ThePitcrewOnline

14th March 20173rd July 2017

Massimo Looks Ahead to the 2017 Season.

March 14, 2017

Preseason tests are just over!

I think it’s clear what kind of season 2017 will be, obviously Mercedes is the team to beat. They showed all their power, not only in terms of speed, but also nothing has changed in terms of reliability.

New driver Valtteri Bottas and three-time champion Lewis Hamilton covered almost 1100 laps with more than 50000 km!

Ferrari seems to be ever gaining on Mercedes, covering almost 1000 laps and setting the best time lap with Kimi Raikkonen’s 1:18:634.

Hamilton said the Italian team bluffed…whether he was right remains to be seen but we’ll find out Melbourne!

I can foresee these two teams turning the fight for the championship into an epic battle, not forgetting Williams, they have to be really happy with their reliability so far, the veteran Felipe Massa completed an impressive 168 laps in one day only, showing that the car is really strong with 1:19:420 as the teams best lap time, this, of course, shows what could be seen as a promising start for the Grove based team. I’m pretty sure that Williams will be a constant contender for points and who knows we might even see them on the top step of the podium!

I think we will see an interesting fight in the midfield where we have Red Bull, Force India, Toro Rosso and the surprise of last year Haas. Red Bull may have finally lost their position as a title contender although Ricciardo is a great driver and he can always push his car to the max.

Max Verstappen is a race animal, given the chance, I’m sure he’d even overtake himself if he could! I strongly believe Red Bull will surprise us as usual and we will see their faces on the podium more than a couple of times. The same goes for Force India, stronger every year, with an experienced and talented driver like Perez and the new kid on the block Ocon, who showed very good pace in testing.

It will be a close fight between Toro Rosso and Haas, both have very talented drivers like Sainz, Kyvat, Grosjean and Magnussen.

Behind them, but not so far, I think we will see the Sauber guys, Renault and sadly McLaren-Honda in amongst them.

The big and worst surprise in the winter tests has been McLaren Honda…again! Already into the third year of their renewed partnership they still can’t find the way to build a decent engine.

Only 425 laps and less than 2000 km, all due to engines faults and electrical failures.

Nobody can understand why Honda, who can seem to make every other engine reliable and wins in almost every competition they enter, can’t assemble a decent F1 engine. It’s a big mystery! Honda has said they now understand what the problem was they encountered during testing and they will bring a reliable engine for the first race of the season. They are certain that after a few races they will also have a more powerful unit to offer the Woking based team.

I hope everybody ready for the first race of what hopefully will be an exciting season.

We will see just how much each team has been hiding come 24th March, as that sees the first free practice session of the year, hopefully, we will start to see who has actually improved and who has been putting on a show to fool the other teams! The first green light of the season falls on 26th March when the battle for the championship will begin!

Photo courtesy of Lindsay Scott

13th March 20173rd July 2017

Buriram WSBK – What We Learnt

The Thai WSBK round was an explosive one – quite literally if you are Leon Camier and Lorenzo Savadori. But what else did we learn in the Far East, apart from the fans are crazy and the weather is hot and humid?

One thing we learnt is that Jonathan Rea is in fine form (as if that was ever doubted). The Ulsterman took his 2nd consecutive double and became the first rider since Neil Hodgson in 2003 to win the first four races of the season. The Kawasaki rider is the man to beat, although he goes to a circuit which he hasn’t won at since 2015, with Aragon next up. On the other side of the Kawasaki garage, Tom Sykes took a double podium, with 3rd in race one and 2nd in race two. The former champion is already 38 points back from his teammate and at this early stage in the championship, that is a worrying sign. But then again, it is only early.

The Ducati team had a mixed weekend at Buriram. Firstly, Chaz Davies took a remarkable 2nd in the first race, after picking his way through the field early doors. The former World Supersport champion was in 2nd place in race two before crashing at turn 3 in race two. A red flag did help him recover from the back of the grid to achieve 6th in come the chequered flag. Chaz is 2nd in the championship but 30 points back – but don’t worry – he is actually 10 points nearer to Rea after 4 races than he was last year and he scored 10 points more than Rea in the 2nd half of the championship. I’ll leave it down to you to derive from that what you will. All is not lost yet. As for teammate Melandri, he came away with a great 4th and 3rd after his first visit to the Chang International Circuit. The Italian was mugged on the final corner by Tom Sykes in both races on the final lap. One thing is for sure though, Marco is competitive and if anyone is going to upset the Kawasaki dinner party and turn it red, Melandri could be the rider to do just that.

On the whole, the Yamaha’s performance from Australia definitely looks like it was carried into Thailand. Michael van der Mark found form, finishing in the top 5 in race 1, whilst Alex Lowes picked up his third 4th of the season in race two. Paul Denning’s Crescent Racing squad have figured out how to get the speed out of the Yamaha, adding an interesting dynamic to the season. If the Yamaha can keep the pace with Ducati and Kawasaki, could we see more upsets amongst the front men? There’s no doubting Lowes’ ability, and van der Mark will only get stronger and stronger as the season unfolds.

One thing we did learn is that Honda, despite being nowhere near where they’d like to be, are making progress. Nicky Hayden’s 9th place in race one was a solid performance, putting him on the 2nd row for race two, propelling the Statesider to 7th. Moto2 champion from 2011, Stefan Bradl, endured a trickier brace of races, although it was his first time at the track. The German took a hard earned 10th in the first race, before crashing at the final corner in race two. His results are a drastic improvement on his pair of 15th place finishes at Phillip Island and the next circuit is Aragon, one that he knows well. Testing at the circuit may also give Honda an advantage over some riders. The wins and podiums will come, it will just take a lot of perseverance and effort – but they will come.

On the contrary, Milwaukee Aprilia had a woeful time of things in Thailand. Like BT Sport commentator Keith Huewen said last season, “Laverty will find it more difficult than some are saying”. Never has a better prediction been made. The Irishman retired on the final lap of the first race before crashing late on in the 2nd outing. Teammate Lorenzo Savadori plummeted in race one to 13th and was the reason behind the red flag in race two, after his Aprilia burst into a cloud of smoke on approach to the final turn, throwing the former European Superstock 1000 rider off the bike, landing awkwardly on his neck. Shaun Muir’s team have a lot of work to do in the three weeks between now and Aragon. However, I’m an optimist and believe that by Misano in June, the team will be a regular podium threat. Whether or not this transfers into actual podiums or wins will depend on a variety of things, luck being one of them.

The BMW team were again consistent. Jordi Torres bringing his Althea BMW home in both races, 7th and 5th respectively. Teammate Markus Reiterberger also finished both races, breaking into the top 10 in the 2nd. The team went well at the track last season, so it was to be expected that they perform well. However, you can’t help but feel that the team have reached their maximum and will stay a mid-table outfit, possibly with the odd podium. That’s not so much a criticism of the team, but more a fault on BMW’s behalf. A manufacturer with a relative amount of success should be giving the Althea team some more factory support. Then again, what do I know? Times are hard back in Europe, with uncertainty being a leading factor. At least they have two solid riders.

A few shout outs now. Great ride from Ricardo Russo on the Guandalini Yamaha, taking his first points of the season with a 12th in race two. Roman Ramos’ point scoring run continues, now stretching 26 consecutive races that he has started (he missed Imola and Sepang through injury last year). He took his first top 10 of the year in race two, with 9th. Jamie Whitham also gets a mention, after his “how do you damage a tyre” comment spontaneously came over the air during Eurosport’s qualifying coverage in the typical, Yorkshire accent which he fashions oh so well.

In conclusion, the Thai WSBK round proved many things. Rea is fast as usual. Chaz is serious about ‘win it or bin it’. Honda are growing steadily. Aprilia are stuck in a rut. Yamaha are improving lap on lap. But most of all, the WSBK crowd is back. And whilst some people may say that the level of competition isn’t there, I’d counter that. The level of competition is there, it’s just harder than ever before to be able to compete for a podium because the guys at the front have such serious pace.

And off to Spain we trek…

Kiko Giles @MotoGPKiko

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13th March 20173rd July 2017

How The 2017 Formula One Season Will Unfold

After eight days of intensive testing, we’ve been given a few insights into what the teams are going to bring to Melbourne in two weeks’ time. For some, the testing was a resounding success, some simply got on with their business and others wished they could quietly crawl into a hole and hide.

There have been some major stories about Honda which seemed to take up most of the coverage, but in between the gossip, we learned a lot about every team on the grid and their hopes for 2017.

Mercedes

There’s not many teams who can turn up to testing and on day two be running full race simulations. The power unit ran almost perfectly for both weeks and barring a few minor incidents, they seemed to complete their whole testing package. Consistently at or near the top of the time sheet and over a thousand laps in the bank. The news for the coming season looks very promising for the boys from Brackley.

So, 2017 could see more of the same Mercedes domination. They don’t appear to be shooting themselves in the foot anytime soon. A quick and consistent car with two great drivers, we should expect to see at least one of them on the podium at every race.

Ferrari

Who can set the fastest time in testing and still be backing off on the last corner of every lap? The Iceman managed to do just that. The sand bagging from Ferrari was obvious for everyone to see and it gives us hope that there will be a fight at the front of the grid. The only worry is that they topped last season’s testing timesheet and then fell away when it really mattered.

Predicting a Ferrari win at some point in the season, would seem like a pretty safe bet. They will be up there and challenging, not at every race, but at least they will be closer than last year.

Red Bull

The new aero-dynamic rules should play into Adrian Newey’s hands, at least according to F1 folklore. There were rumours flying around the paddock, that Red Bull hadn’t brought their latest and greatest package to Barcelona. A serious update is expected for Australia and if this is the case, another step forward should follow.

They were always on hand to clean up any mess left by Mercedes last year, but this season, they should be able to expect to be mixing it with in the top three. Podiums will come and they could be surprised by one or two wins.

Williams

Lance Stroll got a rude awakening in the first week of his F1 career. He had a few offs and crashed, that’s expected and better that he do it now and not in an actual race. The rude awakening came in the almost instant comparisons to Pastor Maldonado on social media. That was the low part of Williams’ testing, the high came on the time sheets where they were regularly seen in the top three slots.

If their testing pace was not showboating, then Williams could expect a better season this year. Reclaiming fourth spot is a real possibility and the testing times suggest they can keep Force India in their wake. Unfortunately, there is little chance of them continuously challenging the top three teams.

Force India

A couple of engine issues and break downs was all that really befell the Force India drivers. They seemed to keep their heads below the radar for two weeks and didn’t overtly worry the top of the time sheet. They did, however, put in a lot of laps and they completed full race distances with no problems.

If consistency brings points at the start of the season, it could be a very good start for the Force India drivers. Picking up early points, whilst a few other teams sort out their engine problems and reliability could see them comfortably in the top half and pushing Williams for the all coveted forth spot.

Haas

Last season Roman Grosjean was moaning about his brakes and this was the running commentary from his for his eight days of testing. Somehow, before they head to Australia, the team needs to either get to grips with the existing brakes or to change supplier. Other than that, the engine looks healthy and the car doesn’t look too bad either.

They aren’t going to be troubling the top five teams at the start of the season. They could come strong through the pack if they sort out their brake reliability. A couple of points finishes is all that we really see happening for them.

Toro Rosso

Revealing a car which looks stunning, is a great way to deflect the attention from their lap times. It’s a shame because on day eight in like for like conditions and tyres, they topped Force India, Renault, Sauber, Haas and McLaren.

This season could see Toro Rosso mixing it with the top of the mid-field in a lot of the races. They won’t be there every race, but will be able to pick off points here and there. A few inspired drives from a rejuvenated Kvyat and Sainz could put them back on the driver’s market map.

Renault

The publicity machine was working well building up to the tests. Anything yellow and black was getting tagged and tweeted. This brought a fair degree of attention to Hulkenberg and his first run in the Renault. In fairness to him and Plamer, they both delivered what they could. The car sat out a couple of times and had some issues, still nothing as bad as the teams behind them.

Being able to complete a race distance means that Renault will easily be able to be the eighth best team. Challenging the Toro Rosso or Haas cars will be a push, but they should be there or there abouts with them. Points finishes will be celebrated and anywhere near a top six place could be treated as a win.

Sauber

They just very quietly got on with testing. Very little noise came out of the team and very few people were studying their times or cars. If you needed to sum up their testing program, then you would be forced to use the word consistent. Nothing inspiring but also nothing bad.

It seems that Sauber are going to be reliant on wet races and mixed conditions to be able to fight for points. The good news is that they will not have to worry about coming tenth in the championship and could almost be guaranteed ninth if the Honda engine isn’t drastically improved.

McLaren

So many column inches have been attributed to McLaren and more accurately the Honda engine, that by now you must know that is has issues. Issues being a very nice way of saying that it doesn’t work. The most consecutive laps McLaren managed was eleven. That tells you everything you need to know about testing and their chances in Australia.

The might and money behind Honda, should, ensure that the engine gets improved and in double quick time. The issue is that whilst they are fixing the engine, everyone else is improving theirs. If the McLarens manage to complete the Melbourne Grand Prix, it will feel like a victory for them. The ambitions are high, but the outlook is very, very low. They could very easily finish tenth this year and be looking for a new engine supplier before the summer break.

Andy Robinson

(Images Courtesy of Pirelli F1 Media)

13th March 20171st August 2017

OD Racing Enter Blancpain GT Series Asia

Malaysian squad OD Racing will enter an Audi R8 LMS GT3 in this season’s inaugural Blancpain GT Series Asia campaign, with Mitch Gilbert confirmed as its first driver.

Founded in 2014, the team has previously contested the Asian Le Mans Series and GT Asia categories with McLaren and Lamborghini machinery. However, that all changes this year thanks to Blancpain GT Series Asia’s partnership with the Audi R8 LMS Cup, which allows teams to run the same car in both championships at the same venue a matter of weeks apart.

Indeed, such favourable logistics and opportunities to gather additional data using the same car and Pirelli tyres played a major role in OD Racing’s decision to join the championship with Audi.

Gilbert, meanwhile, previously competed in European F3 and the Formula 1-supporting GP3 Series before successfully switching to GT racing at the start of 2016. The Malaysian-born Australian finished third in last season’s Porsche Carrera Cup Asia standings and also claimed a class podium at December’s Motul Sepang 12 Hours.

The 22-year-old will contest both the 2017 Audi R8 LMS Cup and Blancpain GT Series Asia campaigns with OD Racing, who will announce Gilbert’s co-driver for the latter championship in due course.

OD Racing director Cornelius Ee views this season as a fresh start for the team after a tough 2016.

“We hoped to finish 2016 with a better result than what we ultimately achieved, but that is racing and it was a steep learning curve for us,” he said. “For 2017, however, we have secured what we hope to be a race-winning car with the Audi R8 LMS GT3, and we have a talented line-up of drivers who I’m sure can deliver results for our team. The whole team is feeling re-energised and we are all committed to bring home great results this year for ourselves and our partners.”

OD Racing becomes the second Audi team confirmed for this season’s inaugural Blancpain GT Series Asia campaign after Phoenix Racing Asia announced its two-car programme in January. They’re joined on the GT3 grid by the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG, McLaren, Aston Martin and Lamborghini.

The team will test its new Audi at Sepang International Circuit on March 13/14 ahead of Blancpain GT Series Asia’s opening round of the season there on April 8/9.

2017 Blancpain GT Series Asia Schedule

April 8/9 Sepang, Malaysia
May 20/21 Chang International Circuit, Thailand
June 24/25 Suzuka, Japan
August 19/20 Fuji Speedway, Japan
September 23/24 Shanghai, China
October 21/22 Zhejiang, China

See you at the chequered flag.

Neil Simmons

Twitter: @world_racing

Images courtesy of SRO Motorsports (c)

13th March 20171st August 2017

Guerrieri Back In WTCC

GUERRIERI Esteban (arg) Chevrolet Cruze RML team Campos racing ambiance portrait during the 2016 FIA WTCC World Touring Car Race of Argentina at Termas de Rio Hondo, Argentina on August 6 to 7 – Photo Jean Michel Le Meur / DPPI

*Top South American talent back with Campos Racing for 2017 campaign
*Rookie of the year’s schedule includes home event at Termas de Río Hondo
*Guerrieri: “We can achieve big things”

Esteban Guerrieri’s dream of returning to the FIA World Touring Car Championship has come true with confirmation of a minimum five-event programme with Campos Racing.

86 GUERRIERI Esteban (arg) Chevrolet Cruze team Campos racing action during the 2016 FIA WTCC World Touring Car Race of Argentina at Termas de Rio Hondo, Argentina on August 6 to 7 – Photo Francois Flamand / DPPI.

The Barcelona-based squad, a mainstay of the WTCC since 2005, has entered its Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 on a full-season basis and signed Guerrieri for the races in Morocco, Italy, Hungary, Germany and Argentina with efforts ongoing for the 32-year-old to complete the entire 10-weekend schedule.

Guerrieri, who excelled in single-seater racing against current F1 stars Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel, was the fastest driver of all during the WTCC Race of Argentina weekend last August on what at the time was a one-off appearance with Campos. Since then, the Buenos Aires resident has been working behind the scenes to make his mark on a more regular basis, while also being voted by a selection of WTCC journalists as their rookie of the year.

“After my debut last year I always hoped to come back racing in the WTCC so this means a lot,” said Guerrieri. “I really like the high competition level, the cars are awesome to drive and we’re running on the best circuits around the world so it will definitely be good fun. I already know the guys at Campos Racing, I know what they are made of and this is a great opportunity for all of us as a team. The potential is there I have no doubt and if we get it right we can achieve big things.”

Guerrieri, who will go up against fellow Argentine Néstor Girolami during this season’s world championship, will combine his WTCC campaign with an assault on the Argentine Súper TC2000 series with Citroën, a challenge he’s relishing. “There are no clashes on the calendar but many consecutive racing weekends so an organised agenda and to rest properly will be crucial to face the long flights. But my body is still young enough to cope! The lack of pre-season testing will be the biggest problem. But of course we will try to face that with the right preparation and attention to detail in order to absorb quickly as much information as possible.”

François Ribeiro, Head of Eurosport Events, the WTCC promoter, said: “Esteban did great at Termas last year and it could have been so much better for him without the clutch problem affecting his races. He adapted super quickly to the WTCC, the Chevrolet TC1 World Touring Car and Yokohama tyres. He deserves this chance to race in the WTCC and I am happy he can show his talent on other tracks, just like Néstor Girolami will do.”

Ruben Espin, Campos Racing General Manager, said: “We are excited to have Esteban with us in the team. Our role in the last few years has been developing young drivers. Since 2010/2011 when Gabriele [Tarquini], Tiago [Monteiro] and Jordi [Gené] raced for us we were not able to fight for the title. But we are back to show Esteban’s skills and convince sponsors to support us in the second half of the season.”

86 GUERRIERI Esteban (arg) Chevrolet Cruze RML team Campos racing action during the 2016 FIA WTCC World Touring Car Race of Argentina at Termas de Rio Hondo, Argentina on August 6 to 7 – Photo Jean Michel Le Meur / DPPI

FOX Sports will follow Guerrieri and Girolami with extensive live television coverage in 50 countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela and Uruguay.

The 2017 WTCC season begins at Marrakech, Morocco, from 7-9 April. WTCC Race of Argentina takes place at Circuito Termas de Río Hondo in the Santiago del Estero region from 14-16 July.

See you at the chequered flag.

Neil Simmons

Twitter: @world_racing

Images courtesy of FIA WTCC (c)

12th March 20173rd July 2017

A Penny for the Thoughts of Fernando Alonso After McLaren-Honda’s Latest Woes?

One can only wonder at the thoughts running through the head of Fernando Alonso as he prepares for yet another handicapped season with the McLaren-Honda package.

The two-time World Champion, who took the last of his 32 Grand Prix victories in Spain almost four years ago, has spent the last two seasons trundling around in an underpowered McLaren, scrapping away for minor points at best. Meanwhile, despite much-publicised errors last year, Ferrari – the team Alonso left as he had lost faith in their ability to win him a third title – have improved immeasurably from their woefully uncompetitive 2014. They even look like they could be hot on the heels of the all-conquering Mercedes team if testing is anything to go by.

Honda had promised to be level with Mercedes after three years but, despite redesigning their engine over the winter, they have nowhere near the amount of power Merc have at their disposal. Even if they did, the reliability has been so poor that Alonso and teammate Stoffel Vandoorne brought out the red flag four times (twice each) in the last two days of testing alone. They didn’t once complete a Grand Prix distance inside a day, with their best effort being 55. Mercedes completed 1,096 laps in testing, Ferrari, whose last World Drivers’ Championship came in 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen, completed almost 1,000 themselves.

McLaren?

Well, they completed 475 laps across eight days. That is well over 600 laps down on Mercedes. Their ultimate pace has only been faster than the struggling Sauber team, although McLaren’s 1:21.3 was set on the faster ultrasoft tyre whereas Sauber’s best effort, three tenths slower, was on supersofts.

Honda expect to introduce a newer-spec engine for the Australian Grand Prix but before testing it was hoped they’d introduce that in the second test. Instead of being at least a certainty for points, as Alonso hoped he would be doing after all the noises made by team and engine supplier in the autumn of last year, he’ll spend the Australian Grand Prix sorting out more issues.

Even if they sort out those issues over that weekend, they have a lot of power to make up regardless of what mapping they use at Albert Park. McLaren were between 25-30kph (15-18mph) slower than Mercedes down the straights in Barcelona. The most frustrating thing about that detail for driver, team and fans are that until that deficit is significantly reduced, we will not know how good McLaren’s chassis is.

Alonso seems to rate it, and was frank in his assessment of McLaren’s problem. When speaking to Spanish media during the second test, he accused Honda of “not being ready to win,”, having previously taken to team radio during his second stint at McLaren to lambast the lack of grunt underneath his right foot. No-one will forget the “GP2 engine” or the “amateurs” outbursts anytime soon.

Those words will be ringing in the ears of McLaren, who are acutely aware of the damage to their reputation that Honda’s stagnation is continuing to inflict. However, they cannot just simply make a change, even if Team Principle Eric Boullier says that the engine problems are “putting maximum strain” on their relationship.

Honda contribute a net $100m to the team and with few title sponsors, McLaren simply cannot afford to lose that and buy another customer engine. There are also still seven years left on the ten-year contract agreed in late 2013, when Ron Dennis was adamant that it was the only way McLaren to return to the winners’ circle following a poor 2013.

Three years into the reunion of the glory partnership that swept all before them in the late 1980s, it looks as if his crystal ball was murky at best. While Honda gave themselves little over a year to prepare the most complex engine ever seen in Formula One, the benchmark supplier Mercedes were working on this technology back in 2010.

Honda are proof in that the harsh world of F1 has no sympathy for those who overpromise and underdeliver. By underestimating the mammoth task ahead when they re-entered the sport, they’ve chased their tails in the past two years and in the third are now back where they started. Three years behind, and little sign of bridging a gap the size of the Grand Canyon.

It is barely possible to imagine Alonso’s anger should Ferrari, the team he felt couldn’t give him a title, live up to their winter promise and bring an end to the Mercedes supremacy.

Jack Prentice @JPrentice8

12th March 20171st August 2017

NEW TEAM PICKS RACE-WINNING VESTA FOR WTCC BID

*Big chance for young promise Yann Ehrlacher, Yvan Muller’s nephew
*Second Vesta registered for full season with pro-driver to be revealed at later stage
*Excitement grows with new WTCC season less than a month away

RC Motorsport will rely on Vesta power when it makes its debut in the FIA World Touring Car Championship this season.

Based at Magny-Cours in France, RC Motorsport utilises WTCC race-winning technology and personnel and has signed young French promise Yann Ehrlacher – the nephew of four-time WTCC champion Yvan Muller – on the back of several impressive testing performances.

Ehrlacher, 20, was testing at Magny-Cours earlier today (Friday) and is highly rated after claiming two national championships in France and a class win in the European Le Mans Series last season driving for his uncle’s team, Yvan Muller Racing.

“This is such an amazing opportunity for me and I really can’t believe it’s happening,” said Ehrlacher, whose mother Cathy was a successful single-seater racer in the 1980s. “I’ve been really impressed with the car in testing and the team is working really hard too. Obviously there is a lot for me to learn and understand, but I know the team has valuable WTCC experience.”

François Ribeiro, Head of Eurosport Events, the WTCC promoter, said: “While we’re pleased a solution has been found for the race-winning Vestas to continue competing in the WTCC, we’re also very excited at the prospect of welcoming another talented rookie in Yann Ehrlacher, who has been trained by Yvan Muller, no less, and has been really fast in testing. Along with Aurélien Panis, the WTCC has two more young drivers with big potential and it will be interesting to watch their progress and performances in 2017 when I am sure they will both make their mark on the championship.”

Ehrlacher will carry the number 68 on his car, the same number used by Yvan Muller in the WTCC in 2015 and 2016. Meanwhile, RC Motorsport will reveal the identity of its second driver in the coming weeks.

See you at the chequered flag.

Neil Simmons

Twitter: @world_racing

Images courtesy of FIA WTCC (c)

12th March 20171st August 2017

Josh Files Crowned TCR Middle East Champion

Jost Files took no prisoners at Bahrain International Circuit: with an authoritative double win at the wheel of the Lap57 Honda Civic, he secured the first edition of the TCR Middle East Series’s title. The Brit also becomes the first driver to have two different TCR titles under this belt, adding this one to that of TCR Germany won last year.

Liqui Moly Team Enstler took the Teams’ honours, but there was some disappointment among the German team’s members, as Brandon Gdovic missed the title by only 5 points. The American collected two nice second positions, but it was not enough. Luca Engstler, who also was in contention to win the tile, was third in Race 1, but had to retire in Race 2 with a broken driveshaft.

Italy’s 16-year-old Giacomo Altoè continued his steady learning process and took good results (one fourth and one third) at the wheel of Team Engstler’s third Volkswagen Golf. The Mulsanne Racing Alfa Romeo Giulietta of Davit Kajaia also proved fast, but lacked reliability and could not finish in any of the races.

The Bahrain event was a successful ending to the first edition of the TCR Middle Series, which has attracted great interest in the region.

Race 1 – Files’ win paves the way to exciting finale

The first edition of the TCR Middle East Series will live this afternoon a breath-taking Race 2, as three drivers will go into it fighting for the title and being split by only 5 points.

By clinching an authoritative win in Race 1, Josh Files, at the wheel of the Lap57 Honda Civic, has reduced to 2 points his gap from the series leader Brandon Gdovic, who took a last-lap second place from his Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s teammate Luca Engstler, now third in the standings, but only 5 points behind Gdovic.

Race 1: in an unusually cloudy morning at Bahrain International Circuit, delivered a first big surprise even before the start, as the Mulsanne Racing Alfa Romeo Giulietta of Davit Kajaia, had to pull out from the first row of the grid with a broken driveshaft.

Files took the lead from the start and built progressively a sufficient gap, although his race was far from easy: “It was a very hard race on the tyres”, explained the Brit,“there is nothing left of them and in the final laps, I had no grip, no traction, no nothing.”

Luca Engstler led the charge of the Golf cars for the entire race, but his efforts took a toll on his tyres; in the last lap, Brandon Gdovic, who had adopted a more conservative approach with regard to tyre consumption, was able to pass the young German for second. Both drivers admitted there was nothing to do against the Honda in this first race of the day.

Giacomo Altoè, on the third car of Liqui Moly Team Engstler, had to stop in the penultimate lap after a sudden drop of power, which ruined an otherwise consistent race.

Race 2 – Files secures title with another win

Josh Files was crowned the first TCR Middle East Series champion. The British driver of the Lap 57 Honda Civic left no chances to his opponents by winning also an eventful Race 2.

Both Luca Engstler (Liqui Moly Team Engstler Volkswagen Golf) and Davit Kajaia (Mulsanne Racing Alfa Romeo Giulietta) tried hard to challenge Josh, but both had to retire, leaving the podium to the other pair of Liqui Moly Team Engstler drivers, Brandon Gdovic and Giacomo Altoè, who ran together the entire race, and secured the Teams’ title for the German squad.

Altoè, pole sitter on the reversed grid, almost stalled at the start, which saw some drops of rain, and Files overtook everybody before first corner to take the lead, with Kajaia keeping second only for a few corners, as he got passed by Engstler before the end of first lap. The group remained quite compact until Engstler suddenly slowed down (lap 4) and had to stop on the straight, prompting the safety car to be deployed.

The race resumed on lap 8, becoming a double battle between Files and Kajaia on one hand and Gdovic and Altoè on the other, but progressively, Files managed to pull away up to the chequered flag, while Kajaia stopped in the pits on lap 19, with severe understeer. Gdovic and Altoè finished their duel in the same order to complete the podium.

Quotes from the podium finishers in both races:

Josh Files (1st in both races): “It’s great to take the championship with a double win. Things may look easy from the outside, but they were not. The entire weekend was about tyres, and I am very happy that we took the decision to save new tyres for the races. In both, the tyres were completely dead at the end. Otherwise, the car performed very well, although we could never solve the misfiring problem we had throughout the weekend.”

Brandon Gdovic (2nd in both races): “It has been a frustrating weekend for me. We were able to improve the behaviour of the car and I am happy of the way I managed the tyres, but the Honda was absolutely unreachable.”

Lucas Engstler (3rd in Race 1): “I am quite disappointed. Not only there was nothing we could do against the Honda, but I also had twice a broken driveshaft, in Qualifying and in Race 2 and this also penalized me a lot.”

Giacomo Altoè (3rd in Race 2): “It was a positive weekend and I learnt a lot. I am relatively satisfied with my performance and of having being able to keep the pace of my team mate Gdovic in both races. It’s just a pity I made such a silly mistake at the start of Race 2, when I released to quickly the clutch and almost stalled.”

See you at the chequered flag.

Neil Simmons

Twitter: @world_racing

Images courtesy of TCR Media (c)

12th March 20173rd July 2017

Who has the upper hand after the pre-season tests?

Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.
Thursday 09 March 2017.
World Copyright: Glenn Dunbar/LAT Images
ref: Digital Image _31I6887

The battle for the first pole-position of the season is closing down, after eight days of testing in Barcelona, the teams and the drivers are getting ready to fly to Melbourne for the season premiere on 26th of March.

The two testing sessions allowed the teams to test their new cars and discover their strengths and weaknesses. The drivers had the opportunity to take a taste of the new designs and the new tyres as the regulations have changed since last season.

Mercedes were the team which covered the most kilometres in Barcelona, 5102 km was clocked during the two testing sessions. Ferrari, tried to stay close to the silver arrows as Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen completed 956 laps, 140 less than Mercedes. Despite some issues which the Italians faced the SF70H looks very reliable and fast. Raikkonen set the fastest lap in Circuit de Catalunya, 1:18.634s, while he was running on the super-soft compounds, whilst, his team-mate Sebastian Vettel was by 0.390s slower on the ultra-soft tyres.

Lance Stroll’s crash in the first days of testing cost time to Williams, the Canadian rookie driver had some difficulties with the FW40, but despite that, he completed 386 laps and clocked 1796 kilometres. From the other hand, the ex-retired Brazilian driver, Felipe Massa didn’t face any difficulties and he managed to familiarize himself with the new car very quickly. Felipe set the fifth fastest lap in testing, 1:19.420s, 0.786s slower than Kimi Raikkonen. Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa completed 800 laps combined two laps more than Sauber.

The Swiss team was not as fast as its competitors, but they look more reliable than Toro Rosso and McLaren. Sauber covered 3668 kilometres, similar distance in kilometres was covered by Force India. Marcus Ericsson, Pascal Wehrlein and Ferrari’s third and reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi had the chance to drive the C36. Ericsson was the fastest driver among those three drivers with 1:21.670s and he also completed the most laps, 445, as Wehrlein drove for 192 and Giovinazzi clocked 151 laps.

Mercedes split all the testing days between Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, hence both drivers had the chance to drive the W08 every day. The Finn, completed 628 laps in Spain whilst his team-mate clocked 468 laps. Mercedes’ drivers didn’t face any serious mechanical or electrical problems with the new car and that gave the chance to cover more than 5000 kilometres.

Red Bull had some technical problems and they forced to change their engine during the testing days and that did not allow them to cover much distance. Max Verstappen set the sixth fastest lap, 1:19.438s, and he placed behind Felipe Massa. Daniel Ricciardo clocked 337 laps and covered 1568 kilometres.

McLaren-Honda disappointed their fans as they had several serious issues during the eight days of testing. McLaren had to change many times Honda’s engine, and that didn’t let Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne complete as many laps as they wanted. The Spaniard clocked only 190 laps, 45 less than Stoffel.

Next stop for teams and drivers is Melbourne, where the real abilities of the cars will be revealed. Ferrari set faster laps from Mercedes, but the pre-season test is not the ideal for safe conclusions as teams are usually trying to hide their strengths from their rivals.

Victor Archakis – @FP_Passion

10th March 20171st August 2017

Son Of The Wind & The Maverick

Two men. Two British motor racing legends who both died on this day, yet fourteen years apart.

John Surtees and Barry Sheene.

The former was born in 1934 and went on to become a world champion on both two and four wheels, the only racer to have ever done so. The latter was a double 500cc world champion and was the first British 125cc champion.

Their lives were completely separate, both different characters in their own right but held in high regard by racing fans for their achievements.

In 1951, a year after Barry Sheene was born, John Surtees was hitting the headlines after challenging Geoff Duke at Thruxton. It would be four years last that he would get his first factory ride on a Norton where he again challenged Duke and beat him on two occasions at Silverstone and Brands. Surtees was quickly becoming a name and attracting the attention of other factory teams. He joined MV Augusta.

Barry Sheene was still six years old and far away from the world of motorcycle racing.

Surtees earned the nickname figlio del vento, or son of the wind.

The following year he won the 500cc World Championship and gave MV Augusta their first title win in the senior class.

It was in 1960 that the motor racing world was taken by surprise at the switch from two wheels to four wheels as John Surtees entered the world of Formula One. He was 26 years of age and made his F1 debut for Lotus at Monaco. Barry Sheene was still only 10 years old and was eight years away from competitive racing.

After spending a few years driving for Reg Parnell, Surtees joined Ferrari in 1963 and would take the Formula One world title the following year. He walked away from Ferrari in 1966 after being left out of the team to drive at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The reason given was that the Ferrari team boss felt that Surtees was not fully fit after his horrific crash testing a Lola T70 sports car at the Mosport Circuit the previous year. He finished second that year to Jack Brabham, driving a Cooper-Maserati.

In 1966, with Barry Sheene just 16 years of age, Surtees signed for Honda and after some technical issues he went on to win the Italian Grand Prix.

In 1968 Barry Sheene was racing 125’s and 250’s, winning his first races at Brands Hatch before becoming the first British 125cc champion in 1970, the same year in which John Surtees set up his own racing team.

John Surtees retired from driving in 1972, the same year in which Barry Sheene was signed by Yamaha to ride in the 250cc World Championship. Although it was a works Yamaha, there was no factory team in the championship and Sheene, being the outspoken person that he was, would voice his opinion on this case.

Sheene suffered a broken collarbone and would not see action on the track again until the summer, at which time he did receive factory backing for his Yamaha. At John Surtees’ team, Mike Hailwood won the European Formula 2 Championship.

Sheene signed for Suzuki and won the Formula 750 championship for them in 1973.

As the 1970s rolled on and John Surtees set up a motorcycle shop and Honda dealership, bringing an end to his racing career, Barry Sheene was just getting started. However, a massive crash at Daytona in 1975 nearly finished Sheene’s racing adventure.

It was in 1976, twenty years after Surtees, in which Barry Sheene brought home the 500cc World Championship and then retained it the following season, partnered by Steve Parrish.

In what a lot of motorcycle racing fans call one of the greatest Grand Prix’s of all time, Sheene battled with Kenny Roberts at the 1979 British Grand Prix. The following season he would leave Suzuki and race on a privateer Yamaha. There would be no more titles for the fun loving Londoner. He would retire from the sport in 1984 taking up residence in Australia.

In contrast, John Surtees would still be involved in motorsport, becoming chairman for the A1 Grand Prix series.

In 1996 John Surtees was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall Of Fame. Barry Sheene died of cancer in 2002, a year after the FIM named him a Grand Prix Legend. He was awareded an MBE. In 2003 John Surtees would receive the same honour of being named a Grand Prix Legend by the FIM. He attained the honours of MBE, OBE and CBE.

To this day John Surtees is the only person to have ever won world championships on two and four wheels and Barry Sheene is the only British double world champion in the premier motorcycle racing class. Surtees also won 6 Isle Of Man TT races.

You could say that both men were worlds apart. The gentleman, soft persona of John Surtees against the cheeky, hard drinking and hard smoking Barry Sheene.

The two men share some things in common. They both have parts of Brands Hatch named after them, they were both 500c World Champions and sadly they both died on 10th March.

They were legends in their sports and loved by the fans for the way they raced and the emotion they put into their passion of racing.

I grew up learning about John Surtees and was completely captured by his story and what he had achieved long before I had been born. I grew up watching Barry Sheene hurtle his way fearlessly around the track, regardless of the many injuries he suffered.

In my eyes they were just two heroes who I admired. I never met Barry Sheene. I wish I had, he seemed like a fun person to be around. I did meet John Surtees on two occasions, he was such a lovely man with so much time for racing fans.

Both dearly missed by friends and family, the news of John Surtees death today and the anniversary of Barry Sheene’s passing tinged this day with sadness, but somewhere on a race circuit in the sky I’m sure Barry Sheene was sitting on the starting grid waiting for John Surtees to arrive so they could have that race they were never destined to have.

Two men with racing in their blood. One the son of the wind and the other a maverick, but both total legends in the eyes of any racing fan.

As a racing fan I’ll savour the past and thank both men for the enjoyment they gave me.

See you at the chequered flag.

Neil Simmons

Twitter: @world_racing