It was a dramatic weekend of action in the Cheshire countryside as the Bennetts British Superbike Championship visited Oulton Park. Here’s how the action unfolded over the course of a pulsating weekend.
Polesitter Jason O’Halloran became the eighth different rider to claim a BSB victory in 2020 with his victory in Saturday’s race one. The Australian McAms Yamaha man took the victory at the end of a pulsating contest that saw the lead change hands on a number of occasions. Championship leader Glenn Irwin and VisionTrack Ducati’s Christian Iddon both led the pack on separate occasions during the race but O’Halloran (who had also earlier led) fought back and claimed the victory after successfully making his move by breaking down Iddon’s stern defence on the final lap and crossing the finish line just 0.358s ahead of the Mancunian rider. FS-3 Racing’s Danny Buchan rounded out the podium with his first top three finish of the season.
Jason O’Halloran winner at BSB Oulton Park 2020. Image courtesy of Impact Images/Mcams Yamaha
Andrew Irwin finished fourth ahead of brother Glenn with Lee Jackson on the FS-3 Racing Kawasaki ending in sixth. Synetiq BMW’s Brad Ray came seventh ahead of Iddon’s team-mate Josh Brookes and Tarran Mackenzie (McAms Yamaha) and Gino Rea on the Buildbase Suzuki rounding out the top 10. Rea’s Suzuki team-mate Kyle Ryde, a double winner during the previous round at Silverstone, crashed out of the race on the first lap.
It was more of the same for O’Halloran in Sunday’s first race as he claimed his second win of the season with a near-perfect display aboard the R1 to lead the race from the opening lap, holding off the challenges of Christian Iddon and Danny Buchan.
Thirty-five year old O’Halloran’s victory eventually held more gravitas than anyone would have expected prior to the race when Glenn Irwin was forced to withdraw from the race following technical problems with his Honda FireBlade. The win for O’Halloran combined with Irwin’s DNF catapulted the Australian Yamaha rider well and truly into the title race, slashing Irwin’s lead to just five points.
A determined ride from Josh Brookes saw him finish fourth after being as low as seventh at one point while a fine move from Lincolnshire rider Lee Jackson on Andrew Irwin saw him nab fifth place. Tarran Mackenzie finished in sixth ahead of Irwin. Luke Mossey, aboard the Rich Energy OMG Kawasaki finished in ninth place as the filling in a BMW sandwich with Brad Ray in eighth and TT winner Peter Hickman on the Global Robots Smith’s BMW closing out the top 10.
The result of race three made it Australia Day in Cheshire as VisionTrack Ducati’s Josh Brookes reminded the championship leaders that he was still well and truly in the hunt for the prize by taking the victory. 2015 BSB champion Brookes was made to work hard for his second win of the season as his team-mate Christian Iddon provided a spirited challenge. Iddon had a number of chances to make a move on his PBM partner but Brookes’ experience came to the fore as he continually held Iddon at bay.
Josh Brookes and Christian Iddon at BSB Oulton Park 2020. Image courtesy of Ducati
Lee Jackson capped off a fine weekend for FS-3 Racing as he pinched a spot on the podium at the expense of Jason O’Halloran after making his move at Lodge and cross the line 0.096s ahead of the Yamaha rider. Jackson’s team-mate Danny Buchan ended the race in fifth position ahead of Glenn Irwin, the Honda man’s sixth place result means he ends the weekend still on top of the standings but only by a tight margin of two points from man of the weekend O’Halloran. Peter Hickman enjoyed his best finish of the season in eighth place behind Brad Ray. Tarran Mackenzie and Luke Mossey rounded out the top 10.
As previously mentioned, the events of the thrilling weekend at Oulton leaves Glenn Irwin just two points clear of Jason O’Halloran at the top of the standings with Josh Brookes in third, himself just ten points behind Honda Racing’s irwin. Christian Iddon can still harbour designs on the title just two points behind VisionTrack Ducati team-mate Brookes on 166. There’s then a gap of 32 points between Iddon and nearest challenger, Oxford Products Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell.
It may be an over-used clichè in sports but it really is all to play for now as there are just six races remaining of the 2020 BSB season with the attention shifting to the Grand Prix layout of Donington Park over the weekend of 2-4 October.
Featured Image courtesy of Impact Images/McAMS Yamaha.
Shakedown saw a fight for the fastest time between Thierry and Ott with the Belgian emerging fastest. The Toyota’s were next, with Kalle and then Ogier and Elfyn with Loeb sixth fastest. Fastest of the M-Sport Fiesta’s was Teemu and then Gus and Esapekka. Loubet went well in his i20, setting the second fastest time on the second run through!
Friday
Thierry Neuville took the first stage of the weekend, winning SS1 İçmeler – 13.90 km from nine-time champion Loeb, with Ott making it a 1-2-3 for Hyundai. Elfyn was next up in his Yaris, with Ogier fifth and Teemu the fastest Fiesta.
Ogier took SS2 Gökçe – 11.32 km, from Loeb and Kalle. Loeb’s pace moved him into the lead from Thierry and Ogier, whilst Elfyn held fourth overall.
Classification after Day One
1
S. Loeb
D. Elena
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
18:50.9
2
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+1.2
3
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Toyota Yaris WRC
+1.3
4
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota Yaris WRC
+2.1
5
K. Rovanperä
J. Halttunen
Toyota Yaris WRC
+2.7
6
T. Suninen
J. Lehtinen
Ford Fiesta WRC
+4.2
7
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+4.8
8
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Ford Fiesta WRC
+6.6
9
G. Greensmith
E. Edmondson
Ford Fiesta WRC
+16.1
10
P. L. Loubet
V. Landais
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+28.5
2020 FIA World Rally Championship Round 05, Rally Turkey 18-20 September 2020 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Saturday
The start list looked like this – Loubet, Greensmith, Lappi, Tänak, Suninen, Rovanperä, Evans, Ogier, Neuville, Loeb.
The first stage of the day, SS3 Yeşilbelde 1 – 31.79 km saw Ogier win the stage from Thierry and Elfyn, who’d jumped into third. The gap between Ogier and Neuville was just 1.7 seconds at the top of the leaderboard. It was a disaster for Ott however. 25km into the stage he’d stopped and the reason was that he had a steering problem. He was out for the day.
Next up, SS4 Datça 1 – 8.75 km and Ogier opened up the gap to Thierry, with the gap afterwards now three seconds between them. Elfyn continued to hold third overall, and was now eleven seconds from the lead. Best of the M-Sport drivers was Teemu, and he was in sixth overall, and 45 seconds from the lead, but still in the running for a good result.
Thierry came back at Ogier on the next one SS5 Kızlan 1 – 13.15 km, halving the gap to the leader. Was this the start of the push to remove the Toyota driver from the lead? Elsewhere, the gaps remained much the same.
After the service break, the second run of SS6 Yeşilbelde 2 – 31.79 km saw Thierry set a really fast time, jumping into the lead. Sadly, Ogier’s good run in the lead was brought to an end with the Frenchman coming to the stage end with a left front puncture. Elfyn was now in second place overall and 21 seconds from our new leader. Ogier still held third however.
Thierry also took SS7 Datça 2 – 8.75 km as well, with Ogier second in the stage. Elfyn could only manage the seventh fastest time and dropped behind his teammate, and Loeb was now just 8 tenths from the Welshman.
It was a stage win for Loeb in SS8 Kızlan 2 – 13.15 km which moved him into second overall behind his Belgian teammate, who now held a 33 second lead. Esapekka was finding some pace now, going fourth fastest in this one. Just such a shame that he’s lost so much time already. Ogier and Elfyn held third and fourth overall.
Classification after Day Two
1
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
1:36:38.6
2
S. Loeb
D. Elena
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+33.2
3
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Toyota Yaris WRC
+33.2
4
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota Yaris WRC
+1:00.8
5
K. Rovanperä
J. Halttunen
Toyota Yaris WRC
+1:18.8
6
T. Suninen
J. Lehtinen
Ford Fiesta WRC
+1:35.0
7
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Ford Fiesta WRC
+2:28.0
8
G. Greensmith
E. Edmondson
Ford Fiesta WRC
+3:15.4
9
P. L. Loubet
V. Landais
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+4:20.4
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville (1st)
“This afternoon went much better than the morning. We worked a lot on the set-up, and I was much happier with the car on the repeat loop, especially in the rougher sections. We found what we were looking for and, although it’s not quite 100%, we’re heading in a good direction. I am very pleased with the work of the team that has allowed us to fight at the front. Tomorrow is going to be the toughest day of the rally; we will have to avoid punctures and damage, while also pushing to drive fast. I am going to try my best and hope we’ll come through in one piece!”
Sébastien Loeb (2nd)
“We were frustrated after the first loop because a poor tyre choice lost us a lot of time, when we were determined to give it everything. In the afternoon, thankfully, we were able to fight back. We were still at the limit with the tyres, so we had to save a bit on the middle stage, but we managed it well. We have been able to regain ground to second overall, but it’s too early to think about what we might be able to achieve tomorrow. There are still a lot of kilometres to cover.”
Ott Tänak (DNF) Rally 2
“Not much positive for us to report today, as we were forced to stop on the first stage of the day with a steering issue. There was no warning, it was quite instant and nothing we could do. It had generally been a pretty demanding stage with very low grip and a lot of cleaning. The conditions were not particularly harsh, just loose. Tomorrow, we will go again and try to score some points in the Power Stage; there’s little else for us to do unfortunately.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier (3rd)
“It was a good morning loop for us, winning two stages and being in the lead of the rally. The car was working well and we had some ideas to make it even better for the afternoon. Unfortunately, it was not exactly the afternoon we were looking for. But it’s part of the game sometimes in motorsport, and in the end I’m happy to still be here tonight. Of course, it is frustrating not to be in the fight for the win, but at least we are still in a position to fight for the big points and for the podium. I’m sure the team can fix the car tonight and we can finish the rally well tomorrow. There are still some long stages with conditions that are probably even more challenging than today, so nothing is over yet.”
Elfyn Evans (4th)
“It was a decent morning for us. Already from the first stage it was very hot in the car, but everything was working well. We had a good feeling in the car and the rhythm was good. We knew the afternoon would be tough. The time in the long stage was not so bad but my tyre wear was much higher than expected. We need to study it to find out why, but I wasn’t managing the tyre well. That made the next two stages very difficult: It was a case of trying to manage it as best as we could. It’s still all to play for tomorrow. The long stage will be very challenging and there could still be an opportunity to be on the podium, so we have to go and try our best.”
Kalle Rovanperä (5th)
“The morning was quite OK for me even though the road was quite slippery and it was still cleaning. The afternoon was really tough. On the longest stage we had a puncture: The conditions were really rough and rocky all the time so it’s impossible to know where we got it. After that we had to be careful to get through the other two stages. The overall position is still good for us though, and tomorrow is a long day so anything can happen. If we can keep this position or even gain something more, that would be good.”
M-Sport WRT
Teemu Suninen (6th)
“I’ve been quite happy with the day. I felt like I was driving well and that our tyre management was good. We were pushing hard while still taking care of the tyres and we were able to set some good times this afternoon. But then on the last two stages we had quite a lot of dust in the car when one of the small windows on the side popped open – which was really distracting. Tomorrow the plan is to continue what we are doing and get through the day. We have some really rough stages – the roughest of the weekend I would say – so we need to keep our eyes open and make sure we get to the end with some more good times.”
Esapekka Lappi (7th)
“It’s been really hot and challenging out there today – it’s tough on the cars, on the tyres and on the crews as well. It was tricky running so early on the road, but we tried to drive well and learn as much as we could about the car on these kinds of roads. We learnt quite a lot and things got better this afternoon, but there’s still some more to do so let’s see what we can discover tomorrow.”
Gus Greensmith (8th)
“We were making quite a few changes after each stage and on the long one this afternoon the splits were looking really strong. But unfortunately, we picked up a puncture. I’m not sure where we got it, but we did, and for the last two I had a bald tyre on the rear which made things pretty interesting with some pretty big slides! I’m trying to do the best I can and it seems to be getting better with every stage. We’ve been pretty good on the rough sections, and that’s what we’ll have to contend with tomorrow so let’s see what we can do.”
Sunday
With four stages to run, totalling almost 89km, the drama would really happen in the first stage of the day. The start list looked like this: Tänak, Loubet, Greensmith, Lappi, Suninen, Rovanperä, Evans, Ogier, Loeb, Neuville.
As Ott started the first stage of the day, SS9 Çetibeli 1 – 38.15 km, there was a problem for the Estonian pairing! Their intercom had failed, and Ott couldn’t hear what Martin was saying. Martin resorted to using hand signals to guide Ott through and they still took second fastest in the stage, behind Elfyn who was 30 seconds fastest than the Hyundai crew. It was a stage of drama, with first Loubet and then Suninen stopping. The Finnish pairing had broken his left rear suspension and they were out. The stage was living up to its reputation to be a car breaker. Then Ogier had a puncture at 18km and stopped to change the wheel. Lappi then also got a puncture at 10km, and so did Kalle! Rally leaders, Thierry and Nicolas were another crew to suffer a puncture, albeit much closer to the end of the stage at 25km’s. Loeb also suffered a puncture, losing a minute and twenty seconds! Elfyn now led, from Ogier who was 47 seconds from his teammate and Thierry dropped to third, just one second from second place.
Thierry won SS10 Marmaris 1 – 6.22 km, and moved ahead of Ogier into second place. Loeb and Ogier were second and third fastest in the stage. The new leaders Elfyn and Scott were fifth fastest, and were now just making sure that they completed the remaining stages with no problems.
There was more drama in the rerun of SS11 Çetibeli 2 – 38.15 km! Our leader suffered a stall in a hairpin, but was still second fastest behind Thierry. Ogier was the big loser though, with engine failure, and he stopped at 16.7km’s into the stage. Lappi completed with a puncture, but was still faster than his teammate Gus Greensmith by 7.3 seconds who was now in fifth overall. Loeb was now into third overall, with the demise of his former Citroen teammate.
A tweak to the running order then before the final stage of the rally, and the starting order looked like this: Brynildsen, Fourmaux, Tidemand, Heller, Avci, Bulacia, Kajetanowicz, Tänak, Lappi, Greensmith, Rovanperä, Loeb, Neuville, Evans.
Thierry won SS12 Marmaris 2 [Power Stage] – 6.22 km, with Ott just four tenths from the stage victory, picking some points up, but not the result that he and Martin wanted. Elfyn was third fastest in the stage, sealing a very good third victory. Kalle and Loeb completed the top five in the power stage.
There you go then, with all kinds of drama on the morning of the final day, Elfyn and Scott took a remarkable victory, with Thierry and Nicolas taking second position, and Seb and Daniel completing a good third place for Hyundai.
Final Overall Classification – Rally Turkey
1
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota Yaris WRC
2:43:02.7
2
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+35.2
3
S. Loeb
D. Elena
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+59.4
4
K. Rovanperä
J. Halttunen
Toyota Yaris WRC
+2:35.9
5
G. Greensmith
E. Edmondson
Ford Fiesta WRC
+4:08.3
6
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Ford Fiesta WRC
+5:36.2
7
K. Kajetanowicz
M. Szczepaniak
Škoda Fabia R5
+12:35.5
8
P. Tidemand
P. Barth
Škoda Fabia R5
+12:59.7
9
A. Fourmaux
R. Jamoul
Ford Fiesta R5
+14:42.6
10
M. Bulacia
M. Der Ohannesian
Citroën C3 R5
+14:46.4
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Elfyn Evans (1st)
“It obviously feels good to come away from a really tough rally with a win. We showed some good pace from the start. We were perhaps not the fastest driver out there this weekend, but we were there or thereabouts and we knew that today was going to be critical. We really tried to focus on keeping it in the middle of the road and that paid off for us, and I’m happy to come away with all those points. It’s probably not the sweetest victory because we know that others had some bad luck, but this is the nature of Rally Turkey and we knew this coming into the weekend. It’s a great result towards the championship and a good position to be in.”
2020 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 05 / Rally Turkey / September 18-20, 2020 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Kalle Rovanperä (4th)
“This is another good result for us. It’s nice to keep finishing these rallies with good points. I have to say a really big thank you to the team, because they are doing a very big job in a rally like this to keep the car in a good condition as it’s really rough for the car. The long stage today was tough as we expected. On the second pass we were really careful to save the car and the tyres. Then in the Power Stage we couldn’t push too much because we wanted to get the points for the manufacturers’ championship, but we still managed to set a nice time and get some more points.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville (2nd)
“I have the feeling we deserved to have taken more away from this weekend, but it is still a great feeling to be back on the podium again. We showed a strong performance and the car was working really well; we made some changes on Saturday afternoon and the speed was definitely there. Unfortunately, we were among the unlucky crews to pick up a puncture on the first stage today, which prevented us from taking the victory. Still, we fought back to take P2 and five Power Stage points, so from a championship point of view it was a good move. Even if we didn’t take the win, we did the maximum we could. I have to say thanks to the team for all their efforts.”
Sébastien Loeb (3rd)
“It has been a tough final day of this rally. The first stage this morning was a bit of a lottery and we didn’t get the right numbers! There was a lot of dust and I was driving carefully because I knew there was a chance of a puncture, and suddenly that’s exactly what happened. We only had ten pages of notes left so we decided to bring the car to the end, but I lost the tyre completely so had to drive really slowly. We were still in the battle for the podium. Our aim in the second loop was the get the car through safely and we were able to do that to secure third place – and a great podium finish.”
Ott Tänak (17th)
“Since the beginning of the weekend, it has been a very challenging event for us. Friday night, we had some demanding conditions, then on Saturday morning we had to retire with the steering issue. Today, we had to drive through the first three stages with a target of getting something from the Power Stage. I didn’t really have the full commitment to go flat out, somehow it was only at 90%, but we made it through and got four extra points which is much better than nothing.”
M-Sport WRT
Gus Greensmith (5th)
“I’m pretty pleased at the end of this one and happy with how our weekend panned out. That long stage today was so rough, and considering where we were, I decided that caution was the better act of valour. That turned out to be the right decision – it worked out, and we come away from this weekend with our best ever result.
“I was hoping that we would be able to transfer our Shakedown pace to the rally, but without a pre-event test that proved difficult and we still made a lot of improvements over the course of the weekend – so a big thanks to the team for that. And I think I’ve also made an improvement inside the car. Whereas I might have just sent it once upon a time, I’m now focused on being mistake-free and getting the mileage under my belt – and the confidence will come with that.”
Esapekka Lappi (6th)
“It’s always a challenge coming here, but I think you also need a little bit of luck and that wasn’t really on our side today. That long stage is the roughest of the weekend and we got a puncture on both passes through there. The first one was quite early on so we had to stop and change, and the second was about five kilometres from the end.
“It was a shame because the times on both passes of that stage were actually looking pretty good. We’d made quite a few changes throughout the weekend, and it looked as though everything was starting to come together. So hopefully that’s all good information that we can take forward to Sardinia in two weeks times.”
Teemu Suninen (DNF)
“It’s really disappointing how we had to end the day as I think we could have achieved another good result this weekend. I would say that we were quite unlucky. There were so many big rocks on the stage and so many people having problems – unfortunately for us, our problem was quite a big one as the damper was completely broken and it meant that we couldn’t continue.
“It’s a shame because I think we were driving well and the time looked pretty okay too. We’ve still learnt a lot this weekend, and it’s all good practice for Sardinia where we’ll try again to close the gap and bring home a good result for the team.
“And there was some good news from today as we found out that my engineer Callum has become a father for the very first time – so I would like to say a big congratulations to him and his girlfriend.”
2020 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 5
1
E. Evans
97
2
S. Ogier
79
3
O. Tänak
70
4
K. Rovanperä
70
5
T. Neuville
65
6
E. Lappi
38
7
T. Suninen
34
8
C. Breen
25
9
S.Loeb
24
10
G. Greensmith
16
2020 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 5
1
Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team
174
2
Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team
165
3
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team
101
Summary
This event lived up to its reputation as the modern-day Rally Acropolis. Just when you thought it was settled, the first run of the Çetibeli 38km stage threw Thierry’s hopes for victory right out.
Elfyn and Scott were a minute from the leader at the start, but came through to win that stage, and take the lead of the rally. All three crews in front of them suffered punctures, and lost so much time. It was a great victory for the Toyota pairing, and as you can see, this has moved them back into the championship lead.
Thierry and Nicolas kept their heads and showed their pace, coming through to second place, after winning seven stages. Definitely one that got away from the Belgian pairing though, who at least got their second podium of the year, after their win in Monte Carlo.
Seb Loeb and Daniel Elena showed their class, with a first podium since Rally Chile last year, but again a puncture meant that they were always playing catchup.
Kalle has proved that Tommi made the right decision, with a good drive to fourth place, now holding fourth in the championship.
At M-Sport, Gus Greensmith got his best finish to date, with fifth place. What could he do next time out in Rally Italia? He still has a lot to learn from his teammates. Teemu would have been ahead, but for the damage to the left-rear wheel and suspension.
Next up is Rally Italia Sardegna in two weeks’ time! Another gravel event, and as championship leaders Elfyn and Scott will open the road. Pop back before the 8th of October to check out my preview for this event.
Josh Cook led from lights to flag his first official win of the season. He had won previously but lost the win due to technical infringements. Team mate Tom Chilton came second with Rory Butcher in third.
Carl Boardley spun at the final chicane on lap one and broke his suspension, ending an unfortunate weekend for the Team HARD driver. Team mate Nicolas Hamilton had similar issues and retired.
Tom Ingram had won the first two races of the day and was fighting new championship leader Ash Sutton for fourth. The pair were involved in a race-long battle.
With Cook and Chilton pulling away, Butcher had to fend off Sutton and Ingram, who were both charging.
Cook cruised to a win with Chilton and Butcher in second and third respectively. Butcher did well to hold off Sutton and Ingram, who were both incredibly quick throughout the weekend.
Tom Oliphant, Matt Neal, Colin Turkington, Jake Hill and Dan Cammish rounded off the top ten. Guest driver Rob Austin ended his impressive weekend with 11th.
Tom Ingram secured another win in race two at Thruxton after another close battle with Dan Cammish. The Yorkshireman finished second with team mate Matt Neal third.
Ingram led from lights to flag, to make a good day for Toyota even better. Toyota have won both the Le Mans 24 Hours and Rally Turkey, and can add a BTCC double race win to that.
New championship leader Ash Sutton leapt up to fourth in his Infiniti and was hounding down Neal for third. By lap eight he was on his tail but Sutton went wide at Church corner and lost some ground.
Colin Turkington, reeling from his race one misfire, fought from the back of the grid into the points, and managed to finish 13th.
There were a couple of late retirements as Adam Morgan retired from fifth with an engine failure, and Bobby Thompson crashed out.
Ingram secured his second win of the day and has jumped up to third in the championship standings, 30 points behind Sutton.
Cammish and Neal rounded off the podium, Sutton was fourth, Rory Butcher and Tom Oliphant were fifth and sixth. Then came the BTC Racing trio of Tom Chilton, Josh Cook and Michael Crees, with Senna Proctor finishing tenth.
Tom Ingram picked up his first win of the season at Thruxton in a race which saw championship protagonist Colin Turkington suffer a misfire.
Ingram leapt into the lead off the start and held off Cammish by just over half a second at the chequered flag. Cammish’s Team Dynamics team mate Matt Neal rounded off the podium.
Jake Hill had started well but spun on lap four at the final chicane, compromising his weekend.
On lap six Ash Sutton passed championship rival Colin Turkington in a nice pass, but Turkington started falling down the grid. He had a loss of power and a misfire. Effectively retiring from the race which could have huge ramifications for the championship battle.
Sutton then passed Butcher coming out of the Complex chicane on lap eight, It was an expertly taken move by the 2017 champion.
On lap 11 Andy Neate and Carl Boardley had a coming together at the Complex. It was a clumsy move by Neate who tried to pass Boardley on the outside when he already had the inside line.
Cammish was pressuring Ingram in the final stages back at the front, with just half a second between the pair. However Ingram held on for his and Toyota’s first win of the season.
Cammish and Neal celebrated sponsor Yuasa’s tenth anniversary of being in the BTCC with a double podium. Adam Morgan, Sutton, Butcher, Tom Chilton, Tom Oliphant, Josh Cook and Michael Crees rounded off the top ten.
Fan favourite Rob Austin finished 12th in the Power Maxed Vauxhall Astra and Tom Onslow-Cole returned to the BTCC with a 21st place finish.
10km east of Riga in Latvia lies the Biķernieku forest. Here, a 1295m rallycross track with 60% asphalt and 40% dirt can be found. In this COVID-19-impacted season, it holds the fifth and sixth rounds of the FIA World Rallycross season. Johan Kristoffersson has taken two wins in the first and third rounds of the series with Mattias Ekström and Niclas Gronhölm taking wins in the second and fourth rounds respectively.
Coming into this weekend, Kristoffersson has a 17-point lead over Ekström in the championship standings. This is a strong track for Kristoffersson as he has two wins here, coming in 2017 and 2018.
After a successful weekend at home in Finland, Gronhölm comes to Riga in third place in the standings with a six-point gap to Timmy Hansen in fourth. Gronhölm’s teammate Timur Timerzyarnov is in 10th place after scoring a third place in the fourth round.
As mentioned before, 2019 World Champion Timmy Hansen is in fourth place in the championship with only one podium in the first four rounds. His younger brother and teammate Kevin is just behind him in fifth place. Both have undertaken some testing before this round which they are hoping will allow them to extract as much out of the car as possible this weekend.
Credit: FIAWorldRallycross.com
Timo Scheider has had his best ever start to a World Rallycross season by making it to three out of the four finals that have been held including a third place in the first round of the season. This has helped him to seventh place in the standings. Team boss of the ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport team, René Münnich, has had a tougher season than his teammate and is only 16th.
Monster Energy GRX RX Cartel’s Liam Doran has had multiple technical failures leading him to be 21st in the championship, but team-mate Andreas Bakkerud has had more luck by reaching the final on two occasions and scoring 53 points.
Anton Markund for GCK Bilstein is currently in ninth place after the four rounds and will be hoping to make it through to the final at one of these rounds again. The GCK Unkorrupted pairing of Rokas Baciuška and Guerlain Chicherit are in 15th and 17th respectively.
Joining the 14 permanent racers is home favourite Renis Nitišs, who makes his first appearance of the season with ESmotorsport Eigesa WRX Team in the Škoda Fabia. Jani Paasonen also returns with Ferratum Team in the Ford Fiesta and Krisztián Szabó returns after Höljes with GRX SET in the Hyundai i20.
The time difference to Riga from London is two hours so Qualifying 1 for World Rallycross begins at 8.30 am BST. If the last four rounds are anything to go by, this event is not to be missed!
As the Bennetts British Superbike Championship heads to the Cheshire countryside for it’s fourth meeting of the season at Oulton Park, let’s recall what took place during the first half of the truncated 2020 season.
Tarran Mackenzie winner of Race 1 at Silverstone BSB 2020. Image courtesy of Impact Image/McAMS Yamaha
The action got underway at Donington Park with Honda Racing’s Andrew Irwin making the headlines for both the right and wrong reasons.
Northern Irishman Irwin took the first two races of the season ahead of brother Glenn before controversy reigned in the final race of the weekend when Andrew collided with VisionTrack Ducati’s Josh Brookes, which led to the Australian rider crashing out of the race at Hollywood.
While replays showed that there was a gap that many believed Irwin was right to attempt to exploit, the BSB officials took a rather dim view on the incident, claiming that the Honda rider had made ‘unfair and avoidable’ contact and disqualified Irwin from the race and ordered him to start the next race from the back of the grid. The incident had no effect on the race winner as Oxford Products Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell took the spoils.
After a decade of trying, Christian Iddon finally claimed his maiden BSB in race one of the second meetings at Snetterton. The Mancunian rider was embroiled in a tough battle with VisionTrack Ducati team-mate Josh Brookes before taking the lead with five laps remaining and then sprinting clear of the Australian to claim a comfortable victory.
Brookes took his first victory of 2020 in the second Snetterton race after an intriguing tussle with championship leader Glenn Irwin. The two men battled hard and traded the lead until a mistake by Irwin allowed Brookes to build a decisive lead. The Honda rider attempted to snatch the lead back at Agostini’s but ran wide thus shutting the door on his hopes of victory.
Irwin responded with a win of his own in the third race of the meeting to prevent a Ducati hat-trick and extend his lead in the standings by 23 points. Despite being as low as seventh at the end of the first lap, Irwin showed great determination to fight his way through the pack and eventually take the lead during lap 10. The Honda man wouldn’t surrender his position and finished 1.138s ahead of nearest challenger Tommy Bridewell.
The championship front runners had their noses bloodied at the third meeting of the season at Silverstone as two more riders took the spoils to take the tally of BSB competitors taking victories in 2020 to a magnificent seven.
Tarran Mackenzie on the McAms Yamaha took an emotional win one tenth of a second ahead of Buildbase Suzuki’s Kyle Ryde with Yamaha team-mate Jason O’Halloran taking third place. Mackenzie showed tremendous pace to fight his way through the pack from twelfth position to take the second victory of his BSB career, his first coming at the same venue in 2019.
Buoyed by his maiden BSB podium in the first Silverstone race, reigning British GP2 Champion Kyle Ryde backed up his impressive form in the early rounds to claim victory in races two and three in Northamptonshire. In the second race, Ryde perched himself behind long-time race leader Josh Brookes before opening up the taps and making his move on the Australian on lap 27. Ryde soon pulled the pin and scorched clear, eventually coming home a comfortable 1.686s ahead of the Ducati rider.
Kyle Ryde, winner; Tarran Mackenzie, second place and Jason O’Halloran third in Race 2 at the 2020 BSB Silverstone round. Image courtesy of Impact Image/McAMS Yamaha
In the third race of the weekend, Ryde put in a dominant performance and controlled the pace of the race to romp home 1.549s ahead of race one winner Mackenzie.
Going into the Oulton Park round, it’s Glenn Irwin who heads the championship some 35 points clear of VisionTrack Ducati’s Josh Brookes and Oxford Products Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell. Ryde’s brace of victories at Silverstone catapulted him into fourth place ahead of McAms Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran (the only rider in the top seven to have not yet won a race in 2020). Christian Iddon sits in sixth place, five points clear of Tarran Mackenzie.
It’s all to play for now as we enter the business end of the season with race one of the weekend at Oulton Park getting underway at 16.15 on Saturday (September 18th).
It’s not the fault of Hamilton or Mercedes but instead the strict formula that teams have to work to. If there’s to be a constructors championship then we need looser regulations so designers and engineers can have more freedom, different engine types and different aero design. Then, lets go racing!
If not, we might as well have a single construction championship like Formula 2 where the racing is much closer and more exciting, even if admittedly some of that is because young drivers make more mistakes.
Formula 1 should be open. I bet that if it was, you’d have more than just hybrid engines! We’d have the possibility of an electric car racing a combustion engine in the not too distant future. I’m afraid that if huge changes aren’t made then F1 will be left behind. If we had those kind of regulations would Formula E even have got up and running? Look how exciting the races are. Guess what? They are all driving the same car!
I’m not advocating that F1 should be a single constructors championship, but if they are to all build their own designs completely then they need to take the shackles off. Budgets have been cut now going forward which can only be a good thing, but all of the teams working towards a single design framework will lead to almost identical cars again.
2020 Styrian Grand Prix, Sunday – LAT Images
Somehow, like in football, the richer teams like Ferrari and Mercedes will find a way to attract the best people even on a restricted budget. We need to make room for initiative, give a chance to the next Adrian Newey or Colin Chapman, whose ideas revolutionised the sport. With tight regulations these kinds of ideas are harder to find.
If they really want to save money then Friday free practice should go! Other than a cheap day out to watch Formula 1 cars I can see little need for it.
Here’s my road map for the sport.
You probably have your own ideas on how to fix F1. These are just me spit balling mine. We’d love to hear your ideas.
A. Loosen the restrictions to allow for innovation in both engine and chassis design.
B. Cut costs by cutting out Friday free practice sessions.
C. Teams should be allowed to race three cars but the third driver must be a young driver or a guest with enough super license points. The team would lose the points of the third driver.
D. Tyres should only be one small element of the teams strategy, so maybe another tyre manufacturer should come in.
If the Formula 1 changes that are scheduled now for 2022 – when in all likelihood Lewis Hamilton will be an eight-time world champion – do not make the significant difference that they promise, F1 will not attract enough new young fans to make it viable and, in my opinion, Formula E will become the de-facto pinnacle of motorsports.
Update – 23/01/2021: Hello again! It’s Luca. I left ThePitCrewOnline in the middle of 2021 when I was offered a role with the driving games and esports racing website, and in that time, a lot has happened.
Back in March 2021, I was watching the final round of the VCO ProSIM Series Season 1, and at the end there was an advertisement for an upcoming event by VCO, and it was the Esports Racing World Cup. The best teams in all of sim racing doing battle on three separate simulation titles, those being iRacing, rFactor 2 and Assetto Corsa Competizione from 28-30 January 2022.
Then a year-round set of tournaments will take place, that being the Esports Racing League with a structure that is similar to that of more traditional forms of esports like Rocket League and Call of Duty. All of this happening as a result of the many ideas I expressed here, and CEO of VCO Florian Haasper has accredited me with helping them come up with.
It just goes to show that by networking with all the right people and forging connections, you can make things happen. Tune in to VCO’s YouTube and Twitch channels on all three days to see the definitive sim racing event take place!
Image courtesy of Virtual Competition Organisation
During the beginning portion of this year, we have been treated to some incredible racing in the virtual world. It provided an unprecedented opportunity to showcase the high level of ability from a lot of drivers who do compete in sim racing, as well as the high quality of racing you can witness at the fraction of the cost of the real thing.
We had countless examples of high profile races ranging from sanctioned events by existing series including the likes of Formula 1, MotoGP, Formula E and IndyCar, to completely new originals such as the very popular All-Star Series by The Race.
However Esports racing events are not an entirely new creation, as we have had plenty of championships that existed before this sim racing boom. Such examples include F1 Esports, the FIA-certified Gran Turismo Championships, and iRacing host many sanctioned sim racing series such as the Porsche Esports SuperCup and the eNASCAR iRacing Series. Then we also have the likes of Formula Sim Racing, the Grand Prix Virtual World Championship, league racing championships such as Apex Online Racing and Online Racing League, you get the idea.
So it’s not as if virtual racing fans are starved of action, if anything we are spoilt for choice! But with the quantity of races and championships that there is on offer, there’s a danger perhaps of a lack of prestige with any one particular championship. Do bear with me on this.
When I started to become interested in video game racing, I like many of you were blown away by the accessibility and thus seeing the amount of drivers who were taking to it in order to make advances in their racing career. Subsequently a lot of teams have popped up to compete and signed a lot of drivers to compete in various championships for them, and it just solidified the brilliance of the Esports racing.
So what is it that really sets apart virtual racing from real racing?
It of course goes without saying that real racing has the physical element which virtual racing could never really have. However because in the virtual world, cars and tracks can be picked from the touch of button, the advantage of that is not having to pay huge amounts of money to ship cars onto a cargo plane to a new track. Therefore whilst the physical factor isn’t a huge thing in Esports, there can be a mental factor.
In the week leading up to last weekend’s 24 hours of Le Mans, the Le Mans Esports Series had their Super Final which was stretched across a few days. In that, teams and drivers race multiple different eras of Le Mans-style cars on a variety of circuits, which is brilliant of course but I think it was their first season last year which really made me realise what was so brilliant about the format.
Of course this year, everything is being done remotely and thus there are some limitations. But in 2019 when the Le Mans Esports Series had its first Super Final and all the drivers were actually present at the Le Mans circuit for the event, they had about nine races varying from two to three hours long, in a variety of cars on a multitude of circuits, and it all took place within a 24 hour period.
They could just as well have had one race on the Circuit de la Sarthe and driven for 24 hours like the real thing but they didn’t. They took advantage of the fact that they could go to all these circuits and compete in all these vastly different cars, and really test the mental strength of these drivers, showing who can quickly adapt and prove their versatility in a short space of time.
What I’m saying is, whilst you could have a sim racing championship that does one circuit at a time with one type of car throughout the season and it would be perfectly legitimate, there are advantages presented by being able to quickly move to another type of car and track combination. That’s why I want to present an example that demonstrated this concept brilliantly.
On the weekend of July 26th, I watched the Cup of Nations, an event that took place on iRacing and hosted by the Virtual Competition Organisation in collaboration with RaceSpotTV and Williams Esports. You can guess by the name that it was a competition held between nations, and you’d be correct in assuming that.
It was won in the end by Team Germany who had the driver with the highest iRacing driver rating in the world Maximilian Benecke, as one of their participants. However as appealing the concept of pitting nations against each other is (demonstrated by the likes of the FIA Motorsport Games and A1GP), it wasn’t that which caught my attention.
No, it was the fact that the car and track combinations were so heavily varied. You had the likes of Aussie Supercars, GT cars, Rallycross cars, single seaters and the many different types of race tracks such as ovals, dirt tracks and road courses. The people taking part only knew of the car and track combinations very little time in advance, so it eliminated the element of people getting more practice or even enough of it with a particular car and track combo.
Every driver that took part had to prove their worth in so many heavily contrasting environments. When I said earlier that the virtual racing world is currently lacking that one prestigious championship in which all the major aspiring and established sim racing drivers and the many Esports teams would want to compete in and win, I think this would be it.
I firmly believe that the VCO have showcased a diamond in a huge box already full of very valuable jewels. With some other elements borrowed from many other high profile Esports championships and if refined to iron out some rough edges, this concept would be – and I don’t mince my words here – the quintessential sim racing championship.
Picture if you will, the many big names from the real and virtual world both in regards to drivers and teams, looking to win the biggest prize in Esports racing, in the most prestigious championship for sim racers all over the world.
Open to anyone all over the world, teams entering with pre-selected drivers in a Pro driver category or players who qualify through iRacing and enter into an Am category. Either competing remotely in eight events across the year to match up to a total at the end, or entering into regional championships so no one region is left having to drive at 3am all the time. I would leave that up to the experts to decide which format works best.
Either way, it would end at the SimRacing Expo which takes place at the Nürburgring every year to crown the champions.
As far as a name goes, I’m divided between a few. There are the likes of, Sim Racing World Championship, Virtual Racing World Championship, eRacing/E-Racing World Championship.
In any case, I firmly believe that this championship would be incredible. It would not be a long shot to say that whoever would win this would be the world’s best sim racing driver or team, and we the viewers would also be major winners as we can see the peak of ability in all of sim racing.
The 2020 FIA Formula 3 season ended with a bang last weekend at Mugello. ART’s Theo Pourchaire came within touching distance of flipping the championship on its head after title contender Logan Sargeant crashed out on the opening lap, but ultimately it was Prema’s Oscar Piastri who came through to be crowned the 2020 drivers’ champion.
With all the prizes now handed out, it’s time to look back on what will go down as a memorable season—not just for the circumstances surrounding it, but for the brilliant racing seen all year long.
Oscar Piastri, Prema (Courtesy of FIA Formula 3 media)
The fight at the top
Obviously, any review of this year’s F3 season has to start with its champion Oscar Piastri and his rivals for the crown.
From his win in the first race of the season, there was little doubt that Piastri would be one of the major players in the title battle right through to the end. Although it took him until the Barcelona sprint race to win again, Piastri’s podiums and strong points finishes kept him in the championship lead right up until round five at Silverstone, when Logan Sargeant’s first F3 win set up a close title fight between the two Premas.
His season wasn’t perfect. Considering he won the title, it’s surprising that Piastri did so with fewer wins than Frederik Vesti or Liam Lawson, and fewer podiums than Theo Pourchaire. More surprisingly, Piastri scored no pole positions at all this year—by comparison, Sargeant took three and qualified ahead of Piastri in almost every round.
All of which must make the final result of the 2020 season tough to swallow for the four drivers above. Despite all outperforming Piastri by one metric or another, the Australian’s consistency meant he was still able to come out on top.
But hopefully, they’ll all come away from the season emboldened by their performances, and the knowledge that the championship could have so easily swung in any of their directions. Pourchaire, Sargeant, Vesti and Lawson would all have been just as deserving a champion as Piastri, and will surely be contenders once again if they stay in F3 next year.
Alex Peroni, Campos (Joe Portlock / Formula 1 via Getty Images)
Who else impressed?
While much of the focus this year was on the battle for the championship, there were still plenty more standout performances from drivers up and down the grid.
Alex Peroni was one such. His 2019 F3 debut didn’t start particularly strongly with only two lower points finishes, but it was his vertebrae fractures sustained at Monza that defined it. But Peroni came back a different driver in 2020, taking his maiden podium in the first round with two more to follow at Silverstone and Barcelona, and scoring all of Campos’ 64 points.
Another impressive podium challenger was ART’s Aleksandr Smolyar. While the Russian was a long way off teammate Pourchaire’s results, he showed serious pace all season with a pole position at the Hungaroring and a win at Silverstone, although the latter was taken away by a post-race penalty.
Smolyar’s results wobbled a little after his lost win, but two fourth places at Spa and a podium he could keep at Monza put him back on track and will hopefully set up an even stronger sophomore year in 2021.
Mention should also be made of Ben Barnicoat, Michael Belov and Pierre-Louis Chovet, who all managed to score points acting as last-minute stand-ins for Carlin, Charouz and Hitech respectively. No easy feat by any means, given the steep learning curve of Formula 3.
Jack Doohan, HWA (Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool)
Who needs to improve?
As for drivers who’ll need to step up their game if they return to F3 next year, the easy answer is the likes of Cameron Das, Sophia Floersch, Lukas Dunner and Alessio Deledda. Each of these stood out for the unfortunate reason that they scored no points all season, while their respective teammates were able to take frequent points and occasional podiums.
Another driver with the same distinction is Jack Doohan, who finished 26th in the championship while his HWA teammate Jake Hughes took two wins and two further podiums to finish 7th. Doohan is one of a trio of Red Bull juniors along with Dennis Hauger and Igor Fraga who will need to find new form next year after being significantly overshadowed by Lawson this year.
And speaking of F1 junior drivers, there’s also Ferrari’s Enzo Fittipaldi. The Brazilian showed some good speed at certain races this year, and particularly found his form at Mugello where he finished fifth and fourth in the two races. But over the whole season Fittipaldi only finished in the points six times in 18 races.
With highly-rated Ferrari juniors like Gianluca Petecof and Arthur Leclerc potentially targeting F3 next year, Fittipaldi will need to flip this ratio around to avoid falling behind them in the FDA pecking order.
While we won’t know for a while who’ll make up Formula 3’s 2021 grid, the talent and potential seen throughout 2020 gives us a lot to look forward to. In the meantime, F3 will be back on track next month for two post-season tests, at Barcelona on October 5th–6th and Jerez on October 27th–28th.
Igor Fraga, Charouz (Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool)
