Re: F1RMGP 2015: The Fifth (season) and the Fury
Posted: 15 Jul 2013, 15:14
Vive la Revolution: AGS gets a new boss at last
The death of Henri Julien in July 2013 went, somehow, unreported by the entire F1RMGP media. In fact, some of the team's senior management tried to convince the paddock for the rest of the season that he was still alive, in the style of Spitting Image sketches lampooning the USSR's constantly-shifting government in the early 1980s. As the picture of the old boss on the wall of the garage became ever more decorated with flowers and gold ribbons, though, the team found it impossible to deny for any longer. For the last two years, the ship has drifted without a captain at the helm, the ever-diminishing returns being akin to how Lotus would have fared after Colin Chapman perished if Ayrton Senna hadn't joined them and prolonged the team's winning ways. Two podiums - second in Hungary 2014 and a highly unlikely win this year on home turf - couldn't hide the team's sharp decline, and as the DNQs racked up, usually on the second car driven by Pierre-Henri Raphanel or Olivier Beretta, even star driver Philippe Alliot found it a struggle to perform as the team slid into pre-qualifying.
The shady behind-the scenes team known as "Team Julien" that sailed the good ship AGS into ever rougher waters has since been revealed as comprising Julien Beltoise, son of Jean-Pierre, and Elton Julian, the American former Formula 3 driver, with the bit of occasional assistance by former AGS driver Pascal Fabre. These three have now been relieved of their duties, as Alliot has decided to take the bull by the horns and run the team by himself. At the age of 61, he felt he was getting too old for this racing lark anyway, bar the occasional demonstration to the paying customers at the racing school in Gonfaron.
This, of course, frees up one of the AGS racing seats, and it's considered unlikely that Olivier Beretta will be staying with the team for the 2016 season either...
The death of Henri Julien in July 2013 went, somehow, unreported by the entire F1RMGP media. In fact, some of the team's senior management tried to convince the paddock for the rest of the season that he was still alive, in the style of Spitting Image sketches lampooning the USSR's constantly-shifting government in the early 1980s. As the picture of the old boss on the wall of the garage became ever more decorated with flowers and gold ribbons, though, the team found it impossible to deny for any longer. For the last two years, the ship has drifted without a captain at the helm, the ever-diminishing returns being akin to how Lotus would have fared after Colin Chapman perished if Ayrton Senna hadn't joined them and prolonged the team's winning ways. Two podiums - second in Hungary 2014 and a highly unlikely win this year on home turf - couldn't hide the team's sharp decline, and as the DNQs racked up, usually on the second car driven by Pierre-Henri Raphanel or Olivier Beretta, even star driver Philippe Alliot found it a struggle to perform as the team slid into pre-qualifying.
The shady behind-the scenes team known as "Team Julien" that sailed the good ship AGS into ever rougher waters has since been revealed as comprising Julien Beltoise, son of Jean-Pierre, and Elton Julian, the American former Formula 3 driver, with the bit of occasional assistance by former AGS driver Pascal Fabre. These three have now been relieved of their duties, as Alliot has decided to take the bull by the horns and run the team by himself. At the age of 61, he felt he was getting too old for this racing lark anyway, bar the occasional demonstration to the paying customers at the racing school in Gonfaron.
This, of course, frees up one of the AGS racing seats, and it's considered unlikely that Olivier Beretta will be staying with the team for the 2016 season either...
