Archive for category: Championships

Formula 1 is ready to turn its engines on for the second session of pre-season testing. The Circus will head to Bahrain where weather is expected to be warmer than in the first session and we’ll see the Lotus E22, driven by Grosjean and Maldonado, making its debut on the Arabic track. The Frenchman will be the first to drive the car and he will give way to his new teammate for the last two days (Friday and Saturday).

All eyes will be on the V6 Renault engine and on Red Bull, who started a troublesome season, completing only 21 laps. The reigning World Champion will have to do an intensive work in Bahrain, after working hard in the team’s factory. The first driver to get behind the wheel of the new car, designed by Adrian Newey, on the two first test days will be Sebastian Vettel, who following will give way to his partner Daniel Ricciardo. The French engine manufacturer will rely on all data gained by his partners to get prepared to debut in Melbourne.

Mercedes will try to maintain the good performance level displayed on the Spanish track, with Hamilton and Rosberg ready to make a relay race behind the wheel of the new W05. The two drivers will take turns making the car and engine development program progress. After a solid start in Spain, where Alonso and Raikkonen managed to run more than 1000 km, the Maranello-based team will go ahead with the fine tuning of the new F14-T, bringing some important upgrades to the Arabic track. After winning two constructors’ Championships, one drivers’ championship and taking 39 wins, getting 122 podium finish, 29 pole positions and scoring 48 best laps when it was powered by the 056 8 cylinders-2.4-liter aspirated engine (from 2006 to 2013), the F14-T will be turbocharged by the new-born 059/3 power unit. It will be a solid re-start for the Italian team, who completed more than 400 laps thanks to the contribution of the partners Marussia and Sauber, demonstrating a good level of reliability.

Eyes locked on the Mercedes-powered Williams driven by Massa and Bottas who will try to get redemption after experiencing a troublesome 2013. On the last day of testing at Jerez, the English team delivered the best performance, leaving a positive mark. The team will still bring a hybrid-dark-blue livery to the second pre-season session in Bahrain, before officially announcing the partnership with Martini Racing. The new livery – white with the traditional blue and red stripes which made the Turin-based company well-known in the world of car racing – will be unveiled on the occasion of the third and last pre-season test session to be held in Bharain from February 27^th to March 2^nd.

By McLaren, Kevin Magnussen will be the first to bring the new MP4-29 to the Arabic track, his teammate Button will wrap up the session. At Jerez Magnussen drew attention on himself by setting the best chrono on the third day of the first session. Sauber has announced his cooperation with Simona De Silvestro. The goal is to allow the Swiss driver who is currently engaged in the Indycar series to get the Superlicenza. De Silvestro will join the two test drivers Giedo Van Der Garde (serving as a reserve driver) and Sergey Sirotkin.

Tatuus chassis, 4-cylinder FPT 1.4 l FIAT turbo engine, Promoter: WSK Promotion….all the pieces which compose the puzzle of the new FIA Formula 4 are finding their position.

The new category, which was strongly desired by FIA and is supported by the Italian Automobile Association, was established to the purpose of discovering new car racing talents, connecting the world of kart racing and the world of Formulas, since it’s open to 15-year-old drivers.

The Italian Championship, in which the 160 hp FPT engine powered Formula cars, whose chassis is made by Tatuus, will participate, will consist of 7 racing events and will kick off in the month of May at the Vallelunga circuit and finish in Barcelona on October 19^th, running through the circuits of Adria, Imola, Mugello and Monza. It has still to be defined the circuit the event scheduled for June 8^th will be run at. The name of the tyre supplier will be disclosed in a short time.

As far as costs are concerned, the costs made known by FIA are confirmed. The chassis costs 33.000 euros + V.A.T. and it’s 9.500 euros + V.A.T. for the engine.

After the good results achieved at the 6H of Shanghai, Davide Rigon will be behind the wheel of the 8Star Motorsport’s Ferrari 458 GTE, to contest the last round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, to take place this week end at the Sakhir circuit, in Bahrein.

The Vicenza-born driver, who is at the Scuderia Ferrari’s disposal, will take part in the World Endurance  Championship for the fourth time, after taking the second place on his debut race at Interlagos, the fourth place at Fuji and sealing a win in China. His aim is to take part in the whole 2014 FIA WEC Championship season Mark Webber will also take part in. In the 6H of Bahrein, Davide will make his talent available to the Scuderia to aim for winning the GTE AM title. Thanks to the success he scored in Shanghai, there is only a 5-point-gap between the team and standing’s peak. Everything will be played throughout the race’s 6 hours “It was great to win in Shanghai. It was my first win in this championship; in 2008 I won the FIA GT Championship’s 24H of Spa at the wheel of the F430. I feel very comfortable with the car and the team. I’ll do my best even in Sakhir, to help the team win the title, as it happened with Andrea in the GT Open.”

The Vicenza-born driver will return to Bahrein four years after finishing third at the wheel of the GP2 Dallara “I took the third place in the GP2 Championship in 2009. I hope to achieve better results. I would like to take part in the Championship next season. It’s a pleasure to drive a GT2 car” says the Minardi Management’s driver.

With the event which took place at the Barcelona circuit, Bhai Tech Racing, the racing division of the Mestrino-based Advanced Vehicle Science Centre, which was inaugurated more than one year ago by Pastor Maldonado, won the first International GT Open Championship’s title with the two McLaren MP4-12C. Along with the teams’ title, the squad’s driver Giorgio Pantano also won the drivers title. The Padua-born driver who made his debut in a GT Championship, kept all his rivals behind: “It’s not bad to win the teams and drivers title the first time you take part in a GT Championship. It was a new experience for us and for our engineers”, comments Bhai Tech’s President Mr. Ferdinando Bada “we made some mistakes, but we were good at improving race by race. The overall win we took in Monza was the peak of our racing season, along with the last few laps at Montmelò. We really deserved to win.”

It was a big success also for the “virtual simulation”. You have a state of the art driving simulator and software inside your headquarter. How much does virtual simulation get close to reality?

Around 95%.This percentage comes from a comparison between all the data we gathered from the GP2 Dallara.

The Driving Simulator allows you to make indoor tests, without having to move to the track, so you save money and time and give drivers the opportunity to practice those tracks they will race on and the staff has the opportunity to undertake some development tests. How much money does a team save?

 We save up to one quarter if we compare an on-track test and a test using the driving simulator. Another advantage is that you can practice whenever you want, refine details such as braking and undertake set-up tests. All that is done on track can be also done using the driving simulator and the modeling software. Some drivers told us that, after a three-four days training session using our simulator, their on-track performances in a very demanding Championship such as GP2, improved significantly.

Talking about GP2, this year you’ve been engaged in this Championship alongside the Racing Engineering Team

 As Bhai Tech, we’ve offered a technical support to the Race Engineering Team. We’ve provided the team with simulation training and on-track assistance by employing our engineers. We’ve been very satisfied with the results, as the team won the GP2 title. That is another big success to be added to the two GT Open titles.

What are your plans for the 2014 racing season?

We have two options at the moment: GT Open and FIA GT. We should have our plan defined in about one month, as we’re waiting for a confirmation from one of our most important sponsors. The FIA GT Championship would be our main choice, as it’s a kind of technical championship, but obviously, we want to pay attention to our sponsors’ needs.

The world economic situation is not that good now. What’s the main problem a racing team or companies like yours have to deal with now?

The whole world is undergoing a serious financial crisis, so there is a lack of resources to support Sport in general, not only Motorsport. Nowadays even nonprofessional sport activities have trouble finding financial support  – small football teams who bring happiness to local communities, don’t even manage to find 10-15000 euros to support the season – let alone Motorsport, whose financial needs are much higher.

To be honest, you would expect institutions to pay more attention to a field which involves many employees; more than 150.000 people are employed in the motorsport field. Some legislative bills introduced by the government when Monti was the prime minister, have further reduced the possibility for companies to support Sport financially, and so the amount of financial resources to be devoted to sport has significantly decreased.

The Bhai Tech Advanced Vehicle Science Centre has celebrated its first anniversary this year. What are your goals for the upcoming years?

Our main goal is to cooperate side by side with car companies. It’s clear that you have to prove who you are and what you’re able to do. We’re still very young, but we’re progressing so much. We’re successfully cooperating with the F.1 McLaren. It’s our most important partner from a technological point of view. Probably next year our “F.1 Family” will further expand. I am confident in that.

In the past you took part in the F.3000 and in the GP2 Championships with your own team.  You scored wins and won titles. Is there a chance that you compete in a Formula Championship again?

We don’t rule out any possibility. We should have our program defined in about one month, and then we’ll be ready to make our announcements. The Formula “chapter” isn’t closed, for sure.

….What drove you to leave Formula and focus on GT Competition?

Nothing in particular, just the will to meet new challenges. After dealing with Formula cars for such a long time, I decided to focus on covered-wheels, as I find them so exciting. Even if we’re not involved in Formula competitions as a team, we continue to work on single-seaters through our driving simulator, which is a very useful device, as it gives a driver the opportunity to progress. In a demanding championship such as the GP2, the time gap is within few thousands of a second. This is the reason why details can really make a difference. Through driving simulation we can analyze a driver’s behavior, understand his mistakes and help him progress.

 

The International GT Open Championship’s finale couldn’t be better for the Bhai Tech Racing Team, who got the better over rivals at the Barcelona circuit by winning the GTS title, bringing home the first cup.

The Mestrino-based Advanced Vehicle Science Centre’s racing team, who made his debut in the International GT Open Championship and in the GT competitions this year, has constantly improved his performances time after time, delivering excellent races, such as in Monza, where the team took his first win overall, at the Nuerburgring, where the team sealed two wins and at Silverstone, McLaren’s hometown, where Bhai Tech Racing delivered a successful race again. It was a seven months long season, competed through 16 races and hard fought until the last two corners in the Catalan challenge’s second round. It was a heart-taking finale, which made everyone hold his breath. Giorgio Pantano took the drivers’ title and completed a perfect week end for the Italian team. The Padua-born champion, who made his debut in the GT competition this year and paired off with the Portuguese driver Alvaro Parente, launched the crucial attack by making a spectacular manoeuvre in the last few laps, taking the third place overall. Luiz Razia and Chris Van Der Drift, who were at the wheel of the second McLaren MP4-12C, finished fifth, giving the English constructor the second place in the Championship.

“It’s a win to be shared with the staff and the drivers. A particular thanks to the owners who made all the needed resources available to us and McLaren. We’re proud to have paid them off with this important result”, says the Engineer Mr. Costa, “It was a very intense week end, rich in emotions. It was also a very intense season which ended only in the last corners. We’ve always been aware of our potential and we’ve never let misfortune get us down. Races and championships end only after the chequeredflag is deployed on Sunday. Even after Saturday’s race we continued to work only relying on our resources, we never looked to anyone else. We were constantly among the fastest on track. Giorgio did a good job; during his stint he bridged the gap to get the title, making excellent manoeuvres. Alvaro Parente completed the puzzle. He knows the car very well, so he gave his precious contribution. Luiz and Chris helped the team to reach this important goal”, says the technical director.

“I’m really happy. It was an excellent result achieved at the end of a very intense week end. Taking the title at the last two corners is something indescribable, especially because it was my first season in a GT competition. Congrats to the team on an excellent job!” comments Giorgio Pantano.

Bhai Tech’s victory means also a great success for the virtual race simulation. In addition to on-track testing, the team also worked hard inside the Bhai Tech headquarter’s simulation suite which hosts the driving simulator facility. It’s a full-motion 6-DOF facility, which is fully immersive with a 8 m 210° diameter curved screen, five off-board projectors, two rear view visuals and a modeling software. This is a clear proof of how much this technology is important not only for Formula 1. See you in the 2014!

A little more than one month after taking the first and historic double win overall at the very fast and historic circuit of Monza, Bhai Tech Racing is ready to compete in the International GT Open’s  final race to take place at Barcelona this week end.

The Mestrino based Bhai Tech Advanced Vehicle Science Centre’s racing team, whose director is Mr. Roberto Costa the engineer, will contest the Championship’s last round on the 4.655 m-long-Catalan racetrack as the GTS and drivers Championships’ leader, position achieved after taking a win at Nuerburgring, Silverstone, Monza and getting some good placing. Considering the slight point gap which separates all teams, the last round at Montmelò will be a 120 min.-final-challenge, divided into 2 races which are scheduled for Saturday (at 4 p.m.) and one race which is scheduled for Sunday (at midday).

“According to our first results, we would have never expected to race in Spain as the Championship leaders, fighting for the title. We’ve developed so much over the last few months and made use of all our energies. We’ll try to get the last pieces to complete the puzzle”, says Roberto Costa “In the year of our debut in the Championship, it’s great to be fighting for the title in the drivers and teams championship. I like the Montmelò racetrack very much. I drove many successful races there. It’s ten years since I took the first pole position along with Giorgio Pantano in the F.3000 Championship. I hope we’ll manage to keep on pursuing this direction and finish this season successfully”, comments the technical director.

It’s a special event also for the drivers fighting for the title and the top three “Our main goal is to win the teams’ championship, but of course, we’ll do our best to help Giorgio winning the drivers’ championship and help Luiz and Chris finishing in the top three. It will be our first racing experience at Montmelò behind the wheel of this car, so we’ll be well concentrated on the race. We’ve worked hard over these weeks in order to get ready to compete.”

The two 60’-free-practice sessions will take place on Friday. The two qualifying sessions to set the starting grid order will take place on Saturday at 9 a.m. and 11.55 a.m. The 70’ first race will start at 4 p.m. on Saturday, while the 50’ final race is scheduled for Sunday at midday.