Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2015 i Autosport

Desperate times are often used to justify desperate measures. Formula 1 has its troubles, not least the massive financial and constitutional divides between the privileged constructors’ championship bonus teams, who sit on Formula 1’s rule-framing Strategy Group and share huge annual bonuses, and the rest, who enjoy no such rights regardless of performance. Reports of the results of the latest round of ‘blue-sky thinking’ supposedly aimed at addressing the sport’s problems led this writer to consider the wisdom of the award-winning anti-apartheid writer and activist Alan Paton. “You ask yourself,” he wrote during South Africa’s most troubled days, “not if this or that is expedient, but whether it is right [or wrong].” Paton’s words resonated after news broke of a meeting of team bosses called by F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone…

The Malaysian Grand Prix marked something of a watershed moment for Toro Rosso as it was the first time since the Italian team became a fully-fledged constructor in 2010 that it had managed to get both cars to the chequered flag in the points ahead of two finishing Red Bulls. The Faenza-based team was the fourth quickest on race pace, finishing seventh and eighth, behind world champion Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams, to put it fifth in the constructors’ championship, ahead of sister team Red Bull for the first time since the second race of 2009. Red Bull struggled with brake issues at Sepang amid an unusually off-colour weekend. But, while the four-time world champion team continues to struggle, there’s no reason why Toro Rosso can’t keep the tables turned in…

The growth of the BES hasn’t been mirrored by the sprint series. Just 19 cars were on the entry for last weekend’s series opener at Nogaro, and boss Stephane Ratel isn’t entirely sure why. “Last year, we started at 20 cars and went to 25 at Zolder [the penultimate round before the Baku invitational finale] with natural growth,” he says. “I really thought we would start with around that number this year.” Ratel believes several factors are responsible for the low entry, including the departure of a couple of teams in circumstances that reflect positively on the championship. Grasser, for example, is racing in the BES after landing a Lamborghini factory deal as a result of its success in the BSS last year. A clash between Nogaro and the opening…

MSA FORMULA BRANDS HATCH INDY, APRIL 4-5 RD 1/10 Norris and Collard are first victors in MSA Formula TWO WINS FOR LANDO NORRIS MEANT THAT THE former karter left Brands Hatch as the man to beat after some intriguing racing in the inaugural weekend of MSA Formula. Norris grabbed the lead at the start of a disappointing first race, as pole man Daniel Baybutt ran wide. He never looked back as he claimed the opening win and even a safety car, caused by Louise Richardson spinning at Paddock Hill Bend, didn’t faze him. Jack Barlow was also in the wars as start-line contact with Richardson forced him out. While the cars ran close together throughout, there was little overtaking of note except for Daniel Ticktum’s move for second around the…

AF CORSE FERRARI 458 ITALIA DRIVERS Ferrari’s factory representative in the WEC returns with an unchanged line-up: Bruni and Vilander are seeking to retain the GT drivers’ title they claimed last year, while Calado and Rigon are looking to continue the progress they made at the end of the season. There’s a minor aerodynamic update for the 458, based around the aero spec that it was allowed to run at Le Mans in 2014, but Balance of Performance regulations have resulted in a 10kg increase in minimum weight. PORSCHE TEAM MANTHEY PORSCHE 911 RSR DRIVERS An update of the 991-shape RSR, aerodynamics included, is an attempt to hone the car into a more consistent contender – over a stint, at a variety of circuits and in all conditions. Whether it…

EUROPEAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP CIRCUIT OF IRELAND (GB), APRIL 2-4 RD 3/10 TITANIC: ADJECTIVE; GIGANTIC, colossal. Titanic Quarter: Belfast’s home of the Circuit of Ireland Rally. The name fits. The fight for last week’s third round of the European Rally Championship was gigantic, colossal and more. And, much to the joy of the huge local support, it was won by Craig Breen – home success for the first time since the return of the Circuit’s ERC status. The ERC’s tagline of ‘serious competition ahead’ looked wide of the mark on the eve of the event; Breen’s biggest rivals were the Ford Fiesta R5 trio of Robert Barrable, Alastair Fisher and Kajetan Kajetanowicz. Barrable was badly missing seat time; Fisher had never driven an R5 car and Kajetanowicz had never previously set…

MOTORBASE AND BEECHDEAN SHARED THE VICTORY spoils as the British GT championship burst back into action at Oulton Park last weekend, but the opening race was decided off-track. The pleasant ‘back to school’ atmosphere in the paddock during qualifying on Saturday, as the series adapted to the departure of Nissan, Bentley, Audi and Porsche from GT3 and other squads switched to new machinery, changed come raceday on Easter Monday as a number of high-profile teams were caught up in accidents in a spectacular first race. FF Corse’s Adam Carroll won on the road for the Ferrari team after taking the lead of the race during the pitstop phase, which occurred under a safety car, but he was later judged by the stewards to have blocked the Motorbase Aston of Rory…

Let’s be cruel for a minute: the organisers of the Formula 3 European Championship took the unofficial prize for ‘mostpointless new concept of 2014’ with their instigation of a separate rookie championship. With Esteban Ocon and Max Verstappen on fire, and Antonio Fuoco and Jake Dennis chasing hard, some suggested that it was the older guys who needed their own title to chase. By the end of the first race weekend at Silverstone, we’d already seen Ocon, Verstappen and Fuoco stand on the podium once as the overall top three, and then clamber up again as the rookie prizewinners. This year could well be different. After all, with Felix Rosenqvist and Antonio Giovinazzi staying on in F3, it’s going to be a tough ask for any of the newcomers to…

Racing Steps Foundation THE RACING STEPS FOUNDATION is reviving its shootout this season as it looks to add new drivers to the scheme. Three MSA Formula drivers will be chosen to take part in the selection process, which is likely to feature seven or eight drivers in total at the first stage. That will then be pared down for an on-track evaluation which will decide if RSF will add any drivers to its roster. While the RSF has entered into an official partnership with MSA Formula, the fund’s Derek Walters insisted it would not be limiting its search. “Although three drivers from MSA Formula will be selected, there is the possibility of other talented youngsters, even from karting,” he stressed. “We will consider any other young British drivers out there…

The voice of club racing “YOUNG DRIVERS SHOWING PROMISE IN HISTORIC RACES” The competitor demographic at historic racing events may inevitably be weighted towards the older generations, who can better afford the cars of their dreams, but it’s always great to see a vein of young talent emerging, particularly in the single-seater classes. Former HSCC FF1600 champion Michael Lyons’ 125mph laps in a Hesketh 308E at Thruxton’s season-opener over the weekend not only thrilled spectators, but the Derek Bell Trophy invitee – who is fortunate to have a family fleet of cars at his disposal – will have provided inspiration for the younger set who may aspire to similar heights, if not the pinnacle of professional motorsport. I love the endeavour behind some of the historic efforts, typical of which…

DEREK BELL TROPHY THRUXTON, APRIL 4-5 HSCC MICHAEL LYONS’ SCINTILLATING 1m07.648s (125mph) lap in his Formula 1 Hesketh 308E will long be embedded in the memories of spectators at the third HSCC Thruxton Easter Revival. That the European Le Mans Series LMP2 and Blancpain Endurance Series GT racer annihilated all comers in the Derek Bell Trophy as an invitee mattered not a jot. The shrill wail of a Cosworth DFV engine, on full throttle, reminded hardened fans of the circuit’s Aurora AFX British F1 races and the 1985 European Formula 3000 round, testing times for which were similar “It’s a bit of fun round here – quite fast,” said Lyons after his awesome Saturday display. “It’s pretty much flat round the back, but not quite. You forget how much G-force…

NATIONAL FF1600 SILVERSTONE INTERNATIONAL, APRIL 4-5 BRSCC TRIPLE WALTER HAYES TROPHY winner Joey Foster showed his class with a double victory in the National FF1600 season opener at Silverstone. Having secured his international racing return with a European Le Mans Series drive for the coming weekend, Foster arrived for the International circuit debut of contemporary FF1600 having missed free practice. Nevertheless, he claimed pole by half-a-second. “It is so important to get a tow around here,” he said. The Cornish driver, aboard Don Hardman’s Ray GR10, eased clear in the opener as the pack jostled behind. Cliff Dempsey Racing driver Patrick Dussault was second for much of the race, although fellow Ray man Luke Williams got ahead for a couple of corners at the end of lap two. Having chased…

SCOTTISH MINIS KNOCKHILL, APRIL 5 SMRC DESPITE HAVING MANY SALOON CAR titles to his name, Oliver Mortimer hasn’t been able to consistently challenge the dominance of Ken Thirlwall since his return to full-time racing. However, there were signs last weekend that the tide has turned. Mortimer won the last race of 2014 and began this season speaking confidently about the bigger picture of a title challenge. He backed that up with two wins in the season opener. Qualifying was cancelled due to heavy fog, so the grid lined up based on last year’s championship order. Mortimer, therefore, was left to follow fellow champion Thirlwall in the early laps with Joe Tanner in hot pursuit. Tanner made it past to take up the chase but suffered a problem with a solid…

CASTLE COMBE APRIL 6 COUNTLESS HOURS OF WINTER TOIL honing his ex-works/Michael Vergers Duckhams Van Diemen RF90 to perfection were rewarded when Jonathan Hoad scorched to his maiden Castle Combe Formula F1600 victory before a huge audience on a gloriously warm and sunny Easter Monday. The WDK Motorsport mechanic started from pole on the threequarters resurfaced circuit and took advantage of Josh Fisher’s start from row three to second which, allied to brother Felix’s poor one, allowed him to break free. Hoad opened a three-second lead when Nathan Ward, then Roger Orgee, moved into second. Having erased Marcus Allen’s five-year-old Class B lap record (and threatened Josh Fisher’s outright target), Hoad turned up his pace when Orgee began to chase him down. His consummate display earned him Driver of the…

To Franz Tost: a lot of the ‘stupid’ criticism about having Max Verstappen in Formula 1 is not performance-related, but about the advisability of putting a 17-year-old in such a highly competitive environment. Sport and entertainment are full of examples of precocious talents who shone brightly only to end up having a difficult time in life for missing out on things like friends, school and family in their formative years. I can only hope that the people around Verstappen will have the common sense to support him and back off if necessary in order to spare him this dire course. Michele Robecchi, by email My wife and I have just returned from an organised tour of Silverstone, and I must say what an enjoyable and informative experience it was. The…

MCLAREN CLAIMS ‘MASSIVE’ PROGRESS McLaren-Honda is already seeing a “massive difference” in its performance across the first month of the season, says the team’s racing director Eric Boullier. Although the revived partnership has yet to score a point or get beyond Q1 in a qualifying session, and only has one finish to its name so far from Jenson Button’s 11th place in the Australian Grand Prix, Boullier is encouraged by the level of progress since McLaren’s troubled winter. McLaren and Honda languished at the foot of the mileage charts after the 12 days of testing. But after trailing the field on pace in Australia, McLaren was at least able to battle with other cars in Malaysia before engine problems caused Button and Fernando Alonso to retire. “We’re not in the…

TEST HINTS AT MEGA-CLOSE GP2 DAMS driver Pierre Gasly topped the final GP2 pre-season test in Bahrain, with the top six drivers separated by just 0.252 seconds. The Red Bull junior pipped title favourite Stoffel Vandoorne (ART) by 0.014s, with Russian Time’s Mitch Evans third ahead of Racing Engineering driver Alexander Rossi. The leading times were set on Friday morning, the final day of the test. With Raffaele Marciello (Trident) and Alex Lynn (DAMS) fifth and sixth, McLaren protege Vandoorne believes the timesheets reflect how tight the competition will be this year. “I would say the morning session was quite representative,” said the Belgian. “Some drivers had two sets of option tyres left and some had one left, but in the end I think it’s quite a good view of…

SPECIAL REPORT Victory for Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari in the Malaysian Grand Prix couldn’t have come at a better time for Formula 1. Off the back of a dull seasonopener in Australia, events at Sepang, in particular the avoidance of another Mercedes ‘silverwash’, have helped stave off (at least temporarily) the wolves baying for the sport’s blood. But that doesn’t mean Formula 1 doesn’t still have some serious problems it needs to address. The sport exists in a state of perpetual angst. Debates about its supposedly perilous future are endless, and asinine in their lack of resolution. How should commercial revenues be distributed? Should budget caps be introduced? Should technical regulations be more restrictive or less? Should the cars be harder to drive? Should the engines be cheaper and louder,…

1 Conduct detailed research into what sports fans like and don’t like about Formula 1. From that research it should be possible to determine exactly which elements of the sporting weekend are popular and necessary to keep spectators engaged. 2 Take a firm decision on short-term changes or stability in the current regulations, to make the sport more sustainable for its current competitors and make gains in terms of audience engagement. 3 Market research should also indicate where fans see the ideal balance between technological innovation and human performance in Formula 1. A firm consensus can then be established on whether medium-term technical regulation changes are needed to improve the spectacle of Formula 1, through alterations to the cars. 4 Establish a common vision from within the sport (agreed by…

Toro Rosso had its critics when it announced a rookie-driver line-up of Max Verstappen, 17, and Carlos Sainz Jr, 20, for 2015, with their combined age just two years older than Kimi Raikkonen’s. But on the evidence of the first two races of the season – with Sainz scoring in both and Verstappen becoming the youngest points scorer in Malaysia – you could argue those critics have been answered. “Max and Carlos have done a fantastic job without any mistakes,” says team boss Franz Tost. “They are open-minded and they want to learn until late at night. They want to see what is going on, what’s being changed on the car, and this understanding helps them perform well. They are high-skilled drivers.” Crucial to that early success was the team’s…

RESULTS RACE 1 24 laps, 28.990 miles Winner’s average speed: 87.53mph. Fastest lap: Plato, 48.756s, 89.19mph. Pole: Priaulx, 48.411s, 89.82mph. (S) = soft tyres used in this race. RACE 2 24 laps, 28.990 miles Winner’s average speed: 87.12mph. Fastest lap: Plato, 48.763s, 89.17mph. Pole: Plato. RACE 3 27 laps, 32.613 miles Winner’s average speed: 77.74mph. Fastest lap: Shedden, 48.982s, 88.77mph. Pole: Austin. DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP FOR IN-DEPTH RESULTS forix.autosport.com THIS WAS A SEASON BEING BILLED FOR ITS unpredictability, a season set to be as wide open as any British Touring Car Championship campaign has ever been. Hyperbole or not, there was plenty of anticipation as the tin-top circus rolled in to Brands Hatch. As it happens, such talk was spot on. A driver who has not raced in the championship since…

A bold move at the first chicane helps Nelson Piquet Jr to his maiden Formula E victory – 35 years after his father won his first grand prix on the same circuit. NELSON PIQUET JR KNEW THE SIGNIFICANCE OF Long Beach to his family before he arrived on the famous American streets last weekend. In 1980, it was the setting for his father’s first grand prix win, and 35 years on it was the turn of Nelson Jr to take his first victory in Formula E. Piquet didn’t hide from that history – on Saturday morning he unveiled a helmet copying his father’s design and colours to pay homage to that maiden F1 win – and after his commanding victory he was quick to point out the significance of more…

G-DRIVE RACING (OAK) LIGIER-NISSAN JSP2 DRIVERS #26 Sam Bird Roman Rusinov Julien Canal #28 Pipo Derani Gustavo Yacaman Ricardo Gonzalez Last year’s P2 runners-up return with an expanded two-car effort and an ultra-strong line-up – both in terms of the pros and the ams on board its pair of Ligiers, the fastest cars over the second half of last season. Bird comes in to replace Nissanbound Olivier Pla, while Canal is among the best silver-rated drivers in this pro-am class. SIGNATECH ALPINE ORECA-NISSAN 03R DRIVERS #36 Nelson Panciatici Paul-Loup Chatin Vincent Capillaire The winner of the past two ELMS titles graduates to the WEC with team regulars Panciatici and Chatin and former Sebastien Loeb Racing driver Capillaire. It has retained its open-top ORECA, at least for the races up to…

There’s a healthy LMP2 field, a control tyre for the GT categories, a new prototype class in the form of LMP3 and a driver on the grid whose sporting successes have made him a household name. There’s a lot going on in the European Le Mans Series in 2015, which gets back under way in support of WEC at Silverstone on Saturday. A total of 11 P2s are on the entry list for this weekend’s Silverstone opener. ELMS race winners Jota Sport, Murphy Prototypes, Greaves Motorsport and TDS Racing are all returning to the series, to be joined by non-European additions in Krohn Racing from the US and Eurasia from the Far East. Jota is back with the same line-up that came within four points of the title last year,…

SUPER GT OKAYAMA (J), APRIL 5 RD 1/8 THE TOM’S LEXUS TEAM’S ITALIAN ace Andrea Caldarelli followed up his season-closing 2014 victory with a win in the ’15 opener, this time partnered by up-and-coming local talent Ryo Hirakawa, who took his maiden Super GT success. In damp conditions the majority of the field took the start on medium-compound rain tyres, with Caldarelli sprinting clear at the front. Rising through the field was his compatriot Ronnie Quintarelli, who surged the NISMO Nissan into the lead on the 17th lap, only for brake failure to force him into an early pitstop. As the track dried the Honda NSXs came to the fore, with Takashi Kogure in the Drago machine moving into the lead and Naoki Yamamoto with the Team Kunimitsu car taking…

BRITISH GT4 OULTON PARK INTERNATIONAL (GB), APRIL ISSY RACING’S OZ YUSUF AND GAVAN KERSHAW were left aggrieved with the timing of the second safety car in race one, which cost them the lead of a race eventually won by Ginetta duo Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson. Yusuf had been leading by a significant margin before he pitted just as the safety car came out, and Lotus team-mate Kershaw was stuck behind the pace car when he emerged, losing a lap. Despite the high number of incidents among the GT3 field, Robinson duly brought the Ginetta G55 home safely to win the GT4 class in race one. He was challenged by the Astons of Ross Gunn and Mike Hart, but escaped as they fought each other. “God knows what happened but…

LEADING MSA FORMULA figures believe the new category is off to an encouraging start following its curtain raiser at Brands Hatch last weekend. The relaunched Formula Ford series runs to FIA F4 specification and attracted a strong 20-car entry for its opening round. With a lower age limit of 15, compared to its main rival the BRDC Formula 4, a number of young karting graduates were among the participants. Carlin’s former Ginetta Junior racer Lando Norris took two of the three wins, while the other went to Arden’s Ricky Collard, one of the few drivers to have any prior single-seater racing experience. HOW DID THE CARS RUN? Even with extensive pre-season testing there were still a few teething troubles with the Mygale, which affected the frontrunners in separate races. The…

Super Touring A VOLVO S40 AND AN AUDI A4 Quattro have been confirmed as part of this year’s HSCC Super Touring Trophy. The 1998 ex-Gianni Morbidelli BTCC Volvo will be driven by historic racer Jason Minshaw, while his brother and British GT frontrunner Jon will compete in an ex-Hans Stuck 1995 Audi. Former GT racer Chris Beighton will also contest selected events in an ex-Gabriele Tarquini 1997 Honda Accord. Two 1996 MSD Accords will be raced by Tom Gladdis and Paul Whight. The opening Super Touring rounds will be at the Donington Park Historic Festival on May 2-4, with 22 cars entered, and organiser Jonny Westbrook believes the Volvo and 1997 Honda are capable of challenging for wins. “Without a doubt the S40 can take on the Hondas,” he added.…

JORDAN GRONKOWSKI HAS been a front-runner in Scottish Formula Ford 1600 for the last four years. In his efforts to finally seal the title, Gronkowski has traded in his trusty 25-yearold Van Diemen for a newer JL012K model. But at the end of the first lap of race one, Adam MacKay made it past him on the straight and took the win. Following the recent success of teenager Ciaran Haggerty, newcomer Neil MacLennan attracted much of the media attention. The fog-abandoned qualifying meant he started at the back of the grid, but the former karter sliced through the field to finish third. Gronkowski got the jump away from the grid in race two and was at the front of the three-car battle for the win until lap five, when MacKay…

BRITISH RALLYCROSS LYDDEN HILL, APRIL 6 PEUGEOT 208 DRIVER ANDY Scott grabbed a last-minute victory at the second round of the British Rallycross Championship at Lydden Hill, as leader Julian Godfrey succumbed to suspension damage in the closing stages of the A Final. Multiple champion Godfrey looked on to make up for a troublesome opening round of the series at Croft last month by setting fastest time of the day in the heats, qualifying on pole position and leading the final until the closing stages. He made the best start in the final, leading into Chessens Drift with Scott hot on his heals. Andy Grant ran third in his Ford Focus while Steve Harris, Steve Mundy and Kevin Procter headed directly for the joker lap immediately. Grant was next to…

Though manufacturers have always come and gone in Formula 1, the sport has never been able to resist their charms, not least because they confer wealth and status on the category and help drive forward technical innovation. In 2008, before the most recent global financial recession, there were six different manufacturers competing in F1. Seven years later four remain: Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault and Honda (thanks to its 2015 return with McLaren). So where are the rest? Well, the short answer is sportscar racing. Toyota has joined Audi, Porsche (part of the same VW group) and now Nissan at the top level of sportscar racing – LMP1 in the WEC, while BMW (which, like Toyota, quit F1 after 2009) is focused on GT racing and the DTM. Rumours swirl from time…

By any standards, it is an amazing grid. There are 23 cars entered for the top Pro Cup class of this weekend’s opening round of the Blancpain Endurance Series at Monza and they are packed full of top drivers. Which makes it difficult to argue against the statement that the BES is the most competitive GT championship in the world right now. There are factory teams from Bentley with M-Sport and Lamborghini, which has entrusted its new Huracan GT3 to the Austrian Grasser squad, and Nissan with RJN Motorsport. Then, just as importantly, there are the swathes of factory drivers from Audi and McLaren placed with customer teams. And that’s not even taking the other 33 full-season cars, entered across the Pro-Am and Am categories, into account. Series boss Stephane…

An all-new car, and three of them for the Le Mans 24 Hours. A move into the highest megajoule class. And, perhaps most importantly of all, a season’s worth of racing experience under its belt. There are good reasons for Porsche to be confident that it has made an across-the-board improvement as it embarks on its 2015 World Endurance Championship campaign at Silverstone this weekend. Which begs the question, is this the year that the marque recaptures its past glories at the very pinnacle of sportscar racing? Porsche doesn’t seem so sure. Or at least that’s what it is saying in public. The modest aspirations with which it made its return to the top of the sportscar tree last year have been upgraded, of course, but it is remaining humble…

BLANCPAIN SPRINT SERIES NOGARO (F), APRIL 5-6 RD 1/7 ANTONIO HERMANN’S BMW TEAM Brasil project’s wait for a Blancpain Sprint Series victory ended in the 2015 opener at Nogaro, as on-loan factory drivers Dirk Muller and Maxime Martin resisted the WRT Audi of Stephane Ortelli and Stephane Richelmi in an ultra-close championship race finish. That result turned the tables after a similarly tight qualifying race in which it had been Richelmi resisting Martin to the flag. But WRT’s Monegasque duo still fared best in title-race terms, with Muller’s and Martin’s presence only likely to be a one-off while the #77 BMW’s regular drivers Valdeno Brito and Atila Abreu were busy in Brazilian Stock Cars. Ortelli and Richelmi also benefited from the absence of WRT team-mates Laurens Vanthoor and Robin Frijns.…

V8 STOCK CARS RIBEIRAO PRETO (BR), APRIL 5 RD 2/12 MULTIPLE CHAMPION CACA BUENO ended a 23-month win drought by taking the honours in the first of two chaotic races on the short and narrow streets of Ribeirao Preto. On a damp track, Max Wilson scurried away from the field to build a lead of more than five seconds in his Eurofarma-RC Chevrolet, but as the track dried his full-wet set-up became a handicap. The tyre pressures rose, and Wilson lost the lead to Bueno’s Mattheis-run Red Bull Chevy at two-thirds distance. Marcos Gomes came through to take second from Julio Campos, Ricardo Mauricio, Thiago Camilo and Wilson. But both Mauricio and Wilson (along with 12th-placed Valdeno Brito) were excluded for switching to new slick tyres in parc ferme in…

PREMA POWERTEAM CAR DALLARA-MERCEDES The Italian team has run the past four Euro F3 champions, and with Mercedes-backed category veteran Rosenqvist transferring from Mucke Motorsport there’s every chance of a fifth. For the fourth year running, Prema fields a Ferrari Driver Academy youngster, this time in the form of Stroll. Maisano is very much a protege of the Stroll family and, had he been eligible for the overall Italian F4 title (he was too old), he would have narrowly beaten the Canadian. Racing Steps-backed Dennis also has a point to prove – he’s a strong racer and if he qualifies well he’ll be in there pitching. DRIVERS FELIX ROSENQVIST (S) 2014 8th in Euro F3; Macau GP winner JAKE DENNIS (GB) 2014 9th in Euro F3 BRANDON MAISANO (F) 2014…

Tom Smith and Callum Grant (who lost his wing on Saturday) won a Historic FF2000 race apiece as Royale, Delta and Reynard chassis showed their strengths with podium finishes. Tom White’s Osella and Scott Temple’s Crossle increased the marque diversity, topping Class B. Historic FF1600 returnee Ben Mitchell’s breaks from pole proved decisive, but the battling behind him was sensational. Max Bartell outfoxed Tiff Needell for Saturday’s silver, but Richard Mitchell (no relation) drove brilliantly to beat them on Sunday. In his second meeting the Exeter man, who has no karting experience, recovered to fifth after spinning on day one, then demonstrated professional racecraft in calmly outbraking ex-F1 driver Needell and Bartell to wrest second on Sunday. Andrew Hibberd had the Formula Junior opener won when his steed went lame…

OULTON PARK APRIL 4-6 BRSCC DAVID SUTTON WAS THE MAN TO beat in the VW Racing Cup. In a restarted race one his Scirocco got away early on with Aaron Mason a secure second. Howard Fuller’s Golf lost an early third to Lucas Orrock at Shell, but stayed close and got it back around the outside of Cascades on the last lap. Joe McMillan was fifth with defending Champion Joe Fulbrook a late sixth. McMillan started the second race from the front row, but within a lap Sutton was into second and challenging. Fulbrook slipped back from an early third which left Mason and Fuller duelling. Sutton pushed hard but couldn’t unseat McMillan, while Fuller clinched third at Old Hall with a lap to go. Fulbrook held on to sixth…

A MAMMOTH ENTRY OF 54 MAZDA MX-5s headlined Easter weekend racing on the Silverstone National track, with a split into two separate grids encouraging thrilling races. The format featured groups split between the 15 fastest cars in qualifying and the rest for the first two races, 1A and 1B. There was a further twist for the second pair of races, with the bottom five of race A moving into B, and the top five of B moving into A. It meant the morning races were nail-bitingly close from the off. Ben Short won the first A race, holding off the challenge of Alex Baldwin on the final corner. Race B produced a much more comfortable result as William Stephenson saw off the early charge of Paul Bateman to take victory.…

MSVR SNETTERTON, APRIL 4 REIGNING PRODUCTION champion Adam Gore took a brilliant outright victory on his debut in the Lotus Cup UK, comprehensively defeating the defending champion Adam Knight in the process. Adam Balon tried to keep up with the two leaders but was forced into a recovery drive after an early spin. He raced up the order until finding too much resistance from fourth-placed Alex Reed. The consistent Ken Savage split the four leading Exiges with his 2-Eleven to secure third, while newcomer Harry Woodhead won his class. The Production victory went to Daniel Rowbottom with Antony Dunn denying John LeMaster second in category in the final minutes. An exciting opening lap left Luigi Valentino Mazza in charge of the first Lotus Elise Trophy race, but he slipped up…

BRANDS HATCH BARC April 11-12 The BTRA Truck Racing Championship is the headline event at Brands Hatch this weekend, but the supporting cast of car championships is set to provide more than enough entertainment for a crowd lured by five races for the 1000bhp big beasts. A mix of 2CVs, Legends, Caterhams (from the Graduates series) and Pick-Ups guarantees very close racing on the Indy circuit, and there’s a lot to love about the incongruity of a bill that has some of UK motorsport’s tiniest machines sharing paddock space with five-tonne MANs and the like. SILVERSTONE WEC April 10-12 An all-international line-up at Silverstone, with the WEC backed up by ELMS (which takes place on Saturday) and European F3 (two races on Saturday, plus one on Sunday). SNETTERTON CSCC April…

FEW PEOPLE CAN OFFER A more insightful analysis of the art of sports commentary and presenting than Jonathan Legard. Yes, that’s the same Jonathan Legard who was on the receiving end of much criticism – most of it unjustified – when he worked as the BBC’s lead Formula 1 commentator in 2009-10. From 1997-2004, Legard was regarded as one of the best in the business as BBC Radio 5 Live’s F1 correspondent. After spending four seasons as the radio station’s lead football correspondent, he returned to F1 in the TV role in 2009. But even with that experience, his comeback in British motorsport broadcasting’s highest-profile and highest-pressure job was a big ask. “There is a recalibration because TV is a very different medium,” says Legard. “Although it’s still about motorsport,…