RACE WRAP: Wednesday, April 21

GLOBAL SAFETY SUMMIT

Australia will lead the world on motorsport safety by hosting a unique global summit in June.

Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso have made an early commitment to the Australian Institute of Motorsport Safety Motorsport Safety Summit and will be joined by a huge spread of competitors and officials including Romain Grosjean, Roland Dane and Paul Morris.

Organisers promise to cover all the latest in motorsport safety developments, rescue and medical topics.

Because of the remote locations of many participants, the Summit will be run digitally with presentations, discussions and debates.

Anyone can join the Summit by paying $80 and registering at https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/aimss-motorsport-safety-summit-tickets

QUARTARARO WINS AGAIN AS MARQUEZ RETURNS

A solid and sensible seventh place marked Marc Marquez’ return to MotoGP racing in Portugal on his factory Honda.

A torrid tussle at the Portimau circuit fell to Fabio Fabio Quartararo, who completed a back-to-back winning start to the season on his Monster Yamaha.

The minor places were filled by Francesco Bagnaia on the factory Ducati, where Jack Miller is failing to fire, with defending world champion Joan Mir in third for Suzuki.

Miller is now only 12th in the season standings, while Remy Gardner continued to impress in Moto2 with third place in Portugal.

USA DOUBLES DOWN IN F1

Miami will join Austin in Formula 1 with the completion of a 10-year grand prix contract for a Florida street race.

The Miami GP will be run in the second quarter of 2022 on a course laid out around the Hard Rock Stadium.

“We want to keep two GPs in the U.S. as that is something that will help boost the interest – and that is good for all of us,” said the new head of Formula One, Stefano Domenicali.

MORRIS KEEPS WINNING

The Stadium Truck Series races on the undercard at the Supercars meeting at Symmons Plains turned into an unlikely episode of ’The Enforcer and the Dude’.

Russell Ingall returned to racing but Paul Morris got the chocolates from the weekend, as pre-event favourite Paul Weel – formerly in Supercars but now a regular in off-road racing – could only salvage third for the weekend.

Ingall got a late call-up thanks to a back injury that sidelined second-generation racer Nash ’The Flash’ Morris, and was happy despite inevitable contact in the jumping truck races.

“Always good to get back behind the wheel, no matter what it is. Fun to be running up the front – unfortunately got tagged by someone that ran out of talent,” said Ingall.