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Motorsports Mondial - May 9, 2012

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f1weekly @ 8:38 AM

Photo: HRT formulaoneteam

Dani Clos will take part in the first free practice session at the Spanish GP

Spanish driver Dani Clos will step into the F112 for the first time on Friday to take part in the first free practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix which will take place at the Circuit de Catalunya. 23 year-old Clos will substitute teammate Narain Karthikeyan for that session and will join Pedro de la Rosa for the first 90 minutes of practice in Montmeló.

It will be history in the making for HRT Formula 1 Team at the Circuit de Catalunya since this will be the first time that two Spanish drivers hit the track forming a part of a Spanish team at the Spanish Grand Prix. It will be a moment to remember for Spanish motorsport and a great opportunity for Clos to prove his worth in front of his home crowd.

After having completed 377.67 kilometres at the helm of the F111 in the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi last November and having joined the team as an official test driver in February, Dani Clos will take another step on Friday and will fulfill another vital aspect of his testing role by completing his first laps at the wheel of the F112. A car that will be brining a series of aerodynamic upgrades for this important Grand Prix.

Dani Clos: “I’m delighted to have this opportunity. It’s something I’ve fought for all my life; to make my debut in Formula 1 and, above all, to be able to do it at the Circuit de Catalunya which is something very special for me. Besides, I’m extremely lucky to be able to do it with a Spanish team, alongside another Spanish driver who I admire and at home. I can’t ask for more! It’s the ideal situation and I’m proud to be where I am with the people who have always been with me and still are. I hope to extract a lot of data from this practice session, contribute with positive things to the team and do my job in the best way I can. I feel 100% ready and I can’t wait for the moment I step into the car and hit the track”.

Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal HRT: “I’m very proud and happy that this moment has arrived and that we’ve given Dani the chance to get in the car on Friday’s first free practice session at such a special and important Grand Prix as is a home Grand Prix. In this first contact he will drive next to Pedro de la Rosa and will have the chance to drive the new F112 for the first time. It’s an important session given the short amount of time on track that we have and more so when you take into account the various aerodynamic upgrades which we have brought. Dani is a great driver and I have no doubt that he will do a good job. Besides, this debut also represents another step forward in our desire for HRT to serve as a platform for young drivers to make it into F1”.

DANI CLOS – PROFILE AND CAREER SUMMARY

Dani Clos was born in Barcelona on the 23rd of October 1988. With a renowned trajectory in karting, Clos made his debut in single-seater racing in 2004 in Formula Renault Italia 2.0, going on to win the Championship in 2006. A year later he joined Renault’s F1 programme and took part in the Formula Three Euroseries. In 2008 he entered Williams F1′s young drivers’ programme and finished in 2nd in the 24H Barcelona race. In 2009 he made his debut in the GP2 series, with a 3rd place finish in Portimao being his best result. In his second year in GP2 he achieved his first win in Turkey alongside various podium finishes. Last year, Dani Clos took one win and two podiums in what was his third season as a GP2 driver. Also in 2011, he took part in the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi with HRT F1 Team, completing total of 377.67km in one day and leaving a very good impression on the team. In 2012, Dani Clos joins the HRT Formula 1 Team as its official test driver.


Motorsports Mondial - May 6, 2012

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f1weekly @ 8:38 AM

 

Happy Yelloly

Brit Grit. Nick Yelloly fended off a late race challenge from Jules Bianchi to give Comtec team first race victory since 2009.

Surprise winner in season opener at Aragon. Jules Bianchi is close second. Great drives from Kevin Magnussen and Robin Frijns.

Great qualifying position from front row, opening lap mayhem and a determined drive all helped 21-year-old English driver Nick Yelloly to win the opening round of the 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 at Motorland Aragon in Spain.

Arthur Pic, brother of F1 racer Charles, grabbed pole position for DAMS after being the pace setter in practice with Yelloly starting second for Comtec.

Row two had two of the favorites for the championship; Estonian Kevin Korjus with Tech 1 and Kiwi Richie Stanaway for Lotus, aka ART.

The second Tech 1 car driven by Ferrari young driver and Force India reserve driver Jules Bianchi was fifth on the grid; American Jake Rosenzweig was sixth for Czech ISR team.

Californian Alexander Rossi, last year third in the championship, qualified 13th with his new team for this season, Arden.

Crash & Casualties

The start was not kind to second row starters. Stanaway stalled and was then hit by the BVM Target car of Italian Giovanni Venturini. Korjus also struggled and while still on the opening lap was involved in a crash which would lead to his retirement and also for Rossi and Swiss Draco driver Nico Muller.

California Cool. Alexander Rossi’s focus is on winning the championship this season after finishing third last year behind Robert Wickens and Jean-Eric Vergne.

Yelloly had grabbed the lead from Pic at the start and was able to maintain his position four laps later after the safety car period was over. Another four laps later pole sitter Pic was out after a collision with Rosenzweig.

The leading trio of Yelloly, Colombian Carlos Huertas and Bianchi pulled away from rest of the field. On lap 16 Bianchi passed the Fortec car of Huertas and began to hunt down race leader Yelloly.

Bianchi brought the gap down to half a second but was not able to make the pass on Yelloly to take the lead, finally settling for second. Huertas’ late race engine woes allowed young Dane Kevin Magnussen grab final spot on the podium.

Frijns benefit. With two championships in past two years Dutchman Robin Frijns is looking for a three-peat in his rookie Formula Renault 3.5 season.

Fortec’s Dutchman Robin Frijns, the quickest driver in pre-season testing, was 17th at the end of the opening lap but charged up the field to finish an excellent fourth. Teammate Huertas was able to salvage a top five finish.

View from the top

The podium finishers as quoted on www.worldseriesbyrenault.fr

Nick Yelloly: “I made the perfect start, something we’d worked on a lot in pre-season testing. The safety car allowed me to save my DRS till the end of the race, though I had to make sure I didn’t make a mistake when Jules Bianchi started to come back at me. It’s a relief to start the season with a win. It takes a lot of pressure off, and it’s great for Comtec Racing, who haven’t won for a long time.”

Jules Bianchi: “It was all happening at the start. I locked a front wheel and brushed against Nick, and then I had trouble getting past Carlos Huertas. I managed it in the end and then went after Nick. I was pretty confident because my tyres were in good condition, but the only thing was I lost engine power at the end. Nick drove the perfect race, so congratulations to him and thanks to my team. This is a good way to start the championship.”

Kevin Magnussen: “You don’t expect to get on the podium when you start in 19th. I picked up a lot of places in the first few laps because there were cars going in all directions. I need to work on qualifying because we won’t run this well in every race. Our race pace was very good, though.”

Race two is on Sunday.

 

– Nasir Hameed.

 

All photos courtesy of World Series by Renault.


F1Weekly podcast # 571 - May 4, 2012

Filed under: General,Motorsport Mondial,News,Podcast
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f1weekly @ 12:32 AM

F1weekly podcast number 571 special interview with F3 driver Jack Harvey, catch him in the Grand Prix de Pau.

The harsh and unusual demands of street racing lie ahead for the young stars of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series, for next weekend (12/13 May) the south-west France city of Pau will play host to the championship for the 68th running of the world-famous Grand Prix de Pau.

The UK-based runners will be joined at Pau by competitors from the FIA European Formula 3 Championship; a field of around 25 cars is expected at the event, which will feature two live-televised races.

Only two of the British championship field raced at Pau last year – Carlin’s Malaysian driver Jazeman Jaafar and Fortec’s Brazilian Pipo Derani. Eighteen-year-old Pipo knows only too well that passing will be hard and a good grid position vital: “Overtaking at Pau is almost impossible so you have to qualify well; if you are not on pole or on the first row then it’s tough.”

He is pleased to have last year’s experience – he finished sixth for the Double R team – under his belt. “It was my first street race and it was nice; I was expecting to be a lot slower. I adapted myself really fast to the street circuit and I finished sixth. It was quite a good result for my first time and of course it was really good to get the experience because this year we will be there again. I hope it will be an advantage for me.”

Derani is fifth in the championship for Fortec, having claimed his maiden British Formula 3 win at Oulton Park last month and a second-place finish at Monza in Italy. “It has been a good beginning to the year for me. It’s really good; it gives me more motivation to push and to get more good results. It was really nice to get my first victory in British Formula 3; now I can say that I am a race winner. For my confidence it is really good.”

Derani is one of a four-car Fortec squad for Pau, where he will be joined by Puerto Rico’s double race winner Felix Serralles, reigning Formula Renault UK Champion Alex Lynn and Dutchman Hannes van Asseldonk. Essex-based Lynn is one of two drivers out to gain some track knowledge this weekend (5/6 May) by taking part in the Grand Prix de Pau Historique – Alex will race a 1981 Van Diemen Formula Ford and Harry Tincknell a 1962 Lotus 20 Formula Junior chassis.

Leading the championship to Pau, and for what to him is almost a home race, is Spain’s Carlos Sainz Jnr. The 17-year-old from Madrid claimed his first British F3 wins for the Carlin team at Monza, twice triumphing in the wet to pull eight points clear of Serralles in the title fight.

Carlin’s team in France will also feature Devonian Tincknell, Jaafar, Brazil’s Pietro Fantin and Jack Harvey, the Lincolnshire-based Racing Steps Foundation driver who led the series following the Oulton Park rounds.

The Double R team is expected to field its regular International class duo, Australian Geoff Uhrhane and Malaysian Fahmi Ilyas, as well as a National class car for Aussie Duvashen Padayachee, who may well have the class to himself next weekend as his T-Sport rival, Spike Goddard, struggles to recover from illness. Australian Goddard was struck down by appendicitis last month and, while recovering well from surgery, does not expect to be fit to race: “My recovery is going OK,” said Spike, “a bit slow but I’m getting there. I’m pretty sure I will have to give driving a miss for Pau, but I am hoping I can attend the meeting and go for the track walk and be a part of the team.”

T-Sport’s Nick McBride will be in action in his International class Dallara to complete the UK field, with 11 additions expected from Mucke Motorsport, Jo Zeller Racing, ma-con Motorsport, Angola Racing and Prema Powerteam to contest the FIA series. Drivers entered include current FIA points leader Daniel Juncadella and British drivers Emil Bernstorff and Tom Blomqvist.

The Pau Grand Prix was first run in 1900 and the winners on its roll of honour include such as Tazio Nuvolari, Juan Fangio, Alberto Ascari, Jean Behra, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Jochen Rindt, Rene Arnoux, Jean Alesi, Juan Pablo Montoya and Lewis Hamilton. It last formed part of British Formula 3 in 2006, when Romain Grosjean won both races.

In addition to the regular Channel 4 UK and Motors TV post-produced TV coverage, both Saturday’s and Sunday’s Pau races will be screened live across Europe on Motors TV.

Provisional championship standings after Round 6
1 Carlos Sainz (ESP/Carlin) 74 points; 2 Felix Serralles (PUR/Fortec) 66; 3 Jazeman Jaafar (MAS/Carlin) 65; 4 Jack Harvey (GBR/Carlin) 63; 5 Pipo Derani (BRA/Fortec) 48; 6= Pietro Fantin (BRA/Carlin) & Harry Tincknell (GBR/Carlin) 40 etc
National class: 1 Spike Goddard (AUS/T-Sport) 104; 2 Duvashen Padayachee (AUS/Double R) 82



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Motorsports Mondial - May 1, 2012

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f1weekly @ 8:52 AM

 

FRENCH F4 CHAMPIONSHIP 2012 A GREAT START TO THE SEASON FOR SIMON GACHET

Serious business got underway last weekend on the Ledenon circuit with the first challenge of the French F4 Championship. After some very good winter trials, which saw him constantly holding his own in the lead positions, Simon Gachet is one of the favourites.

He held his rank from the first practice where the “EUROFORMULA VOLANT” 2011 put himself forward when he made the second best time of the session. A performance he confirmed when he did it again with the second best time in the qualifiers: 0,010 seconds behind the first, raising high hopes for many victories!

From the start of race 1, Simon Gachet grabbed first place and kept it until the half mark of the race when he unfortunately span out. Back in fourth position, the “EUROFORMULA VOLANT” was determined to climb back but a small collision two laps later forced him to retire.

Avid fan of Fernando Alonso, Simon Gachet was not going to give up because he knows he has what it takes to climb onto the podium for race 2. That’s exactly what he does crossing the line in second place of a race he had livened up throughout, just ahead of Victor SENDIN, the brilliant finalist of the “EUROFORMULA VOLANT” 2011.

The outcome of the weekend in Nimes was very positive overall even though his abandon in the first race left him with a few regrets.

Simon Gachet: “I am happy with my meeting as far as the level of performance is concerned but I am disappointed that I did a 360° in the first race when I was in the lead, I lost some big points. I got the situation back under control in race 2 and that’s the most important part because I know now that I can fight for the championship and I will do all in my power to confirm that in the next race. I am really happy to be a part of the AUTOSPORT ACADEMY because I know I am going to learn a lot.”

Laurent Fradon, the director of the EUROFORMULA School, is also satisfied: “Simon has always been in the front ranks and has shown his skill at speed. His slip up in the first race is one of those normal things but he livened up both races of this meeting and we are very happy with his performance. Simon also showed he has the mental strength, he has proven that he should be among the big favourites of the French F4 2012.”

The date for the next challenge of the French F4 championship which will take place on the urban circuit of Pau is for the 12 and 13 May. Simon Gachet’s aggressive style should allow him to get into the fight for first place!


Motorsports Mondial - April 17, 2012

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f1weekly @ 8:46 AM

Photo: minardiit

Good opening for Davide Rigon in the Blancpain GT Endurance Series.

Going back to competitions after a terrible accident occurred about one year ago, the brilliant driver from Veneto has shown his best abilities handling a good week end on Monza track, started with a pole position and finished just next to the podium.

Driving a 458 GT3 of the Kessel Racing team (together with Zampieri/Gattuso), Rigon soon gets familiar with the drive style requested by the car, gaining top positions since free tests. As far as standing is concerned, two red flags and 53 cars don’t help the 25 year-old driver, who gets the pole thanks to his team mate.

Under difficult weather conditions, due to heavy rain, Rigon, after taking the sceptre from Gattuso, leads the car to the top three just before passing the sceptre to the Roman driver for the final rush. A non perfect pit-stop drops the Swiss team to lower positions even if the equipe 71, in the end, manages an exciting fourth place.

DAVIDE RIGON: “ I’m very happy about the week end in Monza . Although I didn’t know the car, I quickly tried to get familiar with it and in all sessions we’ve run so fast. Unfortunately we’ve lost time at the pit-stop and this has compromised the final victory. By the way, I ‘m satisfied because we’ve shown all our talent to win. Driving a Ferrari is always a great emotion and now I’m looking forward to take part to next race.”

GIOVANNI MINARDI (Manager): “ I’m very happy to see Davide back to competitions after a hard year. It took only few laps for him to get familiar with the new car, even if the difference between this and a formula is so big. During qualifying, he has been really unlucky: two red flags  and, in his only good lap, after marking the best splits in the first two sectors, he has been overtaken by some cars in the last sector. The goal was reached by team mate Zampieri.

Bad weather conditions made the race even more hard. The whole team managed so good and only a problem at the pit-stop was an obstacle to reach the podium. I’m sure that, starting from next race, team and pilots will give rivals a rough ride and fight for the win. “


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