GP099

EVERY MONDAY – AROUND THE MOTORSPORT WORLDF1 >> MotoGP >> WRC week.com Issue No 099 MONDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2010 FERRARI DOUBLE The Scuderia wins at the FIA ... and Monza! + Seb 2 snatches Rally Japan  >> GPWEEK OPENING Shot The gamble which almost paid off. High down-force and the F-duct saw Jenson Button able to hold Alonso at bay, just, until the pit-stops, when the Ferrari snuck past, just ... 3 SEEING IS BELIEVING  Informing motorsport fans world-wide – and not a single tree destroyed to do it! FULLY GREEN ISSUE 099 SEPTEMBER 13, 2010 EDITOR: ADAM HAY-NICHOLLS [email protected] Editorial Assistants Naoise Holohan, James Frankland MotoGP Editor: Michael Scott [email protected] Rally Editor: Martin Holmes [email protected] Production Artists (Australia): Cedric Dufour, Kieryn Hyde Photography Sutton Motorsport Images www.sutton-images.com Keith Sutton [email protected] Publisher Chris Lambden [email protected] Grand Prix Week Ltd 61 Watling Street, Towcester Northants NN12 6AG United Kingdom P: + 44 1327 352 188 F: + 44 1327 359 355 Published by: >> GPWEEK NEWS Headline: Ferrari escapes further sanction – plus the latest from the worlds of F1 and MotoGP >> Go to >> F1: Italian Renaissance First they get off; then Fernando goes and drives a stormer to win in Monza ... not good if you’re not a Ferrari fan! >> Go to UK, Europe, East Coast USA European Media Services Ltd (Richard Partridge) 49 Old Steine, Brighton Sussex BN1 1NH United Kingdom [email protected] Ph: + 44 1273 232 566 Mob: + 44 7771 567 644 SE Asia, Australasia GPWEEK (Australia) PO Box 7072 Brighton, VIC 3187, Australia Ph: + 61 3 9596 5555 Fax: + 61 3 9596 5030 [email protected] Material published in GP WEEK is copyright and cannot be reproduced (or photocopied) other than for individual personal use. ADVERTISING >> Moto GP: The reign of Spain Michael Scott looks at the history behind Spain’s current MotoGP domination >> Go to >> Go to >> WRC: Seb2 strikes again The other Seb came out on top as the WRC went to Japan; Seb 1 was nowhere to be seen ... >> CLick on any advertisement for more details  FERRARI ESCAPES FURTHER PUNISHMENT FERRARI’s epic win on Sunday points to a change of fortunes for the Italian team, which looked to have its back to the wall as its senior management headed to Paris on Wednesday to defend its Hockenheim antics – but they needn’t have worried. Formula One’s ban on team orders is to be reviewed after the season following the FIA’s decision not to further punish Ferrari for breaching the regulations at the German Grand Prix, though the steward’s initial fine of $100,000 was upheld after the Scuderia declined to protest. In addition, Ferrari has been asked to pay the FIA’s legal costs (which are likely to be over $100,000). The FIA has referred the team orders clarification to the Sporting Working Group. Ferrari, unsurprisingly, welcomed the decision. Sir Frank Williams and Peter Sauber have also come out in support of the verdict and plans to  review the rules, citing them as being currently unworkable and unpoliceable. However, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner says it sets a worrying precedent that the title contenders now have effective carte blanche to use team orders over the remainder of the season as long as they’re able to stomach the $100,000 fine: "I think the key to come out [of the Paris court] was that the regulation needs to be dealt with," he said. "You either have to get rid of team orders or have them – and very transparently have them – because you cannot be half pregnant. You have to be one way or the other. "I don't think the regulation is particularly well worded and that is what has been the stumbling block – that the regulation needs to be better worded or removed." FIA to review team orders ban following German GP scandal >> F1 NEWS Todt claims not enough proof of team orders … … but FIA’s own investigator convinced Ferrari broke the rules FIA president Jean Todt came in for some stick this week for claiming there was insufficient evidence in the case of team orders. Ferrari continue to claim that the decision to hand the lead of the German Grand Prix to Fernando Alonso was Felipe Massa’s alone. Todt has long-standing links with Ferrari and, under his predecessor Max Mosley, the FIA was often perceived as favouring the Italian team. When asked to respond to suggestions that, despite Ferrari's denials, many people believed the outfit had used team orders, Todt said: "I tend to agree as well." The FIA’s investigator Lars Osterlind wrote in his report that: “The fierce battle between the two team drivers a few laps prior to the contentious overtaking, corroborated by the content of the communications between the drivers and the race engineers, as well as the use of the term 'sorry', are revealing of the fact that Mr. Felipe Massa allowed Mr. Fernando Alonso to overtake him following a team order. “This team order interfered with the race result, as the positions of the two team drivers were modified consequently... It is undeniable that the race result would have been different had the contentious instruction not been issued to Mr. Felipe Massa.” The original $100,000 fine stands because Ferrari didn’t appeal it. Not, they say, out of any admission of guilt but because the Court of Appeal and WMSC procedures would have overlapped. Alonso turned up revs before overtaking Massa THE World Motor Sport Council papers reveal that both Ferrari drivers had been instructed to turn their engine revs down in the race, having built a significant gap over Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, but that Fernando Alonso turned his back up again. Felipe Massa was not informed of this. The reality of “Felipe, Fernando. Is. Faster. Than. You” is therefore explained – Alonso had a massive performance advantage.  2011 calendar expands: 20 races, 11 ‘Flyaways’ NEXT year’s F1 calendar, which sees the inclusion of India between Korea and Abu Dhabi in late October, has been described as “a marriage breaker” by several members of the traveling circus. Now two weeks longer, thus cutting into development time for the following year’s car, it starts in Bahrain on March 13 and ends in Brazil on the November 27. 13/03 27/03 10/04 17/04 08/05 22/05 29/05 12/06 26/06 10/07 24/07 31/07 28/08 11/09 25/09 09/10 16/10 30/10 13/11 27/11 Bahrain Australia Malaysia China Turkey Spain Monaco Canada Europe Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium Italy Singapore Japan Korea India* Abu Dhabi Brazil FIA rejects 13th team proposals Grid to stay at maximum of 24 cars FORMULA One will continue with a maximum of 12 teams in 2011 after the FIA decided against awarding the 13th team slot during the week. The World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) met in Paris on Wednesday morning and was told that none of the applicants had met the required standards to secure the spot. “It was considered that none of the candidates met the requirements to be granted an entry into the Championship,” read an FIA statement. “Consequently, the allocation of the 13th team will not be granted.” Joan Villadelprat, boss of Epsilon Euskadi which was favourite to take the honours, said he respected the FIA’s decision and even suggested that it was best for the governing body to have taken the decision they did: “As a personal opinion, I think that it is best to leave it vacant rather than having a team that, given the deadlines and requirements, would almost be impossible to be ready for 2011,” said Villadelprat. Joan admitted that he had not put the necessary financial package together to fund an F1 team: “We knew it would be very difficult for us to be chosen since we still don't have the economic package granted,” he continued. “Without this capital it would be unfeasible to carry out the F1 project that we want.” Another candidate for the 13th team slot, the Durango/Jacques Villeneuve partnership, is still looking to break into Formula One next year however: “Now we turn to our Plan B, which is to take over one of the existing teams,” Villeneuve told Rue Frontenac. “It is probably going to be a bit more expensive and we must ensure we have a free hand.” * Subject to the homologation of the circuit. One fan of the calendar, though, is Rubens Barrichello who said the races were better spaced apart than this year and that more races is good news: “If we have 20 races it’s going to be much better for you to go and have two weekends racing in Asia than to fly to Brazil and then go back to Abu Dhabi, so I think this is much more clear to us. I’ve always said that I wish to have 30 races and no testing because I think that would be more cost-effective.”  >> F1 NEWS Hispania went high downforce for Monza Ran Monaco-spec car in Italy HISPANIA Racing became the first team in decades to run a conventional aerodynamic set-up at the Italian Grand Prix, having not had the budget to develop a low-drag package. Hispania’s rear wing has remained entirely unchanged throughout this season, with the wing profile and set-up having been identical at all races. The team is therefore in the unique situation of having raced an identical rear wing at the Monaco and Italian Grands Prix, despite the vastly differing track characteristics. That’s because the rear wing setting was fixed at the beginning of the season and, without load testing, the team has been unable to modify it. In fact, Hispania’s F110 has gone almost entirely unchanged since the start of the year, other than a minor fuel system change. Bruno Senna acknowledged the uniqueness of Hispania’s situation: “It is a bit abnormal to come here with a normal wing that you use everywhere else in the championship, but it was not prepared before so there was no point doing something crazy like chopping a piece of the wing and seeing what was going to happen because it would just be dangerous for us and I'm in favour of doing things safely. “It's not like we're fighting for pole position so we don't need to experiement that badly. “You need to modify the endplates [to be able to change the wing angle] and without load testing it's very dangerous to do so. So it was a bit of a rush and unfortunately didn't get done. In the planning they didn't get to do it, so without the proper testing it's not safe to do so.” It was therefore a huge endorsement of Senna’s talent that he was able to lap within nine-tenths of a second of Virgin’s Lucas Di Grassi in qualifying, despite the Virgin having been developed throughout the season. For your daily dose of Formula 1 news ... 9 Short Straights n Red Bull Racing has laughed off suggestions that by running a show car at the Korean F1 circuit the weekend before last they have gained an advantage over other teams. Karun Chandhok drove a 2005 car at the promotional event in Yeongam. "It was close to a six year-old car with a V10 engine – especially derived for running show car projects – with a very basic telemetry system, on a track that was missing its final surface and kerbs, with a driver that isn't our regular driver," said team principal Christian Horner. “The car has absolutely zero relevance to what we are running here. It would have been the same if we had run a GP2 car." n Lewis Hamilton dodged questions about Sebastian Vettel’s racing maturity in Monza, but conceded the German is “still so young and he still has much to learn”. Asked whether he could empathise with what many have described as 'growing pains', the McLaren driver admitted that his sometimes troubled 2007 campaign was beginning to fade from memory. "I cannot remember how I felt in 2007, [but] I can just say that I expected to make mistakes.” n Jenson Button has waded into the team orders debate, saying he would rather quit than accept being a number two driver: “While you are still fighting for the world championship it is very strange to me that a driver is told to move over. I don't understand that at all and I don't understand anyone in the sport who would want to race in those circumstances. You are not racing to win are you? What is the point of finishing second?" The world champion added that he has never been asked to move over for a team-mate or vice versa. n Karun Chandhok, who was filling in for Anthony Davidson commentating on BBC Radio 5 Live this weekend, had a Saturday night he’d rather forget. You might say he’s been robbed once by Sakon Yamamoto this year. Well, thieves struck again as Karun had dinner in a restaurant. His car, parked outside, was broken into and his briefcase, containing his laptop, was pinched: “Amazingly they threw my credit cards, passport and F1 pass back in the car!” Bruno Senna’s manager Chris Goodwin, with whom Karun was sharing a car, was less fortunate and unsure how he was going to get on a plane after the race. n With Williams’ performance improving in the latter half of this year, several of the team’s mechanics are refusing to shave until Rubens Barrichello scores a podium. If the Brazilian doesn’t get one soon they’ll look like the old men of the sea in Bahrain! GP2 unveils third-gene F1 on ‘best behaviour’ fro THE FIA is seeking to introduce ‘Ccompetitors’ Staff Licences” for all teams in F1, WRC, FIA GT1 and WTCC in a bid to better deal with conduct issues such as Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds’ involvement in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix race fixing scandal. "A new mechanism will be introduced to control access to areas under the jurisdiction of the FIA and no pass of any kind will be issued to any person or body who is not in good standing for the purposes of the FIA International Sporting Code," said an FIA statement. "Entrants will also become responsible for their staff, meaning any person connected directly or indirectly with the entrant in connection with their participation in an event." In addition, drivers have been told that they may lose their Super Licences should they be caught misbehaving on public roads. FIA president Jean Todt first raised this ruling after Lewis Hamilton was booked for ‘hooning’ in Melbourne, when he spun his rear tyres leaving the circuit in his Mercedes road car. And if a driver commits a "serious road traffic offence", the FIA "may issue a warning or refer the matter" to the World Motor Sport Council, says the governing body. 10 >> F1 NEWS eration car THE GP2 Series organizers took the wraps off their latest third-generation car, the GP2/11, in Monza on Thursday. It takes several obvious aerodynamic cues from current F1 machinery, such as a raked nose, wider front wing, narrow rear wing, and an anvil engine cover. But technical director Didier Perrin says the biggest change is the enlarged diffuser, which will have a significant impact on set-up: "As the diffuser works across a much wider ride-height range, there will be the possibility to play with much softer rear suspension to improve the traction," said the Frenchman. “We wanted was to be as close as possible to F1 in terms of behaviour so we decided to use the same type of rear wing – narrower, and a bit forward. We have lost a lot of downforce from the rear of the car, and to recover that we had to do a lot of work on the diffuser. And to get more room to play with the diffuser, we moved the exhaust on top of the gearbox. So that gives you the configuration of the rear of the car. “And to balance this big downforce that we obtained from the diffuser we had to go with a large, F1-style wing.” The car will next be tested in Jerez with 2008 champion Giorgio Pantano at the helm. Our exclusive partnership with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes means you can stay in the centre of the F1 action when you book a Grand Prix weekend package. For more information or to book, please visit hiltonracing.com rom now on Hamilton himself, while supporting road safety plans, says he’s staunchly against such a move: "What we do in our private life is our private life. I'm sure Jean Todt has had a speeding ticket," said the 2008 world champion. "We're all making mistakes and learning. I don't feel that everything I've worked for should be taken away from me for something that could be small," he added. But McLaren team-mate Jenson Button disagrees: "I think a serious offence is correct for it to cause an issue for your racing career," said the 30-year-old. Click here to book your 11 Kobayashi keeps Sauber seat for 2011 Perez tipped as team-mate JAPAN’s Kamui Kobayashi has retained his seat at the Swiss-based Sauber team for 2011, meaning he will stay on in the sport for a second full season next year. Kobayashi joined Sauber in December 2009 following the sudden withdrawal of Toyota from Formula One, and has proven his worth this year with a string of strong performances in the C29. “We had a very difficult start to the season, but we've worked together to pull ourselves out of that situation,” began Kamui. “I feel very much at home in Peter Sauber's team and am very pleased we'll be working together again in 2011. However, for now I'm focusing one-hundred per cent on this year. There are still six grand prix weekends to go in 2010, and we'll be hoping to make up more ground.” Team principal and owner Peter Sauber said there was never any doubt about Kamui retaining his seat for 2011: “We enjoy having our rookie as part of the team – both as a driver and a person,” says Sauber. “We never had any doubts about working with him again in 2011. “Kamui has definitely fulfilled our expectations in terms of his speed and fighting spirit. Plus, his work with the engineers and his technical understanding has also developed very well. The experience he has built up over his first full season in Formula One will certainly stand him in good stead for 2011. And our aim is to give him a fast and reliable car from the outset next season.” The team is yet to announce the identity of Kamui’s team-mate, but all rumours point in the direction of Mexico’s Sergio Perez, likely to be this year’s GP2 runner-up. He will bring significant sponsor backing with him from Telmex and has more than proven his worth as a competitive driver. 1 >> F1 NEWS With the World Final of the unique F1 in Schools competition looming up, GPWEEK looks at a past winner – Steve Walker F1 in Schools – a case study STEVE Walker is now a Graduate Engineer working for Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines, but eight years ago he took his first step to achieving his childhood dream of working in Formula One by entering the F1 in Schools competition. Initially he found out about the F1 in Schools competition through a poster on the wall at school and together with a few friends started a two year journey which would end with the team attaining the title of National Post 16 Age Group Champions. Initially, the team had little experience of CAD/CAM engineering processes, but as design engineer Steve grasped the opportunity to develop his technical skills in a role he thoroughly enjoyed. During their first season of competition the team won the ‘Best Team Marketing and Sponsorship’ award at the Midlands regional heats, but failed to progress to the national finals. “At the time, I felt a huge amount of disappointment with the result, but this inspired me to work even harder to achieve national success,” explained Steve. Following months of development, the team returned to F1 in Schools with an improved car and increased professionalism to sweep three regional awards and progress to the national finals. It would be at the 2004 finals where the target laid out two years earlier would be achieved. Taking the confidence gained through the F1 in schools process, Steve successfully applied to Loughborough University to study Automotive Engineering, where he became a member of their Formula Student Team. Steve felt Formula Student was the national progression from F1 in Schools, offering him the opportunity to further develop his skills whilst competing against students from around the world with similar ambitions. “When I first started Formula Student I felt along way out of my depth, but I persevered knowing that the experience could only benefit me,” recalls Steve. Following three years of competition Steve became chief designer for the 2008 car and although he stepped back to concentrate on his studies in his final year of university he still played a large role in the design of the 09 challenger. During 2006/07, Steve completed a year’s work experience at Nissan Technical Centre Europe. This gave him the opportunity to take all of the skills developed during his studies and apply them to mass market vehicle design. During this time he worked with suppliers throughout Europe and Japan, offering the opportunity to work with people from many different cultures. Steve firmly believes that all his extra-curricular activities aided his academic studies, seeing a significant rise in module grades following his work placement year. All this work culminated in the award of a first class degree at the end of Steve’s studies. After successfully passing through two stages of assessment centres at Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines, Steve was able to embark on the career he had been dreaming about since childhood. Today, Steve wants to act as inspiration by proving that dreams can be achieved if you are willing to work hard for them. As for the future, he wants to help Mercedes-Benz HPE to continue to build on its reputation as the best engine marque in F1 and be an important part of World Championship winning teams in years to come. 13 >> F1 NEWS Technical Update: Italian GP Monza is normally very simple – low, low downforce. But the F-duct has complicated things. GPWEEK Technical Editor Paolo Filisetti explains Monza is a very unique circuit in the F1 calendar, featuring very long straights connected by tight chicanes and only few high speed corners, notably at Lesmo, and Parabolica. This unique layout impose a completely different set up from the aero point of view, with all teams normally adopting low downforce configuration. This year, however, the situation was changed by the adoption of the F- duct. This device allowed most of the cars to run a higher level of downforce, useful on the fast corners, wheile generating reduced drag thanks to the F-duct itself. This was particularly interesting, especially as it allowed us to make direct comparison in terms of performance between the cars that adopted the F-duct, although modified, and Lewis Hamilton, who decided to not run this device. We can say that, simply, the usual low downforce set up, seen in the past in Monza is no longer necessary, or at least less extreme than in the past. Let’s have a look to the solutions on show in Monza: Ferrari After a long back-to-back comparison, during Friday and Saturday practices, of the rear wing configuration in Monza, the Italian team ran the same low-downforce package on both F10s. The rear wing worked together with a modified revised F-duct, featuring a much smaller pipe inside the engine cover. Also, the wing itself was modified, featuring a smaller flap with a completely flat profile. The main wing profile was also completely flat. Renault In Monza, Renault ran a new front wing, based on the previous version, but simplified with no upper flaps and a multiple endplate section, as seen in previous events. The ‘V’ cut in the main flap has the function of vortex generator which energises the airflow under the car’s central section. McLaren McLaren ran two different aero set-ups for the Monza race. While Button used the F-duct and the same rear wing adopted in Belgium, Hamilton adopted a very low-downforce rear wing. This one is a sort of mix, adopting last year’s end plates. The F- duct was removed also utilising a shorter engine cover. 1 IN SUPPORT OF SPORTS PROMOTION 1 1 1 HIGH SIDES n Riders are looking forward to Aragon’s one-race return to a foursession practice schedule, giving them work to do on Friday morning once again. They get four 45-minute sessions against the usual three of one hour, as when practice was first cut back in 2008. Back then, the switch to three sessions was also in response to rider complaints. n There will be a minute’s silence on the grid for the late Shoya Tomizawa at Aragon, but it has not yet been decided if it would be before the Moto2 race, or the main MotoGP event. Another tribute is scheduled for what would have been his home GP at Motegi: Japanese F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi wore an black armband in his honour at Monza. n Italian fans are notoriously light-fingered – and a canny thief preserved the reputation at Misano. In the confusion surround hero Rossi after the race, the recently introduced high-tech level-horizon gyroscopic camera was stolen from his bike. n Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi is a doubtful starter for next weekend’s Aragon GP, after his right-hand little finger was rebuilt after his turntwo collision with Nicky Hayden at Misano. Surgery on the small but complex injury took 90 minutes, with the tendon having to be re-attached. n With Randy de Puniet in talks with the factory Suzuki team for 2011, runaway Moto2 championship leader Toni Elias may get his longedfor chance at a MotoGP return with the LCR Honda team. n British teenager Scott Redding, unwittingly involved in the Moto2 crash at Misano, is determined to return to racing as soon as possible. The 17-year-old, who was deeply shocked by the crash, was scheduled to test at Valencia today (Monday) to see if he will be fit to ride at Aragon. Redding sustained a gash in his back in the crash. 1 “Doctors decided the issue” – Race Director RACE director Paul Butler defended the decision not to red-flag last Sunday’s Misano Moto2 race after the crash that took down three bikes and claimed Tomizawa’s life. Many people felt at the time and afterwards that the race should have been stopped (see “Opinion” – page 24). In practical terms, the track was clear of debris and riders and track staff behind the barriers. But if doctors and paramedics on the spot had deemed it wise not to move any of the riders, or if race control had not received clear information from doctors on the spot, then the race would have been stopped at once, he said. Tomizawa’s quick removal was fully justified by his condition, but Butler Red flag controversy was unwilling to pass judgement on the quick removal also of Redding from the track: “You have to go with the decisions of the medical people on the spot,” he said. “The protocol was and is that if a rider has sustained life-threatening injuries, he should not be moved without the instruction of a doctor.” If there was no doctor or paramedic at the scene, or if radio communication with race control had failed, then the red flag would be immediately deployed. This has happened several times this season, especially at the Sachsenring. At that circuit, Butler continued, limited lines of sight and a short lap also made it more likely that a race would be stopped. Riders questioned in fatal crash aftermath Tomizawa’s body flown home >> Moto GP news ALEX de Angelis and Scott Redding, the two riders unable to avoid the fallen Japanese racer Shoya Tomizawa, have both been questioned by the Rimini prosecutor’s office, in the legal investigation into the fatal accident in the Moto2 race at Misano two weeks ago. But although the investigation, in accordance with local law, is into “culpable homicide by persons unknown”, no charges were expected to be brought, as the investigation drew to a close at the end of last week. Those exonerated include not only MotoGP and circuit officials, but also the marshal carrying the stretcher who stumbled in the gravel, dropping the victim in the process. The investigation released details of the autopsy, which determined that the principle cause of death was massive crushing injuries to his chest, which damaged his heart and lungs irreparably. It also raised questions as to the time of death: determining that it had actually taken place in the ambulance taking him to hospital in Riccione rather than at the hospital, although further attempts at resuscitation were made. Tomizawa’s heart-broken parents flew to Italy from Japan, and visited the scene of the accident before returning home in advance of the rider’s remains, which were flown to Japan in Friday. A funeral was to be scheduled this week. The Technomag-CIP team and Tomizawa’s family released a moving joint statement, saying: “We have not only lost a talented rider, we have lost a friend and a son who radiated the joy of life and transmitted a good feeling to all those around him. This will always remain in our memories.” The statement concluded: “Without Shoya, nothing will be as it was before, but thanks to its passion for the sport and the encouragement of his family the Technomag-CIP team will continue its adventure and challenges in Moto2. His parents want us to keep his smile and mischievous look in our memory, and remember that he passed away doing what he loved.” Tomizawa had signed a new contract to stay with the team in Moto2 earlier in the weekend. 19 Safety Commission will hone in on Tomizawa crash and whether to have grass or gravel on the other side – but it is something we have discussed at great length,” said race director Paul Butler. Current delegates are Rossi, Capirossi, Stoner and Pedrosa, though the Friday evening meetings are open to all riders, and the Aragon meeting is likely to be well-attended. Officials on the commission include the FIM’s Claude Danis and safety chief Franco Uncini as well as Dorna representatives. Analysis of video of the crash shows the rider sliding off the track and onto the kerb before touching the Astroturf. As Rossi said at Misano, it is more usual in a high-speed crash for the rider to slide away from the track. Was it the Astroturf? Hayden said the artificial grass was grippier than real grass, to the extent that the 125s could even ride on it. Butler said: “You need a maintainable surface beyond the kerb that discourages riders from using it. We believe Astroturf is a better solution than gravel or grass, which in any case tends to get damaged when cars use a circuit. But the debate continues.” THE trackside Astroturf, blamed by some for flicking Shoya Tomizawa’s bike sideways and back on to the racing line, will be top of the agenda at next Friday’s Safety Commission meeting at the Aragon Motorland circuit, when riders meet with racing management for the first time after the Misano tragedy. Jorge Lorenzo is one critic of the material, while Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden have spoken out against paved run-off areas, which encourage over-confidence. But there is much disagreement among riders: “We will probably argue about the kerbs “Safety not an issue” – IRTA Moto2 grids likely to remain 40-strong once again expecting to be faced with too many candidates. But according to Trimby, in spite of Moto2’s first-corner pile-ups, “safety is not an issue.” The reduction is required for practical reasons. Paddock space is already at a premium, and with more MotoGP entries expected when the 1000cc rules kick in for 2012, as well as a rash of new Moto3 entries, Moto2 needs to be trimmed. It will not happen next year. Although a couple of current teams were in trouble, and one had gone ‘toes-up’ (the defunct RSM Team Scot), “there are some very high-quality new teams applying.” Trimby declined to give names, but said that there were “current famous riders (in the plural) who want to be involved in team management, and it will be very difficult to turn them down.” There are also 125 teams wanting to move riders up to the middle class, “though some will be disappointed”. FOOTNOTE: In a blow to traditional paddock life, junior-class motor-homes will be banned from the paddock from 2012, in the battle for space. “We have informed all the teams no new homes will be allowed in,” said Trimby. TEAMS’ association IRTA is expecting a flood of entries for next year’s Moto2 grid and, with two weeks to go before the closing date on October 1, at least one new highprofile team is set to swell numbers and keep the grids at the current crowded levels. This is in spite of all efforts to reduce the field to a more manageable 36. This was the original target for the first year of the class, exceeded because there were so many ex250 teams applying for the class, as well as new interest from outside and MotoGP teams looking to add another layer. IRTA hoped to reduce numbers for next year, but general secretary Mike Trimby is ADVERTISE in GPWEEK to access a HUGE global audience 0 Ducati: no more bikes A rumour that yet another new Ducati team will join MotoGP next year with German Superbike rider Max Neukirchner has been firmly squashed by the Italian factory: “We can supply no more than seven bikes,” said team manager Vittoriano Guareschi, questioned about a report of the new team, reportedly backed by a big-money German company. The rumours started in Italy, but were later also denied by the rider. But it again raised the question of whether Ducati could go one step further, to outnumber Hondas on the grid. HRC has said it does not expect to increase the current tally of six. Ducati next year will also have six: the two factory bikes for Rossi and Hayden, two Pramac machines for Espargaro and (almost certainly) Capirossi, and one each for the satellite riders Hector Barbera and newcomer Karel Abraham. >> Moto GP news India, Abu Dhabi aim for MotoGP in 2012 WITH next year’s calendar expected to be a virtual carbon copy of this, big changes are expected for the new 1000cc MotoGP era of 2012, with new circuits in India and Abu Dhabi hoping to join the calendar. The Indian circuit is already provisionally on the F1 calendar for 2011, and wants to run a MotoGP event as early as the following year. The Greater Noida circuit, on the outskirts of New Delhi, is part of a vast sports complex, Jaypee Sports City, also including a cricket stadium, a golf course, and other amenities. The fast 5.5 km track has been designed by Herman Tilke. The Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, already used by F1, is another Tilke exercise of similar length. Earlier this year, Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi visited the circuit to discuss its suitability for MotoGP. The world of MoTorsporT direcTly To your deskTo p Images used in GPWEEK are shot by the photo-artists at Sutton Images. Posters available of any shot – CLICK HERE for more information Interested in Aussie V8 Supercars? CLICK HERE to access Australasian Motorsport eNews ... Issue No. 146 March 16 -22 2010 EXCLUSIVE! REIGNING CHAMPS SET FOR WHINCUP FORMULA 1 ALBERT PARK IN A CAR AT F1/V8 CAR SWAP NEXT WEEK – FULL DETAILS INSIDE! POWER PLAY! Aussies fight it out in IndyCar opener – and Will wins! 21 5 MINUTES WITH ... (Chief Mechanic to Jorge Lorenzo) Behind every good rider is the chief mechanic who got him there. For championelect Jorge Lorenzo, it is the experienced fellow-Spaniard Ramon Forcada. On the brink of his first premier-class World Championship, he spoke about how he got there, and why. By Michael Scott GPWEEK: How did you start in GP racing? RAMON FORCADA: I rode motocross, then I prepared bikes for the Spanish championship, and I met with (two-stroke guru) Eduardo Giro and asked him for some information. Then we got good results. In GP, I started working on the test bench in 1989 for JJ Cobas, the Alex Criville bike, and then in 1990 I came to the circuit as chief mechanic for Aspar on the Cobas 250. What sort of qualifications do you need for your job? I studied at university, but I did not get the title. University knowledge is good, but experience is the most important. Working on bikes has been my hobby, all my life. Now it is my job, but it is still my hobby. I still prepare bikes at home, for Supermotard and Enduro. What riders have you worked with? After Aspar, then Criville again in 250, then Carlos Giro on a factory bike in 125. After that I was with Showa when they built up the service – working for many riders , and in 1995 I started with Checa in the Pons 250 team. In 500s I was with Puig, Kocinski, Borja, Barros, then Ukawa, then Casey Stoner, then Checa again ... and then I came to Yamaha with Jorge. Jorge apart, who was the most interesting rider? Probably Casey. He has very high talent. At a new circuit, the first rider to be really fast is Casey. But that year we had a lot of problem with the Michelin front tyre. With his style it was difficult for him to feel the limit, so we had a lot of crashes. He needs a good group around to build confidence, but he has a very good base. He is able to understand things that are difficult ... he can feel very small things. Jorge is more ... methodical than Casey. He is working a lot at the track and away from the track. Some think Jorge has taken the benefit of Rossi’s development skill. What about Jorge’s ability? The bike is developed by the engineers. The rider has to be clear about what he needs to be fast. Different riders need different things. The engineer’s job is to create the base of the bike, and it is our job to adjust the bike in every circuit and every condition. The base has to be wide enough for the right setting at every circuit. If the bike is really radical then maybe at one circuit it will work very well, but at a different circuit you are out of the range. The Yamaha is well-balanced. It has enough range to adapt for every circuit. The rider needs to understand what he needs to be fast. If we solve one problem and go half a second faster, then you find another problem. The important thing is to be fast. To be comfortable and smooth doesn’t matter. The rider can say he is struggling with grip, braking and turning, but ... go for the braking, because if we brake well we can get a better lap time. Jorge understands this. But he is not a technician/rider. He never asks the details of what we do. Sometimes a rider wants to be more technical, and this can be worse. Maybe the technician has a different idea, and there is a fight. Jorge will say – we need to improve the traction: but if we do it by suspension, by power, or by the colour of the bike, he doesn’t care. How does the wall down the Yamaha pit affect you? This is a very good solution, just to keep the concentration of the mechanics and the riders. It is there for a different reason, because Valentino wants to stop the exchange of information ... this is another story. But to keep the working areas separate, for me is very good. You just work on your own bike and your own problems. In the end every rider needs a different setting. Even on the same bike. What about Valentino refusing to share data this year? No problem. We know from the partial times in which point of the circuit we might be losing. It is easy to analyse if it is braking or handling. In any case, Yamaha are not stupid. Yamaha has the data from all the riders, and if one has a problem Yamaha will use all that data to try to help. We can’t see the data on the pit-box server, but if we have a problem Yamaha will not leave us because of the private data. They will try to help us. What is your relationship like with Lorenzo? Professional. Now it is more usual for a rider to move with his crew ... like Valentino, and also Casey, and I think this is correct because of the understanding you build up. We train sometimes together in Barcelona, at a motocross track, but we don’t have a really close relationship because we are different ages. He is 23 and I am 53. It is normal. I don’t imagine I will go to the discotheque with him. Is he the best rider you’ve ever worked with? It is difficult to say who is the best rider. He is the one with the best results. He has one very good point ... he is always pushing himself to be better. Not just in racing, but in everything. This is the pressure he creates around himself and the people working with him. It is good: nobody can relax. For me his mentality is one of the best things. He has been enough strong to not suffer the pressure from the other side. Valentino tries in interviews and different strategies, but Jorge says: okay. I do it my way. Finally, with your years of experience, do you prefer two-stroke or four-stroke. For racing? Two-strokes. You use your hands ... working, grinding. I worked a lot on the test bench with two-strokes. Many times you lose power, you lose more power ... but in the end you find something. The four-stroke is much more difficult ... a job that only the factory can do. With the two-strokes, even with the best factory bikes, you could modify something. You have something to play with, but now almost nothing. RAMON FORCADA  >> ‘PRE’-F1 CHAT 23 opinion Something to say? Email us at [email protected] Email us When do team or ADAM HAYNICHOLLS GPWeek Editor Some commentators have been up in arms since Wednesday, convinced Ferrari should have been guillotined at Place de la Concorde and criticizing Jean Todt and the FIA for missing an opportunity to smash the perception that they’re glove puppets for the prancing horse. Personally, I think doing nothing was the best option. Ferrari has been found guilty, and has been modestly punished. Sure, $100k is nothing to a team like Ferrari, but that was the most the stewards could demand at the scene and for the World Motor Sport Council to have increased the penalty, the damaging story would have been headline news again. Best sweep it under the carpet. It was important to investigate it though. The FIA will now review Article 39.1, which was poorly written. Most team bosses agree it was vague and unpoliceable. The question is, when do team orders become acceptable? There are several precedents in the last two years alone of teams ordering a driver to yield to his team-mate further down the field (McLaren – Germany 2008), or to demand the pursuing driver holds position (McLaren – Hungary 2010). But in my view, both are different. Neither example explicitly changed the winning result. Fans don’t want fake results. This isn’t wrestling. However, we do become more accepting of these things if one team-mate is in the championship hunt, and the other isn’t. Germany was Round 11 of a 19 race season that’s all to play for, and Felipe was still very much in with a shout. To me, therefore, Ferrari’s team order was very poor show and they were right to be found guilty of Article 151, of bringing the sport into disrepute. But with the points difference now, five races before the end, were Massa asked to yield for Alonso, we would accept that. So either they need to ditch the ban on team orders – which I wouldn’t particularly like to see, as I believe it’s in the spirit of Ferrari verdict unpopular ... No further penalty for Ferrari. Well I did not see that coming. Much! Just a good job they were not silver and red with ‘Vodafone’ on the sides. So the FIA hammers one more nail into the coffin of Formula 1 credibility. Any logical person would think if a rock concert is required to attract crowds to a Grand Prix meeting, why isn't it they come to see the racing? Thank God for NASCAR! Gordon Dicksen (Australia) [email protected] So after the verdict of 8th of September it's allowed to buy yourself some team orders for $100.000. Maybe in the next race Red Bull should drive the whole race on soft tyres without making a pit-stop for the mandatory tyre change. Costs: $200,000 ? Now you can break the rules without fear of getting a few race bans or something ... Oops, sorry, only Ferrari is allowed to do these kind of things.... Alex Bernadina (Germany) [email protected] What makes a great race? Apart from everything else, what was so good about Monza was Button's radically different set-up, which created a sizeable difference in performance between his car and that of Alonso at different parts of the track. That's what created such a rivetting contest – even though there was no on-track passing between the two. Performance differences around the track. Hmmmm. how couild we do more of that? I know. Remember when tyre companies raced each other in F1? That created performance difference everywhere. Worth a thought? PS: hats off to Webber. Championship at stake, he was the only one in the top 10 to put it all on the line and pull off three superb passes around the outside, into the chicane. Uncompromising. I'd like to see Vettel try that ... Matthew Pinkerton Camberwell (UK) Life after Death opinion MICHAEL SCOtt MotoGP Editor The loss of one of the grand prix brethren is deeply felt. Years ago the risk of sudden death was blatant. Massive strides in safety haven’t removed the implicit threat, but it is so distant as to be severely shocking when it arises. Culprits are sought; blame needs to be attached. In the sad case of Shoya Tomizawa, there are many questions: mainly – why was the race not red-flagged, and why was the victim so rapidly and roughly removed? Was this unseemly haste in any way to blame? The explanations showed the actions made no difference to his chances. And that while nothing could have been done to save poor Shoya, everything was done all the same. The race continued simply because  >> GPWEEK OPINION rders become acceptable? racing that it’s every man for himself – or they rewrite it with explicit clauses saying when and how it is permissible, and when it isn’t. Another decision to come out of the WMSC’s gettogether is this move to take drivers’ racing licences away if they’re caught driving dangerously on the road. You can see why the FIA wants this. They use F1 drivers to promote their very worthwhile road safety campaigns. BUT there is a total gulf between the methodology of race driving and road driving. It’s like night and day. There’s no reason to believe a professional racing driver should automatically be a safe road driver. Or that they are in any way sensible. In my experience – and I’ve grabbed enough lifts with F1 drivers to know this – the complete opposite is true. If the FIA want to use racing drivers to promote road safety, it’s their gamble! the track had been cleared before the pack arrived the next time. Assumptions of enslavement to TV schedules are not valid: there was still a lunch break to come and time in hand. The haste was because Tomizawa was not breathing, and there was a potentially life-saving respirator in the nearby ambulance. It’s less easy to explain why Scott Redding was likewise so hastily bundled off on a stretcher after looping 50 metres through the air and landing very heavily. If there had been spinal injuries, rough handling could have made them much worse. Surely the 17-year-old should have been cared for where he was? As it turned out, there were no complications. Redding by a great mercy, needed stitches in his back, but nothing was broken. Whew! But it looks like something needs to be done to standardise the medical protocol: the race was stopped instantly in Germany after de Puniet had been run over (broken leg). All of us would like to see fallen riders treated with the same conspicuous caution, always. Take note, Motegi track staff. This rough treatment should not be seen again. There is one culprit rather more nebulous. It lurks within ourselves, and everywhere else in the sport. Indeed, it is the sport. Consider the dilemma presented by this horrible crash. For many, it crystallised the thought that Moto2, with 40 bikes with identical engines, is just too dangerous. There have been several multiple crashes already this year: by pure luck with no serious injuries until now. But this same thought needs to find a way to exist alongside another: that MotoGP is in serious doldrums, because it has become so processional. There’s barely any overtaking at the front. Politely spaced out, it’s follow-my-leader. Literally. We want closer racing. At the same time, we also don’t want it to be too close. Just close enough. I hope, in sad and respectful memory of Tomizawa-San, that this nirvana is attainable. 2 ALONSO’S ITALIA  >> F1 MONZA AN RENAISSANCE Fernando Alonso said, going into the weekend, that victory at Monza was pretty critical in order to stay in the championship hunt. With Hamilton failing to score, he and Jenson Button are very much back in the game. Adam Hay-Nicholls was there… 2  >> F1 MONZA Fernando Alonso was hailed as a king as he stood arms aloft on Monza’s podium, elevated above the Autodromo’s start/finish straight, packed with fans waving Ferrari flags and climbing over the railings. It had been a superb win, taken from rivals McLaren thanks to a super quick 3.4 second pit-stop. Starting from Ferrari’s first pole since Brazil 2008, Alonso lost out to P2 man Jenson Button and the pair touched as they squeezed through the first chicane: “I thought something had broken so I was cautious for the next two laps,” explained Alonso, who also traded paint with team-mate Felipe Massa. Despite running a higher downforce aero configuration, Button couldn’t lose the Ferraris through the corners. On the straights, with a top speed 10km/h slower than Alonso, he was open to attack and it was “mentally draining” for the Briton to nail the final corner, the Parabolica, perfectly every time so as to maintain the necessary gap. Nevertheless, he made no mistakes. Lewis Hamilton lost his lead in the championship when he made an error on Lap 1, clouted Massa’s car at the second chicane, and went shooting off the track with a broken frontright wishbone. He was furious with himself, stomping back to the pits with his helmet on, in no mood to talk to reporters. Button pitted on Lap 36, one lap earlier than Alonso, which he later admitted was “the wrong call”. Said Alonso: “When we saw Jenson coming in, there was one lap to push and rely on the mechanics. I think the lap was more or less okay, nothing special, but the pitstop was superb”. Not only was Jenson’s stop 0.8 seconds slower than Fernando’s, he struggled on fresh tyres on his outlap, just as the Spaniard was setting purple sectors. “I looked in my mirror as I exited the pitlane and saw Jenson was a long way back,” said Alonso. “I thought good, the position is ours, but I forgot he was coming at me at 340km/h. We were side-by-side at the first corner. When I pressed the throttle at the exit I nearly lost it.” Button said his runner-up result was still “great”, given the boost its given to his championship standing, but added “obviously I’m disappointed not to be on the top step,” and as he said that, you could hear the lump in his throat. He really thought he had this one in the bag. Sixth place was enough to promote Mark Webber to the title lead, though the big gains have, of course, been made by Alonso and Button. With victory worth 25 points, third-placed Alonso is now 21 off the lead, and Button a single point behind him. But Massa warns that Ferrari and McLaren will have their work cut out if they’re to beat Red Bull Racing at the next two races.: “If you compare Monza to the tracks that are coming up, it’s completely different. Singapore is like Monaco, and Suzuka is like Silverstone. Red Bull loves these kinds of circuits.” Alonso’s hat-trick of pole, win and fastest lap makes Monza the first perfect weekend for a driver since Sebatian Vettel’s performance last year at Silverstone. As for winning for Ferrari first time out in Italy, Alonso was glowin: “It's something I can only compare with winning my home grand prix at Barcelona in 2006,” Alonso said. "”t was a very special moment, and this one is a very special moment as well. It's a fantastic feeling.” 29 Lewis: Only myself to blame “IT was clearly a mistake by myself, one of those things that happens when you're racing and you're pushing hard. I was trying to position the car in a certain way and I was too close to Massa and he clipped my wheel and damaged the car. Nothing I could do.” Holding his hands up for the error that pitched him out of the race on the opening lap, Lewis demonstrated that while mistakes can still happen to the best drivers in the world, its how you deal with them that counts. He’ll know that, had he just eased off a fraction going into the second chicane, fourth place at worst was his for the taking and that would have maintained his championship lead. His right-front wishbone fractured by the contact with Massa, Hamilton’s wheel snapped askew as he turned in for the first Lesmo and kept going, grinding across the gravel. Locked away with his engineer for 30 minutes before speaking to the media, he needed time to calm down and evaluate. In Belgium Alonso, Button and Vettel all failed to score, whereas here Hamilton’s DNF and Webber’s sixth place served to allow to the title race to close up once again. There are now just 24 points - less than a race win – between the top five. “It's not over, but it's days like this, and mistakes like I made today, that lose you world championships,” he said. “I only have myself to blame.” Championship blown wide open by Hamilton DNF Hispania fined $20,000 for pitsto Radio technician not seriously hurt HISPANIA Racing was fined $20,000 for the unsafe release of Sakon Yamamoto from his pitstop on lap 22 of Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix. Yamamoto was given the all-clear to leave his pitbox by the lollipop man, but his radio technician was tending to his cockpit at the time, and was hit violently by the car as Sakon pulled away. He was reportedly out of sight of Yamamoto and he pulled away not knowing he was there. The technician never lost conciousness during or after the accident and was taken to the circuit’s medical centre. He was then transferred to hospital where he spent Sunday night as a precaution. Although the incident was not caught on the international television feed, pitlane CCTV cameras filmed the nasty scene, with stewards subsequently fining the team $20,000 for the misdemeanour. Yamamoto said after the race that he was concerned for the Hispania member: “I was very worried about the incident in the pit-lane,” said Sakon. “I asked if he was okay and I was told that he was not badly injured.” A Hispania spokesperson refused to reveal the identity of the technician to GPWEEK “for his protection”. Perhaps dressing him in some form of bear suit would best deal with his needs for protection whenever he returns to the paddock. 30 >> F1 MONZA FORMULA 1 Round 1 MONZA Pos # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Ret Ret Ret Ret 8 1 7 5 4 6 10 11 3 9 16 15 12 22 17 14 24 19 20 25 18 21 2 23 Driver Fernando Alonso Jenson Button Felipe Massa Sebastian Vettel Nico Rosberg Mark Webber Nico Hulkenberg Robert Kubica Michael Schumacher Rubens Barrichello Sebastien Buemi Vitantonio Liuzzi Vitaly Petrov Pedro de la Rosa Jaime Alguersuari Adrian Sutil Timo Glock Heikki Kovalainen Sakon Yamamoto Lucas di Grassi Jarno Trulli Bruno Senna Lewis Hamilton Kamui Kobayashi Team Ferrari McLaren-Mercedes Ferrari RBR-Renault Mercedes GP RBR-Renault Williams-Cosworth Renault Mercedes GP Williams-Cosworth STR-Ferrari Force India-Mercedes Renault BMW Sauber-Ferrari STR-Ferrari Force India-Mercedes Virgin-Cosworth Lotus-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth Virgin-Cosworth Lotus-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth McLaren-Mercedes BMW Sauber-Ferrari Laps 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 52 52 52 51 51 51 50 46 11 0 0 Time 1:16:24.572 +2.9 secs +4.2 secs +28.1 secs +29.9 secs +31.2 secs +32.8 secs +34.0 secs +44.9 secs +64.2 secs +65.0 secs +66.1 secs +78.9 secs +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +2 Laps +2 Laps +2 Laps +3 Laps Gearbox Hydraulics Accident Gearbox Grid 1 2 3 6 7 4 8 9 12 10 14 19 20 16 15 11 24 18 23 21 17 22 5 13 top incident Points – Drivers: Webber 187, Hamilton 182, Alonso 166, Button 165, Vettel 163, Massa 124, Rosberg 112, Kubica 108, Schumacher 46, Sutil 45, Barrichello 31, Kobayashi 21, Petrov 19, Hulkenberg 16, Liuzzi 13, etc Manufacturers: Red Bull 350, McLaren 347, Ferrari 290, Mercedes GP 158, Renault 127, Force India 58, Williams 47, Sauber 27, Toro Rosso 10. 31 Webber frustrated by Hulkenberg’s chicane-hopping Stewarts take no action on rookie Williams is reported to have argued that Webber was never close enough to have taken the position from Hulkenberg when he jumped the chicane. The spat meant Webber was unable to close on Rosberg in time and he had to settle for sixth in the end. “I lost a lot of time behind Hulkenburg – he seemed to spend every second lap going through the chicane, but the stewards left him alone which was frustrating,” said Webber after the race. “I got him in the end, but I lost a lot of MARK Webber was left frustrated and annoyed after finishing just sixth, despite retaking the championship lead from Hamilton. The source of Mark’s frustration was Williams rookie Nico Hulkenberg, who defended his position from Webber in the last 20 laps by jumping the chicane no less than three times, before the Australian finally got by with five laps remaining. Although Webber urged his team to get the stewards involved via the radio, race director Charlie Whiting took no action. time.” Hulkenberg said he had been struggling with the brake pedal at the time, adding to his woes: “I seemed to be fighting one or other of the Red Bulls for the whole afternoon, and there wasn’t a moment when there was any let up in the pressure,” recalled Hulkenberg. “It was made all the more difficult as I was struggling with the brake pedal, but it was an exciting afternoon of attacking and defending.” Brake bind the cause of Vettel’s troubles RED Bull Racing says that ‘brake binding’ was to blame for Sebastian Vettel slowing on lap 20 of Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix, and was not related to the engine despite Vettel believing it was losing power at the time. During the race, Red Bull believed the problem had been caused by binding brakes or a visor tear-off in the airbox, but post-race investigations found that one or more of his brakes had remained partially locked after the Ascari chicane, giving him the sensation of an underpowered engine. Team-mate Webber made his way by amid his problems, but the brakes then returned to normal after braking for the Parabolica corner. Thankfully the problem didn’t cost him anything in the end, and a cunning strategy to run until the final lap of the race on the soft tyre meant he was able to jump to fourth, ahead of team-mate Webber and Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg. “Around lap 20 something happened to the car, I don’t know what it was, maybe there was some friction in the car, but fortunately the problem solved itself,” Vettel said after the race. “In the meantime though, I lost connection to the group ahead and the tow, so around three to four seconds. I had to come back from there and it was a tough fight.” 3 >> F1 MONZA It was Nico Hulkenberg’s best GP to date, but he pushed the limits of ‘off-track’ usage ... 33 GP2: No points and three crashes secure title for Maldonado Nightmare weekend for title challengers GP2 veteran Pastor Maldonado secured the 2010 GP2 Series championship in Monza on Sunday, despite failing to score a point all weekend after chief title rival Sergio Perez suffered a similarly unrewarding pair of races. Maldonado went into this weekend’s action with six consecutive feature race wins under his belt, but blotted his copybook with three crashes, bringing his qualifying, feature race and sprint race to premature finishes. After qualifying on pole on Friday evening, ART’s Jules Bianchi lost the lead on the opening lap, as team-mate Sam Bird shot through at the start, before cruising clear at the front of the field to win at a canter by 8.5 seconds. Chaos reigned in the midfield behind the ART duo, and Sergio Perez’s title hopes looked all but over when he was punted out of the race on lap 6. However, Maldonado’s crash at the first chicane on lap 8, where he had crashed during qualifying, meant the title fight stayed alive until Sunday morning, but the Mexican’s hopes remained monumentally slim. And sure enough, after slipping back to 22nd and last on the first lap having run wide at the Parabolica, he was never going to be able to recover the positions to take the win and fastest lap he needed. Maldonado was left celebrating in the pits with his team after definitively securing the 2010 crown, having followed Perez into the gravel at the Parabolica on the first lap, but had been unable to avoid the barrier and retired on the spot. Athe front of the field, a blistering start by Chris Vietoris saw him catapulted from fifth to first after threading the eye of a needle through his rivals on lights-out. The series concludes in Abu Dhabi in mid-November, but where all eyes will be on the teams’ championship fight between Rapax and Addax. GP3: Gutierrez takes inaugural title with champion’s drive Runner-up Wickens hits back with copybook Sunday performance later was right on the tail of leader Wickens who had fought his way up from fifth on the grid, before taking the lead with a daring overtaking manoeuvre into the first chicane at the start of lap 13. Although Wickens was able to keep him within a second over the remaining laps, he was never close enough to challenge and the pair crossed the line in championship order. The tables turned on Sunday morning though and, from a reverse grid seventh, Wickens took the lead before the second chicane, after forcing his way passed Merhi MEXICO’S Esteban Gutierrez produced the drive of a champion to secure the inaugural GP3 series crown after beating title rival Robert Wickens in a fascinating duel. Pole position on Saturday morning meant Gutierrez had put the title beyond the reach of the Canadian, but it didn’t stop him driving out of his skin in that evening’s race. Although he kept the lead on the first lap, he struggled to keep the place and by lap five he had dropped back to fifth. He soon got to grips with he slipstreaming effect on Monza’s long straights though and six laps out the first chicane. He was never headed thereafter and looked completely in control before taking the chequered flag 1.6 seconds clear. Gutierrez was unable to make a repeat performance after spinning to a stop on the opening lap while trying to avoid contact, a relatively minor blip in an otherwise impressive weekend and season overall. Gutierrez therefore takes the 2010 crown with 88 points, five wins and nine podium finishes to Wickens’ 71 points, three wins and seven podium finishes. Nico Müller takes third on 53 points. 3 >> F1 MONZA EXCLUSIVE Esteban Gutierrez – inaugural GP3 Champion GPWEEK: How does it feel to be the inaugural GP3 Series champion? ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ: It was a great season, the team was very special to grab the results we had this weekend. We were able to close in a very strong position, with a very good performance. Yes, we’ve been very hapy, very satisfied, because we were not just able to win the championship but also we were able to acomplish a lot of things that we put as a goal at the beginning, and one of the main things was to be consistent the whole year, try to avoid making mistakes as much as possible. In the end we were really consistent at a really high level. This is something that we feel very satisfied with. Is it disappointing that you had a dip in the last two races, scoring points just once in four starts? We have to look at the positive. In Spa it was difficult with the penalties, the situation with the track, the weather was really variable. In the end it is about racing – we have had a very good season throughout the whole year. Of course there is always ups and downs in a season, there is always the worst moment and there is always the best moment. This weekend has been very positive although we didn’t finish the race today. Yesterday we wasted a lot of energy, it was completely the maximum that we could do. Doing the pole lap and also winning the race, starting on pole, going back to fifth and recovering all the positions. It was a very intense day and today I made a small mistake. Merhi made a mistake in front of me, I was coming from behind and had to avoid contact, I didn’t want to end someone else’s race because of my mistake. He might have been fighting for a position in the championship. I tried my best to avoid contact and in the end I lost the car and I couldn’t continue, the car didn’t keep running. I didn’t crash into the wall, the car just didn’t work. What’s the aim for next year? We have to take it step-by-step, GP2 is a good option. For me it’s either Formula One, GP2 or GP3. I am already doing what I like. I have to live the moment in the present, I just have to try to enjoy the best, take the most of each experience, learn as much as possible and arrive in Formula One in the best possible way, not only to arrive but to arrive strongly. Is it an option to jump into an F1 seat at Sauber next year? My main focus is to do GP2. Whatever [else] comes will be something extra, but our plan is to do GP2. 3 Team-By-Team: Italian Grand McLaren arrived in Monza as the hot favourites for the victory and it was therefore no surprise that there was a somewhat downbeat tone in their motorhome post-race. Despite leading the first stint, Button had to settle for second at the end having lost a place during the pitstops, although the team believes it was still the right call to pit when Mercedes GP scored another double points finish, with Rosberg and Schumacher finishing fifth and ninth respectively, an outcome team principal Ross Brawn called “respectable” having started 7th and 12th on the grid. Rosberg was happy to have got back ahead of Kubica in the championship, but was disappointed to have dropped a place to Coming away from their weakest track on the calendar with the lead in the drivers’ championship retaken and their constructors’ championship lead extended by two points was a pleasing result for Red Bull. Webber was highly frustrated by Nico Hulkenberg’s defensive tactics and although he got by eventually he was unable to close in Fernando Alonso could scarcely have hoped for a better weekend to get his championship hopes back on track, after taking pole position, victory and fastest lap and having seen chief title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber fail to score significant points. Other than a poor start, Alonso was utterly flawless and took full advantage of Button they did. Title leader Hamilton didn’t even make it as far as the first pitstop after damaging his car in contact with Felipe Massa at the second chicane. Sebastian Vettel in the closing laps. Schumacher had a superb start to thank for his points-scoring afternoon. He jumped to eighth, but was soon passed by Webber where he stayed until the chequered flag. on Rosberg in time for fifth. After working through a bizarre brake problem that he thoughgt were engine dramas, (see separate story) Vettel had a long first stint to thank for taking fourth. He pitted on the second-last lap for tyres and stayed ahead of Rosberg to close in on Webber in the title fight. pitting before him to pass him on lap 37, before taking the win three seconds clear. Team-mate Massa was his rear-gunner throughout, but was unable to pass Button to make it a Ferrari 1-2. Williams continued to close in on Force India in the constructors’ championship with its third double points finish of the year, albeit only seventh and tenth. Hulkenberg called his race “tough but rewarding” after fighting all day long with one or the other Red Bull, eventually ceding to Webber in the final few laps. Barrichello A fantastic start from ninth on the grid catapulted Kubica into fifth place by the end of the first lap, but unfortunately he was unable to keep the place until the finish after losing three spots during the pitstop phase. He could have finished sixth but was caught out by Webber and Hulkenberg when the latter emerged from the pitlane on lap 37 and was finished where he began in tenth and had a quick pitstop to thank for jumping Buemi to get the final point. With five races remaining, Williams lie just 11 points behind Force India in the fight for sixth in the constructors’ championship. unable to mount a challenge thereafter. Team-mate Petrov finished outside the points in 13th after a poor qualifying. Under the circumstances, he did well to climb from 20th. 3 d Prix, Monza Force India failed to score a point in the third race of the last four in Monza, after a disappointing and luckless Italian GP weekend. Sutil was hoping for points starting 11th, but was pushed into the gravel at the first corner before pitting to drop to last place. He recovered to 16th at the finish, one lap down. Sebastien Buemi was pleased with his race performance despite missing out on points for the fifth consecutive race. He lamented traffic and coming in early for his pitstop as reasons for dropping behind Barrichello, and despite intensely pressurising the Brazilian for the final stint he was unable to push his way through. Yet another gearbox-related problem cost Lotus the chance to win the new team battle in Monza on Sunday, after Jarno Trulli retired from a comfortable position at the head of the new teams. He had led the battle from the first lap but began to slow on lap 36 before retiring altogether on lap 46. Despite running Monaco-spec wings this weekend, Hispania Racing was surprisingly competitive on Monza’s long straights, and looked to be a match to Virgin in Sunday’s race. It was marred by a violent accident for their radio technician however, after he was knocked down by Sakon Yamamoto during the pitstops, through no fault of the Japanese Gaining four places on the first lap was as good as it got for Pedro de la Rosa and BMW Sauber in Sunday’s race, after a difficult weekend for the Swiss-based team. De la Rosa was in 12th at the end of the first lap, but had fallen to 13th by lap 10 and lost a further place when he pitted on lap 17. Team-mate Kobayashi didn’t even complete It was a bitter-sweet Sunday in Monza for Virgin Racing, as it got just one car to the finish and finally got back on top in the battle of the new teams, albeit because of a Lotus retirement. After starting last on the grid, Glock jumped to 17th on the first lap, and despite intense pressure from behind, he kept Heikki >> F1 MONZA Team-mate Liuzzi started 19th after engine problems in qualifying and had risen to 12th by lap 10, but failed to progress any further and took the flag just two seconds outside the points. Team-mate Alguersuari was baffled as to why he was handed a drive-through penalty, having been deemed to have gained an advantage by cutting the first chicane. Nevertheless, he was pleased with his performance and his laptimes. Team-mate Kovalainen spent the entire race looking at the gearbox of Virgin’s Timo Glock and despite being obviously quicker he was unable to get by. Despite losing the race of the new teams, they remain tenth in the championship. driver. He went on to finish the race while teammate Bruno Senna did not after suffering a hydraulic failure 11 laps into the race. the first lap after gearbox problems meant he had to retire just a few hundred metres into the race. The problems struck on his installation lap, but couldn’t be repaired in time. Kovalainen at bay for 52 difficult laps. Di Grassi was disappointed not to make the finish after retiring on the final lap. He is already looking forward to Singapore. 3 The Stereophonics gs from Italy Greetin xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx Hugh Grant 3 >> F1 MONZA Sleeping Beauty: The Italian summer heat proved to be too relaxing for some. 39 0 EIGN OF THE R NLY IN MAI traordinarily st erstatement: MotoGP is ex Und >> FEATURE asons why … HAEL SCOTT looks at the re trong in Spain. MIC STAYS SPAIN FRAME THE 41 EXT weekend’s trip to the new middle-of-nowhere Aragon Motorland circuit is the third trip to Spain this year. A fourth is coming, Valencia to round out the season. Not to mention another just over the border in Portugal. The circus arrives at the new venue with all Spanish flags waving. For the past five GPS in a row, every race in every class has triggered the Spanish national anthem. Class by class, MotoGP has had ten in a row, between Lorenzo and Pedrosa; while the last time any other national won a 125 race was at Catalunya last year. It was Italian Iannone, and that was only because race leader Julian Simon had celebrated one lap too early. That makes 21 Spanish 125 wins in a row. It is not a trend that seems likely to run out of steam. Nor is it something that has happened by accident. We are seeing the fruits of a long-term development plan pushed forward with the help of Dorna and generous financial backing, from among others Telefónica MoviStar and then Red Bull. The riders at the N top today are either direct graduates of that junior programme or a by-product. Spain’s passion for motorcycle racing has never been in doubt. The national resources, however, meant the industry and by extension the racing efforts were rooted in the smaller classes; and things didn’t really get going until the late 1960s. Angel Nieto won his first title in 1969, the same year that the heroic Santiago Herrero won his first 250 races on the all-Spanish Ossa, finishing third overall. The next year he was killed in a crash at the Isle of Man TT, an event that meant the Spanish federation forbade its licence holders to race there every again, and contributed to the end of the TT as a World Championship round. It also persuaded Ossa to turn from road racing to trials competition. Nieto was also riding an all-Spanish machine, the little jewel-like Derbi, and it was in the smallest 50/80cc class (see opening pic, previous page!) that Spanish riders achieved the greatest success, topping the results by some margin. By comparison, Spain lies behind Italy in the 125 class, 153 wins to 220; and third in the Angel Nieto 250 class, with 85 wins to 90 for Great Britain and a whopping 200 for Italy. The class was in existence from 1962 until 1989. Thanks mainly to Nieto and later Jorge ‘Aspar’ Martinez, the nation amassed 69 race wins. Next best was Germany, with 31. It was even more emphatic when you count the championships, all scored by the above pair: eight, to Germany’s four. Derbi is still a familiar name: Ossa is lost in the mists of time. Founded by the Giro family, the monocoque racer was the independent brainchild of two-stroke genius Eduardo Giro. There were other Spanish racing machines, from other forgotten Hispanic manufacturers, Bultaco  >> FEATURE Alex Criville Alberto Puig Santiago Herrero and Montesa. Derbis race on, in name only: the company is now Italian-owned by Piaggio, which also owns Aprilia. That’s why the current bikes are clones of the Italians. Derbi was still making its own little handwrought two-stroke jewels up to the 1990s; and Manuel Herreros won the marque’s last title as an independent manufacturer in 1989. But the torch was kept alive for a few more years by engineers like Antonio Cobas, whose JJ Kobas 125s and 250s sometimes used engines of their own design, and took Alex Criville to the World 125 Title in 1989. That year marked both a high point and a turning point in Spanish racing fortunes. As in 1988, all three smaller classes were won by Spanish riders (Pons 250 and Martinez 125 and 80 in the earlier year). But after that, national success in GP racing waned somewhat until the new generation of cadet racers turned up. The one high point was when Criville took Spain’s first and until now only premierclass World Championship on a Honda in 1999. The legacy of those days remains throughout the paddock. Ramon Forcada, Lorenzo’s crew chief, is just one of many in the pits rooted in that era. Forcada cut his technical teeth working with Eduardo Giro at Ossa, and with Cobas after that. But it is a whole new generation that has risen to take over racing now. Success feeds on success, and Spanish riders do more than dominate the wins and rostrums. There are more and more coming behind: out of 23 125-class regulars at Indy, for instance, well over one in three spoke Spanish – a total of nine. The ratio is a little less intense in Moto2: ten out of 40; and in MotoGP stood equal with Italy, at five apiece. This is the continuation of a quite deliberate trend, initiated and still powered by Alberto Puig, whose own racing career was cut short by injury after he had been one of the few riders ever to defeat Mick Doohan in a straight fight during the Australian’s reign. The first dawning was a three-year programme that began in 1999: Puig secured big-bucks backing from Telefónica and whittled down 600 applications to 25, for a one-make 125 series in Spain. From these he handpicked four riders. Two were Raul Jara and Joan Olive, the latter a mid- to front-runner today in Moto2 after an up-and down 125 career. The other two were Dani Pedrosa and Toni Elias. Of whose prowess we need no reminding. Out of this grew a more formal structure for riders that is still in place: the Spanish national 125 championship is a fertile breeding ground. With the involvement of Dorna and the creation of the Dorna Academy, the net was spread wider than only Spain. Bradley Smith, the “Ginger Gringo” in the Aspar 125 team, is just one of a long list of graduates now in GPs. But the Spanish impetus was not diluted. It continues to bulldoze all before it. Spain is on a roll in bike GP racing. This year we expect to see only the second Spanish champion in the premier class. The difference from when Criville (and Checa and Gibernau) were winning races is that Jorge Lorenzo is not alone. 43 Seb 2strikes again  >> WRC JAPAN Seb won in Japan but, for the second time this year, it was Ogier, not Loeb. The world champion-elect finished only fifth …Martin Holmes reports Sebastien won again, but for the second time this year the winner was Ogier rather than Loeb. No world titles were sealed this time, although the champion driver is still likely to be the Loeb version. Leader for half the event, and finally only defeated by a tactical ploy by Ogier and then a shock absorber failure, was the Norwegian privateer Petter Solberg at the wheel of another Citroen. Ford drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala fought hard but were frustrated by mechanical problems – and Latvala was only able to gain a podium finish position when Dani Sordo had handling problems late on in the event. And the big question … where was Loeb in all this? Remarkably, he finished only fifth overall, being unusually uncompetitive for no apparent reason. The ‘world’ can hardly have gone out of the World Rally Championship on a more exciting level. This final appearance outside Europe of the current WRC cars, before they are replaced next year by converted Super 2000 cars, provided excitement and mystery galore. Often the lead changed unexpectedly, like when Petter Solberg was given a jump-start penalty in midrally; when Latvala had a drive-shaft break; and then when Ogier passed Solberg after a tactical manouevre which gave the Frenchman a better running position on the final day. But this year’s Rally Japan will be best remembered for an incredible performance by Petter Solberg in his privately run Citroen C4 WRC. He suffered a fever all rally but nothing could stop his attempt at winning the event outright, which he very nearly did. The late summer warmth of northern Japan was quite unlike the experiences of previous rallies in Hokkaido but the conditions of the stages worried competitors. Damage to the roads suffered when the rally was last on these stages two years ago had been repaired by adding more gravel, but clearly there was going to be further degradation as the rally progressed. It was a mystery what the conditions would be like. Would running first car on the road be good or bad? This was not the only mystery. Number two was the surprising lack of pace of the world champion-elect Sebastien Loeb, on an event which he stated was not to his liking, but on which he tried hard even if without his usual success. While Loeb was fazed by running first car on the road on Day 1, how was it that the Day 2 leader Petter Solberg could defy the terror of running first car on the road on stages which were very similar? Then, 4 what about the times at the end of Day 2 for Ogier, who dropped back and gave himself better running order for the final day? Tactic or coincidence? Petter’s penalty misfortune made a close event even closer – only 5.7 seconds separated the top four drivers mid-rally. Run for the second time in the Sapporo region, in the west of the Hokkaido island prefecture, using stages which were largely similar to 2008, one novelty was the decision to use some new stages to the north of Sapporo on the final day. Another novelty was running the stadium stages at the Sapporo Dome, no fewer than eight times – plus, for the registered drivers, the mandatory four times at shakedown as well! This section held on slippery concrete in the Dome was far removed from the loose gravel surfaces of the orthodox stages, but crews still had to use the same gravel tyres as everywhere else on the event. With the total stage time spent at this venue being over ten minutes, this was a stage venue worth taking inordinately seriously. O  gier started off determined to avenge the memory of his last stage disaster on the last long-haul WRC event, New Zealand, making fastest times on the opening two superspecial stages – but then big news on the first real 26km stage was the lack of performance of front running Loeb. Loeb was around a second per kilometre slower for no apparent reason, with roadcleaning not an apparent problem at that stage, but this did become a problem on the next stage where fourth-running Petter pulled ahead into a lead he held for the next 24 hours. After a series of misfortunes in recent times, Mikko Hirvonen was flying and moved up to second place, passing Ogier on the way, while Latvala was pressing hard in fourth place. On Stage 11 Petter, now running first car, found road cleaning was not significant and extended his lead to 21.5 seconds, but subsequent stages worked against him. After Stage 13 his lead was back down to 5.9 seconds. Hirvonen had a spin and dropped back so Latvala was up to second. Then came the news of a 10 second jump start penalty for Solberg which, true to his character, simply intensified Petter’s challenge. As a result the results showed Latvala inherited the lead after Stage 13. Ogier was pressing hard, but then Latvala had his driveshaft problem, giving Ogier a chance to go ahead. But the Frenchman decided to play tactics, with an eye on Day 3 running order and slowed down, so instead Solberg found himself back in the lead again! On stage 19, the first stage of Day 3, Kimi Raikkonen went off for good. Ogier made the most of his running order chances and retook the lead after the second stage where the running order was especially significant, on the twisty stage. By then, Solberg had problems with a broken shock absorber which made the steering very imprecise. Hirvonen was slipping back with gearshift and differential problems while Sordo was quite unhappy, unable to make his car work the way he wanted so after Stage 22, Loeb was able to make progress – up to fifth place – and Latvala got past Sordo into third. Finally this was Ogier’s event, his second World rally win. itroen Total now leads BP Ford by 95 points in the Makes championship, with Citroen Junior now dropping out of contention. In the Drivers’ series Loeb now leads Ogier by 43 points, with Latvala in third, and still in the title race, though a further 26 points behind. Citroen is now treading water, waiting for its next batch of world titles – these now wait to be won at the next event, the Rallye de France, run this year in the Strasbourg region, an event which is being held as a form of homage to Alsace’ incredible rally champion. C >> WRC BULGARIA >> WRC JAPAN Flodin, Ketomaa, Nutahara take the supports PATRIK Flodin walked away in the PCWRC category after local driver Toshi Arai went off the road at the beginning of the rally, though New Zealander Pirelli Star Driver Hayden Paddon, this time at the wheel of his private Mitsubishi came second and gentlemen drivers filled the other positions, headed by Italian Gianluca Linari. In the championship standings Flodin took the lead from the non-competing Araujo by seven points with Paddon 14 points adrift. Arai is now out of the championship and although mathematically Linari could still be champion, the fight is between the current top three drivers.\par AFTER the non-arrival of an entry for a Toyota driver from Czech Republic, there were only three entries in the SWRC category, all with Ford Fiesta cars, headed by Jari Ketomaa. \The Finn soon established a minute’s lead over Martin Prokop, which he kept to the end. Third driver Bernardo Sousa retired after suffering electrical troubles. Prokop has now drawn level with Pons in the lead of the SWRC series ahead of Ketomaa in third although he has won the category on more events than Pons and Prokop. With the Rufa Team’s exclusion, following their non-appearance in Japan, Andersson has lost all the points scored under its entry but retains the 25 points from his win as a Guest driver in Sweden. In the teams WRC Cup the top three positions remain unchanged with Pons’ Nupel team ahead of Red Bull. Ketomaa’s win in the category brings the Shanghai FCACA its third win in the category and they now lie fourth. Team Ford/ Quinta do Lorde and Barwa WRT are now both out of the title race in this category.\par THIS event was strongly supported by two-wheel-drive cars which dominated their own classes. Most impressive was the performance of Fiestas which, including the result of Group N winner Ketomaa, won no fewer than three classes. Veteran Mitsubishi driver Fumio Nutahara finished the top placed two-wheel-driver in his Fiesta R2, taking advantage of the regulatory chance to run on Yokohama tyres while Show Aikawa won N3 in a Fiesta ST. Other class winners were types of Toyota (aYaris and a Run-X), a Suzuki Ignis and Daihatsu Sirion. 4 Firstly the IRC, then the WRC! This year’s Ypres Rally had a stage which crossed a frontier, starting in Belgium and ending in France. Now, encouraged by the FIA’s interest in having cross-border world championship events, the 2011 Swedish Rally organisers are contemplating a stage which starts in Sweden, crosses the border into Norway, and finishes back in Sweden! THE Citroen Junior team has been fined 6000 Euros for breaking, for a second time, the testing regulations laid down in the WRC Championship regulations. Regulations control not only the number of days which a team can make tests but also the number of sessions, the number of days each car is testing. It was the rule governing the number of sessions, not the number of days spent testing, that was broken. The team admitted that it did not observe the number of sessions, explaining that testing had been disrupted because Raikkonen had been suffered back pains. The stewards noted that the team had already incurred a penalty of a Reprimand for breaking testing rules in Finland. Citroen Juniors in trouble  >> WRC BULGARIA >> WRC NEWS Russian professional rally organiser Dmitry Krivtsov is deputy Clerk of the Course of Rally Japan and, as a foreigner, thus has a unique opportunity to observe life in the Land of the Rising Sun Dmitry (nicknamed Dima) has a theory as to why the Japanese manufacturers, none of whom entered the event officially, are not involved. “The main reason why the Japanese manufacturers are absent from the world championship is that they generally do not have suitable cars. “My theory is that if the world championship catered for hybrid cars, Japanese manufacturers would come back to the championship. This is the type of car they are interested in producing these days. If this happens, I predict they will all be back in the sport again. “It would of course take time, even if the rules are immediately changed, so I do not think the Japanese would be back next year.” Japan has been dropped from the WRC calendar for 2011, but its position as a round of the FIA’s Asia Pacific series (the Rally Hokkaido) means that it is able to keep its organisation infrastructure intact in the meanwhile. Go Hybrid? Trouble for PG RUFA Sport, a competitor in the SWRC series and owned by the Slovakian businessman Rudolf Faktor, was penalised for the non-appearance of their nominated driver, the Czech privateer Roman Pesek, at Rally Japan. The circumstances were strange. Rufa Sport stated its nonappearance was for reasons unconnected with Pesek. The team manager of the car Miroslav Houst, proprietor of the JM Racing team in Czech Republic which run the car for Rufa Sport , told the event stewards it was not possible “to continue participation in the SWRC season with the Team Rufa Sport and driver Per Gunnar Andersson due to other commitments of the driver.” Apart from the apparent irrelevance to the issue in hand, this statement raises further confusion. Rufa Sport’s entry in the SWRC was originally conceived in order for PG Andersson to capitalise on his SWRC victory as a Guest driver on the Swedish Rally. Rufa Sport believed that Andersson now had new commitments to the Mini team, which would involve considerable testing work this autumn. Andersson has for a long time said that Japan was never in his rally programme and more recently has said that his plans with Mini are not settled. He believed the testing work would be carried out instead by Marcus Gronholm. The confusions continue with reports from Norway that Mads Ostberg has already started testing work with Mini. Mini tests are being held this week in Portugal but Prodrive is not saying with which driver. 49 Decision aplenty from the WMSC WORLD Council Rallying decisions of all sorts were issued at the extraordinary World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) held last week. The most significant was confirmation of Rally Academy. This is to be a onemake, two-wheel drive, low cost entry level activity and is aimed at replacing the current JWRC and also probably providing a sponsored project for the drivers selected in this year’s Shootouts as the Pirelli Star Driver scheme is not expected to continue. Details of the handover from PSD to Academy wait to be announced. Other decisions made include: 2011 World Championship regulations have been drafted and agreed in principle, with details to be settled at a World Rally Championship Commission (WRCC) meeting at the end of September and publication in early October. These will cover issues such as first-year championship rule concessions for new manufacturers who wish to register for the WRC ... The forthcoming WRCC will also consider the proposals for the new R4 formula, especially whether this should be restricted to four-wheel-drive cars. There will be a new category within the PCWRC for drivers of two-wheel drive cars. ... World championship P2 drivers will be counted as P1 if they contest more than two consecutive events in the WRC. This is to be for sporting equality reasons rather than to dissuade private teams. Currently P2 drivers enjoy freer regulations, but their lower entry fee system is expected to continue. ... There is to be an end to the current rule that top championship drivers on all WRC events must start at two minute intervals. Basically every car will now start every rally at one minute intervals, in the hope of making spectating more attractive – but safety issues such as a dust hazard can lead Clerks of Course to override this. ... 1.6 turbocharged engine cars (the rule for future Super 2000 cars) will not be eligible for the drivers’ Super 2000 WRC series in 2011. ... the WRC Cup for teams, which originally gave its name to the S2000 activity, will be abandoned. ... the individual promoters of the various regional and national championships are free to decide whether 1.6 turbocharged cars are admitted into the series they manage. ... Consent was given for further investigation into admitting GT cars into world championship events and the various issues involved. ... For the final nine events of the 13 event 2011 WRC calendar, registered world championship teams can only use two engines per car, which means a minimum of five events per engine. This rule is intended to be a half-way measure to the implementation of a future rule that only two engines will be allowed per registered car entry per season. ... And finally, every WRC event must run a televised stage on the final day on which crews can score additional championship points. It is assumed that additional points will not be issued to manufacturers. The Global Promoters North One Sport proposed this rule, in the hope of creating extra interest. Information about the tyres to be used in the world championship in 2011 is expected this week but currently it is expected that a tyre monopoly will continue, though this time with Michelin not Pirelli. 50 >> WRC BULGARIA >> WRC NEWS opinion A Disaster Revived THE 3-2-1 concept revives a project that was attempted back in 1999 when, as an experiment, two events (Corsica and Finland) each ran a televised final special stage in which extra points were available for both drivers and manufacturers. Corsica had a mountain stage of around 10km, Finland a flat section of about 3km, with additional points scored on a 3-2-1 basis. There were some serious flaws. 1999 came before the restart rules of SupeRally for retired competitors, but for Corsica and Finland (above) cars were allowed to emerge from retirement. These cars could then be elaborately lightened and rebuilt for this one final sprint stage, gaining championship points on an event in which they were otherwise not classified as finishers. The 10km stage in Corsica was far too long for viewers to have their interest held and far too long for both logistical and cost reasons for live coverage. Things did not turn out satisfactorily. The two leading crews in Corsica, both Citroen drivers, had no reason to be attracted by additional points. The team told its drivers not to increase their speed. Their drivers were already safe in first and second places and, anyway, Citroen was not registered that year for the makes’ championship. The Finnish experiment was held over the famous jumps of Ruuhimaki, and as the stages was only 3km long this was a giveaway for filming and holding viewers’ interest, but there were other problems. Although the Mitsubishi of Tommi Makinen had genuinely retired from the event (transmission trouble), the Toyota of Didier Auriol and the Ford of Thomas Radstrom were deliberately withdrawn from the competition shortly before the finish in order to be lightened at leisure. Because the plan was to run the stage specifically in reverse order, these drivers were sent off first down the stage. After MARtIN HOLMES WRC Editor the first three cars had gone down the stage there was a sudden and very heavy storm and the surface turned to mud. The whole system again turned into a mockery. Auriol was fastest, Makinen was second. Individually the system caused no lasting damage, but collectively it changed the world championship that season. Subaru, whose officials had been a long time advocates of a scheme like that, gained no points from this system. Toyota drivers gained four extra points in Corsica and three in Finland, total seven extra points, and Toyota beat Subaru to the title by four points and became champions. Initial reaction in Sapporo was basically enthusiasm for the extra television coverage but uncertainty regarding the wisdom of giving points. With 25 points nowadays for a win compared with the 10 points in 1999, the proportional effect of the 3-2-1 points in 2011 will however be much smaller than 12 years ago 1 5 >> GPWEEK PArting Shot Crowd involvement reaches its max at Monza – and when Ferrari wins it steps up a notch. Check out the solitary Schumi fan in amongst it all ... 3