F1 – Webber claims maiden F1 victory

My race report from the 2009 German Grand Prix can be found at:

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/sports/sport/general-sport/webber-claims-maiden-f1-victory-$1310736.htm

I’m on inthenews.co.uk

 I covered today’s German Grand Prix qualifying for inthenews.co.uk. To read my report click on the link below. 

 

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/sports/sport/general-sport/webber-snatches-thrilling-pole-$1310596.htm

WTCC – Volvo enter two cars in Brands Hatch meeting

The Swedish Touring Car team, Polestar Racing have entered two Volvo C30s in the British leg of the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) at Brands Hatch.

This will be Volvo’s third guest appearance in the WTCC since the series’ inception in 2005, as Dahlgren raced a S60 at Anderstorp in 2007 and a C30 at Brands Hatch in 2008.

On this occasion, Dahlgren and Tommy Rustad, who currently compete in the Swedish Touring Car Championship, will be laden with the maximum compensation weight and will not be eligible to score points during the event.

“Last year was an exploratory appearance. This year we are upping the stakes to give our British Volvo fans and customers a great show,” said Derek Crabb, Director of Motorsport at Volvo Car Corporation.

 Rustad – the first Norwegian to compete in the championship – is currently placed 2nd in the Swedish series and Dahlgren lies in 6th.

LMS – Senna and Montiero to drive for ORECA in the Algarve

 

Senna and Montiero will pilot an ORECA 01 in the Algarve. Photo: oreca-racing.com

The Le Mans Series is heading to the Circuito de Portimao in Portugal at the end of July for the first time in its history.

Team ORECA-Matmut-AIM have announced that 2008 GP2 Series runner-up Bruno Senna and current Seat World Touring Car driver Tiago Montiero, will drive an ORECA 01, alongside the regular pairing of Olivier Panis and Nicolas Lapierre who finished the Le Mans 24 Hours in fifth place with Soheil Ayari. 

Team boss, Hughues de Chaunac said he decided to continue ORECA’s relationship with Senna and Montiero at a post Le Mans review.

“When Tiago joined us for Le Mans we already raised the subject of Portimao, and Bruno let us know very quickly that he wanted to continue racing the ORECA 01. We won’t have Stéphane Ortelli for organisational reasons, as the practice is too short to enter a team of three drivers.

And de Chaunac believes Team ORECA will be strong in Portimao; “On Senna’s first appearance in Barcelona he finished on the rostrum with Stéphane Ortelli and ORECA.”

“Bruno’s shown his talent,” said de Chaunac. “He’s an intelligent driver who analyses his performances with absolute objectivity. He’s an honest guy, a value dear to ORECA.

He added; “He gets on well with Tiago who drove a great 24 Hours. In addition, he already knows this circuit on which a lot of our rivals will be racing for the first time. It’ll be a big advantage.”

The team will run two ORECA 01’s in the 1000km of Algarve; Senna and Montiero will be behind the wheel of no. 10 and Panis and Lapierre will drive the no. 11 car.

WTCC – Tarquini and Farfus win in Porto

 

Farfus and Tarquini win on the streets of Porto

In front of the 120,000 spectators who turned out to watch the 99th an 100th World Touring Car Championship races at the Circuito da Boavista in Portugal, it was Gabrielle Tarquini (Seat Sport) and Augusto Farfus (BMW Team Germany) who successfully kept their cars out of the armco to take the spoils.

 

In a very eventful first race of the day in Porto, Tarquini managed to avoid the chaos of the opening lap to romp home to victory ahead of Rob Huff in his Chevrolet Cruze and series leader Yvan Muller in the second of the diesel Seats.

The first incident involved Sergio Hernandez (BMW Team Italy-Spain) and Japp van Lagen (LADA Sport). Hernandez hit a concrete wall sideways at high speed and was immediately taken to the local hospital for x-rays on his ankle. The Spaniard returned to the circuit later on, having been given the all-clear by doctors.

The armco barriers claimed more victims shortly after this incident, when no less than seven cars piled into each other.The crash was triggered when Farfus pushed Alain Menu’s Chevrolet Cruze into a spin at Turn 10. As Farfus recovered from the contact with Menu he swerved into the path of Tiago Montiero (Seat Sport) who was subsequently hit by Nicola Larini in the third Chevy; the Italian trying desperately to find a clear path through the carnage. The resulting pile up involving  Kirill Ladygin (LADA Sport), Franz Engstler (Liqui Moly Team Engstler), Diego Puyo (SUNRED Engineering), Mehdi Bennani (Exagon Engineering) and Tom Boardman (SUNRED Engineering) led to a quick decision from race control to stop the race until the blockage was cleared and the track made safe again.

At the race restart, Tarquini got away well. He kept his cool and refused to succumb to the pressure that was being applied by Huff, who was glued to the Italian’s rear bumper throughout the race. Farfus served a drive-through penalty for causing the earlier pile up that disrupted the race. 

Tarquini went on the win and was closely followed over the finish line by Huff and his team mate Yvan Muller, who currently leads the championship. 

In the second race of the day, Farfus led the field away from pole position with determination after some rookie errors at the last meeting in the Czech Republic and in the first race in Portugal.

Yvan Muller (Seat Sport) passed Larini at Turn 2 on the opening lap with a well-timed lunge up the inside of the corner – the Frenchman used the concrete wall on the inside to prevent Larini from closing the door on him. By the end of the race, Muller had moved up to second to take eight valuable championship points. 

The race remained clean until Turn 5 on lap 3 when Larini and race one winner Tarquini came together – the pair, both refusing to give way, ended up buried in the tyres.

Shortly after this collision, Bennani locked his brakes as he entered the same corner. The SUNRED driver missed the two stricken cars of Larini and Tarquini but, unfortunately rejoined the track directly in the path of Boardman who was unable to avoid hitting him.

In response to this incident, the Safety Car was deployed, but shortly after the restart on lap 9, there was a third collision between Engstler and Felix Portiero (Scuderia Proteam Motorsport). As Engstler recovered, Menu stormed up behind him and went to pass the Independent. Unfortunately contact between the two forced Menu into a spin and the works Chevrolet driver collided with the metal barriers, blocking the track and causing the race to be suspended.   

Farfus remained cool and focused despite having to endure two restarts and he eventually rewarded himself and his team with a victory and maximum points.

Despite his race win, Tarquini remains 14 points adrift of his Seat Sport team mate Yvan Muller and he has fallen into the clutches of Farfus who, despite dismal performances in the last three races, is still the top BMW driver and is now within one point of the Italian.  

The series moves on to Brands Hatch in Kent for Rounds 11 and 12 of the season, which will be held on 19th July. 

WTCC Championship Standings after Round 10

1.

Yvan Muller

80 pt.

2.

Gabriele Tarquini

66 pt.

3.

Augusto Farfus

65 pt.

4.

Rickard Rydell

46 pt.

5.

Robert Huff

43 pt.

6.

Jörg Müller

42 pt.

7.

Andy Priaulx

38 pt.

8.

Jordi Gené Guerrero

32 pt.

9.

Tiago Monteiro

31 pt.

10.

Sergio Hernández

29 pt.

GP3 – Successful first shakedown for new GP3 car

Dallara 'Formulino' (Italian for 'little formula'). Photo: Dallara

After months of careful development, the new GP3 car, with its Dallara chassis and 2.0 litre turbocharged Renault engine, was put through its paces for the first time today (30th June 2009) at La Castellet in the South of France.

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has been working on launching a new Gp3 championship for over a year now. The feeder series will sit on the ladder to the pinnacle of international motorsport, one rung below GP2 and it will go head-to-head with the established Formula 3, which is run by the FIA.

Since its inception in 2005, GP2 has supplied F1 teams with a crop of new talent, like reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Heikki Kovalainen, Nelson Piquet Junior, Timo Glock and Sebastien Buemi, and GP3 should smooth the transition from the lower levels of motorsport to international racing.

The session at La Castellet marked the first performance and reliability test of the Dallara chassis/Renault engine/Pirelli tyre combination. Current GP2 championship leader Romain Grosjean had the honour of being the first to get behind the wheel of the new GP3 car and he was impressed.

“I’m very glad to have had this first taste of the GP3 car,” said Grosjean. “We have had a productive day  with very  few  small  problems  and  many  good  surprises,  namely  in  terms  of speed.  I  have been impressed by the level of reliability of the car for a first run.”

He added; “The level of downforce is already quite impressive, although we still need to determine which one will be used. Compared to a F3, the acceleration is better and speed in fast corners is similar.”

The paddle shift on the steering wheel is also a great addition to a car that will definitely prepare GP3 drivers to step into the next category: GP2,” he said.

GP3 Series Organiser, Bruno Michel was also pleased with the progress made during the shakedown. He said; “The GP3 Series is well on track  and  the  development  is  on  time.  Today’s successful  test  run  showed  our  car’s  strong potential, and we gathered enough data to keep improving the performance and the reliability of the GP3 car.”

“We are carefully assessing the costs of a season in our new Series: we will communicate them over the coming weeks to the many teams  from  all  around  the  motor  racing  world  that  have  already expressed  their  interest  in  this new Series,” said Michel.

The entry selection will take place in September and the first official test session for all GP3 teams will be organised for March next year.

Am I The Only One?

Lewis Hamilton at the British Grand Prix 2008

I’ve just came across an old article by Jeremy Clarkson in the June 2008 issue of Top Gear magazine. I am a huge fan of Clarkson and I tend to agree with everything he says, but when reading his regular column in TG magazine, I found myself dissagreeing with him. 

His latest article was about how passionate football fans are compared with Formula One fans. Clarkson notes how people jump around the room whenever their team scores and how this isn’t the case when Formula One fans watch a grand prix.  

I’m not disputing whether football fans are passionate or whether they act in the manner described by Clarkson when watching a match, and I know that, until two or three years ago, Formula One was a bit processional. But, as a long-term Formula One enthusiast, I have to say that I leap out of my seat screaming and shouting with excitement when my favourite driver makes an impressive overtaking move, or when they cross the line to take a race win.

Obviously I can only speak for myself, but I can’t be the only one who screams and shouts at the television. In-fact I am sure I’m not the only one, because when I made the trip to Silverstone for this year’s British Grand Prix, I was blown away by the atmosphere. It was incredible, despite the monsoon weather conditions and the hurricane winds. 

There are obviously going to be more passionate football fans in the UK, because the sport is a national institution and, in my opinion, it’s partly because football is much easier to understand. Formula One on the other hand, is far more complex, as it’s as much about strategy and the development race as the on-track action.

I think most people look for a sport that doesn’t require much intelligence to completely understand and enjoy. The fact that a large percentage of football fans get into physical confrontations with their opposition backs that up, because anyone with an ounce of intelligence wouldn’t get into a fight over something so trivial as losing a game.   

Maybe that’s a bit offensive, but i can’t come up with another theory as to why they behave that way. Nobody could convince me that beating up your opponent’s supporters, symbolises your passion for the sport and your team. As Joleen and Keith have already pointed out in their comments to this post, you will never see that sort of behaviour at a grand prix, yet we will still scream, jump, whistle, blow our air-horns and wave our flags with as much enthusiasm as a Manchester United fan at a home-game.   

I invite anyone who doesn’t agree with me about Formula One fans being passionate to come and watch a race with me. You will be surprised.

Student Loathing

Why do students have such a bad name? I’m completely confused about the reaction my fellow students and I get from people who, when you reveal to them that you are in university or college, look at you as if you’ve just spat in their face.

 

I know there are stereotypes, the most common of which says that all students are binge-drinking, unhygienic layabouts, who just spend their loans on booze and who shag anything with a pulse. I also know that, because this stereotype exists, there must be an element of truth in it. In-fact I know this is the case, because I know plenty of people who meet all of the above criteria.

 

But, for the majority, these stereotypes are completely untrue and we are as hard-working, clean, well mannered and prudent as the next person.

 

 But my problem doesn’t lie with the stereotype mentioned above. Recently I heard a middle-aged woman refer to all students as ‘dishonest’. I was deeply insulted by this comment because it was completely unfair. Since when have students been dishonest? That isn’t even a real stereotype, she simply conjured up this word from thin air and used it to belittle us.  

 

I study in a small market-town which couldn’t be more middle-England if it tried, and I hear weekly stories about locals applying all sorts of labels on my friends, most of which are ludicrously untrue, but I’ve never heard of anyone labelling students as dishonest. Is this what people really think of us?    

 

In my town, the local people are stuck in the middle ages; perhaps because that’s when most of them were born. None of them can appreciate how much business we bring to the area and how safe the town is, even though 3000 youngsters from out of town live and study there. Surely the fact that they have part-time police says something? Also, at the council meeting I attended about a year ago, the biggest issue, apart from what colour to tile the public toilets, was a group of ‘hoodies’ congregating in the central car park. There was no mention of them causing any disturbance though, so surely this says something as well?  

 

During the day, the town centre is bustling with university and college students so it’s pretty clear that without us, most of the high-street stores and restaurants would have ceased trading a long time ago.

 

This would be catastrophic for the town, as it would become a ghost-town, which would lead to high rates of unemployment, especially since most of the stores, pubs, bars and restaurants employ students (and pay them next to nothing) from the uni.  

 

And that’s another thing. I know some people think we just go to university to doss and avoid getting a job. They won’t begin to consider that we actually have projects, exams and dissertations to do. I’ll accept that the first year of university is relatively easy. There is still usually a lot of work to do, but the majority of the time is spent partying with friends. The thing is, a party lifestyle isn’t cheap, and your student loan won’t cover the cost because you need that to buy food. So you end up getting a part-time job. So were getting educated in order to get decent jobs and most of us are working at the same time.  

 

I’m not saying we’re all angels, because we’re not, but we’re not the anti-Christ either. A large majority of us respect people and their property, however we don’t get what we give.

Greggs the what?

What do you think of when you think of a bakery? Warm, fresh baked goods, like bread, cakes and sausage rolls? What colours would you associate with a bakery? I’m guessing this will depend on the person, but when I think of a bakery I envisage warm colours like shades of dark red, brown, and gold.

This isn’t one of those annoying surveys you get asked to take part in every time you walk down your local high-street. I’m just curious, because I can’t get my head around why Greggs the bakers, who have over 1100 stores across the UK, decided to go with a logo that looks like an estate agents or a building society. Who thought that would be a good idea?

Until about a year ago I had no idea Greggs was a bakery, I just assumed I would only need to walk through their doors when moving home or if I wanted a loan. So you can imagine that when I was told they sold bread and cakes I thought I was being taken for a fool. I decided to check this out by looking more closely the next time I walked by my local branch. I was…well shocked to say the least. I couldn’t believe I was seeing people wearing aprons and hats slicing loaves of bread. This genuinely irritated me, and it irritates me every time I pass one of their shops, or everytime I see their TV advert.

I’m not alone either. I recently vented some of my frustration with my friends and I ended up sparking a massive debate. I found that a large number of my my friends were also unaware that Greggs was a bakery, until not so long ago, and that like me, they all refuse to buy anything from them.

This makes me wonder how they can be selling anything if nobody knows what they do or if, when these people eventually find out they offer ginger bread men instead of competitive interest rates, they refuse to buy anything because they’re so irritated with them for choosing such a stupid logo and colour-scheme!  

This probably sounds ridiculous, but I don’t care. I think we should all boycot the place until they make it look as though they sell pies rather than ISAs.