2010 GP2 Season Preview

As if any extra incentive was required for the field of GP2 hopefuls getting ready to start their campaign’s in Barcelona this weekend, one statistic will that will be at the forefront of each of their minds is that all of the five rookie Formula 1 drivers this season are former GP2 race winners, as were two of the mid season replacements in last year’s championship. Added incentive or added pressure? Both, probably.
The new season is the last of the current GP2 car which has been in service since 2008 and will be decommissioned later in the year ready for the new 2011 charger.

It is difficult to see a clear favourite for the new season, although reigning F3 Euroseries champion Jules Bianchi must be right up there. The Frenchman tested for Ferrari over the winter and his place at the ART team who have won three of the five GP2 titles to date, including last year with Williams new boy Nico Hulkenberg, and previously with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, should ensure he is there or thereabouts come Abu Dhabi in November. Bianchi dominated Euroseries last year, but found GP2 a harder nut to crack, scoring one points finish from six races in the Asia series this winter.

Someone who did impress in the Asia series was Davide Valsecchi, the Italian claimed three wins and three second places from the series eight races to comfortably win the title, he stays with iSport for the main series and although GP2 Asia form doesn’t always translate into the main series (ask Kamui Kobayashi), Valsecchi will be expected to challenge. Another man who will carry the weight of expectation on his shoulders will be 2008 World Series by Renault champion Giedo van der Garde of Holland, piloting a Barwa Addax car and already a race winner at this level.

Further challengers can be split into two groups, first of all there are the series veterans, the men who will probably not get another crack at F1 should they not perform this term (and may not anyway). Falling into this bracket would be Pastor Maldonado, the well backed Venezualan was linked to a drive in F1 over the close season, but was pipped to drives at Sauber and HRT and will have to convert his rapid pre season form into regular victories to kick start his stagnating career. Joining him in what could be the last chance saloon is Rapax team-mate Luiz Razia, involved at Virgin Racing, but still no closer to a regular Grand Prix seat.

Then you have a group of GP2 rookies who need to hit the ground running in order to make the grade in the highly competitive feeder series, two of the most fancied of this group are German Christian Vietoris, a winner in the Asia series at Abu Dhabi, who moves to Racing Engineering for the main series and will challenge for podiums if he can keep the car on the track, and Frenchman Charles Pic, who was hugely impressive for his Arden squad in Asia.

Britain will have three drivers in the championship who will all hope to be running at the front, Sam Bird (ART) and Oliver Turvey (iSport) will both be hoping to upstage their more illustrious team-mates but could both fight for victories, and with luck, the title. Meanwhile, Ocean’s Max Chilton was lightening fast in F3 qualifying last season but will need to improve his race starts in order to chase regular points and keep pace with the sister car of Fabio Leimer, who makes a big step up having dominated the International Formula Master series last year.

Elsewhere DPR and their drivers, Michael Herck and Giacomo Ricci, will look to build on their unexpected GP2 Asia pace; only a no score at the first round stopped Ricci from claiming the series runner up spot, while Adrian Zaugg, Sergio Perez and Marcus Ericsson have all shown enough in their early careers to suggest that they could figure in the shake up. Add to that the DAMS entry being rebranded the Renault F1 Junior Team and running F1 testers Jerome D’Ambrosio and Ho Pin Tung and we are well set for a competition where the prize of the championship is only secondary to the benefits that should follow.

For those having trouble making sense of the last sentence, here are the final 2009 GP2 standings: 1st Hulkenberg, 2nd Petrov, 3rd Di Grassi, 4th Grosjean, and some of the winners since the series began: 2005 Rosberg, 2006 Hamilton and 2007 Glock. There is a pattern developing here.

Christian’s Autograph Book: Part 3

As promised, after our weekend adventure, here is another instalment of Christian’s autograph book, the section of the blog which tracks which drivers and other people of note that we have met on our travels around the circuits of the UK. This update comes after our visit to the revised Silverstone Grand Prix circuit to watch the first ever running of the FIA GT1 World Championship on British soil.
Autographs 1-12 can be found on earlier posts.

Silverstone, May 2nd 2010-05-04

13. Karl Wendlinger, FIA GT1, ex-F1. (About 20 years on from the day when I asked for his autograph twice in one day and he reminded me on the second occasion that I’d already had it)
14. Henri Moser, FIA GT1. (Wendlinger’s team-mate)
15. Oliver Gavin, FIA GT1.
16. Romain Grosjean, FIA GT1, ex-F1. (Trying to reinvent himself after a difficult time in part season for Renault last season, nearest thing Christian has had to an autograph from an F1 driver)
17. Tomas Enge, FIA GT1, ex-F1.
18. Darren Turner, FIA GT1. (Popular works AMR driver was in his element giving away lots of Young Driver AMR freebies)

Pretty decent haul made possible by buying £10 pit lane walk ticket – a good investment.

Next instalment will come after next month’s trip to Oulton Park for the British Touring Car Championship.

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Sunday at Silverstone: FIA GT1 World Championship

Regular readers of the blog will know that it is traditional that my racing companion, Christian, 7, and I always stop at McDonalds for breakfast on the way to get our fix of motorsport and the plan on Sunday was no different. We had got up extra early, 5.45am no less, due to the extended run to Silverstone, as opposed to our leisurely 6.30 for the usual run to Oulton Park. I wanted to break the back of the journey before we stopped and remembered from my childhood trips to Silverstone that my dad had always stopped at Keel services on the M6, due to it being exactly half way (and if my dad said that then it was EXACTLY half way, coming from the man who used to boast that it only took him 64 and a quarter breaths to blow up a double airbed), so nostalgia won the day and we plodded along until we reached said services.
I had already noted the lack of any golden arches on the slip road and my fears were confirmed as we entered the building, we did find somewhere that was serving breakfast and I had to make do with a bacon, sausage, hash brown and mushroom roll, oh the deprivation. Two men sat next to us in overalls and were chatting about why the bridge over the M6 was closed, the conversation went along the lines of the travelling Everton fans who had been through the night before trashing KFC and jamming the fire alarms in the on position (and that was after a goalless draw), it reminded me why, even though I enjoy football as much as the next person, I take Christian to watch motor racing, they’re a much more civilised bunch.
We carried on our journey, Christian playing on his DS and me remembering making the trip so many times as a boy, all the old landmarks still there; Spaghetti Junction, Villa Park, RAC Centre and the icon that is Fort Dunlop – I always knew we were close when I saw that. Soon after, Jane, the SatNav, had led us as far as she could and the circuit’s signage took over. We were led into a huge car park, where we could see the GT1 cars on circuit for their warm up, and could tell instantly that everything, from the approach road to the car park to the stewarding was hugely more functional and professional than the last time I was there, although the last time I was there Michael Schumacher slammed his Ferrari into the barriers at Stowe (to huge cheers from the faithful, maybe we’re not so civilised after all), breaking his leg and bringing his 1999 season to a premature end.
We entered the track on foot over the bridge at…..well at Bridge, where the operators have been careful to ensure that there is no viewing capacity to avoid bottlenecking of cars and pedestrians on the bridge which was out of bounds to spectators prior to the revisions. We were passed on the bridge by a host of exotic cars on their way to the various owners club areas, Christian spotted three Dodge Vipers line astern drive past us as we crossed the second road bridge which now brings you out at the back of the paddock, adjacent to the short straight between Copse and Becketts, an area where I am certain will be restricted when Bernie comes to town in July.
Aside from my initial observations about the recent changes and the changes that had taken place over the ten years since I was last there, one thing really stood out; it was absolutely bleeding freezing. I tried to work out from the direction of the wind, which of the completed grandstands would offer the best protection from the weather, I decided Copse would be the best place and we made our way there in time to watch a master class in wet driving by ART’s British hope Alex Sims, including a fantastic ‘wall of death’ move around the outside of Gabriel Dias at Copse, which it looked like the Brazilian had bottled and backed out of, although I’m sure he would call it ceding the place to an ‘Invitational class’ driver, whom he was not directly competing with. Sims duly drove off into the sunset to claim victory in his first ever weekend of British F3. After the F3 had finished, and still freezing, I decided to seek warmth within the confines of the paddock; I didn’t find it, what I did find was a very reasonably priced programme (£5), and while I was marvelling at the fact that it cost only the same as a programme at Oulton, I was stung for £10 to go on the pit walk, which people were already queuing for.
The ten pounds turned out to be money well spent as after braving the lengthy wait for access, it transpired that everyone of note from the GT1 series was sat at the front of their respective garages meeting the fans, we met Karl Wendlinger (who I met here about 20 years ago), Romain Grosjean, Oliver Gavin and Darren Turner amongst others and were given some pretty nifty free stuff by Young Driver AMR in particular, along with having a chance to see some of the machinery close up.
After our pit walk we had a good walk around the paddock, and then ventured off for a walk up towards the hangar straight where I thought we could get some lunch from a less congested burger van, and watch the GT3 race from a different place. As it turned out we watched the race from many, many different places as we walked to try and find this elusive queue-less food outlet, and as we walked first around the outside of the Maggotts/Becketts complex, and then around Stowe it dawned on me, the place is an absolute tip, nothing more than a building site. The track is finished, but the rest of the place is just mud, both in the spectator areas and trackside, I’m sure it is under control, it has to be, we would be the laughing stock of the entire F1 world if we held a Grand Prix at the venue in its current state, but with only 75 days until free practice, there must be some concerned people within the FIA and the BRDC.
Anyway, we found our food stand, not only was there no people waiting when we got there, I don’t think there had been any people there all day, I paid the usual race meeting £10 for a hot dog and a burger, the burger was like a Frisbee (I was concerned when I saw the vendor drop it into the chip fat when I ordered), and while I was pretty sure the hot dog was dog, it certainly wasn’t hot. The man serving was on the phone while serving us complaining about being left out in such a remote place while the competition had been allocated plots in and around the paddock area, and as such I decided that I wouldn’t voice concerns over our food for fear of ending up hanging upside down in a refrigerated van.
We wandered around the rest of the circuit before we arrived back, still shivering in the Baltic conditions, at the infield, where Christian had a brief go on some quad bikes before being removed for being unable to a) keep his going in a straight line, and b) slow down for the corners, two aspects of quad bike riding that the operator seemed to think were pretty fundamental to the safety of the other children (look out Valentino). We had another loop of the paddock (catching the GT4 race from the Paddock bar), before heading back to Copse to watch the GT1 feature race from almost the same spot that I watched Johnny Herbert win the Grand Prix nearly 15 years ago. The GT1 race was great, as was the spectacle; it has the makings of a great series, perhaps it might fill that gap for drivers who take single seaters as far as they can without making the impression they need in F1 circles (Grosjean being a case in point). The race itself saw the former Frenchman spin out at the first corner into retirement, and further drama was provided by one of the Phoenix Racing Corvettes expiring in a ball of flames on the new loop. Meanwhile the Aston Martin teams fought for the win which was eventually claimed by Darren Turner and Thomas Enge in the Young Driver AMR entry, before later being stripped of it due to a technical infringement, handing the win to British pair Warren Hughes and Jamie Campbell-Walter in their British run Sumo Power Nissan GTR. We stayed until mid distance in the third British F3 race of the weekend at which point the conditions got the better of us and we left for the car in order for our toes to thaw.
A great day, bringing back some great memories, like watching Senna win in driving rain in ’88, the Herbert victory amongst many other home successes; Hill, Mansell, Coulthard. I hope the circuit is in good shape ready for our next visit to Northamptonshire for the Grand Prix in July, and that when everything is finished it still has the character that it had the last time I saw a Grand Prix here, I know that things had to change or we wouldn’t have a Grand Prix to watch, but facilities aren’t everything, all the shiny new pit garages, tarmaced car parks and dual lane bypasses in the world won’t compensate for the loss of the most fundamental facet of this special place, its soul.
Look out for more posts over the coming days, including Christian's autograph book, part 3.
Follow me on twitter: @ifitsgot4wheels or @daimccann.
Photos will be on ifitsgot4wheels Flickr page in the next day or so.

A Scientific Study of Motorsport Nations

After spending twenty minutes yesterday trying to explain the concept of the football World Cup to Christian, I thought I’d had the breakthrough with it seemingly sinking in that Manchester United couldn’t play Brazil, until, in typical seven year old fashion, I was faced with a new poser; who would win in a world cup of motor racing? Frustrated at losing precious BTCC watching time, Christian was duly sent back to his room, with the instruction not to come back out until he was twenty five. The seed was sewn, though, and I started to consider his question. I could have dug out the A1 GP results for the time that the now ill fated series was running, but it wasn’t exactly conclusive in that respect, was it? There was no historical value to it, most drivers and teams that have made any impact on motorsport haven’t been anywhere near it, and the cars were identical – sourced from a single supplier. So how would I do it? I would look at the World’s most prominent racing nations and score them on certain areas; F1 World Champions, current top class drivers, race car production and national racing series, and see how they came out. Which countries would I choose to represent this highly scientific survey? I don’t suppose it would take long to assess the merits of motorsport achievement in Burma, Gabon or St Lucia. So I would select a few nations with the richest motorsport heritage. Here comes the controversial part; feel free to lodge displeasure at any omissions:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Spain and the United States. A special mention at this stage goes to Denny Hulme and Jody Scheckter, whose nation’s – New Zealand and South Africa are the only ones with a World Drivers Champion in F1 not to be considered, and to Russia, India, Poland and Switzerland, who all have current F1 drivers; it had to stop somewhere. Now let’s consider them individually:

Argentina – F1 World Champions – Juan Manuel Fangio (x5) 8/10. Current top class drivers – Jose Maria Lopez nearly made this year’s F1 grid (albeit with substantial state funding), but sank with the USF1 mess 1/10. Other – Potrero del Fuego in San Luis is probably the most picturesque circuit anywhere in the world, and will stage a round of this season’s FIA GT1 World Championship, while national touring car series, TC2000 (where Lopez is reigning champ) is in good health 4/10
TOTAL 14/30

Australia – F1 World Champions – Jack Brabham (x3), Alan Jones 8/10. Current top class drivers – Mark Webber, Jamie Whincup (Double V8 Supercar champ), Indycar stars Will Power and Ryan Briscoe, David Brabham (Current ALMS Champion and 2009 outright winner Le Mans 24 hr) and Daniel Ricciardo (2009 British F3 champ and Red Bull test and reserve driver) 7/10. Other – Great racing pedigree and infrastructure, V8 Supercar championship is thriving, where the Holden/Ford battle is almost tribal. Bathurst endurance race is iconic, and Melbourne is a favourite F1 destination 7/10
TOTAL 22/30

Austria – F1 World Champions – Jochen Rindt, Niki Lauda (x3) 8/10. Current top drivers – FIA GT1 driver Karl Wendlinger, IRC’s Franz Wittman and 2009 British F3 runner-up Walter Grubmuller, whose Dad seems to have enough money to make up for any shortfall in his boy’s talent 2/10. Other – Red Bull F1 team hails from Austria, which has hosted many Grands Prix in the past, latterly at the A1 Ring 4/10
TOTAL 14/30

Brazil – F1 World Champions – Emerson Fittipaldi (x2), Nelson Piquet (x3), Ayrton Senna (x3) 9/10. Current top drivers – Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, veteran Rubens Barrichello, and F1 rookies Bruno Senna and Lucas di Grassi, Indy legends Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan and WTCC ace Augusto Farfus 8/10. Other – Interlagos has seen the F1 title decider in each of the last three years, and is always one of the most entertaining races on the calendar, Indycar, GT1 will also visit this term 5/10.
TOTAL 22/30

Canada – F1 World Champions – Jacques Villeneuve 5/10. Current top drivers – Villeneuve had been tipped to return to F1 this term, but didn’t, Bruno Spengler (DTM nearly man), Indycar legend Paul Tracy, Alex Tagliani (Indycar) 5/10. Other – Gilles Villeneuve’s life was cut short and would surely have been F1 champion had it not, F1 returns to Montreal this year, while Indycar has two races in Canada, and NASCAR holds a Nationwide race there 6/10.
TOTAL 16/30

Finland – F1 World Champions – Keke Rosberg, Mika Hakkinen (x2), Kimi Raikkonen 7/10. Current top drivers – Raikkonen, Heikki Kovalainen, Ford WRC stars Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala, and Williams test and reserve driver Valtteri Bottas 6/10. Other – Climate doesn’t suit top level racing, although ideal for WRC round and other major rally events 4/10.
TOTAL 17/30

France – F1 World Champions – Alain Prost (x4) 7/10 Current top drivers – Sebastien Loeb (on his way to an unparalleled seventh straight WRC crown), Sebastien Ogier, F3 Euroseries champion Jules Bianchi (firmly on Ferrari’s F1 radar), touring car ace and former BTCC and WTCC champ Yvan Muller, Romain Grosjean and Sebastien Bourdais 7/10. Other – Le Mans (say no more). Has lost its F1 race at the moment although still represented by Renault team, Citroen dominate WRC, while Peugeot replicate this in IRC and won the 2009 24 hours. ART are clearly the top feeder series team in European motorsport, and World Series by Renault has become a huge series of events 9/10.
TOTAL 23/30

Germany – F1 World Champions – Michael Schumacher (x7) 9/10. Current top drivers – Schumacher heads a list of six F1 drivers comprising Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, Timo Glock, Adrian Sutil and Nico Hulkenberg. Double DTM champion Timo Scheider and current GT1 champion Michael Bartels 9/10. Other – Two of Europe’s most iconic circuits (Hockenheim and the Nurburgring) rotate the staging of the F1 round, whilst all top European based series’ visit the country. DTM is Europe’s premier touring car category, German based F3 Euroseries is struggling for numbers this term, but has launched the careers of many current F1 stars. Audi, Mercedes, Porsche and BMW all have huge motorsport pedigree, only minus is lack of a presence in top level rally, with only Walter Rohrl’s two WRC titles in the early 80’s to consider 8/10.
TOTAL 26/30

Great Britain – F1 World Champions – Mike Hawthorn, Graham Hill (x2), Jim Clark (x2), John Surtees, Jackie Stewart (x3), James Hunt, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button 10/10. Current top drivers – Hamilton and Button; the two latest F1 World champions. Reigning Indycar champ Dario Franchitti, and previous champ and Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon. DTM frontrunners, 2005 champ Gary Paffett, soon to be F1 driver Paul di Resta, Jamie Green and David Coulthard. IRC champion Kris Meeke, and triple WTCC champ Andy Priaulx 10/10. Other – Britain struggled to hold on to it’s F1 round this year, until Silverstone came to the rescue, like Germany, Britain holds rounds of most top European series’, and it’s BTCC is a great spectacle, although not on the scale of the DTM, while the British F3 series has become the top F3 championship in the world. The UK no longer manufactures large volumes of vehicles, although Ginetta and Aston Martin continue to thrive, and most F1 teams have their main base in the UK 7/10.
TOTAL 27/30

Italy – F1 World Champions – Nino Farina, Alberto Ascari (x2) 6/10. Current top drivers – Lotus F1’s Jarno Trulli and Ferrari test driver Giancarlo Fisichella, WTCC Gabriele Tarquini, GT1 champion Andrea Bertolini, Max Papis (the only European in the main NASCAR series) and double BTCC champ Fabrizio Giovanardi 6/10. Other – Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati, Monza – brands which exude the spirit and history of F1, Auto GP and the Superstars touring car series are fast becoming big name championships on the European scene, and talk of a second Grand Prix around the streets of Rome will only add to the country’s racing stock 8/10.
TOTAL 20/30

Japan – F1 World Champions – None 0/10. Current top drivers – Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi, Kazuki Nakajima, Indycar stars Hideki Mutoh and Takuma Sato, HRT reserve driver Sakon Yamamoto and British F3 frontrunner Daisuke Nakajima 5/10. Other – Japan holds a popular F1 race at Suzuka, Twin Ring Motegi holds the only Indycar race outside of the American continents, Japan holds top level rallies, and its Formula Nippon and Super GT championships are as big if not bigger, than any domestic series in Europe. Toyota’s withdrawal from F1 marked the end of Japanese involvement as an F1 constructor, but Toyota and Honda (especially their engine department) have massive F1 pedigree, Mazda have won Le Mans outright, and Nissan run a successful GT programme. Subaru and Mitsubishi have had huge success in rallying, producing two of the sports most iconic and successful challengers of all time, in the Impreza and Lancer Evolution respectively 9/10
TOTAL 14/30

Spain – F1 World Champions – Fernando Alonso (x2) 6/10. Current top drivers – Alonso (in my view the most talented driver on the F1 grid), fellow F1 drivers Jaime Alguersuari and Pedro de la Rosa, Le Mans winner and Ferrari tester Marc Gene, F2 champ Andy Soucek, and WRC Citroen driver Dani Sordo 7/10. Other – Spain holds two F1 rounds and all of the official F1 testing, due partly to its climate, but more to its excellent facilities. Three International rally events will be held this year, as will rounds of all of the top European series’. Carlos Sainz is a former double WRC champ and his son is moving quickly through the ranks of single seater racing, HRT is Spain’s first F1 entrant although their cars are made externally by Dallara 8/10.
TOTAL 21/30

United States – F1 World Champions – Phil Hill, Mario Andretti 6/10. Current top drivers – Jimmie Johnson has won four consecutive Sprint Cup titles, while Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart also star in the States’ top series. Indycar stars Graham Rahal, Marco Andretti and the only woman ever to win a top level car race Danica Patrick (a PR man’s dream). Ken Block is a popular rally star and Alex Rossi is making waves in the junior formulae on this side of the pond 8/10. Other – The NASCAR brand, including its many series’ is a huge organisation, so much so that the US audience is totally switched off to F1 (a situation not helped by the 2005 US Grand Prix fiasco), and most single seater enthusiasts are mopped up by Indycar. Some of the world’s most iconic races take place in the States, including the Indy 500, Daytona 500 and Sebring 12hrs, while an F1 return is being mooted, either to Indianapolis, or as a New York street race 9/10.
TOTAL 23/30

RESULTS
1) Great Britain, 27; 2) Germany, 26; 3) United States, 23; 3) France, 23; 5) Brazil, 22; 5) Australia, 22; 7) Spain, 21; 8) Italy, 20; 9) Finland, 17; 10) Canada, 16.

So there we have it, its official, England beat Germany in the World Cup, and it’s been a long time since anyone said that. Scientific, of course it wasn’t, but I am not biased towards Britain in any way; I would be just as happy to see Webber, Massa or Alonso win the title this year as I would Lewis or JB. Doubtless people from this country will disagree with the scoring, as I’m sure people from other countries (the US and Germany, in particular) will argue the result, but I think before they start pulling holes in it, I’ll let Christian out of his bedroom, tell him it wasn’t such a silly question after all, and give him the answer he was after. Let’s hope they (or England at least) can make it a double in South Africa.

2010 DTM Round 1 – Hockenheim

Paffett takes dominant victory in season opener

Gary Paffett scored a dominant opening victory in the Hockenheim sunshine as the 2010 DTM season burst into life. With his Mercedes team dominating the opening round, Paffett led home Bruno Spengler, Jamie Green and Paul Di Resta for a ‘Silver Arrows’ 1-2-3-4.
Martin Tomczyk got the jump on Paffett after the Briton ran wide for the second time on lap one, and the first few corners were dominated by the sight of chunks of carbon fibre flying off the 470 bhp machines, most of which came from the Mercedes of Di Resta who had a very feisty opening tour. Oliver Jarvis was an early casualty as he was forced to retire after contact caused by a clumsy move by Mercedes Maro Engel, who outbraked himself and ploughed into the right front corner of Jarvis’ A4.
Double champion Timo Scheider, who had qualified in a lowly ninth, got the jump on Mike Rockenfeller at the start and then survived a crude attempt by ‘Rocky’ to take the place back on lap 7. Alex Premat had made a great start from eleventh, climbing to sixth and running there until the pit stops began, with Mattias Ekstrom the first to blink, followed in quick succession by Spengler from fifth and Scheider.
Tomczyk had spent the time until the first pit stop window opening a small gap on Paffett, although his luck was to change on lap 11, when a tyre failure at turn one caused him to spin and handed the Mclaren test driver the lead, simultaneously promoting Green, who had been having a great race in the first of the older specification cars, to second.
Paffett came in for his first stop on lap 12 and came out ahead of the early stopping Ekstrom, who was briefly held up by Scot Susie Stoddart, whilst at the front, Premat, who was second on the road, became the second Audi driver to suffer tyre delamination on his left rear, after Tomczyk’s earlier problem, although fortunately for Premat, his failure occurred on the second half of the lap, leading to him losing less time than his colleague.
Green continued to lead on his long first stint, and when he came in on lap 21, it was clear his 17 second lead would not be enough to keep Paffett at bay, but it was a battle of the two extremes of strategy, to see if his super long stint would trump Ekstrom who had come in early. The answer was no, Green came out behind Paffett and Ekstrom, and ahead of Spengler in fourth and di Resta fifth, although still comfortably the leading older spec car.
Ekstrom returned to the pits on lap 23, leaving him with a sixteen lap final stint in an A4, which must have been a worry considering the fortunes of his Audi team mates in the tyre usage stakes, meanwhile Paffett covered him by stopping on the next lap, although he needn’t have worried himself with Ekstrom, who it was announced was under belated investigation for his first stop being taken before the opening of the pit stop window, meaning he was forced to return to the pits to make another stop so that he had completed the mandatory two stops during the window.
Further back, Ralf Schumacher had enjoyed a strong run through the field, David Coulthard had spent the afternoon learning about life in the lower reaches of the DTM, and Rockenfeller had finally managed to find a way past the lacklustre Scheider, as did Ekstrom after he returned from his extra stop behind the champion.
After the second round of stops were complete Paffett emerged with a comfortable lead over Green, who had Spengler in hot pursuit and di Resta in a distant fourth. The top Audi driver was Rockenfeller in an ‘08 car ahead of Ekstrom, Scheider and Spanish newcomer, Miguel Molina who had had a solid if unremarkable drive from thirteenth on the grid.
Green lost his second to Spengler with 7 to go, while further back Coulthard was battling not only Franky Cheng, but also a fast disintegrating door unit, to hold on to his thirteenth position.
Di Resta mounted a late charge on Green’s third place but he couldn’t get close enough to his compatriot and team mate, and it was refreshing to see that Norbert Haug was allowing them to fight fairly, it would have been harsh to ask Green to surrender a podium spot after being probably the driver of the day. Race winner Paffett dramatically stopped on the slowing down lap, leading to fears that he would be disqualified for running out of fuel, as had happened to him in the past, as DTM officials take a sample of fuel for testing at the end of the race from each car, and failing to be able to provide this leads to the driver being excluded. It transpired that he and Spengler had stopped due to their fuel situation being deemed so marginal that they thought it preferable to stop on circuit and be towed back, to ensure there was enough fuel for scrutineers to test.
Haug’s opposite number, Audi’s Wolfgang Ulrich looked glum faced, and as well he should, on a disastrous day for Audi, made even worse by the statistic that the last five champions have come from the stable that won the opening round, Could Mercedes baron spell be about to end? On this evidence, you would have to say it will be very difficult to stop the ‘Silver Arrows’ and Paffett in particular.

2010 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Season Preview

Hockenheim will this weekend host the season opening round of the 2010 DTM, the eleventh season since the series was resurrected in 2000, where Mercedes will be hoping to end the dominance enjoyed by Audi, who have won the title in each of the last three years. Due to the cost reducing development freeze which restricts the teams from updating their 2009-spec contenders, the cars will remain unchanged, although there are new drivers, circuits and a rules package designed to give older 2008-spec cars a more level playing field on which to challenge the newer models. This change to the regulations allows 2008 cars to run 25 kilos lighter than 2009 cars, a tweak which has led to three of the four official pre season test days being headed by drivers of the older cars.
Leading the charge for honours this season will be Audi’s Timo Scheider, the German has won the last two titles and will be favourite to add an unprecedented third in a row, but it is difficult to decide who will be the biggest challenge to his attempt at rewriting the DTM history books. His main competition may well come from his own Abt Sportsline Audi team, who will run four other 2009-spec A4’s for 2007 champion Mattias Ekstrom, Briton Oliver Jarvis who moves up to a newer car after impressing last year, young Spaniard Miguel Molina and a new slim line Martin Tomczyk, fresh from shedding five kilos in a pre season attempt to bridge the gap to his compatriot. Team Rosberg will run a final 2009 Audi for Katherine Legge, as the 29 year old attempts to be the first female points scorer in the series. Three 2008-spec A4’s will be piloted by Audi prototype regulars, Mike Rockenfeller, Alex Premat and Markus Winkelhock, who will all be hoping to displace Mercedes’ Jamie Green as the top driver of an older car, after a remarkable season in 09 which saw the Briton triumph at the Norisring round. Mercedes will also field 08 C-Klasse’s for Susie Stoddart, Maro Engel, China’s Franky Cheng and David Coulthard, Britain’s all time record F1 points scorer and BBC pundit, who returns to competitive racing after a sabbatical in 2009, much to the delight of Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug: “David is a great race driver, a likeable person and very competent. He perfectly fits to us.” The latest Mercedes cars have a formidable driver line up, bursting with F1 experience including 2005 DTM champion and long time McLaren test driver, Gary Paffett, Force India test and reserve driver Paul di Resta, Canadian nearly man Bruno Spengler, and six time GP winner Ralf Schumacher, whose rapid pre season showings have belied the underwhelming form of his tin top career to date.
The racing format remains unchanged with a four part qualifying session preceding a single race of around 170 kilometres, and the series will feature six rounds in Germany including the traditional Hockenheim curtain raiser, although the series will not finish at the circuit this year as a finale around the streets of Shanghai has been shoe horned in after the second Hockenheim event. Brands Hatch retains the British round, but Dijon loses out to accommodate the trip to China and Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo Circuit replaces Barcelona as host to Spain’s round. The series continues to draw bumper crowds, with 110,000 fans attending the launch event at Wiesbaden at the weekend, and over 90,000 again expected to descend on the Rhine Valley on Sunday.
German title holder Scheider is focussed on the task in hand, and explained what it takes to win the coveted title at the recent test session in France, “The first few races of the season are particularly important. There you have to do well and score points. After that, the right spirit, a good car and a top team are decisive. And I have all of these”. Round 1 this weekend should be a good barometer for the prospects of the two manufacturers for the season, after all the manufacturer who has won the season opener has gone on to clinch the driver’s title in each of the last five seasons, but it is by no means the be all and end all, expect a fight to the wire before we will get to find out who will become 2010 champion in the Europe’s premier touring car series.

Round 3 & 4 Trofeo Abarth 500 GB – Silverstone

The Trofeo Abarth 500 GB rolled into Northamptonshire at the weekend, hoping to build on a successful opening round at Oulton Park at Easter. The series had managed to expand its numbers to 15 entries for this round with the addition of British GT driver John Gaw and Roger Green in guest cars and ex-BTCC driver Stefan Hodgetts entering the series in a Mardi Gras prepared machine.
It was Hodgetts who looked to have secured pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session, before Ben Winrow trumped him late on in the session, with championship leader and double winner from Oulton Park, Gareth Howell in third, albeit a second adrift.
The only change between the top three in race one was Hodgetts getting the jump on Winrow to claim his maiden Trofeo victory with Charlie Butler-Henderson following the trio home in fourth place ahead of Josh Wakefield and Benny Simonsen. Hodgetts also managed to post the fastest lap of the race to ensure he would start from pole for race two.
Winrow, starting from second in race two powered past Hodgetts at the start and the two pulled clear of Howell until Hodgetts retired with an engine problem, promoting Howell to second and Butler-Henderson to third, with Wakefield and Paul Smith rounding out the top five. It was a deserved first win of the season for former Clio Cup champ Winrow, who had been luckless in the opener in Cheshire, after falling off on lap one of the first race had left him with an uphill struggle for the rest of the weekend. “Stef’s a great driver, so once I got him, I just had to concentrate and put my head down and try to build a lead,” said Winrow after race two, “then it was a case of protecting the tyres and hanging on for the win.”
Howell leads the championship after four rounds, with a sixteen point lead over Advent team mate Butler-Henderson, Winrow is in third a further four back. Howell knows, however, that he needs to be closer to the pace of Hodgetts and Winrow, “I’m in front now, but I can’t keep following the boot-lids of these guys for much longer or they will creep ahead.” He will get the chance to put things straight when the series resumes at Cadwell Park in support of the British Superbike Championship on May 23rd & 24th.

Breakthrough

Sorry for the brief silence on the page, I have had a hectic few days, I will not bore you with the details. Great news (for me anyway) this week as I had a reply from the Editor of a website called 'The Checkered Flag' here in the UK inviting me to be a regular contributor to the site. I accepted, obviously, and have been assigned to cover the DTM for the season. I will also be covering British F3 and any other UK series' which are not being picked up by the current editorial team, and which deserve a mention. I have submitted a 2010 DTM season preview, which should go online this afternoon, which I will also post on this blog (unless I am asked not to). The first small step.
I am on twitter: @ifitsgot4wheels and @daimccann and can now be read as a regular contributor on thecheckeredflag.co.uk

How it all began: Part 2

After Spa in ’86 (and having spent the early hours in tears after Mansell’s Australian GP puncture – where he lost the title at the final round), our next F1 adventure would come a year later with another coach tour, this time to Hockenheim, to watch the German Grand Prix. My recollection of this trip is even cloudier; I remember that it was won by Nelson Piquet and that we had watched from the stadium section at the end of the lap. When we returned home from the race and watched the highlights, you could quite clearly make me out, wandering around the concrete steps towards the end of the race, the stand looking remarkably empty, I looked bored, that was probably because I’d been spoilt at Spa and Mansell was not winning this one. In the years following on from this, we started to take a tent and then a caravan and make weekends of it; we did Silverstone in ’88, followed by, in no particular order, a few trips to Le Mans, some more visits to Spa, lots of British Grands Prix and lots of national racing at Oulton Park. I have some wonderful memories of our travels, seeing Senna dominate in the wet, both at Silverstone in ’88 and his now legendary drive through the field in the European Grand Prix at Donington, and was in the Silverstone paddock at a Formula 3000 meeting watching a visibly shaken David Coulthard being interviewed about a possible Williams drive on the day the great man lost his life. I was at the Northamptonshire circuit to see not just Coulthard, but also Mansell, Johnny Herbert and Damon Hill win their home race. I watched on a large screen at Pouhon as more than half of the cars piled up at Spa on the run down to Eau Rouge in ’98, allowing Hill to lead a historic Jordan 1-2, Halcyon days indeed.
Seven years prior to the Hill victory, in the days when F1 and its protagonists were accessible to its audience, my Dad and I were in the pit lane at Spa on the Thursday before the race, and my Dad called to Eddie Jordan, asking who would be replacing Bertrand Gachot, who had been incarcerated in the UK for a mace spray attack on a London cabbie, EJ replied that he wasn’t at liberty to say, but that it was a young German; we assumed it would be Heinz-Harald Frentzen, we were wrong, it was of course, Michael Schumacher, who went on to qualify seventh, only to succumb to a clutch failure on the first tour. I realise how this story may, to more contemporary F1 spectators, seem romanticised at best, but it was a totally different ball game then, Ferrari were seen as unfriendly because they had a tarpaulin over their cars in the garage. You could wander around the garages of most teams on a Wednesday and Thursday, I had many pictures taken sat in F1 cars of the era, in their pit garages. The paddocks were totally accessible, we would have to dodge the back of the trucks as they backed up to the garages, and then sit and watch them be unloaded and washed, it only really changed about the time that Bernie Ecclestone tightened his grip on the F1 purse strings with the ’97 Concorde Agreement. I didn’t realise at the time just how lucky I was, my Dad loved it as much as I did, we spent ten days one year between World Sportscars at the Nurburgring and F1 at Spa, we camped two years in a row on the outside of the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans, and joined the hordes invading the track to welcome Martin Brundle et al home in the Silk Cut liveried Jaguar. Looking back, if I had to pick a favourite memory, it would almost certainly be the first race I saw at Spa, I was only six, a year younger than Christian will be when I take him this year. My Dad was taken too young, just weeks after Christian was born, and I only hope I can do as much to help him enjoy it as my Dad did for me. Mansell and Hill have been replaced by Hamilton and Button, the tickets have seen inflation that the Zimbabwean Finance Minister would deem excessive, but the bond between a Father and his Son, is timeless.

How it all began: Part 1

I have bought tickets to take Christian to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix this year and it got me thinking about my first experiences of racing generally, and how I came to love the sport. My Dad had always enjoyed watching Formula 1 on television but had never attended a race, until 1986 when I was six years old, when he came home from work and told me that he had booked us a coach trip to go to Spa to watch the Belgian Grand Prix. I won’t pretend to be able to recall huge amounts about this particular weekend, or many of the others that will follow in this account, but I have some wonderful memories that I will share, please forgive the gaps. We travelled to London the day before the Page & Moy coach was collecting us and stayed with my Dad’s brother, spending the day doing the touristy bit around the capital, Buckingham Palace, Natural History Museum and the like. Next morning we boarded the coach, and then the ferry, and once on the continent the guide on the coach came around so that everyone could draw a sweepstake entry for the race winner, my Dad went first from our row and, due to there being more passengers than race entries, drew a piece of paper with the word ‘sorry’ written on it, he took it a lot better than I would have and joked that he would now be rooting for ‘Ayrton Sorry’. My fortunes were slightly better than those of my Dad, however, as my piece of paper said ‘Mansell’. Can you imagine, Nigel Mansell, the only driver I knew anything about, fast becoming my hero, and I had drawn him. We spent the Saturday night in Brussels, in a hotel overlooking the Atomium, and on Sunday morning we went to the Circuit to watch the race. It was a very hot day, so hot that later in the afternoon my body warmer that I was sitting on melted to the tar at Eau Rouge and my memories of the race are sketchy at best. I remember, obviously, that Senna was the arch enemy, and that from the inside of Eau Rouge, where we watched the race, I could see the cars coming down the hill towards me, but I could only just see the top of the roll bars as they came up the hill, because I was too little to see over the barriers. I remember my Dad’s excitement that Mansell was doing well, and then my disappointment to hear that he’d spun; surely he couldn’t still do it. Of course he could, this was Nigel Mansell, and he did, taking the victory and in the process winning me the top prize of £23 pounds in the sweep. We ran, or it felt like we did, back to the coach to pick up my money and went to the stalls opposite the old pits, where I duly spent all of my winnings on model F1 cars (you could get a lot for £23 in the days before Minichamps). We returned to the coach where I was greeted by cheers from the other passengers for my debut victory. What a way to start my love affair with Formula 1, watching from Eau Rouge as ‘our Nige’ won the Belgian GP, in the sun, with my Dad who was just as much my hero as Mansell could ever have been, and cleaning up in the sweepstake in the process; I often wonder if my passion for the sport would have burned so bright for so long had it not started with such a bang, anyway it’s hypothetical, it did and this was the start of a very special personal relationship, not only with Grand Prix racing, but also with Spa.
Part 2 will follow shortly.
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