Archive for Motorsports

If you were able to catch the final two rounds of the 2009 Formula 1 World Championship then you should be familiar with a Japanese driver by the name of Kamui Kobayashi. Kobayashi has been serving as the third driver at Toyota’s Formula 1 outfit since November 2007, after replacing Franck Montagny. The Toyota F1 driver is also competing in the GP2 series which is another feeder series for Formula 1.

Kobayashi’s non-testing driving role in the Toyota F1 team actually started at this year’s Japanese Grand Prix when he replaced Timo Glock for the first two practice sessions, following Glock’s health-related issues. Glock then had a crash during qualifying and did not compete in the race the next day.

Glock’s health advisers then recommended the German not to take part in the remaining two races of the season. Glock’s misfortune was a blessing for Kobayashi as he was then summoned to race in Brazil and in last weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. In his first qualifying session, he managed to secure 11th place although his team mate Jarno Trulli was fourth fastest.

During the race at the Interlagos track in Sao Paulo, he drove a clean race most of the time and spectators started to notice more of him when the Japanese driver performed some gutsy wheel to wheel racing with his competitors on track.

Kobayashi successfully defended against championship contenders Jenson Button from Brawn and Sebastian Vettel from Red Bull during race. Button even labeled the Japanese driver ‘crazy’. The highlight of his race debut was the battle he had with fellow Japanese driver Kazuki Nakajima from Williams. Kobayashi was exiting the pits following a routine pit stop and came out right in front of the Williams driver.

Kobayashi was so determined not to give the position away that Nakajima hit the back of Kobayashi’s car and subsequently lost front wing and eventually hit a tire barrier at Turn 4. Kobayashi managed to finish in ninth place, just a place away from a point finish.

At the season finale Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, he managed to qualify in 12th place and it was later revealed that he did so with a very heavy fuel load. During the race, he was running based on a one stop strategy. He started to shine when everyone else who were running on two stop strategies made their first pit stops. With a lighter car, Kobayashi was charging forward and even made a successful, sensational pass on newly-crowned World Champion Jenson Button.

Although he had a lighter car underneath him, Kobayashi’s aggressive driving style and raw talent were evident. He kept his nose clean through out the race and managed to cross the finish line in sixth place and earned three valuable points. He even finished ahead of his more experienced team mate Jarno Trulli.

I have been following Formula 1 for the past decade and only a handful of drivers managed to push me to the edge of my seat with ballsy moves while being able to keep on racing till the checkered flag is waived. Those few include Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen as well as Fernando Alonso. I must admit that Kobayashi is looking good to be included in that list. With just two races, he has quickly became the talk of town. Furthermore, it is very likely that he will be named as one of the 2010 drivers for Toyota.

I hope he manages to secure a race seat as I would love to see him more in action. Its about time that Japan gets its first Formula 1 World Champion. Recent Formula 1 drivers from the Land of Rising Sun have failed to really shine, but that may change with Kobayashi. So will he be considered as the next Schumacher from Japan? Judging from his performance so far, my answer is: Most likely!

Group Lotus’s new motorsports ambitions will be spearheaded by its newly appointed Director of Motorsport Claudio Berro, who will report directly to CEO Dany Bahar. Both Berro and his boss Bahar are ex-Ferrari men. Berro was previously the Operations Racing Director for the Speedcar Middle-East International Race Series.

Before that, he held positions at Ferrari, Maserati and Fiat as Formula One Team Manager, Director responsible for all sport activities for Ferrari and Maserati (excluding F1), General Manager Maserati Corse and Director of Fiat Group’s Motorsport Activities, and Racing Operations Director for Abarth. So he’s definitely a man with experience.

“Lotus has a peerless motorsport heritage, not just in Formula One, but we have also won in sportscar racing, saloon car racing, world rally championships, Le Mans and the Indy 500. There is no other car company in the world which can lay claim to so many accolades and championships in such a wide variety of motorsport fields, and I am looking forward to re-introducing Lotus to high level motorsport to not only compete and win but also to demonstrate the shared technology between Lotus sportscars and future racing cars,” said Berro.

Of course, Lotus is also in Formula One, except it actually isn’t. The new Lotus F1 Team is actually run by Litespeed in terms of technical expertise.

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Lotsu eyeing Indy car series, GT and Le Mans

Jean Todt has been elected as the President of the FIA which is the world’s motorsport governing body. The Frenchman was contesting against Finland’s Ari Vatanen who is a former world rally champion. Todt replaces Max Mosley and won the elections by 86 votes from a total of 184. Jean Todt was the executive director for the Ferrari Formula 1 team before serving as Ferrari’s CEO until 2008.

He then remained with the company with a “special appointment” and left a year later. Todt will be joined by Nick Craw who will serve as the President of the Senate and Brian Gibbons, Deputy President Automobile Mobility & Tourism. Malaysia’s Tunku Mudzaffar bin Tunku Mustapha who is the chairman of the AAM will serve as a Senate Member.

Lotus’ newly appointed CEO Dany Bahar who used to serve for Ferrari revealed that he plans to bring Lotus back into the high-octane world of motorsport. “Lotus will return to motorsport. I believe that this is the perfect platform to showcase our capabilities; racing is part of our heritage and even today the technology in our road cars is derived from racing,” he said when addressing his staff for the first time.

The new boss of the Proton-owned company announced that the group is studying options of participating in Indy car series, GT as well as Le Mans. He also mentioned that the Group Lotus has no direct equity in the Lotus F1 project. Operationally, Lotus F1 will be run separately from Group Lotus and the two parties will liaise. At the moment, Proton is finalising the brand licensing of Lotus for the Lotus F1 team

Bahar also revealed that detailed plans for a product line-up along with plans for the next seven years will be released sometime in December. “Our future lies in aligning ourselves to what the market wants, rather than what we think the market wants; we must concentrate on our customers,” he added.

It was revealed that national auto maker Proton will finalise the brand licensing of Lotus for the Lotus F1 team sometime next month. The auto maker received a draft agreement from the Tune Group over the matter last Friday. Proton Holdings will now go over the agreement before finalising it next month.

Managing Director of Proton Holdings Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir told Bernama, “We are studying the draft and hope to finalise it next month.” Datuk Syed gave the statement at Proton’s Hari Raya open house event at the auto maker’s Centre of Excellence in Shah Alam yesterday. Also to be confirmed next month is the driver line-up.

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According to a recent report by Malaysian news agency Bernama, Lotus F1 has shortlisted six drivers where two will be officially announced sometime next month. Team principal Tony Fernandes further revealed that Malaysian Fairuz Fauzy is one of them.

“What I can say is, Fairuz Fauzy is on the list. We will announce the line-up in November. I hope the Malaysian driver will be selected as either the second driver or third driver for the team,” Fernandes said.

Jarno Trulli who is racing for Toyota is also rumored to be selected, although when asked about the Italian, the man behind AirAsia remained tight-lipped. There is a high possibility that the Malaysian-owned team will select a fresh face like Fauzy and a more experienced Formula 1 driver. Looks like we have got wait for the official announcement!

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Brit Jenson Button from Brawn GP picked up his first Driver’s Championship earlier today in Brazil. 29-year old Button arrived at Interlagos with a comfortable lead but if he failed to score a single point in the two remaining races (Brazil and Abu Dhabi) the crown could go to his team mate Rubens Barrichello or Sebastian Vettel from Red Bull.

With his fifth place finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix, the Brit sealed the championship. Even if the Button fails to finish the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi he will still walk away as the 2009 Champion. During yesterday’s qualifying Button only managed 14th place. His team mate who was also contending for the title grabbed pole position. Vettel on the other hand started the race right behind Button following Vitantonio Liuzzi’s 5-place grid penalty.

As the race progressed the three championship rivals managed to have a clean race despite what happened around them. On the first lap itself two major incidents took place. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) spun his car at Turn 2 and nearly collected Giancarlo Fisichella (Ferrari). A couple of corners later Jarno Trulli (Toyota) put a wheel on the grass and spun into Adrian Sutil (Force India). The latter also took Fernando Alonso (Renault) out of the race. Both Trulli and and Sutil were seen arguing after the incident.

Kovalainen made a pit stop for repairs and a re-fuel. Unfortunately the Finn drove off with the fuel rig intact. Fuel was then sprayed on Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari which came in for a new front wing. A dramatic fireball developed at the back of the Ferrari. Raikkonen nearly ended his race and was complaining about burning eyes (sensation felt after getting in contact with petrol) even after the race.

After 71 laps, Mark Webber from Red Bull emerged victorious. BMW’s Robert Kubica and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton joined the podium as well. Vettel managed fourth place while Button settled with fifth. Rubens Barrichello who started from pole only managed to finish in eight place following a puncture that forced the Brazilian to pit with just a couple of laps remaining.

Along with the Driver’s Championship, Button’s British-based Brawn GP team that took over operations from Honda at the beginning of year also secured the Constructor’s Championship. The Formula 1 circus now heads to the United Arab Emirates for the season finale on November 1st.

A1 GP’s holding company A1 Holdings has officially announced the cancellation of the season-opening race in Surfers Paradise, Australia. The Australian round was supposed to be the first race of season five and the reason behind the cancellation is the inability of the organizer to prepare its Ferrari-sourced single-seater race cars in time for the event that was scheduled to take place between October 22nd and October 25th.

Recently, world motorsport governing body, FIA instructed the A1 Holdings company to perform two safety-related modifications on the cars. However, these cars will not be ready and shipped in time for the event. There’s also the matter of some unpaid monies to certain parties that are preventing the cars to be released from its current location.

Tony Teixeira, chairman of A1 Holdings revealed, “I want to personally apologize to the people affected by this regrettable but unavoidable decision.” It is also unclear if these cars will be ready for the Chinese race that is scheduled to take place on November 15th. “A1GP may be down, but I do not accept we are out. We have had four exciting seasons that have proved we are a force in the sport and now we shall consolidate on what we have achieved to date. My efforts will be on finding a way forward with the support of some very loyal people,” Teixeira re-assured.

The Litespeed-managed Lotus F1 Racing team has released two photos of a scale model of its first Formula 1 racer that’s currently being used for windtunnel testing. There is no name for the new car yet, but more details about the team were revealed in an interview with technical director Mike Gascoyne provided along with the press release.

According to Gascoyne, development has already been on-going for a few months before the team entry was confirmed in mid-September 2009. Gascoyne is currently in Malaysia interviewing potential employees for technical roles. They are also recruiting various other personnel in the fields of admin, marketing and PR. A full list was published as a full page ad in the papers recently.

The team will be based in the RTN facility in UK initially but as previously mentioned the ultimate goal is to have a full technical facility at the Sepang circuit. However, when that happens a small UK base will still be kept to give the team a logistical advantage when the team is racing in Europe.

Lotus F1 aims to get the car up and running for a roll-out by mid-February 2010 in prepration for the Bahrain race in mid-March. The car is currently being developed with a few technical partners including Fondtech for aerodynamics, Xtrac for transmissions, and Cosworth for engines. Malaysian companies are involved in certain areas including some aspects of engineering as well as composites (very likely to be Composites Technology Research Malaysia).

There are rumours currently afloat about Toyota’s Jarno Trulli joining the new team. Trulli will likely take the senior role and be complemented by a more junior driver, possibly a Malaysian. Everyone seems to be looking at Fairuz Fauzy right now.

Apparently Karamjit Singh is not the only one who has parted ways with the Satria Neo Super 2000. Up north in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, the MEM Proton team will be fielding the familiar Alister McRae in next month’s Rally of Scotland. McRae also replaced Karamjit for Rally Indonesia in the APRC, but due to some technical difficulties he and co-driver Bill Hayes did not manage to finish.

“We have decided to go our separate ways. Guy had his ideas on the way the car was working and they were not necessarily the same as our own. The matter is closed now, we’re moving on and looking forward to Scotland,” said MEM’s Chris Mellors.

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