A look ahead to the action in Bedford, where athletes will be competing for places on the GB teams bound for Sweden

With eyes on the two European age-group championships in Sweden next month, most of the country’s top under-23 and under-20 athletes will be in action at the England Championships in Bedford this weekend.

The winners will be guaranteed selection, if they have, or go on to gain, the required standard, for either the European Athletics Under-20 Championships in Boras on July 18-21 or the European Athletics Under-23 Championships in Gavle on July 11-14.

Under-23 women

UK indoor high jump record-holder Morgan Lake (pictured) is the headline name on the entries and will be looking to secure automatic selection in her last England age-group championships.

Another international athlete down to be on the infield is the 2018 European Championships triple jump finalist Naomi Ogbeta.

European Indoors representative Kristal Awuah leads the continental age-group rankings in the 100m and she is entered for both that event and the 200m. In the latter, she goes against European junior champion Maya Bruney, Alisha Rees and reigning European under-23 champion Finette Agyapong.

Hannah Williams heads the 400m entries along with Lily Beckford.

Jemma Reekie and Ellie Baker, gold and silver medallists at the European juniors two years ago, line up in the 800m.

Others competing include European junior 100m hurdles silver medallist Alicia Barrett and steeplechaser Aimee Pratt.

Under-23 men

A great competition is expected in the 100m, where Dominic Ashwell and Oliver Bromby rank in the top five among European under-23s.

The line-up is no less impressive in the 200m where European junior champion Toby Harries, European junior silver winner Jona Efoloko and Shemar Boldizsar will compete. Cameron Chalmers, fourth in Europe two years ago, heads the 400m.

European junior champion Jake Heyward is due to race the 1500m, where the field includes Piers Copeland, who is second on the European under-23 rankings. Over two laps, former European youth champion George Mills faces Spencer Thomas, Canaan Solomon and Markhim Lonsdale.

Harry Hughes seeks to continue his good form in the javelin, while world junior champion Jake Norris will be in the hammer circle. The discus sees European bronze medallist George Evans go against George Armstrong, who ranks fourth in Europe in his age group.

The high jump has 2.30m man Tom Gale, while Adam Hague and Charlie Myers star in the pole vault, with Myers having recently added 11cm to his PB with a 5.71m clearance, equaling the British under-23 record.

Under-20 men

European youth high jump champion Dominic Ogbechie also has the standard for Boras in the long jump, and is due to compete in both events here.

European 100m No.1 Jeremiah Azu is entered for both sprints. The 110m hurdles has Joshua Zeller, who is second on the European rankings, and European youth champion Sam Bennett.

Alastair Chalmers tops Europe in the age group and lines up in the 400m hurdles, while European U18 Championships silver medallist Ethan Brown goes in the 400m.

Oliver Dustin, Alex Botterill and Ben Pattison, who are all ranked in the top five in Europe for 800m, are up against the in-form European youth champion Max Burgin, who recently broke the UK under-18 800m best in Loughborough.

Thomas Keen and Kane Elliott, who won the 1500m and 3000m respectively at the European Youths, meet over the metric mile.

Top throwers include Lewis Byng (shot), James Tomlinson (discus) and Bayley Campbell (hammer).

Under-20 women

Amy Hunt leads the European under-23 rankings in both the 100m and 200m and is due to run in both, while Amber Anning is second in the European rankings in the 400m.

In the middle distances, European under-23 No.1 at 800m Isabelle Boffey goes against European youth 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson, while the 1500m features European No.3 Erin Wallace. In the steeplechase, Holly Page is another to watch out for.

In the 100m hurdles, top multi-eventer Holly Mills faces Lucy-Jane Matthews, who lies fourth in Europe at under-23 level. She also goes in the long jump.

In the hammer, throwers Charlotte Payne and Charlotte Williams will be fighting it out for Boras selection.

The event timetable can be found here.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- After several embarrassing officiating controversies overshadowed the Stanley Cup playoffs, the National Hockey League significantly increased the scope of its referees' video review capabilities and added a third category to its coach's challenges at Thursday's general managers meeting in Vancouver.

"We view this as evolutionary. We don't want it to be perceived as an overreaction," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said. "The increased use of video replay is something we've considered and discussed over time, and at this point and time we think it was the appropriate response to what we were seeing, coupled with our ability to do it."

That said, there are clear links from this "evolution" of the coach's challenge and video review to the controversial missed calls from the 2019 playoffs.

Referees who call major or match penalties -- not including those handed out for fights -- will now be required to use video review to either confirm the call or reduce the penalty to a two-minute minor if it's clear there was a mistake made on the severity of the penalty. They can consult any other on-ice official, but not the NHL's situation room.

"The referee is going to review the call using advanced technology, and has the discretion to confirm the call, hopefully in most cases, or reduce the call to a minor penalty. He will not have the discretion to eliminate or rescind the penalty," deputy commissioner Bill Daly said.

This rule change would cover plays like the controversial major penalty handed to Cody Eakin of the Vegas Golden Knights in their Game 7 loss to the San Jose Sharks, during the playoffs' opening round. The Sharks, down 3-0, rallied with four goals on the subsequent five-minute major penalty and eventually won the game in overtime. The NHL apologized to the Golden Knights for the incorrect call, and the officials who worked the game did not again appear in the postseason.

The NHL is also empowering its referees to review double-minor penalties for high-sticking, in which one teammate's stick hits another teammate or a player's own stick strikes him in the head, or "friendly fire" situations as Bettman termed them. These reviews will not be required, but rather will be discretionary. As with the major penalty reviews, there will be no consultation with the NHL situation room.

In addition to interference on the goaltender and offside calls preceding goals scored, NHL coaches can now challenge plays in the offensive zone that should have resulted in play being stopped before a goal was scored.

That includes "black or white" plays like the missed hand pass that helped the Sharks win Game 3 of the Western Conference finals in overtime, and the puck that bounced off the netting that resulted in a Columbus Blue Jackets goal in the Eastern Conference semifinals. It would also cover plays like the puck being hit with a teammate's high stick before a goal.

There are no time limitations on these challenges, and there's no mandate that a team must maintain possession of the puck during the missed call. The only restriction is that the puck must remain in the attacking zone through the missed stoppage and the goal being scored.

Bettman was clear that this new category of coach's challenge would not cover "missed penalties," such as the uncalled trip by St. Louis Blues forward Tyler Bozak on Boston's Noel Acciari in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final that led to a critical goal for the Blues.

"We're not prepared to go there in terms of the game right now. That would be something that wouldn't be terribly productive and would be terribly disruptive," Bettman said.

The NHL also removed the limitations on how many times teams can use a coach's challenge during the game. Now, teams can challenge as many scoring plays as they wish. An unsuccessful first challenge would result in a minor penalty for delay of game. Any subsequent unsuccessful challenges would result in a double minor for delay of game. Currently, coaches need a timeout in order to challenge a goalie interference play.

"We don't want lots and lots of challenges. We don't want to disrupt the flow of the game," Bettman said. "We only want challenges where it's crystal clear that an egregious mistake has been made."

The situation room in Toronto will continue to be responsible for initiating video review in the final minute of regulation and overtime as well as continue to have final authority over all coach's challenge video review decisions with input and consultation from both the on-ice officials and a former official staffed in the situation room.

In other NHL rules changes approved by the league's general managers, after being suggested by the NHL's competition committee:

Helmets: Subject to further consultation with the NHL Players' Association on precise language, a player on the ice whose helmet comes off during play must (a) exit the playing surface, or (b) retrieve and replace his helmet properly on his head (with or without his chin strap fastened). A player who is making a play on the puck or who is in position to make an immediate play on the puck at the time his helmet comes off, shall be given a reasonable opportunity to complete the play before either exiting the ice or retrieving and replacing his helmet. Failure to comply with the above will result in a minor penalty being assessed on the offending player. A player who intentionally removes an opponent's helmet during play shall be assessed a minor penalty for roughing.

Line changes for defensive team: The defensive team will not be permitted a line change when a goalie freezes the puck on any shot from outside the center red line. Similarly, if the actions of a skater of the defensive team cause a stoppage by unintentionally dislodging the net from its moorings, the defensive team will not be permitted to make a line change. In both of these instances, the offensive team will have the choice of which end zone dot the faceoff will take place.

Faceoffs following an icing and to begin a power play: Following an icing as well as at the beginning of any power play, the offensive team will have the choice of which end zone dot the faceoff will take place.

Awarded goal: If the goalpost is deliberately displaced by a goalkeeper during the course of a "breakaway," a goal will be awarded to the nonoffending team.

Puck out of bounds: When the attacking team is responsible for the puck going out of play in the attacking zone, in all instances, the faceoff will be conducted at one of the two faceoff dots in the attacking zone.

Bettman said there was a discussion about changing the puck-over-the-glass rule that currently leads to a delay of game penalty, but said that inconsistency of camera coverage from arena to arena makes it difficult to tweak it.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- If restricted free-agent star forward Mitch Marner plans on signing an offer sheet to set his price tag, there's no guarantee the Toronto Maple Leafs will match it, according to general manager Kyle Dubas.

Marner, who led the team with 94 points last season, is one of three RFAs whom Dubas is negotiating with, along with forwards Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson.

"I think we're at the point where we can speak openly about it. It's not just one guy, it's a number of them," Dubas said after the NHL's general managers meeting in Vancouver on Thursday. "If there were an offer sheet, we would look at what they are, what the compensation is for our team, and make the decision based off of that. They're all very important players for us. It's our intention they're all here for as long as we can possibly keep them."

Teams that successfully sign restricted free agents via an offer sheet must compensate the player's former team. For example, if Marner was to agree to a contract that paid him north of $10,568,590 annually, the team that signs him would owe the Leafs four first-round draft picks as compensation.

"If the dollar amount doesn't make sense in terms of our internal economics and the marketplace, and the compensation is such, it's going to be a decision as to what we're going to do," said Dubas.

This is a different tact than the one Dubas took in December, when he told Sportsnet that the Leafs were positioned to match any offer sheet that came their way.

"Our salary cap situation is set up that we could defend any of those threats with no worry at all," he said at the time. "I know that they've become a huge topic of late, but I spend zero percent of my time having any worry about that. If a team wants to go down that path with us, that's the way it goes."

Whether it's a negotiating ploy or the reality of the Leafs' salary structure -- as Toronto currently has $7.79 million open for next season -- Dubas isn't sounding as gung-ho about their ability to match an offer sheet for a player like Marner.

"I don't think there's any fear in addressing it. If it happens, it happens," he said. "It's been clear to all that it's going to be where they're at. Where they fit in our internal economics. We'll see. I hope it never comes to that. But I also don't think it benefits to shy away from the fact that it may happen."

Marner, 22, has come under criticism from some Leafs fans for reportedly seeking a salary in the neighborhood of that of 21-year-old Toronto star center Auston Matthews, who signed a five-year contract extension worth $11.634 million annually earlier this year.

Dubas defended Marner's reputation, in the face of accusations of avarice.

"He loves hockey. Loves playing in Toronto. I get that these matters become complex because of the number of dollars that are in play. People hear them, whether they're factual or not, and draw certain conclusions about players and what their motivations are," Dubas said. "But when it comes to Mitch Marner, I think anybody that's being negative about him is way off."

In other Leafs news, Dubas said that the Leafs are trying to "accommodate" 39-year-old center Patrick Marleau, who has one more year left on his contract at $6.25 million against the salary cap. Marleau's family recently moved back to the San Jose area, where he spent the first 19 years of his career, and Marleau put his Toronto home up for sale.

"All that said, if Patrick Marleau were back with the Toronto Maple Leafs at the beginning of next year, that wouldn't be a problem for Patrick," Dubas said. "There's a strong chance he'll be back next season."

The Boston Celtics have agreed to trade center Aron Baynes and the No. 24 pick in Thursday night's NBA draft to the Phoenix Suns for their 2020 first-round pick (via the Milwaukee Bucks), sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

The Suns used the 24th pick to select Virginia shooting guard Ty Jerome.

Boston had acquired the Nos. 24 and 33 picks from the Philadelphia 76ers for the Celtics' 20th pick earlier Thursday, league sources told Wojnarowski. Philadelphia used the No. 20 pick to select Washington small forward Matisse Thybulle. The Celtics used the No. 33 pick on Purdue guard Carsen Edwards.

Baynes, a seven-year veteran, was plagued by injuries in the 2018-19 season, averaging 5.6 points and 3.0 rebounds in 51 games.

The Celtics had been offering Baynes -- with his $5.4 million expiring contract -- into salary cap space elsewhere, league sources tell ESPN. Without Kyrie Irving and Al Horford on the books, Boston is now sitting at $25.8 million in room under the cap after the trade with Phoenix. That could increase to $34 million without guard Terry Rozier, who is a restricted free agent.

After acquiring Baynes and the rights to Jerome, the Suns now have a projected $14 million in cap space.

The Milwaukee pick going to Boston via the Suns is protected for picks Nos. 1-7 in 2020 and becomes an unprotected first-rounder in 2021 if not conveyed. That means Boston now has the potential to have three first-round picks in 2020.

Earlier Thursday, the Celtics selected Indiana's Romeo Langford with the 14th pick. A 6-foot-6 guard, Langford played through a thumb injury and finished sixth nationally in freshman scoring in his lone season with the Hoosiers, averaging 16.5 points.

Langford is the third wing player Boston has selected in the first round in the past four drafts.

Langford said he hasn't had a chance to watch many NBA games recently because he didn't have cable in college.

But Celtics coach Brad Stevens called him "a guy that we think has a lot of things that can translate to the NBA.''

Stevens said Williams, who averaged 18.8 points and 7.5 rebounds as a junior, plays with a point guard's mind.

"You can run offense through him,'' Stevens said. "He thinks the game. He's a tough, tough guy, and he's a versatile player who can shoot the ball.''

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES -- It was five years ago Tuesday that Clayton Kershaw's greatness reached its pinnacle. He twirled nine masterful, no-hit innings against the Colorado Rockies that night. Fifteen batters struck out and only one of them reached base, on a Hanley Ramirez error that prevented a perfect game. At season's end, Kershaw captured his third Cy Young Award in four years and became the second pitcher in nearly three decades to win the MVP. He was in the thick of a prime that at times felt like it could last forever.

"It doesn't seem like that long ago, but when you think about all the years in between, it does seem like a long time ago," Kershaw said. "Your career goes fast. It's a blink of an eye. You're an ex-baseball player longer than you're a baseball player."

Kershaw isn't yet nearing the end, but it's no longer far enough to ignore. His most recent start resembled the vast majority of his outings this season -- he fought through shoddy command, pitched out of trouble, and in the end, led his Los Angeles Dodgers to victory.

This one consisted of seven scoreless innings, on two walks and three hits, in a 9-0 win over the San Francisco Giants, a floundering team that entered with the second-lowest batting average in the sport. Kershaw improved his record to 7-1, lowered his ERA to 2.85 and notched his 11th quality start in 12 outings this season. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts credited Kershaw's ability to minimize damage and his "relentless preparation" for his sustained success through diminished stuff.

Another potential reason: extra rest.

The Dodgers have been more proactive in recent years about giving Kershaw an extra day or two off in between starts. Tuesday marked only the third time he took the mound on regular rest, which consists of four days in between. Since the start of 2018, Kershaw has made 14 more regular-season starts on extra rest than he has on regular rest, the Dodgers' answer to the growing NBA trend of "load management."

"Just the mental thing of having an extra day every once in a while is helpful," said Kershaw, who racked up more than 2,000 innings before his age-31 season in 2019. "I don't think anybody can argue with that. Whether it really helps your performance, who really knows."

It isn't just Kershaw. The Dodgers, who will soon deploy a sixth starter to combat a stretch of 18 games in 18 days, have had 42 of their starts come with an extra day of rest, fifth-most in the majors. The four teams ahead of them -- the San Diego Padres, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers and Giants -- have rotations that are either a lot younger or not nearly as effective or both.

Roberts called the extra rest "a benefit," to Kershaw and to the entire staff. Kershaw, as routine-oriented as anyone, downplayed it.

"I love pitching on regular rest; I love being in that routine, and extra days are great every once in a while to give you a blow," he said. "I don't like doing it over and over again. It just becomes the new norm, and so regular rest sometimes feels shorter. So I don't really like that. But it shouldn't matter too much. My routine doesn't change too much, just with that extra day."

Kershaw's fastball velocity (90.5 mph coming in) is down for the fourth straight year, and his reliance on breaking balls (58.1 percent) is up for the fourth straight year. He's nearing a career high in home run rate, but he isn't shying away from contact -- as evidenced by a walk rate of 1.6 -- and he's still recording outs efficiently.

Kershaw had two on with one out in the second inning, then fooled Brandon Crawford with a slider and got Steven Duggar to pop out. With a man on second and two out in the third, he got Tyler Austin to ground out. With a man on first and one out in the sixth, he watched Cody Bellinger make a catch up against the fence, then picked off Donovan Solano -- his 63rd career pickoff, 26 more than any active player.

The Dodgers had two on and one out in the bottom half of that inning, their lead at only three, but Roberts let Kershaw hit, even though he had already thrown 83 pitches. He went on to retire the first two batters in the seventh. And after Kevin Pillar reached second base on a line drive that sailed over Alex Verdugo's head, Kershaw came back to strike out Crawford on another slider, his 100th and final pitch.

"He just kind of outwills the other team, kind of grinds it out," Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes said. "He had seven shutout innings, and I don't really think he ever felt that great today."

To mark the anniversary of Kershaw's no-hitter, the Dodgers distributed a commemorative bobblehead and invited his two young children to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Kershaw's only son, Charley, hadn't yet been born when his father completed the most impressive start of his illustrious career. At one point, with the bobblehead in one hand and his miniature glove in the other, Charley lifted both arms, mimicking Kershaw's signature celebration.

In recent years, Kershaw has talked about how fatherhood has softened him off the field, filled his life with some much-needed perspective. The continual threat of injury, and the limitations it has created, has also made him more open-minded about deviating from his stringent routine.

Agreeing to a little extra rest every now and then is only one example.

"He's all-in," Roberts said. "This is something we've done over the course of three years, too. I think if you look back at his career, he's gone on regular more times, but the last few years, we've built in some extra days of rest. And the numbers speak to he still hasn't lost any production."

LOS ANGELES -- The BreakingT Slack channel is usually quiet on Sundays, even during baseball season. But that changed on June 9. Its director of marketing, Dominic Bonvissuto, an avid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers, watched Max Muncy homer off Madison Bumgarner and get into a heated back-and-forth with the San Francisco Giants' longtime ace as he circled the bases. Bonvissuto posted a link of the exchange to the Slack channel and added a request.

"Let's monitor this."

The owner of RotoWear, Kenneth Cashman, has Muncy on his fantasy team and found out about the home run instantly, expressing a similar impulse.

RotoWear, like BreakingT, is a small company with only a handful of full-time employees. They both specialize in quickly producing T-shirts that convey memorable events and themes around sports, largely related to Major League Baseball. Bonvissuto and Cashman know T-shirt fodder when they see it. The Muncy-Bumgarner tiff certainly qualified, but it needed a hook.

And then, more than two hours after his prodigious home run at AT&T Park, Muncy elaborated on the discussion during an on-field interview with SportsNet LA.

"I hit the ball and then he yelled at me," Muncy told Alanna Rizzo. "He said, 'Don't watch the ball. You run.' And I just responded back, 'If you don't want me to watch the ball, you can go get it out of the ocean.'"

There it was: "Go get it out of the ocean."

"That's when we knew it was going to be a shirt," Bonvissuto said. "As soon as we saw the quote, we had the tag."

"It was probably one of the greatest quotes I've ever heard," Cashman said. "As soon as I heard it, I had the idea."

And because of that, Muncy now has his two favorite T-shirts. One, from RotoWear, has a squiggly line below the phrase to depict a body of water and shows a baseball sailing through it. The other, from BreakingT, placed the comment next to a likeness of Muncy's backswing. Throughout this homestand, Muncy has basically alternated between the two of them each day, putting one on as soon as he reaches his locker.

"I didn't want it to become a huge thing because it's not my personality, but at the same time, it was kind of a cool thing," he said, looking down and tugging at one of the shirts on Wednesday afternoon. "On top of that, it's a comfy T-shirt. Seriously. It's more comfortable than a lot of the shirts we get to wear in there."

Muncy retreated to the clubhouse after his comments and found an avalanche of messages from family and friends. He checked social media and realized that he had become a viral sensation. Later that Sunday night, his wife saw the RotoWear shirt on Instagram and, at Muncy's request, asked if it could ship some to L.A. BreakingT -- which, unlike RotoWear, has a license from the MLB Players Association -- had its shirt up for sale by noon on Monday. The next morning, the company folded a dozen shirts into a cardboard box and sent them to the Dodgers' clubhouse unannounced.

At 1:15 p.m. on Friday, Muncy sent BreakingT a direct message to thank the company.

Three hours later, at the behest of teammates, he and second baseman Enrique Hernandez took the field for batting practice wearing the shirts, igniting surges in sales and persistent chatter on social media. The shirts might make another on-field appearance on Thursday, 11 days after the confrontation, before the presumed rematch between Muncy and Bumgarner.

"I might break it out again," Muncy said behind a wry smile. "It's more my personality to not do that, but we'll see what happens."

Bumgarner has a history of taking exception to on-field celebration, most of his anger directed at former Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig. But he appeared self-deprecating in the aftermath of his exchange with Muncy, saying, "The more I think about it, just let the kids play. That's what everybody is saying. But -- I can't."

Muncy is as mild-mannered and reserved as they come, but he is clearly having fun with this.

"You have to," he said. "Everyone keeps wanting to bring up the situation. I don't know if he's said anything about it, but I believe we're both on the same page that it was just one of those things that it's the heat of the moment, two guys competing, and that's all there was to it.

"From what I understood, he kind of laughed at the comment. It was nothing personal; it was nothing against him. He's one of the toughest pitchers out there. It's one of those things that happened and it's over with, and you kind of have fun with the moment. If you can't do that, then you're going to drive yourself into a hole."

Muncy didn't establish himself in the major leagues until he was 27 years old. He was jobless in the spring of 2017, then suddenly became one of the game's fiercest hitters through the summer of 2018. He'll enter his rematch against Bumgarner with a .307/.407/.600 slash line since the start of May, further validating himself as a legitimate slugger. His words suddenly carry weight, enough to be emblazoned on T-shirts.

RotoWear and BreakingT both say their "Go get it out of the ocean" shirts rank within their top five direct-to-consumer sellers this year and No. 1 among any Dodgers-related apparel the companies have ever produced. They were sprinkled throughout Dodger Stadium all week and will be out in full force for Thursday's series finale, which, given the approaching trade deadline, could mark Bumgarner's last L.A. start in a Giants uniform.

As soon as he made the comment on camera, Muncy figured it would blow up.

"It was one of those things where in the back of my head I thought this might be a problem, it might get big," he said. "But you gotta have fun with it."

Britain's Andy Murray will return to Wimbledon in the doubles with France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert six months after a career-saving hip operation.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Murray, 32, had hip surgery in January, but made a winning return alongside Feliciano Lopez at Queen's.

Murray also wants to play mixed doubles at Wimbledon but has yet to finalise who his partner will be.

"[Herbert] is a brilliant doubles player," Murray told BBC Sport.

"He hadn't planned on playing doubles at Wimbledon this year. In the last couple of weeks he chatted with his coach and thought it would be a nice opportunity.

"I told him my expectations are pretty low and it worked itself out."

Murray has found a good men's doubles partner in Herbert, who has won all four Grand Slam doubles titles.

The Brit clearly relished playing with Lopez at Queen's as the pair clinched a straight-set victory against Colombian top seeds Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal.

And Murray says he wants to "enjoy playing now" after learning to walk again after his injury.

"Physically I couldn't extend my leg for the last 18 months, two years," he explained. "My walking gait was terrible - I wasn't limping because I wanted to.

"Now I have zero discomfort and no pain after the match."

More Murray on Friday

Murray and Lopez will face either British duo Dan Evans and Ken Skupski or the Canadian-Australian pairing of Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alex de Minaur in Friday's quarter-finals at Queen's.

The match will be fifth on a packed centre court schedule and you can watch it live on BBC TV and the BBC Sport website.

Andy could face older brother Jamie in the last four if they both come through their last-eight matches.

Jamie and Neal Skupski face Henri Kontinen and John Peers in the match before Andy's.

MONTEREY, Calif.  — Twenty years after earning his second consecutive Formula One drivers’ championship, Mika Häkkinen will demonstrate his considerable driving talents behind the wheel of the 1970 McLaren M8D/3 “Batmobile” at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion on Aug. 15-18 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

American racing legend Dan Gurney and British Formula One driver Peter Gethin each raced the “Batmobile” during the 1970 Can-Am season as teammates to Denny Hulme following the tragic loss of Bruce McLaren.

Gurney drove it during the first three races of the season, winning twice from the pole position at Mosport and Mont-Tremblant. Gethin raced the car seven times, scoring a victory at Road America along with two other podiums. The car was used as a spare for Bruce McLaren Motor Racing drivers Peter Revson and Denny Hulme in 1971 and was in privateer hands from 1972 to 1974.

The vivid papaya-colored race car is powered by a roaring 7.6-liter Chevrolet engine. The high strut-mounted rear wing of its predecessor – the M8B – had been banned by Can-Am, so the M8D’s rear wing was mounted low on fins, earning the car’s “Batmobile” nickname.

The McLaren team dominated the 1970 season with nine wins in the 10-round championship. McLaren drivers Bruce McLaren, Denny Hulme and Peter Revson had won five straight Can-Am championships from 1967 to 1971.

This will mark the third consecutive year that Häkkinen, who had not previously driven at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, will make demonstration laps at Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. He drove the 1974 McLaren M23 in 2017 and the 1995 McLaren F1 GTR in 2018.

“This track is fun, really enjoyable,” said Häkkinen. “The track goes up and down, and some of the corners have great camber. It looks tighter than it is from a distance, so you need a lot of guts to brake later and take the right line.”

Häkkinen will make spirited exhibition laps in the M8D/3 in the noon hour during the first three days of the four-day event. The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion takes place Aug. 15-18 and will honor the 50th anniversary of the International Motor Sports Ass’n. Tickets and information are available by visiting www.WeatherTechRaceway.com or calling 831-242-8200.