Issue 8
28/07/2016
Hamilton Back To Winning Ways Pleasing Home Crowd [Page 42 – 43]
Marquez Leads Championship By 48 Points [Page 28 – 33]
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Contents Page 3 – Youth Energy Page 4 – Stephen McNorton Photography Page 5 – Go Cable Ties Page 6 – Ralph Boschung Interview Page 7 – Enaam Ahmed – Spa Page 8 – COMPETITION WINNER Page 9 – 14 – Latest From Nascar Page 15 – 18 – Latest From formula E Page 19 – The Day Penske Didn’t Make The Indy 500 Page 20 – 23 – BTCC Half Season Round Up Page 24 – 27 – WTCC News Page 28 – 33 – Latest From Moto GP Page 34 – 36 – A Weekend Being A Marshal Page 37 – 53 – The Latest News From F1 and GP2 Page 54 – 55 – The Latest From The Porsche Supercup Page 56 – 60 – Round Up From The WEC At The Nurburgring Page 61 – 65 – Latest Motoring News Page | 2
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Stephen McNorton Photography e: mcnortonphotography@gmail.com Twitter: @Mcmotorsphoto Instagram: Mcmotorsphoto
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Ralph Boschung – Interview Photo: Sam Boxham, GP3 Series Media Service
Hi Ralph, thank you for taking the time out talking to L&T Motorsport. Looking ahead to the rest of the season, what are your ambitions and can you take the fight to the ART drivers? My ambitions always stay the same all year long. It is to do the best possible job with the conditions given and see where I end up! I think that the ART have a very good car in the dry which we still lack a a bit of overall speed but in the wet we can definitely take a good fight! Which young driver programme would you like to be part of? Of course having a young driver programme behind your back is a great help and to be honest I wound not mind any of the famous Junior Driver programmes to support me, but thats not in my hands at the moment! What is your opinion on open wheel head protection systems such as the halo? Do you think this could come into GP3? Personally I find it horrible and it should not integrate in the motorsport commmunity. There are other ways to make racing more safe but leaving a sense of danger in it makes the whole action and adrenaline kick better. The more technology and safety the more the racing will get boring to my opinion. What era of Motorsport would you have liked to have raced in? Im totally happy in the Era I am now, as I cant really imagine myself in the 80s or 90s! Finally, next round, Silverstone, do you like the track? What are your targets for the weekend? The track is amazing to drive, last year was my first time ever on this track in GP3 so it will only be my second time there. I'm really looking forward to it, targets are to stay consistent and score big points for the team! Thank you for your time.
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Enaam Ahmed British F3 – Spa @Iancutting77
Race 1 After topping the times early in qualifying, Enaam lined up in P5 for round 16 at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps. A great start for Enaam saw him overtake Palmer for 4th. Further back however there was contact between a couple of cars that saw the safety car deployed. The safety car was only out for one lap while everything was cleared away and racing resumed again. Enaam was at the end of the leading quartet as they were pulling away from the pack. It wasn't long before Enaam challenged Collard for third and made his move. However, further back Rabindra and Lall made contact and Lall was sent into a barrel roll and landed heavy into the barriers. Immediately the race was red flagged and the medical team attended the incident. Because of the red flag, the race was declared and the result taken from the previous lap, which meant Enaam finished in P4. Race 2 With the top 8 from race 1 being reversed for the starting positions for the second race meet at Spa-Francorchamps, Enaam lines up for this round in P5. A great start from Enaam and he was soon up into P3. A great scrape then ensued between Enaam and his fast starting Australian team mate. Enaam's team mate finally made his move down the Kemmel Straight and pushed Enaam back down into P4. Enaam was still in touch with the leaders for the rest of race but was having battles of his own to stay in P4. As the chequered flag fell, Enaam crossed the line in P4, still another decent points haul. Race 3 With the grid positions determined by fastest laps, Enaam starts the last race at this legendary Spa-Francorchamps race track in P9. After making his escape from the grid Enaam was battling hard with Maxwell and Denyssen, but had damaged his wing the process. After pitting for a new nose cone, Enaam re-joined at the back of the field. Unfortunately, Enaam couldn't progress much further due to the time lost with the damage and the pit stop. Currently Enaam is in P5 with 263 points, 91 points behind the leader. The next race is back at Snetterton on 6th - 7th August.
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STRAKKA CAP COMPETITON WINNER: CAROLINE ASHLEY STRAKKA STICKERS COMPETITON WINNER: JACK DIXON PLAEASE EMAIL US AT ltmsportinfo@gmail.com to claim your prize
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Keselowski Goes Back To Back In Kentucky @JR24GP Images: Getty Images and Fox Sports
Brad Keselowski picked up his 2nd win in a row, and his 4th of this season’s Sprint Cup, in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. Keselowski’s Penske Ford held off the challenge of Carl Edwards in a fuel-mileage race finish to pick up his 3rd win in 6 races at this 1.5-mile track, and make a statement that perhaps he is the man to beat for the 2016 championship. With qualifying rained out, the starting grid was decided by owner’s points, putting Keselowski, the 2012 Sprint Cup champion, on the front row alongside Kevin Harvick, but the Penske Ford driver wouldn’t be a factor at the front until getting ahead on a restart with 68 to go, just on the edge of the final fuel window. From there, Keselowski had just enough fuel to get to the finish, running out as he crossed the line to win as others, including race contender Matt Kenseth as well as pole sitter Harvick, had to come to pit road. Carl Edwards was good on fuel, and closed Keselowski’s lead from over 6 seconds with 10 laps to go, to just a tenth of a second as Keselowski’s car ran dry. The #2 driver didn’t even have enough fuel to do the traditional NASCAR burnout, or drive his car unaided to victory lane. Behind Keselowski and Edwards, Ryan Newman helped his Chase prospects in a run to 3rd, whilst Kurt Busch came home 4th, continuing his ultra-consistent season. Rounding out the top 5 on his 600th career start was Tony Stewart, a result which all but confirmed that the veteran driver will be in the Chase come September. The two most dominant cars of the day, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr, both didn’t get the results they wanted, rounding out the top 10 in 9th and 10th. For Truex in particular, this was a missed opportunity after being forced to serve a pass-through penalty for passing Harvick on pit road with just over 70 laps to go, having just won the race off pit road.
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It wasn’t a good day for the two Rookie of the Year contenders either. Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney took each other out of contention whilst both running well inside the top 10 on lap 88. For both, this was a significant blow to their hopes of making the Chase, in particular for a disappointed Blaney. In the battle to get onto the Chase Grid, Jamie McMurray now holds the final spot currently to get in on points, with Roush driver Trevor Bayne just 10 points behind him, after finishing 7th and 11th respectively. However, if anyone outside the top 16 in points wins any of the next 8 races then this situation could completely change, as they would then be almost guaranteed a Chase spot of their own. Keselowski’s second win in succession left him in jubilant mood, and speaking in victory lane, said “Yeah, this is our best stretch and I’m really, really proud of that. We’ve got to keep it going through the fall, that’s really important, but this is great. I’m just so proud of my guys.” For Edwards, he was left to rue missing out on victory by the narrowest of margins. “That’s a tough one to be that close. We were getting such good fuel mileage with our TRD (Toyota Racing Development) engine, I think we might have had a little extra there. That’s going to be the hard part, going to bed knowing you could have gone a little faster.” In the regular season points battle, Kevin Harvick now leads Keselowski by just 4 points, whilst Kurt Busch is 16 points back in 3rd, and Carl Edwards is still close to the leaders, 33 points off the pace. 6 time champion Jimmie Johnson’s crash on just lap 32 means that he now has just one top 10 finish in his last 9 races, and whilst his Chase place is all but guaranteed thanks to two early season wins, this bad run of form has to be a concern for the man looking to equal Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty on 7 Sprint Cup championships this year. Next up is the New Hampshire 301 at the flat 1-mile speedway, where Brad Keselowski will be looking for 3 in a row by repeating his success here in 2014. The low banking oval nicknamed the “Magic Mile” is a favourite of the Busch brothers, both having won this race twice before. Page | 10
Stewart Wins It In An Incredible Finish At Sonoma @JR24GP Images: NASCAR.com
Tony Stewart needed to win a race, and snap an 84 race winless streak, in order to get into the Chase for the Sprint Cup, after sitting out the first 8 races of the season with a back injury. To win the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma, the first road course race of the year, in such dramatic fashion, made the day incredibly special for the 3-time champion in his final full-time season before retirement. Stewart had found his way into the lead after making a pit stop gamble whilst back in the pack and struggling for competitive lap times, hoping for a caution to give him track position. The NASCAR Gods were shining him when the caution came out the lap after his stop with 24 to go for debris from Jimmie Johnson’s Chevrolet. This gave him the lead, but Stewart would have to demonstrate his veteran skills to hold off Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr who had both dominated much of the second half of a relatively trouble-free race. For a while, Stewart looked to have things under control as Hamlin and Truex battled away behind him, Hamlin eventually pulling off an aggressive pass at turn 7, but as the white flag came out, Hamlin was within half a second of the leader. What came next was what will surely be one of the most memorable finishes in recent years. Into turn 7, Hamlin made a brave late braking move on Stewart, hitting the 14 car’s rear bumper, causing the Stewart-Haas Racing driver to run wide and give the 11 car the lead. However, down into the final hairpin, Hamlin ran wide, giving Stewart a chance to go up the inside, nudge the Joe Gibbs Racing driver into the wall and win the race. For Stewart, who hadn’t won since 2013, this win almost guarantees another appearance in NASCAR’s version of the playoffs, and it clearly meant a lot to him as many of the teams and drivers came over to congratulate him after the race. Page | 11
Martin Truex Jr would fade to 5th in the closing laps as Joey Logano would finish in 3rd, whilst Carl Edwards, who looked the strongest driver in the opening stages of the race, took home 4th after recovering from a slow final pit stop. Elsewhere in the top 10, Kevin Harvick kept up his perfect run of top 20 finishes this season in 6th, Kyle Busch picked up his first top 10 for 5 races in 7th, whilst Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne boosted their Chase hopes in 8th and 9th respectively. Rounding out the top 10 was Kurt Busch, picking up his 14th top 10 finish in 16 races, the best top 10 finishes record in the Sprint Cup. Kyle Larson and AJ Allmendinger both ran well for most of the afternoon, Allmendinger led the race for 20 laps, but ended up 12th and 14th respectively after both suffered pit road penalties that cost them a good chance of victory. It is no surprise to see that Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch remain 1st and 2nd in the points race, Harvick now 35 ahead of Busch, with Edwards in 3rd now 52 points back. Tony Stewart remains 9 points back of the top 30 in points, but has closed the gap considerably to the place he needs to be in to qualify for the Chase. After the race, Stewart put all of his emotions into words by saying “To get a win, especially at a place you're going to for the last time, it means a bunch. It's special, trust me…My guys have been through this whole disastrous roller coaster the last three or four years and never backed down. They've never quit on me. There's days I've quit on myself and they're the guys that send you text messages and call you when you get home like, 'Hey, this isn't over.'” For Hamlin, he was left to rue his missed opportunity to grab his first road course win. He wrote on Twitter, “Can't express how disappointed I am we didn't win on a road course. It's been a goal that has looked nearly impossible the last 6 years.” Next up for the Sprint Cup cars is the equally exciting Coke Zero 400 at Daytona in a Saturday night race special. With just 10 more races before the Chase, drivers will be giving it everything to try and grab one of the 16 places available on the Chase Grid for the Championship. Page | 12
Keselowski Breaks His Daytona Duck @JR24GP Images: NASCAR.com
In his first victory at the iconic 2.5 mile Daytona Superspeedway, Brad Keselowski led 115 of 161 laps to dominate the restrictor plate Coke Zero 400 in his Penske Ford. In a cautionfilled second half of the race, Keselowski would get to the front soon after every restart, and looked the car to beat for most of the night with only Kyle Busch offering a serious threat to victory. Defending Sprint Cup Champion Busch would come home in 2nd, whilst Trevor Bayne was delighted to finish 3rd in his Roush Fenway Ford. Keselowski’s Penske teammate Joey Logano came over the line in 4th, but this was only after wrecking Kurt Busch on the run to the finish, much to the frustration of the Stewart-Haas Racing driver. Further adding to a good day for Roush Fenway Racing, Ricky Stenhouse Jr would complete the top 5 and the team’s 3rd car, Greg Biffle, also finished in the top 10 in 8th. Whilst the first half of the race was fairly uneventful with only one caution period, the “Big One” struck on lap 89 when Jamie McMurray got into Kyle Larson whilst also getting a bump from behind by Jimmie Johnson. A staggering 22 cars would get caught in the aftermath, including points leader Kevin Harvick and current rookie of the year Chase Elliott. Sonoma race winner Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards would also wreck in the later stages of the race, but it was all about Brad Keselowski, who picked up his fifth restrictor plate win of his career, and appears to be becoming an expert at these superspeedways. In the points race, Kevin Harvick’s problems saw his lead to Brad Keselowski cut to just 14 points, whilst Kurt Busch is now just 20 points back despite his late race drama. Keselowski’s first win at Daytona meant a lot to the 2012 Sprint Cup Champion, explaining in victory lane that “I don't care if it's not the 500. It's Daytona. This is huge. I love this place, and here we are in Victory Lane with the Detroit Ford." Next up for the Sprint Cup series is another Saturday night race, this time at the 1.5 mile Kentucky Speedway, where Kyle Busch will be looking to go one better than he did at Daytona, and win in Kentucky for the second year in a row. Page | 13
Busch Kisses The Bricks Again At Indy @JR24GP Images: NASCAR.com
Kyle Busch led 149 laps of the 170 lap Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to pick up his 4th win of the season, and his second in a row at the Brickyard. Busch dominated a largely uneventful race, which threatened to come to life in the final 30 laps with a flurry of late race incidents and cautions. A multi-car wreck with 7 laps to go was the biggest of these, and affected many Chase contenders, including Ryan Blaney and Ryan Newman, who both lost points to some of their main rivals. The wreck brought out the red flag, and left a final green-white-chequered showdown for the leaders. Despite that, there would still be two more caution periods. Trevor Bayne and Clint Bowyer got into each other for the first one, seriously harming Bayne’s Chase prospects, whilst Jamie McMurray’s crash for the second one also left his hopes in some danger, though he did recover well to finish 19th and thus maintain a decent cushion over the cut line. In the end though there was no stopping Busch, who completed a weekend sweep after winning the Xfinity race on Saturday. Behind him was Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth in 2nd, whilst Jimmie Johnson had a much needed good result in 3rd, collecting Hendrick Motorsports’ 1000th top 5 finish in the process. Rounding out the top 5 were Denny Hamlin, making it 3 Joe Gibbs cars in the top 4, and Kyle Larson, a result that put him into a provisional Chase place. Elsewhere there were strong top 10 finishes for Richard Childress Racing pair Austin Dillon and Paul Menard, with Dillon now looking almost certain to make the Chase, whilst ahead of them Martin Truex Jr slipped to 8th after looking Busch’s closest challenger at one stage. NASCAR legends Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon both ran well in their final Brickyard 400s, finishing in 11th and 13th respectively, and after the race, drove an emotional ceremonial lap around the track together to send their thanks to fans for the support over the years. Kyle Busch meanwhile now has 11 top 5 finishes this season, and the defending Sprint Cup champion surely has to be one of the favourites to win the title again in 2016 on the back of what he called a “dominant” drive. Page | 14
Potential Foul Play By ABT Schaeffler Audi Leaves Fans Disappointed Image: FIA Formula E
A controversial Formula E season finale leaves fans and teams alike questioning the morals and judgment of the ABT Schaeffler Audi after Lucas Di Grassi launched an attack on Prost and sending the two title protagonists into the run off. Buemi and fellow eDams team mate Nicolas Prost ran side by side into the hard braking zone of Turn 3 of the opening lap if the London ePrix, when Buemi was hit from behind from a very fast approaching Di Grassi into the braking zone. The contact sent both drivers off into the run off with no terminal damage and where both able to challenge for the title only by fastest lap as if none of the drivers scored a single point Di Grassi would win the Championship on count back, this left everyone thinking and speculating foul play from the Abt Team. Then later on in the race both drivers headed back out on track to attempt to set the fastest lap in order to claim the championship but on the opening of Buemi’s lap, Lucas Di Grassi headed out on track just a head on an out lap an impeded Buemi’s lap, forcing him to use more valuable energy on another run. Coincidence maybe but from a spectator’s perspective, it looks more than just pure coincidence. Questions raised as it is not the first or second time the ABT Schaeffler Audi Team have been in the news for foul play as in season one they had Di Grassis win taken from them in the Berlin ePrix for an illegal floor and more recently in the Mexico ePrix, they were disqualified for racing with an underweight car, handing the victory to the Dragon Racing Team. This track record of disqualifications, whether by mistake or purposeful, filed fans and everyone in the Formula e paddock with a sense of frustration of an existing race and championship being rigged with foul play. Fans don’t want to see races and championships settled in the steward’s rooms 2 hours after the race fans want to see the results for themselves and live and the frustration of the continuation of ABT Schaeffler Audi string of controversial results, left many fans glad to see a very deserving Sebastien Buemi take the FIA Formula E Championship. Page | 15
FIA Formula E – London Images: FIA Formula E
Race 1 Prost started from the front row alongside the Mahindra of Bruno Senna, but the Brazilian could never take the challenge to the Frenchman as Prost cruised to an opening win of the season for Nicolas Prost. All attention was focused on the championship protagonists of Sebastien Buemi and Lucas Di Grassi. They had started from 10th and 12th respectively, although di Grassi had made his way up to sixth place by the 12th lap and had help from fellow teammate Daniel Abt keeping Buemi behind. Abt was given a warning for blocking a clearly frustrated Buemi, but the Swiss driver had found a way past to move into seventh regardless by the time the mid-race car swaps arrived, To the delight of an anxious E-Dams team, as Buemi had lost his head in last year’s race and eventually cost him the championship. In his second car, di Grassi made short work of Robin Frijns - who had slipped from fourth to fifth behind Jean-Eric Vergne with a slow stop - to take fifth, with Buemi following through for sixth. But, trying a move around the outside of a very fast, flat out Turn 2 on lap 20, Then Abt make contact with Frijns approaching Turn 3, spearing into the wall and then back into the path of Frijns, resulting in a safety car. Later on in the race with only 10 laps remaining, drama struck, when di Grassi damaged his front wing while he was attacking Vergne for fourth place. Buemi could do nothing to find a way past di Grassi, and with two laps to go found himself passed for sixth by Sam Bird, just as Oliver Turvey crashed out of third at Turn 14. That brought out the double-waved yellows, helping Vergne hang on to third place ahead of di Grassi. He still crossed the line fifth, one place behind di Grassi, ahead of Antonio Felix da Costa and Bird, with Nick Heidfeld, Jerome d'Ambrosio and Mike Conway completing the top 10 finishers. The Gap at the top of the standings was non-existent heading into Sunday as both drivers where tied on points heading into the season finale Page | 16
Race 2 After claiming pole position for the final race of the season the three bonus points put Buemi level on 153 points with di Grassi to set up a winner-takes-all finale. However, disaster struck when di Grassi collided into the rear of Buemi's Renault e - dams car on the opening lap, effectively ensuring neither driver would make it to a classified finish. Both cars didn't sustain enough damage to rule them out of running altogether and with quick calculations it became clear whoever could set the fastest lap of the race between the title rivals would take the two bonus points and therefore take the world title. As a result, both drivers pitted for their second cars and traded fastest lap times as the race continued around them. Buemi's 1m 24.582s on lap 23 set the benchmark which di Grassi ultimately couldn't match despite his best efforts. To ensure the title was his Buemi bettered his best lap with a 1:24.150 on the penultimate lap of the race – despite being 17 laps behind the leaders – and di Grassi eventually conceded by stepping out of his ABT on the final lap. Meaning Buemi clinched the title thanks to setting the fastest laps which gave him the FIA Formula E world title by two points from the Brazilian. Prost who avoided the first-lap clash between his team-mate and di Grassi, enjoyed a trouble-free race to claim his second consecutive victory in London from Daniel Abt in second. With various drivers running out of energy at the chequered flag a number of time penalties were awarded post-race which promoted Jerome d'Ambrosio into third, Loic Duval fourth as Stephane Sarrazin rounded out the top five. Bruno Senna claimed sixth ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, Nick Heidfeld and Antonio Felix da Costa as the dethroned Formula E champion Nelson Piquet Jr completed the points positions. Page | 17
The Key To Buemi’s Success @zumester Image: FIA Fomula E
Sebastien Buemi is the newly crowned Formula E champion, and unlike his predecessor who was almost a surprise victor on the day, Buemi was dominant throughout the season and was only matched by di Grassi, who was just not lucky enough on the final race weekend. By a country mile Buemi was in by far the best constructor. Also last season’s constructor’s champions, eDams Renault have clearly got the technology required to dominate, but team-mate Nico Prost was just not able to score as consistently as Buemi apart from in the closing stages of the season. At just 27 years of age, Sebastien Buemi has also had a very varied career leaving him well placed to be dominant in Formula E. He started his career in karting and by his late teens was in Formula BMW in Germany, finishing second in that championship in 2005. He then quickly progressed to Formula Three Euroseries, and by 2007 was runner-up to Romain Grosjean. He then continued upwards through the ranks via A1 Grand Prix and GP2 before landing a F1 test/reserve drive at Red Bull before securing a drive in Scuderia Toro Rosso. 2014 saw Buemi clinch the WEC LMP1 title, and endurance racing is in many ways similar to Formula E due to the need to conserve energy to complete races. At Le Mans this year, his car was set to win but a cruel twist of fate saw the Toyota loose power on the last lap and dash the podium hopes of its crew. Page | 18
The Day Penske Didn’t Make The Indy 500 @philmartingsy Image: forix
Rewind back to 1995, one year after Penske were utterly dominant in Indycar. Not in anyone's wildest dreams would it be considered that come the 79th running of the Indy 500, that one of the most successful teams in the sport’s history would fail to qualify, after a month of complete and utter disaster. So where did it all go wrong? Well, for starters the Penske chassis just could not find a sufficient balance in the four turns to be able to carry the speed for the straights. In the runs on Bump Day, Al Unser Jr was losing upwards of 10mph through Turns 1 and 2. The winner of the 1994 running of the great race was the first winner not to qualify for the next edition. Having failed with the Penske car, he ran with loaned out Reynard’s and Lola's, with the usual Mercedes-Benz engines, but to no avail. Emerson Fittipaldi ironically ran a time that was fast enough to get in the field, however his run of over 225mph was turned down by his team, and he could not hit those heights again on Bump Day. The panic set in with less than 45 minutes of the final day of qualifying remaining, utilizing a car loaned by Bobby Rahal, however as with Unser Jr he just could not carry the pace through the turns. Fittipaldi’s time got him into 33rd place on the grid, the final spot. However, with just 3 minutes to go, Stefan Johansson nailed a run at 225.5mph which demoted Fittipaldi out of the race. How much of a shock was it? Well put it this way, imagine the all-conquering Mercedes F1 team failing to get within 107% in qualifying. That's the extent of the embarrassment suffered here. Roger Penske admitted that the buck stopped with him, and that ultimately they were not good enough. His main point was reminiscent of his driver’s comments, noting the lack of downforce in the corners which was detrimental to the performance. The reigning champions would not run that year. Page | 19
BTCC Croft 18/19th June Weekend Review @goughieee6 Images: BTCC
Croft in North Yorkshire played host to the fifth weekend in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. The story of qualifying was a case of pick up where they left off for the Subaru pairing of Colin Turkington and Jason Plato, as they continued to be a dominant force. Turkington set the bar high and the “King of Croft” took pole with a 1m23.608. Almost four tenths quicker than youngster Dan Lloyd in the Eurotech Honda. MG’s Ash Sutton provided his best qualifying result to date with third fastest and Jason Plato lined up fourth. Championship leader Sam Tordoff was just behind in fifth with maximum ballast. In the first encounter on Sunday, it was Dan Lloyd who got an equally good start alongside Turkington, but as Lloyd went for a move on the outside, he quickly ran out of room and made contact with the Subaru and was fired into the gravel. This then prompted the first of many safety car interruptions during the race. Plato was able to get past Ash Sutton and move into second behind his team mate and further back WSR’s Sam Tordoff was fighting his way back up the order after early contact and a trip through the gravel forced him out the top ten. Hunter Abbott and Adam Morgan’s top ten exploits ended early with contact between the pair forced Abbott out immediately and Morgan later on after more contact with the Motorbase Ford of Mat Jackson. Up front it was the two Subaru’s who came home to claim Team BMR’s first one-two finish in the new machines. An Ash Sutton defensive masterclass made sure Jack Goff wouldn’t get past for the final podium spot. Andrew Jordan, Jake Hill, Rob Collard, Mat Jackson, Tom Ingram and Aron Smith rounded out the top 10. Page | 20
In race two, it was again the two Subaru’s who led the way on lap one, with Plato briefly taking the lead from Turkington in the early laps and Turkington then reclaiming the place on lap 4. However, further into the race the pair made contact at Tower, forcing both cars into a slide and with the BMW of Rob Collard just behind, he took full advantage and slipped past the pair into the lead. Jack Goff in the other BMW wasn’t to fair behind the trio either. This was how the top four would stay for the remainder of the race, although further back Sutton again produced a fine defensive show to keep Mat Jackson at bay to take fifth. The Speedworks Toyota of Tom Ingram held off Sam Tordoff to secure seventh. Jordan and Honda’s Matt Neal rounded out the top ten in what was currently a very quiet weekend for the Dynamics outfit. Gordon Shedden could only manage thirteenth. In the final reverse grid race, it was the championship leader Sam Tordoff who got the luck of the draw to start on pole. However, this time the rain was lashing down as we had our first wet race of 2016. Off the line he managed to keep Tom Ingram and Jack Goff at bay and this remained the same in the early stages. Ash Sutton was tucked in behind the Subaru of Colin Turkington but after a brief safety car, Colin saw the opportunity to pass Jack Goff on the restart and drove round the outside of the BMW at Tower, Sutton followed suit at the following corner. The rain proved tricky in areas as cars were fighting the rears coming out of corners. Ash Sutton then went on the charge, passing Turkington and Collard moving up inside the top three. A lap later, he slid his way past Tom Ingram and set about catching the leading BMW of Tordoff. A late safety car aided his charge and in the final two laps, he made his move on the BMW. From there he never looked back and claimed his maiden win in the BTCC. Further down the order, Andrew Jordan and Josh Cook were battling it out with Colin Turkington not far behind in seventh. Aron Smith made excellent work during the race to claim a hard earned eighth and Jack Goff and Jason Plato completed the top ten order. Outside the top ten, Matt Neal came home in eleventh, certainly a weekend to forgot for Honda and Rob Austin just behind. Page | 21
BTCC Half Season Report @goughieee6
So it’s been a very interesting and action packed first half of the season in the BTCC. It’s time to assess the drivers and teams, see where they are at and what is expected to happen to them after the summer break and towards the seasons end. Team BMR and their brand new Subaru Levorg. To build four cars in a very short space of time was nothing short of incredible. However, lack of preseason testing meant there was always going to be baby steps being taken with the car. Since the lack of pace at Brands, the fire at Donington and the withdrawal from Thruxton, new parts mean the cars have been given a new lease of life. Fully expect Subaru to be competing inside the top five every weekend now since the success at Oulton Park and Croft. Down at Team Dynamics, out with the old livery and in with the new fresh orange and black livery, the return of an old sponsor Halfords, a newly developed Honda engine and the Neal/Shedden combo. Early success at Brands Hatch and Donington with wins for both drivers and solid top ten results to go with it. Since the big incidents at Thruxton, a win for Neal at Oulton has been there only sort of success. Now with the “rear wheel drive” circuits out the way, you can bet Honda will always be near the front if not at the front and will be there come the end of the season. Motorbase have had a tricky start to the year but are starting to show their true pace. Wins for Jackson and Jordan at Thruxton have proved to be a tipping point in the team’s fortunes. They went well at Oulton and were competing inside the top ten at Croft. The team will feel they can collect more wins before the season is out. The Mercedes pair of Adam Morgan and Aiden Moffat have had very contrasting fortunes. Morgan has been a very consistent top end finisher and also picking up race wins at Brands and Thruxton whereas Moffat hasn't had the luck he has deserved. A great qualifying at Thruxton has proved to be the only highlight. Page | 22
WSR will be a happy camp over the summer break as two of their drivers lead the way in the championship. Sam Tordoff and Rob Collard have given the team much of their success but Jack Goff has also shown very strong pace battling for podiums. The car looks very strong this year and hasn't really performed badly as of yet. They’ll certainly be there come the end of the year. The Toyota’s of Tom Ingram and Rob Austin have also had contrasting fortunes, Ingram showing great pace early on and picking up wins and podiums. Austin has shown good race pace but hasn't seemed to get his set up right and has therefore been battling further down, a few changes could see him fly up the order. New team BKR have surprised many teams in the championship with their strong pace, Aron Smith and Mark Howard piloting the teams VW Passat’s straight from BMR. Early podiums for Smith and strong performances from Howard means that all is well in this camp. Team HARD’s three car line up of fresh talent has shown flashes of pace during the first half of the year. Jake Hill, Michael Epps and Chris Smiley have all had strong finishes which will benefit this team in the quest of moving up the grid. Triple Eight hired two young guns to pilot the MG6’s. Josh Cook and Clio Cup Champion Ash Sutton have shown great consistency through the first half of the year, picking up podiums and top five finishes. Hopefully the tide is turning for MG and better results are on the horizon? Ash Sutton certainly showed that at Croft. In other teams, Dan Welch has shown more consistency than previous seasons and seems settled, Alex Martin and Stewart Lines seem to have found their feet in their Ford Focus machines. Ollie Jackson has also found his feet in the Audi S3. The Power Maxed pair of Hunter Abbott and Kelvin Fletcher have shown pace but need clean weekends to show it and the Eurotech trio of Jeff Smith, Martin Depper and Dan Lloyd have proved the Honda is quick and capable in their hands. So, so many more racing laps and weekends to be completed. Who will come out on top? Only time will tell. Page | 23
Jose Maria Lopez: F1, WTCC and now Formula E @WA10Tom Images: Jose Maria Lopez
With the news that 2016 will be Jose Maria Lopez’s final season in the World Touring Car championship before making the move to Formula E, we take a look back at the double world champion’s career and how he got where he is. Lopez made his WTCC debut in 2013 in Argentina, his home country. Behind the wheel of a Wiechers Sport run BMW, he managed to qualify in the top 10 on his first attempt. This also gave him pole for the second race. In a hugely competitive field, where the RML run Chevrolets were still the dominant car, Lopez managed to take 5th in race 1, while taking victory in race 2. The first time a driver has won on his debut in the series. This was a shock to quite many in the paddock, however looking back at Pechito’s previous career it probably shouldn’t have been. Lopez was a graduate of GP2, and raced against both Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in 2005 & 06. During his 44 race career, he visited the podium just 6 times, scoring 9th and 10th place finishes in the championship in each respective year. His career was dogged by many non-finishes, with him failing to finish half the races in 2006. This didn’t stop Lopez landing the role of test driver for the then world champions Renault in 2006, while also testing for Minardi a few years prior. He was also named as a driver for the failed US F1 team back in 2010. Lopez turned his attention back to tin tops after failing to secure an F1 drive in 2010. He raced in his home countries’ TC2000 series, a series he had won twice already in 2008 & 09. He scored a third TC2000 crown in 2012, while also racing in two other categories at the same time. 2013 would see him continue with TC2000, TopV6 while also making his dominant debut in the WTCC. It would ultimately be this that would help him secure a seat in the factory Citroens for their debut in the series the following year. Page | 24
Lopez and the Citroen team seemed to be a dream pairing. In his debut season in the all new TC1 era of the WTCC, he won 17 of the 23 races that year, while only being off the podium in 5 races. He claimed the title by 126 points over the 4-time champion and his team mate Yvan Muller. Lopez repeated the feat the following year, with the gap to his Muller being just 118 points. Pechito was only able to win 10 out of the 24 rounds that year. 2016 seems to be going the same way, Lopez leads the way by 101 points with 5 rounds left of the campaign. Largely due to the exclusion of the Hondas from Marrakech, but also due to Lopez’s 6 wins out of 14 races. This has been his hardest fought season to date, even though he has a monumental lead, the chasing pack is not about to let Lopez just walk away with a third title. So what next? Lopez will be heading to the DS Virgin Formula E team to partner Briton Sam Bird for the 2016-17 season. When asked about the new challenge ahead of him, Lopez said “This is a really exciting move for me and I’m looking forward to the challenge of Formula E with DS Virgin Racing.” It seemed that Lopez was an obvious choice for the team according to DS Virgin Team Principle Alex Tai “Jose is a proven world champion who has performed at the highest level and shown great speed and consistency in every motorsport discipline that he has competed in.” It will be interesting to see how Lopez fairs in his return to single seaters, having not competed in them since leaving GP2 in 2006. Will he transfer his dominance from WTCC to Formula E? Or will he struggle to get to grips with the electric racing formula? Only time will tell. In the meantime, Lopez will be focusing on capturing his third WTCC title as the season resumes at his home round in Argentina on August 6th & 7th. Page | 25
Why WTCC Is In Dire Need Of Change @telepathiccow Images: carpixel and ihdwallpapers
7 out of the 12 round of the FIA WTCC 2016 championship have passed and the condition of the series is at an all-time low. This year is the Citroen’s final year in the sport and the French manufacturer cut back for the 2016 season by reducing their amount of works cars from four to two. But the misery does not end there, WTCC has recently had its grid numbers drastically reduced and to top it all off star attraction and dominant driver Jose Maria Lopez will leave the series for Formula E in 2017. If we look at the first ever season of WTCC we can see that the inaugural 2005 season attracted a whopping 54 drivers across the whole season and if you compare that to the latest complete season of WTCC which only 27 drivers competed in it means that the 2015 WTCC season had only half the participants of the first WTCC season. But the grid size is the main focus point. The first race of the 2015 WTCC season had a total of 18 cars lining up at the season opener but the figures for the 2005 season opener absolutely crush that of the 2015 edition as 33 cars lined up for the first ever race at Monza. The number of participants for each race never dropped below 25 in 2005 while in 2015 the number of entrants for each race never made it over the 20 mark even in a season with a round at the iconic Nordschleife. This 18 car grid size is not filled with fantastic drivers in their peak either. Most of these drivers are over 35 and the racing overall doesn’t seem like it’s testing the drivers or pushing them to the limit. Every race seems to be down to the car and not the driver as each race usually ends in a dominant Citroen win or if the conditions are right you might see a different car taking the chequered flag.
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This seems like a rare boring touring car series and the regulations need a dramatic overhaul for the series to become competitive and appealing to watch. Switching to TCR regulations could be good for the series as the TCR International Series (a series that was actually founded by a former WTCC boss) is booming right now with affordable and exciting racing and a number of drivers. The major drop of point in the quality of the WTCC appears to be in 2014 when the regulations were questionably changed and immediately catered towards new entrants Citroen leading many to believe the governing of the series has been biased in recent years. This drop mirrors the STCC who implemented new rules in 2013 (which made cars from last year illegal and forced big teams to quit) and the series has dropped from averaging 20-24 entrants a round in 2012 all the way down to a catastrophic 10-12 entrants this year. Finally realising these regulations were destroying their series the STCC have scrapped the TTA rules and will adopt the TCR rules in 2017. Will it take another year for the FIA to realise that their current regulations aren’t doing the trick like the STCC did or will it take more time than that for the FIA to realise that their series is failing.
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Moto GP – Dutch Grand Prix @QkewQ Images: Independent, formulamag and Yamaha
On the menu since 1949, Assen is the most historic venue on the MotoGP calendar. And WHAT a chapter it added to the story as Jack Miller silenced his critics in taking his first ever top flight win. The aftermath of Saturday granted Dovizioso his 4th MotoGP pole position. Rossi was alongside him and Britain’s Scott Redding was P3 in his first front row start. Marquez was 4th from Crutchlow and Hernandez. Pol and Aleix Espargaro 7th and 8th. Petrucci and Lorenzo completed the top 10 starters. Iannone would started from last place following a retrospective penalty for his collision with Lorenzo last time out. The wet starting conditions allowed Scott Redding to lead away for the 26 lap race. However, a wide exit from Turn 1 put him on the slippery run-off area. He dropped to 7th as Rossi lead the pack away from Dovizioso and Aleix Espargaro. With Yonny Hernandez passed Aleix Espargaro braking in Lap 2’s Turn 1, the conditions seemed well suited to the Columbian. Look no further than his moving up to 2nd, then 1st as he tucked his bike down the inside of Rossi to take the lead of the GP. As Rossi ran wide, Yonny swept past using his superior pace, building up a half second gap as the track moved from wet to greasy. Factory or not, 2016 spec or not, the Ducati seemed to be the pick of the field as Hernandez, Doviziosi, Iannone and Petrucci were all inside the top 6. With 17 laps to go, the rain revisited causing Rossi to lose P2. Lighting up his rear tyre when exiting the final corner, Dovi’s superior traction allowed him to out drag Valentino come the Start/Finish line and take P2 as the dry line vanished. Page | 28
So far, Yonny’s best finish of the season was 14th, and so it would remain as the tricky conditions saw him down into Turn 1. All of this meant Dovizioso and Rossi were restored to their qualifying positions ahead of Petrucci and Redding. With the rain now scything down, the track struggled to dissipate water to Iannone’s cost. His ill-fated year continued as the back wheel went from underneath him and pulled the Cat down to the ground in another horror episode to his long running drama. Petrucci, however, was revelling in the treacherous conditions as he relieved Rossi of P2. Despite a brief comeback, Rossi was falling into clutches of Scott Redding who, on Lap 14, took 2.5 seconds off the leading pack’s advantage. He then diced with Rossi as Ducati looked to take a clean sweep of the podium. Petrucci then, with 12 to go, pulled his customer Ducati to the apex faster than Dovi and pulled past the factory Ducati. This was seemingly a one chance move as the Red Flags came out on Lap 15 to bring the race to a halt in ever more dangerous conditions. The race was restarted with 12 laps to go ensuring full points up for grabs. However, the race resumed under Lap 14 order which left Petrucci in 2nd in a Dovi, Rossi split. Dovi improved his launch from the first attempt and maintained a slim lead braking into Turn 1 as Rossi squeezed Petrucci out wide and into the pack on entrance. Marc Marquez however lead by the apex as he held a tight line down to the first corner and pulled his Honda down to the apex to fend of Dovi. But his slower and tighter corner allowed Dovi and Rossi to get on the power earlier and pull ahead for Turn 2. With Jack Miler up to P4, attention turned back to the Hondas, but this time Pedrosa, as his bike jumped from underneath him and he was low sided sliding across the sodden tarmac.
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With 11 laps to go, Rossi climbed to 1st in this unpredictable and astonishing race with circumstances that fitted the genius of the Doctor. But as one Italian celebrated, disaster lay in store as Petrucci’s bike retired with mechanical frustrations. Gutting for the former race leader. More heartstoppingly, Dovi was down at speed as he lost control during the high speed Turn 12 from clipping the curb at the apex. This left the top three as Rossi, Marquez and Miller with a 10 lap sprint to the end. But in this ever changing race that was testing pacemakers the world over to their absolute limit, Rossi fell victim to the slippery track surface at the 70mph Turn 10. His front end resisted the trail braking rider and wiped out from underneath. With 9 to go, Miller used the chicane to go late on the brakes and sliced past Marquez. Straight up from Moto 3, the level playing field of the conditions saw him take the lead and cross the finish line in 1st. Jack Miller’s jump straight from Moto3 to MotoGP left many questioning his place on the grid. But the conditions combined with his dirt ridding past saw the number 43 smoothly control the remainder of the race. Following an incredible race, all 3 formulas went home with new winners. Marquez and Scott Redding completed the podium from 4th placed Pol Espargaro. He was followed by Iannone, Barbera and Laverty. The top 10 were rounded off by Bradl, Vinäles and Lorenzo. Bautista, Rabat, Pedrosa and Smith were the last to finish. But 14th stilled picked up 2 points thanks to the DNFs of Piro, Aliex Espargaro, Rossi, Dovi, Petrucci, Crutchlow and Hernandez. Page | 30
Moto GP – German Grand Prix @QkewQ Images: wtop and asphaltandrubber
With the halfway point of the season upon us, the MotoGP circus arrived at the Sachsenring, Germany for a rain soaked 30 lap race. The shortest track on the calendar, at just 2.28 miles and 13 corners, provided another sterling instalment of racing as Marquez perfected his strategy call to take a 10 second triumph. He would start from pole, with Barbera and Rossi alongside. Petrucci started from P4, in front of Pol Espargaro, Vinäles and Dovizioso. An 8th spot start for Aleix from Iannone and Pedrosa. Lorenzo and Hernandez filled the top 12. With the lights out, Marc Marquez was fastest off line. Rossi took a tighter inside line into Turn 1, but to no avail as Marc maintained P1. Rossi snaked down to the long Turn 3, held a tighter line to the apex and then used his superior drive to pass Marquez for 1st. Last time out in rainy Assen the Ducatis looked to suit the poor weather and this continued to Germany as Dovi bolted up the inside to 2nd as Marquez dropped another position. Petrucci too would pass the Spaniard. The long sweeping hill down to Turn 12 allowed him to draw alongside the factory Honda before braking and passing Marquez. But Marquez used the Honda grunt to retake his position as the riders started their second lap. Lap 2 saw a carbon copy pass for Petrucci to retake lead before making a decisive move into Turn 1 of Lap 3 to stamp his authority. Dovi sat, observing Rossi, before deploying a wider line in to the corner, to straighten up the exit and then spend longer on throttle to cut back from Rossi and take the lead. Page | 31
Petrucci repeated what was fast becoming his trademark move of the race. Gunning the bike out of Turn 11 and carrying the momentum down the hill and passed the Yamaha of Rossi to move up to 2nd. Behind, the last race winner and seemingly comfortable in poor conditions, Miller demoted Barbera to P6. The challenge for P1 continued. Who was it? Petrucci. Where was it? The exit of Turn 11 and down the hill. The outcome? Another overtake for Petrucci. Once again, in the changeable conditions, Petrucci passed Dovi for the lead of the race. But this time he would not be demoted from a resulting red flag as in Assen. Barbera, with 22 to go, knocked Marquez down to 6th braking into Turn 1. A lap later, at the same corner, Lorenzo was demoted by Aleix Espargaro, followed by Vinäles, as the back to back races were haemorrhaging points for Jorge. Did I mention that these consecutive races shared more than an air of familiarity between one another? Well so it proved as, like Yonny Hernandez, down on the deck was Petrucci to dash any hope of winning the race. As the front end slid out from underneath the bike at Turn 3, he was left riding into the sand trap. Marquez was visiting the infield too as he ran too wide and too fast into Turn 8. This promoted Dovizioso up to first, followed by Rossi. The number 46 attempting to capitalise on Jorge & Marc’s trouble for the championship battle. 16 to go and with a drying line clearly immerging, Rossi was channelling his bike down the damp sections of the track to cool and preserve his tyres. A lap later and Marquez was first into the pits for slicks to test the waters and to throw any brave strategy at the race in hope of moving up the field. Rossi’s conservation seemed to have worked as his tyres gave a second wind allowing him to move back through to 2nd. Page | 32
Pol Espargaro at Turn 2, also having made the change to slicks, dropped his bike off the surface giving an indication to the rest of the field to hold out from the pits until conditions were optimum to make the change. With 8 Laps remaining that window opened as the top 4 riders all bolted for the pits. This left Miller out in the lead, but Marquez, first man to change bikes, was setting fastest laps. A pit stop reshuffle saw Crutchlow take positions from both Dovi and Rossi upon re-joining. Marquez now in DEFCON 1, ripped 9 seconds from Miller and passed him for 1st to transform his fortunes in a race defining strategy call. Then as Scott Redding’s slicks wore on, Crutchlow pounced on the white flag lap, braking into Turn 1 to move into P2. Dovi, with a corner to go, saved some face for the factory Ducatis zipping down the inside of Redding for 3rd with an outrageous turn of pace. Marquez remained unchallenged to take the chequered flag with a 9.8 second win over the Isle of Man’s Cal Crutchlow. Dovi returned 3rd ahead of the tyre troubled Scott Redding. Iannone finished in 5th from Dani Pedrosa. Miller’s late pit stop pushed him down to 7th ahead of Rossi who failed to capitalise on Lorenzo and Marquez’s (early) struggles. Barbera finished P9 ahead of Bautista, Laverty and Vinäles. Point finishes were rewarded for Smith, Aleix Espargaro and a solitary return for Lorenzo in 15th. Behind Rabat, Baz and Hernandez, Pol Espargaro and Petrucci DNFed. So after 2 dramatic races Marquez takes a 48 point lead in the championship from Lorenzo. 11 points separates the Yamaha teammates as Rossi stays 3rd. Austria’s Spielberg sees the championship return in a month’s time. This leaves us a momentary breather to compose ourselves after the boys put in 2 stunning shows for us all. Page | 33
A Weekend Being A British Marshal @QkewQ Images: FIA. LMC and
Whenever a new circuit is added to the Formula One calendar, you can count on Ben Edwards or David Croft sitting in the commentary box, to praise the quality of the British marshals who are flown in to impart their wisdom. Widely considered as the best in the business, they are integral to any race meeting up and down the country. So with the debut of the Baku Grand Prix in 2016, it peaked my interest and got me asking what the draw of marshalling is and what makes the Brits so good? Well, I spent a summer weekend in their steel toe-capped shoes, manning the peripheries of the race track to understand why so many men and women give up their weekends, for free, to dress in orange. I’m a fortunate person in that I live right in the heartland of UK motorsport. An hour on the road takes me to some of Britain’s, and therefore the world’s most notorious race tracks. On this occasion my destination was Donington Park for the Masters Festival. A nirvana for historic racing fans, expect to see everything from 1970s and 80s Formula One cars, through the beautiful and crazy CanAm era, to classic touring cars and sports GTs. It matters not if you are a fan of Ferrari thoroughbreds, Lotus Cortinas or the genius of Carroll Shelby, there is a facet for everyone. If you thought that this summer’s music had peaked with ELO’s performance at Glastonbury, then the East Midlands had vastly different ideas. Like Lewis, Nico and their counterparts, everyone in Formula One has made their way to the top through the various feeder series. Similarly, so too must a marshal to be accepted in their application for Silverstone. However, do not expect to have to bide your time parking lowered MX-5s and battered MR-2s. You can go straight in with British Touring Cars, Formula E, or in my case sending a multi-million-pound Ford GT40 back to scrutineering to collect a missing sticker. For those of us too tall or too financially constrained to have made a flourish into motor sport, then marshalling is by some way the cheapest way of getting your petrol fix season after season. Page | 34
Thus far, having only spent one weekend as a marshal, it is difficult to offer a conclusive insight into why British marshals are widely considered as the best in the world. But there is much still to be gleamed. Perhaps, it is the family atmosphere. At sign-on everybody seems to know and greet each other as you might do with any other friend. I think it is this interdependence and bond amongst the marshals that keeps everything organised and safe. It’s a simple pro-quo arrangement- help each other to help yourself. This keeps things efficient and with little hiccups. Of course the extensive training that goes into becoming a fully-fledged BMMC marshal is the single biggest contributing reason to the making of a British Marshal. Experience also plays a big role. You can tell by the oily stains on the overalls and the most faded of caps who has been in the game a while, picking up expertise at every meeting and having covered every possible category of racing. But I think there is a much simpler reason as to why Brits are exported across the world to train others. It is the inherent enthusiasm they have for racing. The marshals equal the spectators in wanting to see on track drama. So it is thanks to their cat-like reactions and their want for racing that makes them spring into action to clear the incident in order to allow the battling to go on. Beyond lap times and pit stops, speed is critical across the board when it comes to racing and this is evident in the marshalling ethos. Beyond trying to quantify the enthusiasm of a marshal, there is however, a precise formula to it all. My own break down is simple enough, 90% of your time is standing around at your post and waiting for the drama. How you spend this time is up to you. Hypothermia, getting soaked through or catching a British marshal suntan are all possible, but I find it best to indulge in the cars trading paint and dicing as if they were go karts, and not 14.5 feet of stunning Jaguar E-Type Lightweight-ness. Apart from gripping the steering wheel itself, there is no position that brings you closer to racing speed than standing in front of the fences and mere feet away from a full bore standing start. Page | 35
A further 5% of your time is taken up with retrieving broken body work, waving flags and mopping up oil from the racing line. The final 5% is much more intense. The final 5% is spent running for cover when the evocative lines and sound of the 1976 Shadow DN-5B are interrupted as it jettisons a right rear spring coming out of the final corner. The spring only lands 10 or so feet away. With modern F1 the expectation of pioneering engineering is lightness, but picking up the spring and feeling its weight brings home the dangers of motorsport. With no fence to hide behind, should the drivers’ aim have been better than the trouble really could have ruined someone’s day. But hey, I accepted the risk in signing up to be a marshal, so more fool me. Everyone I met over the two days were totally hospitable. The drivers were all too happy to see someone share their passion. Whether it was Jonathan Lewis, the man who put Richard Hammond into a R25 championship winning F1 car, the Hall and Hall mechanics running a Ligier, a Cobra and a Lola, or hopeless petrol head and AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson. They all had time to speak about these historic machines, their setup, their driving personalities and the circuit. What’s more, if you found them in a period of relative quiet between races then they invite you to get up close with these machines and fuel the enthusiasm. But I was not there as a fan, I was there to marshal, and what an important role these men and women play. No race can run without them, whether it is ensuring each car is safe and track ready, giving the green flag and waving the field onto the circuit or keeping the circuit green when the drivers get it wrong. They play as vital of a role as those in race control or in any other department. Here at L&T Motorsport, we cover a wealth of different categories of racing from grass roots, to two wheels, upwards to Formula One and many besides. So, if you’re reading this then there is high chance that like me, you too have a disposition to a racing livery. The British Motorsports Marshals Club (BMMC) rely on volunteers and race weekends simply would not function without the marshals. So if you want to prove your love of racing and have a spare weekend then why not try a taster day next season? Spend a trial day as a marshal, with no obligation to continue, but every incentive to do so. I have my overalls ordered and my summer schedule taking me to formulas I have yet to encounter so far. They are long and hard days make no mistake, but for the new perspective to be gained it is well worth the effort. Who knows, I may even see you at a race meet before too long. Page | 36
Is Formula One Too Complex For Its Own Good? @stevecampf1
Scenes in Baku of Lewis Hamilton attempting to go through his dashboard at 200+mph trying to fix an issue with his W07 were a sure sign of times that Formula One; despite being at the top level of motorsport for technology, proved that it could be now be boarding on dangerous driving if the driver has to look at his dashboard instead of the race track ahead at such high speed. So what is behind all of this? The Radio Clampdown At the 2014 Singapore Grand Prix it was announced that moving forward the FIA would be enforcing Article 27.1 of the sporting regulations of which requires 'The driver must drive alone and unaided'. This was due to copious amounts of information being passed to the drivers whilst out on circuit, such as sector times and where they could improve, rival driver’s fastest laps and sectors, details on how to change specific settings to help with the car's handling among numerous other bits of information. Driving a Formula One car is no mean feat at the best of times and for the drivers to process all of this information, especially with how much it was helping them drive the cars, it was deemed to have been in breach of Article 27.1, which I personally would felt was the correct decision. During the 2016 European Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton was having issues with the PU 'derating', this was due to a software calibration during race preparation meant the MGUK was not deploying power correctly meaning he was down on power, now due to the regulations being enforced heavily by Charlie Whiting, Peter Bonnington Lewis' race engineer was strictly bound by the regulations not to help him. Too Much To Do Since 2014, a few teams brought in LCD displays on the cockpit which in 2016 every team has now adopted, it carries a lot more information than what they were no doubt used too, but they now have even more dials, menus and submenus to trawl through at high speed. We can cry out about there being a simpler time in any subject, but in Formula One, progress and moving forward are the only way engineers think. Page | 37
But in a time now where a problem could occur while on circuit, should a driver have to delve through the menus on his dashboard while attempting corners like Blanchemont or Parabolica in an attempt to fix a problem with his car? I personally think not. The radio clampdown is correct, but only to a fashion. Giving a driver information on rivals, how to take corners faster among other things are absolutely things that should have been prohibited, but when we have such complex and difficult machinery for these drivers to cope with, the clampdown goes too far. Where next? So far nothing looks to be changing on this front in the near future and that I feel is a great shame. The drivers on this grid have a tremendous mental capacity to drive these sophisticated machines at high speed and while that has to be applauded, imagine how much more of that spare brain power could be put into finding a few meters in a breaking zone, putting the throttle down on the exit, or even all of the above to hunt down their next opponent? Over the past twenty years the Formula One steering wheel has evolved dramatically as you'd expect, saving room and giving the driver more tools to manage his vehicle is the name of the game, but as we've explained, how far can that go? Set up work is mostly done prior to the event and practice sessions are mainly to test new parts and tyre strategies for the race, so this should mean a basic set up is already on the car, perhaps a driver should only be limited to changing brake bias, engine maps with the pit lane limiter, drink and radio only to hand instead? Could this be a potential solution? This would also help with the driver's ability to learn to overcome any issues with setup of a car and drive around it because of the limited running on weekends. There are lot of ifs and buts on this discussion, but Formula One needs to either make changes to the radio clampdown or force teams to simplify the cars to prevent these sort of issues in the future. Page | 38
Hamilton Fights Back With Austrian Victory @Alice_Holloway_ Images: Sutton Images
The Championship battle closed in once again as Lewis Hamilton drove from pole to victory at the Austrian Grand Prix. The race ended with a last-lap incident between the Mercedes teammates, but the Briton managed to clinch the lead to take the victory and bring Rosberg’s Championship advantage down to 11 points. Rosberg had been dominating proceedings during Friday’s practice sessions but a mistake in FP3 saw him make heavy contact with the barriers and forcing a gearbox change, which led to a five-place grid drop for the German. Sebastian Vettel also received a five-place drop as he too changed his gearbox, after first free practice. Daniil Kvyat made heavy contact with the barriers after his right suspension snapped on his car. This brought out the red flag, whist Sergio Perez suffered from a wishbone failure at the front of his car. Carlos Sainz Jr finished the session early as his engine failed. Perez and Sainz both made it through to Q2 but were unable to set times so ended the session P16/P15 respectively. The rain fell in Q2 and continued into Q3, which included Mercedes, Ferraris, Williams, Red Bulls, Nico Hulkenberg and Jenson Button - for the first time. Hamilton took pole, whilst Button set McLaren’s best qualifying since their re-collaboration with Honda and got P5. But with the grid drops in affect, Hulkenberg started P2 beside Hamilton whilst Button took up the third place spot. Off the start, Hamilton got a clear get away and held onto his pole position, leading into the first corner. Button made impressive gains on Hulkenberg and took second from the German, managing to hold the position until lap seven where Sebastian Vettel passed demoted him. Sadly, for Button he slowly began dropping backwards down the field, but he held up a good fight towards the lower scoring points positions and managed a sixthplace finish when the chequered flag dropped. Page | 39
The tyre strategies came into play around the 15-lap mark and left Vettel out in the lead on 29 lap old ultra-soft tyres. Ferrari was trying a long-stint strategy but this tactic never came to light. In spectacular fashion, Vettel’s rear right tyre exploded coming down the start/finish straight and saw him spin across the track before coming to a rest against the opposite barrier. The crash brought out the one and only Safety Car of the race and brought down the lead gap Rosberg, who had managed to perform the undercut on Hamilton, had to around a second. Two slow pit stops for Hamilton meant that in the closing stages of the race he was still stuck behind Rosberg. But he managed to close the gap quickly as the German began reporting brake issues. It was on the final lap that Hamilton was on Rosberg’s rear wing in perfect position to make the pass for the lead. With a mistake from Rosberg into Turn 1, Hamilton had the run into Turn 2 and moved to the outside to make the pass. Rosberg went wide through Turn 2, subsequently pushing Hamilton off the track. The two collided and Rosberg got substantial damage to his Mercedes, dropping him from first to fourth in a matter of corners. The stewards deemed the incident Rosberg’s fault and handed him a ten-second penalty for the collision, but because of his gap to fifth-placed Daniel Ricciardo the penalty had no effect on the final standing. Max Verstappen did an impressive job to hold off Kimi Räikkönen on very old tyres, managing to hold onto second place with the Finn rounding off the podium. Behind sixthplaced Button Romain Grosjean collected some more points for Haas in seventh, with Sainz performing another brilliant recovery drive to get to eighth. An apparent mechanical problem left Perez in the tyre barrier and Valtteri Bottas was promoted to ninth, with Pascal Wehrlein finishing off the top ten – scoring his first ever Formula One point and the first point of the season for Manor. After such an impressive qualifying, Nico Hulkenberg’s race ended in disaster as he finished his race in the garage with suspected brake issues. Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso retired into the pits on the same lap as Hulkenberg, Massa with similar brake issues whilst Alonso had a power issue. Kvyat barely made it three corners after starting from the pit lane as the team instructed him to pull up at the side of the track and retire the car. Page | 40
Sebastian Vettel’s Explosive Austrian GP Megan Mallory Images: Crash.net
After qualifying in 3rd, Sebastian Vettel managed to lead the Austrian Grand Prix ahead of the dominant Mercedes until lap 26 when his race came to an explosive end. Along the main straight at the Red Bull Ring, Vettel’s tyre exploded causing him to slide across the track almost taking out Pascal Wehrlein with him. Ferrari did not believe they were pushing the tyre as other teams had done more laps on the super soft compound. The team were trying to stretch the first stint for as far as possible when the tyre failed. Initial claims were that the failure was caused by debris on the track however Vettel was the only driver to suffer this problem. Pirelli analysis showed that the tyre had no sign of fatigue or structural failure. The tyre failure wasn’t the first for Vettel as in the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix he suffered a similar failure on the penultimate lap of the race. Vettel is not a driver who often speaks his mind but these tyre failures are something that has clearly angered him. Vettel claimed he could have been killed if the tyre had exploded 200 metres earlier at Eau Rouge instead of Blanchimont. Much like Austria the tyre was supposedly damaged by an external source rather than just tyre wear and again the team had no prior warning that the tyre failure would happen. This leaves the question of whether the Ferrari cars are harsher on the tyres than other teams or Pirelli tyre guidelines need to be adjusted and rethought. Unlike Austria 2016, The 2015 Belgian Grand Prix saw Nico Rosberg also have a tyre failure in Practice. As Spa-Francochamps is such a fast track, these tyre failures are even more dangerous. Fortunately for Vettel and Rosberg, their incidents didn’t leave them with major injuries however they easily could have if it was a less skilled driver. Neither Pirelli or Ferrari have a conclusion for what has caused Vettel’s tyre failures leaving a big question mark around why they happened and if they will happen again. Page | 41
Fourth British Win For Hamilton @Alice_Holloway_
In a dominant weekend, Lewis Hamilton pleased the British fans as he sailed to an easy victory. On track, he leads teammate Nico Rosberg and Max Verstappen to the podium, taking his 47th career victory. However, after a radio infringement incurred by Rosberg and Mercedes, the German was handed a ten-second penalty, promoting Verstappen to second and dropping him to third. This brought the Championship battle down to just one point between the Mercedes duo. Qualifying was dominated by Hamilton as he took a comprehensive pole, three tenths up on his teammate. A lot of the drivers had their lap times deleted for exceeding track limits, which at the beginning of the session highlighted three turns as zero tolerance areas. This led to confusion at the beginning of Q2 as Kevin Magnussen had set a lap time, demoting Jenson Button, that was under query of exceeding the track limits. However, as Q2 had already started there was nothing the veteran of the sport could do to start higher than P17. The British weather struck and covered the track in a heavy downpour, leading to the race starting under the Safety Car. Five laps were completed before the Safety Car took to the pits, followed by about half of the grid. Because the rain had stopped before the race started and the Safety Car was out for so long, the track was drying fast and it was intermediate weather by time the cars were released to race. This took away any advantage any of the drivers were hoping to get from the wet conditions, especially Sebastian Vettel who had been demoted to 11th after a five-place grid drop for replacing his gearbox had been enforced. Only five drivers did not pit when the rest of the grid did for intermediate tyres: Hamilton, Rosberg, Verstappen, Ricciardo and Perez. This tactic paid off when Pascal Wehrlein lost control of his Manor at Abbey corner and brought out the Virtual Safety Car. This allowed the leading pack to change to the intermediate tyres without losing very much time the the rest of the grid. It was after these stops that a pacy Verstappen took second from a struggling Rosberg with an impressive move around the outside of Becketts. Vettel was the first to risk the slick tyres, and, after he had managed a few laps without any incident, the grid poured into the pits. Everyone opted to take on the medium compound, with most of the drivers ran to the end on the one set. The whole track was dry apart from a patch at Abbey. Page | 42
Carlos Sainz Jr had a spectacular rally drift through the corner on one lap as he successfully managed to save the car spinning out. A few laps later, however, he was not so lucky, losing a couple of places as he spun the car. Fernando Alonso had a big moment going through Abbey as he lost control of his McLaren, spinning off into the gravel and tapping the barrier. The Spaniard was luckily able to get the car moving again, unscathed. The spin was costly as it dropped the McLaren driver from 9th to 13th. Rio Haryanto had an almost identical incident to Alonso, but his contact with the barrier was much harder and saw his race end. Rosberg’s car slowed suddenly in the closing stages of the race. With a failure imminent, Mercedes radioed their driver to explain how to fix the issue. With the new radio restrictions in place, it was not the message that told Rosberg which setting he had to change to fix the problem that put Mercedes in breach of the rule, but the fact that they confirmed to their driver to “shift through seventh gear”. The German was handed a tensecond penalty that dropped him to third. Ricciardo finished fourth, fifteen seconds off a podium finish. Perez’s early race strategy saw him get his Force India across the line in sixth, losing fifth to Kimi Raikkonen in the closing stages. Nico Hulkenberg finished off a strong day for Force India as he finished seventh, with Sainz holding onto eighth. Picking up a five second penalty after losing control of his car trying to overtake Felipe Massa and forcing them both off track, Vettel managed to finish his torrid weekend ninth. He pulled out enough of a gap to chasing Daniil Kyat to not lose a position to the Russian in tenth. Page | 43
Hamilton Leads Championship After Fifth Hungarian Victory @Alice_Holloway_ Images: Sutton Images
After eleven rounds of the 2016 Formula One World Championship, Lewis Hamilton has taken his first lead in the standings after winning his fifth Hungarian Grand Prix. What was once a 43-point deficit for Hamilton is now a 6-point lead as Formula One nears the summer break. He finished an unchallenged race ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg and Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo. The race was fairly processional, with no one making many advances through the field, handing Hamilton an easy victory. After having Q1 delayed by an hour due to heavy rainfall, it was Rosberg who qualified on pole, ahead of Hamilton. The German’s pole lap was thrown under controversy as he had managed to improve on a lap that was impended by yellow flags after Fernando Alonso had spun his McLaren. However, the data and telemetry revealed that Rosberg had lifted enough through the incident area and he retained his pole position. With the track surface drying rapidly track improvement was massive from lap to lap, giving Rosberg the chance to lift and also improve to take pole. This race marked McLaren’s first double Q3 showing since 2014; a positive sign for the Woking outlet. The advantage Rosberg had, however, was lost into the first corner as Hamilton took the lead he would never relinquish on the run to Turn 1. But neither Mercedes had a brilliant get away from the line and nearly lost the lead to the two pouncing Red Bulls starting third and fourth. Ricciardo, from third, managed to get a nose ahead coming through Turn 1 for the lead but Hamilton blocked off the move, keeping the Australian at bay. Rosberg demoted the Red Bull driver back to third through Turn 2, the position where Ricciardo would end the race. The Red Bull pair stayed with the Mercedes duo for the opening few laps but it became clear quickly that they still did not have the pace to match the World Champions. Page | 44
The real battles on track were those between the Ferraris and Red Bulls. After being caught out by the changing weather in qualifying Kimi Räikkönen started from 14th on the grid, but used his pit stop strategy to bring him right into the running for the top half of the points. He fought for fifth for many laps with Max Verstappen as the race drew to a close but he could not quite get passed the Dutchman. After a debatable defending move from Verstappen that could have been classed as weaving, the Finn could not reel him in enough to get passed. Vettel finished fourth, splitting the two Red Bulls when the chequered flag fell. He had been pushing to catch Ricciardo for the last podium spot after the Australian made a mistake in the closing stages and was struggling with his tyres but there were not enough laps left for the German to make much progress. Behind the top six, Alonso finished best-of-the-rest in seventh, with Carlos Sainz Jr doing an impressive job to finish eighth. This track was not looking to be a strong one for Toro Rosso and, with everyone else receiving engine updates, the junior Red Bull team is expected to start slipping backwards as they run 2015 Ferrari engines that will not be updated. With all this considered Sainz did a fairly impressive job whilst his teammate Daniil Kvyat could do not better than 16th. Valtteri Bottas finished ninth with Nico Hulkenberg rounding off the points positions. Felipe Massa’s race was at a disadvantage from the off as he had crashed in the wet conditions of Q1 and started 18th on the grid, the position in which he ended the race. The only retirement from the race was McLaren’s Jenson Button. It was a shame as he had qualified well and it had been looking to be a strong race for the Woking team. A few laps into the race, Button was hit with a loss of hydraulic pressure which severely affected his brakes. The team instructed him on how to fix the problem, pitting the car so as to conceit to the new radio-ban rules that had been put in place from the British Grand Prix. However, the Brit was still hit with a drivethrough penalty as the stewards deemed unauthorised radio communication. His race came to a premature end when an oil leak forced him into the pits to retire. Page | 45
Could Hamilton Vs Vettel Be The Biggest Ever Intra-Team Battle? @joe96clark Image: imgur
Sebastian Vettel has this month been tipped by his former mentor and employer, Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner, to move to Mercedes in 2018 should Ferrari’s lack of competitiveness to the current constructor’s champions continue. Vettel moved from Red Bull to Ferrari at the end of the 2014 season after a dismal season finishing lower than his newly promoted team mate Daniel Ricciardo, achieving no wins where his team mate scored three victories. Moving from a Renault powered team to the Ferrari powered manufacturing team proved successful as Vettel took the fight to Mercedes winning 3 races in Malaysia, Hungary and Singapore. Ferrari promised to be closer to the seemingly uncatchable pace of the Mercedes team and so far without a win to his or Ferrari’s name, Christian Horner now believes that this is unsettling the four-time world champion. Leading to him looking for a better opportunity to win a fifth world championship. Lewis Hamilton meanwhile, triple world champion and current holder of back to back world championships, has been leading the charge for Mercedes in the high profile races with team mate Nico Rosberg. With the pair more often than not just racing one another, there would be an incredible amount of excitement should Vettel and Hamilton ever become team mates. No doubt two of the best drivers on the 2016 grid with seven of the last eight driver’s championships between them, it would be a great spectacle for Formula 1 to have both drivers in the same car in order to finally see, in a fair situation with the same cars, to ultimately see who is the better driver. A Hamilton-Vettel intra-team battle wets the appetites of Formula 1 fans and would certainly echo that of the battles at McLaren-Honda not too many decades ago between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. Lewis Hamilton stated that he would be ‘super excited to see us two race if I were to hang up my gloves’ last year when asked if he looked forward to a battle with Sebastian Vettel in the 2016 season. This, so far has not happened, instead Ferrari have been suffering poor luck and reliability problems at the start of the season on Sebastian’s car especially meaning there hasn’t quite been that battle between the Ferrari’s and Mercedes that fans hoped for in the 2016 season. Page | 46
Would Grosjean Be A Good Fit At Ferrari? @Joe96Clark
Romain Grosjean justifiably deserves a top race seat at Ferrari, but with how hard it is to secure a seat in Formula 1, he knows it is going to be tough. Especially as Kimi Raikkonen recently signed a year extension, taking him to the end of the 2017 season. Statistics do not lie. Ninety-three starts and ten podiums for Grosjean suggests he is a driver who will achieve a podium should he be given the right seat. However, he is yet to win a race and he says that his ultimate dream would be to win the Driver’s Championship. "Yes, if there is a chance to go to Ferrari, there is no way I would say no - that's the team I've loved since I was eight years old - and I want to be world champion and that's where you get a good shot at least." – Driver’s Press Conference, Hungary 2016. After four somewhat very different season for Lotus, Grosjean made the move from the struggling team to new boys HAAS, powered by the 2016 Ferrari engine, the same that the manufacturing team are running this season. Immediately it is easy to speculate that Romain eyes the team as a stepping stone to graduate to Ferrari from once a seat becomes vacant. This move made sense for Romain’s progression as a driver if he wants to be in a championship winning car. Working with the Ferrari engine and with Ferrari engineers thanks to HAAS being an effective sister-team allows for Grosjean to develop an understanding of what it would be like to work with Ferrari, should he one day be given the call up to the main team. Having been voted ‘Driver of the Day’ by fans in the first two grand prix, where he passed the chequered flag in his brand new HAAS in sixth then fifth place, there is no doubting that Romain Grosjean is a big talent on the grid. If he were to be paired with Sebastian Vettel, then casting our minds back to the tail end of 2013, using cars with the same engines, Romain was almost the only challenger to the eventual four-time world champion. Therefore, there would be no doubt that there would be a healthy intra-team battle. Page | 47
Alex Booth’s Featured Driver – Giancarlo Fisichella @Alex_Booth_93 Images: f1fanatic
Respected amongst his peers as one of the most talented drivers they raced against, Giancarlo Fisichella certainly had an interesting career. In 2016 Jenson Button described the Italian as “the best in the world at driving a bad car.” Fisichella had plenty of practice at driving inferior machinery and did often shine, yet when he got his hands on a good one, some might say he did not meet expectations. Born in Rome, Fisichella got his big break in 1996. The struggling Minardi, team never averse to spotting young talent signed the 23-year-old to drive in the Australian Grand Prix. Fisichella was not signed on a permanent deal as the Italian minnows needed a driver who could bring funding. Nevertheless, Fisichella performed well, out-qualifying his more experienced team mate Pedro Lamy in all but two of the races in which he took part. This was enough to impress Eddie Jordan who snapped him up to partner Ralf Schumacher for his team in 1997. After a shaky start, notably colliding with his team mate in Argentina, Fisichella grabbed his maiden podium finish in Canada. The second half of the season was where Fisichella firmly announced his arrival, he was in contention for the win at Hockenheim until he got a puncture. After finishing second to Michael Schumacher at a soggy Spa he was seen as “the next big thing” by commentators. His performances even got him embroiled in a contract dispute when Flavio Briatore poached him from Jordan to drive for Benetton in 1998. The move coincided with Benetton’s declining years, wins and title fights would not happen though Fisichella did come close twice, Montreal 1998 when a gearbox issue slowed him down, and at the Nurburgring in 1999 when he spun off in the rain. He achieved one pole position and scored seven podiums in his four-year stint with the team. However, the most noteworthy part of his Benetton days was the fact he consistently outperformed his team mates, Alexander Wurz in 1999 and 2000 and then Jenson Button in 2001. Page | 48
At the end of 2001 he was out of contract with Benetton and re-joined Jordan, but again it was a matter of bad timing, Jordan was increasingly becoming a victim of F1’s increasing costs. That was until his lucky day finally arrived in Brazil in 2003, after pitting early for fuel in the torrential rain Fisichella kept his car on the road and found himself leading the race when Kimi Raikkonen made a mistake. The race was red-flagged, at exactly the right time for the Italian as his engine gave way in parc fermé! Initially he was declared second but the stewards corrected the countback of the results and Fisichella was awarded the victory, his first after 110 races. In spite of this triumph, 2003 confirmed Jordan’s slip to the tail end of the grid. The Italian joined Sauber which appeared to be a prelude to a Ferrari drive. Fisichella enjoyed a good season, finishing all but one race and like in 2001 he outpaced his young team mate, Felipe Massa. History repeated himself when Flavio Briatore came calling again and Fisichella joined Renault for 2005. This appeared to be the breakthrough that many had been predicting has he finally had a race-winning car. When the Italian won first time out in Australia it looked as if the 32-year-old would finally achieve his potential but it was not to be. Sometimes it was down to bad luck, and other times it was clear he was unable to match his team mate Fernando Alonso. Being overtaken for the lead on the last lap in Suzuka by Raikkonen summed up his season. There was a slight improvement in 2006, he won again this time in Malaysia and looked closer to Alonso’s pace. Third in the World Championship was his best ever result. 2007 would be his last season with Renault. Out of a drive, Fisichella joined Force India in 2008 and returned to his old form of performing well in a poor car. The team had a better season in 2009, their slippery car was very fast in a straight line and Fisichella utilised this to take unexpected pole in Spa. The KERS-boosted Ferrari of Raikkonen beat him in the race but it was a reminder of how talented the Italian was. He ended his F1 career at every Italian driver’s dream, Ferrari, as a substitute for Felipe Massa before retiring at the end of 2009. Page | 49
Prema’s GP2 Introduction @olliebluebirds Images: Sam Bloxham
When we found out that PREMA was going to take over from Lazarus, no one knew what to expect but indications started to come when Pierre Gasly moved from DAMS to PREMA. People started to think that PREMA could be a team that could fight for wins and championships so here is my assessment on the performances PREMA have had so far: Round 1: Spain Race 1 results: Gasly 3rd Giovinazzi 18th Race 2 results: Gasly 2nd Giovinazzi DNF Assessment: Gasly was unlucky to win race 1 after a safety car came out at the wrong time. However, the Frenchman did very well in race 2 to fight back from 7th on the grid to finish 2nd. Gasly’s teammate Antonio Giovinazzi had two contrasting races with the Italian hitting his fellow countryman Raffaele Marciello in the feature race which resulted in the race being brought back by 1 lap so Marciello could get pole position back with Giovinazzi getting a penalty for the sprint race. In the sprint race, Giovinazzi was involved in a heavy crash with Sean Geleal. Round 2: Monte Carlo Race 1 results: Gasly 15th Giovinazzi 11th Race 2 results: Gasly 13th Giovinazzi 18th
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Assessment: A disaster for PREMA in Monte Carlo as Gasly missed the weighbridge in qualifying. This resulted in Gasly starting from the pit lane and in Monte Carlo, it is difficult to overtake. This penalty wrecked his whole weekend. Giovinazzi had car issues in race 1 which destroyed his chance of grabbing his first points of the season after a decent qualifying session so overall a weekend that PREMA will want to forget. Round 3: Baku Race 1 results: Gasly DNF Giovinazzi 1st Race 2 results: Gasly 2nd Giovinazzi 1st Assessment: A near enough perfect weekend for PREMA. However, at the start of race 1, Pierre Gasly was caught up in a first lap incident with the two Carlin’s and the two DAMS and still could not find that first win in GP2. However, he recovered well and nearly took an awesome sprint race win from 18th on the grid if Giovinazzi did not pass him on the last lap. Giovinazzi had the perfect weekend winning both of the races in Baku proving he has what it takes to win this championship after scoring zero points in the first two race weekends. The last driver to win both races in one weekend was Davide Valsecchi in 2012 at Bahrain. Round 4: Austria Race 1 results: Gasly DNF Giovinazzi DNF Race 2 results: Gasly 7th Giovinazzi 5th
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Assessment: A weekend that could’ve been so much more for PREMA. Gasly and Giovinazzi were 1-2 and were comfortably leading making it look like they would get their second 1-2 of the season but it all changed on lap 17. A 1-2 turned into disaster! The wet conditions caught out race leader Gasly which resulted him to spin at turn 3 and was beached in the gravel. This meant that his teammate Giovinazzi was leading but he stalled his engine in the red flag period and resulted in the Italian to retire which caused PREMA’s first double retirement of the season. In race 2, it got much better for the two PREMA drivers as they both fought back from 17th and 20th to finish 5th and 7th respectively. Round 5: Silverstone Race 1 results: Gasly 1st Giovinazzi 2nd Race 2 results: Gasly 7th Giovinazzi 4th Assessment: A good weekend at Silverstone for the Italian outfit as they got their second 1-2 of the season with Pierre Gasly finally getting that first win in GP2 by choosing the right strategy starting on the soft tyres. Both drivers could save their tyres and still put competitive lap times in which ultimately led to their 1-2. The sprint race wasn’t too bad either as Gasly fought back from a poor start to recover to 7th and Giovinazzi was only 0.122 seconds away from the podium. So far PREMA have showed the GP2 field that the traditional championship winning teams of ART and DAMS that a new team can come straight into GP2 and give them a good run. I think that PREMA will win the constructors championship if they keep their form up because both teammates get on well with each other and both drivers look like they have got what it takes to win the title. Giovinazzi is one point of championship leader Oliver Rowland and Gasly is only four points of Rowland. Page | 52
GP2 Champions: Where Are They Now? Megan Mallory Image: GP2 Series Media
2005 was the year that GP2 was formed from the F2000 series. Bernie Ecclestone created GP2 as a feeder series bringing up the most promising new young drivers. In the first season, the series followed the F1 tracks holding 17 races including one in Monaco. The first champion of the series was the now well-known name of Nico Rosberg. After racing with ART and winning five races, Nico Rosberg won the championship from Heikki Kovalainen. Nico took 4 fastest laps and 12 podiums on his way to becoming GP2 champion. For the 2006 season Nico was promoted to Formula 1 with Williams Racing where he stayed until 2010 when he moved to Mercedes GP with Teammate Michael Schumacher. Rosberg now races alongside 2006 champion, Lewis Hamilton forming a fierce rivalry competing for the Formula 1 World Championship. GP2’s second season in 2006 saw Lewis Hamilton graduate from Formula Three joining ART after Nico Rosberg won with them in 2005. Hamilton won the GP2 championship on his first attempt with 5 wins and 14 podiums. The 2005 championship was battled out right until the end where it was won in the final race in Bahrain, the only race not with F1, which saw Rosberg win both races of the weekend and claim pole position making him the first driver to do so. His first GP2 season was a memorable one with a dominant win at the Nurburgring and amazing overtakes around the outside of Becketts at his home race in Silverstone as well as recovering from an 18th place to 2nd in Istanbul. Hamilton won his championship in strange circumstances after Giorgio Pantano was stripped of his fastest lap in Monza gaining Hamilton the final point he needed to be GP2 champion. After months of speculation Hamilton was confirmed alongside Fernando Alonso for McLaren for the 2007 F1 season. In 2008 after 2 successful seasons with McLaren, Lewis Hamilton won his first Formula 1 World Championship which included a win of over 68 seconds at his home race of Silverstone. Since 2008, Lewis has won 2 more world championships with Mercedes and has broken records such as most career points, most Page | 53 wins in a debut season and most podium finishes in a season.
Porsche Supercup Rounds 3 & 4 – Austria & Great Britain @jackwi_ Images: gtpurelyporsche
Austria After just over a month’s break after the first two rounds, the Porsche Supercup rolled back into action at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. The winner of the first two events at Spain and Monaco, Matteo Cairoli, was looking to build on a dream start to the season in the Austrian mountains. The Italian started the weekend just as he left off in Monaco, securing pole position by just four hundredths of a second from the impressive Frenchman Mathieu Jaminet. The Austrian weather was regularly presenting new challenges for the drivers through the entire weekend and one last challenge was given when rain fell in the early morning. The GP2 and GP3 races beforehand cleared a lot of the standing water, but all drivers still felt that the track was too wet and selected the wet tyre for the race. Suddenly, the dark grey clouds that produced the early morning rain quickly disappeared and with the track getting ever drier, teams frantically fitted the dry tyre. The five bright red lights went out and pole sitter Matteo Cairoli sluggishly pulled away from his grid slot and was passed by Sven Müller and Mathieu Jaminet off the line. Cairoli was then passed by CH/Lechner Racing Middle East driver, Jeffrey Schmidt, leaving Cairoli off the podium for the first time this season. Müller’s excellent start which propelled him to first meant that he was able to create a gap to second placed Jaminet. But in a race that would see three safety cars, that lead was quickly abolished. The treacherous off-line was causing issues for all the drivers and Glauco Solieri, Robert Lukas and Alex de Giacomi all fell victim to this, as each off them beached their 911 car in the gravel which resulted in the three safety car periods. Müller’s three restarts summed up his performance, controlled, easing his car around the 2.6-mile track. He consequently took his first victory of the season after a frustrating race at Monaco to start his title challenge. Jaminet once again finished second to continue his run of podiums and Jeffrey Schmidt took the final podium spot. Page | 54
Great Britain A week had passed from the antics in Austria as the Porsche Supercup resumed at the home of Motorsport, Silverstone. Sven Müller looked to continue to carry his momentum by putting his Lechner MSG Racing Team car on pole, but it was once more his French rival Mathieu Jaminet who edged him and fellow race winner Matteo Cairoli. In a race that initially looked like a dry start, the first drops of rain came down as the cars set off for the formation lap. The rain intensified as the drivers neared the end of the formation lap, which led to the start being briefly suspended while the teams switched to the wet tyres. The short but heavy shower saw the race begin behind the Safety Car. The 30-car grid sat behind Safety Car driver Bernd Mayländer for the first two laps to study and get a feel of the tricky track conditions. Mayländer turned off the safety car lights, which left pole sitter and championship leader Mathieu Jaminet to control the pace of the chasing pack. Jaminet chose to bolt at the last possible moment around Club corner but it was highly effective and immediately pulled away from Cairoli. Cairoli struggled to get into a rhythm and this left him vulnerable to Müller who was continually hassling the Italian. The inevitable pass came and Müller began his pursuit of Jaminet out in front. Müller’s pace advantage was clear as he eat into the Frenchman’s lead and was soon challenging the 21-year-old. He eyed up his pass at Luffield, where he switched back on Jamient as they ran side by side down to Copse. Neither wanted to yield but it was Jaminet prevailed on this occasion. The following lap, Müller mirrored what he had attempted on Jaminet the lap before, only this time to pass Jaminet at Copse and gain the race lead. The German quickly pulled away and eased to his second victory of the season. Jaminet once again had to wait for his first race win of the season but continued his fine podium run with Cairoli. Jaminet is yet to score a race win but still leads the championship by just 3 points from race winner Müller as they head to Round 5 in Hungary. Page | 55
FIA WEC – Nurburgring – LMP1 @jon_earle95 Image: Gabi Tomescu
Porsche has extended its lead with in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) with a hard-fought win at the Nürburgring their third win in four races, despite Audi showing strong pace. Last year’s championship winning trio of Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley took win in what turned out to be an action packed six hours. The No. 1 919’s first win of the season wasn’t straight forward though a slow puncture early on in the race put them off their initial strategy. However, they managed to capitalise when their sister car was handed a penalty when the No.2 car made contact with the No. 88 911 bringing out the full course yellow just 90 minutes from the end. The No. 2 car received a drive through penalty and also a damaged nose resulting in a lengthily pit stop. The incident put the No. 2 car initially down to third however after an entertaining battle with the No. 7 Audi they finished fourth, the two cars collided numerous times during the battle leading to the Porsche’s rear legality panel receiving damage which resulted in another lengthy pit stop for repairs. Porsche benefitted from a series of full course yellows that played into their hands throughout the six hours, with both cars leapfrogging ahead of the No. 8 Audi of Oliver Jarvis who lead early on into the race eventually finishing second behind the No. 1 Porsche. Toyota were no match for either of the German manufacturers, the pace they showed at Le Mans seemed to disappear. The No. 5 Toyota finished in fifth over two laps behind the fourth placed car and the No. 6 car finished in sixth after an engine issue in the fourth hour delayed the car. It could be a long second half of the season for the Japanese team if their fortunes don’t change in Mexico. This was the first time in the 2016 where all six of the LMP1 hybrids were classified at the end of the race, with relatively few mechanical issues unlike the first races of the season. In the LMP1 privateer class Rebellion again took the honours with the No. 13 taking the class win and the No. 12 car even with engine trouble finishing second in class. Another bitterly disappointing weekend for the ByKolles Team, after their car caught fire again just over 100 laps into the race with Oliver Webb at the wheel. Page | 56
FIA WEC – Nurburgring – LMP2 @jon_earle95 Image: Gabi Tomescu
The LMP2 class at the Nurburgring 6 hours was more subdued than their older LMP1 brothers. With the Signatech Alpine team scoring their third straight LMP2 World Endurance Championship (WEC) win. The French squad made up of Nicolas Lapierre, Stephane Richelmi and American Gustavo Menezes carried on their good form from Le Mans claiming the class win by 16 seconds in their Alpine bagged ORECA-Nissan 05. Second place was claimed by the No. 43 RGR Sport by Morand Ligier of Ricardo Gonzales, Bruno Senna and Flilipe Albuquerque having kept the class winning Signatech Alpine team close in toe in the closing hour. The class pole was taken by the No. 26 G-Drive Racing entry. The team looked to be in control with Alex Brundle showing his class and pace at the wheel in his first stint out in front, only for the team to call him into the garage to retire with a gear box failure. It was another tough weekend for the Russian badged car who are having a difficult season so far. From then the Strakka Racing boys briefly held the lead on an alternative strategy with debutant Lewis Williamson making his WEC debut race stint. The young Brit’s pace was incredibly impressive despite the pressure of leading in his first ever WEC race, showing he will be one to watch in the coming years. It was a disappointing end for the team not being able to reward the youngster with a trophy, despite a late charge from the ever quick Jonny Kane, missing out on third to the Tequila Patron ESM entry after an incredible last lap battle with Ryan Dalziel claiming the final podium spot on the line by just 0.071 seconds. Strakka did however run extremely well in what is effectively an age old car with their Gibson against the new breed of Orecas and Ligiers, finishing fourth matching their best finish of the season at Le Mans. Manor once again showed they have the pace to match the front running cars but as the story was at Le Mans they couldn’t put the final pieces together. The No 44 car finishing fourth and the No. 45 retiring after a brake disc failure. Page | 57
FIA WEC – Nurburgring – GTE Pro @jdixon1899 Images: gtspirit
The start of race began as a duel between the #66 Ford GT of Stefan MĂźcke and the #95 Aston Martin of Nicki Thiim, the #66 Ford got the better start of the two and led the class coming into turn 1, with the #95 Aston getting a bad start which resulted in fell down to 3rd, the sister #97 Aston slotted into second as a result. Coming onto the second lap, the battle intensified, the #66 Ford made a mistake and subsequently fell to third, resulting in the #95 and #97 Aston Martins inheriting 1-2. After the battle for lead lost momentum, with #95 of Nicki Thiim looking to control the race early on, the battle from 2nd to 5th intensified, Richie Stanaway in the #97 Aston lead the battle, the #66 Ford, #51 AF Corse 488 and the #67 Ford GT followed behind. This seemed to be the main battle during the race. Coming up to the end of the first hour, the battle for 2nd still carried on. However, it neutralised as none of the four cars were able to overtake eachother; just as the battle was about to lose all momentum, the #67 Ford GT of Harry Tincknell dived up the inside of the #51 AF Corse 488 of Gianmaria Bruni into Turn 1, barging past and inheriting 4th place. Page | 58
At the halfway mark, it was still Aston Martin on top. But, instead of the Aston 1-2 it was sole #95 of Marco Sorensen fending off the charging Ferrari duo. This was because the #97 Aston needed a door replacement after the wing mirror fell off, dropping it well down the order. However, a mistimed pit stops for the #95 Aston - which resulted in them pitting under green-flag conditions while their rivals pitted under the full course yellows - lost them a lot of time and enabled the Ferraris to catch up significantly and inevitably, a few laps later, the Ferrari made a move on the Aston in the Mercedes Arena with two and a half hours remaining to take the lead. The Aston fell to fourth, but jumped back up to the podium places due to the #66 Ford GT had to take a drive-through penalty for a pit-stop infringement. After a good start, the #67 Ford GT had a race to forget, with exhaust fires - from fuel dripping onto the exhaust - causing the Ford to spend a lengthy amount of time in the pits which dropped it down the order. Ferrari finished one-two, Gianmaria Bruni and James Calado's# 51 AF Corse-run 488 GTE leading home the #71 sister car of Sam Bird and Davide Rigon by half a minute, taking its first win of the season and the first win for Brit Calado after multiple reliability issues in the previous races. The #66 finished fourth after not quite having the pace to keep up the front runners. It was more disappointing for the Ford following their Le Mans dominance. The #97 Aston finished 5th after its doors repairs. The #67 Ford GT finished last after its pit fire problems. Page | 59
FIA WEC – Nurburgring – GTE Am @jdixon1899 Image: Aston Martin Racing
In the opening few laps of the race, the racing in the GTE Am was on par with the racing in LMP1, with the battle for first raging on well into the first hour. It was the #88 Abu Dhabi Porsche of Patrick Long struggling to stay ahead of KCMG Porsche of Wolf Henzler. The lead seemed to neutralise coming to the end of the first hour. It was the #88 Abu Dhabi Proton Porsche that lead coming up to the half way mark. The KCMG Porsche was still close behind and the #98 Aston Martin began catching up with the lead duo. However, as the pit stop stages began there was trouble for the #88 Porsche, it was unable to start after its pit stop and then a pit fire, similar to that of the Ford GT in GTE Pro. This dropped them down to 4th and prevented them from challenging for the lead. At the halfway mark, it was the Aston Martin that was out in front, after a late charge in the third hour which has aided by the #88 Porsche’s pit complications. A three-way battle for the lead was beginning to commence, with the Aston Martin, KCMG Porsche and the Labre Competition Corvette all in contention. The #88 Abu Dhabi Porsche was still in 4th, after not being able to catch up to the lead trio after the pit stop drama this looked like the beginning of a lonely race for the Abu Dhabi Porsche. The #83 Ferrari was down in 5th, after a spin early on while battling the KCMG Porsche. It was #98 Aston Martin of Mathias Lauda, Paul Dalla Lana and Pedro Lamy that took the chequered flag, its second GTE Am victory. The KCMG Porsche finished in 2nd after a faultless performance from the team but just didn't have the pace to challenge for the win. The #83 AF Corse Ferrari finished in 3rd. The car had good initial front running pace and was in the battle for the win early on with KCMG Porsche but made a mistake, they went off at the final chicane, which caused a full course yellow while it was being removed from the gravel. This hampered their chances for the win. The Labre Competition Corvette finished 4th; like the #83 Ferrari the pace was there early on but fell off towards the end. The #88 finished 5th after its pit stop troubles. Page | 60
AM-RB 001 @EuanCampbell3 Image: telegraph
This is Aston’s new mega hypercar called the AM-RB001 to compete with the likes of Bugatti’s Chiron, the hyper 3 from Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche! It looks pretty Si-Fi, it’s been made in collaboration with RedBull F1 engineers! and this gives the new Aston aerodynamics never seen on a road car before! The name is only temporally by the way; it is to be rumoured to be named the nebula! Now that is a name fitting for this car don’t you’s think? I mean this is just the dream collaboration! An F1 team with a highly prestigious motoring company such as Aston Martin! Extreme engineering with beauty and prowess! No figures have been released by either company but Aston Martin did say it will have performance like todays LeMans racers! The thought of that alone gives me unprecedented excitement! So I’ll explain the looks, the whole body and chassis for that matter is constructed with lightweight carbon fibre to give what they hope to achieve a 1bhp to weight ratio. The power terrain will be an all new high revving mid mounted V12 like on the One-77 and yes it will be naturally aspirated! If you look at it closely you will start to see those extreme aerodynamics, so much so that the monocoque looks like its floating above the chassis! Personally I’m not too fond of the front, it looks a tad fake but I think that will be cleared once it enters production in early 2018, it will be a very limited production model with about 99-150 road versions and 25 track versions. Both companies feel very excited about their partnership and they should be! Dr Andy Palmer, Aston Martin President and CEO, commented: "The AM-RB 001 is a truly remarkable project and something of which I'm extremely proud. To have Aston Martin working alongside Adrian Newey, Red Bull Racing and the invaluable assistance of project partner AF Racing AG is an extraordinary creative collaboration. One that unites the very best of road and race car thinking. Subsequently Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing said: "Red Bull Racing has always steered an innovative course in our ongoing development of a competitive Formula One car. The conception and modus operandi of Red Bull Technologies has been to apply our expertise to truly progressive projects and partnerships. Our relationship with Aston Martin and the realisation of the AM-RB 001 is pioneering and borne of our synergies and desire to break new ground. The AM-RB 001 is the inspirational product of this Page | 61 collaborative spirit."
Cadillac XT5 @EuanCampbell3 Images: motortrend
This is the new Cadillac XT5 and is the first midsized crossover from the American manufacture and is the first 4-wheel drive Cadillac to enter onto European shores. So does it have what it takes to compete with the likes of Audi’s Q5, Merc’s GLC or even Jaguar’s F-Pace!? We will soon know but for now let’s see if It has any technical advantages. Well it looks rather like a cross between a confused transformer and an angry Pokémon! Yes, I’m sorry I had to get this god damn game involved in our articles too, but it is a craze that they are pretty much taking over the world and starting with this new XT5! It is constructed with a new lightweight chassis made from aluminium and is 68kg lighter than the American equivalent SRX, this with all new MacPherson strut design, five link independent suspension system should make for a capable off roader! Despite all versions being equipped with 20inch alloy wheels. The XT5 is more for giving you the most comfortable ride you can imagine especially for rear passengers with additional ride bushings to give maximum comfort! So no sicken infused children on long journeys then? Well there’s still no guarantees but this should help a bit! It comes with an all new power terrain designed specifically for Europe, it’s a 3.6litre V6 with 316bhp and a 0-62mph time of 7.6 seconds with a debut electronic precision shift gearbox which basically means rev matching for better fuel economy. Page | 62
The interior is very luxurious with a range of plush leather colours and wood, carbon and aluminium veneer finishes, the technology in the XT5 is up there too! With intelligent LED headlights, 360-degree camera and automatic parking assistance that even does horizontal parking as well! But the highlight feature that makes it stand out from the rest is rear camera mirror! A world first full display technology that combines camera tech with conventional inside mirror to project an unobstructed view in the mirror that Cadillac says “improves visibility by 300%”! not bad! Considering I didn’t really have bother looking out my rear view mirror in my SUV but never mind. In the centre console there’s a new HD 8inch full colour touch screen with apple & android carplay as well as OnStar wifi and 4G, also their automated crash call detection system found in the new Astra and a new 8inch central digital instrument cluster with tons of new features as well. It features gesture control to lift the tailgate so you can feel like Yoda using the force! And another new item in this segment is UltraView double sized sunroof with power sunshade. There will be 3 model variants available from release in September the 5th this year, those are the luxury starting at £40,780, Premium at £47,466 and Platinum at £55,822 all with different technology packages and seat upgrades, let’s just hope these premium prices make for a premium SUV to compete with the German dominated European crossover market! Page | 63
New Porsche Panamera @EuanCampbell3 Images: motortrend
Yes, another “new revised” Porsche has been unveiled and it’s the Panamera again! But wait! Before you turn that page because you think I will just go on about a new infotainment system and a slightly wider grill, you might want to hold back! Why should I bother Euan?? Because this is a truly new Panamera and its look has been totally changed! Okay so the front of the car still looks rather similar with em.. a wider grill, new LED DRL’s and headlights, but get closer to the back and you will be shocked to find it no longer has that ugly bulge that looked like an old person’s saggy skin had been draped over a mantel piece table with added light bulbs! It now actually looks like a 911! All be it an extended one but it’s a massive improvement, I mean I will no longer have to cover my eyes everytime I seen one drive past. Porsche have finally got the Panamera right! It may have taken them over 7 years something which I could have told them when they first launched the Panamera back in 2009! So what’s new? 2 new engines have been introduced a V6 and V8 BiTurbo with great power and sound coupled with the PDK transmission boosts supercar performance with the luxury and confinement of a Rolls Royce! With an all new adaptive air suspension with 3 chamber technology and electronic damper control means you’ll glide over those potholes but destroy those apexes round the twisty Scottish Highlands! In my case anyway. Page | 64
Also new Porsche dynamic chassis control sport with a torque vectoring system can carry any speed round a corner especially with active roll stabilisation! A new electromechanical steering system makes for a track weapon! In a four door saloon!! What has improved however is the technology and interior, with new advanced LED headlights with 84 image points are selected, people beyond the visual range of the dipped beam headlight are also illuminated briefly if they are in the computed driving corridor, allowing the driver to react even faster, this coupled with an all new night vision system giving unpresented visual assistance that helps you avoid critical situations in advance, makes for a very safe Porsche indeed and a real S-Class contender! It even comes with a Tesla style autopilot system! The interior has new luscious sport seats and a brand new touch sensitive 12.3inch infotainment screen with touch controls integrated into the centre console like the 918 spyder, also like the 918 it now has all digital dials that can be configured to the drivers desired setting. It looks gorgeous and with new optional features like a panoramic tilt roof, massaging seats and 3D Burmester sound system makes the Panamera the best road trip car!? But the best version is the new Turbo! With new Duel LED daytime running lights like the Macan Turbo and an all new larger split automated rear spoiler that deploys at 70mph looks so cool and futuristic. But that spoiler was always on the turbo Panamera, it was a lot smaller and higher up within the bootlid so was less noticeable. The Turbo gets a 4.0litre BiTurbo V8 making 550bhp and making the 0-60mph sprint in 3.6 seconds with the added sports chrono package! 3.8 without. I hope this is as good to drive as It now looks! I’m finally in love with the Panamera and might buy one over an S-Class! Would you? I’ll leave that thought with you! Page | 65