Indholdsfortegnelse for 26/05/2016 i Autosport

RIVALRIES ARE WHAT ALL SPORTS ARE BUILT UPON, and the latest flare-up between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg has certainly reignited interest in the Formula 1 season. Judging by the interest it has attracted on Autosport’s website, where it’s been the sixth biggest story of the year and comfortably the most popular based on what’s happened on-track, this really has made people sit up and take notice. Mercedes has, in public at least, dealt with this latest clash better than the one at Spa in 2014. And Toto Wolff’s eloquence and honesty in his interview with Ian Parkes for our cover story shows a willingness to face head-on the fact that, no matter what their history, two drivers going toe to toe in elite sport will always be prone to…

SIXTH IN THE championship going into only its sixth grand prix – this is Haas F1 Team’s strong record. The rules demand that teams own the intellectual property to ‘d parts’, broadly defined as the monocoque, safety cell, front impact and roll-over structures, floor and diff user, front/rear wings and bodywork. ‘Non-listed parts’ may be sourced elsewhere, including from other teams – in Haas’s case, Ferrari. So why don’t existing teams “do a Haas” by sourcing hardware from a “mother” team? Simple: they can’t. The Haas model is based on a long-term contract with a team able to supply a well-funded secondary operation with non-listed parts, complete powertrains (including transmissions), and electronics/hydraulics, along with updates and data. Along with Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault and McLaren-Honda could meet these criteria for prospective…

CIRCUIT DE MONACO LENGTH 2.073 miles NUMBER OF LAPS 78 2015 POLE POSITION Lewis Hamilton 1m15.098s QUALIFYING LAP RECORD Sebastian Vettel 1m13.665s (2011) RACE LAP RECORD Daniel Ricciardo 1m18.063s (2015) Themes to watch RED BULL DOUBLE Christian Horner said Red Bull tipped Monaco to be its best shot at a win in 2016. After Max Verstappen’s Spanish triumph, can Red Bull bag two in a row? ROSBERG QUADRUPLE Nico Rosberg’s winning streak ended in Spain but victory this weekend will make him only the second driver to win four successive Monaco GPs. STE DEVOTE FUNNEL By the law of averages, the GP is due a tangle at the first corner of Ste Devote – which funnels the cars after the startline – after a few years trouble-free.…

ON ANY OTHER SUNDAY, THE MOTO3 AND MOTO2 races could have overshadowed the headline act, such were the spectacles that set the scene. Championship leader Brad Binder made it three Moto3 wins in a row, taking out a race as remarkable as his last-to-first breakthrough at Jerez in April. This time, Binder was in the lead pack throughout, but it was a lead pack with more than 20 riders for the duration. Within that, it was not uncommon for a rider to cross the start finish line in sixth, seventh or even eighth place but actually enter the first corner leading. Binder made one such move on the final lap, from sixth, stayed ahead and then won the drag race out of the final corner (above) to beat Fabio Di…

V8 SUPERCARS WINTON (AUS) MAY 21-22 ROUND 5/15 IT TOOK TIM SLADE EIGHT years and 227 races to score his first Supercar victory – and just one day and one race to score his second. After years of being seen as something of a journeyman, Slade and his Brad Jones Racing Holden Commodore were untouchable at Winton Motor Raceway. Slade took one pole position and two convincing wins and looked completely untroubled, and became the series’ ninth winner in 11 races this season. After several frustrating recent seasons, Slade led all the way in the first race, leaving Volvo man Scott McLaughlin to fight off the Ford of Mark Winterbottom. In the second race Slade had to come from the second row of the grid but took control mid-race, leaving…

FORMULA V8 3.5 SPA (B) MAY 21-22 RD 3/9 EGOR ORUDZHEV AND MATTHIEU Vaxiviere made it six Formula V8 3.5 race winners in six races at Spa-Francorchamps. Both pre-season favourites had endured troubled starts to their 2016 campaigns. Since stalling from pole at the Motorland Aragon season opener, Arden racer Orudzhev had accumulated just two points, while Vaxiviere’s misfortunes with newcomer SMP Racing included losing a likely victory at the Hungaroring through a badly timed safety car. The Limoges driver’s Belgian weekend also started badly; an irritating parc-ferme violation resulted in his being stripped of the Saturday pole and sent to the back of the pack. Amato Ferrari’s team endured further misery when Matevos Isaakyan destroyed the sister car at Raidillon on the way to the grid. Promoted to pole,…

BRITISH RACER DAN WELLS will contest a further three rounds of the Chinese Touring Car Championship this season after making his debut in the series at Nanjing last weekend. Wells sealed a late deal last Thursday to join the Changan Ford team to handle one of its two-litre Ford Focus machines in the double-header. After qualifying on pole for race one, Wells finished fourth, but retired from race two after being hit by team-mate and 2014 British Formula 3 champion Martin Cao while running in third. The 24-year-old began his career racing Formula Ford 1600 and Formula Renault in the UK before moving to Asia to chase new opportunities. Wells dominated last year’s Formula Renault Asia Championship driving for the KCMG team, winning 10 races in a row from the…

A DETERMINED LAST-LAP CHARGE from Tim Neat netted him a maiden Locost victory at Croft. Danny Andrew initially led a three-car break from Lee Emm and Ben Powney, but after running side by side for a couple of laps Andrew and Emm both spun independently at Sunny on lap four. Powney was left with a sizeable lead over Richard Bradley and Martin West, but Neat picked them off one by one and had the lead into Tower on the last lap. Powney held on for second and, after a number of swaps with Bradley, West claimed his first podium in third. Neat went side by side with poleman Jack Coveney through the Jim Clark Esses at the start of race two, only to spin exiting Sunny and again at the…

As a young driver you want to go down the Formula 1 route, like everybody does, but I soon understood how tough that was. I stopped doing Formula Renault in 2003; I did the Winter series and then through 2004, ’05 and ’06 was involved with a company called Chiron World Sports Cars, which did Britsport races. In 2006 my brother [Chris] got involved with Maserati with JMB Racing and I was lucky enough to do a deal for a full season of the Maserati Trofeo. Unfortunately our sponsor pulled out after the first round, which was very frustrating because we actually won that race at Monza. Then in 2007 Chris got involved with Binnie Motorsport in LMP2; he did the Le Mans Series with them and at the time,…

THE PRIZE ● A team entry to either the Le Mans 24 Hour July 16-17 2016 or the British 24 Hour August 13-14 2016 for a team of four drivers. This will include: ● Team entry ● Fuel ● Practice sessions ● Kit ● A professional driver coaching session at Position-One Motorsport to include: ● Simulator Session ● Professional Driver Coaching advice ● PLUS a tour of the GULF RACING garage. ● 4x Walero base layer shirts, one for each competition winner. Please note that no travel or accommodation is included in this prize. TOTAL PRIZE WORTH £3750 TO ENTER ANSWER THIS QUESTION HOW MANY BRITISH DRIVERS HAVE WON THE LE MANS 24 HOURS CAR RACE? A 20 B 32 C 44 ENTER AT AUTOSPORT.COM/COMPETITION COMPETITION CLOSES AT 11.59PM ON…

THE FORMULA 3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP – and the larger motorsport world – breathed a huge sigh of relief when it was discovered that the injuries to ‘Peter’ Li Zhi Cong in last Saturday’s first race at the Red Bull Ring were not life-threatening. The 22-year-old Chinese racer was unsighted due to a huge dust cloud when he ploughed straight into the rear of Carlin team-mate Ryan Tveter’s Dallara-Volkswagen, which had spun 360 degrees through the gravel trap at the second of the Austrian track’s two fast lefthanders and come to rest on the racing line. Li’s car was launched into the air, where it overturned before bouncing upside down in the gravel trap at the following right-hand kink. Pedro Piquet, running behind Li after a drive-through penalty for a false…

IT’S DIFFICULT TO REMEMBER SEBASTIEN LOEB sounding so enthusiastic. That’s no reflection on the man himself, but when you follow 78 world rallies and nine titles with two years in the World Touring Car Championship, the fire might need the odd stoke. Loeb’s fire is burning as brightly as ever now that he’s a full-time member of the FIA World Rallycross Championship with Peugeot. He’s loving and learning every minute of his new life, and he’s really looking forward to crossing the Channel to Kent for this weekend’s World RX of Great Britain at Lydden Hill. “Kent?” said Loeb. “I don’t know this place. I have to look on YouTube. I never drove this track.” It’s fast. “Fast? Good. I hope it should suit our car.” Earlier this month, Loeb…

Winner’s average speed 107.938mph. Fastest lap Ilott, 1m23.276s, 116.203mph. QUALIFYING 1 1 Ilott, 1m23.969s; 2 Gunther, 1m23.987s; 3 Barnicoat, 1m24.024s; 4 Stroll, 1m24.058s; 5 Eriksson, 1m24.092s; 6 Russell, 1m24.156s; 7 Piquet, 1m24.328s; 8 Jensen, 1m24.091s*; 9 Aron, 1m24.406s; 10 Cassidy, 1m24.711s; 11 Newey, 1m24.715s; 12 Beckmann, 1m24.773s; 13 Kari, 1m24.791s; 14 Zhou, 1m24.830s; 15 Sette Camara, 1m24.551s*; 16 Tveter, 1m24.841s; 17 Hubert, 1m24.995s; 18 Lorandi, 1m25.256s; 19 Maini, 1m25.483s; 20 Mazepin, 1m25.496s; 21 Tan, 1m26.631s; 22 Li, 1m25.390s*. RACE 2 (24 LAPS – 64.513 MILES) 1 Stroll, 35m11.908s; 2 Russell, +12.424s; 3 Kari, +12.891s; 4 Ilott, +14.909s; 5 Jensen, +18.938s; 6 Gunther, +19.813s; 7 Beckmann, +20.686s; 8 Sette Camara, +24.825s; 9 Lorandi, +28.232s; 10 Hubert, +32.026s; 11 Zhou, +32.273s; 12 Aron, +33.727s; 13 Tan, +34.596s; 14 Eriksson, +35.261s; 15 Barnicoat,…

BRITISH GT CHAMPIONSHIP leader Jonny Adam will bid not only to extend his points lead this weekend at Oulton Park, but will also contest the Nurburgring 24 Hours. Adam will share a factory Aston Martin Racing Vantage with fellow World Endurance Championship racers Richie Stanaway, Fernando Rees and Mathias Lauda in the Nordschleife classic. He will spend much of the week in Germany for practice and qualifying, before flying back to Manchester on Friday night ready to take part in practice and qualifying at Oulton Park aboard the TF Sport Aston he shares with Derek Johnston. This means he will miss the start of the 24 Hours, but he will fly back to Germany on Saturday evening ready to do the night/morning stints on Sunday while British GT observes Oulton…

LEO VOYAZIDES’ MEMORIES OF A catalogue of Donington Historic Festival disasters faded when his fortunes turned at Silverstone. With FIA Masters Historic Formula 1 champion Andy Wolfe subbing for Simon Hadfield, Voyazides’ team strength was uncompromised, yet their GT & Sports Car Cup win was fortuitous. While Julian Thomas (Jaguar E-type) and Will Nuthall (Lister-Jaguar) slugged it out up front and John Pearson pitted the pole-sitting E-type with head-gasket failure, Voyazides (AC Cobra) settled in to a flat-out half-hour chase of Frank Stippler in Marcus Graf von Oeynhausen’s garish Gotcha Racing E-type before passing the Audi pro for second on lap 11, Nuthall having already relayed Monaco winner Tony Wood, who had started father Barry’s E-type. Thomas and Voyazides pitted together under a safety car – triggered when the engine…

JACK SYCAMORE PROVED TO BE THE MAZDA MX-5 master in wet and dry conditions, as he battled to a hat-trick of victories to take the championship lead. Sycamore led the wet first race from pole as Ben Short and Adam Bessell initially duelled for second. Sam Smith then came through to demote Bessell and quickly homed in on Short, before taking second into Sunny on lap four. Smith’s charge continued and into Sunny for the last time he and Sycamore were alongside each other. But race-long leader Sycamore just held on to win, with Will Blackwell-Chambers third, having ousted Short into Tower on lap five. In the early laps of the second race Sycamore had to fend off Blackwell-Chambers and Smith, while Short fought off a six-car challenge for fourth.…

“FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA that actually do their homework, the last tweet wasn’t about you. It was for the irresponsible pinheads!” That told them, Tony Stewart. But it was also part-apology, journalists not on the Kevin-Harvick-to-Hendrick rumour bandwagon having indignantly tweeted straight back at Stewart when he appeared to be tweet-slating the entire press while announcing Harvick’s new Stewart-Haas deal. Of the motorsport series with the biggest fanbases, it’s NASCAR that’s gaining most from the world having some uncensored access into what goes on in its drivers’ heads. To NASCAR-haters, its racers are either corporate sponsorname-checking robots or idiots colliding with and punching each other, but little else in between. Twitter is showing there’s more nuance than that, and giving existing fans some spicy entertainment too. When the…

Being a long distance driver is many things, because there are so many different opportunities. The serious, top-rank professionals know what they’ve got to do, because of the reliability of the cars, the television exposure and the career implications. That’s a fairly brutal place to be, because drivers have to be fast and they have to be competitive with their team-mates. The Le Mans 24 Hours, for example, is very big time. But when you’re doing Le Mans, there’s quite a variation in driver levels. It adds colour to the race and dealing with the traffic is a major issue. And there’ve been some quite big crashes there that are not always the fault of the slower driver but because of the determination, sometimes, of the faster driver not to…

Keep it consistent. Manage the traffic. Nail the night. There are other elements that go into winning a round-the-clock race, but these are three crucial components that a driver must be able to achieve if there is to be any chance of success. Autosport Performance partner Position One Motorsports is a sister company to Gulf Racing, the World Endurance Championship team whose GTE Am drivers – GP2 race winner and A1 Grand Prix champion Adam Carroll, Porsche Supercup frontrunner Ben Barker and Gulf Racing co-founder Mike Wainwright – will be making their Le Mans debuts in June. As we have covered in previous editions of Autosport Performance, Position One and Gulf Racing are based in the same headquarters in Milton Keynes, along with a classroom, gym, massage therapy facility and…

Worldwide motorsport is littered with 24-hour races. For the ultimate professional challenge there’s Le Mans. For the driver seeking GT experience there’s Dubai. For Brits, there’s Silverstone or the 2CV 24 Hours. For the amateur who has always dreamed of racing through the night, there’s Le Mans. Hang on, we’ve come full circle. That’s because whether you’re at the foot of the motorsport ladder or at the very top, there’s a 24-hour race in France for you. The arrive-and-drive experts at Teesside Karting operate two 24-hour events, one (unsurprisingly) in Teesside in the north-east of England and another at the kart track – named after Alain Prost – that borders France’s Circuit de la Sarthe. Hallowed turf indeed. An Autosport team raced in the Le Mans 24 Hours kart equivalent…

“If it goes well on Sunday, maybe we can make a movie” JAMES HINCHCLIFFE TOOK POLE POSITION for the 100th Indianapolis 500 just a year and four days after almost losing his life at the track. When Hinchcliffe arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Month of May run-up to Sunday’s race, he said he didn’t want to focus on his near-death experience. But he couldn’t escape it. Now it’s a storyline that, for Hinchcliffe, would have the perfect ending with victory in the race. “If it goes well on Sunday, maybe we can make a movie,” he joked. Hinchcliffe’s crash during practice at Turn 3 last year led to a wishbone piercing his car’s monocoque and going through right leg, upper-left leg and into his pelvis, resulting in…

RALLY PORTUGAL CLERK of the course Pedro Almeida instructed crews to start the fifth stage of his event, despite Hayden Paddon’s Hyundai being on fire on the stage. The Kiwi went off in a fourth-gear corner. When the i20 came to rest, the exhaust set fire to the grass and forest. The Hyundai was lost. The stage was only stopped when Ott Tanak crashed into the flames Almeida said: “You stop if the road is blocked or you need urgent medical assistance. If the road is clear and no assistance is necessary, there is no reason to stop the stage.”…

Max Verstappen’s win in Spain made good headlines, but I cannot agree that it is good for the sport long-term. His path into that position was much too easy and diminishes respect for grand prix drivers in general. For me to respect a driver I need him to have toiled in the lower formulas, sometimes with inferior machinery, and achieved domination in those formulas by skill and effort. I think there should be a recognised route to Formula 1 only for winners of GP2 and F3 championships. It will ruin the lower formulas if they are no longer seen as a route to the top. Max is very good, but so is Stoffel Vandoorne and there are others out there who are more deserving and probably just as capable. Let’s…

AT A GLANCE RACE ONE 1 Wittmann BMW 2 Blomqvist BMW 3 Mortara Audi RACE TWO 1 Glock BMW 2 Ekstrom Audi 3 Green Audi P43 FULL RESULTS DTM RED BULL RING (A) MAY 21-22 ROUND 2/9 BMW STARTED THE RED BULL RING ROUND as the DTM lightweights, but as the trucks rolled out of the Austrian Alps the octet of the Munich manufacturer’s M4 DTMs were the series’ heavyweights – both literally and metaphorically. Marco Wittmann claimed honours on Saturday and Timo Glock triumphed on Sunday, claiming a double for the RMG team from an event the BMWs began 7.5kg lighter than their opposition, and finished heavier. In fact, the Bimmers put on a net gain of 10kg relative to Audi and Mercedes on the strength of Saturday qualifying,…

AT A GLANCE RACE ONE 1 Ilott Van Amersfoort 2 Stroll Prema 3 Gunther Prema RACE TWO 1 Stroll Prema 2 Russell Hitech 3 Kari Motopark RACE THREE 1 Stroll Prema 2 Ilott Van Amersfoort 3 Gunther Prema FORMULA 3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP RED BULL RING (A) MAY 21-22 ROUND 4/10 LANCE STROLL AND CALLUM ILOTT starred in Styria to leave the Red Bull Ring first and second respectively in the Formula 3 European Championship. Stroll was already in front as the field had left Pau a few days earlier, but there was one thing missing: a win he had properly earned for himself. Everyone could see that he was capable of exquisite performances in his own right – the pole positions, in tricky drying conditions at Paul Ricard, and a…

JOINT BRITISH TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP points leader Matt Neal is to take part in the Dave Allan Trophy race at Castle Combe on Bank Holiday Monday. The three-time BTCC champion is returning to the event after last contesting it in 2014. He will race a Synchro Motorsport Honda Jazz in the 45-minute race, driving alongside his son Will. Neal’s eldest son Henry will also take part in a Honda Integra, with both Neal brothers racing in the Mini Challenge at Silverstone over the weekend. Matt Neal said: “I am really pleased to be racing with both my sons in this year’s Dave Allan Trophy. In previous years there has been a fantastic atmosphere, and I’m sure this year will be no exception. “The Dave Allan Trophy race is a brilliant…

IAN FLUX WENT BACK TO HIS RACING roots at Silverstone to race an ex-Nigel Mansell March 783 in the Classic Formula 3 Championship, scoring a podium on his return. Flux, who recently celebrated his 60th birthday, was racing the car now owned by his friend Sean Walker. He competed against the 783 in Mansell’s hands at Brands Hatch during a 1978 F3 race. Flux was fourth in the opening race before improving to third in race two. Walker hopes to gain a Monaco entry for the March if the two-litre F3 cars are granted a race at the Historic Grand Prix. “If and when there is a race for these cars at Monaco, we’d like to be there,” said Walker. “Ian raced three times in the Monaco F3 race, starting…

EDWARDS TO RACE IN SCOTTISH MINIS Jade Edwards will be the latest guest driver to race in the Scottish Mini Cooper Cup (above) this weekend as part of a charity initiative. Edwards raced in British GT last year and was part of the Aston Martin Evolution Academy. She will race for Minimax Motorsport to raise funds for Children’s Hospice Association Scotland. BTCC STAR TORDOFF ON CIVIC PODIUM Sam Tordoff guest-drove in the Tegiwa Honda Civic Cup at Croft last weekend and took a podium finish on his first outing. “There was no testing, nothing like that,” he said. “I have never done a club meeting before, or raced with a manual gearbox or on road tyres.” GT4 CHAMPION TEAM REJOINS FIELD 2015 British GT champion squad Academy Motorsport will rejoin…

A CAUTIOUS START FROM CHARLES BARTER ON POLE was the first key to son Julian’s second successive ’70s Road Sports victory of the season, this time aboard Jim Dean’s Lotus Europa. Will Leverett’s Porsche 911SC outdragged them to Copse, but Julian forged ahead and Charles followed suit in evil conditions. John Williams’s Paragon 911 was fourth. Peter Shaw also repeated his Castle Combe success in Historic Road Sports, under increasing pressure from fellow Elan man John Davison, who could see so little in the spray that he chased the leader’s lights. Third-placed Robin Pearce’s Morgan +8 was with them much of the way, comfortably beyond reach of Kevin Kivlochan, who blasted his sister car from last to fourth after fuel pick-up problems thwarted practice. Leo Voyazides completed his hat-trick in…

ANDREW MITCHELL WAS UNABLE to secure a fourth-straight Bill Phillips Trophy win, losing out to Bugatti driver Mike Preston as the VSCC took to a damp and gloomy Oulton Park. Having put his HRG on pole in a rain-disrupted qualifying session, Mitchell’s run of form looked set to continue. But as he struggled for grip when the lights went out, spinning up his wheels, the door was instead opened for Sue Darbyshire and Preston to get ahead, passing on both sides through Old Hall. Previous trophy winner Darbyshire kept Preston honest – the winner admitting “I thought I’d better press on when I realised it was Sue behind me” – but she couldn’t quite make her Morgan Three Wheeler wide enough on the final lap as poleman Mitchell snuck by…

01 Why should I care about electronic equipment? Choosing the correct electronic equipment for racecars can be the difference between a DNF and finishing on the podium. Electronic parts rarely degrade in performance over time – they tend to either work perfectly or not at all. As such, should they fail then it usually means race over. 02 What are the basic areas of electronic equipment that can lead directly to performance improvements? There’s the adage ‘To finish first, first you must finish’ and this is very true with electronics. Although electronics within engine management systems is widely recognised as an area where performance can be increased, unreliability in other areas of the car’s electrical systems can quickly cause loss of performance – if not a total breakdown. For example,…

01 DUNLOP CURVE/CHICANE Turns 1, 2, 3 We’re flat-out around the curve before the Dunlop chicane and you can use extra track width on the outside to get a better, straighter line for the braking point. There’s a bump in the road we use as a braking point – we brake just after that. It’s a pretty standard chicane. You can’t be too aggressive on the kerbs on the left or right. On a qualifying lap you might have two wheels up on the big kerb, but in the race you’ll be staying on the normal concrete kerb. The key is to keep tight in the left to get a straight run and to get on the power through the right as early as possible with the four-wheel-drive traction. You…