Innehållsförteckning för 03/01/19 från Autosport

KHAN UP FOR LONDON GP Brexit-opposing London mayor Sadiq Khan has said that a grand prix in the UK capital is realistic. “The Mayor believes that it should be possible to organise a race in London in the future and has asked his team to explore options with F1,” said a spokesperson. F1 sporting director Ross Brawn reckons a race on the city’s outskirts is a better proposition. “Because F1 is a week-long activity minimum, the disruption it would cause in the centre of London would be unacceptable,” he said. “But there are things on the periphery that are being explored – not slap-bang in the centre of London but Greater London. We’d like to see London complement Silverstone, not replace it.” CHANDHOK BACK TO SKY Ex-F1 racer Karun Chandhok…

To be successful as an elite athlete requires skill, dedication, mental strength, physical excellence and backing from the right people. It’s necessary to have all of those things to be an all-time great, and on top of that something extra. They must also be a transformative force, redefining what it is to be the best in their chosen discipline and influencing those who follow. Michael Schumacher had that extra in abundance – he proved that with five consecutive world championships with Ferrari from 2000-04. But his double title success with Benetton in 1994-95 is too often relegated to the status of little more than a prequel to those glory years. It shouldn’t be, because this showcased something remarkable about Schumacher that’s too often overlooked when we rightly celebrate the galvanising…

91 WINS 306 STARTS 68 POLES 77 FASTEST LAPS 10 2006 CHINESE GP SHANGHAI FERRARI 248 F1 Our countdown begins with the 91st and final victory of Schumacher’s career, one that came at a crucial time in the 2006 title race. Schumacher ran sixth in the early laps while championship rival Fernando Alonso streaked away in the lead in his Renault, but by lap 17 he was up to third, hounding the second Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella. At the first round of pitstops Schumacher and Fisichella opted against changing their intermediate tyres, while Alonso’s decision to take on new fronts proved costly. Schumacher chased the Renault drivers as Fisichella made a bit of a mess of dealing with his struggling team leader. Once they were both past Alonso, it was…

BTCC Stand 2580 Hall 2 One of the major talking points at Autosport International among tin-top aficionados will be the new Team Toyota GB British Touring Car Championship attack. While the Speedworks Motorsport team is working flat-out to prepare the brand new factory-backed Corolla racer for the 2019 season, to be driven by ’18 title runner-up Tom Ingram, the programme has already created a buzz. The Team Toyota GB name has a huge heritage in the BTCC, as does the Corolla. The new version of the road car has been revealed to the public, but the model will not be on sale in Britain until late March/early April, which ties in perfectly with the beginning of the ’19 season. The Corolla took its first BTCC title in 1982 with Win…

LMES POINTS LEADER Shaun Arnold “It’s a great track. The penultimate corner [Clearways] is very tricky because if you catch the inside kerb wrong on Forza, it will flick the car to the right and off the track. You must be very consistent lap after lap at that corner because you don’t want to lose time along the start/finish straight as one of the main overtaking spots is going to be through the first two turns. “There are lots of different lines you can take out of Turn 4 [Surtees] – ideally you want to come in wide, and make a late apex, so you’re able to carry as much speed as possible into the longest straight on the track. If someone gets a bad run out of there, they’re…

Bahrain R1 Lando Norris R2 Artem Markelov Lando Norris ensures Carlin’s return to Formula 2 is golden with a victory from pole position, leading onlookers to wonder if the pre-season favourite would run away with it. George Russell struggles with the clutch and slips back. Artem Markelov takes sprint-race victory, managing the Pirellis well. Baku R1 Alexander Albon R2 George Russell Russell has the race sewn up until Nyck de Vries forces him off the track with the most outrageous of moves. Antonio Fuoco leads but is caught in smoke, and is jumped by Alex Albon for victory. Sergio Sette Camara is disqualified from second for lack of fuel for a sample post-race. Russell bounces back to victory in the sprint. Barcelona R1 George Russell R2 Jack Aitken Albon takes…

1 ANTHOINE HUBERT Fourth in the total number of victories may be a stat you get hung up on, but in terms of how to win a championship Hubert is streets ahead. Uber-consistent in taking 11 podiums, he looked to maximise each weekend without taking major risks, and that paid off. Took two poles – as many as anyone – having not scored any in 2017. Qualifying was a big step forward in 2018 and also key to the title. 2 NIKITA MAZEPIN In a four-car team filled with talent, Mazepin appeared the outsider at the start of 2018. But although David Beckmann stole the spotlight after moving to Trident, it was Mazepin who scored highest over the second half of the season. Mazepin stays with ART for next season…

To say the past 12 months have been a nightmare for Renault in UK motorsport would be a bit of an understatement. There was the embarrassing debacle with its planned Clio Cup Junior series (above) – a concept the manufacturer foolishly clung to despite a problematic first season in 2017 – and ultimately was culled as the few drivers who did sign up soon went elsewhere. Then the senior Clio Cup had a tumultuous season with tyre concerns, accusations of cheating and a title that was decided in court weeks after the season concluded. None of which reflected well on the series. Add in various management changes at Renault UK in the background, a contract with TOCA that was about to expire and a new car due to be introduced…

VIDEOGAME GEAR.CLUB UNLIMITED 2 RRP £54.99 The arrival of the Nintendo Switch in 2017 was a gamechanger [pun forgiven – ed], bringing portable gaming back but at much more powerful level than seen before. Uptake from developers outside of Nintendo’s own franchises has been a slow-burner, which meant there was a wide open goal for a racing game to steal an early march. Unfortunately, Microids’ Gear.Club Unlimited 2 hit the post twice before blasting the shot over the crossbar after its first attempt with Switch. The biggest criticism is that the game plays like a low-budget mobile title, to the point that an offering such as EA’s Real Racing is vastly superior to the Switch game, despite being played on a touchscreen smartphone. The fact that Gear.Club has noticeable performance…

OBITUARY The words ‘colourful’ and ‘eccentric’ that so often prefix the name of Jean-Pierre van Rossem, who has died at the age of 73, barely do justice to a man who played a major role in the short-lived Onyx Formula 1 team. The Belgian made the successful Formula 3000 team’s graduation to the big time in 1989 possible with sponsorship from his Moneytron investment company. The team’s star shone brightly with a podium in Portugal with Stefan Johansson, and then waned almost as quickly. Van Rossem had become a major shareholder in the team over the course of the season and threw his rattle out of the pram when he failed to land Porsche V12 engines for 1990. He sold out to Swiss car maker and collector Peter Monteverdi and…

KATSUTA’S WRC2 ATTACK Toyota protege Takamoto Katsuta will contest the World Rally Championship this season as the manufacturer prepares him for a future at the top of the sport. Katsuta, who took his maiden WRC2 win on last year’s Rally Sweden, will tackle 13 of the 14 rallies in WRC2 with a Ford Fiesta R5. Katsuta, who will be co-driven by Briton Dan Barritt, will also get a run in a full-fat Yaris WRC on two Finnish championship rounds. TICKFORD RESHUFFLE Ford factory-backed Australian Supercars team Tickford Racing has snapped up Lee Holdsworth to complete its line-up for 2019. Holdsworth replaces Kiwi Richie Stanaway, the former GP3 title contender who has been dropped after just one season due to disappointing results. The team’s other three drivers will be Chaz Mostert,…

The Team Toyota GB name has an on-off history in the British Touring Car Championship, and its most successful period came during the 1980s. The Corolla took championship honours overall in 1982 with Win Percy in the Hughes of Beaconsfield-backed machine, but it really hit its stride when Chris Hodgetts managed back-to-back crowns in 1986 and ’87. He had finished as runner-up in 1985 at the wheel of a Brooklyn Motorsport Ford Escort RS1600i to Andy Rouse in his Ford Sierra XR4Ti, but then Hodgetts had an unexpected visitor. “I had driven with Toyota earlier in the 1980s, but a representative came back to me at the end of ’85 and asked if I would be prepared to build up a new Toyota Corolla AE86 for the British Touring Car…

FORMULA 5000 Stand 4040 Hall 4 Half a century after Formula 5000 was introduced to the UK, the spectacular single-seater category will be celebrated with a display at Autosport International. The Historic Sports Car Club will bring together a selection of these monstrous racers from a time when thunder and awe were a major element of motorsport’s popular appeal. F5000’s reign was brief, but at its pomp it was one of the best shows in European single-seater racing. John Webb, the innovating boss at Brands Hatch, brought F5000 to Europe for the 1969 season. It had been established a year earlier as Formula A in North America and was based on mating five-litre engines, usually from Chevrolet, to relatively simple chassis. The cars were brutish, fast and loud. Evolution was rapid…

CLASSIC F3 Three-time Classic Formula 3 champion Steve Maxted will return to the series in 2019, 11 years after his last single-seater outing in an F2 Lola-BDG T360. Maxted, who won CF3 titles in 1991, 2004 and ’05 in an Argo-Toyota JM6 (now with Mike Simpson), has acquired the Ralt-Alfa Romeo RT3/84 last raced sparingly by French driver Bruno Houzelot. “I looked at several cars, but the Ralt was beautifully presented, bang on the weight limit, and with an Ellegi-rebuilt engine,” said Maxted. “Chassis 441 was raced in the 1984 Italian F3 Championship by Peruvian Neto Jochamowitz with Enzo Coloni’s team [seventh at Varano its best finish]. It came with a massive history file until ’86, sat in a garage until 2015, then was rebuilt.” Maxted will return the car…

WORLD TOURING CARS Rallycross’s loss is the World Touring Car Cup’s gain for 2019, with double World Rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson the latest star driver to join the tin-top series. Kristoffersson, who won 11 of last year’s 12 World RX rounds for Petter Solberg’s PSRX squad, was left with no realistic opportunity to defend his crown after Volkswagen decided to pause its involvement in the wake of rival manufacturers’ withdrawals. While his World RX exit has now been confirmed, Kristoffersson will remain part of the Volkswagen stable next year as part of its roster of WTCR drivers. He will be part of a four-car line-up – split into two teams – at Sebastien Loeb Racing, which will be a works-supported VW operation, alongside Rob Huff and Mehdi Bennani. A fourth…

TONY BRISE When permanent numbers were introduced to F1 in 1973, the first to carry #23 was Mike Hailwood at Surtees. The following year it was the part-time Trojan team with Tim Schenken. But you can’t argue with the late, lamented lost talent of Tony Brise. Here he is taking the little Hill team to a point in the 1975 Swedish GP. Five months later tragedy would strike. BRUNO GIACOMELLI Various Ensign drivers – including rapid new boy Patrick Tambay with Theodore Racing in 1977 – used the #23 before it became an Alfa Romeo staple from 1980-85. Bruno Giacomelli pedalled the V12 machines to good effect, taking a shock pole for the US Grand Prix in ’80. Here he is in action the following year, when he partnered Mario…

ROBERT KUBICA’S FORMULA 1 RETURN IS A STELLAR story, but it will only have a truly happy ending if he overcomes probably the worst possible team-mate scenario he could have asked for. With question marks remaining over how good Kubica will be on his F1 comeback, more than eight years after his last start, going up against a highly rated, dedicated youngster – who also happens to be the reigning Formula 2 champion – means that any deficiencies will be ruthlessly exposed. George Russell is playing the team card. The British driver, a Mercedes protege signed for two years at Williams, says he is “really excited” to be team-mates with Kubica. While Kubica considers himself a rookie of sorts heading into 2019, Russell is a real rookie. With that comes…

LIVE ACTION SHOWS Saturday and Sunday in Hall 5 FREE with ASI tickets The curtain will raise on this year’s racing action in just one week, as the 2019 Autosport International show kicks off at Birmingham’s NEC. Across the January 10-13 event, Europe’s largest indoor pre-season motorsport show will return to build on the success of 2018’s record-breaking edition. Stars of Formula 1, the World Rally Championship and British Touring Cars will take on the Autosport stage, plus there’ll be displays and driving demonstrations throughout. As usual, the Thursday and Friday are dedicated to the motorport industry, before the exhibition hall doors are opened to the public for Saturday and Sunday. Here’s just a small selection of what you can expect to see next weekend… LIVE ACTION ARENA The humble…

The 2019 Autosport International show next week will give gamers chance to earn their place on the podium at the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans, as it plays host to the fourth round of the Le Mans Esports Series. The competition, which launched alongside the World Endurance Championship round at Silverstone in August last year, is run in partnership with the Motorsport Network and the Le Mans-organising Automobile Club de l’Ouest. At the NEC, gamers will fight on Forza Motorsport 7 for a place at the showpiece Le Mans Super Final, which will give them a chance to claim a share of the $100,000 prize fund. Three qualification rounds have so far taken place, with nine drivers from the three regions (EMEA, Americas and Asia-Pacific) booking their spot in…

1 GEORGE RUSSELL One of the best performances in GP2/F2 history. Had more car issues than some of his main rivals, and had to deal with Norris leading the points for half a season because of it, but took it all in his stride. A cut above in his rookie year. 2 ALEX ALBON Pips Norris on the basis of higher average qualifying and feature-race positions, as well as a phenomenal career turnaround. Tenth in 2017 in F2, he had to beg for his seat at the start of ’18. Now he’s in F1 with Toro Rosso. 3 LANDO NORRIS On the face of it, a brilliant year during which McLaren chose him for an F1 seat. F2 didn’t quite go to plan, with a lack of wins and poles,…

Barcelona R1 Nikita Mazepin R2 Giuliano Alesi Against higher-rated ART team-mates, Mazepin converts a brilliant start into a debut GP3 victory. Giuliano Alesi fights to seventh in the feature race to grab a front-row start for the reversed-grid second race, which he wins ahead of Anthoine Hubert, who completes the weekend with a pair of runner-up spots. Paul Ricard R1 Anthoine Hubert R2 Callum Ilott Dorian Boccolacci is the second successive non-ART poleman. He finishes first, but there’s not enough fuel in his MP Motorsport car for a sample post-race, and that hands the win to home hero Hubert. Ilott secures his first win in the sprint race, after opposition early on from Trident’s Pedro Piquet. Red Bull Ring R1 Callum Ilott R2 Jake Hughes Hubert messes up in qualifying…

1 PAUL RIVETT – 49 WINS, FOUR TITLES, MORE THAN 200 STARTS “Nothing else at that level offers the value for money it provides. Because I was coming back to the championship time and time again, I think I had a big target on my car for the new racers that were coming in, and that target only got bigger the longer I stayed in the category. It was hard too, because I could only disappoint people. If I won it, people would say, ‘Well so he should.’ If I didn’t, people felt let down, so that was a tricky situation to be in. But I love the category and I just hope that it’s able to come back in some shape or form in the future.” 2 JONNY ADAM “When…

ELECTRIC ROAD-RACERS Hull will host its first closed-road race when electric cars take to the streets on April 28. The Greenpower Education Trust – founded in 1999 – is behind the event, with aspiring engineers given the chance to build and race their own cars. There will be a primary school race (for ages 9-11), secondary school race (11-16) and one for over-24s. DONINGTON UPGRADES Extensive work on the paddock entrance at Donington Park will be completed ahead of the start of the new season. The old concrete wall has been removed and a new pedestrian access has been created to the right of the existing entrance, allowing pedestrians and cars to be kept apart. KITE FLIES IN PRIZE TEST Classic VW Cup Class B frontrunner Alex Kite enjoyed a…

When Autosport runs this annual feature, there are usually seven or eight new categories about to be launched. Not this year. A whopping 13 new series are planned and more announcements possible at Autosport International next week. So here’s a round-up of some of the other classes due to start in 2019. One of those new series has a familiar name: Z Cars. The series for BMW Z3s and Z4s was originally scheduled to launch in 2017 but never got beyond two cars running in MotorSport Vision Racing’s Allcomers series. But now it’s back with new management and the signs are much more encouraging, with seven cars racing in Allcomers at Brands Hatch in November. A properly ‘new’ offering from MSVR is the Focus Cup. This features centrally-run turbodiesel Ford…