Bhai Tech flies to Jerez to take part in GT Open mid-season race

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After dominating in GTS at the Nurburgring, where the team scored a double win, Bhai Tech Racing is ready to race again next weekend at the Spanish circuit of Jerez de la Frontera.

The Spanish track will host the fourth round (out of eight events) of International GT Open and the four drivers of the Advanced Vehicle Science Centre Giorgio Pantano, Rafael Suzuki, Chris Van Der Drift and Luiz Razia are all ready to get into their McLaren MP4 12C to defend the GTS class leadership which was achieved in Germany and continue to get good results.

Last Saturday the team’s staff, directed by the engineer Mr. Costa, tested the Andalusian track by taking part in a three-hour-test session “We’ve carried out a complete car development work, trying to get the most of the engine power. Unfortunately track temperatures weren’t as high as they are expected to be in the upcoming weekend.” Very high temperatures are expected for the racing weekend, which will mark the end of the first half of the season “The track of Jerez is very demanding both for drivers and tyres”, says the technical director Mr. Costa “Track temperature will rise to 50°C and this will contribute to increase tyre degradation. Drivers will have to maintain an even pace throughout the race and make a good use of tyres”, ends Costa.

The racing weekend will start on Friday with a one-hour-private test session which will be followed by two 60-min. free practice sessions. The two 15-min. qualifying sessions are scheduled for Saturday and will take place from 9 am to 11.50am. The two qualifying sessions will determine the starting grid of race 1 and 2. The 70-min. first race will start on Saturday afternoon at 4pm and the 50-min. second race will start on Sunday at noon.

Canadian GP – Up & Down

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After the Canadian GP has taken place at Montreal. Gian Carlo Minardi takes some votes on the drivers

Sebastian Vettel 9 – There is nothing more to say. If he hadn’t made those two little mistakes he would have deserved a 10.

Fernando Alonso 8.5 – He didn’t dishearten after driving a disappointing qualifying race. He drove an aggressive race, setting good lap times.

Lewis Hamilton 8 – He was very performing in qualifying and during the race. Despite he had some tyre issues; he was able to give Fernando a hard time before and after being overtaken by the Spaniard. Three world Champions got a podium finish. They fought against each other to entertain us.

Jean – Eric Vergne 8 – He was so good at leading his Toro Rosso to the Top 6, which I consider a very good position, since in the past it marked the zone points limit. He was very competitive both in qualifying and during the race on every kind of tyre.  He didn’t make any errors.

Paul Di Resta 7 – He deserves a good vote because he was determined. He has to share his success with his team which is 7th, ahead of McLaren.

Felipe Massa 7 – Despite he made a serious fail to be such an experienced driver, he drove an aggressive race, recovering several positions. After the terrible accidents occurred in Monte Carlo, we have to understand him. He scored important points.

Valtteri Bottas 7 – He drove an excellent qualifying race. He’s giving a non-performing Maldonado a hard time.

Nico Rosberg 6.5 – After a fabulous win in Monte Carlo, we were expected him to be more performing. He suffered Pirelli tyre degradation more than his team mate.

Webber, Maldonado and Raikkonen are unsatisfactory. The Finn gets excited when he drives a performing car but he’s non-performing when he has to face hard times.

Canadian GP – THE POINT

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As it has happened many times since the beginning of the season, last weekend was a double-faced weekend for Ferrari and a one-sided one for Red Bull. Once again the final result was influenced by weather and tyres.

It was a very difficult Saturday for Ferrari but excellent for Red Bull, especially for Vettel who achieved Sunday’s great success thanks to a very good qualifying session. He ran very fast since the beginning, taking a good advantage over rivals. They were so good at turning a difficult situation around to their benefit, but they were also so lucky, because, despite Sebastian brushed a wall and ran off the road on the first corner, he didn’t break his stride. The two driver errors are a clear symptom that even the German driver can make mistakes.

Fernando Alonso drove an excellent race; the Spaniard showed to be a crushing driver, as he ran an aggressive race. His second place tastes like a victory. There’s also a little bit of regret for losing time, being held up by Rosberg and Webber. Felipe Massa delivered a positive performance, as well. After an accident ruined his qualifying session, he was able to gain several positions and set excellent times, driving a very good race and scoring precious points.

Mercedes demonstrated to have solved tyre issues, finishing 3rd with Hamilton after a hard struggle against Alonso.  They can play the role of Championship’s arbiters. Among the four teams Lotus could be the less dangerous, as I’m not sure the team will have enough financial resources to carry out the car development programme until the end. I hope that Sunday’s performance doesn’t sound like an alarm bell for the team. I think that track’s low temperatures had a bad influence on their performance: 28°C is a too low temperature for them. Despite that, Kimi was able to finish in the zone points, unlike his teammate.

Congrats to Vergne and Toro Rosso. They not only finished in the zone points, but also in the top 6, fighting against top teams on equal terms. In the past the top 6 limited the zone points, luckily today the zone points limit has been broadened to the top 10. Nowadays, finishing 7th or 8th is an important result, while in the past it meant to finish outside the zone points. This is the reason why, finishing 5th means achieving a very good result for a second-tier team’s driver. Sunday’s result was the Faenza-based team’s best result achieved after the victory at Monza and demonstrates the team is going to the right direction. The Italian team’ drivers are very competitive.

Force India demonstrated to be an excellent outsider once again. The Indian team finished 5th ahead of McLaren, which didn’t manage to finish in the zone points.

F.1 will be back to Europe in three weeks. Races will be run on European historical tracks; teams have two weeks to make further upgrades.

Giovanni Minardi “Rigon? He’s a sheer talent”

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After the Blancpain Endurance Series’ second racing weekend at Silverstone, the manager from Faenza Giovanni Minardi has talked about Davide Rigon, focusing on the driver’s technical skills, thanks to that he has always driven successful Championships “Davide is a very talented driver, but he’s misunderstood by racing specialists. He’s a very good person and a very skilled driver. Drivers like Alonso, Vettel, Rosberg or Hamilton aren’t any better than him”, says Minardi who celebrates his motorsports management society’s 10th anniversary this year, “ Despite he’s one of those non-paying drivers , he has always won all the Championships he has taken part in, only relying on his skills.”

The 26-year-old guy from Vicenza started his career by winning the F.Azzurra open-wheel Championship in 2005. The following year he became F.3 Italia’ s deputy-champion and scored a double win in the Italian and European F.3000 Championship in 2007. In 2008 he also took part in the Spa 24 H race for the first time, as a FIA GT World Cahmpionship’s driver, driving a Ferrari. He won the Belgian famous competition before winning the Superleague Formula in 2010 “The only Championship he has never raced in is the GP2, because of misfortune. In 2009, it was a turn of events that didn’t allow him to hit the big time. In Montecarlo, for example, he finished 9th in race-1, almost getting the pole which was assigned to the driver who finished 8th”, remembers the manager from Faenza  “If he had started from the pole in race – 2, he would have almost certainly won the race. We know that Montecarlo gives you different opportunities. In 2011 he was in a very good shape, as he demonstrated during winter testing. Unfortunately he drove a very unlucky first race, as he broke his fibula and shinbone as a consequence of a terrible accident. Due to that, his racing season was over. Filippi, who is a fast driver, just like Davide, replaced him. The driver from Savigliano dominated the Championship. If the driver from Lugo di Vicenza had raced the whole season, he would have won even this Championship to Grosjean’s detriment. The Frenchman entered F.1 that year and he’s still a top category’s driver. “

Giovanni also focuses on another important issue “Davide’s greatest misfortune is that he’s Italian. If he weren’t Italian, he would have been a F.1 driver for a few seasons. In Italy nobody invests on young drivers and sport in general. Only the Minardi Team did that. Luckily today there is the FDA program that is dedicated to young drivers.  The FDA has two good drivers who are achieving good results. Unfortunately the program started a little bit late, but I think it will soon begin to bear fruit.”

In the Blancpain Endurance Series’ first racing weekend Rigon, alongside his teammates Cesar and Daniel, led the Ferrari 458 to success “It was a great victory and he drove an almost flawless weekend. He was consistently the fastest driver on track and kept an unbeatable pace throughout the race, without making any mistakes. He’s in a very good shape. He fully recovered from that terrible accident. It will be hard for any other driver to get a leg up on him. He really deserves to get the brilliant results he used to get and demonstrate that nobody’s better than him in every Championship”, ends Giovanni Minardi.

 

Minardi “Yes to F.1 tests but with a rookie driver alongside the regular one”

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Finally. It took a scandal like the one involving Pirelli-Mercedes-FIA, to talk about test introduction during F.1 racing season, again. According to rumours, in 2014 4 test sessions to last 2 days each will be conducted on European tracks.

“I am very satisfied with this choice. As I’ve been saying for a long time it would be very important, for every team to deploy a rookie driver, alongside the regular one”, says Gian Carlo Minardi who, after launching several young champions into F.1, continues to focus on the drivers of tomorrow, who represent motorsport’s lifeblood.

“After a fuss has been made, it was inevitable, but paradoxical at the same time, thinking about cutting down costs by eliminating tests and replace them with simulator sessions, indoor practices and wind tunnel tests. I’ve been saying that for many years, now, finally, the matter has been raised again. Certainly F.1 has to try to limit costs instead of forbidding” ends the manager and current supervisor for Ferrari Driver Academy, “let’s see what is going to happen next weeks”.

Canadian GP – Preview

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After a short staying in Europe, F.1 is no ready to leave our continent to move to Canada. The European part of the Championship has been featured by arguments about Pirelli-Mercedes tyres test at Monte Carlo and some extra sport gossip. Contrary to what was stated in the last few weeks, Pirelli is going to bring to Montreal the same tyres used until now. Teams will have the chance to test Pirelli’s new tyres only during free practice 1. The new tyres will make their debut at Silverstone.

In Canada, teams and drivers will use Medium and Super-Soft tyres.  There’s a big difference between the two compounds in terms of degradation, so tyre management will be a key to success and the driver who will manage Super-Soft tyres at best will make the most of it. It will be a very interesting weekend even if it won’t be easy at all, as the Canadian track is a mix between a street circuit and a permanent one and it’s also full of pitfalls. There’s a long straight where drivers can make use of the DRS (even if for a shorter stretch). The straight leads to the last famous chicane, characterised by the “wall of Champions”. Brakes will play a key role, as cars will have a higher fuel load because they will burn more petrol than in any other circuit of the world. North wind can change conditions so quickly.

We’re entering the “hot stage” of the season; Red Bull is the leader, even if it hasn’t demonstrated to be unbeatable, Mercedes will have to demonstrate to be able to maintain the same strong performance displayed in Monaco. In that case the German team will become a troublesome rival. Ferrari demonstrated to feel comfortable on Medium tyres, but the Italian team still doesn’t feel comfortable on Super-Soft. The team will have to recover and shorten the gap with Vettel.

Obviously we don’t have to forget about Lotus. The team is taking strong performances since the beginning; the car demonstrated to feel comfortable on all tyres and maximized its performances on a single lap. Given the difficult financial situation, it twill be difficult for them to keep the pace of top teams, carrying out 2013 development work and beginning to develop 2014 new turbo project at the same time.

Thinking about my past experience in F.1, I have some regrets relative to the Canadian gp. We never managed to finish in the zone points (top 6), but we finished in the top 10 ten times out of 20, thanks to Martini, Fisichella, Badoer, Fittipaldi, Marques, Verstappen and Baumgartner’ strong performances in 2004. In such a demanding GP, finishing in the top 10 was certainly an excellent result for a second-tier team. Unfortunately at that time only the first six drivers finished in the zone points.

 

Canadian GP Schedule
Friday June 7th
16:00 – 17:30, Free Practice 1
20:00 – 21:30, Free Practice 2
Saturday June 8th
16:00 – 17:00, Free Practice 3
19:00 – 20:00, Qualifying Race
Sunday June 9th
20:00 Race
 

The point on 2014 F.1 racing season’s engines

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Intense days for F.1, not only for the speculation about Pirelli tyre test with Mercedes, which hogged newspapers’ pages, but also for the agreements involving the supply of turbo engines which will be the “beating heart” of F.1, starting from next racing season.

All the eleven teams have signed an agreement with Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault “With Mercedes’ choice to become Williams’ official engine supplier, along with McLaren and Force India, the team base has been 100% covered, says Gian Carlo Minardi “This choice sounds like a measure to avoid other manufacturers to enter into F.1 as suppliers, but the situation is still far from coming to an end, as we know that Porsche and Toyota are carrying out the new engine unit. What is more, even Ford and BMW are interested in entering the Circus.”

Car manufacturers are interested in F.1 again “The future of car racing is focused on KERS, turbo, and electronics. Manufacturers have already begun to invest on those three aspects. So, supplying teams with one’s own engine for free or upon a little payback, could be an added value in terms of communication and brand image. It has also to be considered that many teams are undergoing financial difficulties and the lack of sponsors doesn’t help the whole situation. This is the reason why costs will increase. We will go from 6-8 millions dollars spent nowadays to 18-21 millions with the introduction of turbo engine. Due to that, there could probably be some news in the future; who wants to get into the Circus will have to display a great showdown. Something unexpected could happen.”

Rigon keeps the leadership at Silverstone

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After winning the Blancpain Endurance Series’ opening race on the track of Monza, Davide Rigon, along with his teammates Cesar Ramos and Daniel Zampieri, finished in the points again, on a demanding and technical track like the Silverstone circuit.

The talented driver still leads the Championship, even if at Silverstone he didn’t manage to get a podium finish. At the wheel of the Ferrari 458 GT3, the Italian and Brazilian trio almost qualified in the top five, finishing only 4 tenths away form the pole position, after working hard during the two qualifying sessions, in order to get the best set-up.

The English track displayed the 26-year-old driver’s technical skills; in the first stint the young driver managed to recover very quickly, leading the Ferrari #44 to the third place, before giving way to his teammates for the conclusive rush “It was an intense week end, we knew since the beginning it would not have been so easy to emulate Monza’s successful race”, says Rigon “Me, Cesar and Daniel, have done a good team job in free practice and pre-qualifying sessions, in order to find the best set-up for the car. The top five was within our reach, but unfortunately we missed it for a little while.”

At the beginning of the three-hour-race Davide was the first to take control of the Ferrari, finishing third “The race was good, despite heavy traffic and the presence of numerous lapped drivers who didn’t make the race easier, as we had to risk more than ever in order to be in the lead of the race. To be honest, some drivers should be more cautious, especially when they see faster cars coming”, tells Rigon.

“In the first stints our pace was really good and we demonstrated to be able to compete with our main rivals. Before racing at the Paul Ricard we have to analyze what didn’t work in the final part of the race, where our pace was not so good any more.”

“The Aston Martins were on another planet, even if they seemed to have no balance….”, ends Davide “We want to get a podium finish again at the Paul Ricard. We don’t have to be afraid of anyone, because we have only one goal”. Next racing weekend will take place at Le Castellet on June 29th – 30th . 

GTS win for Bhai Tech Racing at the Nürburgring

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Perfect racing weekend for Bhai Tech Racing. The team scored an amazing double win in GTS at Nürburgring. The Italian team based in the advanced factory of Mestrino (Padua) and directed by the engineer Mr. Roberto Costa, drove an almost perfect racing weekend, leading both McLarens MP4 12C driven by Pantano/Suzuki and Van Der Drift/Razia to the first and second place of GTS, in the two races which made up the third event of International GT Open Championship.

Low temperatures and a thick fog welcomed teams and drivers, forcing Championship planners to change the weekend schedule, getting drivers to perform the two 15 minutes qualifying sessions consecutively. Despite difficult weather conditions, Advanced Vehicle Centre McLarens got the GTS first pole of the season with Van Der Drift’s 1’59’’436 (3rd position overall) and Suzuki’s 10th place. In the second session it was the Padua- born ex F.1 driver Giorgio Pantano who set the best chrono (5th overall) ahead of his Brazilian teammate Razia (GTS’ 5th place and 8th overall).

In the two races, which were both run in the dry, the four drivers equally shared out the first and second position, which is the 4th place overall. At the end of the 70’ race on Saturday afternoon, the #66 Brazilian and New Zealander racing crew almost got the podium, finishing 4th overall ahead of the Italian and Brazilian duo, scoring the GTS class double win.

In the Sunday’s event it was the duo Pantano /Suzuki who won the race, followed by teammates who respectively finished 4th and 6th overall.

“It was a fantastic weekend as we achieved good results, but it was also very intense, as we were very tight on time. There was only 1 hour break between the two qualifying sessions and race-1. So I want to pay our staff and drivers many compliments on their performances as they all were fantastic”, says the technical director Mr. Roberto Costa “We had a good race pace in the first two races, even if the track’s low temperature condition didn’t help us. We had to deal with a completely new situation as we got a handicap in race-2. We managed to handle the handicap very well as we know our race pace.”

The development work at the factory is bearing fruits and the team is going to the right direction “The work done at the factory between the Portimao racing weekend and this one was really important. Anyway, we will continue to develop the car as we have to improve in every sector. This is the reason why we’ll go to Jerez on Saturday 8th to drive a 3-hour- testing session, to get ready not only for the next racing event (to be held on the Spanish track) but also for the following racing weekends”, comments the Brazilian engineer “Success like the one achieved in Germany is an incentive to continue to work and progress”, ends Mr. Costa.