MOTOGP - As it turns out, Marc Marquez did require shoulder surgery. In a statement by the Ducati Lenovo MotoGP Factory Team on Monday, October 13th the details were put forth:

After a checkup for his right shoulder blade injury, Marc Marquez has undergone a successful operation at the Ruber Internacional Hospital in Madrid, Spain. The same medical team who had examined him seven days earlier found that the coracoid fracture and ligament damage were not showing sufficient signs of stabilization after a week of being immobilized. Therefore, given the risk of residual instability, it was decided to go ahead with surgical stabilization and repair the acromioclavicular ligaments.

Surgery was one of the options considered by doctors from the outset in the event that the planned conservative treatment failed. In any case, Marc Marquez will continue his recovery process, and his progress will determine the timing of his return to racing competition.

The cartwheel through the gravel resulted in another fracture to Marc's right shoulder area. Ducati has announced that the No. 93 will be switched out for No. 51 this weekend in Australia. Longtime Ducati Corse stalwart Michele Pirro will stand in for Marquez at Phillip Island. The veteran test rider of the Desmosedici GP will replace Marc Marquez for this first round. This will be Michele Pirro's 70th race in the Premier class.

Michele Pirro: “I'm coming to Phillip Island, perhaps one of the most beloved tracks for all riders, due to a particular situation. I wish Marc a speedy recovery so he can fully honor on track the title he won with the Desmosedici GP. Australia is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and spectacular tracks for a return to MotoGP. It will be my 70th race in the Premier Class, so thanks to Ducati: let's make the most of this weekend of work.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu won't be the only MotoGP rookie in 2026. LCR Honda has announced that Brazilian Diogo Moreira will complete the 2026 grid after signing the Moto2 rider. Moreira is currently P2 in Moto2, with the rising star grabbing Rookie of the Year honors in both Moto3 and Moto2 on his way towards a spot on the MotoGP grid in 2026. Moreira will be the first Brazilian to ride in the Premier Class since Alex Barros two decades ago.

Indonesian GP winner Fermin Aldeguer could wrap up Rookie of the Year this weekend. He’s 111 points ahead of Ai Ogura and only needs to increase that advantage to clinch the crown. Every racer who has suited up for the Independent Gresini Ducati team has won at least one GP. Aldeguer is the second youngest rider to with a MotoGP, being slightly older than Marc Marquez when he won his first Premier Class GP.

Marco Bezzecchi has been assessed a double Long Lap penalty for the Liqui Moly Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. The penalty is for his miscue in Mandalika when he made contact with Marc Marquez causing both riders to crash and the 2025 champion to miss an undetermined number of races while he heals.

Earlier today MotoGP Hall of Famer Casey Stoner was joined by fellow Aussie Jack Miller and other GP riders, who led local fans in a parade from nearby San Remo to Phillip Island.

On Sunday in Estoril Toprak Razgatlioglu claimed victory in the Tissot Superpole Race. Bulega got the holeshot for the 10-lap race, before Razgatlioglu dropped down to third behind Alvaro Bautista. It wasn't long before the BMW battled back to the front. After some swapping of positions and Bulega closing in towards the end of race, Razgatlioglu was able to reestablish a gap and take the win.

Race 2 gave a ray of hope for Aruba Ducati's Nicolo Bulega. His win on Sunday's Race 2 insured that the title fight would go to this weekend's Pirelli Spanish Round in Jerez. The window of opportunity remains open, but it is just a crack of an opening.

A slow start for Razgatlioglu saw him drop to fifth position on Lap 1. He jumped past Alvaro Bautista, Team Pata Go Eleven's Andrea Iannone and Pata Maxus Yamaha's Andrea Locatelli but didn’t have the pace to challenge Bulega. The battle for third went to Bautista.

Race 2 was Razgatlioglu’s first opportunity to seal his third WorldSBK title. His 39 point lead means that he will have a second chance in Race 1 this weekend at Jerez.

Nicolo Bulega: “It was a very good race. We improved a lot on the bike from the Superpole Race this morning. I’m happy because this win is important. I know the championship is very difficult, but we won't give up. Toprak has been very strong all season but I think we’ve also had a great year. I’ll keep pushing 200% and try to put pressure on Toprak because that’s all I can do now.”

The Pirelli Spanish Round this weekend will bring the 2025 season to a close. Race 1 and Race 2 originally were listed for broadcasts on RACER TV at 7:30 AM ET. But now it appears that's only on their streaming platform RACER+. The program guide now lists Race 1 on RACER TV at 4:30 PM Eastern. The Sunday broadcast still appears to be at 7:30 AM Eastern on RACER TV.

This season's coverage on the former MAVTV, which was bought out by RACER magazine, have been nothing short of horrendous. Side by side commercial bombardment, with inconsistent audio levels has made the races almost unwatchable.

MOTOAMERICA - After finishing third in the 2025 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, Bobby Fong is racing for Attack Performance Strack Racing Yamaha as a wildcard entry at the final two WorldSBK weekends.

Fong claimed a P17 finish in Saturday's Race 1 last weekend in Estoril. Never having seen the Circuito do Estoril. His goal was to steadily improve his laps times throughout the weekend.

In Sunday morning’s Warm Up, he eased into the final day at Estoril with the 20th-fastest lap time. In the 10-lap Superpole Race, Fong improved three positions from his 21st-place starting grid, and he took the checkered flag in 18th position.

The 21-lap Race 2 concluded his Portugal weekend, and he matched his result from the Superpole Race with another P18.

On a positive note, Fong's fastest lap of 1:39.255 in Friday’s FP1 to his Superpole qualifying lap of 1:37.426, he dropped nearly two full seconds from his lap times during the weekend. All of this will serve him and his Attack Performance Strack Racing Yamaha team well going into the final round of the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship at Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto in Jerez, Spain this weekend.

Bobby Fong: “It was a positive weekend because we dropped our lap times in almost every session and race, and that was the goal. My finishing positions weren’t great, but I improved each lap out there, so that was a plus. We are happy to be racing (in WorldSBK), and every time out is like a test session for us. We keep working to make the bike better. I’m looking forward to continuing next weekend in Jerez.”

The 2026 MotoAmerica calendar begins March 5th - 7th with the 84th running of the Daytona 200, where the Supersport Class receives top billing. The Superbike schedule begins two weeks later at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. See the schedule at MOTOAMERICA 2026.

Alboreto: Gasoline in the Veins - The story about the man who grew up to realize his childhood dream of driving a Formula 1 car for Enzo Ferrari is now available once more in the United States. Alboreto: Gasoline in the Veins is written by Michele Alboreto's brother Ermanno and details his early years and rise through the racing ranks. It also tells about his character outside the car and that is the contribution that we are most proud to be associated with. It began with an interview during Michele's Indy car career and a request to use it in his life story. We also contributed interviews with his teammates and racing legends like Giacomo Agostini. Listen to that interview HERE. For ordering info, reply to this update for details. There are a limited number of copies here in America, you will save international shipping prices by getting your copy right here. Visit the Facebook page HERE.

FORMULA 1 - Formula 1 kicks off the final quarter of the season with their second trip of the year to the US; to Austin, Texas and the mighty Circuit of the Americas, home of the United States Grand Prix. COTA is a real racers' track with fast changes of direction; wheel-to-wheel racing; overtaking opportunities – a stark contrast to last time out on the tight streets of Marina Bay.

The Circuit of the Americas, with its elevation changes, spectacular first turn, and mix of high-speed corners and slower traction zones, is a real test. Because of the track's varying characteristics, set up is one of compromise. Correct ride height is essential for an optimum lap. Drivers have to try to straight-line the esses in Sector One as much as possible to unlock lap-time, which means riding the curbs. The ride height must be low enough to have good aero grip to take the corners at high-speed but not so low that cars hit the curbs too hard. Causing the car to bounce produces a loss of downforce and the rear end of the car. This sector may be the best example of why a compromise set up makes COTA such a challenging circuit.

The many corners at COTA make it technical and demanding on drivers. Those Sector One esses produce a lot of lateral g-force. Drivers face a 5 g lateral force in one direction, followed by 5 g in the other. Luckily the length of the circuit and its straights allow drivers a brief recovery. Racing at COTA is all about striking a delicate setup balance so you can push hard.

Round 19 at COTA is a Sprint weekend, meaning setup time is limited and everyone needs to hit the ground running with big points on offer.

COTA also hosted a Sprint weekend last year. Charles Leclerc won the Formula 1 2024 United States Grand Prix, which was on October 20, 2024. Then a Scuderia driver, Carlos Sainz made it a Ferrari 1-2 in Austin last season. The Saturday Sprint was won by Max Verstappen.  

No one has more wins at COTA than Lewis Hamilton (5). Lewis also clinched his third (2015) and sixth (2019) F1 titles at the track while with Mercedes.

Max Verstappen's footsteps are clearly audible behind the two McLaren frontrunners. He is now just 22 points behind Norris. If Verstappen wins the GP at COTA and Norris doesn't finish, he will be P2 and breathing down the neck of Piastri, who he presently trails by 63 points. Stranger things have happened.

After crisscrossing the globe, countries and continents for eight months, the Formula 1 World Championship returns to America this weekend for the MSC Cruises United States Grand Prix. The second of three F1 events in the U.S. this year, the race will be live on ABC this Sunday, October 19th, from Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Pre-race coverage begins at at 1:30 PM ET on ABC. The lights go out for the race start at 3:00 PM. For Practice, Qualifying and Sprint race times, see the Jay Geils Memorial TV Links above.

INDYCAR - NTT INDYCAR SERIES teams participated in a team test and driver evaluations on Monday, October 13th at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing tested Mick Schumacher, who currently competes in the World Endurance Championship for Alpine. The presence of a Schumacher back in Indiana was certainly the buzz of the test. To watch a short video of his experience with RLL on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, go HERE.

The biggest surprise of the test was reigning INDY NXT by Firestone champion Dennis Hauger. Although there was no officials times listed at the test, there were people keeping track. Hauger was said to have bested the Son of Michael and INDYCAR race winners Alexander Rossi and Christian Rasmussen.

On Tuesday, October 14th, Rinus VeeKay, the 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Rookie of the Year, was announced as a driver for Juncos Hollinger Racing. The 25-year-old Dutchman finished 14th in the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES point standings with Dale Coyne Racing, with a best finish of second on the streets of Toronto’s Exhibition Place in July.

From the road course to the oval. IMS will be seeing action again this week with testing on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 21st and 22nd. The test includes three Indianapolis 500 winners.

On Tuesday, drivers Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren and Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing will test Firestone Racing tires and the newly repaved surface at the exit of Turn 2 of the oval. Alexander Rossi of ECR and Takuma Sato of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing will use both days to test and help evaluate the performance of brake and shock components under consideration for the coming years.

The first race of 2026 is on March 1st on the Streets of St. Petersburg.

FORMULA E - Following consultation by the FIA and Formula E with sporting, technical and commercial stakeholders, the WMSC approved multiple key updates for Season 12 (2025/26).

Firstly, the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is set to race in Sanya, China, for the first time since Season 5 (2018/19) confirming the final addition to the 11-event, 17-round Season 12 Formula E calendar. Season 12 will also include new races in Madrid and Miami International Autodrome located at the Hard Rock Stadium.  

China has played a pivotal role in the history of Formula E, having hosted the very first race of the championship at the Beijing E-Prix in 2014. Since then, the series has raced in four different Chinese cities, including Hong Kong and now both Shanghai and Sanya. Across these eleven races, there have been ten different winners.

Formula E will also introduce a new qualifying timing format, designed to create a faster, more competitive session.

Qualifying Group stages will now be reduced to 10 minutes, with the previous obligation to set a time within the first six minutes removed. Duels timings have been revised, ensuring the overall qualifying session aligns more closely to one-hour. These changes aim to improve the flow of the qualifying session for both teams and fans, while maintaining the core Groups and Duels format. 

ATTACK MODE regulations have also been updated. In PIT BOOST races, with the option now for drivers to have access to just one ATTACK MODE activation, while in non-PIT BOOST races, two activations will remain available. It continues to remain mandatory that drivers activate the ATTACK MODE the defined number of times however, the penalty previously applied for not fulfilling the complete ATTACK MODE time has been removed.

Season 12 begins on December 6th 2025 on the streets of São Paulo. Calendar highlights include new races in Madrid and Miami’s International Autodrome, plus returning venues Berlin, Tokyo, and Shanghai, each hosting doubleheader race weekends. The last race to be added to Season 12 is Sanya, China on June 20th. Monaco continues hosting back-to-back races over a single weekend on the iconic street circuit. The season concludes once more in London, with a doubleheader at the Excel London on August 15th - 16th 2026, that will round out the end of the GEN3 Evo era Formula E car. The championship’s new GEN4 car will debut at the end of 2026.

Porsche announced on Monday, October 13th, that Pascal Wehrlein and Nico Müller will form their new driver pairing in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. The 33-year-old Swiss driver Müller moves from the Andretti Porsche customer team to the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer’s factory Formula E team. He succeeds António Félix da Costa.

Nico Müller: “I’m incredibly proud of this step and thank Porsche Motorsport for their trust. My last season wasn’t easy, but it was all the more instructive – that motivates me tremendously to repay the team’s trust on the track. I’m looking forward to getting to know the team even more and I am convinced that Pascal and I will form a strong duo. I want to contribute as quickly as possible to helping the team build on its recent successes.”

Formula E will shake down their Season 12 machinery for the first time at Circuit Ricardo Tormo on October 27th - 30th during pre-season testing. It's the only opportunity to get on-track collectively before the 2025/26 campaign kicks off in Brazil.

FORMULA E SEASON 12 CALENDAR

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FIA WEC - The final round of the FIA World Endurance Championship; the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain is on November 8th. As has become customary, the FIA World Endurance Championship has nominated two rising stars of the discipline to participate in the series’ end-of-season Rookie Test in Bahrain next month on November 9th.

Since 2015, the annual Rookie Test has offered countless drivers the opportunity to showcase their skills in front of the paddock’s key decision-makers, with the likes of Julien Andlauer, Mathieu Jaminet and Norman Nato launching their FIA WEC Hypercar careers off the back of it in recent years. It has similarly acted as a springboard for Mattia Drudi, Célia Martin, Ben Barnicoat and Petru Umbrărescu amongst others in LMGT3. 

Eleven months ago, Théo Pourchaire got his first taste of Team Peugeot TotalEnergies’ 9X8 Hypercar during the Rookie Test in Sakhir, and in just a few weeks’ time, the former FIA Formula 2 champion will make his racing debut behind the wheel of the French prototype in the season-closing Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain.

The Sun Sets on WEC 2025 November 8th

After the Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain on November 8th, teams will return to the circuit for five hours of running, with Ollie Gray and Tom Fleming having been selected to take to the track in the world championship-winning Hypercar and LMGT3 car respectively.

Ex-Williams Driver Academy member Gray switched from a career in single-seater competition – securing the runner-up spot in the British F4 Championship in 2022 – into endurance racing last year in the European Le Mans Series, winding up seventh in the classification with Inter Europol Competition in the headlining LMP2 category alongside Luca Ghiotto and Clément Novalak.

The 20-year-old Surrey-born ace switched to VDS Panis Racing for the current campaign, and with one round remaining leads the standings with teammates Charles Milesi and Esteban Masson, having triumphed at Imola and Spa-Francorchamps and finished second in Barcelona. He also produced a star turn on his debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, being on-course for victory prior to suffering late heartbreak when suspension failure suddenly slowed the No. 48 entry with only 20 minutes remaining.

Fellow Brit Fleming is similarly a familiar face in ELMS, currently driving for GR Racing in the LMGT3 division, in which he shares a Ferrari 296 with countryman Michael Wainwright and FIA WEC regular Riccardo Pera. The trio sit seventh in the points table ahead of the season finale at Portimão October 16th - 18th. They have two podiums in 2025.

The 23-year-old made his racing debut in 2023, finishing runner-up in the Ferrari Challenge Europe at his maiden attempt and clinching the Trofeo Pirelli in Ferrari’s Finali Mondiali end-of-season showpiece event. He has since gone on to contest the GT World Challenge Europe’s Sprint Cup and Endurance Cup series, while gaining prototype experience with Nielsen Racing at LMP3 level this year in the Michelin Le Mans Cup.

The WEC 2025 season concludes with the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain on November 8th.

Wright Motorsports Going For Indianapolis 8 Hour Back to Back Wins

IGTC - This weekend is the 2025 season finale for the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS and Intercontinental GT Challenge. The endurance classic begins Saturday, October 18th at 12:20 PM ET, airing live on the GT World YouTube page. GT WORLD.

Wright Motorsports, the reigning Indianapolis 8 Hour winners, return with the same lineup that carried them to victory in 2024. Driving the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, 2024 GT World Challenge America champions Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer will once again be joined by Laurin Heinrich, the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech GTD Pro champion.

Their 2024 victory at Indianapolis was a pivotal moment in Wright’s continued rise as one of the world’s top Porsche GT3 programs. Since then, the Ohio-based Porsche team has continued, not only in domestic championships, but also in global endurance events such as the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and the Nürburgring 3 Hour.

Alongside the defending overall winners, Wright Motorsports fields the No. 10 Porsche 911 GT3 R in the Pro-Am class, piloted by Antares Au, Loek Hartog, and Patric Niederhauser. The trio joins a highly competitive Pro-Am grid featuring 12 entries within the 25-car field. The Wright-run effort combines Au’s developing GT3 experience with Hartog’s rising star power and Niederhauser’s proven speed and endurance pedigree. The combination makes for a strong lineup capable of challenging for class honors in the longest endurance races on the SRO calendar.

Indianapolis 8 Hours ENTRIES.