Overtake Motorsport

Season opener for BTCC gives a different winner in each race

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BTCC is back in action for 2019 this weekend, kicking off in Brands Hatch. We round up all the results and what this means for the championship at the end of a mad few days.

 

RACE 1

The first race of the 2019 British Touring Car season kicked off with the 2017 champion on pole. Ash Sutton flew off the line to take an early lead, ahead of Andrew Jordan.

The greasy track, whilst similar in condition to qualifying the previous day, certainly threw a curve ball to the drivers. It was Josh Cook at his BTC Racing car who eventually finished in the lead, having started in 10th.

Those at the front of the starting grid all chose to race on wet tyres, whilst Cook and others took the, seemingly genius, decision to use slicks.

Those on slicks initially lacked pace but as soon as these tyres came up to temperature, they were clearly the better option. Those on wet tyres were left unable to fight or fend off as Cook and others came powering through.

Cook took the lead on lap 9, passing Sutton at Clark corner. However, it wasn’t all plain sailing for the eventual winner, who faced a late challenge from Jake Hill as the leading pack had to make their way through a series of lapped cars.

Hill took 2nd having started in 15th, with the podium rounded out by Tom Chilton in 3rd. Aiden Moffet and Adam Morgan came across the line in 4th and 5th respectively.

The first wet tyre finisher was Matt Neal in 8th, ahead of pole-sitter, Sutton, who eventually crossed the line in 9th. There was further disappointment, this time for reigning champion, Colin Turkington, who could only manage 19th after starting 3rd.

 

RACE 2

The “topsy-turvy” theme of the morning continued into the second race of the day, which saw Andrew Jordan storm to victory after starting in 15th. He crossed the line with a dominant lead of nearly 10 seconds over his closest rival, and Saturday’s fastest man, Ash Sutton.

Josh Cook, who had started this race from pole, quickly pulled out a commanding lead which was up to nearly 4 seconds by lap 10. But just five laps later, an opportunistic move by Sutton and then another overtake from Jordan saw him back in 3rd. He later finished the race in 7th.

Despite taking the lead in style, Sutton was simply unable to hold back Jordan, who stormed passed at the start-finish straight, before pulling out his commanding lead. Sutton then faced further challenges from Adam Morgan – the pair could only be separated in the photo-finish.

Jake Hill crossed the line in 4th, with Tom Ingram and Stephen Jelley in 5th and 6th respectively. The top ten was rounded out by Rory Butcher, Tom Chilton and Senna Proctor.

 

RACE 3

The victor for the last race of the day – the reverse grid race – was actually decided off the track. Despite crossing the line in 1st place, Tom Chilton faced a five-second post-race penalty which demoted him to 2nd.

The penalty came after an incident with Honda’s Matt Neal – a move which, at the time, gifted him the lead of the race.

It was eventually Rory Butcher who inherited the victory, his first in BTCC, after finishing 2nd on track. He crossed the line ahead of Stephen Jelley, who also faced a battle with Neal.

While Chilton dominated at the front of the pack, there was a ferocious battle for these podium places. It looked as though Matt Neal would take one of these places, before his soft option tyres began to lose pace.

After contact between Jelley and Neal sent the Honda spinning, Jelley slowed to let him regain the position. Rory Butcher quickly took advantage of this and swiftly moved past both drivers.

Colin Turkington, having faced a miserable day so far, finished in a respectable 5th. Tom Oliphant and Chris Smiley crossed the line in 6th and 7th respectively, with Neal eventually finishing in 8th.

 

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

After the opening weekend in Brands Hatch threw up some truly interesting results, we leave the track with Josh Cook leading the championship, just 4 points ahead of Tom Chilton.

Pole-sitter, Ash Sutton is currently 7th with reigning champion, Colin Turkington in 13th, with just 14 points.

 

1 Josh COOK BTC Racing 44
2 Tom CHILTON Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher 40
3 Stephen JELLEY Team ParkerRacing 35
4 Rory BUTCHER Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance 34
5 Adam MORGAN Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport 31
6 Jake HILL TradePriceCars.com 30
7 Ashley SUTTON Adrian Flux Subaru Racing 27
8 Andrew JORDAN BMW Pirtek Racing 23
9 Matt NEAL Halfords Yuasa Racing 22
10 Tom INGRAM Team Toyota GB with Ginsters 20
11 Aiden MOFFAT Laser Tools Racing 20
12 Bobby THOMPSON GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct 15
13 Colin TURKINGTON Team BMW 14
14 Tom OLIPHANT Team BMW 11
15 Chris SMILEY BTC Racing 9
16 Jack GOFF RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport 9
17 Senna PROCTOR Adrian Flux Subaru Racing 6
18 Dan CAMMISH Halfords Yuasa Racing 6
19 Michael CREES GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct 4
20 Jason PLATO Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing 3
21 Mark BLUNDELL TradePriceCars.com 2
22 Sam OSBORNE Excelr8 Motorsport 0
23 Rob COLLARD Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing 0
24 Nic HAMILTON ROKiT Racing with Motorbase 0
25 Daniel ROWBOTTOM Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport 0
26 Sam TORDOFF Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance 0
27 Matt SIMPSON Simpson Racing 0
28 Rob SMITH Excelr8 Motorsport 0
29 Ollie JACKSON Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher 0
30 Carl BOARDLEY AmD with AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Racing 0

Feature Image Credit: BTCC.net

Posted on 7th April, 2019 for Overtake Motorsport

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Car #7 comes out on top for a Toyota 1-2 in Fuji

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The Toyota team of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez secured their first win of the season today at the 6 Hours of Fuji WEC race.

A thrilling WEC race in Fuji saw Toyota Gazoo Racing land a dominant 1-2 result, with car #7 coming out on top. The team of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez came out on top to land their first win of the season after coming a close second in both Spa and Le Mans earlier in the season.

 

This was the third 1-2 for Toyota this season, but the first ever WEC win for Lopez. First since 2016 Fuji for Kobayashi and Conway.

This also saw the championship lead of  Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Buemi and  Kazuki Nakajima’s Toyota increase – they are now 13 points ahead of sister car, after winning all three of the opening races.

 

The LMP2 class saw a dominant 1-2 victor for the Jackie Chan DC Racing team. Weiron Tan, Nabil Jeffri and Jazeman Jaafar came out on top of this rivalry, taking their first victory over the sister car team of Ho-Pin Tung , Gabriel Aubury and Stephane Richelmi. The LMP2 podium was rounded out by the Signatech Alpine team in third place. 

 

Despite starting at the back of the field, the GTE-Pro class was won by Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen in the Porsche, who are still enjoying their strong season opening. Meanwhile the GTE-Am class was also won by Porsche, captained by Jorg Bergmeister, Egidio Perfetti and Patrick Lindsey. This podium was completed by Dempsey-Proton Racing and TF Sport.

After facing a seemingly disastrous qualifying penalty which pushed car #7 back through the LMP1 grid, Kobayashi only needed two laps to fight his way back up and be within two seconds of the leading car.

Within the first hour, Kobayashi had overtaken Kuzuki Nakajima in Toyota’s car #8 to claim the lead which the team would take to the chequered flag.

 

An early safety car ensued after the GTE-Am driver Motoaki Ishikawa suffered a tyre failure and left debris across the main straight. As a result, plenty of drivers took to the pits to risk a slick pair of tyres as the track began to slowly dry out.

This worked well for everyone except Gustavo Menezes, in car #3, who fell victim to the slippery track and crashed out.

 

Some teams, however, opted to stay out – This included ex-F1 World Champion Jenson Button, who briefly led the field as a result.

Kobayashi’s Toyato soon back regained this lead which he was able to hold despite pressure from Buemi, in the sister car. The gap then grew considerable with Conway now at the helm.

The Fuji podium was completed by Rebellion Racing, who crossed the line 4 laps down on the Toyota, driven by Andre Lotterer, Bruno Senna and Neel Jani.

After technical issues left Button in the pits for some time, he managed to drag the SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1 up to 4th.

 

The grid will be back in action for the 6 Hours of Shanghai on the 18th of November and Overtake Motorsport will have all the action for you here!

 

Feature Image Credit: FIA World Endurance Car Championship

Posted on 14th October, 2018 for Overtake Motorsport

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DiGrassi cruises to victory in a chaotic Zurich E-Prix

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Lucas DiGrassi took a serene win, his first of the season. He crossed the line just 7.5 seconds ahead of Sam Bird, who has cut Jean Eric Vergne’s championship lead to just 23 points ahead of the final race weekend of the season. 

Earlier today, Mitch Evans managed to put his Jaguar on pole position for the first time in his Formula E career with a time of 1:12.811s. He managed to beat Techeetah’s Andre Lotterer by 0.137s.

Sam Bird, who is sitting second in the championship after his victory in Rome, set the third fastest time, while Jean Eric Vergne, the title leader, could only set the 17th fastest time.

 

As the lights went out, Evans lead the field with ease; after four laps, his lead was up to 1.5s as the following riders took a defensive stance. However, he complained that his cockpit was “super hot”, suggesting he had technical difficulties. These difficulties became evident when, on lap 17, when di Grassi was able to cruise past him for the lead as Evan’s tried to save energy.

Despite starting in sixth, di Grassi stormed through the grid, passing Jerome D’Ambrosio, Sam Bird and Andre Lotterer with ease on his way to snatch the lead. By the time the chequered flag fell, he was 7.542s ahead of the pack.

Di Grassi wasn’t the only driver making waves, as championship leader Jean Eric Vergnefought his way through the grid as he attempted to save his championship lead. He started 17th, but by lap nine he was in the points scoring positions.

His efforts were halted, however, when his car stalled in the pits leaving him stationary for a painful 12 seconds. He came out in ninth and was left to start all over again. He kept the pressure on his fellow racers and fought his was back up.

 

The podium was completed by Briton’s Sam Bird and Jerome d’Amborisio for the first time this season. Both drivers were saved by key players being slapped with a driver-through penalty for speeding under a full course yellow. Mitch Evans, Andre Lotterer, Sebastian Buemi and Jose Maria Lopez were initialled fined, and Jean Eric Vergne later joined the party.

These penalties also allowed drivers such as Nick Heidfeld and Oliver Turvey to salvage some points after a disappointing weekend, finishing in sixth and ninth respectively. After his impressive pole, Evans was forced back to finish in a disappointing seventh, ahead of Felix Da Costa, who secured his first points finished since Mexico.

Sadly home favourite, Edoardo Mortara was the first race retirement, competing only six laps before clipping the kerb through the tram stop.

After first lap drama saw Nelson Piquet Jr slamming in to the back of Daniel Abt, scattering the German’s rear wing across the tarmac, he eventually retired on lap 20.

Nico Prost was the final retirement as he locked the breaks and journey in to the wall for a high speed collision on lap 31.

 

After the chaos caused by various penalties, Sam Bird was able to reduce the championship fight from 40 points, to just 23 ahead of the final race weekend of the season.

The grid will be back out in action for the double-header in New York on the 7th and 8th of July. Overtake Motorsport will have all the action and results for you.

 

Feature Image Credit: Audi Formula E twitter

Vettel on Pole for tomorrow’s Baku GP

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Sebastian Vettel claimed his third consecutive pole position today in Baku. He will start the race ahead of reigning champion, Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team mate, Valtteri Bottas.

The streets of Baku continued to provide us with plenty of drama for it’s third appearance on the F1 calendar. Championship leader, Sebastian Vettel threw his Ferrari on to pole for the third consecutive time this season. Both Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will line up behind him on the grid.

 

Q1: Romain Grosjean was only able to enjoy five minutes out on track before finding himself down the escape road, complaining of gear box issues. He told the team “the gear box is blocked, something is broken” which forced him to step out of the Haas without setting a fast lap time.

Minutes later and Sergio Perez followed suit, heading down the escape road after making an error on one of his first hot laps. A swift ballet spin saw him pointing the right way round again. However, he was insistent that he did not need new tires, despite his teams suggestion to enter the pits. He continued on to join his team mate into Q2.

 

After meeting on track last time out in China, the two Toro Rosso drivers found themselves tangled together again. “I had no idea he was coming up so fast behind me” Hartley commented to the media, after travelling slowly on track with technical issues. This resulted in Pierre Gasly clipping the back of his team mates car and flying down the escape road.

Hartley was left with a puncture and unable to set a fast lap, while Gasly was soon pushed down in the drop-out zone. The two drivers will start 18th and 16th respectively for tomorrow’s race.

After the chequered flag had fallen, Charles LeClerc put down a flying lap in the Sauber which rocketed him up to an impressive 11th and saw him through to Q2. Similarly, Stroll’s final flying lap pushed him up to 15th and also through to Q2. This meant that McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne will start the race from 16th, while Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson will start the race in 18th.

 

Q2: A quieter second qualifying saw much less drama than the previous track session.

Kimi Raikkonen locked up with 8 minutes left of the session and was sent down the escape road to avoid contact with the wall. This left him unable to set a competitive lap until the chequered flag had fallen. However, the experienced driver was able to rocket himself up to the top of the timing sheets for the end of the session.

Moments before, Nico Hulkenberg, who faces a five-place grid penalty after changing his gear box, was able to drag himself out of the drop-zone and into 6th after a final flying lap.

Despite not making it through to Q3, the two Williams drivers will start in 11th and 12th for tomorrows race, which is their best qualifying result of the season so far. Behind them is McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, who has also not yet made it into Q3 yet this season.

The 14th and 15th places on the starting grid will be filled by Sauber’s Charles LeClerc and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen respectively.

 

Q3: The first flying laps of the session saw Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, then his teammate Hamilton, followed by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel each take turns sitting at the top of the timings sheets.

Last years Baku winner, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, brushed the wall at turn 15 during his initial hot lap. Despite setting the 5th quickest time, he was forced to head to the pits to change the tires after this contact.

A small error on the kerb by Kimi Raikkonen saw him sitting at the back of the front runners pack for the first half of the session, in 6th.

The car then returned to the track with a mere two minutes remaining, to lay down their final flying laps. However, very little changed as all front runners made errors on their final lap.

The two Mercedes driver’s took the chequered flag first but, despite enjoying an engine boost for this weekend, they were unable to improve on 2nd (Hamilton) and 3rd (Bottas). Raikkonen then lost the rear end of the car at the same corner as his previous error, meaning that he could not improve on 6th position either.

Despite locking up in the first sector, Vettel was able to maintain his pole position, thanks to the previously mentioned errors by other drivers.

 

Both Force India’s line up in 7th and 8th, displaying a remarkable improvement in pace from both their drivers. The top ten is rounded off with both Renaults however, Hulkenberg will start in 14th after his grid penalty, promoting Carlos Sainz up to 9th.

 

“I’m a bit upset with my final run,” Vettel commented, “because I thought I had a little bit more But we got pole so we cant complain.” 

“We’re in the mix.” stated Hamilton once he stepped out of the car, “I’m going to try and give Seb a hard time tomorrow”

His teammate, Bottas, shared this sentiment, commenting that “We are there with both cars now. We are starting very close. You know the race here can be very crazy so we are up for the fight.”

 

Can Vettel win his third race of the season, or will Hamilton be able to snatch back momentum? Overtake Motorsport will have all the answer, so join us tomorrow for race day.

 

Image Credit: Formula 1

 

Feature Image Credit: Formula 1 twitter

Posted on 28th April, 2018 for Overtake Motorsport

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Bird rules the roost in Rome

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Sam Bird claimed the chequered flag for the first ever Formula E race in Rome. He was joined on the podium by Lucas DiGrassi and Andrew Lotterer.

Sam Bird claimed victory as Rome played host to the all electric racing formula for the first time. Despite late pressure from Mitch Evans and Lucas di Grassi, the British driver was able to celebrate his second victory of the season.

 

“It wasn’t easy but congratulations to everyone. To get the first win in Rome is amazing – this was always going to be a historic race,” Bird stated from the podium. However, he wasn’t able to snatch the championship lead from Jean Eric Vergne after his win in Punte Del Este.

Felix Rosenqvist claimed pole and held the lead for first half of the race, before a crash forced him to retire from the race on lap 23. “I just hit the kerb,” he explained over the radio, after loosing the opportunity to reclaim the championship lead. This allowed Bird to take control of the grid.

 

However, it wasn’t always plain sailing and Bird faced a challenge from Mitch Evans who made several attempts to snatch the lead away from him. Evans was forced to begin defending, rather than attacking, as di Grassi closed in for second place.

 

Di Grassi, who was gifted one of three FANBOOST awards, while not allowed to fight for the win, was able to place pressure on Bird by closing the gap to just nine-tenths of a second.

 

This mix of defending and fighting seemed to leave Evans in the wars, and he ran out of useable energy quicker than expected. This allowed Lotterer to claim the final podium spot. Eventually, Evans crossed the line in a disappointing 9th place. Behind Lotterer was Daniel Abt in the Audi and Jean Eric Vergne in the Techeeta, who remains comfortably at the top of the drivers championship, 26 points ahead of Bird.

 

Despite drama during qualifying, which saw Jerome d’Ambosio crash in the pit lane, he was able to recover and finish in 7th. Maro Engel claimed 8th, while Edoardo Mortara snatched the final points scoring position.

 

However, Oliver Turvey, Tom Blomqvist and Luca Filippi, who was award the FANBOOST, faced a tougher day in the office as the three drivers came together on track. Nelson Piquet was forced to retire after issues with his seat belt, while Jose Maria Lopez came to a halt on track with technical issues. Alex Lynn also failed to meet the chequered flag, summing up a disastrous weekend for him after crashing in both FP1 and FP2.

 

The team are back in action on the 28th of April, as the take to the streets of Paris.

Feature Image Credit: Bird claims historic victory in Rome

JEV strives to success in Punte Del Este

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Jean-Eric Vergne held off an aggressive Lucas Di Grassi to win in Punte Del Este. They were joined on the podium by Sam Bird.

The halfway point of the season saw the grid take to the streets of Punte Del Este. It was here that Jean Eric Vergne secured his second win of the 2017/2018 season. This now places him firmly at the top of the championship standings, 30 points ahead of Felix Rosenqvist.

However, it wasn’t an easy victory. After the race he told the team “I need a vodka“. Despite being gifted pole position after Di Grassi’s demotion, he had to fight to keep that position for the entire race.

The reigning champion, Lucas Di Grassi scored his podium of the year after a string of disappointing results and two retirements. However, the Brazilian still remains 10th in the championship after 6 races.

After two podiums already this season, Sam Bird was close to snatch second place from Di Grassi.

“I just really wanted the two ahead of me to fight a little more but I ran out of laps.” He commented “I tried my best to hang onto the back of them, hoping they’d fight it out a little bit more but then I caught my front left wheel near the end and just had to settle for my position.”

Mitch Evans came out ahead of Felix Rosenqvist after a battle in the dying stages of the race, while Alex Lynn came home in 6th. This gave Lynn his best finish ever behind the wheel of a Formula E car.

After just two laps , Nick Heidfeld’s Mahindra came to a halt after suffering from technical difficulties, bringing out an early safety car.

Sebastian Buemi had a similarly disappointing day, going wide at turn 13 and breaking his rear axle. After switching to his second car, he reached an inevitable DNF on lap 29.

The final retirement came from Nelson Piquet Jr., whose Jaguar was forced retire on lap 25 after first lap contact lead to a suspected drive shaft issue.

 

The grid will be back out in action in Rome on the 14th of April and Overtake Motorsport will have all the action covered for you.

Feature Image Credit: “JEV holds off di Grassi in battle for Punta del Este“

Posted on 17th March, 2018 for Overtake Motorsport

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Rossi signs a new deal with Yamaha

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Nine-time World Champion, Valentino Rossi, has signed a two year extension deal with his current team. This will see him racing with Yamaha until 2020.

Valentino Rossi has answered the doubters in style as he today announces that he will remain in the sport at least until 2020. This deal will see him remain with the Yamaha team as he attempts to win his tenth world championship.

With Maverick Vinales, who lead the way in pre-season testing, has already confirmed his alliance to Yamaha for the 2019 and 2020 seasons, keeping the teams rider line up unchanged for the foreseeable future.

Aboard the YZR-M1, Rossi has claimed four championships and won 56 of the 206 races he has entered with the team. But the Italian rider is clearly hungry for more. 

However, Rossi will be hoping to improve on the previous season where, despite secure six podiums, he only took one win and finished the championship in 5th.

 

The man himself was honest that he, like many fans, had doubts over his future in the sport. “When I signed my last contract with Yamaha, in March 2016, I wondered if that would have been the last contract as a MotoGP rider. During the last two years I came to the conclusion that I want to continue because racing, being a MotoGP rider, but especially riding my M1, is the thing that makes me feel good.”

 

“I want to thank Yamaha – Lin Jarvis and Maio Meregalli in particular – for their trust in me, because the challenge is difficult: being competitive until I’m 40 years old!” Rossi commented. “I know it’s going to be difficult and it requires a lot of effort from my side and a lot of training but I’m ready, I am not lacking in motivation, that’s why I’m signing for two more years.”

The managing director of Yamaha, Lin Jarvis, appeared thrilled at the contract extension, calling it “a great was to start the 2018 season.”

Jarvis stated that “The news may not be a great surprise because Valentino has made it clear that he wanted to continue to race, but the reconfirmation will surely come as welcome news for his millions of fans around the world.”

 

The grid will be in action for the first race of the 2018 season on the 16th of March. You can catch all the up-to-date news, here, on Overtake Motorsport.

Feature Image Credit: “Yamaha and Rossi Confirm Two-Year Contract Extension“

Posted on 15th March, 2018 for Overtake Motorsport

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