Category: Features

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Ryan Vickers Q&A

courtesy of Gareth Davies of Full Factory Photography, which you can follow on Twitter and Facebook.

After a few too many pints, I spoke to Ryan Vickers, a National Superstock 600 rider who is more than certain to be in the running for race wins throughout the remainder of the season. Under the guidance of former Grand Prix winner Alan Carter, he is improving all the time and despite a tricky weekend in Scotland, he looks forward to going to his home round at Snetterton in just under two weeks time. Here’s what he had to say about a range of topics and his own career.

What do you need to do to make the next step forward in Superstock 600?

Well, at Snetterton, I want to get on the podium. We had a test there last week and we was in the top two, also because it is my local circuit. I’ve just got to aim for the highest position I suppose and see where we go from there. We’ve got to keep working in order to see the best and be the best and keep moving forward.

What got you into motorcycle racing?

My dad to be honest. He finished 4th in the world wheelie competition. I just got on a motocross bike and rode around in field. I started my first ever race when I was 7; I got a 3rd in the first race, a 2nd in the second race and a win in my third. I carried on with motocross up until a couple of years ago, when I switched to the tarmac and stayed ever since.

Where do you see yourself come the end of the season?

Towards the end of the season and especially the next six races, we will be pushing for higher results. I’ve got my worst circuit out the way now so now, we are aiming for top fives and trying to get championship points. It is a long championship so we’ve just got to keep pushing but we hope for a top five at the end of the championship. We came into Knockhill 7th in the championship and dropped to 10th which isn’t very good, but we can focus now on recovering that.

Who is your main rival in 2017?

There’s two riders who are dominating this year: Dan Stamper and Tom Oliver. They’re way ahead in the title and if I can consistently stay with them or beat them then that’s a good objective and quite helpful in progressing up the order in the championship.

What is your end goal?

As you know sometimes it can change because the main goal doesn’t necessarily work out. I’d love to go the Spanish route, via Moto2 and then into the MotoGP paddock. I rode a Moto2 bike in Spain in February and it was absolutely awesome. You’ve got to take the routes that open door and I’m open to all options, whether they be BSB or World Supersport or World Superbikes. As long as I conquer the classes I’m in so I can progress to the top I’m happy.

What’s your opinion on Moto2 being phased into BSB to be raced alongside the British Supersport?

I definitely think that it should be phased in because it’s sort of the way everything is going and it’s a stepping stone. It would make a great intermediate class. I think there should be another route as well for aspiring Superbike riders. Moto2 in BSB is going to be awesome because young riders – like myself – who want to jump on a Moto2 bike and go to the World or Spanish championships need a stepping stone like Moto2. It’s a good thing also with the price, because no matter what class you pick at that level will be expensive no matter what way you look at it. Being on Moto2 bikes will be more supported by small companies because it’s more looked at. It will be good to see how well it comes along as a route to MotoGP?

Are you more interested in going to MotoGP or World Superbikes?

My preference is definitely MotoGP? I like the whole prototype aspect. MotoGP is the pinnacle of all bike racing. I don’t really know why if I’m honest, it is just more my route, however, getting to World Superbikes would still be a mega, mega achievement.

World Superbikes has declined in the last few years – why do you think that is and how would you improve that?

That’s a hard question. They’ve tried bringing it back to life with the starting grid reform for race 2, which I support a bit, but also disagree with a bit. Rea, Davies, Melandri etc are all coming through and it all finishes the same at the end. I am more pro-reverse grid than anti-reverse grid. It does make it a lot more interesting because you don’t always know how well they will come through. Especially, the first round they did it because you asked yourself ‘can they really do it?’. It has become almost boring in a way, because you know the results by the time certain riders have come through. So maybe one way to get people interested into WSBK would be like a production line into that series, to give them more young riders. Like I’ve said, WSBK seems to be more of a dead end and maybe there needs to be another step up at the end of that. One thing it does need is maybe more personalities. It would be nice to see someone like Rea pushed up to MotoGP and give someone else a chance

With the proposal of the controlled ECU for 2018, would that maybe discourage Kawasaki and Ducati from coming into the championship?

No, I don’t think so, because they’re top class manufacturers who will always find ways around it. It’s definitely going to make it closer because in the British championships – where the rule is already in place – a variety of people can win the races, as we saw this weekend. It might make it closer but again, you can’t take it away from Chaz or Jonny, as they are unbelievable riders.

Would you say there are too many Brits in WSBK?

WSBK is not a dying class but it hasn’t really progressed. It’s come to a little bit of dead end. Hopefully things like the World Supersport 300 class will revitalise it a little bit. It’s been a very successful class I’d say. It has a massive grid and a massive range of talent on the grid. They’re all on identical machinery. It gives young riders the chance at a cheaper rate than Moto3 or Moto2, to be successful. They’re in the right paddock and can travel the world and also gives the sponsors the opportunity to progress. It’s a great stepping stone on a road-go bike and is great for the manufacturers too. It’s great for race craft, like in Imola where you’ve got a massive battle for the lead.

Do you think the British Talent Cup will be as successful?

I do support it, and I don’t support. I think the age limit should be expanded a bit because whilst they’re trying to promote riders to Moto3, the majority of the top Moto3 riders are in their 20s. It cancels out people like me. I’m 18 and kind of in the mid-ground where there’s not many opportunities to progress and that’s hard. I came into short circuits late and it’s hard to get in the GP paddock at an older age, even though I’m not really that old. There is still time. I dont feel like there’s much support for my age group. I’d probably have to take the old fashioned route through BSB, WSBK and then onto MotoGP. I can’t even apply for Red Bull Rookies. It is good that they have taken an insight into Britain though, because we as a country haven’t really been pushing talent through.

Do you think Superstock 600 in BSB should be promoted more?

Yes. I definitely think so, arguably more than Supersport because there stock class is more or less completely off the shelf, give or take a few mods to make it safer for racing. Pushing the Superstock 600 class might possibly even make the sales of 600cc bikes go up, even though some might say it’s a dying class.

Photos

Kiko Giles @MotoGPKiko

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Josh Brookes’ Tribute to Alan Bonner

Every motorsport death is sad. Whatever the sport, you lose a member of the community and family. Sometimes however, series such as Indycar and events such as the Isle of Man TT have arguably more deaths than what most would consider normal and controversially, have been campaigned against to try and stop such events. I caught up with Josh Brookes, who lost a friend in Alan Bonner at the TT this year. The Australian superstar reminds us how the expected is always unexpected and how we should remember Alan. This is Josh Brookes’ tribute to Alan Bonner and how he as a rider and friend, overcome the situation carry on through TT week.

“Unfortunately, due to circumstances, Alan Bonner had died. The reason it affected me was because he did nothing wrong. There was oil on the track and he was just the rider who got to it at the wrong time at the wrong speed and the wrong place, and he wouldn’t have known anything about it. I asked myself, ‘why does it make a difference’ because – sorry to be blunt – but he is still dead. It doesn’t matter about the reasons that caused it because it is the same outcome at the end. It bothered me because he did nothing wrong. He was so innocent in the whole thing.

Alan was the tent next door to me. I knew Paul Owen, the ex TT rider and he was a mechanic for Alan. I was going into the awning to chat with Paul and Alan was there, so the banter started and there was plenty of good fun with jokes and just having a real good laugh. I got really friendly with him and he’d liked the fact that ‘Josh Brookes, BSB Champion’ was hanging out with him. Because of the position of my motorhome, we saw each other more or less everyday. He’d use my motorhome to warm his porridge up every morning, so when I found out what happened, it wasn’t that I’d just lost a competitor but it was more like I lost a mate.

If they said that he’d just have fallen or if we saw the line that he took and it was a mistake, then we could think, ‘at least he had control’. You’d think, ‘we are all out there doing the same thing and we took our life out of our own hands’. Most people don’t understand that because of the way they value life.

If you’d made a mistake yourself and you suffered yourself, you had control. You chose what it took to get there, you chose the line and it was your choice that led to the incident. However, when it’s nothing to do with any of that and you’re riding well within your capabilities and it’s an outside element, an outside factor that swept him away, it’s difficult to comprehend and accept and that really bothered me.

I have to say that I did have a feeling of realisation. It’s not that you don’t know – everyone knows it can happen to you – but you ignore it because you have to carry on. Just when I felt completely at ease with the bike, I had a situation that bothered me and took the wind out of me a little bit. It made the first lap of the race much more difficult, far more intense than it needed to be or would’ve been. I had my own thoughts in my own head and they was affecting how I was riding.

I got to the end of the first lap and it felt like I had got rid of that excess tension. I felt good on the bike, everything was going OK and then, I just carried on with my own destiny. Then, on the 2nd lap, Ian Hutchinson fell off and it was red flagged, so we all pulled over. At that point we knew Hutchy was OK – injured, but OK. We went back to the start, had a restart and as you know, we had a strong race.

This will sound disrespectful, but the other guys, I didn’t know. Don’t get me wrong, we all felt awful when Davy Lambert and Jochem van der Hoek died, but personally, it was better for me if I didn’t know them because it was easier for me to put it behind and focus. When you don’t know them, it’s easier to carry on because you didn’t lose anything personal to you, as sad as it was. Any TT rider will tell you that it is sad when anyone dies but there’s some weird affect it has on you when it’s personal. It’s not that their deaths weren’t as important, it’s just that we didn’t have a personal connection. The same as some riders wouldn’t have a personal connection like I did with Alan.

When it’s someone you was just speaking to and you have a laugh with and have fond conversations with that form a friendship, it’s harder. We spoke about racing a lot. He spoke about a crash he had at the Ulster Grand Prix and he was just one of the lads who was willing to take the risks.

I feel for the family that he’s left behind, because despite knowing the dangers, the crash that killed him wasn’t anything to do with him. Life isn’t worth living if you’re just competing. If the world was controlled where you couldn’t do anything dangerous, then I’d probably be on the verge of suicide anyway!

I take perspective from someone like Michael Schumacher, who lived his life in one of the most dangerous sports, to end up being seriously injured on a holiday. I may as well carry on doing what I’m doing because there’s other factors that can kill you too. It’s the same for Nicky Hayden – of all the times he could’ve been killed, it happens on a bicycle when you think you’ll be OK. The times when I think you’re going to be safe are when I’m driving the car or walking on a footpath but often, that’s when it can kill you. So, I look at it and think, ‘you can’t stop doing something because of the chances it might go wrong’.

It’s easy to say that we’re all adrenalin junkies and you do it for the feeling etc. Yes, there are elements of that but ultimately you wouldn’t do it all your life because eventually, you’d acclimatise and wouldn’t be bothered by it. Being competitive and riding a motorcycle pushes you to overlook what you’re willing to risk.

The point I’m getting at is it’s not the fact that Alan died. It’s the ‘how’ he was killed that bothers me. All the emotional concern or worry is the circumstances of how it happened. I spoke to Dean Harrison and you know when you need a chat with a lad to make sure that they’re thinking the same as you? Well, we didn’t go too deep into it but we spoke about how none of us are going to go any slower in the next race. We are all going to go out there and ride as hard or harder than the previous time. The English language doesn’t allow you to describe the emotion fully.

There’s other activities and sports such as mountain climbing and skiing where there a lot of deaths. Someone loses their father, son or partner but the next year, they’re doing it again because that’s exactly what the other person would’ve done. They would’ve been there on that next holiday. Alan would’ve been at the Ulster GP this year and warming his porridge up with me at the TT again next year”.

You can donate to Alan Bonner’s GoFundMe page here, helping the family with costs and all money raised over the target amount will go to a charity of Alan’s choice.

Picture courtesy of Josh Brookes’ Twitter, here

Kiko Giles @MotoGPKiko

 

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Quick 10 With…..Neel Jani

 

He is a Swiss racing driver of Indian Gujarati origin who began karting in 1998. In 2000 he moved up to Formula Lista Junior for a year before moving to the Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup and then the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup.

He raced in the GP2 series from 2005 to 2006 with Racing Engineering and stepping in for a race with Arden. He put his name in the record books as the only person at that time to drive F1 and GP2 on the same day as he was test driver for Formula One team Toro Rosso. In GP2 he won at the Hungaroring and Monza.

He combined his GP2 driving to race in A1GP for Team Switzerland. He took the championship in 2007/08 and finished second the following season. He switched to the Champ Car World Series for 2007 but it was his move to sportscar racing which heralded even greater success.

Driving for Rebellion from 2012 to 2013 in the World Endurance Championship he caught the eye of Porsche and made the move to factory driver in 2014.

In 2016 came his greatest success by not only winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans but securing the World Endurance Drivers’ championship with Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas.

He is a reigning world champion….these are his Quick 10 questions and he is…..

NEEL JANI

1. What is your favourite circuit and why?

Le Mans and the old Kyalami circuit are my favorite. Both are kind of old school race tracks where one small mistake could result in a big crash. It takes a lot of skill to go quick. You really have to know the limits and drive very precise.

2. Who is/was your racing idol?

I had several idol’s growing up from skiing to racing. I was, and still am, always impressed by the attitude and ability to perform under the extreme pressure of competition. It doesn’t matter which sport you do, the pressure is the same.

3. Who would you regard as your toughest opponent?

For 2017, Toyota will be our toughest opponent.

4. Considering racers of all time, you are a team principal and money is no object. Which two racers would you have in your team?

Jim Clark and Juan Pablo Montoya

5. If you could invite four famous people to dinner (past and present), who would you invite?

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Muhammad Ali, Roger Federer, Mahatma Ghandi

6. Personal racing number? What is it and the reason behind it?

#18. It gave me a lot good memories in 2002 during my Formula Renault year.

25.01.2009 Taupo, New Zealand, Neel Jani (SUI), driver of A1 Team Switzerland Neel Jani (SUI), driver of A1 Team Switzerland wins the feature race – A1GP World Cup of Motorsport 2008/09, Round 4, Taupo, Sunday Race 2 – Copyright A1GP – Free for editorial usage

7. What is the best race you have been involved in?

A1 GP Durban because I was sick and I still won the race! My Le Mans 2016 victory because it was a race for the history books and it was an emotional roller coaster

8. Is there a race or series you have not competed in, that you would like to or had wanted to?

No, I am very happy how things went in my career. Everything has a reason!

9. How did you get into motor racing? What ignited that spark?

My family got me into racing, luckily, and we only lived about 5km from a go kart track and the home of Swiss Hutless Karts

10. What is the best advice in racing you have been given?

Give your best and you can be happy, because you cannot do more.

I would like to thank Neel Jani for taking the time out from his busy schedule to answer the Quick 10 and wish him the very best for the forthcoming season. An absolute honour for me to be able to put these questions to a reigning World Champion.

See you at the chequered flag.

Neil Simmons

Twitter: @world_racing

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2016: Force India break the glass ceiling

GP EUROPA F1/2016 – BAKU (AZERBAIJAN) 19/06/2016
© FOTO STUDIO COLOMBO PER PIRELLI MEDIA (© COPYRIGHT FREE)

2016 is a year that will be associated with Nico Rosberg’s sole World Championship title after ten years in Formula One.

But his was far from the only underdog success story on the grid, as Force India took fourth in the World Constructors’ Championship courtesy of strong results including two podiums.

The pairing of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez had been a successful one during the previous two seasons, and it was no surprise to see the two regularly upsetting more established teams such as Williams and McLaren.

And yet it was to be a slow start for the Silverstone team as Hulkenberg’s seventh place in Australia was the only points finish either driver had for the first three races, while Perez got off the mark with ninth in Russia ahead of the unveiling of their new car in Europe.

Hulkenberg was to retire in Spain but in the hands of Perez the F1 paddock saw the step forward made by the team as he took seventh at the downforce-heavy Circuit de Catalunya. That preceded the best weekend of their season in Monaco.

After qualifying fifth and eighth respectively, Hulkenberg and Perez were both keen to use the difficult track conditions to their advantage on raceday. With Nico Rosberg struggling from the start, Perez made use of a good strategy and excellent wet-weather pace to take a comfortable third, while Hulkenberg’s persistence paid off in his pursuit of sixth from Rosberg, which he took on the final lap.

It was on to Canada next where eighth and tenth for Hulkenberg and Perez kept the points ticking over, while the team took their second podium in Azerbaijan. Perez was once again there to take advantage of a poor race for Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull to finish third behind Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel, with

Hulkenberg ninth after poor luck early on. Perez had qualified second only to be hit with a gearbox penalty.

A poor weekend in Austria was followed by another excellent team performance in the rain at the British Grand Prix, a mere stone’s throw from their base. They took advantage of Williams woe to finish sixth and seventh, while Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa failed to trouble the scorers. The battle was on.

MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA) – 20/3/16
© FOTO STUDIO COLOMBO PER PIRELLI MEDIA (© COPYRIGHT FREE)

Neither team scored heavily in Hungary as Bottas took ninth ahead of Hulkenberg in tenth, and more solid scoring was to follow for Force India in Germany as Hulkenberg came home seventh while his teammate salvaged tenth, again outscoring Williams.

VJ Mallya’s men had another spectacular weekend in Spa, scene of their sole pole position and first podium at the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix. Perez finished an excellent fourth, just ahead of his teammate. The European season drew to a close with another five points at the Italian Grand Prix.

Eighth place for Perez in Singapore started the flyaway rounds well for Force India, and sixth for the Mexican in Malaysia enhanced his bid for seventh place, while Hulkenberg backed him up well in eighth.

The Japanese Grand Prix is famous for Hulkenberg’s cheeky “see you later” message to Bottas after overtaking him at the final chicane at Suzuka, and it really was a case of waving goodbye to Williams. Perez and Hulkenberg in seventh and eighth finished ahead of both Bottas and Massa as the battle for fourth began to swing decisively in their favour.

Hulkenberg retired after an early collision with Bottas in America, while Massa was on for fifth place until Alonso’s aggressive move gave him a puncture. He finished seventh, just ahead of Perez in eighth. Fourth was there for the taking for Force India.

Another solid weekend at Perez’ home Grand Prix in Mexico saw Hulkenberg take seventh and Perez tenth, before Perez almost mounted the podium once again at a soaking Brazilian Grand Prix as Hulkenberg again claimed seventh.

Bottas’ retirement in Abu Dhabi when Williams would have needed a huge points advantage over Force India meant that the battle for fourth place was won. Still, seventh and eighth for Perez and Hulkenberg brought about the end of 2016 in a fitting way, the team consistently scoring well.

2016 was unquestionably the strongest season in Force India’s history, with a previous best result of fifth in the Constructors’ in 2015. This was the most successful season for the Silverstone factory since Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s 1999 title challenge.

Perez took seventh in World Drivers’ Championship with 101 points and was well backed up by Hulkenberg, who was ninth with 72.

The Mexican’s scoring streak lasted 11 races through to the end of the season and only came to an end at the recent Monaco Grand Prix, and with the budget of the

bigger teams, Force India will be hard pressed to beat 2016.

Jack Prentice @JPrentice8

Images courtesy of Pirelli

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Sahara Force India Week: The Force of India

 

Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Force India F1 celebrates on the podium.
Formula One World Championship, Rd 12, Belgian Grand Prix, Race, Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, Sunday 30 August 2009. courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

Once upon a time in India, a great country where you can find or loose yourself. Now, there is Force India, an F1 team that since 2008 has always surprised us. And in this special team was a special driver, the gladiator Giancarlo Fisichella.

The Roman driver began his F1 adventure in 1995 as a tester for Minardi and taking part in some races of the 1996 season without scoring points. In 1997, with a decent car, Jordan allowed Giancarlo to score 20 points with some great races, podiums and fastest laps, ending the season in eighth place in the final standing.

After four good seasons in Benetton, from 1998 to 2001, the Italian driver returned to Jordan, where in 2003 claimed his first win of his career in a thrilling race at the circuit of Interlagos. He could celebrate the win only 5 days later, because of an error of timing that gave the victory to Raikkonen. After passing a season at Sauber, Giancarlo began a great period of his career signing for the winning team Renault, where he didn’t have an easy life sharing the box with Fernando Alonso. Anyway he was able to win some good races and score many points both in 2005 and in 2006. But Fernando Alonso was the man in that era, so the Spaniard won both the championships and Fisichella had to be content with minor results in the final standing. In 2007, Renault lost Fernando Alonso to McLaren, and with him a lot of performance, so Fisichella could only score 21 points without wins or podiums.

And finally we arrive to the first season in Force India, 2008, where Giancarlo couldn’t score points because of a lack of reliability with the VJM01, even using a Ferrari engine. But in 2009, after a troubled start to the season without any points, in the Belgian grand prix he grabbed a fantastic pole position and a second place in the race. It was epic! In fact, after Massa’s accident in Hungary, Ferrari, to replace the Brazilian, choose Giancarlo for the remaining races of the season. And there happened the paradox! Maybe Ferrari didn’t suit him well, maybe Ferrari had a deep technical crisis, but Fisichella couldn’t reach good results with Maranello squad.

That’s the life: often it’s not gold what you see shining.

Massimo Trapanese, F1 correspondent

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From the Jordan wonder years to the Force India renaissance

 

Photo courtesy of Rick Dikema

The factory at Silverstone that Force India call home has been under many guises and names since privateer Eddie Jordan entered Formula One back in 1991. What was then an operation to blood younger drivers such as Michael and Ralf Schumacher, Eddie Irvine and Rubens Barrichello has undergone no fewer than three identity changes since the Midland Group bought Jordan back in 2005. Since then, Midland, Spyker and finally Force India have been perennial underdogs in the Formula One paddock.

Their first season yielded thirteen points through the efforts of no less than five drivers in an era where only the top six finishers scored points. Alongside Andrea De Cesaris’ nine points, Roberto Moreno, Michael Schumacher and Alessandro Zanardi stood in for the jailed Belgian Bertrand Gachot. 1992 was less successful with the only point scored by Stefano Modena, while 1993 was little better amid another high turnover of drivers including Irvine, Barrichello, Thierry Boutsen, Ivan Capelli, Marco Apicella and Emmanuele Naspetti. If those two years were troublesome, 1994 marked a rise to the midfield that would last until 2003. De Cesaris, Barrichello and Irvine would score between them 28 points and see the team fifth, with a further 21 scored in 1995. Irvine would leave for Ferrari in 1996 and be replaced by a much calmer Brit in Martin Brundle. Both he and Barrichello almost graced the podium as Jordan took three fourth place finishes in a more consistent year.

Photo courtesy of Crisp And Clean/ Stuart Seeger

1997 would see the team visit the podium more often with Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella, before a memorable 1998 in which Damon Hill took his last and Jordan’s first victory in a chaotic Belgian Grand Prix, with Ralf second as part of a 1-2 finish. 1999 was their most successful year as Heinz-Harald Frentzen sustained the unlikeliest of title challenges with two wins. The German remained in contention until the penultimate round of a championship won by Mika Hakkinen, before 17 points and sixth saw them fall back to earth with a bump in 2000. That marked the start of a decline in fortunes as 2001 saw little improvement to fifth despite often being on the pace, while 2002 yielded just nine points from rookie Takuma Sato and the returning Fisichella. For 2003 Jordan could only finish ninth ahead of Minardi despite a famous win for Fisichella at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The following season, despite regularly fighting with Minardi to avoid the wooden spoon, Nick Heidfeld and Timo Glock notched five points as Jordan sold the team at the end of the year.

2005 was the final season under the Jordan name, and all points bar the one that rookie Tiago Monteiro scored for eighth at the Belgian Grand Prix were taken from the farcical US Grand Prix, where 3rd and 4th for Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan were enough to see them ahead of Minardi once again in a race where only six cars took to the start. 2006 saw a season-long rebrand as Midland F1, but the change in name failed to bring about a change in fortunes. Monteiro and Christijan Albers rarely looked like troubling the scorers as the team finished tenth – just ahead of Super Aguri. Dutch sportscar maker Spyker bought the team during 2006 and blooded Albers alongside German rookie Adrian Sutil for 2007. Albers was fired after the British Grand Prix while Markus Winkelhock led in his first ever race at the German Grand Prix, before fading and retiring. Sutil scored the team’s only point with eighth at in Japan.

Photo courtesy of V.Charpiat

Another season saw another owner with ambitious Indian businessman VJ Mallya, but 2008 was a struggle with Giancarlo Fisichella taking the team’s only top 10 finish in Spain. The following year the team moved up to ninth in Constructors’ championship after a memorable weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix saw Fisichella finish second to Kimi Raikkonen after pole position the day before.

2010 marked the start of a more consistent era for the team. Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi were regulars in the points and Sutil claimed 11th in the final standings with a best result of fifth in Malaysia. Scotsman Paul Di Resta replaced Liuzzi in 2011 for another consistent season for the team. Sutil moved up to ninth while Di Resta’s rookie season saw him 13th and in the points eight times, with solid rather than spectacular results ensuring the team finished seventh.In 2012 the team challenged for podium positions on a regular basis in one of the most open seasons in recent memory. Nico Hulkenberg replaced Sutil, dropped after an assault charge, and outpointed his British teammate on his way to 11th. Meanwhile, Di Resta was 14th despite both men finishing fourth in Belgium and Singapore respectively.

(L to R): Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Force India F1, Michiel Mol (NED), Vijay Mallya (IND), Jan Mol (NED), Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India F1 and Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA) Force India F1.
Force India F1 Team Launch, Mumbai, India, Thursday 7 February 2008. Courtesy of Force India F1 Team

Hulkenberg joined Sauber in 2013, Sutil returning after serving his punishment for assault. He was considerably outperformed by Di Resta as the duo finished 12th and 13th following a more frustrating season for the team. Both drivers were dropped at the end of the season in favour of Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. 2014 marked an upturn in fortunes for the team as a more engine reliant formula played into their hands. Hulkenberg’s consistency meant that he only finished outside of the points four times, while Perez took a podium in the famous Bahrain Grand Prix with third place. The team remained sixth, but the improvements were obvious.

The upward curve continued in 2015 and the team retained the previous year’s pairing. Perez took another podium with third in Russia, and Hulkenberg was also consistent despite a rocky start to the season. Force India moved up to fifth in the final standings. 2016 was the team’s best ever season – and the best season from the Silverstone factory since 1999. Podiums still eluded Hulkenberg as he had to settle for fourth in Belgium once again, although the German still enjoyed another solid season before moving to Renault for 2017. Perez twice visited the podium in Azerbaijan and Monaco on his way to seventh in the Drivers’ standings. Force India beat Williams to fourth – only behind the big three of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari in the final reckoning.

Esteban Ocon (FRA) Sahara Force India F1 VJM10 on the grid.
Spanish Grand Prix, Sunday 14th May 2017. Barcelona, Spain. Courtesy of Force India F1 Team

In its various identities, the team now known as Force India have provided many a feel good story. From the title challenge of 1999 with Heinz-Harald Frentzen to mixing with the big boys on a small budget during this current decade. With Perez and Esteban Ocon, Force India have again looked good in 2017 – scoring with both cars in each of the first five races. You wouldn’t bet against them punching above their weight once more.

Jack Prentice

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Sergio Perez, the Mexican Podium Master

Sergio Perez (MEX) Sahara Force India F1 celebrates his third position with the team.
Monaco Grand Prix, Sunday 29th May 2016. Monte Carlo, Monaco. courtesy of Force India F1 Team

 

This week is dedicated to Sahara Force India, PitCrew’s members wrote several articles related to Force India’s history and success and now it’s the time for me to share my article with you. Enjoy!

Sahara Force India’s first entry in Formula One, with this name, was in 2008 at the Australian Grand Prix, it was not the best weekend for the team. Giancarlo Fisichella started the race from the 16th place, while Adrian started from the pit lane because he had to change his chassis. Both drivers retired, Sutil had issues with his hydraulics and Fisichella retired after a collision. A bad start doesn’t mean anything. From 2008 since today, Force India has scored more than 850 points they have secured one pole position, five fastest laps and five podiums. The first fastest lap was set by Adrian Sutil at the Italian Grand Prix in 2009, the German finished fourth in that race and scored points for the second consecutive time.

One of the best moments in team’s history was in 2009, when Giancarlo Fisichella finished second in the Belgian Grand Prix and Force India celebrated their first podium finish in their history. The Italian was the first driver who finished on the podium for the team, but another driver holds the record of the most podium finishes for Sahara Force India. He is known as Checo, comes from Mexico and has finished four times on the podium, all of them in the third place.

Bahrain 2014, Sergio Perez qualified fifth, but moved one place higher because Daniel Ricciardo dropped from third to 13th as he received a ten-place grid penalty for an unsafe pit release in Malaysia. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg had their own battle for the first place, whilst Felipe Massa was trying to defend the third place from Sergio Perez. The Mexican failed to pass Massa on his first attempt, but on the next lap he overtook the Brazilian driver and took the third position. Checo, finished third behind the two Mercedes and followed by Daniel Ricciardo. Nico Hulkenberg, Perez’s team-mate, finished fifth at that race, behind Daniel Ricciardo.

CANADIAN GRAND PRIX F1/2012 – MONTREAL 10/06/2012 – ROMAIN GROSJEAN – MARTIN WHITMARSH – LEWIS HAMILTON – SERGIO PEREZ. Courtesy of Pirelli

 

One year later, in Russia, Perez repeated his success and scored another podium for Force India. This time he has finished behind Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. Despite that he qualified seventh behind his team-mate he took advantage of a collision between Hulkenberg, Verstappen and Ericsson on the first laps of the race and also the fact that the safety car was deployed two times, helped him to move up to the third place after an early pit-stop. After a thrilling race, the Mexican celebrated Force India’s third podium in their Formula 1 history. Last year, Perez decided to go one step further with the podiums and finished two times on the podium in the same season.

In Monaco he set the eighth fastest lap during the qualification session, but moved up to seventh because Kimi Raikkonen received a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change and dropped from sixth to eleventh. The race started behind the safety car, because the track was wet, that was beneficial for Force India, which after a good strategy managed to secure the third place for Perez. Perez benefited during the second round of stops, whilst many teams were confused and didn’t know when to switch from intermediates to slicks, Force India took the right decision and scored another podium. Hamilton was the winner of the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix, followed by Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez.

Sergio Perez (MEX) Sahara Force India F1 celebrates his third position in parc ferme.
European Grand Prix, Sunday 19th June 2016. Baku City Circuit, Azerbaijan. Courtesy of Force India F1 Team

The second podium, in 2016, was celebrated in Baku, also known as the European Grand Prix. The odds were not with Perez, as he was demoted to seventh, because his mechanics had to replace his gearbox after a small crash into the barriers in turn 15 during the final practise session. The Mexican qualified second, but started the race from the seventh place. At the start of the race, Sergio gained two positions and moved up to fifth, on the seventeenth lap Force India called Perez into the pits, a move which helped him to pass Hamilton. During the final laps of the race, Raikkonen got a five-second time penalty for crossing the pit exit line, so Perez, who was behind him, didn’t have to pass him for the third place, but the Mexican made his move on the final lap and passed Raikkonen. This was Force India’s last podium and Perez’s fourth podium with the same team.

Last season was Force India’s best season in Formula One, Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez collected 173 points combined and the team finished fourth in the constructors’ championship behind Ferrari and ahead of Williams. So far in 2017, Force India has not managed to finish on the podium, but they have scored 53 points they are fourth and just 44 points behind Red Bull Racing. It is a very promising season for the ‘pink panthers’ and I am sure that they will finish on soon as they are very competitive so far.

Victor Archakis F1 Editor

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Sahara Force India Week: Ten Years and Counting

Throughout its decade in Formula One, the Force India story has been played out by a cast of rookie drivers, rising stars and seasoned race winners, in cars ranging from back row starters to polesitters to podium finishers. As part of our Sahara Force India Week, we’ve taken a quick look back through the yearbooks at the Silverstone team to see how they’ve grown since their debut in 2008.

Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India F1 VJM01
Formula One World Championship, Rd16, Japanese Grand Prix, Practice Day, Fuji Speedway, Japan, Friday 10 October 2008. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

VJM01: Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella

With little more than an updated version of the 2007 Spyker F8-VIIB at their disposal, the chances for Adrian Sutil and ex-Renault signee Giancarlo Fisichella to put Force India’s maiden challenger into the points were slim at best.

Nevertheless, they did come close on several occasions—most notably Sutil running fourth in Monaco—as the team under Vijay Mallya put in place its philosophy of developing strategically and effectively throughout the year. A best finish of tenth for Fisichella in Spain and some promising displays elsewhere made 2008 a good foundation for Force India’s later success.

Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Force India F1 VJM02.
Formula One World Championship, Rd 12, Belgian Grand Prix, Race, Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, Sunday 30 August 2009. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

 

VJM02: Adrian Sutil, Giancarlo Fisichella and Vitantonio Liuzzi

Encouraged by its opening campaign, Force India now looked ahead to 2009, like many teams eyeing that season’s aerodynamics overhaul as an opportunity to shuffle up the grid. The team also signalled its intent this season by moving from Ferrari to Mercedes power—and not to mention, changing its 2008 Kingfisher livery to a striking new Indian flag-inspired design.

Of course, Force India’s ’09 season will always be remembered for Fisichella’s surprise pole and podium at Spa. But with points also and a fastest lap for Sutil at Monza and reliability greatly improved, this was also the year Force India started to establish itself as a true midfield contender.

Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA) Force India F1 VJM03.
Formula One World Championship, Rd 18, Brazilian Grand Prix, Race, Interlagos, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday 7 November 2010. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

 

VJM03: Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi

For 2010 Force India retained Sutil and resigned Vitantonio Liuzzi, who drove for them at the end of 2009 following Fisichella’s mid-season call-up to Ferrari. The season started well with points for Liuzzi in the opening two rounds and a string of six top ten finishes for Sutil in the European season; the team also recorded its first double points finish in Monaco.

Results tailed off towards the end of the season with Liuzzi taking the team’s final points of the year in Korea with sixth, but 68 points on the board and a best-ever constructors’ finish of seventh was still a huge step forward for a team still in its infancy.

Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India F1 VJM04.
Formula One World Championship, Rd 13, Italian Grand Prix, Qualifying Day, Monza, Italy, Saturday 10 September 2011. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

 

VJM04: Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta

2011 saw a number of changes at Force India. Following the departure of James Key the previous year, the VJM04 was the first of the team’s cars to be designed by current technical director Andrew Green—it was also the first to be driven by Britain’s Paul di Resta, who was promoted from his reserve role to replace Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Initially, the new-look team yielded mixed results: there were points for Sutil and di Resta in the opening race in Melbourne, but further top ten appearances were sparse throughout the long European stretch. However, performances improved when F1 took to its Asian leg, and a string of points finishes in the final rounds—including in the team’s inaugural home race in India—meant that the Silverstone squad finished 2011 in sixth place overall, just five points shy of fifth-best Lotus-Renault.

Nico Hulkenberg (GER) Sahara Force India F1 VJM05.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Saturday 3rd November 2012. Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

VJM05: Paul di Resta and Nico Hülkenberg

The build-up to Force India’s 2012 season was dominated by Adrian Sutil’s Shanghai assault trial, and by the team’s decision to replace him with their reserve driver Nico Hülkenberg—this was also the year that Jules Bianchi acted as the team’s test and reserve driver.

Unfortunately Force India never managed to match the podium success of midfield rivals Sauber, Lotus and Mercedes in 2012, and ultimately slipped to seventh in the constructors’ standings. But that’s not to say it wasn’t still a successful year for the team: particular highlights included Hülkenberg, in only his second season racing, finishing in fourth place in Belgium and leading the race in Brazil for almost thirty laps before coming home in fifth.

Paul di Resta (GBR) Sahara Force India VJM06.
Korean Grand Prix, Friday 4th October 2013. Yeongam, South Korea. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

VJM06: Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil

For 2013, Hülkenberg moved across to Sauber, freeing up a seat for Adrian Sutil’s return to the team. His and di Resta’s car for the season was the VJM06, which had ditched the “platypus” nose of the previous year as part of a complete chassis redesign, aimed at overcoming Force India’s slight drop in form in 2012.

Suffice to say, it worked—finishing seventh and eighth respectively, Sutil and di Resta gave the team its best start to a season yet in Melbourne, and the VJM06 went on to score points in every round bar one between Australia and Great Britain. More points later in the season, including two double hauls in India and Abu Dhabi, allowed Force India to retake sixth in the constructors’ with a comfortable twenty-point gap over Sauber.

Sergio Perez (MEX) Sahara Force India F1 VJM07.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Sunday 23rd November 2014. Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

VJM07: Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Pérez

2014 saw Force India embrace F1’s new turbo era with some changes of its own: having replaced Sutil and di Resta with the returning Hülkenberg and new signing Sergio Pérez, the team also exchanged its longstanding white livery for a darker, more aggressive look.

As with many of its long-nosed rivals the VJM07 was not the most visually-pleasing interpretation of the 2014 chassis regulations—but it was competitive nonetheless. Getting off the ground with a double points haul in Melbourne, the team went on to record a total of 27 top ten finishes across the season, including a podium for Pérez in Bahrain and a run of ten races in the points for Hülkenberg, that culminated in Force India’s best campaign to date.

Nico Hulkenberg (GER) Sahara Force India F1 VJM08.
Brazilian Grand Prix, Sunday 15th November 2015. Sao Paulo, Brazil. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

VJM08/ VJM08B: Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Pérez

Having scored a team-best 155 championship points in 2014, expectations were high for the following year. But with numerous R&D delays throughout the winter holding back the development of the VJM08, Hülkenberg and Pérez began the season lacking the downforce needed to fight for more than the few points they scored in the opening rounds.

But at the British Grand Prix, Force India introduced a B-spec VJM08, complete with distinctive “cobra” nose, and was immediately rewarded with a double points finish in the race. More points came in all but one of the remaining rounds as Pérez especially took to the new car, dicing with Lewis Hamilton for the lead in Belgium and taking his second podium for the team with third in Russia—the end result being Force India improving yet again to end 2015 as the fifth-best team overall.

Sergio Perez (MEX) Sahara Force India F1 VJM09.
European Grand Prix, Sunday 19th June 2016. Baku City Circuit, Azerbaijan. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

VJM09: Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Pérez

Like most of the 2016 grid, Force India’s VJM09 was little more than an evolution of the previous year’s car, as the team turned its focus ahead to the major rules changes coming in 2017.

But given how competitive the VJM08B was at the end of 2015, the team was not hurt by sticking with the design. The car was especially strong during the European leg, where Pérez hustled his way to a brace of third places in Monaco and Baku, and its combined speed and reliability led to double points finishes in every race bar two between Germany and the end of the season. After the final round in Abu Dhabi, Hülkenberg and Pérez had gathered a monumental 173 points for Force India, more than enough to beat Williams to an outstanding fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.

Esteban Ocon (FRA) Sahara Force India F1 VJM10.
Monaco Grand Prix, Sunday 28th May 2017. Monte Carlo, Monaco. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

VJM10: Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon

With the remarkable success of its most recent campaigns, Force India certainly has a lot to live up to in 2017. But while many expected the team to struggle for resources in the winter development race, they have instead had their strongest start to a season since 2014.

Outfitted with a bold new pink livery, the VJM10-Mercedes has been turning heads with its performance just as much as with its looks. Taking points finishes in five of the six races so far, and missing out on a perfect run only through bad luck in Monaco, Sergio Pérez is currently leading the team’s charge with seventh in the Drivers’ Championship, whilst new signing Esteban Ocon has been delivering solid results for the team right off the bat—his current best being a fifth place in Spain—despite having made only nine F1 starts prior to the season.

With the team currently holding fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship, on almost double the points of next-best Toro Rosso, 2017 already looks set to be another fitting chapter to the extraordinary Force India story.

James Matthews, Deputy Editor

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Indy500

Japan Win With Honda & Sato but Alonso’s Curse Continues

One of the most intense, exciting and memorable Indy 500 races has happened this year, we enter a new century of races in the 101st run of the event and what a way to start them. Takuma Sato, the Japanese driver who was born in Tokyo became first the Asian-born driver to ever win the historic race. Interest was heightened with one of the best drivers of the world, who can be described as that due to his performance in the race, Fernando Alonso taking part for the first time. An estimated 300,000 people were at the speedway which would of officially made it 65th largest American city in terms of population. Just how did Sato win and how did Alonso do in his debut?

Qualifying Recap

Qualifying happens a week in advance very similar to Formula 1/MotoGP style with Q1/Q2 format, the top nine, which make the top three rows took part in their own session on the following day following the first run times. The top five drivers on the grid were quadruple Indycar champion Scott Dixon took pole, and Ed Carpenter who returns only for ovals in his own racing team second, and 2016 champion Alexander Rossi started third. Eventual winner Takuma Sato started fourth and the one everyone was interested in, Fernando Alonso in 5th.

The other side of the grid was truly mixed up with some heavy hitters languishing in the midfield and towards the back of the field. Ryan Hunter-Reay started 10th, if he got in to the qualifying shoot out, he would have placed himself in 7th. Two-time Indy 500 champion Juan Pablo Montoya was 18th, three time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves was 19th and championship leader Simon Pagenaud qualified in a lowly 23rd. Another one to note is for James Davison started last, filling in for Sebastian Bourdais, who had that major crash on qualifying weekend, ruling him out for the rest of the season. Bourdais was trackside for the 500.

The Race

It was a clean start with front row keeping their places,.Fernando Alonso though, he fell back down the order, maybe needing a bit of time to adjust to the settings. Championship leader Simon Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves were the early movers, creeping up the field. Tony Kanaan, who started 7th, had great speed, managing to get up with Carpenter and Dixon.

The race settled, and with that Alonso and Rossi began to make their presence felt, former Indycar champion Will Power tipped heavily for the win struggled, and was falling down the order. Kanaan and Dixon were trading the lead early on, drafting each other to save fuel, whilst behind Carpenter and Rossi stayed in touch. Kanaan was the first to stop on lap 29, showing that leading the race with no draft takes up much more fuel than anywhere else on the grid. Alonso during this phase got past Dixon who seemed to be hanging on at the end of the first stint and Ed Carpenter took the lead. Juan Pablo Montoya showed skill by going 3 laps longer, pitting on lap 32, but coming out of the box he stalled his car and his work was undone. The top five after the first stint was Carpenter, Rossi, Alonso, Kanaan and Sato.

On to the second stint, Alonso began to spread his wings and took the lead on lap 37. It seemed in the first stint he observed others, while in the second he started by passing Rossi and both passed Carpenter, the amendment he made on pit road didn’t seem to do him any favours. Rossi and Alonso – both teammates – were trading the lead, drafting each other saving fuel. Team Owner Michael Andretti over the radio to Alonso ‘You and Alex can play here’ which pretty much confirmed the fuel saving strategy. This continued and were easily the two fastest cars on track.

Hunter-Reay, trying to catch team mates Rossi & Alonso made a last minute move on lapping Jay Howard. This resulted on Howard getting onto the the marbles, and pretty much a passenger, hitting the wall and breaking his front right suspension. He then under no control veered back onto the track and polesitter Scott Dixon had nowhere to go, hurtling straight into his Dallara chassis, flying and hitting the inside catch fence and landing sideways on the barrier. Both men walked away from a frightening accident. Castroneves to avoid contact actually went underneath Dixon on the grass, causing minor damage to his rear. The catch fence was broken and it was red flagged to fix and clear sheer amount of debris on the track. The top five at the show of the flag were Alonso, Rossi, Sato, Carpenter and Hunter-Reay.

20 minutes after the incident were back on track again, Alonso leading them off pit road. They then opened the pit once more, and the whole field rushed into the pit, all 31 cars still running down taking fuel and tyres. They went round for two laps behind the safety car and off they went. Alonso with a mega restart kept the lead although the two-time F1 World Champion Alonso began to fall back on lap 63. Andretti team mates Hunter-Reay and Rossi nearly hit each other trading the lead at Turn 1.

Montoya, trying to make up for his awful pit stop managed to overtake Pagenaud, Daly and Kimball on the back straight. Daly tried to follow him on the outside around Kimball but the gap closed, and the third caution was out. English driver Jack Harvey collected debris, albeit few laps down had to retire due to damage too. This brought about a change in fuel strategies and some such as Hinchcliffe, Chilton, Power and Pippa Mann pitted mid-stint. Pippa was doing well in her rookie Indy 500, keeping it clean and competitive. Helio pitted a lap later under the safety car, and during the period found out he received a drive through due to jumping Daly at the previous restart.

The race went green on lap 65, and Rossi took the lead. On the restart they went four wide in the midfield, championship leader Pagenaud still continued to struggle and was swamped by those three men. Kanaan began to get closer in his hunt for a second victory, battling with Alonso. Alonso broke the toe, and went after Hunter-Reay.

Caution 4 came because of debris on the front straight, part of Marco Andretti’s wing came off, flying up high and landing on track. All drivers under this safety period hit the pits, this left the people who decided to pit earlier on in the lead. Sato’s team made an error in the pits – a dropped wheelnut dropping him to 17th. Max Chilton led the restart, followed by Power & Castroneves – Hunter-Reay and co. now running from 4th onwards.

Chilton started well getting away from Power in P2. Hunter-Reay and Andretti teammates began to use their fresh tyres to their advantage and were much quicker around the corners. Chilton was keeping his own, using the knowledge he has gained from Indycar legend Dario Franchitti to good effect, whilst Power began to fall back, passed by veteran Castroneves and the Andretti drivers. Rossi took the opportunity to get past everyone to take the lead once more. Rossi and Castroneves seem to be trading the lead, a common trend for leaders across the whole race, Castroneves led on lap 100, after starting in 18th.

On lap 104 Castroneves took to the pit lane, quite remarkable considering he had to take that drive through he was still leading. He pitted much earlier than the rest of the leading back, but they all came back out fighting to stay on the lead lap, amongst the battle for the lead. On lap 113 Rossi pitted with Alonso and Hunter-Reay a lap later, with very slow stops for Rossi and Alonso compared to Hunter-Reay, after it all settled down on lap 116 he had a 3.5 second lead. The top 10 after the stops were Hunter-Reay, Alonso, Rossi, Castroneves and Power. Sato had got back up to P7, alongside with Montoya in P10, whilst Chilton had dropped to P13.

A spree of yellow cautions began with Buddy Lazier, the 49 year old coming back for a one-off race was racing well but he lost it and collided with the wall, bringing out the full course yellow once again. He was uninjured. Chilton decided to pit under caution once more, dropping to the back of the field. It looked like they were about to bring the yellows in, but Chilton had one less to deal with as Sage Karam stopped with mechanical difficulty and had to retire. They went green for two laps but more debris was found on the track, Pagenaud was the only one noticeable to pit once more, everyone else stayed out under this caution.

It was green again lap 135 and Alonso began to once more strategically share the lead with Hunter-Reay, until down the back straight on lap 137 the American’s Honda engine failed, familiar scenes for Alonso. Honda have tried to get a few extra horsepower over Chevrolet rivals, but reliability just like Formua 1 is something they have begin to struggle with. Don’t forget Alonso had to change his engine prior to qualifying. The 2014 Indy 500 champion was out, and yellows were out once again, the majority of the field decided to pit leaving the likes of Chilton and Davison. There were poor stops for Alonso and Rossi dropping to 12th and 21st respectively.

After a short green flag period as Carpenter lost his rear end, hitting the side of Russian Aleshin, severely damaged the Russian. Alonso managed to get to 9th place before the flag was shown. Kimball managed to jump Chilton during that brief period too into 1st. The green flag followed shortly once more, an amazing 5 wide on restart, Pagenaud once more being swallowed up by the field. Kimball and Chilton had a massive fight as the race entered its last quarter. On lap 163 Chilton pitted, and with 36 to go in similar circumstances to Rossi last year. Luck was in for the Englishman as he just managed to get the stop in, and more alarm bells began to ring again for Honda drivers, as Kimball’s engine also gives up.

Several drivers decided to pit under the caution, but as a result Chilton still leads, Sato managed to get himself back up into the mix, whilst Castroneves after a face full oil from Kimball was in the mix. Alonso, albeit with a clean stop once more dropped to 9th and time was running out for the Spanish driver as the race went green again with 29 laps to go. Chilton now had his mirrors full of Castroneves, chasing his fourth Indy 500 victory.

In cruel but not unfamiliar circumstances, Fernando Alonso’s engine gave up, bringing out another caution. All Michael Andretti could do on the radio is apologise. He got out of his Dallara, and all 300,000 people gave around of applause, more so than Dixon when he walked out of his crash. If this was a way to keep Alonso’s faith in Honda, they have only dug themselves a deeper hole.

In the battle for the lead, former F1 drivers Max Chilton and Takuma Sato were hard at it. Noth would be winning their first Indy 500, Chilton would be winning his first ever Indy race, whilst Sato would be winning his second, a 4 year wait since his win at Long Beach. Alonso bringing out the caution was short lived, and back under way, but once more not for long, a 5 car pile up at Turn 1. Oriol Servia tried to pass Davison, ended up collecting him and both hit the wall, Power and Hinchcliffe innocent victims. Hinchcliffe’s poor run at Indianapolis continued, whilst Josef Newgarden lost it on his own on the infield.

In the dying laps Castroneves saw Sato lose his momentum after failed overtakes on Chilton, and relegated the Japanese driver into third place. Castroneves, now set his sights on Chilton. Castroneves passed Chilton and looked for all the world to be the favourite while Sato quickly followed him. On lap 197 Sato, ignoring the ghosts from 2012, knocked Castroneves back to second – far from the move he made on Franchitti on lap 200 5 years ago which resulted in him ending up in the wall.

Sato was able to hold off the Castroneves assault in the final three laps and won his first ever Indianpolis 500 and his second Indycar race at the scene of his only Formula One podium back in 2004.

Race Result, Top 5

P1 Takuma Sato
P2 Helio Castroneves
P3 Ed Jones (R)
P4 Max Chilton
P5 Tony Kanaan

Selected others

P6 Juan Pablo Montoya
P7 Alex Rossi
P14 Simon Pagenaud
P17 Pippa Mann
DNF Fernando Alonso
DNF Ryan Hunter-Reay
DNF Scott Dixon

Drivers comments

Sato – ‘Unbelievable, the best feeling’ – He just couldn’t thank the team enough, he still with 3 laps had doubt that he could do it.
Castroneves – ‘We fight together but today wasn’t my day’ – He felt god was looking after him after his avoidance, and was just a little too hard for him.
Alonso – ‘One of the best experiences in my career’ – He pushed hard and clearly loved being competitive.

Dixon ‘It sure was a wild ride’ – He could not thank enough for the safety of Indycar, just held on and hoped for the best, looked so calm, you couldn’t tell he was in such a scary crash.

By Chris Lord

Image courtesy of Eric Barnes

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Halsall Slams Suzuki GB ‘Unprofessional’ over Bike Supply Feud

Images by Gareth Davies of Full Factory Photography.

Martin Halsall has branded Suzuki GB as “unprofessional” and “difficult to work with” following an ongoing issue, stemming from last year when the BSB Team Owner decided to drop the Japanese manufacturer after “poor communication”. Halsall once again mentioned communication as an issue, with Suzuki GB seemingly ignoring anything Martin mentions.

“I’m pretty disappointed really, with Suzuki. I had approached Suzuki to see if I could buy some bikes to do the Isle of Man TT with William Dunlop and then with a view to return to BSB. However, due to difficulty with Suzuki, I have not been able to get my hands on the bikes”.

“I have now written a letter to Japan to see if that can do anything but what Suzuki have got to realise is that they are a PLC, so they’re answerable to shareholders. So, the people not selling me the bikes are answerable to the people willing to invest in their business”.

Halsall left the manufacturer last September, having done so well with the bike, considering it is seven years old.

“There’s no logical sense to why I can’t buy bikes off Suzuki, it makes absolutely no sense. OK, I ran Suzuki and then decided not to run Suzuki for 2017. However, as a bike, the 2017 model is a very, very good piece of equipment and that was never in question before; I always knew it was going to be a good bike, I just didn’t want to work with Suzuki GB anymore.

“I like to do things my way and if I’m the one spending the bulk of the money, then I should be having the say. I think they forgot who’s team it was from time to time. If they want to fund the whole of the team’s budget, then that’s fine and people can be answerable to them but if they’re not, they have to succumb to the person who is paying the bill – which was me. It has already been good out of the box as a stock bike with Richard Cooper in the National Superstock 1000 Championship, so there’s no reason why it can’t be a really good and competitive Superbike”.

Have Suzuki messed this up? The Halsall Racing outfit is one of the most striking and well branded teams in the paddock, with a huge presence still existent from last year, ranging from merchandise to fans of Halsall’s operation of his team.

“People can see how I brand things. The thing about my businesses are that they are exceptionally branded. We’ve invested a lot of money into having proper marketing done and proper branding done to be professional with the business. I would do a good job with any branding. We’ve done it already with movuno.com, the online estate agents”. There’s no reason why we can’t follow that through to Superbikes and create an exceptionally well branded team with it”.

Have Suzuki no loyalty? Halsall dropped a proven race winner in the Kawasaki at the end of 2014 to pursue success with Suzuki – which he achieved. Now, despite persevering with a seven year old bike, the effervescent charismatic Lancastrian now finds himself banging his head against a brick wall.

“There is no reason why we as a team with the right rider can’t make the 2017 Suzuki work. We proved what we could do last year with two podiums on a bike that effectively, nobody else was interested in running. Primarily, I ran the bike with the bigger picture of picking up the new bike. So for me to walk away from Suzuki – after making massive investments for two years – hurts a bit”.

“Primarily, why can I not buy bikes? I can go and buy bikes tomorrow morning from any Suzuki dealer, without the Halsall Team name. We will be wanting some race parts from Yoshimura, from Suzuki and therefore, it makes sense to have a proper link with Suzuki – which I have tried to do on numerous occasions. I can’t see any logical sense at all in why I can’t buy bikes”.

“It’s good for Suzuki’s anyway if another team runs their brand. It is also healthy for a championship and the fans. ‘Why not bet on two horses’ comes to mind. I wouldn’t mind, it isn’t at Suzuki’s expense! It’s an absolute no-brainer. I think it is really unprofessional how a well-known brand is turning down such a well-known, successful and popular team with great presence in the paddock”.

Suzuki haven’t helped their image in this sorry saga. No WSBK effort and a difficult start to their 2017 MotoGP campaign, they’re relying mainly on BSB for their results – and that, as it stands, is risky business. Although risky business to them succeeds ‘no business’ with Martin.

“It’s had an effect on William Dunlop too. He wanted to ride the Suzuki at the TT but that isn’t possible. It is just crazy that they won’t give a top class road racer a bike that he demands. It has actually stopped the road racing side of Halsall Racing Team progressing on the roads because primarily, we’ve run out of time. Within the communication I’ve had with Suzuki, I made it clear that William Dunlop would ride the bike and that is what he wanted.

“At the end of the day, I own Halsall Racing. I am in charge. The people who I am trying to deal with aren’t representative of what Suzuki stand for. If i had the bikes in time for the TT, we could have got them prepared, potentially leading to a come back in BSB. If we got the right rider, there’s no reason we couldn’t run in BSB from 2017 and be successful”.

This is a developing story and you can find out exactly what the outcome of it will be when we hear news of it.

 

Story by @MotoGPKiko

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