Pit Lane Reporter | Issue 6

hungarian gp review

august 2014

Vitantonio Liuzzi Interview unsung heroes of motorsport maxime martin Interview

PLUS

Formula One | IndyCar | BTCC | WRC | NASCAR | GP2 | Interviews | Previews | Statistics | Historic Racing | dtm

One Rally, O

Welcome to Finland, the of Rally

One Photo, One Winner, One True Emotion

e home

‘Photo by Bruno Keiser – Jari-Matti Latvala wins the Finnish Rally

contents 6 8 11 13 20 24 28 32 34 37 45 48 52 56 60 62 65 67 69 72 74 78 82 92 99 104 109 112

Editors Notes Meet The Team Letters Page Hungarian GP F1 Review German GP F1 Review GP2 British Review GP3 British Review GP2 German Review GP3 German Review Vitantonio Luizzi Interview Modern Safety In Formula One Gallery of 24 Hours at Spa Spa 24hr Report IndyCar Rewind Montoya Report Looking Ahead In IndyCar IndyCar Championship Preview NASCAR Season Update NASCAR Announces Major Penalties Roush Fenway Racing Confirms 2015 Lineup Maxime Martin Interview BTTC Snetterton Report Rally Finland Report Silverstone Classics Unsung Heroes of Motorsport Race Strategy Explained Everyday Driving Limited Edition Gary Drew Prints

Hungarian GP review Page 13

maxime martin interview

Page 74

the montoya report page 60

EDITORS NOTES

I

t’s that time again already.

This season seems to be passing by really fast. We are at the half way stage in the Formula One season, IndyCar is at the business end of the championship right now. Where does time go?

It’s been yet another fantastic month for motor sport. I’ve reported on two amazing Formula One races; it’s been a struggle to write comprehensive reports on the races as they have been so action packed. We’ve seen an unlucky Lewis Hamilton race from the back of the grid and the pit lane respectively in the last two races, yet managing to finish on the podium twice. In the World Rally Championship, our writer, Bruno, has been enjoying his home rally in Finland, taking some wonderful photos and you can read all about this event in this issue.

Brynmor has been to the Silverstone Classic, it’s not difficult to see that he had a great time, and that comes across in his fascinating article this month. Katy has yet again covered GP2 and GP3, keeping a close eye on the top drivers coming through the ranks. Annika has provided us with an amazing interview; this time it’s Vitantonio Luizzi, a true legend of motorsport who has tried his hand at many different modes of motorsport.

Both Eric and Travis have had a busy time in America. Eric has been covering IndyCar as it reaches the end of the season, yes, hard to believe but it is. Travis has already been watching rule changes and team line-ups for the 2015 season. Time certainly flies when you are having so much fun.

Finally, Adam has been watching Jason Plato make the BTCC championship wide open again at Snetterton, read about it later on. Also we can report a fantastic podium for Mat Jackson, one of our feature interviews in Issue 5. We welcome a new photographer to the fray as Dario’s gallery from the Spa 24hrs is included.

We also have Chris, he will begin writing special features for us, this month looking at safety in modern day F1.

Before I go, I must say thank you to Sahara Force India F1 team this month for allowing us to interview Franco Massaro, their Race Team Co-ordinator, a fascinating insight into how F1 moves around the world.

Enjoy this issue, I know we have enjoyed putting it together.

Until next time

Phil

No part of this magazine may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form – electronic, mechanical or physical – without express prior permission and written consent of the publisher. Contributions are invited and when not accepted will be returned only if accompanied by a fully stamped and addressed envelope. Manuscripts should be typewritten. No responsibility can be taken for drawings, photographs or literary contributions during transmission or in the editor’s hands. In the absence of an agreement the copyright of all contributions, literary, photographic or artistic, belongs to The Pitlane Reporter. The Publisher accepts no responsibility in respect of advertisements appearing in the magazine and the opinions expressed in editorial material or otherwise do not necessarily represent the views of the Publisher. The Publisher cannot accept liability for any loss arising from the late appearance or non publication of any advertisement. Information about products and services featured within the editorial content does not imply an endorsement by The Pitlane Reporter. © 2014. The Pitlane Reporter.

Published by MFO Publishing (UK) ltd. www.pitlanereporter.com 6

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MEET THE TEAM ERIC HALL - INDYCAR JOURNALIST Eric, based in Indianapolis, has been an IndyCar fan for his entire life and has been independantly covering the series since 2011. His blog, anotherindycarblog, has been at the core of his coverage for the past four years along with contributing to a number of online outlets as well.

His love for motorsport and IndyCar history and unconventional way of writing his “from the fan’ perspectives has garnered a small, but strong following. Eric can be found at the track during most of the summer and looks to bring the readers behind the IndyCar catch fence in 2014 Eric can be contacted at eric@pitlanereporter.com

BRUNO KEISER - RALLY JOURNALIST Hello rally fans all over the world! Matchbox cars are my very first childhood memories. Since then I´m hooked on speed, cars and powerful engines.

Later I became a car mechanic and in my last “normal” job, I worked for the Swiss air force as a jet engine engineer. My passion for rally (and motorsport in general) has grown together with the burning desire to capture speed and passion with my camera. In autumn 2010, I made a meaningful decision: All or nothing! I quit my job, sold everything I had (incl. my beloved Lotus Elise) and bought an old motorhome. I added everything needed to live in it permanently. Fully packed, with a budget for only one year and my beloved cat “Megi”, I left my family and friends on April 4, 2011, heading for my new life as a motorsport photographer in Finland.Since then I´m living my dream in my 14m² on wheels…

Bruno can be contacted at bruno@pitlanereporter.com

KIRIL VARBANOV - TECHNICAL JOURNALIST IT engineer (at Experian - yes, we sponsor Williams), Formula 1 TV commentator, BBC TopGear Bulgaria columnist, F1Technical.net site editor.

Blogger and avid petrol head. Independent consultant and crossfit-er. Excyber cop and sound engineer.On the F1 side (which I assume it’s the most interesting part), I’m a co-host of the national F1 TV show, so I’m a media person. I’m fascinated by the technical details, but most of all in aerodynamics, which has been my passion for 14 years. I have a column in the Bulgaria Top Gear’s print issue (the largest auto magazine here), as well as online articles for AutoBild Bulgaria.

Kiril can be contacted at kiril@pitlanereporter.com

www.pitlanereporter.com 8

TRAVIS BAREND - NASCAR JOURNALIST

Travis is a Public Relations student with a strong passion for NASCAR racing.

Whether it is through the PR field or as a journalist, Travis dreams of having a career in NASCAR one day. Through his own blog, TracksideChatter. com, Travis showcases some of his writing while also giving other aspiring journalists an opportunity to contribute. Additionally, he is a writer for Speedwaymedia.com as well asNASCARTheGame.com. You can follow Travis on Twitter @TracksideTravis to keep up with his writing and his take on everything NASCAR. Travis can be contacted at travis@pitlanereporter.com

KATY McKONNACCHIE - GP2, GP3 & DTM Katy, currently a media student, has been a Motorsport fan for as long as she can remember. When she isn’t studying, she can be found watching anything from Formula 1 to World Series by Renault or over on her blog sharing her passion for Motorsport with other fans.

Over the course of year Katy will be bringing you updates and features on GP2, GP3 and DTM. Katy can be contacted at katy@pitlanereporter.com

ADAM JOHNSON - BTCC JOURNALIST

Chief BTCC corrospondent for Pit Lane Reporter, and unashamed fan of the series since 1998. I cover touring car racing on these shores and around the world, with a penchant for noise, spectacle and a good underdog story. With the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series growing, it’s exciting times for stock car racing in Europe, and I cover the European stock car scene in detail. Away from motorsport I’m a Media Writing student at University of Greenwich, uni radio presenter, and I love rock music and the sport of roller derby.

Adam can be contacted at adam@pitlanereporter.com

BRYNMOR PIERCE - HISTORIC RACING JOURNALIST From the age of three I was taken along to various race and rally meetings with my late dad, the passion (some may call it an obsession) stems from him!! I’ve been fortunate over the last nearly 20 years to compete at most levels of rallying within the UK as both a driver and co-driver , currently you’ll regularly find me on British National events occupying the co-driver’s seat. That said throughout my life I have always had a passion for Historic’s, indeed the passion extends to Historic racing too and upholding a family tradition we’ve not missed an Oulton Park Gold Cup since it’s inception. I look forward to bringing you news and views from across Historic Motorsport in the UK. Should anyone have anything they wish me to cover please do get in touch!!

Brynmor can be contacted at brynmor@pitlanereporter.com

www.pitlanereporter.com 9

ANNIKA GOCKE - DTM JOURNALIST Annika, based in Germany, has been an accreditated F1 and DTM journalist in the past. She has been writing for almost two years and gained experience at speedmagazin.de as well as motorsport-magazin.de. Annika is an educated specialist in media and information services. She is passionate for racing and will be concentrating on DTM Annika can be contacted at annika@pitlanereporter.com

chris powley - features writer Qualified Electrical/Electronic engineer. Started out employed life as a want to be motor mechanic. Fan of many forms of motor racing since the seventies and forefilled my ambition of owning an Alfa Romeo GTV only for it to burst into flames (surprise). I have a very eclectic taste in music and loves anything out of the ordinary.

Chris can be contacted at chris@pitlanereporter.com

dario dominin - official photographer Dario, based in Belgium, has recently seen his dream come true as a professional photographer after 5 years of amateur photography. He is passionate about photography and motors (cars, motorbikes ... basically anything that has a powerful and loud engine).

His latest important event he took part in was the 24hours race of Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) but he is always looking for great motor sport events all over Europe.

Dario can be contacted at dario.dominin@gmail.com.

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letters page Hi Phil n GP, Mercedes In the Hungaria milton to move asked Lewis Ha g, this divided over for Rosber motor sports opinions among wis never gave fans. Obviously Le front. What do in and stayed in and team orders you think of this in general?

Regards Alex nd) Aberdeen (Scotla Hello Alex

d ld come up, an I knew this wou is th on n io in y op I have given m in the review of nt de ci in c ifi spec co mple terms, Ni the race. In si ’d he If . enough wasn’t close ve ha ay m is w Le been closer then let him past. don’t like team In general, I the race false. es orders, it mak c, am game etc et I know it is a te a g in nd fe de ill in but there is a sk es im et m so e w d position too, an . by team orders get denied that

g e that Rosber Yes I am awar ld ou w ly ab ob pr was faster and is e podium if Lew have got on th ’s on ilt m Ha st, but had let him pa lel w a m hi on w defensive skills nt de nfi . I am co deserved podium Mercedes are at am te that the ve ey needn’t ha aware that th heat e th in t bu ll, made that ca ve t would you ha of a race, wha done? e e finances wer Perhaps if th rs de or am te the split differently . g of the past in th a be ld wou l, el W ? n by that What do I mea e focused on th e ar s the team e du ip sh on pi am constructor’s ch at th if ey. What to the prize mon split in half, the as w ey prize mon rs the constructo team winning oney m t en rr cu e got 50% of th ng with the winni and the team , % 50 r he ot e driver got th e th til un t as le at perhaps then, s season, the team very end of the . le tt ba mates would let team n es my opinio Hope that mak clear. of the season Enjoy the rest Phil

Dear Editor Why do you feature Juan Pablo Montoya in ever y issue? I am not saying that he isn’t a good drive r; it’s just bizarre how you feature one driver so heavily, w hen there ar e so many other drivers out there.

Thanks David Toronto (Can ada) Hi David Good quest ion. First o f all, this monthly fe ature has turned out to be one o f the most popular in the magazi ne. Juan P ablo Montoya is a fa n favourite , he has been in m otor sport for a long time, havin g raced in Formula One, NA SCAR and IndyCar to name a few . This is his first season back in IndyCar an d we made

a decision to follow h is progress as it intere sts so man y people, including E ric and I. M ontoya has won races in F1, NASC AR, IndyCar, CART and Grand-A m, all in his rookie y ear. Show me another driver w ho has ach ieved that in recent ti mes! Juan Pablo Montoya is a tr ue modern day racing legend, bri nging back memories of years g one by wh en people like Sterlin g Moss wo uld race in different fo rmats.

In short, th e guy is an amazing talent, and one that m ost people in motor sp ort enjoyed reading about. I ho pe you hav e too, despite you fe eling it is b izarre.

Enjoy the e nd of this th rilling IndyCar seaso n.

Regards Phil

www.pitlanereporter.com 11

Dear Editor Bernie Eccleston is in court on bribery charges at the mome nt.

Do you think he can seriou sly look after Formula One if he is involved in this kind of a scanda l?

Anonymous Hello Anonymous First of all, that’s a gre at name. I suppose you are really lucky, for examp le, if you were called Bo b, ironically you would strugg le to be truly anonymous.

As you may have noticed, we don’t do scandal at Pit Lan e Reporter. In life, you are

Dear Editor Do you think the new Formula One regulations have forced Adrian Newey out of his job? We have heard him talk about how his skills are now severely restricted. Can F1 afford to lose such incredible talents like Adrian?

Cheers Leenda Yu Shenyang (China) Hi Leenda Great to see that we have readers in China, I do hope you enjoy the magazine.

Now onto your question. I don’t think that the new regulations have forced Adrian out of the sport; I believe that he wants a break and when faced with an opportunity

innocent until proven gui lty.

He does a good job of runnin g the show at the moment, and I don’t see any reason for that to stop right now.

In fact, as I write thi s, the prosecutors have just made him an offer, pay £60 million and they’ll dro p the case...............now tha t sounds a bit like bribery to me (Source – BBC News websi te 5th August 2014). Oh we ll, we shall see.

Have a great month and enj oy the magazine.

Regards Non-Anonymous Phil

of going to a rival, he decided to stick with Red Bull. The Milton Keynes team have offered him a chance to do something different next year, this is what he wants.

It’s a shame that a man of his talent is leaving the sport, but the time comes to us all, if it didn’t then Damon Hill, Sterling Moss, Niki Lauda and many more would still be racing today. The sport will go on; there are many more amazing talents at every single team on the grid. I wouldn’t worry about it, we can afford to let Adrian go and play!

Thanks for the question, enjoy the mag.

Regards Phil

Please get in touch with your comments or questions - phil@pitlanereporter.com

www.pitlanereporter.com 12

Left Hungary For More Hungarian Formula One Review

BY PHIL WOODS

Qualifying

O

nce again qualifying provided us with a huge level of entertainment from the word go. The threat of rain meant that teams were nervous about what might come in the sessions.

In Q1, Pastor Maldonado was out early, I mean in both ways. He was out on the circuit first and then within the first lap slowed down to a crawl and was out of qualifying before it had even begun.

Lotus’ season continued to get worse.

Soon after came the biggest drama of qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton had yet more bad luck - did this guy smash hundreds of mirrors when he was a kid? I’m beginning to wonder. His super-fast Mercedes decided to catch fire as he was finishing a lap. He entered the pit lane dramatically with fire shooting out of the back.

The shocks didn’t end there, Kimi Raikkonen was on the cusp of the drop zone, but he probably felt comfortable with just the Marussia’s and Caterham’s behind him. No one expected Jules Bianchi to come along and knock the former world champion out of Q1, Bianchi did just that leaving Ferrari red faced, but perhaps a little proud being that Bianchi is a Ferrari protegy.

Photo by Drew Gibson/Getty Images

Q2 was a lot quieter than the first session, with no surprises as far as those going out. Both Saubers, the remaining Lotus, Bianchi’s Marussia, the Force India of Perez and the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat failing to make it through with a spin at the 12th corner which brought out double yellow flags and ensured that Hulkenberg in the other Force India www.pitlanereporter.com 13

was not troubled.

The shoot-out was already going to be interesting, but then, it looked as if the heavens were about to open. The drivers bolted out of the pits to try and get a banker lap in. The track didn’t look like it would be dry enough for slicks for very long.

Rosberg was the first driver to start a hot lap, but missed the first corner as it was far too slippy and left the track. Hhe managed to keep the car away from the wall and was able to creep back to the pits. Kevin Magnussen was the second driver to try and he wasn’t very lucky at all, he went straight into the wall at the first corner and destroyed his McLaren. Fortunately, safety in F1 is so good these days that he walked away unscathed. The session was red flagged.

In the time that the teams were waiting to resume action, the rain stopped and the track began to dry out. Rosberg was first to put in a lap and did a 1.26.488, this was beaten by both Ricciardo and Bottas almost immediately.

Vettel then showed his class by taking provisional pole with a 1.23.201 as the chequered flag fell but Rosberg came round the final bend and took the initiative into Sunday after gaining pole position yet again. The Championship leader would start at the front, whilst his rival and team-mate, Lewis Hamilton would have to start from the pit lane due to a car rebuild. The race now looked ever so spicy!

The Race

Copyright Sahara Force India www.pitlanereporter.com 14

Now, this is where my life gets very difficult indeed. The Hungaroring is a notoriously difficult place to overtake. Only a driver with sublime skill, someone who shrugs of danger and someone who would be arguably the world’s best driver would be able to make it through this field. So, damn you Mr Lewis Hamilton for making every writers job so much more difficult this week. How Lewis managed to make it from the pit lane to the podium here is beyond me, especially considering he had a dangerous ‘off ‘ on his first lap and yet again damaged his front wing. On a serious note, this was an awesome drive and a pleasure to watch.

Hamilton eventually finished in third after a late battle with his team-mate Rosberg who finished

4th, more on that later.

Was he the only driver to make this a fascinating race? No, we had the good fortune to see another amazing drive by the eventual winner, Daniel Ricciardo. Both he and Red Bull executed the perfect strategy and drive to take victory. The site of Ricciardo overtaking both the Mercedes of Hamilton and the Ferrari of Alonso late on showed that F1 still has plenty to give fans.

Then there is Alonso, this guy has been struggling with a poor car for some time now. Had he been in a Brawn, Red Bull or Mercedes, Fernando would have had more championships to his name. He is a supreme talent and showed it by finishing 2nd in this race, holding off a late challenge from Lewis Hamilton. He led the race for a long time, but couldn’t keep the Red Bull of Ricciardo behind him. There were actually three outstanding drivers in this race who deserve huge credit - Ricciardo, Alonso and Hamilton.

So what happened to Vettel who had had such a good qualifying session? He finished in 7th because, unfortunately for him, he had a major spin on the main straight after hitting the slippy astro-turf on the final corner. He had been taking the same line for most of the race and finally came unstuck. Fortunately for Vettel, he managed to keep the car out of the wall, although I don’t know how.

Now for the bit you all want me to discuss, team orders. Should Mercedes have asked Hamilton to let Rosberg pass? Let’s look at the facts. Rosberg needed to make one more stop and would have had fresher tyres at the end of the race, if he had got past Hamilton he would have almost certainly come 2nd. He probably wouldn’t have managed to pass Ricciardo for the win though. But, and it’s a huge one, crucially he could not get close enough to Hamilton to give Lewis the chance to move aside. Lewis would have lost valuable time and a podium had he slowed down to let Rosberg pass.

So in short, Mercedes should have left well alone until Rosberg had closed the gap; Hamilton was right to ignore team orders on this occasion. He is battling Rosberg for the championship, Rosberg was NOT close enough to not affect Hamilton’s race. There you go, that is my opinion.

Today was also a better day for Kimi Raikkonen

Copyright Mercedes AMG F1 Team www.pitlanereporter.com 15

The race was amazing to watch and very difficult to commentate on www.pitlanereporter.com 16

Copyright Mercedes AMG F1 Team

It was one of those races that had action happening all the time,

Copyright McLaren F1 Team in the other Ferrari. After a disastrous qualifying, to try and improve the sport, it needs it so much. he managed to haul his car up to 6th, making up a (Please note the sarcasm) massive 10 places from his starting position.

Now it’s time for a break! Phew! I need it after that.

It was a poor race for Force India who failed to score See you at my favourite track next, Spa. points for the first time this season. Nico Hulkernberg crashed on Lap 15 and Sergio Perez a little bit later on. The team mates made contact with each other early in this race and were lucky to escape that.

You can ‘b….r‘-off if you think I am deciding that The race was amazing to watch and very difficult to one today.

Driver of the Day

commentate on. It was one of those races that had action happening all the time, a great advert for Formula One. There is nothing wrong with F1 this year, it is a fantastic spectacle. I’m just so glad that Red Bull (for perfect execution of strategy with Bernie called for a meeting of the teams on Saturday Daniel Ricciardo)

Team of the Day

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Hungarian GRAND PRIX results Position

Name

Team

Nationality

Points

Laps

1

Daniel Ricciardo

2

Fernando Alonso

18

3

Lewis Hamilton

15

4

Nico Rosberg

12

5

Felipe Massa

10

6

Kimi Raikkonen

8

7

Sebastian Vettel

6

8

Valtteri Bottas

4

9

Jean-Eric Vergne

2

10

Jenson Button

1

11

Adrian Sutil

0

12

Kevin Magnussen

0

13

Pastor Maldonado

0

14

Daniil Kvyat

0

15

Jules Bianchi

0

16

Max Chilton

0

17

Esteban Gutierrez

0

ret’d

32

18

Kamui Kobayashi

0

ret’d

24

19

Sergio Perez

0

ret’d

22

20

Nico Hulkenberg

6

ret’d

14

21

Romain Grosjean

0

ret’d

10

22

Marcus Ericsson

0

ret’d

7

www.pitlanereporter.com 18

25

German GP Report A Battle Royale from the Back and a Home Win

BY PHIL WOODS

Qualifying If anyone was expecting qualifying to be straight forward this time, they were grossly mistaken. As it was in Britain last time out, a drama unfolded in the scorching heat of Germany (now there’s a phrase not often said). This time it was Lewis Hamilton who provided the drama, in Q1 his brakes failed and he went headlong into the barrier, a crash that knocked the wind out of the Mercedes driver, you could hear this over the radio call. The time that Lewis had set earlier in the session was enough to get him out of Q1, so it wasn’t as bad as the Ferrari/Williams mess up at Silverstone, well...not yet anyway.

In Parc Ferme, the Mercedes team had to rebuild Hamilton’s car, changing the brakes from the Brembo ones that failed to a different make altogether, he also had to have his gearbox replaced. This gave him a 5 place grid penalty, meaning he would start from 20th on the grid, almost guaranteeing a cracking race for the fans.

The Red Bulls had shown some promise in practice but they didn’t manage to convert that into a decent qualifying session, they’d hoped to be challenging the Williams and beating the McLarens. That didn’t happen and they had to settle for 5th and 6th, with Daniel Ricciardo again out-qualifying his more experienced team-mate.

Christopher Lee/Getty Images www.pitlanereporter.com 20

Magnussen managed to put his Mclaren in 4th place and would line up alongside Felipe Massa in the Williams. His team mate Bottas managed 2nd place, continuing his great form of recent races. Inevitably, Nico Rosberg put the other Mercedes onto pole to start his home grand prix from the front. This began a perfect weekend for the German.

The Race There are eventful starts that you want to see and there are dreadful moments of luck for F1’s nice guy that you don’t want to see; this was the latter. Felipe Massa found himself upside down at the first corner after making a good start, he didn’t see the oncoming Magnussen who went into the side of the Williams, flipping him over and putting him out of the race again. You have to feel for Massa; when will his luck change? The incident itself was a pure racing incident and Kevin was able to continue his race. This bought out a safety car, but those with eagle eyes would have seen that Lewis Hamilton had already made up three places and was in 17th. Rosberg had made a perfect start and kept out of harm’s way.

When the race restarted, Rosberg got away cleanly followed by Bottas who had managed to escape being involved in the early crash. Vettel had jumped to third as Magnussen had to pit for repairs and Ricciardo who had taken avoiding action at the start was further back. After Hamilton had dispatched the back markers, he found himself behind Ricciardo who was also recovering; this in itself is probably the main difference between 2nd and 3rd at the end of the race for Lewis. Had he not had a battle with the Red Bull, he’d probably have been much further up the field. Still, it was great viewing to see them go toe to toe for a number of laps. On lap 7, Ricciardo went past Adrian Sutil’s Sauber, Hamilton followed him through at the hairpin, something I don’t think Sutil expected and a very brave move by the Brit. They almost touched, far too close for comfort but it did put him up to 12th.

By lap 13 Hamilton was in a battle for 8th with Ricciardo and Raikkonen. Ricciardo caught Raikkonen off guard and passed him but then Kimi woke up enough to defend against Hamilton.

Copyright Mercedes AMG F1 Team www.pitlanereporter.com 21

Hamilton locked up through the stadium section and managed to catch the front of Raikkonen’s Ferrari, throwing bits of red wing into the air.

By lap 14 Hamilton was up to 5th. He had started on the harder tyre which was seemingly paying off. Meanwhile, Rosberg was having a very comfortable race out front, building a considerable gap from Bottas in the Williams.

On lap 15, Vettel and Hulkenberg pit, this promoted Hamilton up to 3rd. When the German pair rejoin, they find themselves in a battle with the two Ferrari’s.

Vettel, Alonso and Raikkonen went three-a-breast into the hairpin. Again, Raikkonen loses more front wing as he is effectively the ‘filling in a sandwich’.

Vettel won this battle moving up to 4th.

Hamilton found himself 7.5 seconds behind Rosberg in 2nd place, but he was yet to pit. Both Bottas and Rosberg had already pitted. Hamilton began battling with Bottas but his team told him not to be concerned as their strategy meant that they were still on for second.

On lap 27 Hamilton eventually stopped for another set of soft tyres and came back out in 8th behind Ricciardo.

A lap later Grosjean retired his Lotus, pulling off at the hairpin and complaining about a problem with his power.

On lap 30 we had the next incident with Hamilton as he tried to pass his compatriot, Jenson Button into the hairpin. He thought Jenson was letting him through and managed to clip a tyre on the McLaren damaging his front wing.

Vettel gave arguably the radio call of the day on lap 40. He was asked to save fuel and his reply came back as “Tell me what you want me to do,” says Vettel. “Do you want me to pass or do you want me to save fuel like a duck?” Brilliant and well said Seb. Adrian Sutil had a spin as he came onto the start/finish straight. This caused him to have a loss of power and he couldn’t restart the car. He had to retire but surely a safety car would be called, Hamilton thought so and dived in earlier than expected for super soft tyres. Unfortunately for him, the safety car didn’t happen and by the time he caught Bottas, he couldn’t pass him, the super softs had gone off.

The end of the race came with the German, Nico Rosberg winning in a German car, another moment of sporting triumph for the country who have just won the football World Cup. At least the German’s can’t play cricket......wait....neither can England right now!

Driver of the Day Lewis Hamilton

Team of the Day Copyright Drew Gibson/Getty Images

Mercedes

www.pitlanereporter.com 22

german GRAND PRIX results Position

Name

Team

Nationality

Points

Laps

1

Nico Rosberg

25

2

Valterri Bottas

18

3

Lewis Hamilton

15

4

Sebastian Vettel

12

5

Fernando Alonso

10

6

Daniel Ricciardo

8

7

Nico Hulkenberg

6

8

Jenson Button

4

9

Kevin Magnussen

2

10

Sergio Perez

1

11

Kimi Raikkonen

0

12

Pastor Maldonado

0

13

Jean-Eric Vergne

0

14

Esteban Gutierrez

0

15

Jules Bianchi

0

16

Kamui Kobayashi

0

17

Max Chilton

0

18

Marcus Ericsson

0

19

Adrian Sutil

0

ret’d

47

20

Daniil Kvyat

0

ret’d

44

21

Romain Grosjean

0

ret’d

26

22

Felipe Massa

0

ret’d

0

www.pitlanereporter.com 23

Gp2

british grand prix BY katy MCCONNACHIE

Copyright GP2 Media www.pitlanereporter.com 24

M

itch Evans claimed his maiden GP2 victory in the damp conditions during the Feature Race at Silverstone. A great recovery from a slow start allowed the Kiwi to secure victory ahead of Jolyon Palmer and Stoffel Vandoorne. RT RUSSIAN TIME and their young driver out-thought their rivals, coming up with a race winning strategy, choosing the right tyres and set up later in the race.

With the damp conditions, the choice of tyre of was a mix of the option compound and primes. Pole man, Raffaele Marciello, had a fantastic start from the line on the options, with Palmer also making a brilliant start from the front row of the grid on the primes. www.pitlanereporter.com 25

Evans’ start had been more disappointing but it didn’t take the RT driver long to catch up with the British DAMS driver and overtake him into Turn 3. Palmer held off from Felipe Nasr who had already mugged Vandoorne for P4. Just behind the Belgian were Stefando Coletti and Johnny Cecotto.

When the pit window opened, it was all to play for as drivers and teams had to make the decision as to which tyre compound was to suit them for the rest of the race. Marciello nursed his tyres to Lap 10 before making his stop and looked to be in charge when he remerged, still in the lead. However, the Ferrari Academy driver was soon struck with mechanical problems and was forced to pull off, his race coming to an end.

Palmer took the lead but pitted on Lap 18. A lap later Evans pitted and had put in a very quick lap but when he emerged from his own stop, his mirrors were full of the DAMS of Palmer.

The battle for the lead had begun to heat up as Palmer threw everything at making a move on the young New Zealander. He pair ran side by side through the 2nd sector before Evans was granted trace advantage through Club Corner, squeezing his rival into the corner.

At the flag, Evans had a built up a gap of nearly 5 seconds from Palmer to secure his first GP2 win, saying: “It’s been far too long, but I’m really, really happy to finally get the monkey off my back, and hopefully it’s not the last one of the season.”

Vandoorne came home to take the final podium position, 20 seconds back from the leading pair.

Coletti had lost out to Leal in the final few corners which meant that the Monegasque driver was left to defend from Cecotto and Nasr to the line.

Stéphane Richelmi held off Marco Sorensen for Reverse Grid pole in P8 and Daniel Abt managed to take the final point.

Carlin’s Nasr takes top step for a spectacular win Felipe Nasr took his third victory of the season in the Sprint Race, at Silverstone on the Sunday, closing the gap between Championship Leader, Jolyon Palmer and himself. It was the Carlin driver who took victory ahead of Racing Engineering’s Stefano Coletti and Trident’s Johnny Cecotto Jr. Copyright GP2 Media www.pitlanereporter.com 26

Nasr lead from start to finish when he grabbed

the lead from pole man Stéphane Richelmi; his pace off the line far too fast for the DAMS driver to challenge. Richelmi dropped from pole to P5 in the opening lap. Alexander Rossi unfortunately stalled on the grid but it was an even worse start for Raffaele Marciello, who started last, and ended his race at the first corner after a collision with Jon Lancaster.

Adrian Quaife-Hobbs looked strong when he jumped three positions at the start and was ready to make a challenge on Stoffel Vandoorne until a slight wobble into Chapel which meant Vandoorne was comfortable in P9.

Whilst Quaife-Hobbs suffered from an off moment, Palmer was going strong in P7 and Leal helped the DAMS driver’s progress when he left a large gap, allowing the British driver past quickly.

Rio Haryanto’s race ended prematurely in the pits and Sergio Canamasas’ race also ended early with rear wing damage, caused by a collision at Turn 1.

Colletti, racing in 2nd, was beginning to close in on the race leader until the Racing Engineering team found that the Monegasque driver had an engine issue affecting his pace.

In the end, it was Nasr who took victory. Coletti ended in P2 and Cecotto, who had a good race against the likes of Palmer, took the final podium position. Despite his great race, Palmer could only manage P4, with Julian Leal in P5. Richelmi finished in P6 after starting on pole and Feature Race winner, Mitch Evans came on in P7 ahead of Marco Sorensen, who closed out the points.

After the race, Takuya Izawa and Adrian QuaifeHobbs were handed penalties for separate incidents.

Izawa was handed a penalty for causing a collision with Arthur Pic in the closing stages which meant that Pic was unable to finish the race. The ART Grand Prix driver was handed a five place grid penalty for the following race in Germany.

Quaife-Hobbs was handed a penalty for abusing track limits on more than one occasion, which the Stewards believed allowed him to gain an unfair advantage. The final decision was to add 20 seconds to the Rapax driver’s final race time, which dropped him five places from his original position of P10.

Copyright GP2 Media www.pitlanereporter.com 27

Silverstone provides Eriksson with sweet success

Copyright GP3 Media www.pitlanereporter.com 28

Gp3

british grand prix BY katy MCCONNACHIE

S

weden’s Jimmy Eriksson found himself taking his first GP3 win after taking his first GP3 pole position only a few hours beforehand. It was a triumphant lights-to-flag finish for the Koiranen GP’s driver, finishing ahead of Carlin’s Alex Lynn and ART Grand Prix’s Marvin Kirchhöfer.

It was a good start for Eriksson from his front row spot; unlike Lynn who had Jann Mardenborough chasing him. Lynn did his best to cover line, managing to hold off his fellow Brit, who tried to make a dive up the inside, whilst Kirchhöfer did well to have a clean start and was into P3 by the end of the first lap.

It didn’t take long for Eriksson to build a lead of 2.5s over Lynn in the early stages of the race. It was all going well up front, but a little further down the pack, Santiago Urrutia made contact with Luis Sa Silva, ending his day in the gravel track.

Dean Stoneman was driving a good race, after starting

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Copyright GP3 Media www.pitlanereporter.com 30

way back in P16. The Marussia Manor Racing driver ART Grand Prix driver and Marussia Manor Racing fought his way up into the top ten, quickly passing driver. those around him. Amongst the drivers being passed were Pal Varhaug and Patrick Kujala.

Pal Varhaug and Patric Niederhauser were having a great battle; the Swiss driver making a number Eriksson and Lynn were battling up front for the of moves on the Norwegian but failing to get past. fastest lap, with the Carlin driver determined to However the pressure did begin to show when try and pass the Swede as the end of the race ticked Varhaug made a mistake and ran wide and once closer. Kirchhöfer was a little further back trying back on track, was under pressure again from to keep Bernstorff from passing him; the German Niederhauser. Whilst this was going on, just behind, maintaining a gap of a second.

Eriksson was in his own battle with Lynn, who was filling the mirrors of the Race 1 winner. Eriksson Just behind Kirchhöfer and Berstorff, Nick Yelloly tried to take advantage of the battle in front, diving and rookie Agostini were having a clean fight for P5. down the middle of the two but was unlucky when With five laps to go, the battle for the lead really he made contact with Niederhauser, both ending up heated up and the timing sheets constantly saw a in the gravel but with Varhaug suffering damage and change of fastest lap between the two front runners being forced to retire. as Lynn closed down the gap to 0.3s. In the end though, Eriksson crossed the line ahead of the Red Series leader Lynn could now focus on chasing down Bull Junior driver by just under a second to finish and passing Jann Mardenborough. The Carlin driver first, with Lynn behind (winning the fastest lap with made his move stick unlike Eriksson and found a 1:48.963s). himself in a four-way battle for fifth.

It was a mature drive for the Swede to take his maiden victory ahead of the Championship leader. It was a debut podium for Kirchhöfer as he managed to remain ahead of Bernstorff and Yelloly. Agostini not only scored his first GP3 points but it was also the first set of points for Hilmer Motorsport.

Even with Riccardo Agostini making a move on him, Dean Stoneman, one of the drivers in this battle, had been driving strongly all race but when it looked as if it would be a successful home race, his Marussia car began to slow and the Brit was forced to pull off and retire.

1-2 for Status GP with Stanaway and Yelloly

Lynn was on a strong charge, making brave decisions to move up the order including a move on Dino Zamparelli to claim P6.

Status Grand Prix were left delighted when they rushed to the podium to witness a 1-2 finish. Kiwi driver, Richie Stanaway stood on the top step of the podium with his British teammate Yelloly standing beside him for a home podium. Emil Bernstorff also managed to get himself a home podium after finishing P3 for Carlin.

At the front, Stanaway held a 2.6s gap from Yelloly with further two seconds over Bernstorff to come home and take his second GP3 race win. Yelloly crossed the line next, making the Status Grand Prix team ecstatic with their result. Bernstorff picked up yet more points for his championship campaign.

Pole man Dino Zamparelli had a disappointing start Kirchhöfer came home P4 after holding off Agostini when he was pushed down into P5. It was a clean with Lynn, Zamparelli and Tuscher completing the and great start for Stanaway but it was an even better points. start for Bernstorff who made a flying getaway to end up P2 from P5 on the grid. Yelloly held onto third, Lynn topped the Championship standings with only holding off from Kirchhöfer. It wasn’t such good an eight point lead over Eriksson. After a great race, news for Alex Lynn and Jimmy Eriksson, both losing Stanaway sat in third, 18 points ahead of Bernstorff out in the opening lap and ending up out of the top and Kirchhöfer. Carlin lead the Teams Championship ahead of Status (who snuck back into second thanks ten. to their 1-2), Koiranen GP lie third ahead of ART Alex Fontana and Patrick Kujala made contact which Grand Prix. unfortunately meant a premature end for both the

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Gp2

german grand prix BY katy MCCONNACHIE

A

fter taking his maiden GP2 victory at Silverstone, Mitch Evans found himself victorious once more at the Hockenheimring, with a spectacular drive in the German heat, winning the 200th GP2 race, ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne and Series leader Jolyon Palmer.

With a lot of the field starting on the primes, Evans, who was down in P15, opted to start on softs in the hope it would allow him make places quickly. Vandoorne had a fantastic start from second, quickly passing pole man Palmer before the first turn. Tom Dillmann stalled from P4 which held up some of the field. Stefano Coletti and Felipe Nasr followed the leaders, just ahead of Arthur Pic and Johnny Cecotto.

Evans secures win in 200th GP2 race Copyright GP2 Media www.pitlanereporter.com 32

In the rising heat, it was thought that the softer tyres wouldn’t last too long and all those on the softs, apart from Evans, Pic and Raffaele Marciello made their way into the pits when the window opened. Evans, Pic and Marciello were slicing their way through the field until the latter of the three pitted on Lap 11, both drivers stalling as they went to leave the pits, undoing all the good work. Evans pitted two laps later, after an impressive stint and came out behind Stéphane Richelmi.

the hairpin on the following lap. As Evans dropped down through the field, the track began to dry and soon drivers were hitting the pits, Palmer being the first to do so on Lap 10.

Palmer and Coletti pitted on lap 23 with Vandoorne and Nasr pitting two laps later. Vandoorne came out from his stop to find that Evans was ahead.

Vandoorne soon came under pressure from Palmer, allowing Evans to find some breathing space as the ART Grand Prix driver and Carlin driver used the best from the tyres whilst fighting against one another.

At the restart, Coletti was close behind Vandoorne and Sorensen and took advantage of having warmer tyres, getting past the two and making his way into the lead with Nasr following on the next lap.

The Safety Car was called back out when Takuya Izawa found himself beached, allowing his ART teammate, Vandoorne, the chance to take to the pits for a set of slicks, emerging just ahead of Sorensen who was one of the last on the wet tyres.

Coletti and Nasr battled it out for the lead for the remainder of the race, taking turns to take the fastest lap but in the end it was the Monegasque driver who held onto a gap of over a second. Vandoorne Evans took the win from P15 by only 0.4s from was the best of those who started on the wet tyres, Vandoorne whilst Palmer dropped back two seconds Sorensen came home in P4 after yet another fantastic on the final lap. Coletti and Nasr battled it out to finish performance, ahead of Jon Lancaster, Palmer and P4 and P5 ahead of Simon Trummer, who managed Alexander Rossi and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs rounded to take P6 from Johnny Cecotto after getting his tyre out the points. strategy and call correct. Nathanael Berthon took P8 and reverse grid pole.

Palmer held onto his Championship lead of 168 points to Nasr’s 127. Cecotto’s weekend meant that Coletti storms to victory in thrilling race he was P3 on 100 whilst Coletti moved up to P4 in Stefano Coletti took victory at Hockenheim ahead of the Championship with 96. DAMS remained lead Felipe Nasr and Stoffel Vandoorne after gambling on team with 209 ahead of the 193 of Carlin. tyres in tricky conditions. Despite the rain that hit before the start of the race, Coletti gambled to start on the slicks and in the end, after a great call at his stop, it worked out for the Racing Engineering driver.

At the start, pole man Nathanael Berthon easily took advantage, pulling ahead into clear air with the rest of the top 4 struggling to get off the line in the terrible conditions. Coletti found himself being overwhelmed by Jolyon Palmer, Mitch Evans and Marco Sorensen; all three managing to get past the Monegasque driver. Evans had a brilliant start from P8, quickly moving into P2, chasing the fast starting Berthon.

A little further down, Johnny Cecotto and Stéphane Richelmi came together, the latter’s car catching fire, bringing out the Safety Car. When the Safety Car period came to an end, Evans was hoping to make a move on Berthon but was unable to and was soon passed by Vandoorne at www.pitlanereporter.com 33

Gp3

german grand prix BY katy MCCONNACHIE

Copyright GP3 Media www.pitlanereporter.com 34

Kirchhรถfer on home gr

shines round

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arvin Kirchhöfer found himself on the top step at Hockenheimring, taking his maiden win after a spectacular run pole position for ART Grand Prix earlier in the weekend. The German driver celebrated his debut pole and win in front of home fans, taking a startling lights-to-flag finish ahead of Carlin duo Alex Lynn and Emil Berstorff.

Round 4 of the GP3 2014 season saw temperatures rise more and more, making it a challenging race in the immense German heat. Kirchhöfer made a flying start from pole, heading into the first corner as the leader of the pack, Lynn close behind and Bernstorff moving up a position, snatching it from Nick Yelloly early on the opening lap.

Jimmy Eriksson, who had received a five place grid penalty after qualifying, found himself in the middle and made light contact with Jenzer Motorsport’s Matheo Tuscher – both drivers were able to continue with their races without any problems. Whilst Eriksson and Tuscher came away from their incident unscathed, Alfonso Celis. Jr wasn’t as lucky when he was tagged by Ryan Cullen from behind.

At the front of the pack, Kirchhöfer had a small gap of 1.2 seonds over Lynn in the opening laps but slowly the British driver began to reel the German in and cut down the gap between the two to just under a second, with the top three all racing closely together.

At midpoint, Bernstorff ran wide, losing a small amount of time on Lynn and ended up in the clutches of P4 man, Yelloly. Tuscher began to struggle on his tyres, allowing Eriksson and Richie Stanaway to take advantage, both moving up the order. The battle for P8 began to heat up with Riccardo Agostini putting the pressure on Stanaway. The two made contact but were fortunately able to continue, with the Italian getting the edge.

In the closing laps of the race, it was clear that Kirchhöfer would be able to hold onto the lead after building up a gap of just over three seconds. The German brought his car across the line ahead of Lynn to take the victory, after controlling the entire race.

Bernstorff came home in P3 behind his Red Bull Racing junior teammate, but just ahead of Yelloly. On the final lap, Stoneman managed to pinch P5 from Dino Zamparelli. Eriksson finish in P7 with Jann Mardenborough taking P8 which meant he would have reverse grid pole for the second race. Agostini and Robert Visoiu rounded out the points.

Arden International’s Mardenborough secures maiden victory at Hockenheimring Arden International’s Jann Mardenborough took his maiden GP3 win in the final race at Hockenheimring from pole position.

The British driver took a controlled win from fellow Brit, Dino www.pitlanereporter.com 35

Zamparelli and Sweden’s Jimmy Eriksson.

Mardenborough made a clean start from pole whilst Eriksson lost out to Zamparelli, allowing the ART Grand Prix driver to sneak into second. Series Leader Alex Lynn also had a great start, as he managed to move his way into fourth, pushing Nick Yelloly down a position.

On the opening lap, there was contact between Sebastian Balthasar and Pal Varhaug, which meant the Norwegian driver, was forced to retire when he sustained damage from the incident.

Lynn began putting early pressure on P3 man, Eriksson whilst a battle for P6 formed between Emil Bernstorff, Dean Stoneman and Race 1 winner Marvin Kirchhöfer. Mardenborough, in the lead, held a gap of just under a second to Zamparelli as the two began to pull away from Eriksson.

It was all going well in the battle for P6 until Kirchhöfer made contact with Bernstorff, unfortunately ending both of their races prematurely. Whilst there was happening, Stoneman was having a good run and was soon battling it out with Yelloly for P5.

Despite the damp conditions at the start, and the German heat, drivers’ seemed to be able to manage the tyre degradation; especially Mardenborough who handled the conditions well and took his first podium and win of GP3. This was the weekend’s second lights-to-flag victory, as Kirchhöfer had done the same the day before.

It was Zamparelli’s best result in GP3 coming home in P2, and Eriksson maintained his consistency with another important podium place. Lynn was kept at bay to finish P4 with Stoneman getting past Yelloly for P5. Patric Niederhauser and Richie Stanaway completed the points.

As well as a win, Jann Mardenborough took the fastest lap with a 1:31.198s on the fifth.

In the Championship, Lynn remained at the top with 112 points, whilst Eriksson managed to close the gap slightly with his P3 finish meaning he now sat on 94 points. Carlin leads the Teams’ Standings going onto Hungary on 189 points with ART Grand Prix ahead of Status Grand Prix by just two points with their 125. www.pitlanereporter.com 36

Interview Vitantonio Liuzzi

ANNIKA GOCKE

“Racing is my passion, my adrenaline, my life” www.pitlanereporter.com 37

I

t is no secret that DTM is heading in a new direction 2014. A cooperation deal was signed at the end of 2012 in Tokyo, offering Japanese and German car manufacturers the opportunity to compete in each series. The agreement which covers the use of the ‘New DTM’ regulations by Japan’s Super GT began in 2014 and runs (provisionally) - for four years. “The Super GT in Japan and DTM have many common ideas - a fact that became evident in the intense discussions which we had in recent years. Now, these organisations are going to cooperate on the basis of shared technical regulations; a move that will guarantee maximum safety, spectacular sport and cost-efficient motor racing”, added Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich who represented the DTM manufacturers at that time. To create equal opportunities for the DTM and Super GT cars that are currently racing with differing engine concepts, the cars will be categorised according to a system called ‘Balance of Performance’ (BOP) for a transitional period. So what could be better than looking to Japan and adding a driver’s point of view to this story? Pit Lane Reporter has managed to interview the Italian driver Vitantonio Liuzzi to get this.

With six years as a regular F1 driver (Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Force India and HRT), two years as F1 test driver, two seasons in International Superstars Series (now EuroV8 Series, editor’s note) to Super Formula and Super GT in Japan; Liuzzi’s driving ability is unquestionable. Even though categories, teams and people may have changed over the years, his attitude has always stayed the same. All petrolheads will surely agree: racing is not just sport, it’s a way of life.

PLR - Please share your opinion on the plans of Super GT and DTM to race together in the future.

“It would be really amazing. Competition between Japanese and German manufacturers will offer a great opportunity for spectators and the world of motorsport. I think both of the categories are on a high level and it would be amazing to see them battling together. I also think it will be difficult to manage, considering that tyre development is such a big factor in Super GT. On the other hand, to save money, DTM went with just one manufacturer.

This is the biggest problem to overcome, but assuming that this can be achieved, it will be amazing to have both championships together.”

PLR - Are you currently following DTM racing?

“Yes, I do follow DTM races. I grew up in Germany in terms of motorsport.

DTM is an amazing category. I am not able to watch the races but I do look at the results. I noticed that the season has been quite challenging and there were many different winners.

PLR - Would you consider racing in DTM one day?

“You never know. At the moment I feel really good in Japan, but obviously DTM is another strong and very professional category where a chance of

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racing in the future would be nice. We’ll see.”

PLR - How do you like Japan?

“I really love it. The competition there is very professional, the categories are just great and it’s a good battle between strong manufacturers like Honda, Toyota and Nissan. I especially enjoy being back into a top quality environment as it was for me in Formula 1.”

PLR - The start into the Super GT season was not the best. What do you think could be the reason for this? And what has to be done to change this?

“Basically, we knew that that would be the case as all the cars were new at the beginning of this year. We started with a car that needs to be developed, especially on the tyres. We have a lot of work to do and are still working very hard to close the gap. However, we are doing a step forward every day and that’s the most important thing.

I also have to admit that it has not been easy even for me. Racing in Japan is completely different world of motor racing. I have to get used to the tyres and to the fact that they don’t use tyre warmers. It is all different - the circuits, the car, as well as the driving style because of the tyres. No doubt, tyre manufacturers are doing an amazing job in developing tyres with better traction and improved compound. Therefore we spend a lot of time during test days trying new tyre material. Yet, I am really enjoying it because you have a lot of tests to do. It takes a bit of time to get used to the cars because you share the car with your team-mate which means the actual driving time is quite low. I think that is one of the reasons why drivers who came here in the past didn’t win straight away.

Altogether this year, it’s a combination of things that are not going for us.

But I am positive that before the end of the season performance will improve as we are going forward every day.”

PLR - Could you please summarise your race of the 4th round of Super GT in Sugo?

“It was a tricky situation due to the weather. Actually we were starting from P6, with my team-mate (Kosuke Matsuura, editor’s note) driving the first part of the race. It started to rain during the formation lap. A few cars had stopped and we were one of them. Looking back it could be said that it was not the right decision, because after 5 laps the rain just became a drizzle.

The ones who had stayed out gained a big advantage whereas we didn’t get the right strategy. When I jumped in we were already at the back. In addition we had some issue because of contact with a GT300 in the first part of the race and I also had another contact in traffic because Sugo is a terribly narrow track. It was not an easy race and in the end we stopped because of a water leak which was a shame. However, we were already too far behind after 10 laps because of the decisions taken at the start. In summary, we lost all chance to score some points because of the wrong strategy.”

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Racing in Japan is completely different world of motor racing.

I have to get used to the tyres and to the fact that they don’t use tyre warmers

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PLR - There was a test at the end of June in Suzuka - would you describe the test as a step forward?

“Unfortunately I couldn’t take part in this test, but the team kept me well informed about all the details. The car definitely looked better and it proved that Honda is able to compete with Toyota and Nissan. We are all working hard to take a step forward. In fact, it could be seen in Sugo that we made good progress.”

PLR - The Honda NSX with its mid-engine concept doesn’t fully comply with the DTM regulations. So Honda had to build a slightly different version of a “DTM car”. What was the disadvantage in doing that?

“It is a complex project. In fact, it brought a few disadvantages in cooling as we have struggled with engine and turbo cooling since the beginning of the season. We made good step forward in the last few months and everything is going in the right direction.We are currently working really hard to improve these aspects and I believe that in the long term, this project will pay off. In my opinion Honda has a really good concept, we just need time to work it out and improve it. Nevertheless I love to be in Japan; I can feel the progress in development. We are working hard 24 hours a day to develop the car and being in that situation is what makes me feel alive again.”

PLR - Talking about Super Formula: what made this series attractive to you?

“When they asked me in the beginning, my intention was just to go there to see how the project would work. Then they suggested that I follow the Super Formula championship as well. After that I had a look at the car because it was a new concept with Dallara designing all cars. Everything looked really amazing, and when I tested the car all I could say was ‘wow, that’s incredible.’ I was not only impressed with the power but also the grip and cornering speed - the performance of the car is like Formula 1. Admittedly, I would be lying if I said that I don’t miss Formula 1 because Formula 1 performance and categories are always number one. Things might always change in the future, you never know. However, I want to be ready for anything that could happen. Above all, I am really enjoying the high level of cars, drivers and teams in Super Formula, so I am having really good fun.”

PLR - With Colin Kolles being involved in Caterwww.pitlanereporter.com 42

ham in Formula 1 - do you think this might increase your opportunity to return to Formula 1?

“It is always difficult. I don’t know about Dr. Kolles ideas at the moment, although, I was really happy for him when I heard about it. I know that he has been pushing for this for several years and I was sure that sooner or later he would find a way because this is what he really loves.

Obviously he also knows me and we worked together for many years. We still have a good relationship and respect each. He knows that if he needs an experienced driver, he can count on me. (laughs) But honestly, we never talked about it. At the moment I think the biggest thing will be to recreate the whole structure of the team, to make it work and to score points and I’m sure Dr. Kolles is working on it already.”

PLR - Do you have plans to return to racing in Europe?

“Racing is my passion, my adrenaline, my life. When I left Formula 1 after 2012 I was on stand-by for a couple of years, because we were always in talks with Formula 1 teams which unfortunately never came through. I competed in the Superstars International Series in the meantime as a fill-in. But now I felt I wanted to be back in something really competitive in terms of car potential and performance. That’s why once I was offered the chance in Japan I took it straight away. I live on this and as I said I am still young - I am 33 years old and still got a few more years in front of me. I am happy about my decision to go to Japan and the opportunity that Honda gave me. I am really thankful to them.

In case things change in the future, I might think about it. I can’t stay without racing. I always want to keep in a high professional situation. For now I focus on doing a professional job in Japan. In addition I think they are really happy about my feedback and my experience. Everything is going fine, and I am not thinking about anything else at the moment because I am happy there.”

PLR - Please update us about your Formula E plans.

“I was involved from the beginning in the partnership with Formula E driver programme. Initially it was quite straightforward, but then things changed a little www.pitlanereporter.com 43

bit in terms of drivers because they opened a ’Drivers Club‘. The Formula E calendar was published after I had committed to Super Formula. I can’t do the full championship because there are a couple of clash with Super Formula. I am professional and I took a committment with Honda which I will keep until the end.

Anyhow, some Formula E teams are interested in my doing a part time job, so I might see for few races.

I am still interested, even though my focus is on fulfilling my committments with Honda.”

PLR - What are your expectations for the future?

“Difficult to say. In a new world like Japan - which I am really enjoying - I don’t know what to expect from the future. I would be really happy to continue in Japan because I feel comfortable in the professional environment with Honda. If things change in Europe, we will look at it and see. At the moment I want to do my best professional job for Honda, although you never know what the future holds.”

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modern safety in formula 1

BY chris powley

Taming the beast

D

uring recent Formula one races I have watched several collisions and for the first time actually thought about the safety aspects of the sport and decided to delve a little deeper.

To write an article on the findings would fill a whole magazine in itself, therefore I decided to summarise the stuff that I found the most astounding and interesting.

The very early days of the sport (1950-1960) must have been absolutely terrifying racing, as the cars were made solely for speed with pretty much no thought for safety and certainly with no medical back up. The 60’s saw the start of the implementation of safety measures, and this decade saw the FIA assuming responsibility for safety (1963).

Copyright McLaren F1 team

Placing oneself in the position of the driver of www.pitlanereporter.com 45

these cars and to realise that you will be hurtling around the track at speeds in excess of 200mph would make you think of what safety would you like in place. Personally I would like to be wrapped in cotton wool, in a vehicle made of bubble-wrap with everything I could possibly hit made of the same substance as clouds. Realistically what is the worst thing that could happen:a/ A high speed collision, as the driver of these amazing cars I would be protected by the structure of the car, the survival cell and cockpit (the monocoque) made from some of the hardest materials on earth, a honeycomb structure coated in layer upon layer of carbon fibre and surrounded at the flanks by Zylon (the same material used in bullet proof vests). No fuel, oil or water lines to restrict me from escaping; only the six point seatbelt and steering wheel which I can remove in five seconds hamper my escape. During the collision my head and neck would be protected by the HANS system which redistributes and absorbs the forces generated by the movements of my head, and the ultra-light and ultra-strong helmet again made from carbon fibre, Kevlar (another material used in bullet-proof vests) and resins would protect my head from any collision with any debris. b/ Fire, I am protected by my flameproof underwear and over the top of that a race suit made of multiple layers of Nomex with elastic cuffs on my wrists and ankles, even the thread holding my race suit together is fire resistant. My race suit is light and also breathable, to allow the several kilos of sweat I produce during the race to escape. My helmet also protects me from the fire as it is constructed of carbon fibre and fireresistant aramide and underneath it is a fire resistant balaclava. My vehicle has an automatic fire extinguisher system which will spread foam around the engine and chassis area in the event of fire. This can also be operated by myself or race marshals.

Copyright force india F1 team www.pitlanereporter.com 46

c/ Losing control, If I was to lose control of my vehicle and leave the track I would probably enter a run-off area, either a gravel trap which will actively or passively slow my out of control vehicle and prevent me from hitting any barriers, or, an asphalt area which gives me a fighting chance of bringing my vehicle back under control.

So I am protected from fire, collision and losing control, I ask myself then would I survive a formula one race, the definite answer to that question would be a resounding NO, as there is another health and safety issue that must be fulfilled. It is the fact that these drivers are very special people indeed, they have the reactions of a cat, they have trained very hard indeed to cope with the huge temperatures in the cockpit and the G forces placed upon them (up to 5G on some courses), these drivers are super fit trained athletes in their own right.

The FIA have worked very hard with the teams to protect everyone involved in this incredible sport by enforcing and implementing rules and regulations, and the fact that there have been no deaths in formula one racing since 1994 is testament to that.

The cars will still get faster and the safety regulations will also keep changing; there will always be accidents and injuries, and the sport will always remain a wild animal but for now it seems that the FIA and the teams have tamed the beast.

you will be hurtling around the track at speeds in excess of 200mph

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gallery of 24 hours at BY dario dominin spa

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Blancpain Endurance Series: Total 24 Hours of Spa - 27th July 2014

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BY adam johnson

here’s nothing quite like a 24 hour slugfest to sort the men from the boys. Time and again new pretenders on the sports car racing scene turn up, make some noise and threaten to topple the established order. And then Dr Ullrich, head of Audi motorsport, laughs wryly and throws down over 24 hours - see if y’all can keep up.

Back at Le Mans, we had Porsche and Toyota threatening the upset, only for Audi to trundle relentlessly faster and faster whilst the competition fell exhausted by the wayside. It was the same story at the Nurburgring 24 Hours. And now this time, the challengers were Bentley and McLaren, the twin stalwarts of Blancpain Endurance Series 2014. Guess what? They were down and out within six hours.

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Think of Audi Sport like Robert Patrick’s T-1000

from Terminator 2 - a sleek silver mass which cannot be stopped, will never stop, and even when damaged manages to fix itself faster than you can break it. Except this time, one lone band of plucky home heroes threatened the upset. To be only seven seconds off doing that after 24 hours of intense racing is a major compliment, as once again the Spa 24 Hours was a classic and earned further respect as another great addition to the endurance racing calender.

Copyright Blancpain

Just like at Le Mans, Audi did not come into this event with much in the way of momentum. The R8 LMS Ultra has been woefully off base so far this season, trailing in the wake of the Bentley and McLaren powerhouses. It’s easy to point to a Balance of Performance break before this race as the reason Audi suddenly went from alsorans to total-dominators but, as already pointed out, experience counts huge in long-distance endurance racing , and momentum was definitely with the rings after the aforementioned Le Mans 24 Hours and Nurburgring 24 Hours wins.

In the early laps, we were lucky to get a race going at all - let alone an exciting one. The real story was a high number of major crashes, the sort where you wince and say a quick prayer that the driver inside the now ruined hunk of metal is just fine. A few times it was touch and go, particularly with Marcus Mahy in the #111 Ferrari after a scary crash at Stavelot which threw a red flag whilst he was airlifted to hospital - thankfully to later be declared OK. There were even a couple of NASCAR-style ‘big ones’ at Radillon, and the organisers must be thankful that they attracted such a huge field - they were dropping like flies in the early going.

As already mentioned the early casualties were the two dominant teams of this season - ART Grand Prix McLaren and M-Sport Bentley. Both the ART cars hit problems within the first hour (later dropping out altogether) and the #8 Bentley had steering damage after contact with another car somewhere on circuit. And whilst all this happened...well, you know who was cantering away up front.

But steady on; don’t just flick to the next page assuming this is the usual Audi podium sweep of effortless Germanic precision and vorsprung durch technik etc. One team had other ideas www.pitlanereporter.com 53

Marc VDS BMW. They also had a casualty early on, but their remaining representative, the #77, ended up pitched into battle against the massed hordes of Audis, which ended up comprising of the Belgian Audi Club WRT duo (including pole sitter #1) and the #26 Santeloc car. The Audis were all outpacing the plucky Z4 GT3, but it had an ace up its sleeve - time gained in the pits. This was enough to keep them in an endless see-saw contest from hour 6 right through to hour 24, a battle which demanded your full attention. You almost hoped that it wouldn’t be settled by default with a mechanical failure, and thankfully it wasn’t. The duel continued, and continued, and continued some more as the time ticked down. For the first time this year, someone had the stamina and nearly the chops to last with Audi over an entire 24-hour distance.

Total 24 Hours of Spa Results: 1. #1 Vanthoor/Winkelhock/Rast Belgian Audi Club Team WRT 2. #77 Luhr/Werner/Paltalla BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS 3. #3 Mies/Stippler/Nash Belgian Audi Club Team WRT 4. #26 Ortelli/Sandström/Guilvert Sainteloc Racing Audi 5. #86 Buhk/Götz/Jaafar HTP Motorsport Mercedes

6. #53 Hommerson/Machiels/Bertolini/Cioci And then we had the final throw of the dice. No tires (1st in Pro-Am) at all on the final pit stop from Marc VDS. After all, they only think about first place right?

7. #79 Smith/McCaig/Bryant/Sims Ecurie Ecosse BMW If only the race had been 15 minutes shorter. As that was only when this epic duel was FINALLY settled in 8. #52 Wyatt/Rugolo/Lowndes/Piccini Audi’s favour.

AF Corse Ferrari Marc VDS’ gamble was a worthy one with sound 9. #84 Schneider/Primat/Verdonck logic - the #77 BMW had been unable to quite live HTP Motorsport with the #1 WRT Audi on raw pace, especially with electrical gremlins starting to creep in. So, time to 10. #38 Abra/Osborne/Poole/Turner ditch tires and leapfrog (hopefully) far enough ahead MP Motorsport AMR to survive till the end, before the relentless Rene Rast could catch back up. That they were only 15 24. #51 Mann/Talkanista/Guedes/Mezard minutes away from success was both heart-breaking AF Corse Ferrari (1st in Gentlemen Trophy) and testament to their courage - no-one remembers second place, unless you gave a damn good crack at first place and came up just short. For the home fans, it was win-win anyway - Belgian teams sweeping the podium. And the title race now becomes a titanic struggle going into the climatic Nurburgring 1000.

With a mighty amount of points on offer, WRT and Santeloc now sandwich M-Sport despite the latter’s 2 race wins so far this year. F1 fans may complain about double points, but I guess you probably deserve a higher than average amount of points for scrapping relentlessly for 24 Hours, right?

Whatever, all I know is, same again next year please.

And as much as the Audi domination in sportscar racing can get tiresome, I tip my hat to Dr Ullrich and co - this year you damn well had to earn your 24-hour Grand Slam.

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Copyright Blancpain

Copyright Blancpain

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INDYCAR REWIND Iowa Corn Indy 300

BY eric hall

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owa Speedway hosted the Verizon IndyCar Series for their second oval race in as many weeks; this time, for a Saturday night short track shootout. Once the race started, pole sitter Scott Dixon and teammate Tony Kanaan ran side by side for nearly two laps before Kanaan was able to slide away from the chasing Dixon.

Kanaan controlled the race until rain started to fall on lap 33 and a red flag was shown to stop the proceedings. 26 minutes later and under dry skies, the field was restarted. Sitting in the car for nearly half an hour on pit lane must not have been good for the drivers, because on the restart Mikhail Aleshin spun and collected Takuma Sato on his way to the wall.

Lap 83 finally saw a long stretch of green flag running. Helio Castroneves led for 14 laps before Tony Kanaan was able to pass his countryman for the lead. Kanaan was able to sit comfortably in the lead showing any chasing contenders that he had the best car in the field.

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The next caution came out on lap 90 to clear debris off of the racing line. Again, Tony Kanaan led the field to the green and was able to lead the next 147 laps including two caution periods and associated pit stops. Slight contact between the wall and Sebastian Saavedra was the cause of one,

and a blown engine for Marco Andretti brought out the second.

two 65 lap races in store for the day. The three drivers who suffered damage the previous day had to start from the back. Race one got underway with a flying start, but it wasn’t long before the first yellow of the day would fly. Luca Filippi would spin Simon Pagenaud and with nowhere to go in the barrier lined racetrack, a chain reaction of mayhem ensued behind. Race control threw a red flag to allow ample time and safety for a quality cleanup.

Contact between Ed Carpenter and Juan Pablo Montoya brought out the final caution of the evening on lap 282. The late race caution presented an interesting decision for teams and drivers. No one needed fuel, but the tires were going off quickly all night long. Ryan Hunter-Reay and Josef Newgarden were among the takers for tires; they restarted 9th and 11th respectively.

Sebastien Bourdais controlled the field to the restart and was able to comfortably gap the contenders Both drivers were able to carve through the field throughout the afternoon. An incredible fight ensued effortlessly and 8 laps around the 0.875 mile track behind Bourdais as the rest of the field engaged in a was all it took before Hunter-Reay took the point. very physical and contact filled battle for the rest of Two laps later, and with Josef Newgarden close the race. behind in P2, Hunter-Reay saw the checkers fly for the second time this season.

Contact, yellow flags and amazing action punctuated the race before the final pit stops of the morning.

Drivers settled in and focused on chasing Sebastien Bourdais who was able to race away from the field once again. The journeyman French driver secured A wet and soggy racetrack welcomed the paddock his first victory in American open-wheel racing since on Saturday morning. Preparations for race one his win at Mexico City in 2007 in the went as planned and the drivers rolled out of pit lane to circulate the soaked race facility behind the pacecar in an attempt to disperse the standing water on the course. In an unintended turn, the water was displaced, but the spray created by the rain tires lingered in the air rendering visibility to nearly nothing.

Honda Indy Toronto Race One

Champ Car Series.

Honda Indy Toronto Race Two

Due to the compressed day two schedule, qualifying was called off and the field was lined up for the standing start based on entrant points. Once the lights extinguished, Helio Castroneves charge away from the field, but it wasn’t long before the first yellow flag of the day was seen.

Tony Kanaan was pushed wide by Carlos Munoz before stalling his car in an attempt to rejoin the race.

Rain threatened the afternoon, so every driver was pushing once the track went green again. It wasn’t long before the expected rain arrived.

On a wet track with slick tires, Juan Pablo Montoya slid into the tire barrier. Mikhail Aleshin wasn’t The race was finally called off late Saturday afternoon, far behind and plowed into the stalled Colombian. but not before Ryan Briscoe, Juan Pablo Montoya and Aleshin submarined underneath Montoya’s DW12 Will Power all suffered damage in separate spins. To leading to a very scary moment for the Russian, but add insult to injury, pace-car driver Arie Luyendyk the Holmatro Safety Team pulled Aleshin unhurt spun the Honda Accord whilst pacing the field. from his crashed race machine.

By lap 21, the entire field had stopped for rain tires, The paddock regrouped on Sunday morning with and the race was on to the checkers. Conditions were www.pitlanereporter.com 57

treacherous as driver tip-toed their way around the city streets of Toronto. It wasn’t until lap 32 that the rain stopped and the real race began.

Due to the slow running, the event was announced as a timed race throwing everyone’s strategy out of the window. On lap 43, Mike Conway blinked first and became the first driver of the afternoon to strap on dry weather tires. A quick yellow flag allowed Conway to jump the field and restart in P5.

Conway did not hesitate once the green came out and was in the lead in a mere 3 laps. Lap 52 saw another track blockage and ensuing red flag period. The scene was cleaned up in in only 90 seconds, leaving a mere 3 minutes to go. Conway was able to hold the field off and clinch his second win of the year.

Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio A beautiful afternoon welcomed fans and drivers to the rolling hills of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, a welcome change from the soggy weekend in Toronto and previous two days that teams slogged through in Ohio.

Toronto race one winner Sebastien Bourdais led the field to the green flag, but the drivers did not even navigate through the first complex before calamity ensued. Tony Kanaan spun and came to a halt in the middle of the track staring right at the charging machine of Marco Andretti. The American couldn’t miss Kanaan and the car exploded in a shower of carbon fiber.

A long green flag run followed the cleanup. The racing was reminiscent of the 2012 and 2011 editions that went flag to flag caution free. Sebastien Bourdais paced the field in what turned out to be a fuel saving marathon.

One more caution period followed for the spun car of Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Scott Dixon, cruised to the front and led the field for the rest of the afternoon save for the final pit stop exchanges. Dixon was able to run an unbelievable 28 laps on his final load of fuel; 3 laps sooner than the rest of the leaders.

With the win, Dixon broke the tie between himself and Bourdais in the lifetime wins tally. The only drivers ahead of the New Zealander are named Foyt, Andretti and Unser. www.pitlanereporter.com 58

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the montoya report BY eric hall

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ndyCar racing can be a finicky endeavor as Juan Pablo Montoya found during the 4 rounds following his win at Pocono Raceway. While his Penske teammates of Will Power and Helio Castroneves are locked in a titanic championship battle, Montoya experienced his worst stretch of racing since rejoining the series.

home P18 and 1 lap down; the second to last car running at the checkers.

Race two saw Montoya tangle with Russian Mikhail Aleshin and Canadian James Hinchcliffe.

He was unable to keep the engine running and needed a jump start from the Holmatro Safety Team losing a lap in the process. Even through Staring with his P8 finish at Texas Motor Speedway, race two was a caution filled event, Montoya was Montoya clicked off a P2, P7 and a win at the unable to regain his lap and finished P19.

Houston doubleheader and Pocono respectively.

What followed was almost unthinkable Looking to regain his footing, Montoya was considering his consistent improvement and upbeat about the natural terrain Mid-Ohio Sports strong run of races.

Car Course. He was able to stay on the lead lap and turn competitive laps, but the pace at the front A mere two weeks after drinking the champagne was slightly faster than he could run. He came at Pocono, he suffered an early end to his evening home in P11, the same position that he started. It at Iowa Speedway as Ed Carpenter forced contact was not necessarily a regain of form, but more of sending the Colombian into the wall on lap 280 of an afternoon of regained confidence.

300. After emerging from his destroyed racecar, Montoya approached the field circulating under Juan Pablo is still very positive about his chances yellow and gave Carpenter the ‘come on, man’ in the championship noting his skill on large gesture before heading back to the medical truck. ovals and the double points paying, season ending Carpenter later said he was concerned Montoya MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway. Currently would throw his helmet at his still running Montoya is 101 points out of the lead, and with machine.

2 races left before the finale, he has a real chance of catching up with a little luck. However, he sits During his interview after the crash, Juan was very P5 in the championship and counting on Simon expressive: “… They all love preaching safe racing Pagenaud, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Helio Castroneves and everything, but when you go to pass them and Will Power to all run into trouble is a longshot they’re all douchebags.” Upon hearing that race at best. control decided there would be no action taken on Carpenter, Montoya retorted: “Well then, I’ll IndyCar racing is a tricky endeavor and weirder take some action later.” Strong words, but he was things have happened; you can never really count running poorly before the incident as it was.

Juan Pablo Montoya out of the picture until the final checkered flag waves on the 2014 season.

After such an emotional evening, Montoya has Pit Lane Reporter hopes you have enjoyed the been unable to find the consistent improvement detailed look at Europe’s most successful driver to he has shown since the start of the season. The currently compete in the Verizon IndyCar Series. rain soaked Toronto doubleheader weekend was We will be profiling other drivers throughout the also a struggle. Race one saw him languish near offseason. If you would like a more detailed look the end of the field all morning eventually coming at a particular driver, please contact us!

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looking ahead in indycar

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he historic Milwaukee Mile hosts the 16th round of the Verizon IndyCar Series.

The small 1 mile oval is as ingrained in the IndyCar championship trail as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; making its first championship appearance in 1939. Horse racing first took place at the speedway in 1876 and in 1903 the dirt mile hosted its first motorsport event. 2014 will mark the 112th time top-level American open-wheel racing has visited the oval.

As with Indianapolis, Milwaukee only allows the strongest and quickest men into victory lane. The list of past event champions reads like a who’s who of American championship racing. Franchitti, Tracey, Bourdais, Mears, Andretti, Unser, Foyt and Rutherford are butt a few names that adorn the annals of Milwaukee Mile history With only a slight 9 degree banking in the corners and 2.5 degrees on the straights, this is truly a classic track design; high-banked ovals have supplanted low to moderately banked speedways in recent history. Without the bank to hold the race machines into the pavement, mechanical grip will be of the upmost importance as drivers vie to improve their championship standings.

Teams do not have the time to search for a setup during practice, the operations that get the tricky mile start to the weekend with a huge advantage over lesser prepared teams. Unlike a road or street course, there isn’t much a pilot can do to drive around any handling deficiencies.

by eric hall

The championship hopeful just “gets” Milwaukee and should be a strong contender this year.

The other two strong championship hopefuls of Helio Castroneves and Will Power will play into the weekend as well. Castroneves, the smoothest wheelman in the paddock, should be in prime position to continue his championship push. Will Power, a strong driver at all facilities, can only be stopped by his own mistakes, but will give the field a tough day if he can sneak away from the pack.

Tony Kanaan, Ed Carpenter and Sebastien Bourdais will be other strong runners at Milwaukee. All three drivers have the experience and feel that is needed to secure a victory at The Mile and the three men will be vying to play spoiler during the waning moments of the championship.

GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway IndyCar stops next at Sonoma Raceway in California for the penultimate round of the Verizon IndyCar Series Championship. Nestled in the hills of wine country, the tight and twisty ribbon of concrete first hosted IndyCar racing in 1970 and again from 2005 onwards when the track was one of the first road courses that the then oval only Indy Racing League would contest.

IndyCar racing has come a long way since the first modern race in 2005 as the series is now dominated by road and street courses. Sonoma Raceway holds the distinction of holding the final non-oval race of the season so the strong road course drivers will undoubtedly try to bank as many points this weekend before heading to the final oval race of 2014.

Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay could be the most dominant driver this weekend. He has won both editions of the race that have been contested Sonoma Raceway is very similar to Barber Motorsport with the DW12 chassis and also clinched a victory at Park and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (the other two the track while competing in Champ Car in 2004. natural terrain road courses on the schedule), due

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to the narrowness of the racing surface, nearly 160 feet of winding elevation change and relative lack of straights. The track is always moving underneath the driver with blind hill crests and off camber corners so strict concentration must be maintained if victory lane is to be reached.

Qualifying is brought into focus more here than at any other facility on the schedule. Even in the ‘scrappy’ DW12, passing is extremely difficult, so quality track position from the start of the race will be the most important feature of the afternoon. It is not unheard of for the top five drivers to finish how they started here at Sonoma.

As the championship wraps up, Team Penske will be stepping to the forefront and should be even stronger than they have been all year. Will Power has won 3 of the last 4 editions of the race and with his strong championship position this year will be no different. Of course, wingman Helio Castroneves

will be fighting just as hard and another trip to a true road course means another chance for Juan Pablo Montoya to put himself in position to steal his own championship.

However, IndyCar is not the Team Penske show.

Although Ganassi Racing has struggled during 2014, the newfound momentum from Scott Dixon’s win and Tony Kanaan’s continuously improving form could propel the team into strong late season success.

Sonoma also presents a chance for the small road course aces to remind the big teams about their presence. Simon Pagenaud, Sebastien Bourdais and Justin Wilson could all be primed to steal yet another victory. Historically, Sonoma has been the stomping grounds of the big teams, but 2014 has seen the small fighters gain even more ground; you can’t count anyone out here.

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MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships at Auto Club Speedway The 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series campaign comes to a close on the wide and sweeping turns of Auto Club Speedway. The 2 mile, D-shaped oval has hosted the IndyCar season finale for the past two years and has held the season finale for CART for 5 years and the IRL for 1 year. Being a Triple Crown race, the event pays double points just as the other two 500 mile races in Indianapolis and Pocono have.

Auto Club Speedway boasts 14 degrees of banking in the corners, 11 degrees on the frontstretch and 3 degrees on the backstretch. The track is 75 feet wide and the turns are very long and gradual; these characteristics allowed Gil de Ferran to complete a qualifying run with an average speed of 241.428 over the 2 mile course.

Needless to say, the track is incredibly fast and tricky.

Dust and grime litter the track and can create a sand blasting effect on not only the car, but the driver’s helmet as well. The pitting on the racecar can have an adverse effect on aerodynamics, and the pitting on the driver’s visor can cause visibility difficulties in the setting sun and artificial lighting.

500 miles is all that will stand in the way of a driver

and the Astor Cup, the IndyCar Series championship trophy. Teams and drivers face up to ten pits tops and an unending list of potential problems standing in their way. As with the entire IndyCar schedule, only the team with the best driver, best strategy, flawless pit work and perfect execution will enter into victory lane.

Separating the championship fight from the race winning hopefuls is a difficult proposition, but the best place to start is Ed Carpenter. The oval only driver won the event in 2013, was a contender in this year’s Indy 500 until a late race crash and has already visited victory lane in 2014 at Texas.

The Andretti Autosport armada led by Ryan HunterReay and Marco Andretti will be a formidable group for any other driver to overcome. Again, Team Penske will play into the evening’s festivities as well. The Penske threesome is in potential championship position so no quarter will be given to either teammates or other competitors faced through the 500 miles.

Simon Pagenaud’s chances of securing a win and possibly the championship are bleak given the steep learning curve on ovals and the slow progress shown.

The Frenchman could have a long night ahead of him.

Scott Dixon, an extreme outsider in the championship hunt, is always a threat on big ovals; he could carry the momentum of his late season win at Mid-Ohio through the evening and into victory lane.

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indycar championship preview

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season of close racing culminates with a double points showdown on the Ultra-wide Auto Club Speedway, but not before a stop at The Milwaukee Mile and Sonoma Raceway. There are six drivers in three categories that can call themselves championship hopefuls.

Will Power and Helio Castroneves are in a titanic battle for the championship lead. Only four points separate the Team Penske drivers and it is literally wide open between the two men. Helio has run a slower, but more consistent year while Power has been fighting self-inflicted penalties during a very strong season.

by eric hall

There are 200 points left on the table in the 2014 IndyCar championship with half of those available at the season finale. Any of the following six men must run strong and clean to have a chance at the historically tight IndyCar championship battle. Don’t expect to see a decisive leader until the checkers fall on the season in Southern California.

The Astor Cup awaits the victor of the 2014 IndyCar Series and only 940 miles stand between the 21 full season drivers and IndyCar immortality.

Will Power (548) - The current points leader is looking is looking to clinch the first championship of his career. Power has been in the hunt since joining the unified series full time in 2010. That year marked his Ryan Hunter-Reay and Simon Pagenaud sit 60 plus first of many disappointments as he was just nipped points behind the leaders. Both are within striking to the finish by Dario Franchitti as the Australian distance of the championship, but jumping two driv- could only muster a P2. That trend continued the ers can be harder than making up the points deficit. following two years finishing P2 in the season battle It’s easy for the championship hopefuls to run well in 2011 and 2012. and score quality points, while it’s another story to have the guys ahead falter and open the door. How- 2013 was slightly more difficult for Power and he reever, these two are not out of it by a longshot, and corded his worst championship result since joining larger deficits have been overcome in the waning IndyCar. A P4 finish behind Dixon, Castroneves and Pagenaud only tempered his resolve to give Roger days of the season.

Penske his first championship victory since 2006; a Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Dixon are just over lifetime in Team Penske years. After winning the sea100 points behind Will Power in the ‘longshot’ zone son ending 500 mile race at Auto Club Speedway in of the championship standings. The only thing that 2013, his confidence on ovals is just enough to give still gives these two drivers hope is the double points Power a fighting chance for success. event at Auto Club Speedway. A crash by the any of the leading contenders will instantly open the door The Milwaukee Mile will present the largest hurdle for these two if they can run consistent at Sonoma for Power to jump in pursuit of the championship. and Milwaukee while being in position to strike at A strong finish there could parlay itself into the momentum needed to end the season victorious. After a Auto Club. www.pitlanereporter.com 65

season of self-inflicted penalties, only he will be able to derail himself at the natural terrain road course of Sonoma Raceway. Power has the best odds at a championship since entering the series in 2009 if he can keep his focus.

Helio Castroneves (-4) - Clinching a championship is the only thing left for the 3-time Indianapolis 500 winner; the most successful active driver at the famed Speedway. He also sits P12 in all-time American championship racing wins with 29. The only thing Helio needs to compliment such a stellar record is a championship victory.

to gain quality championship points during a slow weekend. One bobble during the next 3 races will erase any championship hopes.

Juan Pablo Montoya (-101) - Third in the Team Penske armada, Juan Pablo has a long way to go to be a true hopeful, but we know the Colombian has the chops to stay with the front runners. Winning the double points paying Pocono 500 went a long way in solidifying his current championship position, and another 500 mile win in California will be the only way he will stand with the current leaders.

He will also need to consistently compete with his two teammates at Milwaukee and Sonoma; something that will be easier said than done. Both tracks are incredibly difficult will be difficult to solidly perform on, but he does have a win at Milwaukee in 2000 in the CART Championship so he knows how to get around the tight oval. It will be Sonoma Raceway that stands between him and an amazing return season, but any mistake from him or the team will immediately throw him out of the running.

Helio has been neck and neck with Will Power in the 2014 championship battle all year. But it is worth remembering that he was in the same position in 2013 before mechanical gremlins erased his championship hopes at the Houston doubleheader.

The Brazilian has the speed and skill to keep up with Will Power; he only needs to have fate shine on him more positively than it has in the past. Being a Team Penske stable mate to Will Power, Roger Penske has the two best drivers positioned to clinch the elusive Scott Dixon (-108) - If P1 in the championship is championship and both drivers will be pushing until reachable, Scott Dixon has the ability to claw his way the very end. to the top. The two-time champion and 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner has had a consistent 2014 season Ryan Hunter-Reay (-63) - The 2012 champion looks and clinched his first win of the year at the previous to regain the form from his championship year that event of Mid-Ohio. In other words, Dixon has been so mysteriously eluded him in 2013. 63 points is a bubbling under the surface all year and has finally big gap to overcome, but having only two people in hit his hot streak during the closing moments of the his way to the top makes it much easier to jump the championship.

Penske duo with a run of 3 good results.

Hunter-Reay is the best driver in the paddock at The Never count Scott Dixon out of the fight. He has done Milwaukee Mile and has shown promise on Auto incredible things during his 14 years of top level moClub Speedway. It’s the stop at Sonoma Raceway the torsport. We could be in for a truly memorable run will worry him the most. Andretti Autosport has not to the season’s finish if Dixon can come back from P6 been the strongest team at the tight and twisty road and over 100 points down with only 3 races left. And course, but the drive to become a two-time champi- if anyone can do it, it will be Scott Dixon. on can overcome many perceived deficiencies.

Simon Pagenaud (-64) - Probably the longest shot out of the top six drivers, Simon finds himself in a familiar position. It is not that Pagenaud does not have the chop to keep up with the big team drivers; Pags has already visited victory lane 2 times this year, but it could be his crew that lets him down in the run to the championship.

Upcoming IndyCar Events 17 August - ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 - The Milwaukee Mile 24 August - GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma - Sonoma Raceway

Schmidt Peterson Motorsport is not at the same level 30 August - MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Champias Team Penske, Andretti Autosport or even Ganassi onships - Auto Club Speedway Racing. The little team is known in the paddock as a giant killer on a weekly basis, but they lack the ability www.pitlanereporter.com 66

nascar season update

travis barend

the racing gets dirty

A

fter the July running of the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, the Sprint Cup Series moved north to the 1-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway to begin the second half of the season.

its final ‘off weekend’ of the year before what is a 17week stretch to the final race at Homestead Miami Speedway. The season resumed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400.

After scoring victory in the inaugural event 20 years ago, Jeff Gordon celebrated the anniversary in victory lane at the famous track once more. In what was The track, which will host the second race of the Chase his fifth victory at the speedway, Gordon earned his in September, was home to a late-race restart where second win of the season.

Brad Keselowski held the lead after a dominating day.

Keselowski captured his third win of 2014.

The following weekend, the series returned to Pocono Raceway for the second and final time of 2014. After After New Hampshire, the Sprint Cup Series took winning the first race in June, Dale Earnhardt Jr. www.pitlanereporter.com 67

captured the checkered flag again, sweeping the races at the 2.5-mile track and earning his third win of the year.

In the Nationwide Series, Brad Keselowski won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. At the Chicagoland Speedway a week later, Chase Elliott grabbed his third win of the season while the Sprint Cup Series had the weekend off. One of Elliott’s toughest competitors for the championship, Ty Dillon, held off Kyle Busch in the closing laps at Indianapolis to win the next race.

At Iowa Speedway a week later, it was Brad Keselowski hoisting the trophy in victory lane. The driver performed double duty, racing the Nationwide Series race in Iowa and the Sprint Cup Series race in Pocono on the same weekend. While he was not successful on the Sprint Cup Series side, Keselowski earned his third Iowa win.

The Camping World Truck Series raced at the Iowa Speedway earlier in the summer. After leading for 131 of the 200 laps, it was Erik Jones in victory lane for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

The focus of the series then shifted to one of NASCAR’s most unique and special events: the “Mud Summer Classic.” Aptly named, the second annual event featured trucks on the dirt track of Eldora Speedway.The track, owned by Tony Stewart did not disappoint.

In a thrilling conclusion, Darrell Wallace Jr. reached the checkered flag despite a strong challenge by Kyle Larson. Larson, who slammed the wall repeatedly throughout the race, eventually did too much damage to continue his pursuit of Wallace. Eldora was the driver’s second win of 2014.

Most recently, the series raced at Pocono Raceway, where 2011 Camping World Truck Series champion Austin Dillon won.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. currently leads the Chase Grid in the Sprint Cup Series. Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney lead the Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series standings, respectively.

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nascar announces major penalties BY travis barend

P

rior to the 2014 season, NASCAR announced a restructuring of its penalty and appeal system. During the July running of the Brickyard 400, the new classification received its toughest test yet.

Following the race at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 11 team received a P5 penalty, the second highest penalty category with P6 being the most severe. Driven by Denny Hamlin, the car had violations to the rear firewall block-off plates, which were not sealed.

While it is a safety concern, the unsealed blockoff plates also provide a reduction in drag and an increase in down force, according to industry experts.

Crew chief Darian Grubb has been fined $75,000 plus an additional $50,000 because the violation www.pitlanereporter.com 69

was found after the race. Grubb, along with car chief Wesley Sherrill, has been suspended for the duration of six Sprint Cup Series races and placed on probation for six months.

Denny Hamlin has been deducted 50 points plus an additional 25 points because the issues were found during post-race inspection. The same number of owner points has been subtracted for car owner J.D. Gibbs.

JGR will appeal the penalty. However they have elected to serve their suspensions immediately. If the appeal fails for the team, both Grubb and Sherrill will still return by the first race of the Chase.

Beginning this season, NASCAR revamped its appeals board to include more industry experts. In the past, the appeals panel has consisted of members, like track promoters, who have been criticized for not being knowledgeable in the issues discussed.

If the appeal continues beyond the panel, which is the first stage of the process, it will go to the new chief appellate officer, Bryan Moss, who will make the final decision. Moss replaced John Middlebrook at the beginning of this season.

While the penalties are severe, Hamlin is in no danger of missing the Chase. He has one win so far this season, virtually guaranteeing him a spot in NASCAR’s playoffs.

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Roush Fenway Racing Confirms 2015 Lineup

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BY travis barend

I

n what was an odd time for an announcement, Roush Fenway Racing confirmed its 2015 plans on the morning of the Brickyard 400.

While the team announced nothing unexpected, the news provides stability for the future of the organization, which has struggled to find consistent success.

Confirming what was already announced earlier this season, Trevor Bayne will drive the No. 6 Ford Fusion in 2015. He will make the move from a full-time Nationwide Series ride with the team to NASCAR’s top level.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will remain with the organization thanks to sponsorship from Fastenal and Zest. Next year will be the driver’s third season in the Cup Series.

Greg Biffle completes the three-car roster, signing a three-year deal with RFR. Biffle’s contract was set to expire at the end of this season. While there were initially rumors that the driver was looking elsewhere, reports later indicated Biffle renewed his contract with the team. Sunday morning at the Brickyard, it was made official.

Not returning to the organization will be Carl Edwards, as expected. Roush Fenway Racing made the announcement, as Edwards is unable to talk in detail about his contract negotiations.

“I will always be thankful for Carl’s contribution and the role he played in many Roush Fenway wins and championships,” said team owner Jack Roush. “We wish him well for the future. In the meantime, we are excited about continuing our quest for a championship with Carl and the No. 99 team in 2014.”

While Edwards discussed the news with the media shortly after the announcement, the driver divulged few details. It is widely anticipated within the garage that the long-time Roush driver will move to Joe Gibbs Racing in what will be a fourth car for the organization.

Edwards indicated that he has a deal in place for next season, but there are still details to be worked out.

“When all those pieces come together, it’ll be announced and we’ll talk about it,” Edwards said to Fox Sports.

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interview Maxime Martin

BY ANNIKA GOCKE

Underdog has the chance of advancing to become “top dog.�

Maxime Martin secured maiden win at the fifth DTM round in Russia www.pitlanereporter.com 74

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fter one year as a test driver for BMW would Maxime Martin be able to secure a race seat for the 2014 season? The answer was ‘yes‘ as he joined BMW Team RMG where he teamed up with Marco Wittmann. “My goal is to learn quickly and make progress over the course of the season,” said Martin in setting his 2014 season goals.

As a newcomer Martin obviously starts as an unknown quantity. Nevertheless, he is happy with his role as the underdog: “The expectations are lower so that I can concentrate on my tasks as a race driver.”

Martin has a lot to learn to get used to the new environment, which means there’s a lot of work for him to do. Anyway, he stays down-to-earth, working step by step, from race to race. Which is a good idea, looking at struggling Formula 1 drivers coming to DTM in the past.

circuits. The way the car interacts with the tyres in both qualifying and the race itself forms a major element of their work. With the weather good for most of the time, the BMW drivers completed an exceptionally smooth test, covering almost 4,000 kilometres. The aim for the fourth round of DTM at Norisring was to show a good performance on track. The team’s hope was destroyd by capricious weather conditions in combination with a wrong tyre decision. “I made a good start and worked my way into fifth place over the opening laps. Unfortunately we then made the wrong decision in the pit stop and headed back out onto a drying track on wet tyres.

After that it was obviously tough for me to hold off the opposition on options. It is a shame, as we could definitely have done better today”, Martin openly acknowledged.

Pushed into the background The season opener at Hockenheim was especially difficult, where he finished last with P20. “I got off to a really decent start in the race; then I then made a mistake that cost me a few positions. After that I found myself behind Joey Hand and Gary Paffett, but could not get past. I dropped even further back following the problem with the front-left wheel during the pit stop, and the subsequent drivethrough penalty,” Martin recalled. He rated the race as a “great experience” on which he could build for the rest of the season.

The rain at the second race in Oschersleben again created difficult conditions for Martin who had to admit: “Our strategy was not quite right, but that is very difficult in these conditions. Ultimately, we came home 14th; not exactly a dream result, but that’s life.” Then DTM went on to race in Budapest where Martin started fourth. “It is not too easy to start with the primes, as other cars were passing and you lose quite a lot of time. At the end we were coming back, but were still a long way from the front”, explained Martin. As a race driver he - of course - aimed to finish in a better position, especially when his teammate was again there on the top of the podium. But “Rookie” Martin was still happy to score his first points of the season.

Afterwards Martin joined a test at Hungaroring.

BMW engineers’ main focus was on perfecting the existing package for the various different types of

Silver lining The fifth round - which also marked the season’s half time - took part in Moscow. This was another completely new circuit for Martin: “I was there as a reserve driver last year, but never got behind the wheel.” By now Martin was noticed as a straightforward and refreshingly honest man which are highly appreciated but rare characteristics in the world of racing.

The practice session, which sets the stage for a successful weekend, already looked promising. On the downside, Martin was not only pushed into the background on TV as his team-mate and point’s leader Marco Wittmann dominated the season so far. Considering the fact that Martin is a Rookie and www.pitlanereporter.com 75

his team-mate on top of the championship list raises the question as to whether or not f he would be allowed to achieve P1. BMW answered the critics when Martin clocked the fastest lap at the decisive moment. Martin described starting from Pole as “awesome. It feels absolutely great. However, we are well aware that the race is a completely different story.”

Break through On Sunday Martin was indeed successful and turned the pole into victory. He became the first Belgian to win a race in DTM. (Belgian Eric van de Poele won the Championship in 1987 driving a BMW M3 (E30) without winning a race - editor’s note.) His start-finish victory was only threatened for a short time by two safety car phases. (These were caused by Audi driver Timo Scheider who had to stop because of a defect and Audi driver Mike Rockenfeller who crashed into Tambay and had to stop his car in turn one.) Nevertheless BMW Team RMG maintained control over the situation as well as Martin, who kept a cool head. “Here I am after five races, with a first pole position and maiden win to my name. Incredible! I can’t quite believe it yet. The pit stop was awesome and the strategy was spot on. The team, and of course everyone at BMW Motorsport, really did a fantastic job”, said Martin after the race.

What a victory can be worth was demonstrated by Ellen Lohr, who won in 1992. She first didn’t realise the meaning of her win as she told Pit Lane Reporter in Issue 4 (page 48 to 50.) A few days after his win when Martin had the chance to let it all sink in, he took the time to look back again.

How does it feel to have a DTM win to your name?

“Fantastic. It was always a dream of mine to race in the DTM,but to go down in history as the first Belgian to win a race is incredible. I really did not expect to claim pole and my maiden victory on only my fifth DTM weekend. When I look at all the messages and congratulations I have received, it makes me very proud. This was a big step forward.”

How did you celebrate?

“I had a little party with my family and friends when I returned from Moscow on Monday. There were about www.pitlanereporter.com 76

40 people there. It was great fun - and the perfect end to a fantastic weekend.”

Are you particularly proud to be the first Belgian ever to have won in the DTM? “It is obviously great to be the first person from your country to achieve something. There have been Belgians in the DTM before me, including my father Jean-Michel and Eric van de Poele, who actually won the title in 1987. However, nobody managed to win a race before me. That definitely means something to me. Eric also contacted me and congratulated me after the race. We know each other and get on very well.”

“Success story yet to be written” Martin’s is now aiming to show that “ I can consistently mix it with the front-runners”. Those who have been Martin fans for longer know his potential. “He was simply unbeatable this weekend,“ BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt gets to the point. Fans and experts will surely agree that this was just the beginning of a success story.

“Underdog” Maxime Martin has the chance of advancing to become “top dog.”

Maxime Martin‘s Greatest Achievements

Year Achievement 2008

French Renault Challenge Clio Cup Champion

2011

ADAC GT Masters Champion (driving an Alpina B6, shared with his teammate Dino Lunardi)

2013

Fastest Lap and Lap record at 24 hours race Nürburgring (BMW Z4 GT3) First DTM win at Moscow Raceway, Russia

2014

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BTCC Round 6: Snetterton BY adam johnson

Wrecks, Rage, and Occasionally Some Racing

I

am here to report on motor racing. That is my job description here at Pit Lane Reporter. And yet I am sat at my desk sighing and having to report yet more politics, ranting and bilge about the current state of BTCC racing.

roughly halfway through the season, having just come back from the summer break.

Firstly, it’s impossible to avoid the fact that something strange has happened in BTCC in recent weeks. In that, far from the gap closing and the series becoming more competitive, the gap between the haves and the have-slightly-less’s is widening rapidly. MG, Honda and West Surrey Racing BMW are putting a whipping on the championship in 2014, with only Team BMR and maybe Motorbase really looking capable of potentially stepping up. And how many times this year have we heard of teams like BMR, Motorbase, Rob Austin Racing and more having ‘bad luck’ (read: some pretty shoddy driving treatment and mechanical issues)?

That’s not to say the series has gone stale, and is certainly not lacking in action. But if certain drivers are to be believed, the BTCC is currently suffering a crisis of crushing dominance on a par with Citroen’s annihilation of World Touring Car racing. And it’s all those Rear-Wheel Drive cars’ fault. Coming over here, taking our wins. Yes, they absolutely crushed all comers at Snetterton in the three races, where they won all...erm...zero races. Whilst the moaner-in-chief, the self-appointed flag-bearer for the FWD working classes, was trailing way behind in...1st in races 1 and 2. In fact, the first race was a crushing lights-to-flag Races have fallen into a strange pattern where the top victory, leaving a RWD opponent way behind. five run away and hide, and the best battles occur from around 6th place down into the depths of the field.

But no, let’s not let facts get in the way of a good story. Even more puzzlingly, the TV coverage doesn’t appear And seeing as Mr Plato is now claiming it’s ‘not just to have realised, and still focuses on the same handful him’ who’s annoyed about the apparent ‘disparity’ of drivers even when they merely circulate and knock between FWD and RWD, let’s tackle this head-on. off the laps. It’s getting almost to the point where Race Call this a check on the state of the BTCC union at 3 is the only race worth sticking with after the opening www.pitlanereporter.com 78

laps - certainly it was the most interesting race at this weekend, with Aron Smith and Mat Jackson putting on a defensive master class to take 1-2 ahead of the regular faces.

Speaking of which, the amount of penalties handed out after the last round - and the previous round at Croft - is worrying. Let’s make one thing clear: there is a difference between hard racing and ‘wreckfest’ tactics. It is possible to have a good hard doorslamming race without sending cars skittling off into the countryside in a mess of broken body panels.

Equally it is also possible to have a clean race without it becoming a glorified sequence of parade laps. So where’s the balance? I defer to the Australians on this one, for as prone to violence as they are, their V8 Supercars series seems to have things spot on. Basic rule: if your car’s nose is at least up by the B-pillar of your opponent’s car as you go into a corner, you have a fair crack. Any further back, and any contact is avoidable and penalties leveraged quickly.

Just recently, Michael Caruso turned leader Scott McLaughlin with a very BTCC-esque move into the final corner, and was serving a drive-through within 3 laps. No delayed grid penalties, no appeal, nothing.

The rule is simple, set in stone, and the drivers know where the limit is. You feel like the BTCC officials may need to sit the rowdy school kids down in a circle and do something similar fairly soon, before it descends back into farcical WWE-on-wheels. Certainly the quest for teams to try and challenge the established order can’t be helped by constantly flushing money down the toilet on new body panels and chassis after the last one flew up a tree in Norfolk.

This returns me back to Mr Plato’s original grumble - equality. Because isn’t that all we want? It’s what he and Gordon Sheddan want, it seems. Oh yeah, Sheddan was also on the complaint train at Snetterton, demanding parity in a straight line after seeing VW Passats leaving him in a cloud of dust on the straights - ignoring the fact he was driving a car with the aerodynamics of a shed, but never mind. It begs the question though; will these drivers be happy until it becomes a spec, one-make trophy? Certainly Plato was demanding RWD be gone altogether, because apparently no-one cares about them anyway - completely ignoring the fact that the current crop of RWD contenders have hardly been ripping up trees this year. Turkington is the notable exception, but even his own teammates have trailed him despite also being in all-conquering RWD cars. Wanna ask Rob Austin how he’s been enjoying cruising away www.pitlanereporter.com 79

The BTCC has never been a spec series, and that’s the last thing anyone wants

effortlessly up front? Good luck, because he hasn’t.

I can perhaps understand the aggravation if West Surrey Racing were pulling an Audi in 1996, using their 4WD (ALL FOUR WHEELS?!?!) to smack the competition all over the park. But the fact is, we really aren’t anywhere near that point. In fact, Mr Plato gave the game away when he claimed his MG6 to be right at the end of its development - the implication being the BMWs will only keep getting better. But isn’t that true of any racing series? The 125is are a year younger than the MG6.

Perhaps the bigger issue is just how to balance performance in a race series without essentially making the cars identical - something the NGTC regs are already mocked for in some quarters. The BTCC has never been a spec series, and that’s the last thing anyone wants. Part of me just wants the BTCC officials to tell Plato and co to stop moaning and sort it out; notice how both are factory drivers (there are only two factory teams in the BTCC currently) complaining about being beaten by independent teams. Lots of bruised egos. But longer-term it might be worth looking at the current crop of GT3 cars racing around the world, including in the Blancpain GT series, and note how, despite a wide variety of machines with various engines and drivetrains (admittedly none are FWD), they are consistently balanced very carefully to create a super-competitive field. This in turn encourages more teams to take part. You’d be more motivated to join the BTCC if you figured you’d be able to achieve more than just tooling around in 20th right? And, with certain teams near the back of the current grid feeling the pinch, this sort of careful levelling could really give them a shot in the arm.

And with any luck it might stop the moaning although, I’m not holding my breath.

As it stands, brace yourselves for Knockhill next up.

According to Plato it’s gonna be a BMW walkover and knowing how wrong he’s been so far this season, it should be a fascinating clash on the compact Scottish battleground.

btcc driver standings (10th august 2014)

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Name Colin Turkington Gordon Shedden Jason Plato Andrew Jordan Robert Collard Mat Jackson Matt Neal Sam Tordoff Aron Smith Adam Morgan Alain Menu Jack Goff Fabrizio Giovanardi Rob Austin Tom Ingram Nick Foster Marc Hynes Dave Newsham Glynn Geddie Hunter Abbott Martin Depper Lea Wood Jack Clarke James Cole Warren Scott Rob Holland

Car

Points

BMW 125i M Sport Honda Civic Tourer MG6 GT Honda Civic BMW 125i M Sport Ford Focus ST MK.III Honda Civic Tourer MG6 GT Volkswagon CC Mercedes-Benz A-Class Volkswagen CC Vauxhall Insignia Ford Focus ST MK.III Audi A4 Toyota Avensis BMW 125i M Sport MG6 GT Ford Focus ST MK.III Toyota Avensis Audi A4 Pirtek Racing Toyota Avensis Ford Focus ST MK.III Toyota Avensis Chrome Edition Restart Racing Rotek Racing

279 256 236 201 187 173 161 138 125 97 82 82 81 71 62 50 34 26 15 12 9 6 5 4 4 1

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rally finland repor

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A

rt

fter a brief summer break, the Word Rally Championship returned, this time, to compete in Finland, the mecca of rallying.

Since the start of WRC in 1973, a Finn has won the event 33 times out of 41. However, despite Finns being heralded as some of the best drivers in the world, it has been four years since one has graced the top step of the podium. Instead, the honours have gone to a Sebastien, a Loeb and an Ogier.

This year fortunes changed. An extremely hard fought, and close battle saw Volkswagen driver, JariMatti Latvala, finish the final stage on Sunday in first position.

The rally festivities kicked off the previous weekend, with a one-off spectator event in Helsinki, dubbed ‘The Helsinki Battle’. The battle pitted rally drivers of today, against rally legends of the past, competing in modern WRC machinery. Marcus Gronholm, Juha Kankkunen, Tommi Makinen and Marku Alen made up the legends, whilst Jari-Matti Latvala, Juho Hanninen, Mikko Hirvonen, Thierry Neuville, Mads Ostberg and Sebastien Ogier represented the WRC drivers of today.

While, ultimately, the legend drivers were unable to match the pace of our current WRC stars, it was an entertaining show that drew in over 20,000 spectators. Nowhere else has it been so easy to see so many legendary drivers compete at the same time. The final saw Mads Ostberg take on Marcus Gronholm, with Ostberg taking the overall victory.

In addition to the WRC drivers, was young Finn, Teemu Suninen. Through a competition, Suninen had been awarded, a Citroen DS3 R3T to compete in for Rally Finland. The Helsinki Battle gave him a chance to take to the streets in the car and give the crowds a taste of what he is capable of.

Chelsea Beckman

On a personal note, I was fortunate enough to be asked to sit in the passenger seat during one his runs.

As a karting champion, as well as a rally cross winner, he is no stranger to tough competition. In only his second season of rallying, he is already starting a WRC event and being heralded as the next big thing.

Despite this, he is coping remarkably well under the

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pressure.

Anyway, he certainly seemed tobe coping as I sat next to him, tyres screeching through the streets in front of thousands of onlookers. While I’ve been in a few rally cars before, including one rather amusing attempt to drive one myself, I have never experienced one so powerful; or been in one doing so many hand brake turns! Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and, after thanking Teemu, made a mental note that I would keep an eye on his performance throughout the rally.

Thursday The rally was to take place over four days this year.

Weeks of hot, dry weather in Finland had dried the roads out, a fact that worried the top drivers who would be forced to clean the surface. In the nick of time, thunderstorms arrived, putting to rest any worries about road conditions. After the showers had passed, the roads were cleaner, and faster than ever.

Shakedown this year took place on the 4.19km Laajavuori stage, as opposed to Ruuhimaki, which had been used previously. Instead, Ruuhimaki would feature on the final day of the rally as the power stage. It was Latvala who was quickest on shakedown, ahead of Citroen’s Mads Ostberg, and teammate Andreas Mikkelsen.

Lankamaa was the first test for the drivers with, once again, Latvala showing early domination. The rain showers had proved favourable to the Finn, “The first two corners were a bit slippery, but after that I had very good grip. In some places I could have pushed harder, but you never know how much to risk.” Citroen driver, Kris Meeke, similarly benefitted from the grip to put himself into second place, whereas Ogier took third after erring on the side of caution.

There was a return to the Jouhtikyla stage after a 22-year absence, meaning all drivers had to prepare fresh notes. This threw a few of the crews, including Thierry Neuville and Martin Prokop who both admitted to struggling.

Another run through Lankamaa, and finally a run through the 2.2km city stage of Harju rounded out the day’s events. Latvala had managed to hold onto his lead, even despite a minor incident involving a straw bale on SS4. Ogier took second place overnight, with Meeke still in third. www.pitlanereporter.com 85

Friday The first leg of the day, Pihlajakoski, claimed a victim, as Robert Kubica went off the road in his Ford Fiesta RS and was unable to continue. Rally leader, Latvala, had a scary moment involving a ditch, but miraculously was to avoid it and still finish the stage 0.4 seconds faster than Ogier. Neuville and Ostberg also experienced setbacks within the stage.

The following stage, Paijala, saw Hyundai Driver, Juho Hanninen, lose over a minute after rolling his car. Both Hanninen, and co-driver Tomi Tuominen were forced to drive the following two stages without a windscreen. A feat that Juho claimed wasn’t as bad as he thought!

A treat awaited fans on the Kakaristo stage; Toyota president, Akio Toyoda, was chauffeur driven through the stage in a specially built GT86 by none other than Tommi Makinen. Excitement buzzed around; ‘could Toyota be entering the WRC soon’?

While it was only a one-off showing, Mr Toyoda stated, “I came here to learn about WRC but what I found out is that Toyota’s rally DNA is extensive. As top guy of the company I want to continue that kind of legend, but Toyota is a big company and nobody listens to the president!”

The afternoon service saw Neuville being pulled from the rally due to a damaged roll cage from an earlier shunt. SS11 saw Ogier drop into third behind Meeke, a fact that delighted Meeke. “It’s a little bit crazy, I didn’t expect this!” Meeke maintained his third place overnight.

Saturday Ogier was quick to take back his second position from Meeke, and once again had teammate Latvala in his sights. At SS15, the lead was at 24.9 seconds, but Latvala further extended this, after a number of stage wins, to 29.9 seconds by S18. At this point Ogier had become despondent, “Thirty seconds to Jari-Matti in Finland is quite a lot. It would be stupid to push like hell to try and catch him”.

However, disaster struck for Latvala on SS20 when a hard impact caused damage to his brakes. He lost 11 seconds to the Frenchman, before losing a further 7.3 seconds in the next stage. Now running on three

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brakes for the remainder of the day’s stages, Latvala’s lead was seriously threatened.

A tense day ended with Latvala only 3.4 seconds in the lead. Fellow Finn, Mikko Hirvonen, was also struggling with a broken shock absorber.

Sunday Three stages were all that lay between Latvala and taking victory in his native Finland. Many were hoping for the amiable Latvala to come out victorious not just because he is a Finn. It was clear that Latvala was ready for the challenge after making it through the first stage of the day, Ruuhimaki, 1.6 seconds quicker than Ogier.

Irishman, Craig Breen, injured his back during this stage and was forced to retire, and was moved from the end of the stage in the back of an ambulance for further treatment. It was also disappointing for New Zealander, Hayden Paddon, who, after running in sixth place, developed a power steering issue, which saw him drop 20 seconds in one stage. He would later go on to finish the rally in eighth place, which is still an admirable position for one of his first few rallies in a WRC car.

Ogier managed to claw back some time from Latvala over SS25 Myhinpaa, due to an intercom problem in Latvala’s helmet which caused him to lose a few seconds. The duo headed into the final stage with only 3.7 seconds between them.

With the final stage being aired live on TV, the nervous anticipation of Finland was shared with the world. The crowds in the forest began wildly cheering minutes before their hero, Latvala, passed in his PoloR. When he crossed the final time control, he did so a mere 3.6 seconds ahead of Ogier. Emotions were flowing from the ecstatic Latvala, who was greeted at the stage end by his family, “I fought back so hard, it was like fighting a war! It was a brilliant performance. I’m really, really happy!”

Meeke rounded out the top three with another well-deserved podium, especially considering his previous bad luck in Finland when he rolled out.

Karl Kruuda was victorious in the WRC2 class, and Teemu Suninen, despite a heavy roll the previous day, was able to take the win in WRC3, proving he truly is www.pitlanereporter.com 89

a talent to look out for. Another notable finisher was Henri Haapamaki in a Citroen C2R2. Despite being in a less powerful car, Henri was able to finish Rally Finland in 15th, and was the fastest 2WD car by quite a margin.

The next, and ninth round on the WRC calendar will start on the 21st of August in Germany, where crews will tackle the Asphalt.

Results of Rally Finland can be found by clicking here.

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current championship standings (correct following the rally of Finland)

Position

Name

Points

1 2 3 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

Sebastian Ogier Jari-Matti Latvala Andreas Mikkelsen Mads Ostberg Mikko Hirvonen Kris Meeke Thierry Neuville Elfyn Evans Martin Prokop Henning Solberg Juho Hanninen Bryan Bouffier Robert Kubica Ott Tanak Benito Guerra Latapi Hayden Paddon Chris Atkinson Pontus Tidemand Jaroslav Melicharek Nasser Al-Attiyah Lorenzo Bertelli Matteo Gamba Craig Breen Yuriy Protasov Jari Ketomaa Karl Kruuda Khalid Al Qassimi

165 116 83 66 52 46 38 36 31 24 18 12 12 10 8 6 4 4 4 3 2 2 2 2 1 1

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silverstone classics BY brynmor pierce

‘’Sunny Silverstone’’, admittedly doesn’t have the same ring as ‘’Glorious Goodwood’’ but for those of us fortunate enough to be there over the weekend of 2527th July that’s just what it was. We were treated to beautiful weather, huge crowds , but best of all frenetic door to door racing courtesy of a 22 race programme which saw over 700 drivers take to the track.

For those who’ve never been to the Classic, it combines the racing with large car club displays, a huge trade village and evening music concerts, Bonnie Tyler being a highlight this year. Getting about is covered by a fleet of Classic Double Decker busses which whizz you from International to National paddock and vice versa.

A contemporary Grand Prix circuit may not seem the natural habitat for a big Historic meeting but Silverstone’s strength is that the BRDC whilst modernising the infrastructure (mainly road network and buildings, also known as ‘the wing’) they’ve kept free of ‘Tilke’ fever on track so it combines fast and technical in equal measure.

Onto the track action. Qualifying for the ‘Under 2 Litre Touring cars’ saw 2012 British Touring Car Champion and Silverstone Classic debutant Gordon Shedden secure a pole position in the Team Dynamics run Ford Lotus Cortina, which he shared over the weekend with his regular BTCC team-mate and triple champion Matt Neal. However just behind by 0.8 seconds was the Grant Tromans/Richard Meaden Cortina, surely the makings of a battle royal?

Second on the bill was The Mustang Celebration Trophy – this was topped by Mike Gardener’s Ford Falcon, Shedden also shone in this field bringing the Cortina home in 3rd against a field of American muscle.

Harris Meaden Pit Stop www.pitlanereporter.com 92

The Jet Super Touring Car Trophy boasted an entry of more than 40 cars from the 70s, 80s and 90s. The

Honda Accord of the very much on form James Dodd took the honours ahead of former World Touring Car Champion Rob Huff - Huff in one of the legendary Prodrive-built Ford Mondeos. Old BTCC rivals Patrick Watts and John Cleland lined up fourth and fifth respectively, the Silverstone track proving an advantage to the newer more powerful cars.

position in their Cooper Jaguar T33 in The RAC Woodcote Trophy for Pre ’56 Sports Cars.

Phil Keen grabbed pole on his last lap in The Stirling Moss Trophy for Pre ’61 Sports Cars qualifying session in the glorious Lister Jaguar Knobbly. The car was already running well in the hands of team-mate Jon Minshaw but it was Keen’s lap that eventually relegated the Lotus 15 of the McIntyres down to second. Chris Ward’s Lister would line-up alongside the Ferrari of Bobby Verdon-Roe and Nick Leventis on row two.

Chris Ward set the pace in The Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy for pre-’56 Sports Cars.

The Cooper T33 pilot saw off the challenge from the Cooper T38 of Patrick Blakeney-Edwards and Frederic Wakeman, whilst last year’s winners – the Pearson brothers – had to settle for third in the Jaguar D-type.

Kubota Overtakes Berridge The FIA Masters Historic Formula One is always one of the highlights of the weekend and it was Michael Lyons – the youngest ever winner of an F1 race – who stole the show in qualifying with a blistering lap of 1:54.303s in the Hesketh 308E. Next on the bill was The Peter Arundell Trophy for Historic Formula Juniors. David Methley set the fastest lap with a last gasp effort, pipping Sam Wilson’s Lotus to the coveted pole position. The father and son combination of Michael and Andrew Neal Shedden retire Cortin Hibberd led the way early on before having to settle for fifth and third respectively.

The TVR Griffith of Sean and Michael McInerney snatched pole in The Chopard International Trophy The 1962 Brabham BT4, driven by Jason Minshaw, for Pre ’66 GT Cars from the Jaguar E-type of Chris rather appropriately topped the grid for The Jack Scragg and Matt Nicoll-Jones. FIA Masters Historic Brabham Memorial Trophy for HGPCA Pre ‘66 Sports Cars were dominated by the Lola T70 of Leo GP Cars. It was the Lotus 16 of Philip Walker who Voyazides/Simon Hadfield .Group C Endurance grabbed pole position in the Maserati Centenary rounded out the opening day action in spectacular Trophy for HGPCA Pre ‘61 GP Cars. fashion. Running into the sunset it was dominated

by Bob Berridge in the Silver Arrows Mercedes C11.

The yellow Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta SWB of Day 2 and onto the racing action, which was preparation expert Gary Pearson (fresh from Le brought to a start on a beautifully sunny morning Mans Classic victory) and Le Mans 24hr winner by the high-revving 52-car grid of Historic Formula Jackie Oliver claimed the sports car top spot in The Juniors. A traditional standing start saw pole-sitter Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy for Pre ’63 David Methley lead the way – his Brabham BT6 GT cars. This was after trading blows with the Jaguar clearly strong in a straight line but a handful around E-type of Jon Minshaw for much of the session. Silverstone’s historic curves. He was soon being Times were close at the head of the field, with the top challenged for the lead by Sam Wilson, whose Lotus five all covered by less than 0.7s.

22/20 went side-by-side with the Brabham for lap after lap, but a mistake while passing back markers Derek Hood and Chris Ward cruised to a pole spun Methley out of contention. Wilson then cruised www.pitlanereporter.com 93

to victory by 19 seconds ahead of Jonathan Milicevic Costin of Chris Ward. and Michael Hibberd.

Race 4, The FIA Masters Historic Formula One really Classic Formula 3 was next up. At the head of the pack was like stepping back to the 70’s, Ollie Hancock Nick Padmore edged away in his March 783, pulling stormed to victory from seventh on the grid in an out a few tenths every lap to secure a comfortable interrupted race. An early spin for Andrew Haddon’s victory ahead of Martin Stretton’s Martini MK39 and Williams was quickly followed by a huge accident for David Shaw’s March 803B. The battle of the race was, the Ensign N173 of Sidney Hoole which had a nasty however between Simon Jackson and Jamie Brashaw. roll at Abbey, bringing out the red flags. The driver The two were locked in combat in their respective was taken to hospital with a leg injury although his Chevron B43 and March 793 machines, eventually condition wasn’t thought to be serious. Pole-sitter crossing the line separated by just 0.3s in fourth and Michael Lyons streaked away at the restart and fifth place. seemed certain for victory until his Hesketh endured last lap mechanical heartache. Hancock’s yellow Fittipaldi F5A inherited the victory but the young Englishman deserved his fortune after a stellar performance. His eye-catching charge through the order included passes on Martin Stretton’s Tyrell and Christophe D’Ansembourg’s Williams, both of which completed the podium positions.

The on form James Dodd took race 5 ‘The Jet Super Touring Trophy’ although he didn’t have it easy at all after fending off a race long attack from Stewart Whyte in a similar Honda Accord. Dodd got the jump on Whyte on the opening lap with the Peugeot 406 of Patrick Watts (who later retired with mechanical woes) tucking itself behind the lead duo. The two It was possibly the best 50 minutes racing ever Hondas quickly pulled clear and, in true BTCCwitnessed in the Under 2 Litre Touring Car contest, style, swapped placed several times whilst an even with a fitting win for the Ford Lotus Cortina; 50 fiercer four-car battle ensued for third place. Watts years after Jim Clark won the British Saloon Car was joined by the Alfa Romeo of Neil Smith, John Championship in the same model. The rolling start Cleland’s Vauxhall Vectra and the Renault Laguna of saw second placed driver Richard Meaden take the Simon Garrad. Like the leaders ahead of them places initiative and lead into turn one from pole-man were exchanged regularly throughout the contest, Shedden. A ding-dong battle unfolded in front of the and though Watts retired late on with a mechanical huge Classic crowds, with the two Cortinas trading problem, it was former BTCC champion Cleland places countless times as they were locked in combat who eventually came out on top to score a hugely for well over half an hour of racing. As the pit stop popular podium. phase began, however, the battle for the win was cut short as the Cortina of Shedden suffered a radiator issue (pictured) that prevented his BTCC team-mate Matt Neal from going out for the second stint. With a big gap, Meaden was able to pit and second driver Grant Tromans cruised to a comfortable win ahead of the Neil Brown/Richard Dutton pairing in their Cortina.A notable feature of this race was the sheer amount of punctures going on, especially for the Mini’s!

Race 3, The Sir Stirling Moss Trophy for Pre ’61 Sports Cars saw Jon Minshaw and Philip Keen made to work hard for their victory by the Lister Jaguar www.pitlanereporter.com 94

It was a fantastic solo drive from Sean McInerney in The Pre 66 GT Race to take victory in his TVR Griffith after an hour of blistering racing in the mid afternoon heat.

In a fitting tribute to racing legend Sir Jack Brabham, the first of the two memorial races dedicated to his memory over the weekend saw the top two finishers in Brabham cars, and the trophy ceremony was emotionally presented by Jack’s son David. It was a win for Jason Minshaw from pole position in the Brabham BT4, who was pressured all the way by Jon Fairley in another Brabham – the BT11. Fairley came through from fourth on the grid, with a strong mid-race surge that saw him set several consecutive fastest laps. Minshaw responded in the final few laps to maintain the gap and cross the line in top spot. Speaking after the race, David Brabham said: “It’s brilliant to be here at Silverstone where my dad drove and won so often – and we got a one-two which makes it even better! Congratulations to all the drivers and thanks to everyone for their kind words today.”

Leo Voyazides took his first win of the weekend, rather ironically driving a Ford Falcon, in The 50th anniversary race for the iconic Ford Mustang.

Philip Walker claimed a fairly routine race win in the race for Pre ’61 Grand Prix Cars, leading from startto-finish in his Lotus 16.

It was a truly amazing sight, as a collection of 1990’s GT cars took to the track before the next race. They included GT1 Porsche’s, 5 McLaren F1’s plus several XJ220’s, one of which was piloted by the model/ presenter Jodie Kidd. The demonstration session it made you realise how spectacular these cars really were.

Harris and Richard Meaden claimed the last place on the rostrum after a late pass by the similar machine of Steve Tandy. Former FIA GT Champion Jamie Campbell-Walter produced the come-back drive of the race in the quite fabulous Ferrari 512, eventually taking eighth after an early spin for his team-mate left the car way down the order. Another interesting addition to the driver line-up was famous singer Chris Rea who piloted an Elva BMW, certainly not finding it a road to hell.

The final race of day one was for Group C cars and, as has been the case so often recently, Bob Berridge came out on top in his Mercedes C11. He didn’t have it easy as the Nissan of Katsu Kubota put up a strong battle and indeed the Japanese driver actually took the lead in the first few laps (pictured), through an impressive manoeuvre at The Loop. But when the Nissan ran wide at the same corner a few laps later the Mercedes stormed through and immediately pulled away. The fight for third looked to have ended abruptly when the Nissan R90 of Steve Tandy spun luridly across the track while closing down on the Gebhardt C91 of Michael Lyons ahead of him. Lyons later retired with a mechanical problem, however, and Tandy eventually recovered from seventh to finish fourth – losing out on the final podium place to Mike Donovan’s Spice SE88 by just 0.180s.

The second day of racing would see a magical GP parade to celebrate the 50th British GP to be held at Silverstone, headed by Sir Stirling Moss and son of the late Sir Jack Brabham, David.

First race of the day for Classic Formula 3 cars, saw another strong performance from Nick Padmore, who led from the off to eventually win by just over eight seconds.

Echoing Le Mans during the 70’s, Leo Voyazides and his team-mate Simon Hadfield claimed victory in an exciting FIA Masters Historic Sports Car race that ended with Lola T70s filling the top four positions.

It hadn’t looked likely early on however, when front row starter Martin O’Connell’s Chevron B19 streaked away with the lead. An unseen altercation with another car unfortunately put the pace-setter out of the race shortly before mid-distance, and once Hadfield got behind the wheel of the T70 there was no looking back. There was drama a plenty in the challenge for the other two podium positions as Andy Wolfe hauled his machine back up the order and into second. The journalist pairing of Chris Frederic

Wakeman/Patrick

Blakeney-Edwards

www.pitlanereporter.com 95

claimed the second race of the day for pre 56 sports cars, although they led from the off the pit-stop window saw that cut to 11 seconds. Coupled with an amazing drive through the field by Gary Pearson in the beautiful D-Type, they held on to win in the end by 13 seconds.

The Historic Formula Juniors were out in race 3, and we saw Sam Wilson secure a ‘lights to flag’ victory, his job being made much easier when pole sitter David Methley spun off.

The RAC TT for pre 66 GT cars saw a stupendous battle. Jackie Oliver – former winner of the Le Mans 24-hour race – emerged with an early lead in the glorious yellow Ferrari 250 GT after a trio of cars ran three abreast on the opening tour. A rare mistake followed, however, as Oliver slid wildly across the line in a dramatic moment. The talented and extremely experienced pilot saved the car but lost three places in the interim, relinquishing the lead to the Jaguar E-type of James Cottingham. Oliver gradually made his way through the order before an intense battle ensued with Cottingham over several laps. The cars ran side-by-side for a number of corners, and even touched during the scrap, before Oliver retook top spot prior to the compulsory pit stops. Whilst the cars were evenly matched the race was effectively won when Cottingham had his own moment through the gravel after sliding on dropped oil through the Maggotts/Becketts complex. Oliver’s team-mate Gary Pearson had taken over driver duties by that point and scampered away to victory. The fight for the final podium place was no less dramatic as the AC Cobra of Martin Hunt and Blakeney-Edwards made a last lap pass by the Jon Minshaw E-type.

Martin Stretton took his Tyrrell to a victory in the second FIA Masters Formula One race, this was after a stupendous race long battle between Hancock, Stretton, Hartley and the Williams of Christophe D’Ansembourg who traded places at almost every turn. It was only in the last couple of laps that Stretton finally broke free to take the flag.

Bob Berridge took his second win of the weekend aboard his Mercedes in The Group C race, this time from the Jaguar XJR8 of Justin law.

The second Jet Super Touring Car Trophy contests saw World Touring Car star Rob Huff make an amazing start and slot into second place in the Ford Mondeo behind the Honda Accord of James Dodd. Dodd – www.pitlanereporter.com 96

who won the first race yesterday – defended valiantly for the first couple of laps before Huff made a move stick. The Honda was glued to the rear bumper of the Ford for the whole contest, but Huff was able to withstand the pressure to win by just 0.710s. The race also featured superb comebacks from double BTCC champion John Cleland, who was tipped into a spin in the first corner on lap one, and fellow BTCC hero Patrick Watts, who started at the back of the field after retiring from yesterday’s race. The pair finished just off the podium in fourth and fifth respectively after epic drives through the pack.

The second pre 66 P cars race was cut short after an accident involving Healey specialist Denis Welch.

Sadly, Denis succumbed to his injuries in the circuit medical centre some time later. Jason Minshaw took a solemn victory It was a repeat result for the second running of The Maserati Centenary Trophy for pre 61 GP cars, as Philip Walker claimed a double victory.

The final race was for the Pure Michigan Mustang Celebration, and it was an in form Leo Voyazides who took his 3rd win of the weekend in his Falcon.

This win though was no easy contest only decided on the very last lap, as the duelling Ford Falcons of Leo Voyazides and Mike Gardiner repeated their incredible battles from yesterday at the head of the field. For almost the entire race it was Gardiner who led, having lost out in the first Mustang Celebration Trophy by just 0.799s. Just as it seemed that he would take a well-earned win, he pushed the #37 car just beyond its limits rounding Copse corner and spun away his winning trophy.

So there ended an amazing weekend’s racing, if you get the chance it really is worth the effort and cost as it’s one of the few events that genuinely caters for the whole family.

www.pitlanereporter.com 97

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unsung heroes of Motorsport INTERVIEW

Franco Massaro

Force India Formula One Team Co-ordinator www.pitlanereporter.com 99

T

his week we meet one of the key men in a Formula One team. The man who is responsible for moving millions of pounds worth of equipment around the world. Without this important cog in the wheel of F1, the sport would never be able to take place. I spent some time talking to the man fulfilling this role at Sahara Force India F1 team, and what a fascinating interview it was. I do hope that you find Franco’s insight into his job as brilliant as I did.

Phil Woods – First of all, can you tell the readers what a Race Team Co-ordinator does?

Franco Massaro – The roles vary a little bit from team from team because obviously the structures of the teams are a little bit different. But generally it is coordinating the movement of the freight and equipment to each event, organising the set-up of the garage and making sure that everything is ready to run for your team. And then in between that you are looking at the next event as it can involve a little bit of travel for people, vehicle hire, hotels bookings etc and obviously, that varies depending on the team.

PW – So, there must be huge pressure on you to get the job done right? Without you, the entire race weekend could be a disaster?

FM – Yes it does feel like that sometimes, but obviously you do have a lot of people working with you.

I certainly don’t feel that everything is on my shoulders. Yeah there are times when you feel pressured and you have deadlines to get things done and there are times you feel like you are getting ahead of yourself a little bit and then you have a lot more coming on. For example now the last 6 races are not that far away, you start getting circuit orders through and make contact with them. Because of the time differences it takes quite a while to deal with it. So there are times when you feel under pressure to get things done but usually all teams have a good enough team structure below you to help you deal with it, you know.

PW – A reader wanted me to ask this question. “As F1 equipment is so expensive, what is the value of the equipment you arrange to move every race weekend?”

FM – Erm, it is very difficult to put a true value on all the equipment. I mean just the car itself and the spares are quite a few millions of dollars’ worth of

www.pitlanereporter.com 100

equipment which most people probably realise. We have our values for customs purposes but I don’t know to be honest. It is in the millions and you are looking at probably 3-4 million dollars’ worth of equipment and spares. Honestly I don’t tend to get involved in the actual cost of spares for the car.

PW – Does that make you nervous? I don’t even wear my smart watch on a daily basis for fear of breaking it.

FM – No, I think it is something where you just put things in place, whether its drivers driving the equipment around or where you are parking it up. You put things in place to make sure everything you move is as secure as possible.

PW – We’ve just had back to back races in Germany and Hungary, what different challenges does that present for you?

FM – It puts a little bit more pressure on everyone work-wise, we don’t get any breaks. The main core group of mechanics and garage technicians that set everything up were flown out of Germany Monday morning and a small crew of us went out Monday afternoon to do a little start on the set up. We continue that into Tuesday and Wednesday, so by Thursday afternoon you are still at the same place you would be at any other single event. It just puts a little bit more work load on everybody; some things are out of your control. Another thing, that has become more significant in the last few years, are the team buildings and the motor homes. When you are doing a back to back in Europe it’s very different to doing a back to back overseas because you have to wait for them to be assembled before you can get your trucks and all of your equipment in. There is a bit of a delay and some frustration when you have to wait for these buildings to be erected.

PW – How do you transport the cars to places like Singapore and Australia?

FM – The cars for the overseas races are transported in a chassis form. They usually have suspension on them, but don’t travel with an engine or gear box on.

So for example when they leave here for Singapore they will most likely have suspension on and be built to a reasonable state as they have been in the factory. When we get to Singapore on the Wednesday the mechanics will start assembling the engine and gear www.pitlanereporter.com 101

box and auxiliary parts just like any other event.

They are transported in what are called ULD (airport pallets and cargo shacks). They are specially designed cases and boxes, some quite large which are designed to fit in aircraft and maximise the space. The F1 Management charter the planes. They charter 6 or 7 Boeing 747’s to transport all of the different teams equipment and all the media equipment.

PW – What is your background? How did you get into this unique role?

FM - My background is that of a mechanic. I fell into motor sport a little bit by accident whilst doing a job for somebody in a Formula 3 team. I was doing some work on their trucks and just got chatting to them. They asked if I was interested in what then was called a ‘Trucky’ Role. We don’t tend to have a Trucky role anymore, as people don’t tend to do as much driving as they used to.

We hire drivers in to do that now because of the work load. So like I said I fell into it by accident really.

PW – Every time I talk to someone involved in F1, the same issue arises, how do you cope being away from family so much?

FM – Well I think it’s the type of job where, when you take it on, you know you are going to be away for x amount of time. It is not going to work for every type of relationship. Certainly I have been here for 11 years and as the season have gone on with more races it does become a little more difficult and more testing, and you do miss being from home. But you balance it out with the fact it is a job you enjoy doing and as I said before, you don’t go into it if you are already in a relationship or with a family without agreeing first. When you are on ‘back to backs’, it can be difficult being away from home for a couple of weeks.

PW – How emotional do you get when you see the Force India cars near the front of the pack and having a good weekend? Do you feel that you’ve contributed to that?

FM – Yeah we always feel pride when the cars are performing well, it’s always nice. I have been here 11 years, so I have been at the very back of the grid and it is always tougher when you are at the back but every team puts the same amount of effort in work to get the cars on the grid. It takes a lot of effort from everybody. I think wherever you are on the grid you feel some pride seeing your car there. But when you are battling for some www.pitlanereporter.com 102

points and you are battling with teams that actually have bigger budgets, you feel quite proud of what you have achieved and what the team has achieved.

PW – How long have you been with the team? How has the job changed in your time in the sport?

FM – Well, obviously I have changed roles whilst being here for 11 years; I didn’t come in as Racing Coordinator. They were formally called Truckies but they are now called Garage Technicians because we don’t really drive the trucks anymore. I have been in this role for a number of years; it has changed because I mean the sport has changed a little bit. It is a lot more intense than it used to be, and there is less down time than before as even when you are away you tend to be at the circuit more. Everything is just a little bit crisper as it is harder to get sponsors in and so you make more effort still to make sure everything is as presentable as it should be. It has always been professional, but it is a little more intense and the work load is increased to ensure that everything is correct.

PW – If you could change one thing about your job, what would it be?

FM – I don’t know - I would like someone to invent time travel. I would like to spend less time waiting around at airports. If I could get from one race to the other without having to spend 2 hours at each airport just waiting and then taking coach transfers and waiting again.

PW – What is the best thing about your job?

FM – It is probably difficult to see from the outside but although we do the same thing week in and week out with the races it is not really the same. There is always something thrown in to the mix to make you think “how do I get around this now”. When you deal with smaller budgets you have more of that to do and that is what I like best. But as I say, it would appear we do the same week in week out but there is never one event or a week where you don’t have something thrown in you have to change or do that is not the norm. Difficult to put into words but it is a constant varying role and there is always something challenging you and that is what I like about it.

With thanks to Franco Massaro and the team at Sahara Force India. www.pitlanereporter.com 103

race strategy explained

BY KIRIL VARBANOV

Reproduced with kind permission from “Maurizio Bollini, Motorsport Consultant at MET S.r.l. (MI), Italy”.

Note: the author is Maurizio Bollini - he worked as engine engineer for Michael Schumacher when he was the Ferrari F1 driver (1996 to 2006).

This is a discussion on Race Strategy, one of the most important elements of Formula 1.

There are two major factors involved in F1 Race Strategy - tyre behaviour (and degradation) and the weight effect of the car on the lap time.

1.

TYRE BEHAVIOUR

A given set of tyres has 4 operational conditions: • warm-up phase (the first one or two laps) • performance phase (depending on the compound, from 10 to 20-30 laps), • degradation phase (depending on several factors, it can be very few laps), • Give-up (in very short time).

Warm-up Phase During the warm-up phase the tyre reaches the optimal working temperature for its working range. The working range depends on several factors particularly the compound. The example below shows the working ranges used by Pirelli for the 2013 F1 season.

Low Working Range Temp.

- Super Soft 85-110 deg.

- Medium 90-115 deg.

- Hard 90-115 deg.

High Working Range - Soft 105-125 deg.

- Hard 110-135 deg.

Performance Phase The duration of this phase depends on the compound, the track characteristics and the car. For the softer tyres it is usually around 10 laps, and for harder tyres in the range 20-30 laps. This is the part of the race where best performance and therefore lowest lap times are achieved.

Degradation Phase The degradation phase is where wear, abrasion, graining and blistering impact the lap times – time for a pitstop!

Give Up Phase This occurs when the cyclic stress reached the maximum acceptable level for the compound and construction.

The combination of stress and heating generate mechanical and chemical changes in the rubber causing the lap times to increase sharply. The car usually makes a pit stop before this phase because the impact on lap www.pitlanereporter.com 104

times is dramatic.

2.

WEIGHT EFFECT (on lap time)

The weight-effect is a value showing the improvement in speed as the fuel is burned reducing the weight. It is measured as seconds/lap/10 Kg. It is calculated using an application called Lap Time Simulator (LapSim), which allows simulation of different level of fuel. (actual data is available from the FIA).

As an example, the Weight Effect Value for Australia 2013, was 0.22 sec/lap/10kg.

As an alternative, the Weight Effect can be easily estimated by using real data. Let’s consider the real lap times from Australia 2013 F1 race from three drivers.

For comparison, if we take the best case above we get a Weight Effect of 0.0722 sec/lap. Knowing that the fuel consumption in Australia is around 2.5 kg/lap, the fitted Weight Effect will be 0.29 sec/lap/10kg. This is not so far from what is achieved by a more accurate simulation and isn’t that bad considering the “noise” affecting the second measure.

It is important that the Team is aware of the weight effect of each different race circuits.

3.

RACE STRATEGY EXAMPLE

As an example, we will compare two tyre management options for the Australian race. Both options use the same sequence of tyres - Super Soft/Medium/Medium.

Option A has pit stops on Lap 13 and 35; Option B is on Lap 17 and 38. The time for the pit stop is the same in both cases (20 seconds) and the tyre model, (very simple and just for the purpose of this demonstration), is based on the ‘Weibull’ degradation formula. www.pitlanereporter.com 106

The lap times are recorded for each lap together with the ‘weight reduction effect’ and the ‘tyre behaviour effect’.

We the sum the lap times in order to have a cumulative curve for both options. The results are plotted on the next chart.

We can conclude from this chart, that by the end of the race, Option-A is slower than Option B by about 3.61 seconds.

Using this procedure, it is possible to play with different scenarios. During the race, simulated lap times are www.pitlanereporter.com 107

updated, lap by lap, with the real lap times and re-calculated.

In a very simplified way, this is what is behind a dynamic race strategy application.

This tool is used trackside by the ‘Performance Engineers’ and linked to the ‘Strategy Engineer’ at a remote location in the Team’s Headquarter. As an example, Neil Martin from Scuderia Ferrari, can update the team strategy via a remote link from Italy.

Making the right strategy call is, of course, very important. To put it in perspective, look at the example of Mark Webber in Hungary, 2013. Mark started in 10th place and ran on medium tyres for a long period, eventually achieving 4th by introducing soft tyres in the later stages.

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Phil Woods

I have never understood caravanning, how the hell is it supposed to be a holiday?

My Take on Caravanning Holidays!!

much out as possible before we get there and she has to stick her ‘backside’ in a bucket for a week.”

First of all you get all stressed when trying to hook it up to the car, swearing at the inanimate object known as the tow bar, at the same time getting oil all over your hands, and face, if you’re stupid enough to wipe your brow or eat a pork pie at the same time.

Fifteen minutes into the trip you feel your arm getting nudged and, all of a sudden, you lose drive in the car as you find yourself in neutral, why? Well the wife has now decided it’s a great time to turn around in her front seat and feed the kids lemonade in the back of the car, she pours it carefully into the plastic cups (I You then get all the kids into the car and not forgetting use the word loosely as splashes appear everywhere the wife, although you might try to forget to bring and I know it’ll be even worse tomorrow, a damned her!! Then off on your merry way you go. sticky mess.)

Five minutes into the trip and one of your kids needs a wee, ten minutes into the trip your wife needs a wee; pregnancy has that effect, ask any women. Still no real excuse, hold it in, you’re an adult for God’s sake. “I know what she’s doing. She’s trying to get as

Twenty minutes into the trip and we are stopping again, this time to buy the kids a treat. Is a holiday not a treat enough? This time mum decides that it’s a great idea to treat them to some nice sticky iced lollies. You’re not so sure, after all who’s going to have www.pitlanereporter.com 109

to clean the sticky crap off the seats and carpet along 1 foot by 1 foot and the plastic loo is filled with a with the lemonade tomorrow? Yes me! mysterious blue liquid, once you finish you press the flush and a whole at the bottom opens emptying Moving on from the constant five minute stops and we the contents of your bowel movements into a bucket finally arrive at our campsite where you’ll be spending hidden under the caravan. Wonderful to know already your holidays. It feels like the 60 minute journey has that, at the start of every day, you will need to take taken all day, in fact it actually nearly did. You drive a walk with a bucket of cack and wee to empty, that through the gates and what’s this, oh, surprise the car should help your appetite for breakfast. is now stuck in the mud, so you rev and rev the car.

Your wife, in her infinite wisdom is telling you how to At bedtime, you are shattered and looking forward to get out of the mud and that you’re doing it all wrong. a good sleep. Well the beds are all in the same room, She suggests “Why don’t you get out and push while the two beds on the side are used by your wife and I rev the engine?”, and you say “Oh yes, brilliant idea. you, and the kids are using a couple of wooden slats We’ll be living with a bucket of poo for a week, so I may that go across from yours and your wife’s bed. Stinky as well look like I’ve fallen in it. “The kids are crying, kids feet in your face, lovely....Absolutely no space for one of them still has half an iced lolly left running all you to sleep, unless you’re a stick insect. down his arms and clothing.....nice, more sticky mess.

Moving on to Day 2 now and it seems that the half You eventually get out of the mud with a jolt and an hour of television last night has drained all your you hear something smash in the caravan, and guess electric and you are now washing in the cold water. whose fault that is? Yes, you’re wife kindly points out Not only that, at breakfast you are using milk that has “I told you so”, she told me what? Nothing at all, it’s turned in the fridge that has switched off over night. just one of those things women say to make them That means that today’s trip with the poo bucket will seem better than a man at driving when they clearly be even worse as it has the whole families lovely sloppy aren’t. My wife has now started given me the silent doings making you wretch..... treatment......great, I am happy now, peace at last, I know how Churchill felt now.

You’ve got another six days of this to look forward to.

Another six days of everyone hearing every poo that We find our pitch now and what we have paid £300 you excrete into the mysterious blue liquid, every echo for a week is a piece of grass and a wooden pole with a of a fart you do in the silly little room falsely described number on it. Beginning to think that a cheap EasyJet as a toilet. Six days of no sleep, six days of the smell of flight and a cheap hotel in the Costa Del Sol may have calor gas every time you want a cup of tea, six days of been a better option. drinking tea from plastic cups, because as your wife continues to remind you, you smashed the real ones You back the caravan up again with helpful advice when backing up the caravan on Day 1. Six days of from you good lady wife, speaking again, more to the blaming you for everything and then preceding to say pity. Don’t forget she has expert driving skills! that “there is no better sound than rain on a caravan roof ”. Yes there is, the sound of Germans rushing to Ok, journey over and you’re in the caravan at last. You put towels on sun loungers at 3 in the morning in go outside to check for an electric point, guess what, Spain. there isn’t one, and so off you traipse to find the site owner. He, of course, lives in a huge farm house at Six days of eating with plastic knives and forks on the back of the caravan park, paid for by idiots like plastic plates - yes you smashed them too. Thank God me paying £300 a week in parking fees. You knock you didn’t smash the pots and pans or that would have on the door and a grumpy bloke answers and says caused an issue of melting proportions. Six more days “what”, you ask politely about the electric point and of hell.... he disappears for a minute then comes back with car battery. So that’s what we have to power everything off So who thinks that caravanning is a good way to this week, cool, could this get any better? Well surely spend a holiday? Oh, and to top it all off, I’ve come it can’t get any worse..... home with the flu after being so damned cold all week, oh well, at least I can have a few days off work now, I When you get back into the caravan you decide it’s need a holiday after that lot. about time to use the toilet, you find it’s a spacious www.pitlanereporter.com 110

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limited edition prints by gary drew

T

his is an exciting opportunity to own some unique and exciting artwork from the exceptional Gary Drew.

Part of a set of 11 pieces, one for each Formula One team, these are each limited to 250 copies. These are ideal for motorsports fans and art lovers alike.

Each print is priced at ÂŁ25.00 plus ÂŁ3.49 postage and packaging , and can be ordered individually or alternativly you can subscribe to the print releases for ÂŁ50 per month for five months and you will receive

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limited edition prints by gary drew

the whole collection of limited edition prints, one of which will be free of charge.

When they are gone, they are gone, so click on the link below to place your order before they are all gone!

order now > www.pitlanereporter.com 113

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GARAGE

TEAM-

HARD