2015 Petit Le Mans Review

Review of Round Twelve and final round of the 2015 United SportsCar Championship and the final round of the North American Endurance Championship at Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia for the annual Petit Le Mans.

In a very wet and bizarre race with only eight hours of the ten hour race completed due to a very wet race, the Porsche North America team won the race overall and GT Le Mans Class too of Patrick Pilet, Nick Tandy and Richard Lietz in their Porsche 911 RSR. While, the BMW Team RLL team finished second place in their BMW Z4 GTE, the team of John Edwards, Lucas Luhr and Jens Klingmann; they were five seconds behind the leaders. Meanwhile, Action Express Racing team finished in third place and also took Prototype class win too in their Corvette DP, Chevrolet 5.5L V8, with the drivers of João Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and Sébastien Bourdais; they were eight seconds behind the leaders.

In Prototype Challenge Class (all teams using Oreca FLM09 race car), PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports team won Prototype Challenge Class and finished in fourteenth place overall; with the drivers of Michael Guasch, Tom Kimber-Smith and Andrew Palmer; they were five laps behind the leaders.

In GT Daytona Class, Park Place Motorsports team won GT Daytona Class and finished in seventeenth place overall in their Porsche 911 GT America; with the drivers of Patrick Lindsey, Spencer Pumpelly and Madison Snow; they were 24 laps behind the leaders.

And so who are this years champions as its the final round of the season. In Prototype Class, João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi won the drivers championship, while Action Express Racing took the teams championship; while Chevrolet took the Engine manufacturers championship.

In Prototype Challenge Class, Jon Bennett and Colin Braun won the drivers championship, while CORE Autosport took the teams championship.

In GT Le Mans Class, Patrick Pilet won the drivers championship, while Porsche North America took the teams championship; while Porsche took the Manufacturers championship.

In GT Daytona Class, Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler won the drivers championship, while Scuderia Corsa took the teams championship; while Ferrari took the Manufacturers championship.

To conclude this seasons United SportsCar Championship.

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2015 WRC Round 11 recap - Tour de Corse - Rallye de France

Recap of the last round of WRC from last weekends Round eleven of Tour de Corse - Rallye de France.

Last weekends was the eleventh round of the World Rally Championship at the Tour de Corse - Rallye de France (2nd - 4th October) was won by Jari-Matti Latvala in the works Volkswagen Polo R WRC, to win the rally overall. While, Elfyn Evans, finished in second place in the M-Sport World Rally Team, Ford Fiesta RS WRC, Evans was 43 seconds behind Latvala at the end. Meanwhile, Andreas Mikkelsen finished third in the other works Volkswagen Polo R WRC, Mikkelsen was 46 seconds behind Latvala at the end of the rally.

Meanwhile in WRC-2 class (Group R5, R4, Super 2000 and Group N4 spec cars), that was won by Julien Maurin in his own backed Ford Fiesta RRC. Julien Maurin finished in thirteenth place overall, he was 6 and half minutes behind Latvala at the end of the rally.

While in WRC-3 class (Group R1, R2 and R3 cars) that was won by Quentin Gilbert in his own backed Citroën DS3 R3T. Quentin Gilbert finished in twenty-sixth place overall, he was 17 minutes behind Latvala at the end of the rally.

Highlights of the rally bellow, enjoy.



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Nissan to miss the rest of the WEC season

Nissan announced yesterday (1/10/15) they will not enter the remainder of this season's World Endurance Championship, ahead of a return to the LMP1 grid next season with its front-engined GT-R LM NISMO, opting to focus on improving performance and reliability.




In August, Nissan announced that it was putting its race programme on temporary hold to focus on the technical issues it encountered on its race debut at Le Mans in June.

That decision is understood to have covered the Nurburgring, Austin and Fuji rounds and Nissan has now opted to miss the Shanghai and Bahrain rounds in November as well.

No word when Nissan will return to World Endurance Championship, the brand may return for the final two races of the FIA WEC calendar in Shanghai, China and Bahrain in November.

The main question will Nissan return to the World Endurance Championship next season with their radical GT-R LM Nismo or pull out altogether? my guess they may pull out of the series, that may not be a surprise if that news does happens. But, for now time will tell with Nissan will do in 2016.

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Confirmed: Manor F1 Team using Mercedes-Benz turbo engines from 2016 and onwards

It has been announced yesterday (1/10/15) that Manor F1 Team has signed a new engine partnership with with Mercedes-Benz to supply the team their 1.6 litre V6 power units from the start of the 2016 F1 season.





Under the new deal, Manor will use Mercedes’ 2016 Power Units and not 2015 Power Units as rumoured. Manor will also run the same Petronas fuel as the works Mercedes team and resume a technical partnership with the Williams F1 team, which will supply Manor with transmission and suspension components in 2016.

This is a very good deal for Manor going into 2016, as 2015 been a rebuilding year as the team was in administration at the start of the year, then in February come out of administration then got a deal from Ferrari to supply them year old Ferrari Power Units for their 2014/15 race car, got Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi as drivers and continue on rebuilding the team throughout the season.



With a great power unit's from Mercedes and transmission and suspension components from Williams, Manor team will have a change to compete for points in 2016.

No word yet who will drive at Manor next season. With Mercedes supplying power units to Manor with the new deal, Mercedes may put in Mercedes test-driver and current DTM Championship leader Pascal Wehrlein into the team next season.



While, the second seat could be battle between current Manor driver Will Stevens, or current Manor and GP2 driver Alexander Rossi, or even GP2 driver Rio Haryanto who was previous experience with the team as one of their GP3 driver back in 2010 and 2011. And tested for the F1 team in 2012 under the Marussia name. If Rio Haryanto does get signed at Manor next season he will bring in sponsorship from Indonesian oil and gas company Pertamina with a budget up to £10 million to the team.



Things are looking up for Manor in 2016.

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Confirmed: McLaren retains Jenson Button till 2016

It was confirmed yesterday (1/10/15) that McLaren will retain Jenson Button for next season alongside Fernando Alonso.



Button made the switch to McLaren ahead of the 2010 season, after claiming the world title with Brawn(Now as Mercedes), and has gone on to take eight race wins and eighteen podium finishes for the team.

Button's future has dominated the headlines over recent races, with rumours that Jenson will retire at the end of the 2015 season; but following discussions with Chairman of McLaren Ron Dennis, the 2009 F1 Champion will remain at McLaren for another season.

Overall, a very good decision from McLaren to keep Jenson Button for next season. Despite McLaren could've re-promoted Kevin Magnussen, who raced for the team in 2014. Although, there are rumours that Magnussen may race at Lotus/Renault next season replacing Romain Grosjean who is off to Haas next season.



Or Mclaren could've promoted GP2 Championship leader and McLaren reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne.



But, McLaren have stand by with Jenson Button for another season, despite its been one of McLaren's worse season in recent memory. McLaren will continue with their super team of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.

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It's Official - Romain Grosjean joins Haas F1 Team for 2016 and onwards

It was confirmed on Tuesday afternoon (29/9/15) that Lotus driver Romain Grosjean will race with the all new Haas F1 Team as their first driver, during a press conference at their headquarters in the United States.



Grosjean had looked set to extend his stay with Lotus for a fifth straight season, but with the Enstone-based team's future still unknown, he has opted to jump ship to the new Ferrari-associated Haas Team.

In my opinion, this is not a big surprise this news happen. It has been strongly rumoured since the Singapore Grand Prix that Grosjean has signed a deal with Haas. Its great news for the Haas team as they have got a talented and experienced Grand Prix driver as showed during last months Belgian Grand Prix were he finished in third place with an under developed Lotus. But, for Romain Grosjean it is a giant gamble to join the Haas F1 Team.

First of all its going to be the team's first season in F1 of course, despite the team is basically Ferrari B-Team with Haas being supplied with 2016 power units from Ferrari and manufacturer Dallara to design and build their chassis its not the sure thing they could succeeded. Secondly when history has showed, when talented drivers go to a team in their debut season, there is mixed results.

For instance Rubens Barrichello was at midfield team Jordan in 1996, in 1997 went to Stewart who had Ford backing, best result in 1997 was a second place finish at that seasons wet Monaco Grand Prix; third season with the team, three third place finishes and a pole position in a strong third season for Stewart in 1999, went to Ferrari to team up with Michael Schumacher in 2000, and the rest is history.



Then, there is drivers who made those that made the bad decisions with debut teams, Heikki Kovalainen was at McLaren in 2009, got replace by Jenson Button at the team for 2010, could have went to Force India in 2010. Instead went to Lotus Racing (Caterham), highest result was a twelfth place finish at Suzuka 2010, stayed at the team for two more seasons and got fired by the team at the end of the 2012 season. Never scored a point for the team. The end of his Formula 1 career, now in Super GT series in Japan with Lexus.



Then, there is Timo Glock, was at Toyota in 2009, could have went to Renault in 2010. Instead went to Virgin Racing (Manor), highest result was twelfth place finish at Singapore in 2012; got fired by the team before the 2013 because the team could not afford his wages. Never scored a point for the team. The end of his Formula 1 career went to DTM with BMW after that.



Basically, its down to the gamble for Grosjean at Haas next season, if he has a good season in 2016 with the team in the midfield and above likes of Sauber and Force India and if Räikkönen isn't retain at Ferrari for 2017. Grosjean could have the hot seat at Ferrari for 2017 alongside Sebastian Vettel. If not return to Renault might happen instead.

If the gamble doesn't work and the Haas team is battling with the likes of Manor in 2016, his Formula 1 career could be over the same scenario as Kovalainen and Glock before. Time well tell for Romain Grosjean if he done the right decision to drive for Haas in 2016.

As for Grosjean's team-mate at Hass next season, no word as of yet. It is strongly rumoured that Ferrari test-driver and former Sauber driver Esteban Gutiérrez will get the second drive, bringing in sponsorship from Mexico.



A new challenge ahead for Romain Grosjean in 2016.

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2015 WTCC Round 10 Recap - Race of China

Review of Round Ten of the 2015 World Touring Car Championship season was the Race of China, at Shanghai International Circuit, on the outskirts of Shanghai.

In the first race, Citroën Total WTCC driver and current WTCC Champion José María López took the race win in his C-Elysée WTCC. Second was Citroën Total WTCC driver Yvan Muller in his Citroën C-Elysée WTCC, he was two seconds behind López in the end. While third place was Total WTCC driver Sébastien Loeb in his Citroën C-Elysée WTCC to complete Citroën podium whitewash finish, he was three seconds behind López in the end.

Meanwhile in the Independent Class, was won by Sébastien Loeb Racing driver Mehdi Bennani in his Citroën C-Elysée WTCC. He finished in fifth place overall and fourteen seconds behind López in the end.



While in the second race, Citroën Total WTCC driver Yvan Muller took the race win in his C-Elysée WTCC. Second was Honda Racing Team JAS driver Gabriele Tarquini in his Honda Civic WTCC, he was two seconds behind Muller in the end. While third place was Citroën Total WTCC driver and current WTCC Champion José María López in his Citroën C-Elysée WTCC, he was two and half seconds behind Muller in the end.

Meanwhile in the Independent Class, was won by Sébastien Loeb Racing driver Mehdi Bennani in his Citroën C-Elysée WTCC. He finished in seven place overall and fourteen seconds behind Muller in the end.



Next stop Race of Thailand at Chang International Circuit for Round Eleven of the 2015 World Touring Car Championship season in five weeks time.

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