tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78098967419443158922024-03-13T23:01:33.760-07:00TinTop GuruMy views and memories of the Touring Car World...Past, Present and Future...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.comBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-27189123380049336592016-08-22T12:27:00.001-07:002016-08-22T12:27:58.152-07:00Test post<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-k0IADOli7iw/V7tSE37xrRI/AAAAAAAAVaY/UmMQJ5GikiM/s1600/FB_IMG_1462091302504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-k0IADOli7iw/V7tSE37xrRI/AAAAAAAAVaY/UmMQJ5GikiM/s640/FB_IMG_1462091302504.jpg"> </a> </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-61321795593256295802015-03-07T15:16:00.001-08:002015-03-07T15:16:21.224-08:002015 TCR International Series Update No.3...<p dir="ltr">Its been a busy two weeks for the TCR International Series and the domestic TCR Series and for Craft-Bamboo Racing...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Here are the latest announcements...</p>
<p dir="ltr">The TCR Asia Series has unveiled an impressive five round calendar for its maiden season, with the opening event at Guangdong International Circuit on August 16.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><i>“Our original plan was to start in May in Korea, however after taking into account the organisation and logistics aspects, we decided to postpone the first event,”</i> explained David Sonenscher, CEO of WSC Asia, the series promoter.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><i>“We had to be realistic and accept the fact that most of the cars may not be delivered in time for an earlier start. Our first round will now be alongside the China Touring Car Championship which will allow us to showcase the new category to one of the biggest markets in the world. Already we have significant interest in the series from some of Asia’s most competitive teams, many of whom are waiting for the delivery of cars,”</i> Sonenscher added. </p>
<p dir="ltr">After Guangdong, the 2015 TCR Asia Series will visit Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, while the venue for the final race meeting will be unveiled at a later date.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sonenscher said: <i>“For Singapore,our competitors will enter in the TCR International Series, while in Thailand they will have their own races. We are already looking forward to include Japan and Korea in the 2016 calendar.”</i></p>
<p dir="ltr">2015 TCR Asia Series – calendar<br>
16 August, Guangdong International Circuit, China<br>
6 September, Sepang iCircuit, Malaysia<br>
20 September, Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore<br>
25 October, Buriram International Circuit, Thailand<br>
22 November, TBA</p>
<p dir="ltr">Craft-Bamboo Racing announced a title partnership with LUKOIL, to compete in the 2015 TCR International Series.<br>
Entering the maiden season of TCR International Season under the name Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL, the team presents itself as a competitive force with a trio of SEAT León cars. The strong driver line-up, which will be announced soon. This partnership is a demonstration of the team’s clear intention to challenge for both the team’s and driver’s championship titles.<br>
Craft-Bamboo Racing has a successful Touring Car history dating back to 2009. In 2013 they claimed the independent title with a third place overall in the FIA World Touring Car Championship.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Richard Coleman, CEO of Craft-Bamboo Racing declared: <i>“I am thrilled to announce our three car entry into the TCR International series.  We are very excited to be working with LUKOIL because not only are they an excellent partner, but they also have a reputation for backing winners. The title is our aim but we know how difficult that will be with so many top teams and drivers.”</i></p>
<p dir="ltr">Marcello Lotti, CEO of WSC Ltd, added: <i>“We are extremely pleased to welcome Craft-Bamboo Racing and LUKOIL. This will prove to be a powerful alliance between a team that has established itself as a winner in many different categories and one of the most dynamic oil companies on the global market. The fact that these two prestigious brands have decided to join the series in its maiden season, is a further evidence that the TCR concept is sound and well grounded.”</i></p>
<p dir="ltr">Westcoast Racing announced that American racer Kevin Gleason will form one third of its attack on the inaugural season of the TCR International Series.<br>
Westcoast Racing was created in 1994 by Dick Jönsson-Wigroth and has gone on to establish itself as the world’s leading Swedish touring car team by accumulating several championship titles over the course of two decades in the highly esteemed Swedish Touring Car Championship.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Westcoast Racing will field a trio of Honda Civic cars built and developed to the new TCR technical regulations by JAS Motorsport.</p>
<p dir="ltr">With a background in US-based touring cars, Gleason has demonstrated skill and adaptability by seamlessly transitioning between different specifications of race cars and accumulating various high profile race victories along the way. His key achievements include a win in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, the Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge VIR 13 Hour and the 2014 ADAC Nürburgring 6 Hours.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><i><i>“I feel very fortunate to be a part of the Westcoast Racing team for the inaugural TCR International Series season,”</i></i><i>said Gleason. </i><i><i>“The team is well proven and brings a vast array of experience that I’m sure will help see it quickly adapt to the new challenge it faces in 2015. Beyond the team itself, I expect the Honda Civic TCR to be a competitive package, especially with the support of JAS Motorsport and Mugen. I look forward to building these relationships into a successful campaign.”</i></i></p>
<p dir="ltr"><i>Westcoast Racing Team Manager, James Nixon, said: </i><i><i>“Westcoast Racing is delighted to welcome Kevin Gleason to the team. His pace and hunger to succeed is very apparent and that was a big appeal when we started our conversations. The TCR International Series is the ideal category to start a full season campaign and to perfect his racecraft on some of the best tracks in the world. I have no doubt Kevin will soon be a name we all know and remember in touring cars.”</i></i></p>
<p dir="ltr">Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL announced Sergey Afanasiev as one of the three drivers that will be contesting the new TCR International Series.<br>
The 26 year old Russian began his career with LUKOIL in Formula Russia in 2003. His first season was a success, taking three wins and the title in his first year of professional racing.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Afanasiev progressed through various single-seater series, culminating with a third place in the 2010 FIA Formula Two Championship; the following year he finished third again in the AutoGP. In 2013 Afanasiev switched to the FIA GT1 World Championship and was crowned champion in the Pro-Am division.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Earlier this week Afanasiev has completed four successful days of testing at Valencia and Barcelona with the SEAT León Racer, which allowed him to familiarize with the car and adapt to front wheel drive.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Afanasiev said: <i>“The TCR International Series is a new challenge for me and I'm looking forward to the season. We conducted several tests, in which I learned the car. The new SEAT León is very different from GT cars, but I did not have any problem adapting."</i></p>
<p dir="ltr">Evgeny Malinovskiy, Head of LUKOIL Racing, commented:<b> </b><i>“I am pleased to present our international project for 2015 with Craft-Bamboo Racing. We decided to combine the efforts of two successful teams to conquer another challenge. I believe that in our maiden season in the TCR International Series we will be able to fight for the championship. From my point of view, this series is one of the best championships for independent teams.”</i></p>
<p dir="ltr">Richard Coleman, CEO of Craft-Bamboo Racing, commented: <i>“I am delighted to welcome Sergey to the team, he is a true professional and has already been adapting well to front wheel drive racing. I am sure that he will achieve success this season, he has impressed in his attitude and shown very good pace in testing.”</i></p>
<p dir="ltr">Team Craft-Bamboo Lukoil announced Pepe Oriola as the second of three drivers that will be contesting the 2015 TCR International Series.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The young Spaniard began his career in karting at the age of nine and moved up to Touring Cars when he was 15 to finish on the podium in the final round of the SEAT Leon Supercopa. In 2011 Oriola became the youngest ever driver in the FIA World Touring Car Championship at 16 years old and in the 2013 WTCC Race of Morocco he took his first win and became the youngest ever driver to win an FIA World Championship race.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><i>“The feeling is very positive with Craft-Bamboo Racing and we have already begun working to prepare for the TCR International Series that will surely become a championship of reference. It has a very attractive calendar and several races will be shared with Formula 1, which is another attraction for this championship,”</i>Oriola said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Richard Coleman, CEO of Craft-Bamboo Racing, commented: <i>“I am so pleased to welcome Pepe Oriola to Team Craft-Bamboo Lukoil, he is a proven race winner and despite his young age will not be a number two driver. He brings with him tremendous speed and experience in Touring Cars and I expect him tol be a championship contender. I think Craft-Bamboo Lukoil will give him the environment to take the step from a race winner to a champion.”</i></p>
<p dir="ltr">Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL announced Jordi Gené as the final driver in the trio that will contest the TCR International Series.</p>
<p dir="ltr">A factory development driver for SEAT since 2005, Gené was instrumental to the development of the SEAT León Racer. The Spaniard has been focusing on testing and development during his role in the past few seasons. His professional input has helped SEAT to prepare the car for its upcoming series debut. Gené’s distinguished career in motorsport contains multiple championship wins spanning numerous racing disciplines, including the FIA World Touring Car Championship, in which he won four races and helped SEAT win the manufacturers titles in 2008 and 2009.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Richard Coleman, CEO of Craft-Bamboo Racing, stated: <i>“It is great to welcome our third driver, Jordi Gené. He is a proven race winner and brings with him vast amounts of knowledge as a factory development driver for SEAT. I have high expectations for results with the quality of drivers and years of collective racing experience they possess, and will be looking forward to a very exciting season.”</i></p>
<p dir="ltr">Gené said: <i>“I am really looking forward to this new project, and I'm also very motivated to participate in the TCR International Series with the SEAT León Racer, especially after having collaborated with SEAT Sport in its development. I know the car very well and I've done some testing during the pre-season, which I also have combined with karting to make sure my reactions and skills are up to the challenge.”</i></p>
<p dir="ltr">At Craft-Bamboo Lukoil, Gené joins his fellow countryman Pepe Oriola and Russian racer Sergey Afanasyev.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Finally, WSC Ltd, the promoter of the TCR International Series, appointed Touring Car legend Nicola Larini as the driver in charge for the forthcoming Balance of Performance test.<br>
The Italian ace will take the wheel of the various eligible cars on Monday and Tuesday next week at Barcelona’s Catalunya Circuit.</p>
<p dir="ltr">A former Formula 1 driver and tester, with 49 Grands Prix under his belt, including one second place at Imola for Ferrari, Larini established himself as one of the most successful Touring Car drivers in the latest twenty years. At the wheel of Alfa Romeo factory cars he was crowned Italian Supertouring champion in 1992, won the 1993 DTM, finished second in the FIA World Touring Car Challenge at Monza in the same year and claimed eight race victories in the FIA European Touring Car Championship between 2001 and 2003. From 2005 to 2009 he raced for Chevrolet in the FIA World Touring Car Championship, in which he was classified fifth in 2007.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><i>“I have accepted with pleasure to run this test; it is going to be an interesting experience and I trust I will be able to deliver a clear and detailed feedback that help to balance the performance of the different cars. I have gained enough experience in Touring Car racing and with the turbo engine to duly accomplish this task,”</i>declared Larini.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Marcello Lotti, CEO of WSC, said: <i>“Having a very experienced driver like Larini is the best guarantee of success for the test. From his undisputed driving skill and technical knowledge, Nicola is the right person to help our technical department to fix Balance of Performance among the different cars. We are very grateful to him for having accepted our invitation.”</i></p>
<p dir="ltr">The Balance of Performance will be based on three different parameters: the minimum weight of the car (+/- 70kg), its ride height (-10/+20mm over 80mm) and the air restrictor (95/90% of nominal diameter).</p>
<p dir="ltr">All the best!</p>
<p dir="ltr">Phil!</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-71641520358609476112015-03-07T15:13:00.001-08:002015-03-07T15:14:05.778-08:002015: A Big Year for Rallycross...<p dir="ltr">Rallycross is big news right now in the Motorsport World...</p>
<p dir="ltr">And 2015 is an important year.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Let me explain why...</p>
<p dir="ltr">In 2013, the running of the FIA European Rallycross Championship was taken over by IMG Motorsport and they relaunched the brand as "RallycrossRX" Several big name drivers joined the series in the form of Petter Solberg and Tanner Foust, going up against regulars such as Liam Doran and Timur Timerzyanov whilst being joined by newcomers like Timmy Hansen and Anton Marklund.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The series proved so popular that the FIA took the step to create the first ever World Rallycross Championship or WorldRX for 2014. In came factory supported efforts from Peugeot-Hansen, Ford OMSE and VW-Marklund whilst names such as Jacques Villeneuve, Toomas "Topi" Heikkinen and Manfred Stohl raced in Supercar machinery taking on the best. With added live TV & Internet coverage, the series boomed with many European rounds seeing over 40 Supercar entries and Petter Solberg crowned as the first ever World Rallycross Champion.</p>
<p dir="ltr">So, why is 2015 so important?</p>
<p dir="ltr">Well, the fact that the RallycrossRX regulations have been left largely unchanged means that there are plenty of Supercars out there to use and race that are eligible in Domestic, European &amp; World Championships. Factor in the point that its relatively easy to transport a Supercar to any of the EuroRX events and that alone allows domestic series competitors to take on the best from WorldRX and even have a chance at winning the EuroRX Title. All this means that you can expect large numbers of entrants and big crowds at Rallycross events.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The hugely positive effect that the expansion of WorldRX has had on Rallycross has begun to spread. In 2014, The 5 round FIA European Rallycross Championship saw large entries in the Supercar, Touring Car, Super1600 and RX Lites catergories. This prompted a rethink for the Support Catergories that resulted in a revised calendar in 2015 that now allows drivers from the various different European Domestic series to compete on home turf and compete in Europe as well at little more cost.</p>
<p dir="ltr">This has led to 3 British drivers confirming their intention to contest the Euro Super 1600 catergory in Citroen C2's this year.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But theres also growth to be seen in the British Championship. In 2014 Julian Godfrey secured his 4th British Rallycross Championship title. However there were plenty of regular drivers chasing him for that title in Supercars, such as Steve Hill, Simon Horton, Steve Harris, Kevin Proctor and Colin Anson. Godfrey enjoyed a good early season run that helped him build up a cushion of points, but the racing remained close and fast between all of the competitors.</p>
<p dir="ltr">British Rallycross veterans Mark Flaherty and Ollie O'Donovan both returned to the series. O'Donovan piloted a Mk 2 Ford Focus from midway in the season and took three event wins. Had he contested a full season, Godfrey would have been pushed hard. Flaherty, a veteran from over 20 years ago made sporadic appearences in a LD Motorsports Citroen DS3 during a fact finding return to the series.</p>
<p dir="ltr">This has led to early confirmations of programmes for BritishRX. O'Donovan has confirmed he will run a full programme in British RX and EuroRX in a new Mk7 Ford Fiesta Supercar run by RX Racing Ltd with further appearences in other WorldRX rounds possible. Andy Scott, whose Albatec Racing team contested all WorldRX 12 rounds last year has confirmed a two car assault on BritishRX for 2015 with further plans for EuroRX & WorldRX to be announced.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Add in confirmation of renewed series Title Sponsorship from The Shannon Group, a revised calendar and a revised TV & Online package that will hopefully be confirmed and this could see BritishRX on the road to becoming a domestic series that is capable of rivalling both the BTCC and British GT Championships, the UK's two biggest domestic Championships.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But both EuroRX & WorldRX continue to grow in 2015 as well. Tommy Rustad confirmed over the winter he will race a VW-Marklund Motorsport Mk5 Polo Supercar in EuroRX. Per Eklund announced his intention to run a VW Beetle in EuroRX as well, returning an inconic name to Rallycross. </p>
<p dir="ltr">2014 French Rallycross Supercar Champion Fabien Pailler has confirmed he will contest EuroRX 2015 in a Peugeot 208 WRX Supercar, a similar machine to the Albatec Racing and Hansen-Peugeots campaigned this year in WorldRX. 2014 EuroRX Champion Robin Larsson is looking to expand to a WorldRX campaign, whilst VW driver Johan Kristoffersson and KMS Motorsport are looking to a larger Rallycross programme in 2015.</p>
<p dir="ltr">WorldRX has seen 2 brand new teams confirm their full season campaigns for 2015. WRC driver Manfred Stohl and Austrian Rallycross driver Max Pucher announced the formation of WorldRX Team Austria, running two Mk7 Ford Fiesta Supercars built by Stohl Racing. Munnich Motorsport confirmed they are running two Audi S3 Supercars with Team Owner/driver Rene Munnich driving one of the cars in a full campaign. Swedish Rallycross racer Ramona Karlsson has announced an original route to competing this year, setting up a Crowdfunding scheme to allow her to run the first ever Female Supercar Rallycross team in EuroRX</p>
<p dir="ltr">With the confirmation on New Years Eve by 2014 WorldRX Champion Petter Solberg to defend his title and the return of Mattias Ekstrom's EKSRX Team, who have signed Anton Marklund to be his team-mate, VW-Marklund signing Per-Gunnar Andersson... All this already and theres still more to come from big hitters such as Peugeot-Hansen, Ford OMSE, LD Motorsports and others as well.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Add in new venues in Barcelona, Spain and the Double-Header with the DTM at Hockenheim for this year and the chances of the show getting bigger and better are 100%! </p>
<p dir="ltr">Recently Tino Anayi, WorldRX Managing Director for IMG Motorsport confirmed the increase in Social Media alone last year was huge. The Championship witnessed huge growth via its social platforms with Facebook likes showing a percentage increase of 348% over a 12 month period. Twitter saw a 202% increase in followers, while Instagram proved to be the biggest growth platform with a 900% rise.  Overall, the average reach across all social media platforms per event rose from 430,000 in 2013 to 6.7 million in 2014.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Thats huge interest on a Global scale.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In the US, the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship saw an increased entry last year with Manufacturers such as Ford, Subaru, Hyundai, Chevrolet and Volkswagen represented. Former F1 driver Nelson Piquet Junior joined SH Motorsport whilst Ford OMSE fielded Joni Wiman & Patrick Sandell. Gymkhana star Ken Block competed in his Hoonigans Division Ford Fiesta with limited appearances in EuroRX. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Andretti Autosport joined the series with support from Volkswagen. Scott Speed & Tanner Foust drove for the team, starting out in works Volkswagen Polo Supercars before switching to GRC Beetles. The Team has confirmed both drivers will return in Beetles this year. Subaru Rally Team USA have also confirmed they will be back with two cars for regulars Sverre Isachsen and Bucky Lasek and a limited programme for Travis Pastrana. The Championship itself has confirmed a larger 12 round Calendar for 2015 as well.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In a time where Motorsport fans are looking for a bigger and better spectacle than the current pinnacle of Motorsport, Formula One, Rallycross is stepping up to meet that need. The Supercars alone are machines to behold themselves: Flame Spitting Monsters, producing over 600bhp from 2 litre Turbocharged engines, using 4 Wheel Drive to slide and drift on various surfaces such as Dirt, Tarmac and gravel. These guys are sliding sideways in cars that can accelerate faster than an F1 car.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Now dont get me wrong. I love Motorsport as my regulars know. I watch F1, Touring Cars and Rallycross and I enjoy them all. To all the people I talk to who say Motorsport is boring, I recommend Rallycross as its a new, exciting sport again. It has a very large coverage base utilising the Internet and Social Media very well and in 2015, its prescence can and will only grow.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I'm looking forward to the 2015 Rallycross seasons in:</p>
<p dir="ltr">The FIA World Rallycross Championship<br>
The FIA European Rallycross Championship<br>
The Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship & <br>
The MSA British Rallycross Championship</p>
<p dir="ltr">I hope you'll join me in what is looking to be a stellar year for Rallycross in general.</p>
<p dir="ltr">One final thing to add. If your reading this and you love talking about Rallycross or your a fan of all things Rallycross and you are on Facebook, type in "Rallycross Talk" into the search bar. Its a group dedicated to all things Rallycross and we chat about everything there.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Heres The link:</p>
<p dir="ltr">www.facebook.com/groups/rallycrosstalk/</p>
<p dir="ltr">All the best!</p>
<p dir="ltr">Phil!</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-1618629519771969622015-02-07T12:47:00.003-08:002015-02-07T12:47:35.060-08:00Red Bull GRC 2015: Subaru Rally Team USA confirm 2015 Red Bull GRC LineupOne of the most exciting teams in the 2014 Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship has confirmed an unchanged driver lineup ahead the new 2015 season...<br />
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Subaru Rally Team USA have announced that drivers Sverre Isachsen and Bucky Lasek will lead the charge for the team’s rallycross efforts in 2015. Both drivers have renewed multi-year contracts with Subaru and will compete in the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship and Summer X Games.<br />
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Sverre Isachsen, a former three-time European Rallycross Champion and Bucky Lasek, one of the most recognizable names in action sports have been with Subaru since 2011. Last year, the duo led Subaru to their most successful season to-date in the burgeoning series, earning a combined five podiums including an X Games Silver Medal by Lasek and victory at the Seattle, WA round for Isachsen.<br />
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Action sports icon Travis Pastrana will join the team at select rally and rallycross events in 2015. Pastrana’s schedule will be announced at a later date.<br />
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“It was an easy decision for us to keep them on the team,” explained Rob Weir, Subaru Motorsports Marketing Manager. “Bucky and Sverre put Subaru on the podium five times last season and continue to play a key role in the development of our rallycross program. Both drivers share tremendous pride for the Subaru brand and the success of Subaru Rally Team USA.”<br />
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“The team as a whole is like a family and we have worked so hard together the past few years to develop this program and we are winning now, fighting at the top,” said Bucky Lasek. “I’m so happy to continue to be a part of this family and the Subaru motorsports heritage.”<br />
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Red Bull Global Rallycross will feature a 12-race schedule, its largest ever, for the 2015 season. The series will again return to the NBC family of networks and will include LIVE coverage on NBC.<br />
Broadcast dates and times will be announced shortly by the series.<br />
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All the Best!<br />
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Phil!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-72855262467920419272015-02-07T12:42:00.001-08:002015-02-07T12:42:20.164-08:00BTCC 2015: Team HARD Returns...Tony Gilham's Team HARD Racing outfit has confirmed that it has purchased one of the United Autosports NGTC Toyotas and will run Kieran Gallagher in its return season to the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship this year.<br />
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The release on the TeamHARD.com website was as follows...<br />
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We are very excited to announce that we will be returning to the British Touring Car Championship this season after agreeing a deal provisionally for one Toyota Avensis.<br />
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Kieran Gallagher will be at the wheel of our first car having been with us now for the last two seasons. Kieran has been a big part of the team and has the drive and ambition to get to the very top. Having sampled BTCC at his home track of Knockhill in 2013, there was only one place he wanted to be. Provisionally a deal was in place for a Clio Cup debut, but when the opportunity came up for a full season in the BTCC, he jumped at the chance.<br />
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Kieran knows this is a big step up and will be a very steep learning curve but we believe there is more than enough potential there to be fighting for points from the very start. He has a lot of experience in various Championships including VW Cup, BTCC, Porsche Carrera Cup and Legends in just a very short racing career so far.<br />
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Kieran said “I am over the moon to be fulfilling my lifelong dream to be competing for a complete season in the BTCC. After driving the Insignia for Team Hard at Knockhill in 2013, I made it my ambition to someday race again in the series and to do it with Team Hard is awesome. As soon as Tony offered me the chance to join them for their return, I immediately said yes and literally cannot wait to get going. I know this is a big jump, but at the same time I feel I can learn very quickly and will want to get up to speed and fight as high as possible up the grid. It will be a huge learning year but I am more than up for the challenge”<br />
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We will be taking over one of the United Autosports entries for 2015 and beyond. Having confirmed our first driver, we are now looking to run a second and are in discussions with several drivers.<br />
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“This is a very exciting programme, we are going to be in this for many years. Initially we will run the Avensis but have further plans hopefully for 2016. We have seen glimpses of how quick the Toyota can be on its day and the development we have planned, we hope to see a marked improvement”<br />
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We joined the championship in 2012 in a privately run S2000 Honda Civic before taking over the Vauxhall Insignia’s, and building a very much new and improved second version culminating in a 2nd place overall in the last race of 2013 at Brands Hatch. We also built the first two VW Passat CCs introduced to the Championship 2013 securing a brace of podiums in only its 3rd race weekend at Thruxton.<br />
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“This is a totally new approach from us,” said Gilham. “We have gone back to being a family-run team and there are no outside influences this time. We are building this for the future.”<br />
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The team confirmed at the end of December that they intend to build and race at least one NGTC Volvo S60 in the 2016 BTCC season, returning the famous Swedish brand back to the UK's top domestic motorsport championship.<br />
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All the best!<br />
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Phil!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-27896139516337612932015-02-07T12:39:00.000-08:002015-02-07T12:39:06.550-08:00TCR International 2015: News Update...The names of various WTCC Teams who will take part in the International TCR series as well as a new Central American TCR series were some of the news updates from the world of TCR this week...<br />
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Several FIA WTCC teams were confirmed to be taking part in this years inaugural TCR International Series by series boss Marcello Lotti in a recent interview on the Italian Omnicorse.it website<br />
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Lotti confirmed that Zengo Motorsport, Proteam Racing and Campos Racing will be entering cars for the Championships first season. He also confirmed which cars/models will take part as well.<br />
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Seven teams in total have been confirmed so far, each of which should field three cars. Target and Zengo will use SEAT Leons, Onyx and Proteam Racing will be using Ford Focus STs. WestCoast Racing has already confirmed it will use Honda Civics built by JAS Motorsport.<br />
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Campos Racing has revealed it will use Opel Astra's and Lotti confirmed that the Astra will be used in its VLN Configuration, before the new model due to be released next year is eligible. Engstler Motorsport are due to start with SEAT Leons before making the switch to the Volkswagen Golf later in the year.<br />
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It is expected that there will be a 20 car gelrid for the Malaysian opening round with the full 24 cars expected to compete after May. Team Target Competition have already released images this week of their three TCR SEAT Leon Racers through Social Media.<br />
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TCR has appointed SEL Sport & Events Logistics as the official carrier for the 2015 TCR International Series.<br />
A company owned by the renowned haulage contractors Gruppo Arcese, SEL Sport &amp; Events Logistics will be in charge for all logistics and transportations during the series’ maiden season.<br />
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SEL has built itself an excellent reputation as Official Carrier and Transportation Supplier of a number of important motorsport series such as MotoGP, Superbike World Championship and World Rally Championship. The combination of its logistics and transportation activities enables SEL to provide a service based on the experience of more than twenty years in support of different sports.<br />
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Pier Carlo Bottero, CEO of SEL said “This agreement represents a demanding challenge that we face with the same professionalism and enthusiasm we devote to any new project we are involved in. This new opportunity will enable SEL to further implement its top level service that is especially dedicated to the world of sports.”<br />
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Marcello Lotti, TCR Series boss explained “We are very pleased and proud with sealing this deal with SEL Sport & Events Logistics as Official Carrier of the TCR International Series. Arcese it’s a leading group in worldwide transportation and logistics. It’s another premier brand that has chosen to be linked to this new series for Touring Car racing.”<br />
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SEL has also been appointed as the Official Carrier of the TCR Asia and GT Asia by series’ promoter David Sonenscher.<br />
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Finally, on Monday, Promoters of a number of different Touring Car series that plan to adopt the TCR technical regulations had a meeting in Barcelona for a two-day Working Group with the aim of establishing a common strategy.<br />
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The meeting was chaired by Marcello Lotti, CEO of WSC Ltd (the promoter company of the TCR International Series), assisted by David Sonenscher, promoter of the TCR Asia Series.<br />
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Twelve countries were represented by championship promoters and members of National Sporting Authorities: BeNeLux, China, The Dominican Republic, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, USA and Venezuela; one of the first items approved was the plan to create from 2016 a TCR Central America Series that should visit Colombia, Costa Rica, The Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, USA and Venezuela.<br />
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The participants unanimously expressed their will to cooperate with the aim of establishing the TCR category on a global scale, adopting one corporate identity and a single set of technical regulations.<br />
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This should arouse interest from the car makers’ national dealers or importers and will create an international market among teams for buying and selling cars and parts. On the sporting side, each national series will be free to choose its own format, tailored on the local tradition and the drivers’ needs.<br />
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Marcello Lotti commented: “I am very pleased to see that the concept we launched a few months ago is already meeting with such a large and enthusiastic consensus. After the meetings we had in Barcelona I am even more convinced that a bright future is expected for TCR.”<br />
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The first ever TCR International Series event is due to take place in Malaysia as part of the support bill for that weekends Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix that takes place on 27-29 March.<br />
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All the best!<br />
<br />
Phil!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-50339393621677265212015-02-07T12:34:00.001-08:002015-02-07T12:34:04.904-08:00Anton Marklund joins EKS Audi for 2015 WorldRXAnton Marklund has signed for Mattias Ekstrom's EKS squad to compete in the 2015 FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy, leaving his family run Marklund Motorsport team.<br />
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The young Swedish Rallycross star will join Team Principal and driver Ekstrom in one of the teams Audi S1 RX Quattro's that proved to be so competitive during the 2014 season. Marklund will also take part in the new Audi TT-Cup, a six round one make series supporting the DTM this year. Ekstrom himself has confirmed he will race for Audi in the DTM this year as well as contesting non-clashing WorldRX events.<br />
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The Audi S1 RX Quattro proved to be fast out of the box last year with Ekstrom winning his home SwedenRX event and finishing second to Petter Solberg by 5000th's of a second at the memorable GermanyRX event.<br />
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“This is an amazing opportunity that Mattias and EKS are giving to me, both to score top results in 2015 and to develop on all levels for my future career,” explained Marklund who went on to finish sixth in last year’s World RX driver standings. “Mattias has been a friend of mine since 2013, when we competed together in X Games Munich. He has helped me a lot already in my career and I’m really glad that I now will join the EKS family.”<br />
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Marklund has so far competed in WorldRX for his family run team. He won the European Rallycross title in the Touring Car catergory in 2012, before the team moved up to a single entry Volkswagen Polo WRX Supercar in the 2013 FIA European Rallycross Championship and in last years World Championship, he was joined at Marklund Motorsport by Toomas 'Topi' Heikkinen. Marklund scored a podium finish in the first ever CanadaRX event.<br />
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Norwegian Rallycross and Touring car legend Tommy Rustad confirmed last year that he will be contesting the 2015 FIA European Rallycross Championship in a Marklund Motorsport built VW Polo Supercar. Marklund Motorsport have also confirmed that they will reveal their 2015 driver lineup in the coming weeks.<br />
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The 2015 FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy kicks off in Portugal at the Montelagre Circuit on 24th - 26th of April.<br />
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All the best!<br />
<br />
Phil!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-72862883486716225092015-02-07T12:30:00.001-08:002015-02-07T12:30:25.170-08:00Eklund Motorsport to debut VW Beetle Supercar in 2015 WorldRXPer Eklund has confirmed that his Eklund Motorsport organisation will enter a VW Beetle Supercar in this years FIA World Rallycross Championship.<br />
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The Swedish Rallycross legend explained that due to the FIA opening up the Supercar Homologation rules this year, this has opened up the oppurtunity to take the Beetle Supercar racing in the World Championship. The team has been testing and developing the Supercar for the past twelve months.<br />
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“We’ve been working on this project for a long time, so I’m pleased that now we can make plans to use the Beetle,” said team owner Per Eklund. “We have one car running now but there are some changes to make before we can race.“<br />
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However the exact plans for how many events the Beetle will contest in either the World Rallycross Championship or the European Rallycross Championship also depends on drivers that can bring a capable budget for the season.<br />
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"There has already been a lot of interest in the Beetle and I’ve spoken to several drivers who would like to race it, but so far nothing has been agreed and I’d really like to find to a driver who has the budget for a full World Championship season in the car,” continued Eklund. “If we can’t get a full World Championship then we will focus on European events. I think the car can be a winner.”<br />
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The chance to take the car into regular Rallycross action has been made possible due to the FIA adding the Volkswagen Beetle to the list of cars eligible for Rallycross competition this year.<br />
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The FIA has also opened up the engine regulations this year to allow a larger range of Supercars to be run and to ensure that two litre engines can continue to be used even if a manufacturer does not produce a suitable a two litre base engine. This means the Eklund Motorsport VW Beetle will be the first Rallycross Supercar to take advantage of the Custom Engine Regulations.<br />
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The VW Beetle Supercar in another guise has already seen action in the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship in 2014. The Andretti Autosport Rallycross team introduced the car for its drivers Tanner Foust and Scott Speed in September last year at the Los Angeles round of the series. However the Supers in Red Bull GRC run to a different specification used in FIA WorldRX.<br />
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Cheers<br />
<br />
Phil!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-2595226010677991502015-02-07T12:26:00.001-08:002015-02-07T12:26:39.260-08:00Red Bull GRC Lites Announces 2015 Schedule...Red Bull Global Rallycross is proud to announce a 12-race schedule for the 2015 GRC Lites season, kicking off in Florida on May 31 and culminating in Las Vegas in November. In addition, GRC Lites races will be telecast as a standalone program for the first time in series history. The series will be featured in nine 30-minute shows, each telecast on NBCSN on weekdays following Red Bull GRC race weekends.<br />
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"We are delighted to announce the 2015 schedule and first standalone broadcast slate for the GRC Lites class,” said Red Bull GRC CEO Colin Dyne. “GRC Lites is an important feeder series for Red Bull Global Rallycross, and the source of our future champions for years to come. We are incredibly grateful to our fantastic partners at NBC Sports Group for helping us ensure that the future stars of our sport make it to television, and we know that our fans will be excited to watch the most talented young drivers in the world.”<br />
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The full 2015 GRC Lites points championship schedule is featured below. Telecast dates and times will be announced at a later date.<br />
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May 31: Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL<br />
June 21: Daytona, FL<br />
July 5: United States Military Base<br />
July 25: Detroit, MI (I)<br />
July 26: Detroit, MI (II)<br />
August 15: Washington, DC<br />
August 30: Seattle, WA<br />
September 12: Los Angeles, CA (I)<br />
September 13: Los Angeles, CA (II)<br />
October 3: Barbados (I)<br />
October 4: Barbados (II)<br />
November 5: Las Vegas, NV<br />
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With a 12-race schedule, its longest ever, the third season of GRC Lites competition will be the most intense in series history. The nine-city tour includes three doubleheader events, as well as the class’ first trip outside of the United States with an October visit to Barbados.<br />
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Introduced in 2013, GRC Lites is the official feeder series of Red Bull Global Rallycross. GRC Lites races feature 310 bhp, all-wheel drive spec vehicles built to emphasize driver skill over mechanical advantage.<br />
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These cars are also the same as the RX Lites catergory that supports the FIA World Rallycross The RX Lites Cars are identical, meaning that the formula encourages driver ability and the talent to find the best setup in order to succeed in cars that have 310bhp, are all-wheel-drive like a Supercar and are rear-engined machinery, which is designed to make sure costs are kept to a minimum. This allows the racing to remain close and exciting between the drivers as they compete on a level play field for the championship win.<br />
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Competing on the same courses as Red Bull GRC Supercars, the class is designed to provide future stars with the ideal rallycross training ground. Defending Supercar champion Joni Wiman won the inaugural GRC Lites title in 2013, while Mitchell DeJong won last year’s Lites championship.<br />
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As yet there has been no confirmation of when this series will be shown Internationally, but this is expected to be on Motors TV.<br />
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All the best!<br />
<br />
Phil!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-31508039269408938972015-02-07T12:22:00.002-08:002015-02-07T12:22:51.987-08:00The 2015 Autosport International Show: Part TwoWelcome to the second part of of my blog regarding my visit to the 2015 Autosport International Show as an Official Blogger...<br />
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Read on and Enjoy!<br />
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On the Yokohama stand was another of the cars I wanted to see on my ticklist. During the show, British Rallycross Driver Ollie O'Donovan confirmed that he would be competing in the 2015 British Rallycross Championship and at least six rounds of the FIA World Rallycross Championship in his new RX Racing Ltd Mk7 Ford Fiesta Supercar with title sponsorship from Tyre Manufacturer Yokohama. Ollie was rapid in his return to British Rallycross in the second half of 2014, taking his Mk2 Ford Focus Supercar to three event wins, so I'm expecting him to be fast out of the box again.<br />
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Sticking with the Rallycross theme, our visit to ASI2015 could not go without stopping by the M-Sport Stand, where on display they had the 100th Ford Fiesta Rally Car they have built, alongside which was the famous Hoonigans Racing Division Ford Fiesta Supercar of Ken Block, who contested several rounds of last years WorldRX series, resulting in a podium in Norway.<br />
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All of this had me absolutely glowing with happiness as Nik and I walked around looking and taking in all the sights and sounds of the show. One stall I wanted to see was the Brabham Stand, where this year David Brabham is taking the team into Sportscar racing in the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship with an entry in the LMP2 class. I'd like to thank Sam Williams who happily explained the whole project to Nik and I on how it worked and what the public received back depending on how they subscribed to the Online programme that the funds raised so far by the fans and public.<br />
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For me, seeing the Brabham name in Motorsport again is something I've long hoped for. Before my following of Williams in Formula One, when I began watching the sport it was Brabham I was happiest seeing on the TV and I'll happily be keeping an eye on them this years FIA WEC.<br />
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I also took the oppurtunity to speak with several different BTCC drivers during the show, conducting my first ever interviews for the blog and I'd like to say thank you to Simon Belcher, Tony Gilham, Aiden Moffat and Richard Hawken for allowing me the time to interview them. I'll be posting their comments and thoughts on the season ahead in Part 3...<br />
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There was one other box to tick during our visit to the show, however it remained empty once we made our way home. My son Aaron is a big Drift fan and it turns out that former Boyzone member Shane Lynch had launched his new Maxxis Tyres sponsored Nissan 370Z. But could we find this bearded wonder? Nope. Hunted high and low for him too. Couldn't sniff him out at all.<br />
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One of my favourite moments of the day came just before lunch. We were headed back towards the Dunlop Stand when I spotted Rob Austin having a few photos taken with some fans. As he went to walk past, Nik collared him for a quick couple of words. She apologised for stopping him on the way to the loo, however Rob said he was off for a sneaky fag. But he did impart to Nik that Sherman would have a new look body shape and a new livery that would be revealed at Media Day...<br />
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I'm the blogger... She gets the exclusives!!!<br />
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I can happily say we both enjoyed Saturday at the show and its definitely something we want to go to again in 2016. It was amazing to be walking around and seeing so many different motorsport disciplines represented in one show, before the start of their various 2015 seasons and we have the knowledge that we saw them first.<br />
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One other moment that made my day at #ASI15 was catching up with my fellow Social Media TinTop family. Normally this takes place at BTCC Media Day, but this year saw an earlier chance. I managed to catchup with Baz Taylor and Daz Vallis, admins on the BTCC Fans Group and also with fellow blogger Alan Faulkner and I have to say it was great to chat to these guys and its up the excitement of BTCC Media Day even more. It was also great to catchup with Gemma Newman, who will be GridGirl for Speedworks Motorsport as well as catching up with Tony & Samantha Gilham and also with Gary Allen, who is Team Manager at Laser Tools Racing for a second consecutive season.<br />
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Finally I want to say Thank You to all the people at ASI for picking me as an Official Blogger and giving me this fantastic oppurtunity to attend the show. It been an amazing experience!<br />
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Cheers<br />
<br />
Phil!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-68460927747986034892015-02-07T12:17:00.001-08:002015-02-07T12:17:57.469-08:00The 2015 Autosport International Show: Part OneWOW!!<br />
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I can happily say that the wait to go to this years Autosport International Show has been worth it...<br />
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Warning: Grab a cup of tea, maybe a few biscuits... Its a long one...<br />
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On Saturday I travelled up to the Birmingham NEC on the train with my partner Nik to take part as one of their Official Bloggers. The early morning train did little to suppress my excitement which has been slowly building since August 2014 when I was chosen as one of the competition winners.<br />
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Once we arrived, we sorted out suitable transportation for Nik (A Rented Buggy) and then headed to the Media Centre to pick up our passes. Whilst there, I met up with Alex Golschmidt who will be covering the DTM this season for TouringCars.net (plug) and gave me a few pointers regarding the show.<br />
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Naturally, being fans of the BTCC and other tintop series, once we were inside Hall 6 we took a slow walk around to get our bearings and take in the size of one part of #ASI15. We found the Laser Tools Racing stand next to PopBangColour, where the new NGTC Mercedes A-Class Challenger that young Aiden Moffat will drive was on display. Not far from there was the Dunlop Stand of which was home to the 2015 Triple Eight MG6 of Andrew Jordan, the 2015 Infiniti Support Our Paras Racing Q50 in its new livery, the 2014 Honda Civic Tourer and Rob Austin's faithful Audi A4 "Sherman."<br />
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Keeping in the BTCC theme, around the corner was the Handy Motorsport Stand, which was voted as the best stand at the show and the team proudly displayed the award during the show. Tom Ingrams 2014 Speedworks Toyota Avensis could also be seen at the show along with the 2014 WIX Racing Mercedes of Adam Morgan not far from the Laser Tools Racing/PopBangColour stand.<br />
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Hidden away on the Miller Oils stand were Mike Bushell and his NGTC Challenger for his maiden full season in the BTCC, The AmD Ford Focus, keeping the now tradition Red and Black colour scheme for the 2015 season.<br />
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As usual, the F1 Racing Magazine had its grid of 2014 Formula One cars on display, with the all conquering Mercedes proving to be the most popular poser for photos. Further around the show were the MSA Stand, showcasing some of the cars from the UK's Motorsport Championships, including the new MSA Formula Mygale that will run to the new FIA Formula 4 rules. On the Porsche Stand there was one of the Carrera Cup GB cars on display, whilst over at the Autosport Stage the 2014 Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1 car was joined on display by Andy Priaulx's 2015 BTCC BMW 125i NGTC Challenger, the Formula E Display car and the new McLaren GT racer, the 650S.<br />
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We wandered back and forth through the show, taking in the different stands and cars on show and it all added to the amazing day we had as we walked around. Over at the Silverstone Classic stands were iconic cars such as the Audi Quattro Sport, the Honda Accord Super Tourer of Phil Dodd who won the 2014 SuperTCC series along with the Sauber Mercedes from the Group C era of Sportscar racing and many others on display.<br />
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Over on the 60th Anniversary Motoring News Display was my chance to get a picture of the PSRX Citroen DS3 Supercar that Petter Solberg piloted to claim the 2014 World Rallycross Drivers Championship. As my readers know, I love my Rallycross of late and seeing this car was on my tick list. Nearby was another Super ouring Honda Accord from the BTCC, this time piloted by Tom Kristensen who won the last ever BTCC SuperTouring race.<br />
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Further around the show, I found the BMW SuperTouring car driven by Peter Kox in the 1995 season of the German SuperTourenWagen Championship that has been fully restored to its former glory and is ready to be raced in series such as SuperTCC and the like. Another historic favourite Touring Car of mine there was the Group A DTM Eggenberger Ford RS500 driven by Manuel Reuter. Those cars look so beautiful!!<br />
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Well, this is the end of the first part of my ASI15 Blog, the rest is continued in Part Two...<br />
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All the best,<br />
<br />
Phil!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-12320139549784021652015-02-07T12:11:00.001-08:002015-02-07T12:11:58.049-08:00Red Bull Global Rallycross Announces 2015 ScheduleRed Bull Global Rallycross is pleased to announce a 12-race schedule, its largest ever, for the 2015 season.<br />
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Once again featuring marquee stops in major urban environments, the race calendar kicks off in sunny Florida on May 31 and ends with a return to the bright lights of Las Vegas on November 5.<br />
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“The 2015 Red Bull Global Rallycross schedule stands to be our best yet,” said Colin Dyne, Red Bull GRC CEO. “The combination of one of the strongest calendars in all of motorsports, as well as one of racing’s best broadcast packages, thanks to our partnership with NBC Sports Group, is one that will take the racing world by storm this year. With more races and points on the line, we expect to see a thrilling chase for the championship. We are grateful to our many partners for their support throughout the 2014 season, as well as NBC for a fantastic job in their event broadcasts, and we look forward to bringing these relationships into 2015.”<br />
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The full 2015 Red Bull Global Rallycross points championship schedule is featured below. Broadcast dates and times will be released at a later date.<br />
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May 31: Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL<br />
June 21: Daytona, FL<br />
July 5: United States Military Base<br />
July 25: Detroit, MI (I)<br />
July 26: Detroit, MI (II)<br />
August 15: Washington, DC<br />
August 30: Seattle, WA<br />
September 12: Los Angeles, CA (I)<br />
September 13: Los Angeles, CA (II)<br />
October 3: Barbados (I)<br />
October 4: Barbados (II)<br />
November 5: Las Vegas, NV<br />
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The 2015 points championship features 12 rounds at nine unique venues, including several of the series’ most familiar stops from seasons past. This year’s calendar is also marked with three doubleheader events, including the second straight doubleheader in the series’ home city of Los Angeles, and the expansion of the series’ popular Barbados race.<br />
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Red Bull Global Rallycross will also return to the NBC family of networks for the 2015 season, with 14.5 hours of original content, an increase of 4.5 hours from the 2014 season. For the first time, GRC Lites will have its own broadcast slate, with 30-minute broadcasts of all events airing on weekdays on NBCSN.<br />
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It is expected that MotorsTV will show the RedBull GRC on International TV, but a date is not set yet.<br />
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Cheers<br />
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Phil!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-73230184691935289512015-02-07T12:06:00.002-08:002015-02-07T12:06:56.698-08:00The FIA Touring Car Challenge... A sight we might see again...This is a post I originally wrote in 2013, but with the introduction of the TCR International Series and the FIA adopting the BTCC's NGTC regs for other national series, this post now has a different ending...<br />
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Before the European Touring Car Cup and its successor the World Touring Car Championship returned in 2005, in the early 1990's the FIA decided to bring together the best of the Touring Car World in a sort of "World Cup" meeting...<br />
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Better put the kettle on, this one is a biggie...<br />
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After the demise of the European Touring Car Cup in 1988, Domestic Touring Car Championships continued on with the Group A/Multi Class rules until the early 1990's. The BTCC followed its own route with a single class structure with only 2 litre normally aspirated production cars allowed. The DTM followed a single car structure with 2.5 litre normally aspirated production cars with electronic aids from 1993 onwards.<br />
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The FIA decided to clarify the two different sets of regulations, calling the DTM set "FIA Class 1" and the more universally adopted BTCC regulations "FIA Class 2." With the majority of the different Touring Car Series in Europe and other parts of the world taking the Class 2 route, pretty soon the best Touring Car drivers in the world were racing in equal machinery.<br />
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And so it came to pass that the best drivers and manufacturers met at Monza in October 1993 and 2 races were held. There was a points system for individual drivers and also a Nations Cup.<br />
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Names such as Radisich, Cleland, Winkelhock, Larini, Giovanardi, Longhurst, Pirro, Biela, Stuck, Rouse, Soper and many others in the 45 car field drove in such iconic Touring Car Machinery provided by Ford, BMW, Vauxhall, Alfa Romeo, Audi, Peugeot, Mazda, Toyota and Nissan.<br />
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It became obvious that the end of season form shown in the BTCC by Ford from their drivers Andy Rouse and Paul Radisich that they would be the ones to watch. Radisich proved this theory correct by putting his Ford Mondeo on Pole Position for both races. However it would be the massed ranks of Peugeot, Alfa Romeo and BMW who would provide the Kiwi driver with the fiercest competition on both races.<br />
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But that didn't stop him running away into the distance and taking two wins from two Pole Positions. In race one, Larini got the better start and led the field around in the greasy, slippery conditions. As the field poured through the Lesmo's Rouse, Soper and Aiello would make contact, putting Rouse and Soper out on the spot. Radisich would catch Larini and pass him, taking french driver Alain Cudini in the Opel Vectra (or Vauxhall Cavalier to the rest of us) with him. Radisich won from Cudini and Larini with John Cleland taking 4th in his Cavalier and ex Grand Prix driver Alessandro Nannini 5th in a second Alfa Romeo 155.<br />
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In Race Two, Radisich would lead the field away in a better start to a lead he wouldn't lose. Larini would valiantly try to stay with the Ford Mondeo but had to settle for 2nd place again. However the top five for Race 2 would have a different look with Phillippe Gache in the Alfa Romeo in 3rd, Alex Burgstaller in the BMW 318i in 4th and Eric Van de Poele in the Nissan Primera in 5th. Soper would fail to finish again whilst Rouse fought his way up to 19th from the back. Cleland would spin in the greasy conditions and finish in 17th place.<br />
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Radisich won the Drivers Title whilst Italy would win the Nations Cup. The event took place again in 1994 at Donington Park where the worlds best would fight it out on the Grand Prix Circuit over just one race this time. At the first attempted standing start Cleland led away from 4th on the grid in his Vauxhall Cavalier followed by Steve Soper in his BMW and Radisich in the Mondeo. However the race was red flagged when Shaun Van De Linde, Phillippe Gache, Keith O'dor, Jan Lammers and David Leslie were all involved in a crash and later in the lap Alain Menu in the Renault Laguna would retire after hitting Frank Biela's Audi.<br />
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Radisich led from the restart with Soper, Cleland and Tarquini in pursuit, however Tarquini would outbrake himself at Goddards leading to Cleland and Pirro retiring from contact behind the italian. At one stage the three german drivers Biela, Ravaglia and Winkelhock would fight for 3rd as Soper pursued Radisich, however Ravaglia would fall back into the clutches of Tarquini and Muller in the BMW whilst Winkelhock would take 3rd from Audi driver Biela after contact at the Melbourne hairpin.<br />
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Radisich would win the race with Soper, Winkelhock, Tarquini and Han Joachim-Stuck in the top five. This second win would confirm Radisich as the first double world touring car champion whilst Germany won the Nations Cup thanks to Winkelhock, Stuck and Markus Oestrich.<br />
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In 1995 the event took place in France at Paul Ricard. The new Audi A4 Quattro's dominated both races and Frank Biela would be Champion as the Audi's and rear wheel drive BMW's dominated the races. In Race One Biela would win from Soper and Yvan Muller whilst in Race Two Biela's team mate Pirro won from Steve Soper and Biela. Audi would win the first Manufacturers title from BMW and Honda.<br />
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There was an attempt to run the race at the Austrian A1-Ring but only 10 entries were made leading to the event being cancelled.<br />
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Following a break in 1996, the SuperTouring fraternity had another two chances in 1997 and 1998 with the 2 litre version of the Bathurst 1000kms taking place. Both editions of the race featured Iconic names such as Radisich, Cleland, Brock, Warwick, Morris, Longhurst, Biela, Richards, Rydell, Neal, Plato, Menu, Harvey, Jones, McConville &amp; many more, eith teams often combining the Australian and European tintop talents in both cars.<br />
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The 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 was the 38th running of the annual Bathurst 1000 touring race. It was also the first Bathurst 1000 race held after the controversial split between race organisers, the Australian Racing Drivers Club, and V8 Supercar.<br />
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The 1997 race featured teams from Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain. It was won by brothers Geoff and David Brabham, driving a BMW 320i for BMW Motorsport Australia. The car of teammates Paul Morris and Craig Baird had initially been declared the winner of the race but were later disqualified as Baird had breached the race regulation which limited any one driver to a maximum of three hours continuous driving. A late race error saw the team leave Baird in the car at the final pit stop instead of putting Morris in the car for the run to the chequered flag.<br />
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This mistake cost the team a 1-2 finish for BMW. The Orix Audi Australia 4WD A4's of Brad Jones/Frank Biela &amp; Cameron McConville/Jean-Francois Hemroulle completed the podium with the two Volvo 850's of Jim Richards/Rickard Rydell and Cameron Mclean/Jan Nilsson completed the top five.<br />
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However the 1998 race was a more memorable affair. Practice, Qualifying and the race lead for the entire 161 laps was fought out between the Volvo Racing Team of Jim Richards &amp; Rickard Rydell in a Volvo S40 and Matt Neal &amp; Steven Richards in a Nissan Primera run by Team Dynamics with support from Nissan Motorsport.<br />
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Rydell put the S40 on pole in a lap that is regarded by the Swede Tintop legend as his best ever pole lap for his favourite race. In the end it was the Volvo pairing that won by over two seconds from the Nissan pair. Joining them on the podium were the Audi Sport Australia pairing of Brad Jones &amp; Cameron McConville, this time in a FWD Audi A4. The top five were completed by Cameron McLean/Tony Scott in a privateer BMW 320i and BTCC pairing John Cleland &amp; Derek Warwick in the Team Vectra Vauxhall Vectra.<br />
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Now the sad thing is that such an event may never take place for quite sometime due the fact that the major touring car series all run to different regulations and have done for the past few seasons. But the idea of seeing the worlds best racing in equal machinery is something rare and wonderful and something I hope will happen again in my lifetime.<br />
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I suppose that S2000 regulation cars would be the most popular set of cars to try and resurrect the Touring Car Challenge with but you would have 2 classes of car with S2000 1.6 litre turbo's racing with S2000 2.0 litre non turbo cars. Its an idea but with a fully fledged World Championship in operation and a European Cup in operation, this makes logistics and timing difficult. Add to the fact that budgets are tight in touring car racing and getting tighter each day and the revival idea becomes nigh on impossible which is a shame.<br />
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Anyway, its another memory I wanted to share with you and you've earned that cup of tea...<br />
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Now the original post ended there, but with the WTCC moving to new TC1 cars, the creation of TCR &amp; the recent announcements of the various national TCR series to be in place for 2015 or 2016 and the FIA's adoption of the BTCC NGTC regulations to be introduced in other national tintop series, its just possible that we could yet see a Touring Car Challenge re-appear one day...Plus, I love talking about these SuperTourer Memories.<br />
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See you soon!<br />
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Phil.<br />
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All the best from the Guru!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-79461085055601952322015-02-07T11:51:00.002-08:002015-02-07T11:51:09.534-08:00Low'Life Photography<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #464646; font-family: DroidSans, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 18.6666660308838px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Hello fellow blog followers.</div>
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This may sound cheesy, but I have been asked to do something by my son Aaron and I feel this is a good cause.</div>
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On his 18th birthday in 2013 we gave him an expensive camera as a birthday present. This was due to his enormous interest in Photography which began after his first trip to a BTCC event in October 2010.</div>
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Since then Aaron has taken many Photo's from BTCC Events in 2011 and 2012. In 2013 he began taking pictures of the wildlife and landscape of our home on Billing Aquadrome, taking pictures of a local band performing in Bedford and in late 2014 taking photos of street modified cars at different shows, which is his current focus.</div>
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Aaron is hoping to make a business from this and both Nik and myself are supporting this 100%. The passion he has for Photography is amazing. It reminds me of the passion I have for Motorsport & SciFi...and the passion Nik has for Bon Jovi, Meatloaf, West Ham United & Chris Hemsworth...</div>
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All I am asking is for you all to take a look at his Facebook Page. If you search for Low'Life Photography on Facebook you will find him.</div>
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Once again I thank you myself for reading my blog and I have further posts planned for 2015 as previously posted.</div>
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<a href="https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=803985276325913" style="border: 0px; color: #21759b; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=803985276325913</a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #464646; font-family: DroidSans, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 18.6666660308838px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Cheers</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #464646; font-family: DroidSans, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 18.6666660308838px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Phil.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #464646; font-family: DroidSans, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 18.6666660308838px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="post_sig" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">All the best from the Guru!!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-54933635960425153502015-02-07T11:48:00.003-08:002015-02-07T11:49:20.878-08:00Ford OlsbergsMSE Prepare For 2015 WorldRX CampaignWith the start of World RX 2015 just over three and a half months away, Swedish team Ford OlsbergsMSE are hard at work preparing for round one at Montalegre in Portugal.<br />
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The team have brought their Ford Fiesta Supercars back to their base at Nynashamn in Sweden, where all of the cars are being stripped down and upgraded to the latest specification ahead of the 2015 season. The squad are also building brand new Supercar chassis’ for use this year, and are advertising some existing cars for sale.<br />
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“We have all the cars back home in Sweden to give them the best possible review before the season,” said team principle, Andreas Eriksson. “We are building some new cars, and doing updates on all cars to meet the new season in the best possible way. We are selling some cars too, including car number seven, previously run by Tanner Foust and myself in the European Championship. It is well developed and has proven parts.”<br />
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OMSE are renowned as one of the biggest rallycross car builders in the world. Since 2005 they have built four Fiesta Mk6s and have recently finished the 22nd complete Fiesta Mk7 Supercar. Eriksson is keen to keep progressing in the sport. “I have a long-term goal to be a part of the development of the sport. A lot has happened in several areas in recent years, and the interest for rallycross is growing rapidly." Alongside the Supercar programme, OlsbergsMSE works closely with Turkish outfit Avitas Motorsport to run the RX Lites category, which continues to go from strength to strength as a support category to the FIA World Rallycross Championship. Sebastien Eriksson and namesake Kevin both made one-off Supercar appearances in World RX last season following time in the RX Lites category and were straight on the ultimate pace.<br />
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All the best!<br />
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Phil!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-40018576491294639282015-02-07T11:46:00.000-08:002015-02-07T11:46:03.391-08:00Autosport International 2015 Launches the new BTCC Season...The first race of the new BTCC season is still three months away, but major announcements are due from former champion and local favourite Andrew Jordan and 2014 title-winning team West Surrey Racing that will kick off the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Autosport International this week.<br />
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A host of cars, star drivers and launches at Birmingham’s NEC will place the world’s most popular touring car series firmly in the spotlight on 8-11 January. Fans will be able to get up close to BTCC machines and hear from leading drivers including 2014 champion Colin Turkington and former titlists Jordan, Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden.<br />
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On the opening morning of the show, Thursday 8 January, a dedicated Dunlop MSA BTCC feature in Hall 6 will formally launch 2013 champion Jordan’s programme for the new season. Nearby, on the Autosport Stage, WSR will make a major sponsorship and driver announcement. In their 2015 liveries, both cars will remain on display throughout the four days of Europe’s biggest motorsport show.<br />
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“I’m really excited about the new challenge that’s ahead of me in 2015,” Jordan said. “It’s something I’m looking forward to telling everyone about at Autosport International, as we start the new season.”<br />
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Jordan’s car will be accompanied on the Dunlop MSA BTCC display by 2014 race winner Rob Austin’s Audi and the factory-backed Infiniti Q50 from the new Support Our Paras Racing programme, both unveiling the liveries they’ll carry this year.<br />
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Announced late last year, it will be the first chance for enthusiasts to see Infiniti’s maiden BTCC racer. The team will employ injured ex-Paratroopers and donate its profits to charity.<br />
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Austin and Support Our Paras Racing’s Derek Palmer and Richard Hawken are among a strong contingent of drivers heading to the show, and will take part in interviews and autograph sessions on the Dunlop MSA BTCC feature. By tweeting their questions to @DunlopLive, fans will be able to set the agenda.<br />
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Also at the NEC, the new Mercedes-Benz A-Class of the BTCC’s youngest driver, Aiden Moffat, will be revealed on the stand of artist PopbangColour.<br />
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“The 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship was one of the most competitive seasons ever, and 2015 is shaping up as another massive year,” said Ian France, Autosport International Show Director.<br />
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“We’re delighted to be getting it started this week at Autosport International with a special Dunlop MSA BTCC feature.”<br />
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BTCC favourites will be joined at Autosport International by the likes of 13-time F1 race winner David Coulthard, FIA World Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg and FIA World Endurance Championship-winning Brits Anthony Davidson and Allan McNish.<br />
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Other Autosport International showcases include the F1 Racing Grid, Wales Rally GB feature, special 60 Years of Motorsport News collection and a unique collection of Track Icons and Wild Road Cars presented in association with Classic &amp; Sports Car Magazine and Silverstone Classic.<br />
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Tickets to Autosport International are available from £32 for adults, with children’s tickets priced from £21 and children under five years admitted for free. Public access is avsilable on Saturday and Sunday. For tickets, visit www.autosportinternational.com.<br />
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All the best!<br />
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Phil!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-29965443984896487752015-02-07T05:33:00.000-08:002015-02-07T05:33:50.233-08:00Tintop Guru: My plan for 2015...Happy New Year everyone!!!<br />
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I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas time and celebrated the New Year in your own particular fashion.<br />
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Whilst all this has been going on during the holiday period, I have been organising my plans for the Tintop Guru blog and I've decided to explain what I plan to be writing about in 2015.<br />
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First of all, I've had to organise myself a bit earlier than normal as I will be attending the 2015 Autosport International Show as one of their official bloggers. This has happened after I entered the competition that the Autosport Show Organisers ran during the summer where you had to post on your blog, your favourite Motorsport Memory from between 1990 and 2015, as part of celebrating the 25 years of the Autosport International Show... I was picked as a winner! My entry was a post about the 1992 Monaco Grand Prix.<br />
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Now whilst I am there, I am planning on speaking to a few teams and drivers from the BTCC to find out what their targets and hopes are for the new season and posting a blog regarding my experience at the show. Keeping with the BTCC theme, I shall be attending the Annual BTCC Media Day in March at Donington Park that will see the launch of the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, where we will finally have the confirmation of who will be driving what car and for what team after a long winter of shuffling.<br />
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Now as well as attending these two events, I will be writing blogposts regarding the race weekends of the BTCC as well as the 2015 edition of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, which sees the new TC1 regulation cars in their second season of competition, whilst the older TC2T cars are now outlawed in the WTCC and only legal to compete in the FIA European Touring Car Cup, which itself expands to a six event calendar for 2015.<br />
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The WTCC also sees a change in calendar for 2015 with visits to the famous Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany, the Vila Real street circuit in Portugal, a change of location from Suzuka to Motegi for the Japanese round whilst the championship visits Buriram in Thailand and Losail in Qatar for the first time. The Qatar races will be the first ever night races the new incarnation of the series has had.<br />
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In 2014, I immensely enjoyed watching the first ever FIA World Rallycross Championship and also writing posts about it during the season. I will be following the championship again in 2015 and producing race weekend reports on the blog, reporting on what I felt was the FIA's most exciting World Championship in 2014 with an ever expanding fan base and growing prescence on Social Media. To add to this hype, 2014 WorldRX Champion Petter Solberg confirmed on New Years Eve he would return in 2015 to defend his title.<br />
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There is one change to the WorldRX Calendar in 2015 with Finland being dropped and replaced by a Spanish round held at the Barcelona Grand Prix Circuit. Whilst Finland is a fan favourite and popular round, Barcelona will offer new challenges to the field. I will also be posting blog reports on the FIA European Rallycross Championship, which was just as exciting as the World Championship was last year.<br />
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There are three new series that I will be casting my eye over and offering my thoughts and opinions on throughout the year. The first is the newly announced TCR International Series. I am looking forward to seeing how this championship fairs during the year, with several established and well known Touring Car teams already confirmed to be taking part with a calendar that is on the support bill at three different Formula One Weekends and also sees several national championships planned for 2015 and 2016.<br />
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The second Championship I will be casting my eye on will be the revamped MSA British Rallycross Championship. During 2014, the series saw increased numbers in each class of competition from Supercars to the RX150's. Along with an improved Media package in the form of a one hour highlights programme on Eurosport and a Series Sponsor in The Shannon Group, BritishRX showed increased viewership and prescence on social media. With a calendar for 2015 confirmed and a TV/Media package to be confirmed, I'll be keeping an eye on this series as it grows in a similar fashion to WorldRX.<br />
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Finally, the third series I will be covering is the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship. I have been lucky enough over the winter to be chosen to recieve the press reports on a series that is building a big reputation in a fast amount of time. Whilst the cars are similar to the Supercars of the FIA WorldRX series, the Supercars of the Red Bull GRC offer the same amount of high quality action and entertainment from some of America's best known talents behind the wheel. The 2014 series is being shown on MotorsTV in the UK and I look forward to seeing how the 2015 season shapes up...<br />
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So its a busy year for myself on the blog as I increase the series I monitor and also share with all my readers on Social Media.<br />
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I will also be increasing my role at www.thecheckeredflag.co.uk where I will be reporting on both the 2015 WorldRX & EuroRx series for the website.<br />
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There's also a big event taking place in August this year thats very important to me, but I will divulge more details on that later in the year.<br />
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Finally I would like to say thank to all my readers from 2014 and thank you to all the support I have recieved in writing the blog. It spurs me on to see so many positive comments each time I post on Social Media and I intend to maintain the high level of the blog and its posts.<br />
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Thank you<br />
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Phil!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-50668131132805496282014-12-21T15:12:00.001-08:002014-12-23T01:20:07.186-08:00Tourings Cars: FIA TCN-1 or TCR... You Choose...<p dir="ltr">The World of Touring Car racing faces an interesting choice of regulations from 2015 thanks to some recent changes and news over the past few weeks...</p>
<p dir="ltr">So I've decided to compare the two different types of Touring Car regulations on offer, known as the TCR International series and the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship's NGTC regulations, now known as FIA TCN-1...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Earlier this year Marcello Lotti, who ran the FIA World Touring Car Championship for 9 years, announced he was setting up a new International Touring Car championship that would take place in 2015 with a flagship International series, using a model that is based on the successful GT3 form of motorsport that would be transferred to Touring Car racing along with elements and ideas that he used in the WTCC as well.</p>
<p dir="ltr">He named originally named this the "TC3 International Series" however recently that changed to the "TCR International Series" for reasons that I will explain later.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Now with his experience of building up the WTCC from a successful three year stint running it as the FIA European Touring Car Championship between 2002 & 2004, to it becoming the FIA World Touring Car Championship and running until the end of 2013, Lotti knows what works and also has his race format already set out as well as the technical regulations for the series.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Now so far the TCR regulations have proven a popular option for different markets to choose to run in either 2015 or in 2016. Domestic TCR Series or Promotional Classes have been announced in Portugal, Italy, the USA and the BeNeLux region along with the already confirmed International Series and the Asian series as well.</p>
<p dir="ltr">So TCR looks quite healthy so far. There are benefits to having different series around the world running to the same regulations that remind me of the old SuperTouring Days. With cars being built to the TCR regulations, it will open up a market for these cars to be sold on as different and new teams around the world look to either build cars or buy cars to compete in TCR.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Already I can feel a tinge of excitement as I recall the height of the SuperTouring Days when the FIA ran three consecutive World Cup events between 1993 and 1995 with almost 40+ drivers from around the world competing in near equal tintop machines. This is something that could end up happening if TCR takes off in the manner it promises to, but the idea of a TCR World Cup is wild speculation at the moment.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I can even feel a tear in the eye...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Anyway...</p>
<p dir="ltr">There is another form of Touring Car racing already in use that could rival TCR and also has the backing of the FIA:</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship's "Next Generation Touring Car" regulations...</p>
<p dir="ltr">At the recent December meeting of the FIA World MotorSport Council, the decision was taken by the FIA to endorse and support the use of two types of Touring Car Regulations for other countries to adopt and use in an attempt to reduce costs for teams and drivers to take part in and for organisers to run those series. The FIA chose the NGTC regulations from the BTCC and decided to rename them as "FIA TCN-1" or Touring Car National - 1. The second set of regulations to be endorsed and promoted are the more Production based Argentine Touring Car Championship regulations or now known as FIA TCN-2 for domestic championships looking for a cheaper alternative.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The FIA also reclassified the structure of its Touring Car hierarchy to clear up any confusion about what tintops are eligible where. The FIA WTCC uses TC1 regulation cars exclusively from 2015. The European Touring Car Cup will use TC2T ( 1.6 litre Turbocharged S2000 cars) and also TC2 (2 Litre Normally Aspirated S2000 cars) alongside the other classes. Now with the FIA endorsing the new TC3 concept, a name change was needed to avoid confusion that the TC3 series could be part of the hierarchy. So the name was changed to TCR.</p>
<p dir="ltr">So the FIA Touring Car Comission now has its progression system in place, something that Alan Gow and Jonathan Ashman have wanted for a long time as heads of the FIA Touring Car Commission, allowing drivers and teams in national TCN-1 or TCN-2 national championships to compete with a common set of regulations and have a clear view of progression up the ladder to the ETCC and later the WTCC. This is something that has been missing in Touring Cars for many years since the demise of SuperTouring and the change from Super 2000 to TC1 in the WTCC whilst Single seaters and Rallying have had a clear progression in place for a long time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Now effectively there are two lots of regulations that are on offer for the different countries/markets to use. The benefits of NGTC are something I've written about before, but in a nutshell, you have one company producing spec parts for the car such as Gearbox, Rollcage, ECU, Aero and other parts whilst a spec engine is also on sale to competitors who cant build their own power units. This then allows one supplier for spares etc and help keeps the cost down. The teams are responsible for choosing the shell and model of the car they wish to race and building the shell.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The BTCC has seen the benefits of this since Series Boss Alan Gow's introduction of the NGTC regulations back in 2011 when just five full NGTC cars were raced whereas as this year a full 31 car grid of full NGTC cars competed as most rounds. Again in a recall back to the SuperTouring days, if different countries adopt these regulations, it opens up a market for ex BTCC cars to be sold on whilst new cars are built by suppliers to teams wishing to enter the new domestic FIA TCN-1 championships.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Now currently there are no new FIA TCN-1 championships announced, but give this some time. The FIA only just gave this the green light so it could be that over the next 12 months we could see new championships appearing in Europe or Scandinavia. History has shown for example that the Swedish Touring Car scene has often followed the BTCC in its regulations and it spent between 2011 and 2013 deciding if NGTC was the way to go, causing a split in the tintop scene and the creation of the TTA series that has gone on to become the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, using the TTA regulations.</p>
<p dir="ltr">As far as race formats go, both the TCR and NGTC sporting regulations offer variety. TCR has announced a format of 2 60km races in duration whilst the BTCC holds 3 races on raceday of around 40 minutes in duration. However there is nothing to say that other markets will enforce these and only time will tell if they do.</p>
<p dir="ltr">As far as the cars and equipment being used, there are similarities. Both regulations support 2 litre Turbocharged Petrol engines, whilst TCR also offers the chance for 2 litre Turbo-Diesels to be used as well. Aerodynamic packages are provided by the organisers, keeping the advantage to a minimum whilst only the bodyshell of the model being used would be different. Both series offer spec parts or specify production parts only to be used and both series have a balance of performance system in place using weight to penalise a winning car and allow a close form of exciting racing where no one model of car dominates.</p>
<p dir="ltr">So, as you can see, there isn't much to choose from in the differences between TCR and FIA TCN-1, apart from the fact that the TCN-1 regulations have been in use since 2011 and quite successfully too. What Touring Car racing has needed to do for some time is to reduce costs and bring back the teams and drivers to the tintop arena. TCN-1 has succeeded in doing this in the UK whilst TCR looks just as promising with its wide European prescence for 2015 and 2016.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Theres one final point I want to make as I know my readers in the UK will ask this question:</p>
<p dir="ltr">Can TCR work in the UK?</p>
<p dir="ltr">My answer to this is No. The BTCC has re-established itself as one of Europes strongest series again, thanks to the success of the NGTC/FIA TCN-1 regulations. Thats also the reason as to why there is no UK round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship or the FIA European Touring Car Cup. Such a strong domestic series can often deter a World/European championship event from needing to take place, often because there is less popularity or knowledge for an FIA event than there is for the BTCC. Another reason as to why there is no UK round in the WTCC is because the manufacturers who compete have no interest in the UK car market and for them racing Touring Cars that win means they need to race where the car markets offer the best sales and thats a trend thats been in force for many years now. As for TCR, it just can't compete right now and it wouldn't survive against the BTCC.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But thats why the FIA chose the NGTC regs to promote as one of two sets of dedicated tintop regulations to be adopted from now on. If it works, don't fix it... Promote it so it can work just as well elsewhere and become more popular and even stronger.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Either way my final thought on the debate of TCR or TCN-1 is this. Pretty soon almost every country that holds a Touring Car Championship (Except Australia's V8 Supercars and Germany's DTM) will be exclusively running either a TCR Series, FIA TCN-1 or TCN-2 Championship and with so many Championships running in common, that can only be good for Touring Cars for the future. As to the most popular set of regulations... Well we'll find that out over the next few years.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Thank you for reading.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Cheers</p>
<p dir="ltr">Phil!</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-930804102265542482014-12-19T05:26:00.001-08:002014-12-22T00:24:30.577-08:00FIA EuroRX 2015: The Interest is growing...<p dir="ltr">Up until 2014, The European Rallycross Championship was the highest accolade in Rallycross circles to compete in and win. It started in 1973 and in 1979 Rallycross legend Martin Schanche won the first official FIA European Rallycross Championship.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Fast forward to 2013 and the series was reinvented as RallycrossRX, with a new promoter installed and increased media coverage. This move reignited interest in International Rallycross and this led to stars such as Tanner Foust, Ken Block and Petter Solberg joining the series. Russian Timer Timurzyanov beat off the competition to win his second EuroRX title whilst interest soared for 2014.</p>
<p dir="ltr">With the creation of a World Championship in 2014, the EuroRX was scaled back to five events that ran on the same five weekends and locations as WorldRX events, allowing for privateers to fight for the title. This led to entry lists of at least 40 Supercars at events such as Lydden Hill in the UK, Estering in Germany and Holjes in Sweden... To name a few...</p>
<p dir="ltr">So why the increased popularity of a five event FIA European Championship and why the increased interest for for 2015?</p>
<p dir="ltr">Well... Let me enlighten you...</p>
<p dir="ltr">First of all, the biggest attraction are the regulations. Currently all of the major European Domestic Rallycross Championships use the Supercar regulations which are:</p>
<p dir="ltr">2 litre Turbo powered Supercars, engines capable of producing 600bhp in 4 Wheel Drive monsters that are capable of beating the current F1 cars off the line...</p>
<p dir="ltr">The best part is that if you are running, for example, a Mk2 Ford Focus in the British Rallycross Championship for a full season, the same car can be used in EuroRX/WorldRX events. </p>
<p dir="ltr">I should explain to avoid confusion that EuroRX events take place at the same venue and on the same weekend as WorldRX, giving the drivers a chance to race the works supported teams and other privateers from their own domestic championships with a chance at FIA Title glory.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Next, its the chance to race against the best in World Rallycross. This year, EuroRX saw such talent as Tanner Foust and Ken Block go up against the likes of Henning Solberg, Robin Larsson, Jerome Grosset-Janin, Tommy Rustad and Johan Kristoffersson with Larsson beating the competition and winning the FIA European Rallycross Championship in Italy on the same weekend that Petter Solberg won the World Rallycross Championship. Now because of this, Larsson has already announced his intention to take part in WorldRX in 2015.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Not only that but talents such Larsson, Kristoffersson and Grosset-Janin made it from the Heat stages at various events through to the Semi-Finals and even the Final, where in the UK Larsson finished second behind WorldRX regular Andreas Bakkerud whilst Kristoffersson made the podium in his Scandinavian VW Polo Supercar behind event winner Topi Heikkinen in the Works Supported VW Polo Supercar. (Although he was later disqualified...)</p>
<p dir="ltr">But its EuroRX of late that is garnering the interest from many drivers. Tommy Rustad has announced that he will campaign a VW-Marklund Motorsport built VW Polo Supercar for next years EuroRX instead of his usual Volvo C30 Supercar. 2014 French Rallycross Supercar Champion Fabien Pailler has also confirmed he will contest EuroRX 2015 in a Peugeot 208 WRX Supercar, a similar machine to the Albatec Racing and Hansen-Peugeots campaigned this year in WorldRX.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Another Rallycross regular looking to join EuroRX next year is Knut Ove Borseth who has announced plans to run a two car team under the banner 'Drive for Life RX' which caters for children who do not fit into the traditional education system and giving them experience within motorsport. The intention is to run two Mk2 Ford Focus' during the season.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Finally the third point of the enticement of EuroRX is the exposure a driver can recieve, both on track and off. Earlier in 2014 at Loheac in France, at the end of the first days action with Heats One and Two completed there were four different regular French Rallycross drivers inside the top 12. Jerome Grosset-Janin, Gaetan Serazin, Fabien Pailler and Christophe Wilt were all in the top places that, if they stayed there after Heats Three and Four, would have granted a place in the Semi-Finals or The Final. As it was Grosset-Janin was the only french driver who made it to the Semi's.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Theres also the explosion of social media thats followed the reinvention of RallycrossRX. Drivers and teams are now taking to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the like to update fans with their progress over a weekend, any announcements regarding plans for the future and also give the fans a chance to interact with them. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Petter Solberg launched his own app that not only chronicled his 2013 EuroRX and also his WorldRX journey but also his sons journey as he makes his way through the ranks of Rallycross, learning the trade of offroad motorsport. So whether its Tweets or Apps, the fans can now follow the action even closer in Social Media, but it also allows the chance for teams and drivers to lure in new sponsors and offer more exposure.</p>
<p dir="ltr">For example, a driver contests an entire season in a Peugeot 208 WRX Supercar in the French Rallycross Championship, sponsored by a french company. However, that same driver also contests the five round FIA European Rallycross Championship which visits the UK, Germany, Norway, Belgium and Italy, allowing new markets and countries to see the sponsors on the car and the the other EuroRX cars. If that driver has a good weekend in the results, it opens up a new arena of possibilities for new sponsors which in turn allows progression to the WorldRX for the following year if thats the plan. </p>
<p dir="ltr">So its a huge benefit to Domestic Rallycross drivers who take part in EuroRX and its now clear to see why there is so much interest already in the series for next year.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Keep an eye on this one, 2015 is going to be a very competitive year for EuroRX.</p>
<p dir="ltr">All the best,</p>
<p dir="ltr">Phil!!</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-42799648349129883172014-11-30T08:17:00.001-08:002014-12-02T03:13:42.827-08:00WorldRX 2014: Solberg and Ford OMSE win in Argentina<p dir="ltr">So the final round of the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy took place in Argentina last weekend, closing off what has been a spectacular season of excitement and close racing with action that has rarely let up at every round. The first season of WorldRX can be crowned a success with many more seasons to come...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Lets see how things panned out...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Petter Solberg led the Total Rallycross of Argentina, the season-closer to this year’s FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy after Day One. In the all-important Teams’ Championship where Volkswagen Marklund Motorsport, Ford Olsbergs MSE and Team Peugeot-Hansen are locked in a three-way battle, Olsbergs MSE established an early lead as team-mates Reinis Nitiss and Andreas Bakkerud place the Ford squad highest after two heats.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Only four points separated current Teams’ Championship leaders VW Marklund and Olsbergs MSE going into the Argentine RX round. Team Peugeot-Hansen can still mathematically win the title but started the event on the backfoot with a 38-point disadvantage. At the end of heat two, Heikkinen was third in the standings despite struggling with a gearbox issue in his Polo RX Supercar whilst team-mate Anton Marklund was eighth. Peugeot-Hansen team-mates Timmy Hansen and Timur Timerzyanov held fifth and sixth overnight.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Temperatures exceeded 30 degrees Celsius as 17 Supercar drivers took to the Rosendo Hernandez circuit in San Luis for the first ever rallycross event to be staged in Argentina.  Bakkerud was quickest in free practice but it was the inaugural FIA World RX Champion Petter Solberg who sealed the heat one victory.  Solberg was joined by former WRC star Manfred Stohl in a second PSRX car and, despite having had no time to test the Citroen before the event, the Austrian put in a strong performance to finish ninth on Day One.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Arguably one of the most impressive drives of the day however, was that of Supercar debutant Kevin Eriksson who is driving an Olsbergs MSE Supercar as a reward for winning this year’s RX Lites Cup.  “I’ve had an up and down day,” explained the teenager who was second quickest in free practice.  “On the first heat, I overshot on the Joker Lap, spun the car and had to reverse which lost me time.  Then during the second heat I got stuck behind Manfred Stohl after the Joker. The dust made it really hard to see when you’re behind but I’ve definitely learned a lot and happy to be seventh.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">It was a day of mixed fortunes for British driver Liam Doran who made his World RX comeback after a six-month absence from the Championship. The Monster Energy World RX Team driver had a troubled start after his Citroen DS3 Supercar suffered a misfire but recovered in heat two to finish seventh fastest.  “I’ve been out of World RX for most of the year now so it’s taking me a while to get back to grips with everything,” admitted the 27-year-old.  “I’m obviously not fighting for the Championship so heat points don’t matter – I’m just aiming to get to the semi-finals and hope to be up to speed by the end of heat four.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Doran’s team-mate Henning Solberg had a troubled day after struggling with power steering issues in heat one and was unable to start the second heat. Also experiencing difficulties was LD Motorsports driver Derek Tohill whose Citroen DS3 was down on power.  “We had to limp through with some engine problems and the dust combined with the difficulties of a new track made today incredibly hard,” explained the Irishman.<br>
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Albatec Racing duo Andy Scott and Ollie O’Donovan were 10th and 13th respectively, while former Argentine Rally Champion Miguel Baldoni was 12th overall.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Petter Solberg ended his title-winning season in style by winning the closing round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy in San Luis, Argentina. Ford Olsbergs MSE won a three-way battle for the Teams’ Championship as team-mates Reinis Nitiss and Andreas Bakkerud finished second and sixth respectively.  RX Lites Cup winner Kevin Eriksson drove spectacularly on his Supercar debut to clinch third.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Solberg’s win in Argentina is the Norwegian’s fifth outright victory of the year for the PSRX Team and sees the driver end the inaugural World RX season with a total of 267 points. Volkswagen Marklund Motorsport’s Topi Heikkinen amassed enough points to award the 23-year-old Finn the coveted runners-up spot. Nitiss ends the season third overall in points.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“This is a dream come true.  We started the season with a win in Portugal, and to finish with another win in Argentina feels really amazing,” grinned Solberg who was also awarded the Monster Energy Super Charge Award after his rapid start from pole position. “This Championship has so many talented drivers and I am extremely impressed with the high standard of driving we have had this year – especially from the younger guys. Now I’m looking forward to Doha for the FIA Awards Ceremony but I will be back and fighting for more seasons to come. I’d like to thank my whole team for working so hard throughout this year – there will be a big party tonight, that’s for sure!”</p>
<p dir="ltr">There was a three-way battle for the Teams’ Championship going into Argentina with Volkswagen Marklund Motorsport, Ford Olsbergs MSE and Team Peugeot-Hansen all still capable of winning the accolade. Peugeot-Hansen was knocked out of winning contention when Timmy Hansen and Timur Timerzyanov failed to score enough points at the Intermediate Classification stage. Tension mounted further when Topi Heikkinen’s engine failed in heat four and VW Marklund were forced to repair the Polo RX Supercar before the semis. </p>
<p dir="ltr">A fraught two semi-finals were to follow, but the Ford squad sealed the silverware when Anton Marklund was denied a spot in the final and both Ford team-mates went through.  “I am so proud of my team – to win this trophy with Olsbergs who have worked so hard all year is such a good feeling,” beamed 18-year-old Nitiss. <br>
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Speaking on behalf of VW Marklund, team driver Anton said: “It’s always disappointing to be second but actually our aim at the start of the year was to finish in the top three so this is something we must all remember.  I think we have learned a lot for next year and we will be back and fighting hard.  Topi finished second in the drivers’ standings to finish the year with two second places is something our whole team are really happy with.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">After another impressive drive in the Peugeot 208 Supercar, 22-year-old Timmy Hansen finished fourth in Argentina for Team Peugeot-Hansen.  The talented driver also ends the season fourth overall. Team-mate Timur Timerzyanov showed good pace in San Luis but retired on the first lap of semi-final two following a technical issue with his car.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Despite showing good speed, Britain’s Liam Doran had a troubled return to World RX. The Monster Energy World RX Team driver failed to qualify after a technical infringement cost him a spot in the semi-finals. Team-mate Henning Solberg was also denied a place in the semis after the driver struggled with car issues on day one.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The year ended on a high for Scottish-based team Albatec Racing who had both drivers in the semi-finals for the first time this season. Elsewhere local driver Miguel Baldoni had an impressive RX debut as the former Argentine Rally Champion entertained the local fans by finishing the event ninth overall.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Martin Anayi, World RX Managing Director for IMG Motorsports, concluded: “It’s been a sensational year for the FIA World Rallycross Championship and it’s remarkable to think that our season has started in the same way it ended – with a victory for Petter Solberg. I’ve witnessed first-hand how hard Petter and the PSRX Team have worked this year and their win is thoroughly deserved.  The Teams’ Championship could have gone one of three ways this weekend and all three of our teams would have been very worthy winners. Very well done to the Ford Olsbergs MSE who came out trumps. I firmly believe we have some of the most talented drivers on the globe competing in World RX and it’s incredible to have two 18-year-olds on the podium in Argentina this weekend [Eriksson and Nitiss].  The future of the sport is looking very bright but now we are concentrating on making 2015 even better. On behalf of IMG Motorsports, I’d like to thank the drivers, teams and everyone involved in helping to make World RX a huge success in what has been an incredible season for the FIA’s newest World Championship.”   <br>
 <br>
2014 DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP – OVERALL POINTS</p>
<p dir="ltr">1. Petter Solberg (PSRX), 267 points<br>
2. Topi Heikkinen (VW Marklund), 221 points<br>
3. Reinis Nitiss (Ford Olsbergs MSE), 210 points<br>
4. Timmy Hansen (Peugeot-Hansen), 199 points<br>
5. Andreas Bakkerud (Ford Olsbergs MSE), 193 points<br>
6. Anton Marklund (VW Marklund), 173 points<br>
 <br>
2014 TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP – OVERALL POINTS<br>
 <br>
1. Ford Olsbergs MSE, 403 points<br>
2. Volkswagen Marklund Motorsport, 394 points<br>
3. Team Peugeot-Hansen, 351 points<br>
4. PSRX, 261 points<br>
5. Monster Energy World RX Team, 76 points<br>
6. Albatec Racing, 61 points</p>
<p dir="ltr">Finally a word from the Guru...</p>
<p dir="ltr">I can happily say I have really enjoyed watching this years first ever FIA World Rallycross Championship and I can also say that my decision to get into Rallycross back in 2013 has been completely justified.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I've said this all year and I will say it again. If you are bored with Formula One or fed up with the politics that plague motorsport and you want to watch an exciting, action packed series, then give the FIA World Rallycross Championship a try.</p>
<p dir="ltr">For me, its been one of, if not <i>the</i> most exciting FIA World Championship thats taken place this year with an ever expanding fan base. With upwards of 40 cars in the Supercars catergory entered at different events this year and the FIA  European Rallycross Championship open to Europes best, its just an amazing series to watch...and one I will be blogging about over the winter as the teams and drivers now test for 2015.</p>
<p dir="ltr">All the best!</p>
<p dir="ltr">Phil!!</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-61686022563585275722014-11-22T04:14:00.001-08:002014-11-30T09:57:16.979-08:00WTCC 2014: Its Macau Baby!!!<p dir="ltr">Street Circuits.</p>
<p dir="ltr">For the avid motorsport fan, the thought of motorsport taking place on a street circuit offers a greater challenge to the teams and drivers taking part. There are little or no run off areas, however in their place are metal barriers or concrete barriers. In order to gain the fastest laptime in Qualifying or the race, drivers have to be inch perfect whilst skimming the barriers to gain the fastest laptime.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Now almost every major series has a street circuit involved in its calendar: Formula One has Monaco, the DTM has the Norisring, the WEC has Le Mans...</p>
<p dir="ltr">And the FIA World Touring Car Championship has the awesome spectacle that is Macau. Sharing the weekend with the legendary Formula Three, Superbike and GT races that attract the best in the world of motorsport, Macau has been the finale of the WTCC for the last ten years and the 2014 edition didn't disappoint...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Lets see how this panned out...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Citroen’s Jose Maria Lopez claimed pole position for Round 23 of the World Touring Car Championship in Macau, heading teammates Sebastien Loeb and Yvan Muller.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Lopez, who is tackling the street circuit for the first time this weekend, set a fastest lap of 2:24.294s in the third segment of qualifying that was enough for him to seal top spot by 0.228s from Loeb, ahead of Sunday’s races.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The qualifying hour got off to a somewhat predictable start around the narrow streets, with Pepe Oriola – standing in for the injured Dusan Borkovic at Campos Racing – crashing his Chevrolet at Maternity, bringing the red flags out before anybody had had the chance to set a time.</p>
<p dir="ltr">As the session restarted, it was the Honda quartet of Tiago Monteiro, Gabriele Tarquini, Norbert Michelisz and Mehdi Bennani who headed onto the circuit first, with the former initially going fastest before Muller usurped him with a 2:26.918s.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The stoppage earlier in the session meant that by the time that drivers had set their first times and returned to the pits, half of the 30-minute Q1 had elapsed, and the field were keen to get on with things as Loeb went quickest with a time of 2:26.036s, while Tarquini and Rob Huff improved to fourth and seventh respectively, before Michelisz then set the fastest time in the session with a 2:25.920s.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Bennani’s second run hadn’t gone to plan, as he scuffed his tyres and found himself in 13th when he pitted for a third time, when he was forced to visit the weighbridge before he could return to the track.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But with the Moroccan able to rejoin the action, the pressure was on those in front of him to improve, and Ma Qing Hua in the fourth Citroen was that bit overzealous in his attempts to improve on a precarious 12th place, as he had a huge slide having set the fastest first sector. That hindered James Thompson in the LADA Granta, who finished the session in 14th place.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The session was then brought to a premature end by Thompson’s teammate Mikhail Kozlovskiy, who spun and blocked the track at Lisboa briefly. With the red flag flown for a second time and less than a minute-and-a-half remaining on the clock, race control decided not to restart the session, eliminating Bennani, Thompson, Kozlovskiy and Rene Munnich from the TC1 field.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Q2 was a much less dramatic affair, as the Citroen drivers all immediately got down to business on a less congested track, with Lopez fastest on a 2:24.539s. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Just five minutes remained as the cars headed out for their final runs, although Morbidelli decided to remain in the pits, settling for 12th place on the grid for both of Sunday’s races. Tarquini made a late attempt to claim a spot in the shootout, but narrowly missed out with sixth place. He was beaten by the three Citroens, while Tom Coronel and Michelisz also made the final session after building on fast first runs. Hugo Valente would go on to start the final race of the season from pole position having qualified in tenth, where he is ahead Chilton and Huff.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Michelisz continued his fine form into Q3 at the track with a 2:25.327s, which was good enough for fourth as Coronel hit the wall and aborted his lap, having been faster than the Hungarian in the first sector. It was then left to the Citroen trio to battle for pole. Muller went first and set a WTCC lap record of 2:24.779s with his effort, before Loeb eclipsed that time by two-tenths-of-a-second with a time of 2:24.522s. But taking to the track last, it was champion Lopez who stole the show to claim a seventh pole of the season, with his 2:24.294s, which is now the best lap by a World Touring Car around the legendary street circuit.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Jose Maria Lopez won the penultimate WTCC race of the season, finishing ahead of a Honda trio headed up by Zengo Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz. Lopez cruised to his tenth win of the season from pole position, whilst behind him his Citroen team-mates struggled to maintain their qualifying form.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Loeb, who started alongside Lopez on the front row of the grid, lost out to Michelisz at the very start of the race. The former rally star tried to keep the pressure on the Hungarian, but on lap three he locked up at Lisboa and lost ground at the only real overtaking opportunity on the circuit. Loeb’s mistake allowed three cars to pass, the first of which was an under the weather Gabriele Tarquini. The Italian would maintain third for the remainder of the race despite his condition.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Tiago Monteiro finished the race in fourth, despite trying hard to pass his works’ Honda team-mate throughout the race. The Portuguese driver also had to defend from the Citroen of Yvan Muller, who finished fifth after having lost out to the Honda trio on the opening lap of the race. Following his earlier mistake Loeb finished the race in sixth and failed to consistently challenge Muller for the position ahead, guaranteeing his fellow Frenchman second overall in the championship.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Coronel finished the race as the top Chevrolet driver in seventh, ahead of the fourth Citroen of Ma Qing Hua, who passed three cars in the race to take eighth. Rob Huff was ninth, losing just one place from his grid position when Ma passed him into Lisboa on lap three due to a superior straightline speed advantage. Morbidelli completed the top ten, although the Italian benefitted the most from a bizarre penultimate lap incident involving Proteam Racing’s Mehdi Bennani and Campos Racing’s TC2 entry of Henry Kwong. As the Moroccan went to lap the slower car on the start straight, Kwong moved over and hit the TC1 car, sending Bennani into a slide which ended with frontal contact with the barriers and a retirement from the race.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Franz Engstler took class victory in TC2, even finishing ahead of the TC1 Chevrolet of Rene Munnich. John Filippi was once again second in class, and the only Campos driver not to crash in the race after one-off drivers Kwong and William Lok both experienced self-inflicted contact with the barrier during the race.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Rob Huff took a dramatic final-lap victory in the final WTCC race of the season, after early race leader Tiago Monteiro suffered a mechanical problem on the penultimate lap of the race. Huff, who started the race from third, was immediately on the move as the lights went out, following Monteiro past front-row starters Valente and Chilton to settle in second position.</p>
<p dir="ltr">As the race progressed Muller, who also made a strong start to move from eighth on the grid up to third, began to pressure Huff for second. However the Brit put up a resolute defence of his position, continuing to hold second after a safety car period two laps from the finish, which was caused when Ma planted his car in the barriers at the final turn.</p>
<p dir="ltr">It all changed at the front just before the start of the final lap when Monteiro, who looked set for his first win of the season, suddenly slowed with apparent power steering problems. That promoted Huff to the lead for the final lap and one last defence into Lisboa corner on the final lap essentially secured him a second win of the season. Completing the podium behind Muller was Valente, who recovered to third after a disastrous opening lap. The Campos Racing driver, having lost the lead at the start, then tried too hard into Lisboa a couple of corners later and dropped to fifth. A strong restart after the safety car allowed the Frenchman to retake fourth from Michelisz, who settled for fourth.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Lopez finished the race in fifth, with Loeb directly behind him in sixth. The Frenchman made a pair of overtaking moves on ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel and Tom Chilton on laps five and six respectively to show strong racing skills to end a promising debut season. Chilton got past team-mate Coronel late in the race to take seventh, with the Dutchman following home in eighth. Completing the top ten were Thompson, who had been unable to emulate the performances of his team-mate all weekend, and TC2’s Franz Engstler.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Mikhail Kozlovskiy failed to take the chequered flag, retiring once again with mechanical problems on his LADA. There was also a retirement for Morbidelli on lap four when the Italian spun into the barriers at Fisherman’s Bend. A number of drivers failed to start the race. Tarquini, still suffering from illness, peeled into the pits at the end of the formation lap and called it a day. Mehdi Bennani also didn’t start due to the damage inflicted on his Honda in race one by TC2 driver Henry Kwong. Campos Racing’s William Lok also failed to start after planting his SEAT in the barriers in race one.</p>
<p dir="ltr">And so the 10th season of WTCC comes to an end with the new TC1 regulation cars still offering the same close racing that WTCC has been known for whilst offering a fresh challenge to the drivers.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Already there are rumours abound of what will happen in 2015 with the calendar due to be confirmed at the FIA World Motorsport Council meeting on 1-2 of December in Doha. We know there will be a special blue riband event held at the legendary Nurburgring in Germany whilst the season ending finale of Macau looks to be remaining on the calendar.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Meanwhile there rumours and whispers of who will drive what car with what team for next year. Already confirmed are Muller, Lopez and Loeb at Citroen whilst Sebastien Loeb Racing will field two more Citroens making five C-Elysee's taking part. LADA have confirmed that Huff, Thompson and Kozlovskiy will pilot thrre brand new TC1 Vesta's with increased support from french engine partner Oreca. As for the rest...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Well...we'll soon know.</p>
<p dir="ltr">So thank you for reading my WTCC blogposts this year and I look forward to bringing you more WTCC in 2015!</p>
<p dir="ltr">All the best!!!</p>
<p dir="ltr">Phil!</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-91563988049443940202014-11-07T02:54:00.001-08:002014-11-12T10:09:12.622-08:00TC3 Intl: So whats it all about then...<p dir="ltr">Over the past six months, there has been talk of a new Touring Car series to be launched in 2015 by former FIA World Touring Car Championship boss Marciello Lotti and in recent weeks, there is now an air of certainty to this.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The name of the series, I hear you ask?</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>The TC3 International Series.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr">Since the announcement of the series website launch in September we now have an idea of the series Regulations, Sporting Regulations and Calendar.  To add to the International series, there will be a TC3 Asia series and a series run to the TC3 regulations in Portugal. So there is progress in the works.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Now before we go further, please do not think that this is in anyway linked to the FIA's current ranking of cars used in the World Touring Car Championship, The European Touring Car Cup and any domestic series still using Super 2000 TC2T/TC2 regulation cars.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Its not.</p>
<p dir="ltr">TC3 is based on the idea of the GT3 catergory used in Sportscars racing where a set of regulations is in place to allow different types of cars to compete on a level playing field, using a system that balances out any advantages that different cars have using success ballast. The regulations are also designed to allow the championship to be an entry level series with the aim being that TC3 can be the next step up on the ladder from domestic Touring Car Championships to then move on to either the FIA European Touring Car Cup or the FIA World Touring Car Championship, hence its appeal.</p>
<p dir="ltr">So, what are the regulations for the cars I here you ask? Well here are the main details:</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Eligible cars:</b> WSC list for 4/5 door saloons.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Body shell:</b> Reinforced production shell with wheel arch modifications allowed to accommodate tyres.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Minimum length:</b> 4200 mm.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Maximum width:</b> 1950 mm.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Engine:</b> Turbocharged petrol or diesel engine up to 2.0 litres. Only one engine is allowed for an entire season and use of more than one engine will result in grid penalties.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Torque:</b> Circa 410 Nm.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Power:</b> Circa 320 bhp.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Traction:</b> Two-wheel drive only. <br>
(Front Wheel Drive and Rear Wheel Drive)</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Gearbox:</b> Production or TC3 International Series sequential, production paddle shift also accepted.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Front suspension:</b> Production lay-out, parts free design.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Rear suspension:</b> Original design of production car with reinforced components.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Brakes:</b> <br>
Front: Maximum of six-piston calipers with a maximum diameter of 380 mm. Rear: Maximum of two-piston calipers.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Aerodynamics:</b> <br>
Front splitter: 2014 SEAT León Eurocup. Rear wing: FIA Appendix J Article 263 2014.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Ground clearance:</b> Minimum 80 mm.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Power-to-weight ratio:</b> Subject to the WSC Balance of Performance.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Now, with regards to this list of regulations that the cars must conform to, there is a list of cars provided by the series that are eligible to race:</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>The Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG.</b><br>
<b>The SEAT León Cup Racer.</b><br>
<b>The Volkswagen Golf R GTi.</b><br>
<b>The Ford Focus ST.</b><br>
<b>The Honda Civic Type-R.</b><br>
<b>The Opel Astra OPC.</b><br>
<b>The Alfa Romeo Giulietta QV.</b><br>
<b>The Hyundai Veloster.</b><br>
<b>The Nissan Pulsar GTI-R.</b><br>
<b>The Renault Mégane R.</b><br>
<b>The Audi S3 and etc.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr">Now for those of you that are regular Touring Car fans, some of those cars will be familiar with the Audi, Honda and Ford models already used in NGTC guise in the BTCC whilst the UK based Volkswagen cup already sees capacity grids that include the VW Golf. So the series is designed to attract cars that can be easily modified to the regulations and allow people to go racing...on an international level.</p>
<p dir="ltr">With rising costs being cited as a major issue in motorsport at the moment, (cough *Marussia/Caterham* cough) this is a good idea. Over the winter, there were various teams and drivers who were WTCC stalwarts that just couldn't afford to buy the new TC1 cars and left the series to go elsewhere.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The TC3 International series has also confirmed its Sporting Regulations regarding race length, points scored per position etc:</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Qualifying:</b><br>
The series will feature a qualifying format split into two parts. Q1 will be 20 minutes (or 30 on street circuits) open to all competitors, whilst Q2 will be 10 minutes (or 15 on street circuits) where the top twelve from Q1 are allowed to compete.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The grid for race one is based on the combined Q1 and Q2 results, whilst the grid for race two is to be determined based on the reverse order of the top ten in Q2, as the current WTCC race two grid is determined.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>The Races:</b><br>
Each event will consist of two races of 60 km in length, both of which will feature a standing start. </p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Success Ballast:</b><br>
Success ballast will be apportioned to the top three drivers from the previous meeting in the order of 30kg, 20kg and 10kg respectively.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Points System:</b><br>
Championship points will be awarded to the top ten drivers in each race in the following format:</p>
<p dir="ltr">1st: 25 points<br>
2nd:18 points<br>
3rd: 15 points<br>
4th: 12 points<br>
5th: 10 points <br>
6th: 8 points<br>
7th: 6 points<br>
8th: 4 points <br>
9th: 2 points<br>
10th: 1 point</p>
<p dir="ltr">Points will also be given to the top five drivers after qualifying:</p>
<p dir="ltr">Pole Position: 5 points<br>
2nd Position: 4 points<br>
3rd Position: 3 points<br>
4th Position: 2 points<br>
5th Position: 1 point.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Now seasoned fans of the WTCC will recognise the FIA points system, the Qualifying points system, Qualifying format and race length from last years format, however that just speaks if the old saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Which seems to be Lotti's thinking as well.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Now all this information has led to several teams declaring their intent to compete in the series next year: </p>
<p dir="ltr">Team Target Competition, who are SEAT Leon Eurocup regulars, will run several SEAT Leon Cup Racers. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Paolo Coloni has recently announced his Coloni Racing outfit will compete whilst Onyx Race Engineering will build several Ford Focus ST's after abandoning the Ford Fiesta TC1 WTCC attempt. </p>
<p dir="ltr">To add to this Scandinavian Touring Car Team WestCoast Racing announced last week that they would enter three JAS built Honda Civic Type-R's as well.</p>
<p dir="ltr">All this confirms that teams who are serious about their tintop racing see TC3 as an alternative option to the current TC1 WTCC regulations, adding in the entry level, cheap build regulations on offer to allow drivers and teams to make a start on the Touring Car ladder and progress up into other championships. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Now to throw in more detail, the 2015 TC3 International Calendar has been confirmed:</p>
<p dir="ltr">29 March: Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia</p>
<p dir="ltr">19 April: Shanghai International Circuit, China</p>
<p dir="ltr">3 May: Valencia Ricardo Tormo, Spain</p>
<p dir="ltr">10 May: Portimao, Portugal</p>
<p dir="ltr">24 May: Monza, Italy</p>
<p dir="ltr">31 May: Salzburgring, Austria</p>
<p dir="ltr">21 June: Sochi, Russia</p>
<p dir="ltr">26 July: Buenos Aires, Argentina</p>
<p dir="ltr">9 August: Codegua, Chile</p>
<p dir="ltr">20 September: Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore</p>
<p dir="ltr">25 October: Buriram, Thailand</p>
<p dir="ltr">TBA November – TBA</p>
<p dir="ltr">The TBA date in November is expected to be Macau, which is due to lose its finale spot in the WTCC Calendar in 2015. Five of the venues are active Grand Prix tracks with three of those taking place on actual Grand Prix weekends, giving good exposure alongside GP2, GP3 and the Porsche Supercup support package.</p>
<p dir="ltr">So it all seems to look quite positive so far and the TC3 International Series will be a championship I will be keeping an eye on next year as well as it blossoms and develops further. However whilst it may have reminders of the Super 2000 age of the WTCC with the Build Regulations and Sporting Regulations, thats not such a bad thing. There has always been close racing in the WTCC and theres nothing to say this wont be the same in TC3 as well.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I hope this has been helpful to you all and over the coming months I will keep you updated with all the releases from the series, regarding Teams and Drivers.</p>
<p dir="ltr">All the best!</p>
<p dir="ltr">Phil!</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-41598895417027384422014-10-17T09:31:00.001-07:002014-10-30T01:54:26.853-07:00BTCC 2014: Turkington wins the Title at Brands Finale...<p dir="ltr">The 2014 season of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship reached its conclusion at Brands Hatch on the Grand Prix layout on 12th of October and what a season it has been.</p>
<p dir="ltr">By the way, this one is a bit of a read so you might wanna stock up on the tea/coffee and biscuits...</p>
<p dir="ltr">I remember going to Media Day back in March this year and thinking what an epic season this would be. Seven former Champions competing, Thirty-One NGTC cars entered in the series first full season of NGTC entries only and the excitement of new cars, teams and drivers in this years championship.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Fast forward through the year and we've seen sterling performances from Andrew Jordan, Jason Plato, Gordon Shedden and Colin Turkington as they fought out the honours for the title. We've seen how quick rookie driver Tom Ingram has been whilst Adam Morgan has shown how fast the new NGTC Mercedes was out of the box. </p>
<p dir="ltr">We've witnessed Matt Neal suffering a difficult season with the Honda Civic Tourer whilst Airwaves Racing turned their Ford Focus from midfield runners into race winners in the hands of Mat Jackson and Fabrizio Giovanardi. We've watched as Team BMR proved they have the pace to win races and take podiums with the super sleek VW CC whilst Rob Austin and Sherman have shown they can mix it with the best by taking race wins and pole positions to shake up the order.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But it all came down to the final weekend of racing at Brands Hatch in what was a typically miserable Finals Day for the series, as it now seems traditional to have at least one wet race take place. After Silverstone the situation was clear: Colin Turkington needed to finishon the podium in race one to seal the title and win his second BTCC Championship after a season where the rear wheel drive BMW 125i was the match of the front wheel drive MG6, Honda Civic Hatchback/Tourer, Ford Focus and VW CC cars out there, even with max ballast on board and a longer first gear...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Anyone could be forgiven to think it would be wrong for a RWD car to win a Touring Car Championship...</p>
<p dir="ltr">So lets see how Finals day panned out...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Jason Plato grabbed pole position for the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch with a stonking final lap, ending the session ahead of teammate Sam Tordoff and Honda’s Gordon Shedden as a red flag ended the action early.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The result was just what Plato would have been hoping to take into Sunday's races and with Tordoff between himself and championship rival Colin Turkington – who was fastest in the day’s two practice sessions but would start race one from fourth – the double champion can at least hope to extend his challenge into the penultimate round of the season.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The session got going 15 minutes later than its 15:35 scheduled start time in glorious sunshine, but with the circuit still damp as a result of rain between the end of second practice and qualifying, cevery driver opted to start on wet tyres.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The two MGs were the first two drivers over the line, with Plato setting the initial pace with a tentative effort of 1:41.239s, as drivers weighed up their tyre options. Alain Menu switched to slicks, but waited in the pitlane as those who continued to circulate dried the circuit.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Matt Neal took the opposite approach to the Swiss, and pitted for a fresh set of wet tyres. That choice appeared to have paid off, at least in the short term, as he went third fastest with his first flying lap before taking provisional pole with a 1:41.177s.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Honda driver’s time at the top of the standings was short lived however, as Marc Hynes went fastest – albeit only briefly before his effort was disallowed for exceeding track limits – before Menu, now on dries, set a time of 1:40.072s. Not content with that, the Team BMR Restart driver continued to better his time, with an effort of 1:38.806s.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Shedden then took his chance to get in on the action with an effort of 1:37.795s, but Menu came back with a 1:37.015s. It was then that Plato – who had earlier spent some time at the top – split the pair with a time of 1:37.627s, as the times at the front continued to tumble.</p>
<p dir="ltr">It then looked for some time as though 2012 champion Shedden had pole position in the bag as a lap of 1:34.908s put him well clear of his rivals, but in the last three minutes of the session the times were rapidly improving with every lap, and Tordoff first jumped into second on a 1:34.844s, while Plato usurped his teammate with a 1:33.949s.</p>
<p dir="ltr">With drivers then gearing up for one final attempt, a frantic and enticing end to the season as brought to a premature end as Dave Newsham beached his AmD Tuning Ford Focus in the gravel, which brought the red flag out and saw the session ended with two minutes to spare.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Turkington had looked set to make a late dash for the top spots, and although fourth was still a strong position for him to start from, a win for Plato in the first race tomorrow would mean that no matter where the eBay Motors driver finishes, the title fight will go into the second event.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Behind the front four, the weather conditions certainly played their part in mixing up the order. Adam Morgan ended up an excellent fifth in his WIX Racing Mercedes, while Fabrizio Giovanardi claimed a sixth place grid slot in the final qualifying session of his comeback campaign. James Cole was an outstanding seventh in his United Autosports Toyota Avensis, taking full advantage of the conditions to score his and his team’s best qualifying result in the series to date, ahead of Mat Jackson, Nick Foster and Newsham, who still claimed a first top ten qualifying result of the season despite ending his day in the gravel trap.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Jason Plato won the opening British Touring Car Championship race of the weekend at Brands Hatch ahead of his teammate Sam Tordoff, but third place for Colin Turkington meant that he secured the 2014 drivers’ title.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In an enthralling encounter befitting the importance of the occasion, third place and a fastest lap was enough for Turkington to maintain a 44-point advantage which Plato would not be able to usurp.</p>
<p dir="ltr">There was drama immediately as the race got underway, as Plato made a sluggish start and was passed by Tordoff and Turkington who took a look at the lead around the outside into Paddock Hill.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Behind the front three, Gordon Shedden squeezed Fabrizio Giovanardi as the cars started to turn into Paddock Hill, but the Scot came off by far the worst as he was then spun sideways as the Italian kept his foot in the door, with the unfortunate Audi of Rob Austin plowing into the back of the Honda, as a traffic jam occurred. Dave Newsham was forced to slow on the inside of the corner to avoid Shedden, but as he did so Jack Goff had nowhere to go but the rear of his Ford Focus, and the pair joined Shedden, Austin and his teammate Hunter Abbott in the gravel on the exit of the corner, with all five as well as Shedden’s teammate Matt Neal, forced into retirement.</p>
<p dir="ltr">While the mayhem ensued in the lower order, Tordoff was able to hold onto the inside line heading into Druids, and forced Turkington wide through the hairpin, allowing Plato to regain second, before the safety car was deployed to retrieve the stricken cars.</p>
<p dir="ltr">With a considerable amount of damage to recover, the safety car was on track until the start of lap five, by which time the race distance had been extended to 18 laps. Turkington immediately found himself on the back foot as Tordoff got the race back underway, with Adam Morgan taking half a look at the inside line into Paddock Hill, and Mat Jackson joining in on the action. Those two then squabbled for fourth behind the eBay Motors man, which gave him the opportunity to catch back up to the MGs.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Turkignton’s teammate Rob Collard had started the encounter in 23rd after a disappointing qualifying session yesterday, but having avoided the incident at the start, found himself in eighth place which soon became seventh, as he forced a way passed the United Autosports car of James Cole.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But instead of looking forward, championship leader Turkington was forced to go on the defensive as Jackson took a look up the inside as the cars ended lap seven, with the eBay Motors driver squeezing his competitor close to the pit wall to ensure he could not pass.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Only three laps of racing had occurred before the safety car was deployed for a second time, after Warren Scott, who had been battling with Nick Foster for a place in the top ten, appeared to lose the rear of his car and had a huge front-end crash.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Just before that had happened, however, Plato had taken first place after his teammate Tordoff moved over to allow him through.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The race restarted on lap 12 and this time round Turkington looked much racier, immediately applying pressure to Tordoff ahead of him. Simon Belcher survived a trip through the gravel, while Collard continued his charge through the field as he passed Giovanardi for sixth after the pair rubbed bodywork.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Plato was able to build a comfortable margin at the front over the closing laps, so the question remained whether or not Turkington – who had the fastest lap to his name – would be able to maintain his third place, as he continued to press Tordoff.</p>
<p dir="ltr">There was a brief scare that there might be a third safety car towards the end of the race as the United Autosports team’s weekend unraveled as Luke Hines was collected by his teammate Cole, after the former was sent into a spin by Marc Hynes on the way down to Graham Hill bend.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The pair were however able to move their cars into a safe position, and with things finally stable, Plato crossed the line to clinch a sixth win of the season ahead of his teammate, with Turkington completing the podium to land a second series title with two rounds to spare.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Just relief and pure happiness,” said Turkington, when asked to describe his emotions. “This is what you work for from the start of the year.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“It was winter 2012 when we decided we wanted to do this so to actually get it all over the line is a great relief for everybody – there’s never any guarantees that you’re going to win it, even with a 50-point lead, you don’t allow yourself to think that it’s going to be an easy task.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Behind Turkington, Jackson survived a late scare on fading tyres to hold onto fourth ahead of Morgan and the rampant Collard. Giovanardi ultimately had a quiet run to seventh despite two moments of contact, while Tom Ingram drove maturely to claim eighth ahead of outgoing champion Andrew Jordan and Nick Foster in the third eBay Motors BMW.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Jason Plato made it two wins from two races at Brands Hatch, as he won the penultimate race of the 2014 British Touring Car Championshp season ahead of WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan and Sam Tordoff.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In a classic touring car encounter, Plato was one of a number of drivers who looked as though they could take the win, but his victory was marred by an incident between himself and new champion Colin Turkington, who was eliminated from the race at Paddock Hill bend on lap four as the pair vied for the lead.</p>
<p dir="ltr">It was Turkington who jumped into the lead when the race started, holding a clear first place through turn one. There looked as though there might be a similar incident to the one that occurred in race one as a charging Mat Jackson found himself sandwiched between the two MGs of Plato and Tordoff in the battle for second, before the latter yielded the position with Jackson slotting into third.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The safety car was nevertheless deployed when moments later Alain Menu appeared to lose his Team BMR Restart Volkswagen CC through the corner, sliding uncontrollably backwards into the infield tyre wall and subsequent retirement.</p>
<p dir="ltr">With the incident able to be cleared relatively quickly, however, the race resumed at the start of lap three as Turkington attempted to break away at the front. Unable to do so, the action came to a head one lap further round as Plato made an optimistic lunge for the lead into Paddock Hill, only to punt the rear of the BMW, sending Turkington into the gravel trap for his third retirement of the season. The MG driver was later penalised for the crash, and as it was his third offence, will start race three from the rear of the field.</p>
<p dir="ltr">To be honest, it was reminiscent of the same move that Plato pulled on Dave Newsham at the same corner in 2012, when Newsham was leading in the Black and Yellow Team ES Racing S2000 Vauxhall Vectra, where Dave ended up in the gravel trap whilst Jason was given a reprimand for the move...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Its interesting how Jason seems to be the only driver in the BTCC that tries to overtake into Paddock Hill Bend using the pitlane exit and the grass...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Anyway where were we...</p>
<p dir="ltr">As Plato recovered from the incident, Jackson stole into the lead and looked to immediately build a gap, only to run wide on the exit of Westfield before spinning down the order. That meant that Rob Collard – who had started the first race of the day in 23rd – inherited the lead of the race, having himself found a way past Plato, before the safety car was deployed once more.</p>
<p dir="ltr">One lap was once again the only break needed, with Collard leading the field away for a second restart. There was yet more action lower in the order though, as Fabrizio Giovanardi looked to follow Andrew Jordan through past Tom Ingram, only for the Italian to receive a tap from the Speedworks driver through Westfield, performing a half spin before a further 360 degree rotation, with those cars following through taking avoiding action with only Jack Clarke making minor contact with the Ford Focus.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The race was yet to reach it’s halfway course at this stage, but the excitement continued as Morgan muscled his way into the podium positions with a forceful pass on Tordoff into Druids. A third place would have marked Morgan’s first podium of the season and a first for him in his Mercedes A-Class, be he had no intentions to settle for the final spot on the podium as he set his sights on Plato – who looked increasingly frustrated behind Collard – climbing onto two wheels through Paddock Hill.</p>
<p dir="ltr">And wow did that Mercedes have some pace in her, something Wix Racing and Morgan have threatened all season...</p>
<p dir="ltr">As Collard appeared to find it harder and harder to keep the three cars behind him, Plato made a slight error as they crossed the line to start lap 14, which allowed Morgan, who had backed off into the entry of Paddock Hill, to carry his momentum up the inside of the MG into Druids and into second place.</p>
<p dir="ltr">And that second became first less than a lap later, when a slow and wide exit from Clearways for Collard allowed the WIX Racing driver to sail into the lead across the line, while Plato followed him through to claim second.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Morgan’s stint in the lead was shortlived, however, as he ran wide in similar fashion to Jackson earlier, and although he was able to hold onto his car, relinquished the lead to allow Plato into first. With a comfortable distance between himself and Morgan – who rejoined ahead of Collard and Tordoff who continued to argue over third – Plato was finally able to relax, and cruised to the finish to claim a seventh win of the season.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Second place nevertheless marked Morgan’s best result in the series to date, while a move at the start of the final lap gave Tordoff third place. Jordan also squeaked past Collard on the line, clinching fourth with Ingram a lonely but season’s-best sixth. A great recovery drive from Gordon Shedden saw the Scot finish seventh, just 0.001s ahead of Aron Smith, while Jack Goff and Nick Foster completed the top ten, with the latter on pole for the day’s reverse-grid race. There was also a second points finish for Aiden Moffat in 13th, who improved one place from his 14th place in race one.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But it didnt finish there...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Plato was later given a post-race twenty second penalty for the incident with Turkington, dropping him to 13th position and handing Morgan his first-ever win in the BTCC. The first of what will be many I forsee for Morgan and the NGTC Mercedes A-Class.</p>
<p dir="ltr">With the rain hammering down in what is now traditional for the final race of the year, Gordon Shedden went on to win that final race of the 2014 British Touring Car Championship season at Brands Hatch, with Jack Clarke securing a landmark second place finish and Mat Jackson completing the podium in soaking conditions.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Honda Yuasa Racing driver’s third win of the season brought the season to a typically exciting conclusion, as visibility faded with heavy rain taking hold just before the start of the race, to create similar conditions to his victory at the circuit 12 months ago.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Nick Foster leapt into the lead at the start of the race, overtaking pole-sitter Clarke – who had the grid slot after a post-race penalty for Jason Plato in race two – well before the field reached Paddock Hill, with Clarke tentatively holding station in second place.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Plato had opted to start the race from the pitlane with a view to avoiding any contact at the start, but the majority of the field made it through safely, with only Simon Belcher taking a trip through the gravel after he received a tap.</p>
<p dir="ltr">It didn’t take long for the safety car to be deployed though, after James Cole looked to have beached himself in the gravel, before digging himself out whilst Rob Collard slowed on circuit.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But with both issues quickly resolved, the racing resumed on lap three and Clarke immediately went on the attack, as he harried Foster into Druids before lining up a pass at Graham Hill, grabbing the lead on the run into Surtees.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Shedden, who had made a good start, was keen to keep the Crabbie’s Racing driver in his sights and swiftly overtook Foster, immediately turned his attention to Clarke’s lead.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The pair had an enticing scrap at the end of the lap, when Shedden forced a gap from nowhere to have a run up the inside of the Ford Focus driver heading into Paddock Hill at the start of lap four. Clarke, however, held on around the outside, and with the assist of a slide for Shedden, held onto his lead with a dogged piece of driving.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Despite that move, Shedden would quickly make the move stick when he swept around the outside of Clarke through Westfields on the next lap, to gain a lead that he would not relinquish for the remainder of the race.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Shedden was flying at the front, but with only Colin Turkington and Plato making progress through the field, the next incident of note came on lap nine when Martin Depper got stuck in the gravel at the bottom of Paddock Hill. The safety car was swiftly deployed to recover the stricken Honda Civic.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The delay behind the safety car meant that when the racing resumed on lap 12, the race distance had been extended to 18 laps. Shedden bolted away once more, but there was action at Druids in the battle for third, as Jackson tapped his ex-teammate Aron Smith into a half-spin, allowing himself and Sam Tordoff through.</p>
<p dir="ltr">With Shedden now well clear at the front, attention turned to Clarke’s second place, and whether or not he could hold onto a maiden podium position. After a few hairy moments, the 26-year-old put in a stellar last couple of laps to keep Jackson and Tordoff at bay, to follow Shedden home – the Scot having salvaged something from the day for his Honda Yuasa Racing team, who had suffered a horrendous first two races which included a trip to hospital for his teammate Matt Neal.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Smith had a quiet run to fifth after Jackson’s contact, ahead of outgoing champion Andrew Jordan and Plato, who made great progress. Early leader Foster was the only eBay Motors driver to bring his car home in the points in eighth, with Tom Ingram and Marc Hynes completing their rookie years in the championship in ninth and tenth respectively.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Final Championship positions ended with Turkington as Champion on433 points ahead of Jason Plato on 401 with Gordon Shedden in third on349. Mat Jackson secured fourth place on 234 points whilstAndrew Jordanwas fifth with 309 points.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Rob Collardwas in sixth place in the end of season standings on 275 points whilst Sam Tordofffinished his year off on 255. Matt Neal finished a poor year by his standards on 207 points in eighth whilst Team BMR's double race winner Aron Smithwas ninth on 201 points. Adam Morgan's first BTCC win was enough to secure him tenth in the drivrrs championship183 pts.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In the Manufacturers Championship, MG/888 secured the title in their third year of the BTCC, finally beating Honda/Team Dynamics who have won it for the previous two years in NGTC Machinery.</p>
<p dir="ltr">And so endeth the 2014 British Touring Car Championship. Its been a roller coaster ride with door to door racing, exciting race finishes, amazing moves and stellar driving from the Class of 2014.</p>
<p dir="ltr">For the Guru, well its been a year of exciting tintop action from Britains best and long with Nik and Aaron, my long suffering partner and my son, we've watched through the year as the racing has taken place on TV as the home filled with shouts of "YOU CAN'T HAVE THREE INTO ONE CORNER!!!" from me followed by "WELL THEY JUST DID!" from Nik. Or "HOW DID HE PASS THERE???!" from me followed by "HE DROVE ROUND HIM DIDN'T HE!" from Aaron. </p>
<p dir="ltr">We've sat on the edge of the sofa as we've witnessed some amazing racing and some very questionable moves and contact and penalties given of which we've questioned and argued about for hours afterwards and we can't wait for next season.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In the meantime, whilst the Guru enjoys the final race weekends of the FIA World Touring Car Championship and the FIA World Rallycross Championship which will soon appear on the blog, I'm also preparing to spread my wings a little...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Not only will I continue to write my blogs on here but from 1st of November, I will be writing WTCC and WorldRX articles and race reports on a new website called www.diptheclutch.com so keep an eye out for me there. I can happily say that we will all be at BTCC Media Day on 24th March 2015 as we've booked the time off work already (its the earliest we've managed to do it in 4 years of trying...) and in January, my latest dream will be realised as I will be attending the 2015 Autosport International Show as an official Blogger for the event...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Anyone would think that Im too busy to work you know? Trust me, I'm not. DHL Northampton will attest to that one. But apart from all of that I'll be putting up articles on here as news over the winter is released about next years BTCC season, drivers and teams whereabouts and any developments that appear</p>
<p dir="ltr">All the best!!</p>
<p dir="ltr">Phil!</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-23400775374785992742014-10-17T09:30:00.001-07:002014-10-23T03:29:22.872-07:00WTCC 2014: Citroen rules in China as Bennani wins...<p dir="ltr">The FIA World Touring Car Championship made its second visit to China at the Shanghai International Grand Prix circuit, one week after the series saw race wins for Tom Chilton and for Rob Huff and Lada take place in Beijing.</p>
<p dir="ltr">With the traction advantage of the Citroens this year, Shanghai was a circuit where they were expected to shine with its long corners and high speed back straight and it provided the first oppurtunity for Citroen to seal the Manufacturers Title before the season finale in Macau.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Lets see how things panned out shall we...</p>
<p dir="ltr">In Qualifying, It was Jose Maria Lopez who took his fifth pole position of the season in the Citroen C-Elysee ahead of his Chinese team-mate Qing Hua Ma. Title challenger Yvan Muller secured third ahead of the Zengo Motorsport Honda Civic of Norbert Michelisz with Sebastian Loeb completing the top five, despite hitting a tyre stack on his fast lap.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Completing the Top Ten for the race one grid were the works Honda drivers of Tiago Monteiro and Gabriele Tarquini in sixth and seventh respectively. Tom Chilton made it to eigth place in his ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet Cruze whilst Hugo Valente qualified his Campos Racing Chevrolet in ninth place. Mehdi Bennani secured tenth place in his ProTeam Honda Civic in the dying moments of Q2, beating Tom Coronel by two tenths to take the race two Pole Position.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The big losses in Qualifying were Tom Coronel, who was called in for a weight check whilst he was in tenth place, denying him the chance to try and secure the spot leaving the popular Dutchman in Eleventh place. Dusan Borkovic hauled his repaired Campos Cruze into twelfth whilst Gianni Morbidelli was mystified by a lack of pace to put his Munnich Mototsport Cruze in Thirteenth place ahead of the Lada trio who were suffering on the high speed back straight. James Thompson led Mikhail Kozlovskiy from Rob Huff whilst Franz Engstler took Pole Position in the TC2 catergory.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Before race one had even begun, Thompson was in the pits with a broken steering arm on the Lada Granta TC1. At the start, Lopez held off Ma for the lead whilst Muller made his way back past Michelisz after a poor start. Loeb found himself with a fightback on his hands after falling behind the two works Hondas of Tarquini ahead of Monteiro. Further back, Chilton led a Chevrolet train with Valente, Coronel and Borkovic ahead of Bennani.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Loeb managed to pass Monteiro around the outside of the hairpin and the inside at the final turn for sixth place, however on lap three the right rear wheel flew off from Tom Chiltons Chevrolet, putting him into retirement. Loeb set about trying to pass Michelisz for fourth and did this on lap six into the hairpin, giving Citroen a 1-2-3-4 with Ma hasseling Lopez up front whilst Muller began to fall back.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Campos Racing's TC2 entrant William Lok retired on lap eight after hitting the tyre stack on the last corner with his SEAT Leon, causing double waved yellows. Whilst Tarquini and Monteiro chased Michelisz, further back Bennani was hounding Valente for ninth place with the Honda proving quicker than the Cruze. The Lada's suffered further with retirements for Huff and Kozlovskiy sealing a bad first race for them.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Lopez went on to secure his eighth win of the season ahead of Ma with Muller in third, being chased to the finish line. This result also secured the WTCC Manufactuers Title for Citroen in its first year. Michelisz came home in fourth ahed of Tarquini and Monteiro, with Coronel, Valente and Bennani completing the top ten. Engstler dominated the TC2 Class, winning from pole position.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Race Two saw Chilton's car fixed and starting from the pitlane after his first race retirement. At the light, Bennani launched into the lead with Tarquiniband Monteiro passing Valente into turn one after better starts. Loeb and Muller made good starts into fifth and sixth respectively ahead of Michelisz whilst Lopez, Coronel and Ma completed the top ten. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Muller passed Loeb for fifth at the end of lap one whilst Lopez passed Michelisz for seventh on lap two. From the back, Thompson made it up to fifteenth from last on the grid whilst Chilton passed the TC2 cars after his pitlane start. As the cars streamed down the back straight on lap two Muller tried to pass Valente into the hairpin, however the Campos Racing driver defended and this left Muller open to Loeb who hit his team-mate and damaged the right rear wheel, sending Muller into retirement. Loeb would carry on but he would be awarded a thirty second penalty by the stewards after the race.</p>
<p dir="ltr">On lap four, Bennani led from Tarquini, Monteiro, Valente and Loeb in fifth with Lopez, Michelisz being chased by Ma for seventh whilst Coronel and Borkovic completed the top ten positions. But that all changed at the hairpin with Lopez passing Loeb for fifth whilst Ma went wide while trying to pass Michelisz for seventh. Tarquini suffered engine issues on lap five whilst Huff and Morbidelli both retired from contact at turn two.</p>
<p dir="ltr">With Muller out, Lopez looked to further his points advantage iver Muller in the Drivers Championship by passing Valente for third with all of this holding up Loeb and allowing Michelisz to close. Thompson and Chilton continued their way up the field to be tenth and eleventh respectively. Meanwhile Valente was now defending from Loeb, Michelisz and Ma in the fight for fourth place. Loeb passed Valente on lap seven for fourth with Michelisz passing the Campos Chevrolet on the same lap to take fifth place with Ma passing the Frenchman on lap nine as he fell back.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Bennani went on to secure his first ever WTCC win and Honda's first win of the year in the TC1 Honda Civic, also taking ProTeam's first ever WTCC in the process with Monteiro and Lopez completing the podium. Loeb finished fourth on the road but would drop out of the top ten. Michelisz was classified fourth and Ma with Coronel, Chilton, Valente, Borkovic and Thompson completing the top ten. <br>
Engstler again dominated the TC2 Class in his BMW 320TC, winning from pole position.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The series now moves to Suzuka for the penultimate weekend in the championship where this year the cars will use the full Grand Prix circuit after three years of using the East Circuit. It is also the next chance that Jose Maria Lopez has to secure the FIA WTCC Drivers Title</p>
<p dir="ltr">This is one of the WTCC Weekends I've been waitng for, ever since the confirmation that the full Grand Prix Circuit will be used. Its a thrill watching on TV as the F1 cars take the awesome 130R corner nearly flat out. Seeing how the TC1 cars do with the new Aero package and the extra engine power should be just as good to watch!</p>
<p dir="ltr">All the best!</p>
<p dir="ltr">Phil!</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03654101725184546318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7809896741944315892.post-26745794325135148102014-10-17T09:20:00.001-07:002014-10-20T00:43:30.881-07:00World RX 2014: Bakkerud Wins in Turkey as Hansen Flies again<p dir="ltr">After the excitement of from the last round in Italy that saw Petter Solberg crowned as the first FIA World Rallycross Champion and Robin Larsson crowned as the 2014 European Rallycross Champion, one major title is left to be decided: The Teams Championship.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Whilst Ford OlsbergMSE started the season with the dominant Fiesta Supercar car, they were soon caught up by the VW-Marklund Motorsport with their Mk5 Polo Supercar. Since the French round however, the Peugeot-Hansen team has been steadily improving their 208 WRX Supercar, taking their first win in Italy with Timmy Hansen and now its a three horse race to the title with two rounds left...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Lets see how this panned out...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Timmy Hansen has established an early lead at the World RX of Turkey, the penultimate round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy, being staged at the Istanbul Intercity Park. The Peugeot-Hansen driver was third quickest in heat one and followed it up with a heat two victory. Volkswagen Marklund’s Topi Heikkinen was second with Ford Olsbergs MSE wildcard driver Richard Goransson third.<br>
 <br>
Hansen, who won the previous RX round in Italy, clocked the fastest time during free practice in his Peugeot 208 Supercar. The 21-year-old Swede also set the quickest heat time of the day in heat two, beating Heikkinen’s heat one victory by 1.5 seconds. “I’m feeling really comfortable in the car here - I love the dirt section, it reminds me a lot of driving on ice back in Sweden because it’s so slippery,” explained Hansen.  “The track overall is fantastic but I think the key to winning here is getting a good time in the gravel section. We made no mistakes on the dirt and that definitely helped.”<br>
 <br>
Heikkinen went quickest in heat one, but finished heat two tenth fastest after a false start saw the Finn lose time with a double Joker Lap penalty.  Heikkinen’s team-mate Anton Marklund was seventh overnight in a second Polo RX Supercar after admitting driver errors hindered him from reaching a top five position.<br>
 <br>
After what is only his second outing in a Supercar, Swedish Touring Car driver Richard Goransson was set to challenge the World RX front-runners once again.  “I’ve had a really fun day,” admitted Goransson.  “I love this track – it’s very technical with a lot of gravel.  There’s a lot to learn but thankfully I have two very talented team-mates [Reinis Nitiss and Andreas Bakkerud] that I can speak to and analyse the data with.”<br>
 <br>
Fourth overnight in another Fiesta Supercar was Bakkerud.  Fifth place was occupied by PSRX driver Petter Solberg who spoke of small issues with the car and difficulties with handling on the slippery dirt section. EKS RX’s Edward Sandstrom was eight overnight after a solid performance in the Audi S1 Quattro Supercar.  Team-mate PG Andersson did not get off to the best start after the EKS RX squad were forced to change the car’s engine after free practice which saw the Swede miss heat one.  Andersson made up for lost time, however, after posting the second quickest time in heat two.<br>
 <br>
Elsewhere Timur Timerzyanov had a troubled day after handbrake problems in heat one and tearing the left-rear wheel off his car after an impact in heat two.  Monster Energy World RX Team’s Henning Solberg was ninth overnight with team-mate Lars Oivind Enerberg 15th after the Norwegian suffered turbo failure during heat two. LD Motorsports frontman Derek Tohill finished tenth overnight in his Citroen DS3, happy with his performance through the days heats.  “We had a lot of work to do on our car after Italy and I’m pleased to say the guys have done a great job because the car is working better than it has in a long time. I really like this track, it’s very different from Italy and it suits my driving style. It’s been a good day,” concluded the Irishman.<br>
 <br>
Albatec Racing’s father and son duo Andy and Marc Scott were 11th and 12th overnight.  “I’ve been finding my feet,” explained Scott Jnr. who is made his World RX debut in Turkey for the British-based team.  “It was good to line up beside my dad in heat two but then I was fired off into the wall on turn one. I’d be really happy to make it to the semi-finals. I know it’s a tall order but that’s my aim.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Ford Olsbergs MSE driver Andreas Bakkerud went on to win the World RX of Turkey, the penultimate round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy. Team Peugeot-Hansen driver Timmy Hansen and Volkswagen Marklund’s Topi Heikkinen finished second and third respectively. With Ford, Peugeot and Volkswagen all represented on the podium, the fight for the first ever Teams’ Championship will now be decided at the final round in Argentina next month.<br>
 <br>
Bakkerud, who celebrated his 23rd birthday on the Friday, was delighted with his win at the Intercity Istanbul Park – the former F1 venue which staged the Turkish F1 race from 2005-2011. “This has been a great birthday present!" beamed Bakkerud who also became the first driver to win a rallycross event in Asia. “We have been struggling slightly in the last couple of races but everything came together and the car has been working perfectly.  The final race was just crazy – Timmy was really close to me, it could have gone either way but I was really pushing after the semis and I was hungry for the victory.”<br>
 <br>
Arguably the most impressive drive of the weekend, however, was that of Timmy Hansen who won three heats, semi-final one and the Monster Energy Super Charge Award. “I had the pace to win the final but I made a small mistake and Andreas jumped on the opportunity.  We had some close racing with Andreas, Topi and Henning and then after I took the Joker, all I heard on the radio was that I had to push.  I didn’t quite manage it but I’m happy with how the weekend has gone.”<br>
 <br>
Heikkinen’s third place in Turkey sees the Finn remain second in the overall drivers’ standings, 50 points behind Petter Solberg who has already secured the Championship title after accruing enough points at the previous round in Italy.  “Volkswagen Marklund are now leading the Teams’ standings by four points – we’ve been tied at the top on two separate occasions this year but now we are leading it by ourselves,” explained Heikkinen whose team-mate Anton Marklund finished one place behind in fourth.  “My driving hasn’t been perfect this weekend, I made a few small mistakes but I’m happy to have got some crucial points for the team.”<br>
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Rounding off the top five in Turkey was Monster Energy World RX Team’s Henning Solberg who claimed his best finish of the season so far in the Citroen DS3 Supercar. His younger brother Petter Solberg joined him on the back row of the final, but both siblings retired before the finish.<br>
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“I’ve been really pleased with the car this weekend, the handling and power has got better and better, and the team have worked very hard,” explained Henning. “We changed some small settings with the differentials and, now the car really is so fast. It was a shame we weren’t allowed to re-fuel because of a time limit before the finals, because this cost us a podium for sure, but it has still been a great day.”<br>
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EKS RX had a weekend of mixed fortunes with former WRC star PG Andersson showing flashes of speed but unable to reach the semis due to missing heat one on Saturday following an engine change on his Audi S1 Quattro Supercar. Team-mate Edward Sandstrom consistently challenged the World RX front-runners this weekend and the GT racer was rewarded with his first semi-final place. However, Sandstrom was later disqualified after it was discovered that his car was underweight.<br>
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Martin Anayi, World RX Managing Director for IMG Motorsports, concluded: “It’s been fantastic to bring rallycross to Asia for the first time.  The feedback we have received from the drivers about the track at Intercity Istanbul Park has been extremely positive, which just goes to prove that an F1 track can also be the perfect home for an RX race.  With only one round remaining, the battle for the Teams’ Championship is shaping up for a thrilling finale with Volkswagen, Ford and Peugeot all still capable of winning the title.  Having just completed our fourth RX event in five weeks, the teams and drivers will be looking forward to the six-week hiatus before they make the journey to Argentina where we will stage our first ever event in South America.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">The final round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship will take place in San Luis, Argentina, at the end of November.<br>
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DRIVER POINTS AFTER ROUND 11, WORLD RX OF TURKEY</p>
<p dir="ltr">1. Petter Solberg (PSRX), 250<br>
2. Topi Heikkinen (VW Marklund), 200<br>
3. Reinis Nitiss (Ford Olsbergs MSE), 182<br>
4. Timmy Hansen (Peugeot-Hansen), 179<br>
5. Andreas Bakkerud (Ford Olsbergs MSE), 173<br>
6. Anton Marklund (VW Marklund), 159<br>
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TEAM POINTS AFTER ROUND 11, WORLD RX OF TURKEY</p>
<p dir="ltr">1. Volkswagen Marklund Motorsport, 359 points<br>
2. Ford Olsbergs MSE, 355 points<br>
3. Team Peugeot-Hansen, 335 points<br>
4. PSRX, 237 points<br>
5. Monster Energy World RX Team, 102 points<br>
6. Albatec Racing, 42 points</p>
<p dir="ltr">All the best!!</p>
<p dir="ltr">Phil!</p>
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