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Motorsport

Formula 1: Not a bad Friday from Jack Doohan with both Top 15 lap times across both practice sessions for Alpine-Renault at Albert Park

by Sports Benches

It wasn’t a bad day for a start from Alpine’s own No.7 after all across Fast Friday who was 13th in the first session and 14th in the 2nd session and he’s all ahead of his team-mate Pierre Gasly.

Goes to show Jack is damn quick with raw pace & can manage his tires well especially when he’s through the straights with that super soft tires as if he’s on the drag strip. That’s what we know best about him so far & also important to bring that kind of skillset for the best possible start of his Formula 1 career.

Although he had an issue or two when it comes to the cornering where the first session had to be up on hold for a bit (red flag) after he made a mess with the gravel while he may have scratched the floor of his A525 at Turn 10 & asked the team to check on his way back in the garage.

Thankfully he’s okay & that weakness isn’t new anyway as they just want to make sure he’s good to go on Qualifying day tomorrow so his target again is to make up respectable Top 10-12 lap times & then it’s all on Jack to score points come Sunday.

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Motorsport

Final Thoughts ahead of Jack Doohan’s next practice session tomorrow at his home track Albert Park for the Australian Grand Prix with Alpine-Renault

by Sports Benches

In about 12-14 hours from now, Jack will be back behind the No.7 Alpine-Renault A525 to build on the work he picked up from pre-season testing as his target is to clock respectable Top 10-12 lap times.

That’s all we want to hear.

A Good Friday session can mean a good Saturday’s worth of qualifying and also race day Sunday. 

Sure he’s learnt a lot by now other than the basic 1st step of keeping his car clean which is what Pierre has also done all of last season while able to fight the top teams at the same time and Pierre has been setting up those standards every now & then.

Let’s get behind him first & foremost 100% with confidence & let him handle that pressure under traffic also 100%.

Now the tables are on Jack who is more than ready to split the race field with raw pace + his own 7 iron & go into a comfortable situation where no one else is able to ignore him – I mean in a good way – so he can stay with a team who is currently giving him a red hot go at Alpine.

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Motorsport

Formula 1: Jack Doohan’s Albert Park memories ahead of his season-campaign opener on home soil later this week at Alpine

by Sports Benches

Jack Doohan’s next task at Albert Park awaits especially on his home front from racing in F2s back in 2023 to being reserve driver last year along with a special ride in one of those old Enstone-built Benetton cars from the 90s alongside his legendary dad’s bike that also won him a few world championships there.

What can Jack walk away this time then as a first-time Formula 1 driver? Let’s hope it can turn out well with race points based on his pre-season testing feedback from two weeks ago in Bahrain.

Although the chances of winning are of course a long shot since Alpine is currently not on the same pace as McLaren-Mercedes and Red Bull but at least Top 7-10 finishes should be enough to keep him beyond the season opener plus the four other race clause survival.

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Motorsport

NASCAR today’s result: Christopher Bell goes three-in-a row after he defeated Gibbs team-mate Denny Hamlin at the white flag plus more coming from Legacy Motor Club

by Sports Benches

A bit unlucky there from the No.11 Denny Hamlin but good to see him finish 2nd and how good was Christopher Bell in the No.20 Gibbs Camry once again with another Toyota race win after three races out of four minus the Daytona 500.

Still early days with 2nd chances on the line by everyone else before Bell would want to pull off a Phoenix Raceway clean sweep alongside that championship trophy he long wanted come November for the C’ship 4 finale but so far, so good.

And yes, the same goes to fellow Toyota customer Cup team Legacy MC with a lot to reflect on.

JHN was excellent on the long runs as always like it was last weekend at COTA where he finished in 14th with the exact same difficult circumstances he had to do from the back once again – imagine how serious he could be and the best of this LMC’s on-track results is yet to come.

Erik Jones, meanwhile, may not have been able to hold down a top-half spot especially with a series of yellows holding him back ahead of restarts but not a bad second half session though to sign off at the 43 office in 18th.

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Motorsport

2026-30 Supercars TV rights deal update March 2025

by Sports Benches

We got an update on the next Supercars TV rights deal and according to the latest Speedcafe’s Full Credit to the Noise Podcast, it seems the top tier package has all but signed, sealed and delivered with Fox Sports staying on as their primary broadcast partner once again.

So that means Nine would be out of the running at all not even via a shared FTA arrangement since they want the whole lot through Stan Sport with some on the main channel since its inception back in 2021.

It’s either Seven or 10 now as one could be staying on or returning after all.

I think Seven would be the winner when most of their simulcast sports deal do come with Fox Sports & they’ve got a great history with racing on their own that has been going on for many decades.

One thing that Foxtel should consider is at least having every Saturday or Sunday main afternoon race of every round live in front of a paywall on top of six marquee & full event ones (like the support races, etc.) including the Bathurst 1000 whether if it’s on Kayo Freebies or even Seven.

It’s just not the same as it once was before going back to the glory 90s & 2000s but times have changed unfortunately due to the prices of sports tv rights going up the roof including the demise of Holden at the start of this decade along with Chevy currently running an outdated Camaro.

Although you can tell Toyota is coming into the fold next year that could make up a three-way fight up front for the championship especially with the first-ever finals format coming later this year.

Yes, ad-free and getting the best experience out of a regular Supercars viewer on Fox/Kayo is paramount but would love to see a race per round live on either side of the weekend as if they’re tuning into NRL or AFL with both flexible paid and free TV options every weekend.

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Motorsport

NASCAR today’s result: Another dominant Toyota weekend by Christopher Bell courtesy of a sensational race-winning move with six laps to go along with an P22 finish of a tough weekend from John Hunter Nemechek at Legacy MC

by Sports Benches

Here’s another Toyota race winning weekend and what a sensational drive Christopher Bell has pulled off against both Chevys in William Byron and Kyle Busch right there & never looked back on his second race win of the new year with 6 laps to go on the final stretch at COTA.

Looks like he’s the early favourite tipped to be the next first-time champion at the No.20 Gibbs Camry even though there’s a whole lot of other races to get through after three weeks of 36 or 37 if you count the All-Star non-points weekend.

And yes for Legacy Motor Club, it may not have been the best weekend, especially when racing on a road course & also in qualifying where they rolled off at the back. But at least both cars came home all in one piece with #43 Erik Jones in 27th while #42 John Hunter Nemechek benefitted some yellows to gain some track position there & he finished 22nd – imagine what could happen if JHN started  a bit further afield with a fighting chance.

Still lots of time though as he’s been happy with the team’s good progress as of late with first two races being Top 10 & sure he will make it three out of four before he’ll be running after a Top 5 very soon.

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Motorsport

Thoughts on IndyCar set for broadcast free-to-air highlights this year on Sky Open in NZ mid-week similar to 9Go in Australia

by Sports Benches

Looks like Sky Sport NZ has decided to throw in some free-to-air exposure with IndyCar after all with an hour-long highlights package of each round this year starting with the opening race at St. Pete Florida and it’s being scheduled for 3.20 to 4.25pm this Wednesday on Sky Open.

That’s the same thing we’ve been tuned in over in Australia for a number of years now since Nine acquired the rights off Foxtel at the start of 2022 & they’re not going anywhere – despite the change of domestic rights carrier to FOX (yes, the US one) – where they’ve got the extensive live and on-demand option for their paid Stan Sport subscription before they replay the highlights for an hour and again as a repeat between a few days later and the next weekend via free-to-air on 9Go.

They will be back this Thursday at 11.40am-12.50pm as well as Saturday afternoon 1-2.10pm.

It’s going to be fantastic season ahead especially if you’re an NZ racing fan such as the likes of Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, veteran Scott Dixon for Ganassi even though he was born in the Gold Coast, and youngster Marcus Armstrong who has just moved to Ganassi’s satellite team at Meyer Shank Racing.

On top of that, UK’s Will Buxton will get his big break having just switched from F1 TV as Fox’s lead IndyCar announcer, who worked with Leigh Diffey for many years before as pit reporter when NBC had the rights for Formula 1 back in 2013-17, as well as the old Fox Sports’ Motorsports Channel called Speed several years beforehand between 2010 to 2012. 

Plus, several on-air talent have also came over from NBC including one new and old familiar faces on pit road – there’s another Brit and racing driver Jack Harvey onboard for the first time (he’s like Regan Smith from the network’s NASCAR coverage in this series) and of course, Jamie Little who will be back to her familiar place at the IMS when the Indianapolis 500 comes around in May.

Yes, even though Australia has a good history of airing a full-length Indy 500 race in the past up until the early 2000s, there’s no way they will be able to do that once again when they start at 2am in the morning & almost no one would able to stay up going into the workday Monday.

Although it looks as likely we will get the first two hours live (as a simulcast) of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Endurance Race for 2025 once again at midnight in between late Saturday night & early Sunday morning before it will be redirected to Stan under a paywall like it was over the last two years since Nine has the WEC & they will be back to chase things out this June.

Again, going to be a huge year of motorsports whether you’re into open-wheels, sportscars or NASCAR as the first IndyCar race of 2025 starts tomorrow 4am only on Stan Sport and 6am on Sky Sport NZ.

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Motorsport

Formula 1 News Pre-Season Day 3 2025: Jack Doohan now knows what to do after he was 12th fastest with Pierre Gasly always Top 5-10 on the final day for Alpine-Renault

by Sports Benches

2025 Pre-Season testing now over after three good days for the Alpine guys #7 Jack Doohan and #10 Pierre Gasly in Bahrain where Pierre was always on track in between the Top 5-10 (no problem with that Renault engine there) and Jack making the most out of these difficult situations even with mixed conditions so he can manage practice and qualifying better with traffic around him next time that can translate into good race results.

He had to go through that when he was thrown into the deep end on his unexpected debut at Abu Dhabi back in December – imagine what could’ve happened if he started a bit further up the grid and finish more like closer to Top 10.

Gotta say being 12th fastest on top of 5th if it’s just the AM session ain’t bad to finish off Friday and the whole three-day’s worth of work thanks to his crew behind the scenes. Now he knows what to do as soon he’s back in that A525 in a few weeks time at Albert Park in Melbourne – his home Grand Prix track, how special is that to begin the new season!

Sure he will keep his head focused with confidence both for his Aussie and race fans as well as the few hundred staff working with Jack at Alpine for Team Enstone and Viry-Chatillon.

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Motorsport

Formula 1 News Pre-Season Day 2 2025: Jack Doohan proved to be quick through one lap after he was 8th fastest just ahead of his Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly

by Sports Benches

Looks like Jack Doohan has been improving on what has been a top Day 2’s work of pre-season testing for Alpine-Renault & he was 8th fastest of 1.30.368 after 80 laps just ahead of team-mate Pierre – just 1.0s behind Carlos Sainz Jr. who topped the charts at Williams also with a Mercedes engine.

When there was rain earlier in the day coupled other than an odd slip up or two through at some corners, Jack did indeed made the most out of his afternoon/evening shift. And yes, he can be so damn good to post a decent enough time through one lap for sure – just have a look back at his junior career in Formula 2 and 3.

You might think they’ve promoted him to a race seat just because the team has no other option & then later Franco pops up out of nowhere but at the end of the day, he’s more than ready to make his seat his own with as long as he gets good race results under his No.7 A525 since there’s only 20 cars out fighting Top 7-10 points.

Let’s hope Jack can stay that way going into the third and final day’s pre-season work tomorrow.

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Motorsport

Formula 1 News Pre-Season Day 1 2025: All about getting used to the Alpine-Renault A525 setup with Jack Doohan not bad and Pierre Gasly setting a top-half run once again

by Sports Benches

Okay, it’s only Day 1 of pre-season testing out of 3 in Bahrain but safe to say it’s an encouraging first few steps so far for Jack Doohan who wasn’t bad in the morning shift of 1.31.841 that puts him 14th out of the 20 cars running out on track. 

At least he’s evaluating what’s his best setup for the A525 chassis so far as if he’s back to school to start the new year at a new higher grade that will help him get a better idea when he will be running the afternoon session for Day 2 of 3 tomorrow. 

Remember come qualifying and race day when others crash out or unable to go mechanically & he’s still on, things could go his way after all – don’t forget that.

And there’s always the more experienced Pierre getting the best out of that Renault engine once again and he was 6th fastest of 1.31.353 – goes to show he does mean business when running up front like we saw at the final few races of last season.

Lots more to come on Day 2 tomorrow with Pierre in the morning & Jack back in the afternoon/evening.

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