. ‟My little daughter Emma was cheering me on again today – she’s definitely becoming my good-luck charm,” joked the German from Bonk Motorsport. ‟But seriously, my 911 felt super stable under braking today – and on a circuit like the Norisring with its two hairpins, that’s crucial.”

The race was red-flagged on the final lap following a crash. After contact in a battle for position, Michael Essmann’s Porsche 911 GT3 Cup hit the barriers hard. The entrepreneur from the Rhineland was taken to hospital for a precautionary check but was classified second in the ProAm category. In the event of a race interruption, the results are based on the order from the previous lap – and at that point, Essmann was running second in class. Third place among the drivers without a professional racing background went to GP Elite driver Sören Spreng from Germany.

Trophies were presented by, among others, Vinzenz Pflanz, Chief Business Officer of Sixt SE. ‟As always in the Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Deutschland – a fantastic event with thrilling motorsport and incredibly passionate teams. It perfectly reflects the values of Porsche and Sixt,” he said of the Norisring experience.

Huub van Eijndhoven tackles Sunday’s race from pole

The eighth race of the season will see the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars back in action on Sunday at 11:15 am. Two Dutchmen will line up on the front row: Huub van Eijndhoven (Team GP Elite) starts from pole position, with Robert de Haan (Proton Huber Competition) alongside him. Fans can follow the weekend’s second race live on the internet, including on the Porsche Motorsport Hub and the Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Deutschland channels on YouTube and Facebook Facebook.

Result race 7, Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Deutschland, Nuremberg (DEU)

1. Flynt Schuring (NLD/Schumacher CLRT), 32 laps
2. Porsche Junior Alessandro Ghiretti (FRA/Schumacher CLRT), +1.004 seconds
3. Robert de Haan (NLD/Proton Huber Competition), +2.439 seconds
4. Huub van Eijndhoven (NLD/Team GP Elite), +3.718 seconds
5. Porsche Junior Theo Oeverhaus (DEU/Bonk Motorsport), +5.892 seconds
6. Kas Haverkort (NLD/Team GP Elite), +7.616 seconds

Standings Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Deutschland (after 7 of 16 races)

1. Porsche Junior Alessandro Ghiretti (FRA/Schumacher CLRT), 125 points
2. Robert de Haan (NLD/Proton Huber Competition), 117 points
3. Flynt Schuring (NLD/Schumacher CLRT), 89 points

Full results and championship standings on the Porsche Motorsport Hub.