F1RMGP 2015: The Fifth (season) and the Fury

[Salamander]

Yet, ironically, failed to link the only Voeckler who has actually race in F1 - Jeremy-Etienne - to the seat instead. They really are gutter press huh...

He hasn't raced in F1 yet.

He will. If Renault don't give him his big break, he'll look for it elsewhere. Perhaps at Ligier...

I'll give him a shot, but only if Reutemann keeps driving like shite.

[pasta_maldonado]

Yet, ironically, failed to link the only Voeckler who has actually race in F1 - Jeremy-Etienne - to the seat instead. They really are gutter press huh...

He hasn't raced in F1 yet.

He will. If Renault don't give him his big break, he'll look for it elsewhere. Perhaps at Ligier...

If he wants a seat to get him off the ground, Aerond's Toleman will be joining the gid next year...

[dinizintheoven]

Two races to go; the internet resounds to the sound of fingers typing on keyboards screaming support for Þorvaldur Einarsson's second title. The stands at Suzuka, on the other hand, will be making a deafening noise for one man and one man only.

Konnichi-wa to our commentary team in Japan who will hopefully resist the urge to scream "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!! CRASHUUUUUUUUUUU!!" every five seconds...


Round 17: Suzuka, Japan
Saturday, 14 November 2015


PRE-QUALIFYING

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1 –    35 V. Liuzzi           Arrows         1'53.721
2 –    3  P. Alliot           AGS            1'55.040
3 –    31 P. McCarthy         Stefan         1'55.075
4 –    6  A. Yoong            Dome           1'55.159
5 –    5  D. Schiattarella    Dome           1'55.396
6 –    4  O. Beretta          AGS            1'55.472
7 –    18 T. Takagi           Pacific        1'55.478
8 –    36 V. Sospiri          Arrows         1'55.954

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DNPQ – 30 J. d'Ambrosio       Simtek         1'56.153
DNPQ – 17 A. Montermini       Pacific        1'56.238
DNPQ – 21 S. Yamamoto         Hispania       1'56.521
DNPQ – 22 M. Apicella         Hispania       1'56.827
DNPQ – 34 K. Chandhok         Spyker         1'56.901
DNPQ – 39 E. Salazar          FIRST          1'56.950
DNPQ – 26 C. Bouchut          SPAM           1'57.622

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DNPQ – 29 P. Belmondo         Simtek         1'58.433
DNPQ – 33 G. Foitek           Spyker         1'59.663
DNPQ – 32 M. Pavlovic         Stefan         2'02.306
DNPQ – 25 E. Collard          SPAM           2'03.420
DNPQ – 40 J. Camathias        FIRST          2'02.456
DNPQ – 37 C. Nissany          Shekel         2'05.173
DNPQ – 38 A. Shankar          Shekel         2'08.236

Racing in the Northern hemisphere at this time of year meant shifting everything back an hour so the end of the pre-qualifying session wouldn't be held in fading light. The situation was only made worse as the teams arrived in Mie Prefecture to find it belting down with rain, and an emergency meeting of the Series Management forced the cancellation of the third free practice session on the Thursday where the pre-qualifying times would usually be recorded. Hence, Thursday's second free practice, held here from 11:30 – 1:00, counted for pre-qualifying, and those who did not make it through would find they had travelled all the way to Japan only to be sent home three and a half hours early.

Tonio Liuzzi, known for his on-off-days in F1, was the star of this early part of the show, recording a time 1.3 seconds faster than the rest – if still 11 seconds off Marco Apicella's pole time in a Super Aguri in 2013, the last time it was dry here. Philippe Alliot ensured AGS' presence on the Friday, which looked to be just as wet, taking best of the rest with a time just outside the 1'55 barrier; Perry McCarthy, buoyed by having made the cut in South Africa, did so again here. Fourth and fifth, the struggling team on home soil managed to bring both cars into qualifying proper; how Alex Yoong and Domenico Schiattarella will fare in that session is anyone's guess, but as they've qualified by right, they've got half a chance of making it into the race. AGS' presence on the Friday was well and truly secure, but Olivier Beretta put in a lap towards the end of the session that also saw him through, beating Tora Takagi by six thousandths of a second. Takagi, in only his second race, cared not for the fine details, only that he was through the toughest eliminator of them all in conditions that would scare a rally driver. But possibly most scared of all was Vincenzo Sospiri, who was facing elimination at this stage for the first time since round three, but pulled through at the last instant.

And so, tasting the bitter pill of DNPQ for the first time was Jérôme d'Ambrosio, the man he replaced at Simtek having somehow pulled a blinder out of the bag to be in the mix the next afternoon. Andrea Montermini was out again, never quite getting a clear run through the spray, and any thoughts that the full complement of Japanese drivers might get on the grid was brutally snuffed out when Sakon Yamamoto, who'd looked good in the first twenty minutes or so, fell back to 11th place with a time over half a second short of where he needed to be. There'll be one more chance for him and five others to make their only appearance in qualifying proper and the race in Australia; the likely scenario is, none of them will do so. At least Yamamoto bear Marco Apicella, though, the bench mark at Hispania; the car couldn't put its power on the track in this weather. Karun Chandhok and Eliseo Salazar also beat the 1'57 barrier; Christophe Bouchut didn't, the SPAM suffering with dodgy French electrical problems, although Bouchut's car was the better of the two. Paul Belmondo sank like a stone, Gregor Foitek seems to have given up, and the jokers at the back – those four who have still never made the pre-qualifying cut – all recorded two-minute-plus times, with Emmanuel Collard also in the mix as the electrical gremlins in his SPAM afflicted him so badly that the engine seemed to switch on and off at will. And it's a diesel – it should work in these conditions, even if the whole track was under water! But, as ever, it didn't. Of particular note is Adrian Shankar, still adamant that his backstory about his previous motorsport career was completely true – here, he was so far out of his depth that he recorded a time almost three seconds slower than what Plamen Kralev did in similar conditions last year. Even Christophe Hurni managed a 2'02 that day. That he hasn't been shown the door is testament to the extreme hands-off nature of the job Tallulah Shekelslike is doing at F1RMGP's worst ever team.


QUALIFYING

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1 –    8  Y. Ide              Super Aguri    1'50.522
2 –    15 H. Noda             Leyton House   1'50.528
3 –    16 F. Barbazza         Leyton House   1'51.612
4 –    1  Þ. Einarsson        Viking         1'51.764
5 –    7  S. Nakano           Super Aguri    1'51.886
6 –    13 J. Magnussen        Ice One        1'52.164
7 –    28 L. Badoer           SAAC           1'52.561
8 –    27 G. Tarquini         SAAC           1'53.162
9 –    10 E. van de Poele     F1RM           1'53.713
10 –   42 S. Hohenthal        Polestar       1'54.127
11 –   9  C. Dagnall          F1RM           1'54.197
12 –   36 V. Sospiri          Arrows         1'54.443
13 –   12 A. Sutil            Forti          1'54.675

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14 –   14 M. Asmer            Ice One        1'54.798
15 –   2  T. Rustad           Viking         1'54.917
16 –   3  P. Alliot           AGS            1'54.998
17 –   23 E. Bertaggia        Minardi        1'55.164
18 –   20 M. Ammermüller      ATS Rial       1'55.266
19 –   18 T. Takagi           Pacific        1'55.322
20 –   5  D. Schiattarella    Dome           1'55.324
21 –   35 V. Liuzzi           Arrows         1'55.360
22 –   11 P. Chaves           Forti          1'55.437
23 –   24 C. McRae (H)        Minardi        1'55.919
24 –   41 K. Andersen         Polestar       1'56.084
25 –   31 P. McCarthy         Stefan         1'57.106
26 –   4  O. Beretta          AGS            1'57.183

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DNQ –  6  A. Yoong            Dome           1'57.942
DNQ –  19 J. Winkelhock       ATS Rial       1'58.905

Continuing torrential rain in qualifying saw only the bravest of the brave really go for it. This included former team-mates Jan Magnussen and Þorvaldur Einarsson, plus the current team-mates at Super Aguri and Leyton House. Pole looked likely to be an Icelandic victory dance, Þorvaldur steadily shaving the time down towards the 1'51.5 mark, until Fabrizio Barbazza had an inspired lap and beat him by almost two tenths. And then, just when it looked like it would finally be his day... the senseis put the pupils (for the day) in their place. Nobody thought it would be possible to beat the 1'51 mark... until Yuji Ide and Hideki Noda did, both beating the barrier by almost half a second, and ending up only six thousandths apart. So there were the top four, with Ide on pole and Noda deservedly on the front row with him. Shinji Nakano, in fifth, was the only other driver to beat 1'52, Jan Magnussen not quite making it, so he took sixth. The SAACs shared row four, but as is the case with this team so often, they were in the wrong order, Badoer beating Tarquini by half a second. Still, the gaps were widening on the wet track, and Eric van de Poele, in ninth, was six tenths further back, with Chris Dagnall in eleventh and Sebastian Hohenthal again wrestling the Polestar between them, into a place it had no right to be on raw pace. Reversing Arrows' fortunes from pre-qualifying, it was Vincenzo Sospiri who put in the better time on Friday afternoon, his 1'54.4 being good enough for 12th and a shot at points if he could keep the car on the road and it didn't drop to bits. Beating Adrian Sutil, race winner at Montreal, in a Forti, is no mean feat.

14th, and starting the second half of the grid, was Marko Asmer, leading the duo of Nordic Number Twos, with Tommy Rustad in 15th. It is, of course, no secret that all the car developments at the moment are being hurled at their team-mates who are still in title contention. Philippe Alliot, another race winner, found himself 16th in the ever-ailing AGS, ahead of Enrico Bertaggia in the lead Minardi – it's not been a great weekend for them, again. Michael Ammermüller fought his ATS Rial all the way to take 18th, ahead of homeboy Tora Takagi in the not-home-grown Pacific, and not-homeboy Domenico Schiattarella in the domestic Dome. You'd have to say it's good for the team that at least one of them made it ontot he grid, despite the lowly 20th place. Meanwhile, in the three back rows, Tonio Liuzzi couldn't repeat his stellar performance in pre-qualifying and ended up 21st, ahead of Pedro Chaves, who must be wondering what he did to let his season go this badly wrong. Row twelve saw Colin McRae, usually king of such conditions, and Kasper Andersen, running out of chances to snag the second Viking seat, in 23rd and 24th, while bringing up the rear were Perry McCarthy and Olivier Beretta. The Monégasque can consider himself particularly lucky to have qualified, because Alex Yoong was on a lap that would have put him in 17th... if only he hadn't spun at the Casio Chicane. That he dropped the ball in spectacular fashion has left it to Schiattarella to lead Dome's charge. Oh dear. Even ATS Rial are in better shape than that, despite Smokin' Jo Winkelhock's latest failure to make the grid.


RACE

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1 –    7  S. Nakano           Super Aguri    53   1h 42'37.353
2 –    16 F. Barbazza         Leyton House   53   1h 42'48.400
3 –    8  Y. Ide              Super Aguri    53   1h 43'01.090
4 –    13 J. Magnussen        Ice One        53   1h 43'47.942
5 –    27 G. Tarquini         SAAC           53   1h 44'10.045
6 –    14 M. Asmer            Ice One        52   + 1 lap                                                     
7 –    9  C. Dagnall          F1RM           52   + 1 lap                                                     
8 –    42 S. Hohenthal        Polestar       52   + 1 lap                                                     
9 –    35 V. Liuzzi           Arrows         52   + 1 lap                                                     
10 –   41 K. Andersen         Polestar       52   + 1 lap                                                     
11 –   28 L. Badoer           SAAC           51   + 2 laps (DNF, collision)                                                  
12 –   10 E. van de Poele     F1RM           51   + 2 laps (DNF, collision)                                                  
13 –   36 V. Sospiri          Arrows         51   + 2 laps                                                    

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14 –   20 M. Ammermüller      ATS Rial       51   + 2 laps (DNF, collision)                                                  
15 –   5  D. Schiattarella    Dome           51   + 2 laps (DNF, collision)                                                  
16 –   3  P. Alliot           AGS            51   + 2 laps                                                    
17 –   4  O. Beretta          AGS            51   + 2 laps                                                    
18 –   31 P. McCarthy         Stefan         50   + 3 laps                                                    
19 –   18 T. Takagi           Pacific        39   suspension                                                  
20 –   23 E. Bertaggia        Minardi        30   electrical                                                     
21 –   1  Þ. Einarsson        Viking         28   supercharger                                                
22 –   15 H. Noda             Leyton House   17   transmission                                                
23 –   2  T. Rustad           Viking         16   crash                                                  
24 –   11 P. Chaves           Forti          10   engine                                                      
25 –   12 A. Sutil            Forti          9    transmission                                                
26 –   24 C. McRae (H)        Minardi        2    suspension                                                  

Japan brings a lot of things; overtly-cute schoolgirls who are actually in their late 20s trying to look like cartoons, a diet consisting mainly of raw fish, an indecipherable language, animation that induces seizures, a crazily pressured working environment, and a Grand Prix that is almost certain to turn into chaos when it rains. It rained here, and chaos ruled.

Yuji Ide knew he could get his hands on the Carel Godin de Beaufort Cup if he played his cards right and other didn't. He got away well at the start, Jan Magnussen and Gabriele Tarquini did as well to put themselves second and fourth, while Hideki Noda bodged it and dropped to sixth, giving Þorvaldur Einarsson a hefty whack on the way that put the Icelander down to ninth. Behind them, in the midfield pack, Colin McRae knew no fear (and no pain, being a hologram) and launched himself to 13th. Suffering particularly badly were Pedro Chaves and Kasper Andersen, who made such a meal of it they dropped back to the final two places. Ide led the pack, and then the fun began. McRae dropped out after only two laps, his exuberant driving getting the better of an already stressed suspension, thus halting what could have been a fantastic charge, but nobody could have predicted what would happen next. Ide, not used to the pressures of trying to win a championship, overcooked it at the first corner going into the fifth lap, spun through the gravel trap, and then had to wait as the whole field passed him. And that was the start of the drive of a man possessed, with a flagrant disregard for the difficult conditions. With such a tight title race, no points were no good to him, after all. At the end of lap 5, he was last. After ten laps, he was up as far as 15th, aided and abetted by Luca Badoer, of all people, Sebastian Hohenthal and Enrico Bertaggia all dropping it at the Casio Chicane and giving Ide effectively three free places. At the front, Jan Magnussen had inherited the lead after Ide's mistake, but the Leyton Houses hadn't read Ice One's script for the race, and both had passed him by this time for a turquoise 1-2. Meanwhile, near the back of the field, both Fortis had already retired, Adrian Sutil with gearbox trouble and Pedro Chaves with an engine blowout, ending their afternoon very early, but they would eventually be spared a second consecutive Reject Of The Race award.

Ide's charge was temporarily halted by a very uncompliant Domenico Schiattarella, desperate to prove he was worth something to Dome, and as he baulked Ide terribly, Michael Ammermüller shot past them both. It took a whole lap for Ide to dispatch them, and the cars he had to face next were less of an easy proposition. Tommy Rustad would be next in the Viking, then Vincenzo Sospiri in the Arrows which was going particularly well in the wet. Rustad was so ruthless in defending against his team-mate's greatest title rival that he managed to hold Ide up for two laps, even though Ide had been consistently three seconds faster per lap up to that point. Ide eventually had to squeeze Rustad hard enough at 130R in a daredevil pass that the Norwegian ended up in the wall... and the Viking pit crew didn't like that at all. But the loudest shrieks of despair came from Leyton House when Hideki Noda, in a massive lead, suddenly pulled out of the race having lost all drive. It was later traced to a busted differential, and with that, he was forced to bow out of the title race when he could have been in contention at the final hurdle. However, Fabrizio Barbazza was still leading, so the team could claim some glory on the day, and Jan Magnussen was still in second, very much in the hunt.

And so came the first round of pit stops, headed by Þorvaldur Einarsson, who came in from second, having just passed Magnussen. His stop, and others, meant that by the time Yuji Ide pitted on lap 25, he had just overtaken Gabriele Tarquini for fifth, and was challenging Eric van de Poele for fourth. He'd made up 20 places in 20 laps, and still wanted more. He emerged seventh, and when Barbazza pitted on lap 28, the scale of the task Ide had accomplished but also still had to do was revealed. Barbazza still led, with Magnussen second, 20 seconds back; Ide was in seventh, 69 seconds off the lead.

Another twist in the title race came on lap 29, as Þorvaldur Einarsson was sidelined as suddenly as Noda had been earlier. The car had been giving off some strange shrieks, which had ended with the supercharger seizing. It wasn't the end of his title charge, just that it would make the job in Australia a win-or-bust situation, but for the Viking team, that was the end of the road; the MJØLNER-04 would become the first of their cars not to take the Willi Kauhsen Cup. And, of course, that was another place for Yuji Ide in his hunt for the front. Eric van de Poele finally pitted soon afterwards, Ide overtaking him just as he exited the pit lane, being up to speed whereas the Belgian wasn't; this removed the last hurdle between him and Shinji Nakano, and the words "team orders" were muttered around the paddock. Only, there was a 38-second gap between the Super Aguri drivers, plus five lapped cars between them, and although Ide was faster than Nakano (and he understood that message), he wasn't faster by anywhere near enough to make up that time by the end of the race, and what a farce it would be if Nakano was forced to slow down so much that it was obvious what they were doing.

Then, on lap 41, there was another major incident involving a front runner. Jan Magnussen was coming up to lap the two drivers who were duelling not to be last – Philippe Alliot and Perry McCarthy. Alliot passed McCarthy as they left Spoon, with Magnussen hurtling up behind them at a great rate of knots. He'd caught McCarthy by the time they had passed 130R, made his move on the exit... crash, smash, sorry mate, I didn't see ya. With wheels locked in a T-bone formation, Magnussen had to wait for McCarthy to reverse out of the crash before he could resume, and then had to pit for a new front wing; by that stage he'd lost three places to the two Super Aguri drivers, who had been a long way behind him, and Tarquini as well. He fumed over the radio, losing eight points in the title race while Ide gained three, and he couldn't afford that in his position. This promoted Ide to third, and he was adamant that he could get more. Nakano, though, now had the one barrier between him and Barbazza removed, and he knew he was faster. Barb had had all the luck so far, but Nakano knew that if he kept up his current pace, not only would he not be asked to slow down, he might even catch the Italian by the end. Ten laps remained, with 25 seconds between the Super Aguris, and still five lapped cars between them; Nakano had Barbazza six seconds ahead of him, but he could smell blood.

Lap 52, the second to last, was where it all happened. At this stage, Nakano was swarming all over the back of Barbazza's rear wing, but the Italian looked to have every move Nakano made under control. And then... you could almost hear the scream of "BANZAI!" in his helmet as Nakano made the move from a ridiculous position at 130R, of all places. Barbzaaz must have looked shocked as the Super Aguri shot past. He much have been even more stunned, not to mention deflated as Nakano somehow managed to slow the car down and make it through the next corner, and the chicane. A lap later, Nakano crossed the line to win from Barbazza, with Ide second – seven extra points for Super Aguri, the win for the "wrong" driver but the right one couldn't have done it under those circumstances – and that wasn't it. As if news had travelled round the circuit at what had happened, Luca Badoer, running eighth on the road, rammed Eric van de Poele, just ahead of him in seventh. Eliminated on the spot, van de Poele was incensed, but what Badoer will face when he has to have a meeting with the irascible IBR boss man is likely to be frightening. He lost four points, Tarquini having already lost two a few laps before when Jan Magnussen muscled his way past in his recovery drive from the McCarthy crash, and this – coupled with Nakano's daring overtake to win the race – put Super Aguri 42 points ahead of SAAC in the Constructors' Championship, with only 43 points left to be won.

After all the chaos, sixth place to tenth had been the ones to benefit from the last two laps of madness. Sixth was Marko Asmer, who'd been swarming all over the pack in the opening stages of the race, and had held eighth or there abouts for most of the race, until Badoer and van de Poele clashed. Chris Dagnall had had a very quiet afternoon, only getting involved with the action when Yuji Ide tried to pass him on his burn from the stern, and he ended seventh. Eighth and tenth, almost amazingly given their troubles, were the two Polestars – taking the first double-points finish for the team, though both drivers had previously had a third place earlier in the year. Sebastian Hohenthal had kept his head down after his early spin to take eighth, while Kasper Andersen never lost faith after his awful start, and took tenth. The reward for the Polestars was ninth place in the Constructors' Championship, ahead now of AGS. Vitantonio Liuzzi, who had temporarily stopped covering himself in glory during the qualifying, was ninth; Arrows welcomed those two points most fervently.

Eleventh and twelfth, two laps down, were Badoer and van de Poele, the Belgian still fuming until much later when he calmed down with a crate of Orval. Vincenzo Sospiri, the slower of the two Arrows, was 13th and would have been a lot lower had Michael Ammermüller and Domenico Schiattarella not also tangled on the last lap, in act of sympathy for the two ahead of them. They ended up 14th and 15th, when Ammermüller was in with an outside chance of points. Philippe Alliot eventually overtook his team-mate for 16th, hence Beretta took 17th and Perry McCarthy was 19th and last, three laps down in the Stefan, and was awarded Reject Of The Race for the move on Jan Magnussen that had cost the Dane second place (and, maybe, the win). As for those who retired: Colin McRae was the first, completing only two laps before his suspension failed, Adrian Sutil and Pedro Chaves perished within a lap of each other, Tommy Rustad was crudely elbowed off the track by the hero of the hour, Hideki Noda couldn't believe his transmission failure when he was leading, Þorvaldur Einarsson's supercharger jammed to cut short his race, Enrico Bertaggia had Italian electrical gremlins, and finally, Tora Takagi quietly departed in not the world's most reliable car with bent suspension, and it didn't even look like he'd done anything wrong.

We've got one race to go. The Willi Kauhsen Cup isn't quite won yet, but the task SAAC will have to snatch it away from Super Aguri is nothing short of Herculean. As for the coveted Carel Godin de Beaufort Cup, Yuji Ide's storm through the field has put him in the box seats – 17 points ahead of his nearest challenger, who is now Jan Magnussen, someone who's unlikely to accept second place again. As for Þorvaldur Einarsson and Gabriele Tarquini... only a win in Australia will do.

Join us for the conclusion down under.


DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
for the Carel Godin de Beaufort Cup

One race to go, 25 points can be won, and four drivers can still take the title.

~ indicates a driver who has switched teams – only the latest team is shown
* indicates a driver still in contention for the championship

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1 –    8  * Y. Ide              Super Aguri    179
2 –    13 * J. Magnussen        Ice One        162
3 –    1  * Þ. Einarsson        Viking         160
4 –    27 * G. Tarquini         SAAC           156
5 –    15   H. Noda             Leyton House   132
6 –    7    S. Nakano           Super Aguri    121
7 –    9    C. Dagnall          F1RM           114
8 –    28   L. Badoer           SAAC           102
9 –    16   F. Barbazza         Leyton House   95
10 –   2    T. Rustad           Viking         76
11 –   14   M. Asmer            Ice One        64
12 –   12   A. Sutil            Forti          61

Code: Select all

13 –   24   C. McRae (H)        Minardi        43
14 –   3    P. Alliot           AGS            41
15 –   23   E. Bertaggia        Minardi        31
16 –  ~22   M. Apicella         Hispania       27
17 –   11   P. Chaves           Forti          26
18 =   10   E. van de Poele     F1RM           25
18 =   42   S. Hohenthal        Polestar       25
20 –   41   K. Andersen         Polestar       21
21 –        HWNSNBM             Pacific        14
22 =   20   M. Ammermüller      ATS Rial       10
22 =   26   C. Bouchut          SPAM           10
24 –   30   J. d'Ambrosio       Simtek         9

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25 –   35   V. Liuzzi           Arrows         6
26 –   4    O. Beretta          AGS            3
27 –   19   J. Winkelhock       ATS Rial       2
28 –   36   V. Sospiri          Arrows         1

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP
for the Willi Kauhsen Cup

One race to go, 43 points can be won... but Super Aguri are 42 points clear at the top. It's not quite all over yet, though...

* indicates a constructor still in contention for the championship

Code: Select all

1 –  * Super Aguri    300
2 –  * SAAC           258
3 –    Viking         236
4 –    Leyton House   227
5 –    Ice One        226
6 –    F1RM           139
7 –    Forti          87
8 –    Minardi        74
9 –    Polestar       47
10 –   AGS            44

Code: Select all

11 –   Dome           27
12 –   Pacific        14
13 –   ATS Rial       12
14 –   SPAM           10
15 –   Simtek         9
16 –   Arrows         7

CLAUSURA: SEMI FINALS

(1) Ide (3rd) v (4) Magnussen (4th)
(2) Tarquini (5th) v (3) Einarsson (DNF)

Gabriele Tarquini is in with an outside shout at the title. If he does end up winning it, the Clausura will necessarily be his as well. Yuji Ide, of course, will have other ideas.

[DemocalypseNow]

Angoscia d'Alitalia! Team principal Lindsay sets motorhome on fire after blazing row with Tarquini

In the quest for the F1RMGP title, it seems SAAC has finally reached breaking point. Once comfortable leaders of both championships, they will now require a miracle to win either title, with lead driver Gabriele Tarquini lacking form in the latter half of the season. The downfall of the Italian giants has taken its toll on the team principal, who was taken away in handcuffs after burning the team's paddock motorhome to the ground in anger.

The Scot was seen shouting and gesturing to Tarquini from the pit-wall at the end of the race, then proceeded to argue with many key staff and Tarquini himself, and finally got so possessed with rage, he descended to pyromania to relieve his stress. Much of his speech was incomprehensible, however many sources have confirmed one of the comments made to Tarquini was "Io ucciderò quel lento culo figlio di puttana!"

Scuderia Alitalia Andrea Coloni have so far refused to comment on events.

[FMecha]

Rumor mill time!

Mercedes to develop pushrod twinturbo for F1RMGP

It has been confirmed today that Mercedes-Benz will attempt to enter F1RMGP after they announced the development of their pushrod twinturbo engine. They confirmed that the engine will be 2.0 V6 pushrod twin-turbo, the pushrod technology being inspired from 1994 Indy 500 winning 500i, which was developed by Illmor (now Mercedes High Performance Engines, although an Mercedes-independent company with the original Illmor founder exists). Mercedes-Benz is currently convincing some F1RMGP teams to use their engines for 2016.

Paul di Resta to F1RMGP?

Paul di Resta has said that he is currently looking to join "a F1RMGP team"; although the exact team was not disclosed, some has suggested the team he is eyeing is Pacific. Since di Resta is a Mercedes-backed driver, this may have something to do with the Mercedes engine announcement. Pacific Racing declined to comment.

Laguna Seca bids for return of USGP

The owners of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca has announced that it has announced a bid to return the United States Grand Prix, the race being held in the aforementioned circuit. The circuit, famous for it's Corkscrew corner, has played host to many CART races in the past. An previous bid from Texas Motor Speedway to have USGP return in the oval was Jossed by the management.

Daihatsu announces quad-turbo, kei-displacement engine for F1RMGP

Daihatsu has not given up their ambition to enter F1RMGP. The Japanese manufacturer, which are currently supplying the Sunshine and Porto Wine teams in RWRS - both owned by a mysterious Portugese organization - has announced the engine will be a quad-turbo 660cc V6. The development of the engine has started, however reports says that it does not develop enough horsepower to be competitive.

Marussia and Simtek linked... again

Marussia and Simtek are linked once again. Rumor mills says that Marussia are attempting to purchase some stake in Simtek's F1RMGP team. In exchange, Simtek would run Marussia engines and have sponsorship from Virgin. No-one from Simtek were available for comment.

Prodrive-Mini in 2016?

Dave Richards, who has been repeatedly Jossed from F1, has announced that his team will enter F1RMGP. He has announced that the team will be run in association with Mini, the engine being a tuned version of the JCW engine used in the RWRS. Luca Flippi has been linked with the team.

[There was one more news item here, but I pulled it because I took a bad idea from my brain. ] Enjoy it!

[DemocalypseNow]

About news 3: I know Stramala has a OOC reason for the renaming of the character, I know. Don't worry, Stramala.

> Admits knowledge of change
> Ignores change and does what I asked everyone not to do anyway

[FMecha]

^Call me a continuity scumbag. I will remove the article promptly.

[DemocalypseNow]

^Call me a continuity scumbag. I will remove the article promptly.

I would retcon everything if it didn't take forever to do...

[dinizintheoven]

All right, I've kept you all waiting long enough. Real life got in the way again, as it has a habit of doing, but I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time set aside to run this race, knowing that there was likely to be plenty to say - it being the last race of the season with both titles still up for grabs... just.

And I was right.

Let the party begin.



Round 18: Adelaide, Australia
Saturday, 28 November 2015

PRE-QUALIFYING

Code: Select all

1 –    17 A. Montermini       Pacific        1'28.868
2 –    22 M. Apicella         Hispania       1'30.400
3 –    35 V. Liuzzi           Arrows         1'30.446
4 –    3  P. Alliot           AGS            1'30.617
5 –    18 T. Takagi           Pacific        1'30.949
6 –    30 J. d'Ambrosio       Simtek         1'30.960
7 –    36 V. Sospiri          Arrows         1'31.115
8 –    5  D. Schiattarella    Dome           1'31.253

Code: Select all

DNPQ – 33 G. Foitek           Spyker         1'31.715
DNPQ – 6  A. Yoong            Dome           1'31.720
DNPQ – 39 E. Salazar          FIRST          1'31.838
DNPQ – 31 P. McCarthy         Stefan         1'32.108
DNPQ – 4  O. Beretta          AGS            1'32.773
DNPQ – 25 E. Collard          SPAM           1'33.130
DNPQ – 34 K. Chandhok         Spyker         1'33.256

Code: Select all

DNPQ – 21 S. Yamamoto         Hispania       1'33.504
DNPQ – 29 P. Belmondo         Simtek         1'33.507
DNPQ – 40 J. Camathias        FIRST          1'33.624
DNPQ – 38 A. Shankar          Shekel         1'36.187
DNPQ – 26 C. Bouchut          SPAM           1'36.273
DNPQ – 32 M. Pavlovic         Stefan         1'36.317
DNPQ – 37 C. Nissany          Shekel         1'38.527

Round 18, the last of the season, with the final pre-qualifying before some of the names above inevitably disappear from F1RMGP altogether. The rain came down, if only lightly, and on the damp track Andrea Montermini really went for it; one last shot at glory, just to show he's still got it and HWNSNBM wasn't solely responsible for the miracles performed at Pacific in the second half of the season. Monty ended the session more than a second ahead of his nearest challenger – Marco Apicella, who's had a season more up-and-down than a rollercoaster, being banned for two races for his antics in Sweden surely the low point. The Italian is desperate to hang onto his place in the series, though; many said he should have hauled the Hispania through pre-qualifying every time, but this is only the second time he's done it; he now needs to get to the race and put in a stellar performance. Tonio Liuzzi, in third, has always been there or there abouts this year, occasionally hovering around the points, which Arrows are grateful of; Mr Consistency, he who always seems to make it through this session, Vincenzo Sospiri, did so again – if in seventh, ensuring a full complement of Arrows in qualifying proper. Philippe Alliot will be the sole representative for AGS, taking fourth ahead of Tora Takagi – three out of three should ensure he stays on the grid next year – and Jérôme d'Ambrosio, who surely deserves a better seat than the ailing Simtek. Last of those to make it through the cut, almost unbelievably, was Domenico Schiattarella – Dome had been written off for the rest of the season once they slid into pre-qualifying, but the tounge-twisting Italian has done them a huge favour here.

Gregor Foitek was left beating his steering wheel in frustration at the end of the session. In a year when it was all supposed to have gone far better for Spyker than it did, after they became the de facto works team for Neotech, all he's managed is one solitary appearance in a race all year, at Silverstone, and 17 DNPQs. He really thought he'd done enough to clear the first hurdle this time round; in the end, he was half a second short of Schiattarella's time. Foitek's fury was compounded as he beat Alex Yoong by half a thousandth when Schiattarella was nowhere near qualification until the last gasp, when that 1'31.2 lap was thrown in. Eliseo Salazar is now virtually certain to have made his last appearance in F1RMGP, having helped carry the FIRST team with their woefully underpowered Kia engine to two race appearances, when most commentators had written them off as Shekel-esque no-hopers who had more chance of seeing the Northern Lights in July than they did of seeing action on a Saturday afternoon. Salazar has carried his team through the few highs and the many, may lows with dignity, as has Perry McCarthy, whose ousting from Scuderia Andrea Coloni at the hands of the IBR-Lancia revolution saw his take refuge at Stefan, in a desperate attempt to pull them away from circling the drain. It didn't work out, and as with FIRST, they also have one driver who never once made the Thursday afternoon cut. If Olivier Beretta, a second and a half off making it through to Friday, was depressed at his performance, then SPAM will be furious; whatever went wrong there, that Emmanuel Collard was by far the faster of the two drivers but still two seconds away from making the cut, will not go down well with Alain Prost and René Arnoux at all. This would never have happened in their Renault days, and heads are expected to roll.

It is quite fitting, you'd have to say, that five of the bottom seven drivers are to be awarded the first annual Aguri Suzuki Wooden Spoon for completing an entire season – the Grand Reversal included – without ever making it out of pre-qualifying. Paul Belmondo and an utterly dejected Christophe Bouchut – right down amongst the tail-enders – kept them company, but those two have at least been seen in the race several times, Bouchut storming to an amazing fifth in Mexico before the season fell apart so dramatically. They have tasted action on the Friday and Saturday afternoon, but there are those five who have not. Sakon Yamamoto, whose vast sponsorship deals helped Hispania survive, was one. Joël Camathias and Milos Pavlovic were the offenders previously alluded to at FIRST and Stefan respectively. And then we have the Chuckle Brothers themselves, Chanoch Nissany and Adrian Shankar, whose legendary lack of ability had been marked out even before the season had started as the most likely cause for mirth. Even in that bonkers race in mid-season at an ill-fated Anderstorp, none of these five could perform. Camathias was treated to a Super Aguri and was half a second off the back of the grid. Pavlovic and Yamamoto had Koenigsegg power with Ice One and Viking respectively; Pavlovic was closest to qualifying but still two tenths and four places short. Channers and Shanks, would you believe, were as hopeless with a Lancia-powered SAAC as they were with their regular ride and were dead last. Amazingly, Yamamoto is in line to keep his drive for next year at Hispania, given that the millions of yen he brings with him will keep them afloat; the other four, I suspect, we have now seen the last of, forever. You'd have to say it's a deserved fate.


QUALIFYING

Code: Select all

1 –    9  C. Dagnall          F1RM           1'28.368
2 –    13 J. Magnussen        Ice One        1'28.699
3 –    1  Þ. Einarsson        Viking         1'28.822
4 –    14 M. Asmer            Ice One        1'28.993
5 –    8  Y. Ide              Super Aguri    1'29.208
6 –    16 F. Barbazza         Leyton House   1'29.218
7 –    12 A. Sutil            Forti          1'29.685
8 –    28 L. Badoer           SAAC           1'29.841
9 –    27 G. Tarquini         SAAC           1'29.892
10 –   15 H. Noda             Leyton House   1'30.145
11 –   2  T. Rustad           Viking         1'30.560
12 –   24 C. McRae (H)        Minardi        1'30.704
13 –   11 P. Chaves           Forti          1'31.032

Code: Select all

14 –   30 J. d'Ambrosio       Simtek         1'31.074
15 –   7  S. Nakano           Super Aguri    1'31.163
16 –   41 K. Andersen         Polestar       1'31.330
17 –   3  P. Alliot           AGS            1'31.469
18 –   42 S. Hohenthal        Polestar       1'31.719
19 –   35 V. Liuzzi           Arrows         1'31.807
20 –   10 E. van de Poele     F1RM           1'31.812
21 –   23 E. Bertaggia        Minardi        1'31.882
22 –   17 A. Montermini       Pacific        1'31.885
23 –   5  D. Schiattarella    Dome           1'32.232
24 –   22 M. Apicella         Hispania       1'32.357
25 –   36 V. Sospiri          Arrows         1'32.446
26 –   18 T. Takagi           Pacific        1'33.032

Code: Select all

DNQ –  19 J. Winkelhock       ATS Rial       1'33.248
DNQ –  20 M. Ammermüller      ATS Rial       1'34.691

The situation is this: Yuji Ide needs only eight points, for sixth place, to secure him the Drivers' title. Jan Magnussen is the only other driver who does not have to win to have a shot at depriving him of the ultimate prize, but if he finishes second he needs Ide not to score at all. For Þorvaldur Einarsson and Gabriele Tarquini, nothing less than a win will do, and other results must go their way.

So step forward the man who some wrote off, and wrote off his team at the same time, since their ill-fated switch to the PURE powerplant. Chris Dagnall, 2013 champion, has sprung up as the fly in their ointment, taking pole by over three tenths of a second, in conditions even wetter than the day before. Jan Magnussen is at least going to start in the second place that is his minimum target, The Dane has the man he lost the 2013 title to ahead of him, while Þorvaldur Einarsson, who swiped it the next year, took third and will be desperate to jump them both at the start. Yuji Ide will be OK with fifth, but ahead of him he has an unexpected problem in the form of Marko Asmer, who will surely be instructed to fight as a rear gunner for Magnussen... and with Magnussen really requiring Ide to score no points at all, you'd hope there will be no dirty tricks at the sharp end of the grid. Gabriele Tarquini, the last of the title contenders, has it all to do, having qualified only ninth; Fabrizio Barbazza, Adrian Sutil and compliant team-mate Luca Badoer lurk ahead of him; whether Barbazza makes life easy for his countryman it remains to be seen, but then. Leyton House have their eye on third in the Constructors' Championship, potentially beating Viking to it. Hideki Noda lines up tenth, at least inside the points positions to start with... but if there is to be a Viking versus Leyton House battle for the bronze medal in the Willi Kauhsen Cup, then Tommy Rustad's swansong in the second Viking seat may well have some use to it yet; if he places high enough, there's every chance Viking could steal second place from under SAAC's noses. Colin McRae will start 12th, possibly with some extra orders from the Il Barone Rampante empire as to what to do with that marauding Viking in front of him – although, again, any underhand tactics will be carefully monitored.

Pedro Chaves, in the second Forti, has managed a grand total of two points finishes this season, not what you'd cann a great return – and it had all looked so promising in the early races. For his last chance to make amends, he rounds out the top half of the grid – where all 13 cars were those not required to pre-qualify. The best of those who had to run the Thursday gauntlet was Jérôme d'Ambrosio in the Simtek, placing 14th – ahead, amazingly, of Shinji Nakano, who's had the wick turned right down on his car this time as it's all about Yuji Ide in the Super Aguri team. At the far end of the pit lane, it's still almost even-stevens at Polestar, but as Kasper Andersen has his last chance to overhaul team-mate Sebastian Hohenthal for the Viking drive next year, all he could manage was two places ahead – they start 16th and 18th, with Philippe Alliot between them in the sole AGS. Completing the top 20, on row ten we find Vitantonio Liuzzi and Eric van de Poele, whose future at F1RM isn't totally certain, especially not with a backmarker placing like this. Enrico Bertaggia, possibly hoping for a step up to SAAC, hasn't done himself too many favours with a 21st place on the grid, and the five final places are all occupied by those who had to test their nerve on Thursday – Andrea Montermini in the lead Pacific, Domenico Schiattarella for Dome (amazingly), Marco Apicella in the Hispania (good for them), Vinnie Sospiri in the other Arrows, and – by the skin of his teeth – Tora Takagi, taking the final place for Pacific. And so that means that ATS Rial, in their last race under their current ownership, are packing up and going home early. It's the end for Joachim Winkelhock as well, and who knows what will happen to Michael Ammermüller from here. Either way, it's not as if we didn't see this coming, seeing as they've recorded only four starts out of a possible twelve since hauling themselves back out of pre-qualifying. In their new guise in 2016, with Zakspeed coming on board, pre-qualifying is where they'll find themselves again... maybe Ammermüller should be kept on board seeing as he was the one who rescued them this year.

So on with the race...


RACE

Something tells me that, in this instance, I should start with the race report.

There wasn't a massive amount of drama at the start, but Chris Dagnall didn't get away particularly well, and found himself swamped on one side by Jan Magnussen and on the other by Þorvaldur Einarsson, who took first and second respectively, even if Daggers did manage to get the second place back reasonably quickly. Fabrizio Barbazza had a blinding start and took fourth, relegating Yuji Ide to sixth. There was little first-lap nutcasery... but lap 3 was a different matter. Luca Badoer, lying seventh, went for an overtake that was never there. Who should he hit and send flying into the wall?

Yuji Ide, of course.

Some will say it was deliberate; after all, SAAC needed the top three to retire if Gabriele Tarquini was to have a chance of snatching the Drivers' title at the death. Ide was, of course, the favourite. But now, at this stage, he was out – all due to the crass and careless actions of Tarquini's team-mate. Tarquini, though, was already making heavy weather of the race; Badoer's misdemeanour put him down to 23rd, with only Domenico Schiattarella and Tora Takagi behind him, and this promoted Tarquini to sixth in a race he absolutely had to win; news came through over his radio that he'd won the Clausura by default, but somehow that failed to spur him on to better things. Ide, of course, had gone into this race with a 17-point lead, but the man he was leading by that margin was now in the lead of this race. Troubled times lay ahead for Ide and his Japanese compatriots; as it stood, Magnussen would be scooping the coveted Carel Godin de Beaufort Cup that had eluded him three times already.

Someone else who hadn't read the script was Marko Asmer, with his Ice One drive under question, and who needed to put in a star performance. On lap 6, he passed Fabrizio Barbazza for fourth. A lap later, he had a dice with Þorvaldur Einarsson, and won that battle as well. And as Chris Dagnall attacked Jan Magnussen for the lead, he missed his braking point and allowed Asmer to pass him up the inside to take second. Ice One had been expecting to trounce the field this year but this, amazingly, was the first time they'd been 1-2 on the road all season. SAAC had also been expecting to leave everyone for dead – but on lap 11, Tarquini was still sixth and making no inroads into the five cars ahead of him at all, whereas Badoer had progressed from 23rd to... 22nd, only passing Marco Apicella in the Hispania. At this point, it was Chris Dagnall's turn to make a charge, jumping back past Asmer on lap 11, and having another snap at Magnussen for the lead two laps later, which again didn't work out, but at least he remembered to brake this time. Barely a couple of corners later, though, they both approached Tora Takagi, who was running last on the road and was about to be lapped already. Takagi, struggling furiously with the rainy and windy conditions, was slithering all over the place, and Magnussen misjudged how slow he was going to be, causing Dagnall to hit him from behind. The Dane spun, and by the time he'd recovered, was in fourth, nine seconds behind Þorvaldur Einarsson. Yuji Ide, watching now from the pit wall, tried to hide his delight at Magnussen's misfortune, and failed. He jumped up and punched the air in delight. The title was in his hands again.

Lap 17 saw the second retirement of the race as Sebastian Hohenthal, unprovoked, spun off and hit the wall at Wakefield corner. The only consolation he had at this point was that Kasper Andersen had had a rotten start and was languishing in 18th place, a long way from the 8th he'd need to finish top dog at Polestar and claim the Viking seat for next year. In fact, neither driver was particularly starring in the rain, and Hohenthal had hit a puddle offline. Rotten luck. Daggers, up the front, progressed serenely onwards, until lap 22, when he had to lap... Luca Badoer. All eyes were on the Italian, not least those in Race Control, but Daggers passed cleanly, as did Marko Asmer and Þorvaldur Einarsson two laps later. Jan Magnussen still had to dispatch Andrea Montermini before he'd have his date with the Third Lap Nutcase. Someone who dispatched himself, though, was Jérôme d'Ambrosio; he'd been running very well in 11th and almost on course for points, before his driveshaft gave up the ghost and left him stranded at the side of the track.

Lap 28 showed exactly why Chris Dagnall had been so fast, as he dived into the pits for his first fuel stop. It brought him out fourth, within sniffing distance of Jan Magnussen, who was inching up on Þorvaldur Einarsson, just as the Icelander was doing the same on Marko Asmer – who was now leading a race for the first time since his heroics at Hungary the year before. Lap 32 saw Asmer pit, but he'd been going so well he emerged second... only to have Jan Magnussen swarming all over the back of him and getting furiously onto the radio to haul the Estonian out the way, especially as Jan still had a few laps left of low fuel running. He passed within a lap, to be second behind Þorvaldur Einarsson. This permutation, though, wasn't good enough – he'd beat Ide but it'd hand the title to the Icelander!

On lap 39 it was Þorvaldur's turn to pit; they'd called Tommy Rustad in as well but some slick pitwork from the Viking crew on Rustad's car saw them service both cars with fuel and tyres with no delay, and a shining example they were too. Having gone as far through the race as he had, the decision came to fill his car to the end; Marko Asmer and Chris Dagnall were going to need to pit again at some stage. Þorvaldur was fifth at the end of the pits, behind Fabrizio Barbazza, who still needed fuel and tyres and obligingly did so a lap later. Jan Magnussen was the last of the top four to pit, and also fuelled himself to the finish. So on lap 41, with the first round of pit stops out the way, it was Marko Asmer in the lead, Chris Dagnall second with a 2.5 second gap, Þorvaldur Einarsson third and 11.7 seconds adrift of Asmer, with Jan Magnussen fourth, 24.9 seconds down and seemingly incapable of closing the gap on the rest. Were it to stay this way, Yuji Ide would be the champion.

But, of course, the top two were going to need another fuel and tyre stop.

Mild drama ensued as Colin McRae ground to a halt on lap 42 with transmission gremlins, but had little bearing on the lead pack, while Chris Dagnall nearly had a face full of... who else but Tora Takagi, who slithered all over the track as Daggers lapped him. But he survived, and on lap 50, made his second trip to see his crew, fuel himself to the finish, get fresh wet tyres and continue his charge to potential glory on the day. He emerged third, nine seconds behind Þorvaldur Einarsson, but still ahead of Jan Magnussen. Marko Asmer picked up the pace even further, and extracted every ounce of performance from his lighter car. It was touch and go as to whether he could get in and out of the pits and beat Þorvaldur Einarsson to the lead...

...he did! Rapturous applause roared from the Ice One pit wall, and also from that of Super Aguri. If Asmer could stay ahead, their man would be the Drivers' Champion – and, at this stage, the Constructors' title was certainly heading their way. Jan Magnussen's own faint title hopes were fading fast – but for Asmer, the win would not just be a matter of personal pride, it would be dealing out some particularly bitter treatment to Þorvaldur Einarsson, the same treatment that the Icelander had dealt to Jan Magnussen at Jerez last year, but to do so at the last race would, he thought, magnify that effect.

Þorvaldur, though, isn't someone to be toyed with in that way. Icelanders are, after all, the descendants of the original Vikings who risked life and limb to sail, in appalling conditions, on open-decked longboats, across the North Atlantic to colonise a newly-discovered lump of rock that nobody thought could be habitable and, by the way, those mountains over there tend to explode occasionally with hot, molten rock, just thought you should know that. A thousand years later, give or take a century, their favourite son was on course for a second shot at glory if only he could hunt down the Estonian who was on superb form, in the garish green dazzle-camouflage monstrosity in front of him.

At the end of lap 57, the gap between them was 2.7 seconds. A lap later, it was a mere 1.9. Then, 1.1. And on lap 60, Þorvaldur was under Asmer's gearbox... despite the spray. And he made his move.

Super Aguri, suddenly, fell silent. Was it all over for Yuji Ide?

Fate was to conspire against Þorvaldur Einarsson in the most unfortunate way. On lap 65, Tommy Rustad lapped Enrico Bertaggia – and for some reason, and we hope it wasn't orders from the IBR headquarters, Bertie tried to use Rustad as a brake. Rustad was punted out into the gravel trap, close enough to the circuit that the yellow flags were out, and that's no overtaking. Þorvaldur came up behind Vitantonio Liuzzi in the Arrows to lap him, right in the yellow flag zone; Liuzzi was slow, even more so than Takagi, and the time Þorvaldur lost while boxed in behind the ailing Italian was enough for Marko Asmer to close the gap to nothing. Asmer was less confident about following the Viking in the spray, but stayed well in touch for lap after lap; Þorvaldur couldn't shake him off. On lap 73, he pounced... and the Super Aguri pit wall went berserk. Their saviour, an unlikely Estonian who'd underperformed for most of the year, had just handed the title back to their man, Yuji Ide.

And the plot thickened to the consistency of concrete on lap 75, as Chris Dagnall came a cropper while trying to lap Andrea Montermini. Crash, bang, wallop, where's my front wing? Seems I've left it behind, better go back to the pits for a new one... yes, after you, Jan, I've got no front downforce anymore. So: Marko Asmer first, Jan Magnussen third, the man Magnussen had to beat to the win in second, and surely if he could catch and pass, Asmer would hand him the win and, with it, the title?

Guess who wasn't going to take all this lying down.

No sooner had Þorvaldur Einarsson heard the news that Daggers was out of the equation and he now had Jan Magnussen behind him, than he summoned up every ounce of Viking fighting spirit. He took what can only be described as insane risks in the wet conditions, but all the skill he'd developed on rainy weekends in Essex sliding old bangers round a muddy track, everything he'd learned from driving snowmobiles at the absolute limit, even dabbling in ice hockey as a young boy... everything he ever knew about surfaces with very low grip was all coming together in this one moment of truth.

With 77 laps gone out of 81, Marko Asmer led by 1.6 seconds. That margin disappeared almost instantly.

And at the Roundabout hairpin, on that same lap, Þorvaldur Einarsson made his final move.

For you, Mr Asmer, the journey is over.

For you, Ide-san, the whole season has just gone up in smoke.

Code: Select all

1 –    1  Þ. Einarsson        Viking         81   2h 03'22.636
2 –    14 M. Asmer            Ice One        81   2h 03'32.577
3 –    13 J. Magnussen        Ice One        81   2h 03'48.311
4 –    9  C. Dagnall          F1RM           81   2h 04'12.832
5 –    16 F. Barbazza         Leyton House   81   2h 04'21.961
6 –    12 A. Sutil            Forti          81   2h 04'53.457
7 –    27 G. Tarquini         SAAC           80   + 1 lap                                                     
8 –    15 H. Noda             Leyton House   80   + 1 lap                                                     
9 –    28 L. Badoer           SAAC           80   + 1 lap                                                     
10 –   11 P. Chaves           Forti          80   + 1 lap                                                     
11 –   7  S. Nakano           Super Aguri    79   + 2 laps                                                    
12 –   3  P. Alliot           AGS            79   + 2 laps                                                    
13 –   10 E. van de Poele     F1RM           79   + 2 laps                                                    

Code: Select all

14 –   41 K. Andersen         Polestar       78   + 3 laps                                                    
15 –   23 E. Bertaggia        Minardi        78   + 3 laps                                                    
16 –   35 V. Liuzzi           Arrows         78   + 3 laps                                                    
17 –   17 A. Montermini       Pacific        78   + 3 laps                                                    
18 –   36 V. Sospiri          Arrows         78   + 3 laps                                                    
19 –   5  D. Schiattarella    Dome           78   + 3 laps                                                    
20 –   22 M. Apicella         Hispania       77   + 4 laps                                                    
21 –   18 T. Takagi           Pacific        77   + 4 laps                                                    
22 –   2  T. Rustad           Viking         65   crash                                                       
23 –   24 C. McRae (H)        Minardi        41   transmission                                                
24 –   30 J. d'Ambrosio       Simtek         27   transmission                                                
25 –   42 S. Hohenthal        Polestar       15   crash                                                       
26 –   8  Y. Ide              Super Aguri    2    crash                                                       

Þorvaldur Einarsson won the race, three and a bit laps later, by a margin of 9.9 seconds. Such had been his pace that he'd left Marko Asmer for dead – and even if Ice One had gone down the route of team orders and sent Jan Magnussen past, that wouldn't have been enough for the Dane – second would see him leapfrog Ide in the title race, but as the only man on the track who'd deprive him of the title if he won had won, what was the point?

Carel Godin de Beaufourt was there again on the podium, with his H specially polished beforehand – this time, rather than having to bring the newly-crowned champion onto the podium to gatecrash the three drivers who'd taken the first three places on the road, this time he was presenting the cup that bore his name to the man who'd won on the track. Þorvaldur Einarsson was now a double champion, alongside the mighty HWNSNBM who'd won the first two years of this championship – and now, might strongly consider having another crack at it. Marko Asmer looked sorely disappointed on the podium, as if he'd let his team-mate down; in truth, Jan Magnussen had been the victim of circumstance but had been just as much of an outside shot for the title as he who had just won it; you'd also suspect that Rami Räikkönen, chief of the Ice One team, must have had a massive admiration for the way Þorvaldur Einarsson snatched the title from his main man's grasp... after all, how did his famous brother win the Drivers' Championship in F1 in 2007? This was also Ice One's best ever result, should have banished all the lingering memories of Magnussen's embarrassing DNPQ in Monaco, but ultimately it was still too little, too late.

The one obvious consolation for the Japanese contingent was the appearance of Aguri Suzuki amongst the podium celebrations; it was always on the cards, only a non-points finish for his team – which, I remind you, did happen – plus a 1-2 finish for SAAC, which didn't – would have deprived him and his team of the Willi Kauhsen Cup. Herr Willibert was there to present it in person, as for the first time since Viking Racing's formation, this cup would be moving onto pastures new. It will be travelling back to Japan, taking pride of place in Super Aguri's trophy cabinet at Suzuka. Yuji Ide and Shinji Nakano can both take pride that they contributed to it – but Ide will be very sore at losing the ultimate personal prize for some time to come.

What about the rest, then? 21 cars finished the race, amazingly given the conditions. After the podium sitters, fourth was Chris Dagnall – 50 seconds off the lead in the end, which would have been much closer had he not had to change his front wing at the end of the race. Fabrizio Barbazza couldn't catch him in the end but held onto fifth, giving him enough points to beat Luca Badoer to eighth place in the final table. Gabriele Tarquini, droning around in sixth for most of the race, eventually lost concentration and not only allowed Adrian Sutil to beat him to sixth on the road, but – having started the race meeting as a championship contender, he who actually won it lapped him right at the end, just to rub battery acid in the wound. Hideki Noda, never quite at the races, took eighth; Luca Badoer took ninth after driving through the field to score two points. However, for his role in robbing Yuji Ide of the Drivers' Championship, but also for handing the Constructors' title hook, line and sinker to Super Aguri, Badoer has to take Reject Of The Race. SAAC eventually beat Viking to second place by five points, but it'd only have been three if he'd taken himself out in that clumsy incident, if Tarquini had somehow conspired to drop two more places, and don't forget Tommy Rustad was on course for those two points until he was crudely biffed off the track by the other IBR team... SAAC were lucky to take that second place, very lucky; it wasn't theirs by right today.

Pedro Chaves signed off the season with a point-scoring place, as had been suggested after qualifying, but it was just the solitary point. Shinji Nakano was nowhere all day, mainly due to the team not really bothering to set him up; they may have regretted it more if the real SAAC had turned up. Nakano was two laps adrift, as were Philippe Alliot and Eric van de Poele; Kasper Andersen, on the other hand, led a whole load of cars who were three complete circuits off the pace. Likely as not, his chances of the second Viking drive fizzled out here, but there could be others available just in case. As for those behind him, Enrico Bertaggia was instrumental in ensuring the man who was keeping the seat warm for Polestar promotion didn't end his season on a high note, Tonio Liuzzi caused chaos with the yellow flags that almost saw the Drivers' title handed elsewhere, Andrea Montermini ended up in an Arrows sandwich with Vincenzo Sospiri behind him, and Domenico Schiattarella at least avoided falling four laps down. That's more than can be said for Marco Apicella and Tora Takagi... who did.

So ends another season. And you know what I want in 2016? A dull, tedious, monotonous domination the way we'd associate with Michael Schumacher or Sebastian Vettel. I don't care if Þorvaldur Einarsson takes his third straight title this way, or if Yuji Ide or Jan Magnussen or whoever ends up driving for SAAC take their first, or if HWNSNBM gets back in the driving seat and blitzes the competition.

Because my blood pressure won't take any more like this season...


DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP: FINAL STANDINGS
for the Carel Godin de Beaufort Cup

~ indicates a driver who has switched teams – only the latest team is shown

Code: Select all

1 –    1  * Þ. Einarsson        Viking         185 - CHAMPION
2 –    8    Y. Ide              Super Aguri    179
3 –    13   J. Magnussen        Ice One        177
4 –    27   G. Tarquini         SAAC           162
5 –    15   H. Noda             Leyton House   136
6 –    9    C. Dagnall          F1RM           126
7 –    7    S. Nakano           Super Aguri    121
8 –    16   F. Barbazza         Leyton House   105
9 –    28   L. Badoer           SAAC           104
10 –   14   M. Asmer            Ice One        82
11 –   2    T. Rustad           Viking         76
12 –   12   A. Sutil            Forti          69

Code: Select all

13 –   24   C. McRae (H)        Minardi        43
14 –   3    P. Alliot           AGS            41
15 –   23   E. Bertaggia        Minardi        31
16 =  ~22   M. Apicella         Hispania       27
16 =   11   P. Chaves           Forti          27
18 =   10   E. van de Poele     F1RM           25
18 =   42   S. Hohenthal        Polestar       25
20 –   41   K. Andersen         Polestar       22
21 –        HWNSNBM             Pacific        14
22 =   20   M. Ammermüller      ATS Rial       10
22 =   26   C. Bouchut          SPAM           10
24 –   30   J. d'Ambrosio       Simtek         9

Code: Select all

25 –   35   V. Liuzzi           Arrows         6
26 –   4    O. Beretta          AGS            3
27 –   19   J. Winkelhock       ATS Rial       2
28 –   36   V. Sospiri          Arrows         1

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP: FINAL STANDINGS
for the Willi Kauhsen Cup

Code: Select all

1 –  * Super Aguri    300
2 –    SAAC           266
3 –    Viking         261
4 –    Ice One        259
5 –    Leyton House   241
6 –    F1RM           151
7 –    Forti          96
8 –    Minardi        74
9 –    Polestar       47
10 –   AGS            44

Code: Select all

11 –   Dome           27
12 –   Pacific        14
13 –   ATS Rial       12
14 –   SPAM           10
15 –   Simtek         9
16 –   Arrows         7

CLAUSURA: FINAL

(1) Ide (DNF) v (2) Tarquini (7th)

Not what you'd call the most satisfying result... but it's something in the SAAC trophy cabinet anyway.


To follow will be the graphical final tables, and also the results of the Qualifying Cup.

[dinizintheoven]

DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP GRID



CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP GRID



AND FINALLY... THE QUALIFYING CUP


If it's any consolation to Yuji Ide, he'd won the Qualifying Cup after Suzuka.

It probably isn't.

[dinizintheoven]

And, of course, what we need now is nominations for REJECT OF THE YEAR!

[TomWazzleshaw]

I'll start the ball rolling with Forti and Dome, for spending 90% of the year being plain awful.

[FMecha]

I will stick to the line and say F1RM deserves it.

Your comments on my rumors, diniz?

[dinizintheoven]

Your comments on my rumors, diniz?

Some of these will be best served in the first round of Silly Season news.

[dinizintheoven]

I want more Reject Of The Year nominations. Otherwise, I'll be all autocratic and pick it myself! Meanwhile, the Silly Season's started already, even before anyone's arrived at Bathurst. In this first section, we will confirm the first round of news with some of the worst-kept secrets in the business.

ATS Rial's merger with Zakspeed confirmed
Germany's main entry for F1RMGP in 2016 will be a triple gestält entity combining Zakspeed, rumoured to have been joining in previous seasons, with ATS Rial, who have already spent four years in the series climbing from the pits of hopelessness, up to respectability, and then sliding backwards again. The team will still be powered by an Audi LMP diesel engine, and will now be known as Vorsprung Durch Rennsport, after Audi's famous advertising slogan. The new car will be the ARZ-7, the Z denoting the new presence of Zakspeed, the livery is said to be a red, yellow and blue affair (hopefully something better than what David Price came up with for the 2014 season), and Peter Zakowski will be in charge of the team - with Günther Schmidt represented by a gold-framed picture of himself, similar to what the Monteverdi team used to do with their deceased founder. That Schmidt will probably be berating some unfortunate mechanic or even one of his hapless pay-drivers in the chosen picture should serve as all the motivation that the drivers will need to wipe away the disappointment of the 2015 season.

Heil den Skorpionen
The story was broken, oddly enough, in a German motorsport publication with that exact line. Scorpion Racing's ascent to F1RMGP was probably an even worse-kept secret than the involvement of Zakspeed in the new German super-team; here, they will be competing against a previous incarnation of that which they sought to continue the legacy of in F1, i.e. Hispania. It is likely that one or more teams will be leaving the series, but it would take a massive drop-out rate for Scorpion to escape the horrors of pre-qualifying. Still, they're giving themselves a chance, by bringing a new engine manufacturer into the series - Fiat tuners Abarth, who are taking the principle of "small and light, but powerful" from such creations as the Fiat 500 and Autobianchi A112 that they turned their hands to in days of yore, to produce a fitting engine for the new team - a four-pot, 1.6-litre, twincharged screamer. With the scorpion logo of Abarth, the two were a perfect match for each other - and the engine might attract a customer team as well. Watch this space.

A possible calendar reshuffle?
Capricious publication J.O.U.R.N.A.L. proposed bringing back the United States Grand Prix at Laguna Seca, with its famous Corkscrew. Supposedly unsuitable for this type of racing, Sir Bernard Shekelslike is known for his "I'll give anything a go... except the Valencia Street Circuit" attitude, and is considering adding it to the calendar for 2016. Should this happen, two races in Europe will be dropped, and one will be added outside Europe; amazingly, Sir Bernie is considering putting his life on the line and running at - shock, horror - a Tilkedrome! Fortunately, it's Sepang, which is unlikely to generate the howls of derision (or at least not quite so loudly) as Buddh, Shanghai or Yeongam. However, if that falls through, the other possibility would be a second race in South America, probably Argentina - though the owners of the Potrero de los Funes circuit aren't being particularly co-operative, being still annoyed at the people of the Falklands not wanting to march into Cristina Fernandez's control (I wonder why that is, eh?) - and it is said even Sir Bernie couldn't sort this one out. However the calendar reshuffle works out, if it happens, the Women's European Cup will expand beyond Europe, its first two rounds being held at Laguna Seca and Montreal, with the remaining ten on the European circuits.


Consider anything else jossed - certainly the story about Paul "less interesting than a glass of milk" di Resta, which is said to have made Keith Wiggins throw up his egg and chips, especially as he'd waltz into the team and tell everyone he's better than HWNSNBM - in his dour, monotone voice. The Simtek-Marussia-obvious-partnership is not jossed, though, and needs further consideration at this stage...

[takagi_for_the_win]

dinizintheoven, what can you say about the rumours linking Kamui Kobayashi to Pacific for 2016, alongside Toranosuke Takagi?

[dinizintheoven]

That one will have to wait, for much the same reason as I can't comment on what Simtek will be up to yet.

[FMecha]

...the livery is said to be a red, yellow and blue affair (hopefully something better than what David Price came up with for the 2014 season)...

Takagi Racing Enterprises would like a word with you. (See RoLFS/IFRC)

What about the engine developments from Daihatsu and Mercedes? Any team linked to those engines?

[dr-baker]

What about the news that there is another new team wishing to join the series, Dupont et Dupond, based in Calais, France? They have stated that driving for them will be an ex-champion and a promising new rookie driver...

[takagi_for_the_win]

What about the news that there is another new team wishing to join the series, Dupont et Dupond, based in Calais, France? They have stated that driving for them will be an ex-champion and a promising new rookie driver...

Well, its either gonna be HWNSNBM or Daggers for the ex-champion. Dagnall could leave F1RM- after all, he's been dragging that car into places its had no right to be since 2014, but would he want to join an upstart team? Thats a big, big question

[dr-baker]

What about the news that there is another new team wishing to join the series, Dupont et Dupond, based in Calais, France? They have stated that driving for them will be an ex-champion and a promising new rookie driver...

Well, its either gonna be HWNSNBM or Daggers for the ex-champion. Dagnall could leave F1RM- after all, he's been dragging that car into places its had no right to be since 2014, but would he want to join an upstart team? Thats a big, big question.

The promising young rookie driver, I would assume, would have to be French, for marketing reasons, and to get the French government on board. Take Force India as an example... Oh wait.

[DemocalypseNow]

What about the news that there is another new team wishing to join the series, Dupont et Dupond, based in Calais, France? They have stated that driving for them will be an ex-champion and a promising new rookie driver...

Well, its either gonna be HWNSNBM or Daggers for the ex-champion. Dagnall could leave F1RM- after all, he's been dragging that car into places its had no right to be since 2014, but would he want to join an upstart team? Thats a big, big question.

The promising young rookie driver, I would assume, would have to be French, for marketing reasons, and to get the French government on board. Take Force India as an example... Oh wait.

So it's a French team with a promising rookie? Surely the second driver is Benoit Voeckler!

[Salamander]

The promising young rookie driver, I would assume, would have to be French, for marketing reasons, and to get the French government on board. Take Force India as an example... Oh wait.

So it's a French team with a promising rookie? Surely the second driver is Benoit Voeckler!

Not necessarily; it could just as well be his twin sister Adelaide.

[dr-baker]

The promising young rookie driver, I would assume, would have to be French, for marketing reasons, and to get the French government on board. Take Force India as an example... Oh wait.

So it's a French team with a promising rookie? Surely the second driver is Benoit Voeckler!

No, don't be daft. It'll be either Tom Dillman or Nathanaël Berthon. Or possibly the Monegasques Stephano Coletti or Stéphane Richelmi. The champion driver? Olivier Panis is the 1993 F3000 champion, after all...

[FMecha]

Dutch media are reporting that Guido van der Garde are linked to "a major F1RMGP team", as re-reported by J.O.U.R.N.A.L recently. Any possible connections?

Also, where the Enduro begins?
I would also apologize for the horribleness that is my WEC Team Whose Name Can't Be Mentioned Anymore. Blame my head for springing bad RP ideas.

[Nessafox]

Dutch media are reporting that Guido van der Garde are linked to "a major F1RMGP team", as re-reported by J.O.U.R.N.A.L recently. Any possible connections?

He signs for Super Aguri, then decides he wants to drive for Spyker instead.

[dinizintheoven]

Also, where the Enduro begins?

Where? Bathurst, obviously.

If you meant when it begins, the best answer I can give is "probably not for a while", until I get a few bits of business out the way. If I was to try and set a date, I'd have the signups in mid-to-late May, with the two-hour-interval race stats published on a daily basis from June 1st-12th. It seems like the proper way to do it.

[dinizintheoven]

Sir Bernard Shekelslike has a screaming eppy-fit

A terrifying shock was in store for the steadily aging F1RMGP supremo as he sat in a dentist's waiting room before getting his annual check-up. (Yes, even expensive private dentists have waiting rooms; it is believed it took so long because Lewis Hamilton was taking all day to have some gold teeth inserted so he can look like his homie Puff Diddly, which is well blingin', innit. Either that or Pastor Maldonado was having his braces removed.) Idly thumbing through the yellowed pages of a strange motoring publication called Sniff Petrol from June 2013, he came across an article that caught his eye like a sharp fish hook... and his reaction was legendary.

"OI! YOU BATHPLUGGERS! I STARTED DOING THAT THREE YEARS BEFORE YOU DID!"

It even drowned out the sound of the drill in the next-door surgery for plebs with no money who have to use the NHS. Andrea Sassetti could not be approached for comment, mainly because his jaw was swollen from the root canal work he'd just had done.

[dr-baker]

Hey! Any news on the sign-ups for the endurance?

[dinizintheoven]

I have to get Hellfest out of the way first. Knowing how signups for these championships progress, the Enduro has to be run at a time when I have nothing else to do and can sit in front of the computer endlessly hitting F5, watching the entries come in...

And after Hellfest, I have more adventures pencilled in for the start of July, but I could do the signups between adventures and then run it in mid-to-late July, when the F1 season has a seven week semi-break with the Hungarian race dropped in the middle. Then again, interest in the F1RMGP season just gone seemed to be lower than usual, possibly because I ran it mostly in F1 downtime, even though the idea was to provide some relief from the F1 deprivation that drove half the forum to near-insanity in 2011-12.

There's chunks of news in the regular series which have been sitting in the pipeline for ages and once the Enduro is done I can at least start throwing those into the thread!

[dr-baker]

Cool, thanks!

[FMecha]

On today's J.O.U.R.N.A.L Newsflash...

• Pune Warriors ends Spyker sponsorship deal: After the Indian Cricket Premier League team announced that the withdrawal from the league, Pune Warriors India has also officially ended their sponsorship with the Spyker F1RMGP Team. However, it is rumored that Sahara Group, the (former) franchise owner of the team, would retain some minor sponsorship.
• Lavezzi and SAC increasingly likely: An Italian rumor mill said that Italian coffee brand Lavezzi, which now has increasingly tied with Alessandro Linari's motorsport empire, Il Barone Rampante, would sponsor Scuderia Alitalia Coloni next year. With Lavezzi logos being prominent in IBR-run teams, this is increasingly likely. We are trying to contact Linari when this newsflash is published.
• AGS and SPAM in battle for Alstom sponsorship: Following announcement that the Alstom has ended their partnership with the Voeckler racing family, two F1RMGP teams, AGS and SPAM, are reported to try to secure a sponsorship deal with the French conglomerate. No-one with Alstom, SPAM, or AGS are available for contact. Other current sponsorship rumors are Viking Racing linked to a sponsorship deal with Sri Lankan Tony Fernando's tea brand, Gold Leaf, as well as Dome linked to another deal with a J-pop group, AKB48.

[pasta_maldonado]

The fact that this series thread is located in the Black Stig Memorial Forum may mean that some of your rumours are completely irrelevant, FMecha

[RonDenisDeletraz]

Dinizintheoven clearly said Tony Fernando would have no F1RMGP involvement.

[DemocalypseNow]

The Alstom rumour is definitely not true - the story clearly said they were pulling out of motorsport altogether.

[Ataxia]

The fact that this series thread is located in the Balck Stig Memorial Forum may mean that some of your rumours are completely irrelevant, FMecha

Let him dream, Pasta. Let him dream...

[dinizintheoven]

Dinizintheoven clearly said Tony Fernando would have no F1RMGP involvement.

Good old Mecha's Memory, eh?

It's not just that Tony Fernando has no F1RMGP involvement - he has no involvement with any form of open-wheel racing, whether it's F1RMGP, the RWRS network, the GP2 championship, RoLFS (or whatever it's calling itself now), or anything similar. It's touring cars only - this does include a potential bid for a future REECCS slot, but nothing will be announced on that front until the first Warped season has finished.

[FMecha]

Dinizintheoven clearly said Tony Fernando would have no F1RMGP involvement.

Good old Mecha's Memory, eh?

It's not just that Tony Fernando has no F1RMGP involvement - he has no involvement with any form of open-wheel racing, whether it's F1RMGP, the RWRS network, the GP2 championship, RoLFS (or whatever it's calling itself now), or anything similar. It's touring cars only - this does include a potential bid for a future REECCS slot, but nothing will be announced on that front until the first Warped season has finished.

So he won't be involved in sportscar racing, either?

Oh, and RoLFS is now IFRC.

[FMecha]

The Portugese Autosport are reporting that an organization calling itself "F1RMGP Team Portugal" is going to enter the sport with Pedro Chaves and Felipe Albuquerque. Any confirmations?

[dinizintheoven]

There's a Portuguese Autosport now? When will the madness end?

Anyway, I've got stacks of Silly Season news all stored up for when I've run the Enduro, and Pedro Chaves' future, along with a whole host of others', will be revealed there.