Lanan’s Kush Maini insists that he remains focused after conceding that winning the British F3 championship is unlikely.
Maini trails leader Linus Lundqvist by over 140 points with nine rounds left, starting at the Brands Hatch GP circuit, but says that the motivation is still there.
“You always want to go out and do your best. Nicolai (Kjaergaard, second in the standings) also had a bad weekend at Spa and he’s in range.
“So after all the bad luck to be in that position I am pretty happy. I just have to keep pushing and we’ll try and get him.”
This is the first tie that the 17-year-old Indian has ever been on the Grand Prix circuit, but he isn’t fazed by his lack of track experience.
“Even the Indy Circuit is not a straightforward track, and this is my first time on the GP circuit and I’m sure that will not be easy either. It’s the same for all of us that haven’t been here though. You just need to go in and get a rhythm and debrief afterwards to see what we can change.
“I spend a lot of time at iZone simulators, so I know roughly where to go and what lines to take. Every time you jump in for real it is always a little different, you have a lot more different factors to think of so I’m confident.”
Maini was non-committal on his plans for the future but hinted at moving up the Junior Formulae ladder.
“We’ll wait and see how we finish this season before deciding whether or not to move up to a bigger car.”
Maini’s brother Arjun was at the centre of the Santino Ferrucci controversy at last month’s British Grand Prix, when the American drove into the back of his Trident F2 teammate on the cooldown lap.
Kush feels that Ferrucci’s emotions got the better of him at Silverstone
“I think something was going on in his mind, maybe he was frustrated as Arjun was quicker. I can’t say too much but it was all a little unnecessary.”
Sachsenring was… eventful for the Moto2 class. It all started on lap two when Mattia Pasini’s crash left Francesco Bagnaia with nowhere to go but the grass. The crash of Pasini was then proceeded by a plethora of falls, including a potentially fatal one for the championship contention of Lorenzo Baldassarri.
Bagnaia was able to recover his position to finish twelfth, passing Alex Marquez in the final corner. But with Miguel Oliveira only qualifying seventeenth and with Bagnaia’s stellar pace across the weekend, Sachsenring was another opportunity for the Italian to extend his championship advantage, but with bad luck the chance went abegging. Nonetheless Pecco made a good recovery, and maintained his position at the top of the standings going into the summer break. Now the championship has returned after the holidays, it will be important for Bagnaia to continue in the vein of Sachsenring because, although the result was bad, he was fast over the whole weekend like all the races so far.
For Oliveira, though, the area to work on is obvious: qualifying. Saturday afternoons have been apocalyptic for the Portuguese rider so far this year, costing him a shot at the victory on multiple occasions and whilst he is still right there in the championship fight, it is only a matter of time until a poor qualifying really catches him out and leaves him either on the floor or with a bad result. In fact, it nearly happened in Germany, as the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider was cutting through the field and lost the rear in a pretty big way on the exit of the final corner, pushing hard to try to lose as little time as possible. He was lucky it only cost him a few positions, and he got lucky with the effect Pasini’s crash had on Bagnaia, too, but this is racing and perhaps this good luck will help him (in a small way) on his way to a first World Championship.
Binder,Mir and Marini on the podium at Sachsenring 2018. Image courtesy of Hondaproracing
Whilst Oliveira was able to close the gap in the championship, his teammate, 2016 Moto3 World Champion Brad Binder, was able to take his first victory of his Moto2 career in commanding fashion. There is not much to say about Binder’s race in Sachsenring, because it was pretty faultless lights-to-flag, but the journey he has been on to get there, since his broken arm in the end of 2016, has been monumental. In a sense, the victory was a surprising one, because Binder has not been in the best form this season, almost in an opposite way to Oliveira, as he has been going okay in qualifying – generally – but struggling after a few laps in the races. Hopefully for Brad, this German GP win will open the proverbial floodgates, and he can build some momentum on the back of this milestone.
Joan Mir was second in Germany, his third podium of his debut Moto2 season, putting more security on his fourth position in the championship standings. He lies fifty-three points behind in the standings, probably too far to challenge for the title, and has a factory Suzuki MotoGP contract in his pocket. But that does not make it any less important for the Spaniard to grab at least one victory in the second half of this season – to go to a factory MotoGP in the rookie year, a win in Moto2 is important for the confidence. Also, with no win, the media have something to criticise, and when something goes wrong, they will point to his lack of a Moto2 win. A win is almost essential for Mir before the end of the year, and perhaps this weekend will be the one for him to take it.
The third place on the German podium, two weeks ago, was taken by Luca Marini. Of course, whilst it was the best result of his career, it was not anything fantastic, primarily because Valentino Rossi, Marini’s maternal half-brother, finished second in the MotoGP race. But, seriously, Marini’s podium was both well-deserved and long in the making, a shoulder injury holding him back for much of the season to date. Like Binder, Marini’s first podium has the potential to be the catalyst for more top threes – even in the immediate aftermath of the race Marini mentioned several times about the importance in building the foundation with the lower steps before you reach the top. He has certainly done that, coming from the European Moto2 Championship in 2016 to essentially fight for last for one year, before a year of mixed results in 2017 led into this year which has so far culminated in his first Grand Prix podium. There is more to come from Luca Marini, and a good result in the Czech GP last year means that there will be strong hopes in the orange side od the Sky VR46 garage that more will arrive this weekend.
A crash in free practice for Alex Marquez in Germany curtailed his entire weekend, as he crossed the line in thirteenth. He is thirty-five points off the championship lead which, in Moto2, is not an impossible deficit, but if he is to overcome it, he will need to start reducing it this weekend.
The Moto3 World Championship is back from its ‘summer break’, three weeks after Jorge Martin took victory (again) in Sachsenring. And, of course, it is Martin who is leading the championship coming into the second half of the season, and with Brno being a circuit where the rider can make so much difference, Martin will be the favourite for this weekend.
But, can anyone challenge Martin? Well, possibly. Marco Bezzecchi has been the surprise of 2018, perhaps across all classes. From fighting for the last point last year to fighting for the title this, is some progression and although he hasn’t won since Argentina (his only career win), he is still right in this title fight. Also, in Sachsenring Bezzecchi continued his quite impressive statistic of this year which is that he has not finished a race and then not climbed the steps to the podium. The only races where he has not picked up a cup are Qatar, Le Mans and Assen all three being DNFs. He has been the best KTM rider this year, and it’s showing. Perhaps the biggest surprise now is that Moto2 teams aren’t – at least very publicly – bashing his door down and demanding his signature. Maybe now Martin is signed up for Red Bull KTM Ajo in Moto2 for next year, the attention will start to come the way of Bezzecchi.
Aron Canet is the only rider who made the podium in Brno last year to be in the Moto3 field this year, but the first half of the season has not gone to plan for the Spaniard. He was supposed to challenge for the championship, but like almost everyone else who was supposed to be fighting for the title things haven’t gone his way, and some mistakes have crept in too. Only three podiums in the first nine races of 2018 mean Canet comes into the second half of the year with much to improve upon. Thirty-eight points is not an insurmountable gap that Aron suffers to the top of the championship, but – like with Marquez in MotoGP – the critical part is that Jorge Martin is plain stronger at the moment, not just compared to Canet but compared to the whole field.
Sachsenring was a disaster for Enea Bastianini, as he crashed out and probably said goodbye to the final slither of an opportunity that he had for the championship. That said, his form has been quite good recently, and whilst his crash came in a bad moment for the championship, Bastianini could be well in the fight for the podium this weekend.
Moto3 2018: Round Nine – Sachsenring, Germany. Image courtesy of Hondanews.eu
Marcos Ramirez was back on form in Sachsenring as he took fourth place, his best result since his most recent podium in Le Mans at round five. It was only seventh in the wet Czech GP last year for Marcos, but with a decent result to keep him upbeat over the summer he could be in the front fight this weekend.
John McPhee has come back to form in recent races. The first half of the season proved to be one of mixed fortune for John, as he suffered from a lack of testing preseason. He finally got to test post-race in Mugello, and since then has fought for the podium in every race, finally making it in Germany despite his crew chief being absent. It will be interesting to see whether the, albeit short, summer break will stall his momentum at all.
Last year’s Czech GP was the Grand Prix debut for Dennis Foggia, and he scored two points. Unfortunately for Dennis, things have not progressed much this year. He had several impressive wildcards last year, but the reigning Junior World Champion has struggled this season in his first full-time campaign in the World Championship. Combined with the disastrous season suffered by his teammate, Nicolo Bulega, who has only scored seven points this year, you have to wonder whether there is something happening inside the team to make both riders suffer so much, because the riders have talent and speed but right now they are not comfortable at all. Maybe the summer break has provided them with the reset they need ahead of the second half of the season.
Of course, the weather could play a part this weekend, with the forecast in Brno never being completely reliable, and the skies are usually up for a bit of a drizzle. Rain might be the only thing that can stop the race-winning train that is Jorge Martin this weekend, and with that in mind his championship rivals will be hoping the clouds prepare for the lightweight class battle on Sunday morning.
The British GT series rolls into Brands Hatch this weekend for a penultimate round that could see both titles wrapped up.
Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen’s #33 Barwell Lamborghini currently leads the GT3 class by 14 points while Jack Maitchell’s econd straight win last time puts his #43 Century Motorsport BMW 16.5 clear. The target is 38 points.
For Minshaw and Keen, this season has been about consistency – the #33 Lamborghini have only have one win this season but numerous other trips to the podium has left them clear while others have hit trouble.
The #11 TF Sport Aston Martin team of Mark Farmer and Nicki Thiim had more bad luck at Spa with a lap-one retirement in Race Two, and they slipped to third behind Optimum Motorsport’s Jonny Adam and Flick Haigh,
Thiim and Farmer had earlier retired at Oulton Park at the very first round and lost points at Rockingham which hampered their charge, but a good result here puts them right back in the hunt.
Haigh and Adam are the only crew in the top five to face a pit-stop success penalty, and that could prove crucial unless they build a big lead in the two-hour race on Sunday.
Meanwhile in GT4 a timely Safety Car undoubtedly helped the #43 BMW, whose full-season driver Jack Mitchell is now 16.5 points clear of HHC Motorsport’s Ginetta crew of Callum Pointon and Patrik Matthiesen, who were knocked off the championship lead for the first time since Rockingham.
Third place could be good enough for Mitchell to take the season spoils, provided that the #55 Ginetta finishes poorly and the #4 Tolman McLaren of Charlie Fagg and Michael O’Brien also hit strife.
The 2 Hours of Brands Hatch could be pivotal in deciding the destination of both British GT titles, will it be a champagne-filled Sunday night, or is are we in for a Donnington Decider in September?
A red flag waved during a Formula One race. Image courtesy of Joe Barbosa (under CC 2.0)
Red Flags are used when Safety Cars are not enough of a safety precaution following an on-track incident.
As well as giving drivers the chance to change to fresh set of tyres and potentially gain track position, red flags are in place to make sure that the drivers do not race in conditions that are just too dangerous.
Red flags are typically seen when after an accident in which there is an incredible amount of debris on the track that should not be driven around even under a safety car. Or when one of the barriers is so damaged following a crash that it cannot absorb impacts efficiently, or during a wet race when there is so much standing water on the track that it is too dangerous to continue. At such point the race is suspended. Red Flags do count towards time limits in races.
During the Red Flag period, the drivers line up in position order in the race in the pit lane to await a restart. The race will only be restarted once the stewards and marshals deem that it is safe enough to resume racing.
Once the race is restarted, it will be restarted behind the safety car, and the race will then be resumed either with a standing start or a regular safety car restart.
If it is thought that it is too dangerous to resume the race, or that there is no point due to a lack of remaining laps in the Grand Prix, then the session will be abandoned. Should it be abandoned before the race is halfway completed, then half points will be awarded.
Red Flags can also be used in Practise, Qualifying and Test Sessions. The cars will then return to their garages at a very low speed, before being allowed back out once the danger is cleared. Again, if there is not enough time left in the session or it is too dangerous to continue, the session will not be restarted.
Silly season has officially started. The driver market got a major shock on Friday the 3rd of August when Red Bull surprisingly announced that Daniel Ricciardo is set to leave the Austrian team after the 2018 season.
Team Principal Christian Horner commented on this news saying: “We fully respect Daniel’s decision to leave Aston Martin Red Bull Racing and we wish him all the best in his future. We would like to thank him for his dedication and the role he has played since joining the Team in 2014, the highlights, of course being the seven wins and the 29 podiums he has achieved so far with us.”
With the Australian set to leave the team, there’s now a very much sought-after seat to take. Red Bull Racing know that and are now looking for an alternative.
“We will now continue to evaluate the numerous options available to us before deciding on which driver partners Max Verstappen for the 2019 season. In the meantime, there are still nine races left in 2018 and we are fully focused on maximising every opportunity for Max and Daniel for the remainder of the season” Horner added.
Daniel Ricciardo has been part of the Red Bull Junior Team since 2008 and made his F1 debut at the 2011 British Grand Prix. After only two seasons at Toro Rosso he joined Red Bull Racing. He achieved seven victories, two pole-positions, twenty-nine podium finishes and brought the team 904 points. His last victory was at the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix this year, an absolute highlight for the ‘Honey Badger’ at Red Bull.
In another shocking announcement that same day- just an hour after the Red Bull announcement- Renault confirmed that Daniel Ricciardo has signed for 2019 at the French team. Completing their line-up for 2019 is Nico Hülkenberg. This means that Carlos Sainz will leave Renault at the same time, now looking for another team.
Ricciardo said in an official announcement from Renault: “It was probably one of the most difficult decisions to take in my career so far. But I thought that it was time for me to take on a fresh and new challenge. I realise that there is a lot ahead in order to allow Renault to reach their target of competing at the highest level but I have been impressed by their progression in only two years, and I know that each time Renault has been in the sport they eventually won. I hope to be able to help them in this journey and contribute on and off track.”
With these announcements we are left with a very mixed-up driver market. There’s now one space available at Red Bull next to Verstappen. Most likely to go there are either Carlos Sainz or Pierre Gasly. Pierre Gasly has impressed the Milton-Keynes team at their sister team Toro Rosso, whilst Carlos Sainz is still awaiting a renewal of his Red Bull Junior Team contract.
A lot of predictions for 2019 will probably have gone wrong after this announcement. Ocon won’t go to Renault as they already signed Ricciardo and Hülkenberg. Ricciardo isn’t staying at Red Bull as many -even himself- had predicted.
Now it’s waiting for the next announcements as the 2019 grid finally shapes up a bit.
Tuesday: Finland recce is always fun, I love getting back into these stages. I spent so much time in this area when I was competing with Tommi Makinen Racing that it feels like a second home. Today we recce’d six stages, a mixture of the traditional flat-out Finnish roads and newly added tighter and twisty sections.
Wednesday: More recce today, pacenotes in Finland are super-critical, the speed you are carrying, often in the air, means that you have to commit absolutely. The jumps require bravery and skill, because you can’t really turn a car when its wheels aren’t touching the road. Tom and I have been working really hard on our pacenotes over the last few weeks, and we can feel the difference here.
Thursday: A big day today, we had an early tyre meeting with Pirelli to help us decide on our tyre strategy and then straight into shakedown. Shakedown was extremely hot, and the weather continued throughout the weekend. We found a good set up and felt confident in the car. After lunch Tom had some PR engagements for the event, and I continued to work on the notes and strategy. Finally, in the evening we had the start of the rally and SS1 through the centre of Jyvaskyla.
Friday: The first proper day of rallying, we started with a good pace and settled in well. The new stage configuration of using smaller, narrower, rougher roads was tricky to say the least as they were still very fast in the little M-Sport Fiesta R2T. The Pirelli tyres worked really well, and our tyre strategy was giving us the grip we needed. I really enjoy these Finnish roads, it’s great to get a flow with the pacenotes and synch with the driver… it’s amazing how fast you can go.
Saturday: Iconic stages today, with the new narrower twist. We were locked in a great battle with New Zealand Champions Dave Holder/Jason Farmer, absolutely great guys and we were having a lot of fun – tiny gaps on every stage. Unfortunately, Dave and Jason picked up a double puncture on the second loop of stages dropping them out of contention. Meanwhile, we were feeling good in the car and especially in our pace notes – all the hard work since Portugal on our fitness, pace notes, and all-around performance, was really paying off.
Phil Hall jumps to best-ever JWRC finish with Tom Williams in Finland – Image credit M-Sport/JWRC
Sunday: 4 Stages. It’s not that far to hang on to our best result in the JWRC. Except this is Finland, and anything can happen. Finishing with the legendary Ruuhimaki test, and a monumental jump to finish (which we took absolutely flat, see the video on my social media), we kept on it to the very end and were rewarded with a fantastic result. Now we are focusing on the next round of the JWRC in Turkey.
Phil Hall (L) celebrates with Tom Williams (R) – Image credit M-Sport/JWRC
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter (@PhilHallRally) for more behind the scenes JWRC stuff!
After a fight through Friday with Mads Ostberg for the lead of this rally, Ott Tanak opened up a good lead through Saturday and then controlled his pace and 15 years after the last Estonian to win Rally Finland, took a very well-deserved victory. The championship protagonists found themselves playing bit parts further down the standings.
Here’s the story of how Rally Finland played out.
After Thursday’s short evening stage, Ott held the lead from Thierry and Seb.
The start list looked like this for Friday’s stages, running in championship order – Neuville, Ogier, Tänak, Lappi, Mikkelsen, Evans, Latvala, Breen, Ostberg, Suninen, Paddon, Al Qassimi. Ten stages awaited the crews out there.
The first stage of the day, SS2, was won by Ott, with Mads just behind, 1.3 seconds slower than the Toyota driver, with Teemu Suninen a further few seconds behind in third, and this was now the overall top three with Seb and Thierry now in seventh and ninth respectively. Craig suffered a puncture seven km’s into the twenty km stage, losing 47 seconds and falling to 18th overall. We would see a fightback from him through the rest of the rally.
Stage 3, a shorter 12km stage was won by Jari-Matti and with that, he passed Teemu, moving into a podium position. Craig put the disappointment of the puncture behind him and drove to second fastest, just eight tenths slower, whilst Ott increased the overall lead over Mads a little. Further back, Seb and Thierry were still in seventh and ninth, their road position hurting them.
Stage 4 saw a couple of dramatic moments – Mads took the lead after setting a great time 4.8 seconds faster than Ott and now in the lead by just half a second. However, Hyundai driver, Andreas went off the road, losing more than three minutes. Craig’s pace in the last two stages had brought him up into tenth overall.
The following stage, number 5 saw greater pace from Ott and coupled with some little mistakes from Mads, he retook the lead, by just 1.1 seconds. A mistake from Thierry saw him drop behind Craig and the Belgian was now over a minute behind the leader. Hayden though was now the top Hyundai driver, just nine tenths slower and second fastest, meaning he was now in fourth overall.
Midday service followed this stage, and then it was time to tackle the remaining six stages.
Mads started off in a strong way, winning stage 6 and retaking the lead from Ott and with Teemu going several seconds quicker than Jari-Matti and Hayden, he moved back into third overall! Showing how competitive these cars are three different cars in the top three, just nineteen seconds between them.
Mads and Ott continued their fight for the lead in stage 7, with them both setting identical times through the stage, the lead remaining at one tenth of a second. Jari-Matti retook third overall. Further back, Thierry remained in tenth overall, now one minute 41 from the lead, whilst Seb was in seventh, 54 seconds from first place.
Top three in stage 8 was Craig, Esapekka and Jari-Matti, whilst the overall top two were fifth and ninth fastest. It was Mads who opened up a gap of 1.9 seconds over Ott. The Norwegian was driving to a safe pace, knowing Ott wasn’t as fast.
The lead swapped again in stage 9 after Ott was fastest and with Mads nearly three seconds slower, the Estonian retook the lead by a second. Mads was not letting him get away, driving a sensible but fast stage as his tyres were quite worn. The rest of the positions in the top ten were pretty static though.
Stage 10 was won by Ott and with Mads seventh fastest there was now a 4.3 second gap between them. Further back, Hayden repassed Teemu in their battle over fourth place and Seb passed Elfyn, the Frenchman now in sixth. Craig set the fifth fastest time in the stage, despite starting to suffer with brake problems near the end.
The final stage of the day, 11, saw Seb set the fastest time from Ott and Thierry, who set identical times. Craig and Kalid suffered with fuel pressure problems in their C3’s, with Craig losing 27 seconds, but didn’t drop out of the top ten at least. A real shame for him, after a very good drive through the day after the puncture.
So, what a day. Toyota and Citroen both shared out the stage wins and Ott ended the day in the lead. Mads had driven really well, and had kept a great pace, leading at times as well.
STANDINGS AFTER DAY 1
Tänak / Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) 1:02:26.0
Ostberg / Eriksen (Citroën C3 WRC) + 5.8
Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) + 23.1
Paddon / Marshall (Hyundai i20 WRC) + 36.4
Suninen / Markkula (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 46.1
Ogier / Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 58.9
Evans / Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 1:01.1
Lappi / Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) + 1:01.4
Breen / Martin (Citroën C3 WRC) + 1:34.1
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +1:57.7
24. Al Qassimi / Patterson (Citroën C3 WRC) +8:28.5
Let’s hear from the drivers. Top three first.
Ott Tänak
“I am really happy with my day. Everything has been working just perfectly. I have a lot of confidence in the car and it is really nice to drive on these roads. Except for one moment where I stalled the engine and lost a bit of time, I did everything that I could. The roads have been pretty slippery with a lot of cleaning. Tomorrow, we will have the same conditions as the guys we have been fighting with today, which will be good, but it still won’t be easy.”
FIA World Rally Championship 2018 / Round 08 / Rally Finland 2018 / July 26-29, 2018 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Mads Østberg
“I’m delighted for everyone in the team that I have managed to produce such a solid performance. We have all worked so hard together in order to make it happen. I really enjoyed driving my C3 WRC throughout the whole day. We are now going to try and keep it up tomorrow!”
Jari-Matti Latvala
“I think today has been pretty good. On the first stage it was difficult to get into the rhythm, but then I found it on the second stage. I also made the car a bit stiffer to have some more stability, and since that I’ve been happy. I was a bit too careful on the first stage this afternoon but I was able to fight back and claim third position. I am enjoying the driving and hopefully I can improve a bit more tomorrow.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Teemu Suninen (5th)
“It’s been a tough day. We were fighting for a podium position but then we had a few issues and dropped down to fifth. The driving has been on an okay level, but there is still some more to find and I hope that I can find that tomorrow.”
Sébastien Ogier (6th)
“If I’m honest, I expected things to happen the way they did today. With the roads being so dry, it was a tough day for us and we lost some time for sure. That said, I have to say hats off to Ott [Tänak] because he has been flying. Starting just behind us, he was setting times which were really impressive to watch.
“I think I did more or less what I could today. Of course, I could have gone a little faster – a few tenths here and there – but then I would have needed to take some big risks. Our road position will be a bit better tomorrow, and hopefully we can find some small things to be a bit faster. It’s not been an easy day, but we’ll keep trying tomorrow.”
Elfyn Evans (7th)
“We can’t be completely satisfied as this isn’t really the position we were looking for. Although to be fair, it was pretty clear that the road evolution played a big part over the morning loop. With the exception of Ott [Tänak] who was just on a different planet, we were faster than everyone in front of us but the guys behind were faster than us.
“We then struggled on a few stages this afternoon so it was okay but not perfect. There’s still a long way to go, and Saturday was a really good day for us last year – so we have to try and let’s just see what happens.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Hayden Paddon (4th)
“I think we can be pretty happy with our opening day, even if we could have probably taken a few more risks. We didn’t want to overdo it, because we were focused on getting the set-up right for the whole weekend. In the morning loop, we had to adapt to the conditions and our pace notes were a bit slow in places. From there, we started to enjoy the car and the stages more. We’ve been consistent, had good pace and that’s allowed us to stay in touch with the leading three. We’ve now got to build on this over the next two days.”
Thierry Neuville (10th)
“Starting first on the road, particularly in this event, makes life really tough from the outset. There was not much more we could do, as we struggled for grip and consistency. Things weren’t helped by the mistake in SS5 when we were too optimistic with a pace note. I was thinking about correcting it, but then missed the next one and ended up going straight into a ditch. We had to take it a bit easier after that. The mechanics did a great job at midday service to fix the car. We are losing some positions compared to Ogier, so we can’t really be happy but we knew it would be hard. We can only do our best in these circumstances and minimise the damage.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 08, Rally Finland 26-29 July 2018 Day 1 Action Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Andreas Mikkelsen
“It has been a very challenging start to Rally Finland for us. We made a mistake in SS4 during the morning loop, but we’ve struggled for pace throughout the day. You never want to make a mistake but I misheard a pace note. I thought Anders had said five minus, when it should have been four, which is quite a difference. We had a slow roll but were pushed back onto the stage by the Finnish spectators, who were very helpful. Thanks to my mechanics for getting us ready for the afternoon. We still have some work to do to get the right feeling but we will aim for a fresh start on Saturday.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Craig Breen (9th)
“In terms of the times, we had a good rhythm and overall, it was a good day. Obviously, it’s frustrating to have picked up a puncture this morning and then to have had the fuel problem this evening, but that’s the way it goes, I guess. It’s gone now, so we’re already focusing on tomorrow’s leg. We’ll try to enjoy ourselves on these magnificent roads and do even better.”
Craig Breen, Scott Martin – Photo credit, Citroen Racing
Khalid Al Qassimi (24th)
“I really liked the fast, typically Finnish stages. Less so the stages that were very narrow and rough, but I adopted a cautious approach in these sections in order to keep out of trouble. I’m going to try and up my pace during the rest of the rally.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Esapekka Lappi (8th)
“This morning was a bit of a struggle: I stalled in a junction in the first stage, which was very disappointing, and after that I was having difficulty finding a rhythm. In service the engineers found a small issue on the car and were able to fix it. After that, it started to go well and the speed was more like what I was expecting. Of course, I wanted to be fighting for the victory, but there are still two days to go and some good chances to gain positions.”
Saturday would see eight stages for the crews to tackle and the start order looked like this – Al Qassimi, Mikkelsen, Neuville, Breen, Lappi, Evans, Ogier, Suninen, Paddon, Latvala, Østberg, Tänak.
Starting with SS12, the top three was Ott, Mads and Jari-Matti and now Ott’s lead had increased over Mads and Latvala was now on a mission to catch Mads. Further down the leaderboard, Esapekka and Elfyn overtook Ogier, who was now down to eighth.
Into SS13 and Ott increased his lead over Mads, who in turn was doing enough to keep Jari-Matti at arm’s length. Further back, just 14 seconds covered the gap between 6th and 8th. Craig was driving well and enjoying the car on the stages and wishing for a better road position.
In SS14, Ott continued to make the most of his road position and increased his lead a further few seconds, his overall lead now over twenty seconds after Mads made a couple of mistakes. Seb also passed Elfyn for seventh place.
The shorter stage SS15 saw Ott still faster than Mads, whose tyres were not giving him the feel he wanted. Last years winner, Lappi set a great time, going fourth fastest and passing Teemu for fifth place.
After service, the same stage was run as SS16. Jari-Matti and Ott set the same time, whilst Mads was only fifth fastest, losing a little over three seconds to the charging Finn. He’d made some changes to the car during the service break, with the hope that these would give him the opportunity to push harder on the longer stages.
Lappi kept the stage wins in the Toyota team camp with a great time through SS17. Jari-Matti closed the gap to Mads by five seconds, just twelve seconds between them now. The reason for this was that he had two spare tyres in the car and was finding the car harder to drive on the limit with the extra weight.
Esapekka won the following stage too, SS18 and with that moved ahead of Hayden Paddon, deposing the Kiwi to fifth, whilst the gap between Mads and Jari-Matti came down another four seconds to eight between them now. The ruts in the stage were hindering Craig, plus a little change that he made to his car between the stages actually gave the car understeer, and not giving him confidence to push into the corners.
Lappi really was on a mission, winning SS19 and building a gap to Hayden too, with a nine second gap between them. The fight was still on between Mads in second and Jari-Matti who wanted that position, with the Toyota driver taking another three seconds out of the Norwegian and now just five seconds behind. They’d have to wait now till Sunday to continue their battle.
It had been a remarkably good day, with just one accident and no reliability issues either. We still had all of the top cars and drivers.
STANDINGS AFTER DAY 2
Tänak / Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2:13:18.2
Ostberg / Eriksen (Citroën C3 WRC) + 39.0
Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) + 44.4
Lappi / Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) + 1:20.6
Paddon / Marshall (Hyundai i20 WRC) + 1:29.6
Suninen / Markkula (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 1:45.1
Ogier / Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 2:07.6
Evans / Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 2:17.9
Breen / Martin (Citroën C3 WRC) + 2:56.4
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +3:34.5
Let’s hear again then from the drivers after day two. Top three first
Ott Tänak
“Overall, it has been another a good day. In the morning we were in a good rhythm and our road position was so much better than yesterday, so we managed to increase the gap even though I was not pushing as hard. This afternoon I was a lot more cautious because the roads were pretty rough and we already had a good gap. It was not so enjoyable to drive like this, but we still managed to increase our lead, so I cannot complain. Tomorrow we have some pretty smooth and fast stages and I’m looking forward to it.”
Mads Østberg
“Once again, we gave it everything today on these magnificent and very demanding roads. With the warm conditions, in the afternoon we had to contend with high tyre wear. We also had extra weight from the two spares we took for the second loop, but I think we managed really very well to hang onto second place! I’m pretty confident about tomorrow. We’ve already shown that we can hold off Latvala.”
Jari-Matti Latvala
“It has been really enjoyable today. There was still a little bit of speed missing during the morning loop but we made some changes to the car in mid-day service and I started to get a better feeling and I could start to push more. This meant that I was wearing my tyres a lot, but it was amazing how fast we were still able to go. Of course, we need to try and attack tomorrow and try to get second place. But of course, if you do risks they need to be controlled risks and that’s important.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Esapekka Lappi (4th)
“It has been a really strong day, particularly this afternoon. The morning was pretty enjoyable and we managed to gain three places already. Then during the afternoon, I pushed really hard, and didn’t save the tyres at all. This was a very risky game because we didn’t have much rubber left for the last stage, and yet we were still fastest! Now the target for tomorrow is to stay ahead of the guys behind us.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Hayden Paddon (5th)
“It has been a marginally better day compared to Friday being second on the road. I feel we’ve had a decent day, considering, taking no risks. We know we have nothing to play for. It’s a difficult situation but we absolutely accept that. Now, we need to keep the car on the road and get to the end of the rally. Having led the championship for a few events, we knew there would come a time when our job would be trickier – and this rally is that moment! Finland is a particular event; we just have to enjoy it and accept our limitations.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 08, Rally Finland 26-29 July 2018 Hayden Paddon, Seb Marshall, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Thierry Neuville (10th)
“It has been a marginally better day compared to Friday being second on the road. I feel we’ve had a decent day, considering, taking no risks. We know we have nothing to play for. It’s a difficult situation but we absolutely accept that. Now, we need to keep the car on the road and get to the end of the rally. Having led the championship for a few events, we knew there would come a time when our job would be trickier – and this rally is that moment! Finland is a particular event; we just have to enjoy it and accept our limitations.”
Andreas Mikkelsen (11th)
“It is always hard to be first on the road. Thierry had to manage yesterday and today it was my turn. We have had to use today’s stages effectively to get some mileage under our belts in an effort to improve the car. We are trying in all areas to find solutions but there’s not much we can do this weekend.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Teemu Suninen (6th) said:
“We made some good progress throughout the day and were able to make the car a bit faster during the midday service. In the second loop I had a much better feeling for the car and was able to set some much better times. We’re still missing a bit of pace compared to the guys at the front, but I was able to beat both of my team mates which means I can be happy with my day and my driving.”
Sébastien Ogier (7th) said:
“Performance wise, it’s not been the weekend we wanted – but we are ahead of Thierry [Neuville] which is always the main target. We’re still in a position to close the gap in the championship, and that is a positive.
“We all expected the Toyota’s to be the benchmark this weekend, but we were hoping to be closer too. We’re happy about the new package of parts, but with only one day of testing it was going to be a bit of a risk. We’ve used today as another test session, but we still have some work to do before we’re where we ultimately want to be.”
Elfyn Evans (8th) said:
“It’s not been a bad day and all three of us have been fighting quite closely together – although for sure we’d all like to have been fighting a bit higher up the leader board! We lost a bit of time this afternoon as I didn’t want to take the risks. We’ve got to play the team game and whatever happens we won’t be finishing ahead of Sébastien [Ogier] so it wasn’t worth taking the risks.”
Elfyn Evans and Dan Barritt, Photo credit M-Sport
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Craig Breen (9th)
“Although it’s always frustrating for us as drivers to not be able to do any more, we had a decent day given our road position, setting similar times to those around us in the running order.”
Khalid Al Qassimi (Rally2)
“It’s a shame to have made a mistake in a technical section on the loose gravel, but these things can happen at events that are as difficult as this one. I have high hopes that I can make up some ground again tomorrow.”
Sunday would see four stages, totalling 45km, and they were all a little over 11km each in length. There was also the spectacular Ruuhimäki, with its huge jumps, including at the finish!
The running order was – Mikkelsen, Neuville, Breen, Evans, Ogier, Suninen, Paddon, Lappi, Latvala, Ostberg, Tänak, Al Qassimi.
The first stage of the day SS20, saw the demise of Esapekka Lappi, who crashed out. This promoted everyone up a position and now Andreas was in the top ten. Meantime Mads won the stage with Jari-Matti just nine-tenths of a second behind and second fastest.
This battle continued in SS21 and it was Jari-Matti who won the stage from Mads and the gap was now around five seconds again. Ott remained in control and in the lead, which was now thirty-three seconds.
Jari-Matti was really on a mission now, winning SS21 from Mads again, the overall gap between them now, just two and a half seconds. This was the only battle now, with the gaps between the others too big to overcome.
The final stage then, SS22 and Ott won it, taking maximum points from the weekend! Mads prevailed over a charging Latvala, scoring a great second place for him and Torstein would be standing on his first WRC podium too! We saw team orders come into play too, with Teemu slipping behind M-Sport team leader Ogier, allowing the reigning champion to take fifth place.
Well, Ott and Toyota had done it. They’d followed up Lappi’s victory from last year, and Jari-Matti had got a great podium with third. All three on the podium, had driven really well all weekend. None had been gifted their finishing position. The championship rivals were well down the field, Seb getting some assistance from Teemu and Elfyn to get fifth, whilst Thierry crossed the line in ninth place and keeping a good gap, if slightly reduced to Ogier.
Here’s the thoughts then of the drivers, starting with the top three.
Ott Tanak
“It has been a perfect weekend. Everything worked as we wanted. On Friday we had a really big job with our road position, and after that we could just increase our advantage. We had the perfect preparation and full support from the team. If you work together as one then these kinds of results are achievable. To win in Finland is definitely special. It’s kind of a home rally for me and it’s the home rally for the team. To win in front of all this support is incredible.”
FIA World Rally Championship 2018 / Round 08 / Rally Finland 2018 / July 26-29, 2018 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Mads Østberg
“I’m really, really happy to fighting at the front again on these incredible stages! It’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my racing career. I’m also delighted for everyone at Citroën. The guys did a fantastic job to get us in this position and I’m proud to be a part of this team. I knew from our pre-event test that this C3 WRC was the best car that I’d ever had on this rally and I’m pleased that we managed to show it this weekend.”
Mads Østberg was overjoyed with second place! Photo credit, Citroen Racing
Jari-Matti Latvala
“I gave everything today to try and get second place. It was a great fight. It really helps with the confidence when you fight as hard as this and you can keep everything together and not make mistakes. To be back on the podium after quite a long time feels really good, and especially to do it here in Finland. Together with the victory for Ott, this was a really important result for the team.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Hayden Paddon (4th)
“On the whole, I’m really happy with the weekend. We have been able to keep pace with some of the event favourites, maintaining a consistent performance. Naturally, we would have preferred to score a podium, of course, but we took a measured approach to secure important points for the manufacturers’ championship. The final morning was all about taking it easy to bring the car home with a comfortable gap behind us. I’ve really enjoyed the stages this weekend, the car has been a joy to drive and it has given me the confidence I need. We are back on the right track.”
Thierry Neuville (9th)
“Road position has really dictated a lot this weekend. Even without our mistake on Friday, when we misread a pace note, I don’t think we would have been any higher up the classification. We have had to accept our limits and focus on completing each stage with no further trouble. The main target was not losing too many points to Ogier, which we did to the best of our ability. We could only control what’s in our hands. We gave it everything we could in the Power Stage and it was good to take a couple of extra points. Overall, we have done our best, the team has done a good job and we can be proud of ourselves. We now look ahead to the team’s home event in Germany.”
Andreas Mikkelsen (10th)
“A difficult weekend for us. Any chance we might have had to feature further up the order was spoiled with our time loss on Friday morning’s loop. Losing three minutes due to a pace note error was just what we didn’t need, and it meant we were penalised as first on the road for Saturday and again this morning. We have had to avoid any unnecessary risks and use this event as a way of better understanding the car in these conditions but I’m sure we’ll be back on pace in Germany.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Sébastien Ogier (5th)
“For sure it was a difficult weekend for us and we expected to be a lot more competitive. The Fiesta performed really well here last year and every driver was able to set fastest times. That wasn’t the case this year and it was a bit of a bad surprise.
“We tried all we could, but there wasn’t a lot more we could do. That’s how it is and we just have to try and analyse why we were not able to keep up the pace this weekend. The positive is that we scored more points than Thierry [Neuville] – and that is anyways always our main target.”
Seb Ogier, Julian Ingrassia reduced the points lead after finishing four places ahead of Thierry and Nicolas. Photo credit M-Sport Ford WRT
Teemu Suninen (6th)
“It’s been a tough weekend for us. We wanted to challenge for the podium, but we were missing some pace and couldn’t fight with the fastest drivers. I was able to beat my team mates and I am happy with that, but we let Seb past just before the last stage as he’s the one fighting for the championship.”
Elfyn Evans (7th)
“It’s not been a terrible weekend driving wise and I don’t think anyone can say that they don’t enjoy driving these stages, but for sure seventh place wasn’t the result we wanted.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Craig Breen (8th)
“It was a difficult weekend for us, with the puncture on Friday that proved very costly, leaving us to clean the road for two days. We nevertheless managed to show our pace whenever the conditions enabled us to do so. It was nice, especially, to finish with a good time on the Power Stage, which means we can now look ahead to Germany with optimism.”
Khalid Al Qassimi (37th)
“Although it was a difficult rally for us, with our mistake yesterday morning, I’m pleased we were able to re-join the action today and enjoy these incredible stages. Above all, I’m delighted for the team, whose hard work has been rewarded by a great result.”
FINAL STANDINGS
Tänak / Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2 :35:18.1
Ostberg / Eriksen (Citroën C3 WRC) + 32.7
Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) + 35.5
Paddon / Marshall (Hyundai i20 WRC) + 1:35.6
Ogier / Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 2:15.0
Suninen / Markkula (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 2:19.2
Evans / Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) + 2:29.5
Breen / Martin (Citroën C3 WRC) + 3:08.4
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +3:51.8
Mikkelsen / Jaeger (Hyundai i20 WRC) +8:37.4
DRIVERS’ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Thierry Neuville – 153 points
Sébastien Ogier – 132 points
Ott Tänak – 107 points
Esapekka Lappi – 70 points
Dani Sordo – 60 points
Andreas Mikkelsen – 57 points
Jari-Matti Latvala – 55 points
Elfyn Evans – 52 points
Mads Ostberg – 48 points
Kris Meeke – 43 points
Craig Breen – 39 points
MANUFACTURERS’ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Hyundai WRT – 228 points
M-Sport Ford WRT – 202 points
Toyota Gazoo Racing – 201 points
Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT – 153 points
Well, the next round is Rallye Germany, 16th to the 19th of August, the scene of Thierry’s first win in 2014 for Hyundai. It really will be battle on for the championship between the Belgian and M-Sport’s champion Seb. Who else can challenge there? We know Elfyn goes well on tarmac, and Seb took a tarmac win this year too. Clearly, Citroen are making progress with their car again and you can’t discount Toyota, as they have last years winner, Ott as well!
Safety cars and virtual safety cars form an important part of modern Formula One, and they are something we see very often over the course of the season.
Known in the United States as the pace car, the safety car gives the drivers the opportunity to make a free pit stop while everyone else is going slowly, and it can completely change the outcome of a race.
However, the safety car is not there for show. It is there, in essence, to save lives. When there is an incident on track, the safety car can be deployed to lead the drivers around the track at a reasonable and controllable speed, guide everyone through the site of the accident and ensure that no harm can come to any of the drivers, marshals, or spectators. This can be while there is a stricken car on or just off the circuit, or while there are marshals working on removing it.
If the track is extremely wet and slippery after rain, the safety car can even be used to begin a race if performing a normal start would be too dangerous. Likewise, if the safety car then leads the drivers away and it is found to be too wet, the race can be stopped ready for the safety car to lead them away again if and when the conditions improve.
The virtual safety car was created after Jules Bianchi’s horror crash at Suzuka in 2014, which would eventually claim the talented Frenchman’s life nine months later. When a Safety Car is considered excessive after an incident, a virtual safety car can instead be deployed to ensure that all the drivers stick to a minimum delta.
It is also used for when localised yellow flags are not enough. Drivers are expected to slow down under yellow flags, but they are given no delta time to stick to. As a result, the drivers can end up going too quickly into the yellow flag zone as they try and lose as little time as possible. This could then result in them losing control and hitting either the stricken car, or those trying to recover it. If we look back at most races, how many times did we see drivers slowing down significantly for local yellows? The VSC means that they are obliged to go slowly, thus extremely decreasing the chances of being involved in potentially life-threatening accident.
Though they are a common sight in F1, safety cars and virtual safety cars should be viewed as a very special aspect not just of F1 but of racing in general. Without them, we would be seeing many more incidents of drivers running into other drivers’ stricken cars, or worse, making these safety measures extremely vital in our sport.
Featured image by Wolfgang Wilhelm, courtesy of Mercedes AMG
The British F3 series heads to Brands Hatch this weekend with a clear championship leader, while a fight for second place is hotly contested between three drivers.
Two wins at the Spa-Francorchamps overseas round has given Linus Lundqvist a 120-point lead over Denmark’s Nicolai Kjaergaard – the Swede has a small mathematical chance of wrapping the title up by Sunday.
Kjaergaard is trailed in second place by Kush Maini (27 point) and Tom Gamble (31) in what is now a race for best of the rest, although has taken only one podium and two retirements from the last six rounds after a difficult two meetings.
If Lundqvist was dominant in Belgium, Gamble was the main threat to the 19-year-old with two second places and a retirement, while also taking pole position to lead the Jack Cavill Pole Position Cup for 2018.
The Nottinghamshire teenager must rue the engine issue that stunted his progress from Sunday at Rockingham to the Sunday at Silverstone, before he was allowed to change it.
Like Kjaergaard, Maini is another one to have started brightly but fallen by the wayside as the season wore on. An impressive Silverstone meeting where he could have won two races, he lost 60 points to Lundqvist to effectively end his championship hopes.
Meanwhile, Jamie Caroline won from eighth in race two at Spa on his first F3 weekend, while Billy Monger will be looking to make the podium as he did last time out, debuting the unique “leggy” celebration inspired by Daniel Ricciardo’s “shooey”.
Kirsh Mahadik will be looking to repeat his victory here last year in the F3 series, while Ayrton Simmons will compete in only his second weekend in the series alongside his British F4 commitments.
With Brands Hatch the setting for many a classic race over the years, a new batch of younger driver will be hoping to make their own piece of history this weekend.
