The process behind motorsport livery design

Whether the Lotus John Player Special, Jeff Gordon’s Rainbow Warrior, the sleek gun-metal grey Sauber Mercedes C9 and Colin McRae’s 555 Subaru Impreza, everybody has their own personal favourite when it comes to iconic motorsport liveries. But how do their creators come up with the designs in the first place, and what qualities make for a livery that stands the test of time?

To find out, The Motorsport Journal asked Matt Reeves, who studied automotive design at the University of Swansea and has since established himself as an industry-leading livery designer with Prodrive’s Aston Martin Racing and Subaru World Rally teams, as well as 2014 Le Mans 24 Hour winners Jota Sport and British GT outfit Barwell Motorsport. To contact Matt, click here.

The Hanergy Aston Martin, designed by Matt, was among the most
colourful designs on the WEC grid in 2015 (Aston Martin Racing).

James Newbold (JN): How do you get into this line of work?

Matt Reeves (MR): Part of my third year major project at university was to work with Prodrive on a commercial car, which got me a foot in the door back in 2005. Initially, I started off with the automotive sector in Warwick, which was doing after-market design and limited edition body-packs and bits and pieces like that for Alfa Romeo and Subaru.

From there I got moved onto motorsport projects, originally mocking up base liveries for clients, taking photos of the car and mocking up what their brand would look like on the car. Not long after that I got moved into the corporate marketing department and it just progressed from there, working on race and rally programmes with Aston being the biggest of those.

Motorsport is a very tight business, people move onto different teams and once I was part-time freelance, I kept in contact with people and the work has kept coming in each year with new teams, some start-ups, some fairly established. A lot of it has been word of mouth, and as a result I’ve hardly had any time to do my own marketing, which is a good problem to have.

JN: Your schedule must be very different from the majority of people who work in motorsport, for whom the winter months are pretty quiet!

MR: Yes, it’s very seasonal obviously – there’s still bits and pieces, for the races through the year some of the teams require marketing materials, guest invitations, posters and things like that. I also work with another ex-Aston Martin colleague who runs a marketing PR business and together we have a few non-motorsport projects to keep me going through the off-season as it were – the period from October to March once the cars are out there is very busy, which I enjoy.

JN: Is there a temptation to stick with liveries that have proven successful in the past?

MR: Of course there’s always the iconic liveries in the back of your mind, but you try not take too many cues from them and steer more towards something that is your own work. My first livery which I was involved with from the start was the Gulf Aston Martin DBR9 in 2008 – I know it just looks like a stripe on a car, but there’s a lot more to it than that!  

JN: Is there a process you follow to ensure maximum visibility for sponsors?

MR: The first thing you have to plan out is where to put the logos and key branding to get the most coverage. People always think the side and the doors is a primary spot, but the front around the bumper area gets just as much. The rear wing is probably less of a valuable spot than people think, although it’s a bigger area. It’s just a matter of making sure brands have the exposure they’re after for the money they’re putting in. 

Once you’ve got those, it’s a case of looking at the sponsors’ design cues, if they have any, which mostly depends on whether they are going to be a title sponsor. The colours are fairly set – a lot of the teams that come to me will have a brand which they want to carry through on the car as well. For example, if it was black or blue then you wouldn’t pick up that it was sponsored by McDonalds.

JN: How satisfying is it to see your designs do well?

MR: It’s great to see it work out on the track, it makes it all worthwhile. The Gulf Aston Martin from 2008 was my first major one I worked on and to see it through from the concept stage, mock-ups in Photoshop, getting it through to production and to then win the GT class at Le Mans was incredible. I also worked on the Jota last year and did a slight update for this year.

New Indy Lights car a big step forward - Harvey

Jack Harvey believes his spending a second season in Indy Lights will stand him in good stead ahead of his planned graduation to the IndyCar Series in 2016.

Unlike fellow Briton Jack Hawksworth, who had prior experience of American racing in the Pro Mazda series and only spent a year in Lights before progressing, GP3 graduate Harvey opted to stick around for 2015, which heralded the arrival of the category’s first new chassis since 2002 – the Dallara IL-15.

Although Harvey, 22, missed out on the title for the second year in succession – after losing to Gabby Chaves on countback of second places in 2014, Spencer Pigot stepped up to the plate in 2015 – he felt the experience was a productive one and described the new car as a huge step forward.

Harvey got to celebrate at IMS after winning the Freedom 100 (Indy Lights).

“It was night and day to be honest – the difference between them both was huge,” said Harvey, who added victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to his repertoire in the Freedom 100.

“The only thing that I really knew going into the season was the tracks and my team. After that everything else was completely different; moving into a brand new chassis and a turbo engine took a bit of getting used to, but it was the same for everyone. I think overall we had a solid season, although it obviously wasn’t the end result we wanted.”

The 2012 British F3 champion made his IndyCar test debut at Sonoma with Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports and topped the times ahead of the likes of Nelson Piquet Jr. and Matthew Brabham, who already has a deal in place to attempt the Indianapolis 500 next May. But although the Honda-powered DW12 was the quickest car he’s ever driven, Harvey did admit that the step up wasn’t as big as he first expected.

“I was a little underwhelmed by the power of the IndyCar, which I think was testament to how fast the new Indy Lights car is,” he added. “It really has provided a great platform to progress into IndyCar; I think we showed that by being quickest of the rookies and right up there with the regular guys.”

Jack Harvey fact file

·       Harvey beat a strong field including Carlos Sainz Jr., Alex Lynn and Harry Tincknell to win the 2012 British F3 championship. Just two years later, the growth of the FIA European F3 championship and GP3 had made the series redundant.

·       Should Harvey complete his expected graduation to IndyCar, he will face up against former GP3 rival Conor Daly for the title of Rookie of the Year. In his single season in the category, won by current Red Bull F1 driver Daniil Kvyat, Harvey took two wins at Silverstone and Monza on his way to fifth in points.

·       Harvey’s career to date has been backed by the Racing Steps Foundation, which also boasts Formula E racer Oliver Turvey and Ferrari GT driver James Calado among its alumni. FR3.5 champion Oliver Rowland is seeking to become the first RSF-supported racer to reach F1. “If Ollie can be the first RSF driver to get to Formula One that would be amazing; he’s had a fantastic year, and best of luck to him", says Harvey. "We’ve raced together for a long time and we’ve been friends for a long time, so it would be nice to see him achieve that. It’s looking like he’s going to be in a good position next year in GP2, so we’ll have to see how it goes.”

Kane: We’re Totally Focused on Sepang

Steven Kane says Bentley Team M-Sport will be “totally focused” on ending the season on a high at the Sepang 12 Hours after narrowly missing out on the Blancpain Endurance Series title. 

The Malaysian race is set to take on even greater significance in 2016 when it joins the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, Circuit of the Americas 6 Hours and Total 24 Hours of Spa as part of the inaugural Intercontinental GT Challenge, but for Northern Irishman Kane, who lost out to the RJN-Nissan crew of Alex Buncombe, Wolfgang Reip and Katsumasa Chiyo by just three points, it will be the final opportunity to score a win in 2015.

Kane has his eyes on the prize in Malaysia (Olivier Beroud). 

“Everyone who has been there says it’s an amazing race-track, so I’m really looking forward to it,” said Kane. “The last four or five weeks since the end of the season we’ve had maybe one week off and spent the last four weeks training really hard for the heat and humidity – we’ve been at Carlisle University doing body analysis and heat training, so it’s been intense, but I think we’re ready for it.

“We’re totally focused on trying to get a good result there. It’s the last race of the year and we haven’t had a win this season for car 7; we were leading on the penultimate lap at Bathurst but it didn’t work out and we came away with fourth position, so we’re really determined to put our names on the trophy. It’s going to be more competitive than anyone thought it would be, with Ferrari taking a team there and Audi are taking five cars, but the more competition, the better it is.”

Kane will share the no. 7 Continental GT3 with Guy Smith and new team-mate Vincent Abril, who earned himself a factory contract after winning the Blancpain Sprint Series driving a HTP Motorsport Bentley.

“I didn’t really know [Abril] that well, I spoke to him in the paddock a couple of times and he seemed a really nice kid,” Kane says. “He’s a great addition, he’s obviously won a championship in a Bentley and hopefully he can bring that confidence and an extra bit of spice to our car.

“He came to M-Sport last week and he’s slotted in really well. He’s impressed us with his performance in training, he’s really keen to learn off the likes of Guy and myself and to back up the championship he won last year in the Sprint series. I think it’s a positive move but we’ll know more once we’ve done a couple of races and see how it all pans out, it’s still very early days.”

Problems at Spa have thwarted Bentley no. 7's title
aspirations the last two years (Olivier Beroud).

Looking ahead to a season of change in 2016 as Ferrari, Mercedes, BMW and Porsche roll out new machinery, Kane believes Bentley will benefit from their two years of experience with the Continental GT3 package, but will need to iron out the little errors which plagued them this year if they are to go one better and take the title.

“It’ll be third time lucky!” he joked. “The last two years in a row we’ve been second, so if we can consistently do what we’ve been doing and come out of Spa with a handful of points, that would be a good platform for a championship assault.

“When you look at our pace and our performances, they’ve all been quite good, but a couple of mistakes have really put the balance of the championship the wrong way. We had a wheelnut problem at Silverstone which was really unfortunate because we could really have won there with the amount of time we lost in the pits and Spa hit us really hit us hard again – last year it was a debris cutting the brake-line and this year with Andy [Meyrick] having the accident which wasn’t his fault – so we just need to make sure we’re in the points positions in the sixth hour, the twelfth hour and be there at the end. I’m really looking forward to next year – we can only go better.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the new cars," he continued. "It’s just a question of waiting and seeing what the BOP is like and then obviously seeing how their fuel consumption and tyre wear is. All the new cars are from manufacturers who have made GT3s before and know what they’re doing, but we know we’ve still got a very competitive car, so I hope we can hit the ground running.”

Antonio Felix da Costa: 'My Time Is Coming'

James Newbold explains why nobody should be overly surprised by the 24-year-old's Putrajaya heroics and tips the Portuguese as a dark horse for the 2015 DTM.

When Antonio Felix da Costa qualified fourth for the Putrajaya e-Prix, it’s fair to say that a few eyebrows were raised. Choosing to run with last year’s powertrains – following the logic that their resources would be better spent optimising a setup with which they were already familiar, rather than risk going down a blind alley, ala Trulli, without manufacturer investment – Team Aguri were not expected to feature at the front in Season Two, even with the proven talents of BMW-contracted Felix da Costa, a winner in Buenos Aires last year, on their driving roster.

“The only advantage I see to having a year old car is that we know exactly what we have and we carry on our learning curve,” admits Felix da Costa, “but it’s costing us time in terms of pure power and regeneration, some of the new teams are clearly more efficient than us in both aspects.”

Felix da Costa impressed many with his performance in Putrajaya (Dan Bathie).

But if the Portuguese was at a disadvantage to his contemporaries in the Malaysian heat, he was determined not to let it show. Felix da Costa ran a strong third in the early stages before losing a spot to Nicolas Prost’s Renault, but soon found himself in a net second after leader Sebastien Buemi ground to a halt and Dragon’s Loic Duval suffered a tardy pitstop.

Prost had been forced to pit early due to an overheating battery on his first car and now led, but was running at a dramatically-reduced pace to compensate for his longer second stint and soon found himself under attack from Lucas di Grassi. It wasn’t long before Felix da Costa followed the Brazilian through, but before he could mount an attack on the lead in the final few laps, he was struck down by car problems of his own, twice having to stop on track and perform a system reset.

Such was the extent of everybody else’s problems that Felix da Costa still recovered to finish sixth, passing Daniel Abt on the final lap, but afterwards there was a palpable sense of what might have been after a storming drive that couldn’t help but cause people to sit up and take notice. 

“It was a big surprise even for me!” he says. “We put the car into SuperPole, which was already a massive accomplishment having an year old car, and then in the race with less than 6 laps to go we were second with enough energy to keep up with the leader until we had a software issue, but these things can happen in this championship.”

Carlos Sainz Jr., Felix da Costa and Kvyat pictured during testing at Silverstone
 in 2013. Only one would miss out on an F1 seat (XPB Images). 

That pragmatic attitude has served him well throughout a career littered with near misses; after all, had Mark Webber taken up Ferrari’s offer for the 2013 season, Felix da Costa would have been the most logical choice to fill in for Daniel Ricciardo at Toro Rosso, having ended the 2012 season in the form of his life and impressed Red Bull when given the chance to test in Abu Dhabi.   

After replacing Lewis Williamson in the Red Bull Junior Team, Felix da Costa was parachuted mid-season onto a Formula Renault 3.5 grid that featured Robin Frijns, Jules Bianchi, Sam Bird and Alexander Rossi and set tongues wagging with four wins in the last five races for the new Arden-Caterham team. He would finish just 23 points adrift of eventual champion Frijns, adding victory in the prestigious Macau Grand Prix and third in the GP3 standings for good measure, but with no space in Formula One, he was tasked by Helmut Marko with winning the 3.5 championship the following year.

2013 was by no means a poor year, but after setting the bar so high – to give an idea, Felix da Costa was listed at no. 8 in AUTOSPORT’s top 50, ahead of the likes of Webber, Le Mans winner and WEC champion Andre Lotterer, IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay and DTM champion Bruno Spengler – third in points behind Magnussen and rookie Stoffel Vandoorne certainly wasn’t in the script. 

A number of niggling little problems and small mistakes caused doubts to creep into Marko’s mind, but it was still a shock when Felix da Costa’s was overlooked for promotion to Toro Rosso in favour of the vastly less experienced Daniil Kvyat. Incidentally, the Russian would again benefit from being in the right place at the right time the following year, when Sebastian Vettel’s move to Ferrari left a Kvyat-sized vacancy at Red Bull.

Magnussen and Vandoorne provided stiff competition for Felix da Costa in 2013 (Autosport.be)

Though obviously disappointed, Felix da Costa took the decision with good grace and was placed in the DTM with BMW, where he set about learning the ropes of a very different form of racing. Driving alongside F1 refugee Timo Glock at Ernest Knoors’ Team MTEK, Felix da Costa would score points on just two occasions, but a move to Charly Lamm’s Team Schnitzer for 2015 brought better fortunes. Felix da Costa was the only man to finish every race, and won his first race at Zandvoort on course for 11^th in points, ahead of fellow sophomores Daniel Juncadella (Mercedes), Nico Muller (Audi) and his more experienced BMW colleagues Augusto Farfus and Martin Tomczyk, the 2011 DTM champion.

“[Zandvoort] was probably the win on my career that cost me the most to get,” Felix da Costa recalls. “I knew I had the speed since the beginning, but it’s very difficult to put it all together in DTM. It’s a very special championship, there aren’t any slow drivers in that field. What counts the most there is experience, the guys who have been there for 15 years have a massive advantage, but the rookies come in with a lot of hunger to do well and in the end that mix is super special.

“Moving to Team Schnitzer at the beginning of this year made me very proud. It’s certainly another tick in my book to race for a team with such history, and to work with a guy like Charly Lamm, who needs no introduction to the touring car world – he probably signs more autograph cards than I do!”  

Felix Da Costa's upward trajectory mirrors the trend of the last two champions Pascal Werhlein and Marco Wittmann before him; each of whom spent a year learning (in Wittmann’s case carrying out the test and development work on BMW’s new M4) before scoring their first wins the following year and adding the necessary consistency to fight for championships the year after that. 

Felix da Costa has high expectations of his own performances (Dan Bathie).

Few would ultimately be surprised if Felix da Costa – described by one PR as the most professional driver they had ever worked with – makes that next step up in 2016, and as you might expect, the Portuguese expects no less from himself.

“Absolutely, I can’t hide that or be afraid to say it, I’m a very ambitious person and as an athlete I want to be among the best that compete alongside me. I hate to be just a number in the field,” he says. “I wake up every day with a lot of motivation to do better every time I sit in the car, and sometimes I overdo it, but everybody makes mistakes and the most important thing is that you learn from them. I believe my time is coming.”

It could be coming sooner than he thinks. His time is now.

Felix Rosenqvist: Sweden’s New Hero?

To celebrate Felix Rosenqvist's second consecutive victory at Macau - equaling the feat achieved by Edoardo Mortara in 2009 and 2010 - we revisit this 2012 interview with the Swede, originally published by The Checkered Flag. Rosenqvist spoke about the influence of Ronnie Peterson, the apparently stalled career of Marcus Ericsson, and his aspirations to win Macau one day; he's certainly achieved that! 

In comparison to their neighbours Finland, Swedish success in motorsport has been strangely limited.  Since the golden-era for Swedish motorsport in the 1970s, when the likes of Reine Wisell, and the late pairing of Gunnar Nilsson and Ronnie Peterson represented their nation in Formula 1, Sweden’s presence on the international stage has largely been restricted to rallying and tin-tops; Kenneth Hansen’s astonishing 14 European Rallycross Championships and Mattias Ekstrom’s two DTM crowns about all that Sweden has been able to muster. With Kenny Brack and Rickard Rydell overlooked by F1 in the nineties and Bjorn Wirdheim and Alx Danielsson likewise in the noughties, Sweden’s search for a hero out of the Peterson mould has still to bear fruit. 

That’s where Felix Rosenqvist comes along. 

“He probably didn’t inspire me as a young driver but the older you get the more you realise how much he meant for Swedish racing,” Rosenqvist says of Peterson. “For sure, he’s a big hero not only for me, but also for Sweden. His spirit still lives on, but less and less. 

Rosenqvist has done a lot of winning since 2012, including 
taking the FIA Formula 3 championship (Felix Rosenqvist).

“I think that’s what killed Swedish racing a bit, is when he died. It was a big shame, and that’s why we need a new star.”

The 20-year old is one of Sweden’s best F1 prospects in a long time, and sits within striking distance of championship leader Daniel Juncadella in the F3 Euroseries. With the next round at Spielberg in Austria, Rosenqvist is confident of making up the ground lost after a tough weekend at Brands Hatch, wrecked by a disappointing qualifying and clutch problems. 

“Austria was good last year, we were really quick there, but then I had a weekend much like this one!” Rosenqvist laughs. “But we had the speed for sure, we were fighting for pole position in the qualifying, I had a fastest lap, and we were fighting for the lead in the third race when I had a crash with Roberto Merhi.”

Rosenqvist is conscious that staying in contention until the end of the season will be crucial for him to have a chance of winning a highly-sought after DTM ride with Mercedes for 2012, which is a goal he has been working towards since stepping into the Euroseries in 2011.

Rosenqvist shares the podium with Rafaelle Marciello and
Lucas Auer at Silverstone in 2013 (Felix Rosenqvist).

“It’s been my plan for two years already that I want to go to DTM with Mercedes, who are helping me. That’s my biggest chance of getting to Formula 1,” Rosenqvist says, citing the example of Paul di Resta, who graduated from the series last year.  

“It’s a much better chance than going through GP2 because first I can’t find the budget to do GP2 and then if I get there I don’t know what would take me to Formula 1, even the drivers who have good connections with other people and good sponsors like Perez and Maldonado. I don’t have any of that really.”

The struggles of talented Italian Luca Filippi, who spent 6 years in GP2 without attaining his goal of racing in Formula 1, has demonstrated that the F1-feeder category is not foolproof. Indeed, the difficulties experienced by Rosenqvist’s countryman Marcus Ericsson in GP2 have only strengthened his determination to go down the factory route. Ericsson had looked like becoming Sweden’s first F1 driver since Stefan Johnasson, and tested for Brawn GP in 2009 after winning the Japanese F3 title at a canter and qualifying on pole for the Macau GP. But now in his third year of GP2, Ericsson appears to have lost the all-important career momentum which saw the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Hulkenberg fast-tracked to F1.

“I followed him and it’s really sad for Sweden because we really need a Formula star right now,” Felix shrugs. “Marcus looked very promising and I’m sure everyone knows he’s a quick driver but right now something’s not going right, but I’m not sure what. 

“I know myself right now that things can be very hard in racing.  Probably he has the same; something isn’t perfect and it’s really hard to solve it during the season.  I hope it gets better.”

On maximum attack at the Red Bull Ring in 2014 (Felix Rosenqvist).

There is a lot of pressure on Rosenqvist to deliver this year, because with Swedish national motorsport having hit the self-destruct button, it is unlikely that more young Swedes will be following him onto the international scene any time soon. Able to attract top names like Colin Turkington, James Thompson, Fabrizio Giovanardi and Gabriele Tarquini in 2011, Sweden’s national touring car championship (STCC) had been flourishing into one of the world’s premier series, and boasted strong manufacturer representation from Chevrolet, Volvo, BMW, VW, SEAT and Honda.  But an acrimonious split with the Touring-Car Teams Association (TTA) has led to an Indycar-style divide, leaving the Swedish motorsport scene in a precarious position.

“I am really worried abut Swedish motorsport because the only series that has more than 20 cars is the Camaro Cup,” says Rosenqvist.  “They need to rethink a bit: for sure you cannot have two major touring car championships in one small country like Sweden. I hope they will solve it because it’s not good for the sport.”

So can Rosenqvist be the man to return top-flight motorsport to Sweden and end their troubles for good?

“It’s a normal question: am I the one who is going to do it? Well if I continue like I did this weekend then probably not,” he laughs. “But I’m working all the time, I’m trying so hard.”

No doubt, Rosenqvist certainly has all the right credentials to make it to F1.  Always smiling, the Swede presents an easy going demeanour which is hard to dislike, and as a double winner of the Rydell Special Award, the Swedish equivalent of the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, (“it’s probably the biggest award you can get for a young junior driver in Sweden”) Rosenqvist’s talent has been noted by all the right people. Since his victory in the Zandvoort F3 Masters invitational race - the first ever by a Swedish driver since the event began in 1991 – his profile in his home country has elevated dramatically, with a Swedish TV crew coming to meet him before our scheduled interview.

Rosenqvist made a dream come true with a second Macau win 

last weekend, driving for Prema Powerteam (Felix Rosenqvist). 

But while the world has taken a while to cotton on to Rosenqvist, anyone who saw him during a one-off appearance in the Formula Palmer Audi championship at a leafy Snetterton in October 2009, when he simply blew the competition out of the water, will have been left in no doubt about the extent of his talents.  That weekend was particularly special, especially considering it was his first time in the car, and that the competition included Jolyon Palmer, none other than the son of the series boss…

“It was a special one,” he laughs.  “I didn’t really have any expectations, and didn’t know what the car was like. Snetterton was also new for me, but it went really well as my driving style obviously suited that car quite well and the track was quite easy actually.

“That was one of my great memories because I came at the end of the year when they had already done the season and no-one really knew who I was because I had only done the Swedish Renault championship. That was really a boost in my career; even if the Palmer Audi was not the most competitive championship, it was still really nice.”

While a successful defence of his Zandvoort title would mean the world to him, it is the invitational race at Macau later in the year, won by his countryman Rydell back in 1992, which the Swede has set his heart on.

“If you’ve won it, you’ve won it,” he says of the Dutch circuit. “But we’ll try to win it again. I think we can be quite competitive because it’s with the old tyres, which we have more knowledge with.

“In theory it should not be too bad.  It will be tough to beat the Italians, but it would be great to win both. That would be perfect!” 

Porsche no. 17 takes title in tense finale

Victory for Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas under the lights in Bahrain ensured that a fifth place for Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard was enough to seal the World Endurance Driver’s Championship, the perfect end to a memorable 2015 WEC season for Porsche.

There were scenes of jubilation in the Porsche garage at the finish (FIA WEC).

As we have become so accustomed to seeing over the second half of the season, the two 919 Hybrids sprinted away at the start, but this was not to be the straightforward cruise to the title that Weissach anticipated. After just half an hour, Bernhard was forced into the garage with throttle linkage problems, costing the no. 17 five laps and dropping them to the rear of the field. All of a sudden, everything looked to be falling Audi’s way, with the short-stinting no. 8 of Lucas di Grassi and no. 7 of Andre Lotterer using their fresh rubber to leapfrog ahead of Romain Dumas in the no. 18 Porsche.

Pushing as hard as they dared, Bernhard, Hartley and Webber methodically worked their way through the traffic, knowing that if the no. 7 Audi won, they would have to finish fourth to win the title – which would require them to catch and pass one of the Toyotas and rely on the assistance of their team-mates. Even with 5 hours and 20 minutes remaining it looked a tall order, but the drama wasn’t yet over.

Audi were counting on their no. 8 – now driven by Loic Duval – finishing ahead of the recovering no. 17 Porsche, but a braking problem on the left-front thwarted any chance of that. The eight laps lost while the Audi mechanics made repairs crucially moved no. 17 up one place to fifth, leaving the Porsche management team with a decision to make. Should they park the no. 18 and allow no. 17 through to take fourth, or let no. 18 off the leash in the knowledge that if they could prevent Audi no. 7 taking maximum points, it would allow no. 17 to take the title with a seventh place finish?

The 18 car prevailed in a tough battle with Audi to win in Bahrain (Adrenal Media)

Unsurprisingly, they went for the latter. Lieb inherited the lead when Lotterer pitted out of sequence under a Full-Course Yellow, before a fired-up Benoit Treluyer mounted a concerted charge. After swapping places several times in the space of a few laps, the Frenchman eventually managed to make the move stick, although a slight delay in traffic allowed Lieb to make the decisive move at the final corner. After retaking the wheel of the no. 7 R18 e-tron quattro, Lotterer then suffered a wheelnut problem, ending any lingering hopes of catching Jani.

With their team-mates now in front, the no. 17 crew just needed to make it to the end, but suffered a late scare when Webber was forced into the garage with a loss of hybrid power. Several nerve-jangling minutes passed before the wounded Porsche re-joined, their advantage over Oliver Jarvis in the similarly delayed no. 8 car slashed to just two laps, but despite their markedly reduced pace and a stuttering final pitstop, they weren’t to be denied. A three minute stop-go penalty given to the no. 8 for a tyre infringement inside the final ten minutes served only to rub salt into the wound.

Almost forgotten with the problems all around them, Toyota took a podium finish for the first time since the season-opener at Silverstone, with Mike Conway, Stephane Sarrazin and Alex Wurz – in his last race before retirement – edging team-mates Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima by just 1.1 seconds, a positive way to end a season to forget for the defending champions.

Nakajima narrowly missed out on a podium to team-mate Conway (Adrenal Media).

Rebellion triumphed in the privateer’s honours, the no. 13 of Alex Imperatori, Dominik Kraihamer and debutant Matheo Tuscher leading home the CLM of Pierre Kaffer and Simon Trummer in 11th overall.  

LMP2

The no. 26 G-Drive Ligier of Sam Bird, Roman Rusinov and Julien Canal delivered a stylish victory to wrap up the LMP2 title. After their costly retirement at Fuji, KCMG always knew that the odds were stacked against them. The Hong Kong outfit needed to win, with disaster befalling the no. 26 crew in order to take the title, and made the best possible start, with Le Mans winner Nick Tandy bolting ahead of pole-sitter Tom Dillmann to lead the first stint.

However, the ultra-consistent G-Drive trio were never far away and led at various points in the race, before Bird – who will test for Toyota tomorrow – was able to catch and pass Tandy in the final stint. KCMG foes Pipo Derani, Gustavo Yacaman and Ricardo Gonzalez in the second G-Drive entry completed the podium once again, passing the Signatech-Alpine on the last lap. The Shanghai winners had at one point led in the hands of Nelson Panciatici before being punted into a spin by Nakajima, while AF Racing’s BR01, enjoying a quiet run to fifth on their World Endurance Championship debut.

GTE-Pro

Patrick Pilet and Fred Makowiecki dominated the GTE-Pro division to wrap up the manufacturers crown for Porsche. Despite the best efforts of Gianmaria Bruni on the Ferrari 458 Italia’s swansong, the French pair were never challenged after Pilet passed Toni Vilander in the opening stint, eventually pulling out a margin of 39 seconds. 

Pilet and Makowiecki completed a perfect day for Porsche (Adrenal Media).

Running the same BOP as they enjoyed at the start of the season, Aston Martin were far more competitive proposition and duly completed the podium with Darren Turner and Jonny Adam subbing for Stefan Mucke, on duty in the FIA GT World Cup at Macau. 

After the wheels literally fell off of Davide Rigon and James Calado’s challenge, the returning no. 95 Young Driver Aston of Nicki Thiim, Christoffer Nygaard and Marco Sorensen finished fourth, while fifth place was enough for Richard Leitz to take the World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers in the no. 91 Porsche 911 RSR he shared with Michael Christiansen.

GTE-Am

Fifth place was enough for the no. 78 SMP Racing Ferrari of Andrea Bertolini, Viktor Shaitar and Aleksey Basov to take the GTE-Am title, as the no. 98 Aston Martin of Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda and Paul Dalla Lana took a third win of the season. After the Labre Competition Corvette faded, the no. 88 Proton Competition Porsche of Klaus Bachler, Marco Mapelli and Khaled al Qubaisi prevailed in an entertaining scrap for second with the identical Dempsey machine of Patrick Long, Marco Seefried and Christian Reid. Championship outsiders Emmanuel Collard, Francois Perrodo and Matteo Cressoni finished fourth in the no. 83 AF Corse Ferrari.  

Why Macau still matters

The annual Formula Three extravaganza on the streets of Macau returns this weekend, with 2011 winner Daniel Juncadella returning to bolster an already mouth-watering entry list. James Newbold looks at why the Macau Grand Prix is still one of the most coveted prizes in motorsport.

Here’s a trivia question for you: what does BTCC fan favourite Rob Austin have in common with inaugural Formula E champion Nelson Piquet Jr. and Mercedes F1 team-mates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg? Twelve years ago, in November 2003, this promising bunch of up-and-comers were among a 30-car entry gunning for the 50^th anniversary Macau GP. Through the carnage, it was rookie Nicolas Lapierre – an unassuming 11^th in the F3 Euroseries – who gleefully stood atop the podium, but only after a puncture caused Japanese F3 champion James Courtney to skate into the wall with a just a few laps to go.

Since the meteoric rise of Max Verstappen, interest in Formula Three has reached an all-time high, so where better than Macau – whose mixture of long straights and low grip, blind sweepers of varying gradients in the mountain section present a unique challenge in modern motorsport – to spot the next great talent?

Mortara is the only double-winner of the event in 2009 and 2010 (Edoardo Mortara).

Only Edoardo Mortara has won the event twice, although this year a returning Daniel Juncadella – a regular in the DTM with F1 testing experience under his belt – and last year’s winner Felix Rosenqvist, also the reigning FIA F3 champion, will be hoping to emulate the Italian they call ‘Mr Macau.’

Macau Maelstrom

There’s good reason why Mortara stands apart from the rest in the Macau history books – it’s a very difficult event to win. As you might expect from a one-off event at the end of the season – make or break time for drivers with uncertain futures – the formbook goes out of the window, with only that man Mortara in 2010 managing to win both the European championship and Macau in the same season.

Success is earned only through inch-perfect precision and canny race-craft; crash out of Saturday’s qualifying race and you will be relegated to the back of the grid on for the main event on Sunday, leaving no chance to make up the ground lost – even if your name happens to be Vettel or Verstappen.

Verstappen set Fastest Lap on his only visit to Macau last year (Autoblog.nl)

Even if you do manage to get a clean start and survive the first lap dash to Lisboa on cold tyres, drivers still have to navigate another 14 laps without making a mistake, all the while knowing that a Safety Car will leave you vulnerable to attack on the restart. And as Marco Wittmann proved in 2011 – leading the entire race before being shuffled backwards at a late restart – having the fastest car is no guarantee of victory.

“It’s one of those where if you get into the lead of the pack, it’s not a given that you’ll be able to pull away and win,” says BMW-contracted GT ace Alexander Sims. “At most circuits it’s fairly tough to get close enough behind to overtake, but at Macau it’s the other end of the spectrum. The straights are long enough to pick up a tow, and you can look to overtake into Lisboa pretty much every lap if you’re vaguely close to the car ahead.

“Any Safety Car leaves you an absolute sitting duck, which again makes Macau fairly unique because not always the fastest guy wins – it comes down to luck and a rub of the green for things to go your way.”

Rite of passage

Yet whilst lady luck can be an invaluable asset – Mike Conway was the chief beneficiary in 2006 when the leading trio of Paul di Resta, Marko Asmer and Kamui Kobayashi tangled down at Lisboa – as Sims points out, there isn’t a single dud name on the winners list.

“The winners each year might not necessarily be the next F1 World champion, some will, some won’t, but to win it you’ve got to show some degree of quality about you.”

da Costa counts his 2012 victory as the best of his career (GEPA Pictures)

2012 winner Antonio Felix da Costa ultimately missed out to Daniil Kyvat for the second seat at Toro Rosso in 2014, but has since gone on to become a race-winner in the DTM and in Formula E, which require fundamentally different driving styles.

“When you look at all the heritage and the history of the event, to have my name up there with guys like Senna, Schumacher and Coulthard is pretty special, definitely the most special win of my career so far,” says da Costa, who also finished second to Alex Lynn in 2013. “I don’t really believe in lottery, you still need to drive that car to the maximum. Macau only happens once a year, it’s a one off event that doesn’t count towards any championship, so you have to deliver in those 15 laps and can’t make any mistakes.”

“Any driver who can win Macau can be quick in everything else,” agrees Audi GT star Laurens Vanthoor, who finished second to Mortara in 2010. “When you look at the winners and people on the podium they’re all well known, there is barely a name on the winners list who is unknown or unsuccessful afterwards.”

Quite apart from an exceptional list of winners that includes Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard, the great and good of world motorsport have used Macau as a proving ground on their way up the ladder, including a young Mika Hakkinen, who tangled with Schumacher on the final lap in 1990, Sebastien Vettel, who finished third on his debut in 2005 and Robert Kubica, whose performance the same year so impressed BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen that he hired the Pole for the following season. A good showing at Macau isn’t a prerequisite for a successful career, but it certainly helps.

“I think certainly if you look at the list of winners at Macau it’s a very impressive list, and people definitely take notice,” says Nissan’s Harry Tincknell. “They wouldn’t drop down from GP2 or World Series or wherever to have a crack at it if they didn’t think it was worth winning, and to me it was definitely the greatest race I did until Le Mans.”

Kubica earned himself a BMW F1 contract after finishing second in 2005 (Tumblr). 

“It’s one of those races where at the end of the year, the European, the Japanese, the British, all of the top F3 drivers come together to race at Macau, so it’s very cool to prove yourself against such tough opposition,” adds Conway, now a Toyota LMP1 driver. “Macau is a great one to win because it can get talked about for a long time afterwards; you can have a difficult season, then win that one and it sticks in everyone’s memories, so to win the British championship and Macau in the same year couldn’t have gone much better.”

Unique challenge

“Macau can take a couple of years to master, but it’s a really cool track,” continues Conway. “Because of the long straights, you need to take most of the downforce off, which makes the car feel quite light around the twisty bits. You’ve got to really get comfortable with being close to the walls – and brushing them at times. It can bite you pretty quick, so sometimes you don’t see the right guys at the front because maybe they’ve pushed it too hard in practice or in qualifying and haven’t got all the laps done.”

“I don’t think there is a circuit that is comparable to Macau; it’s one of only a few tracks in the world that are a real challenge for drivers,” adds Vanthoor. “When you’re looking back on your career, you have to go to Macau one day and experience it. I’m not convinced that a lot of drivers who race only on F1 tracks learn the same things as when you’re driving on these types of track – if you go to Macau, then you will know what a real track is!

“You have to know when to be brave – it’s a track where you rarely do every corner 100% on the limit because it’s so difficult, one mistake and you end up in the wall. The most important thing there is driver confidence, which you build up over the weekend ready for qualifying. On your first time there you think ‘this is absolutely all I can give’ and when you look at the times you find you’re still four seconds off the pace…”

Vanthoor also has Macau experience in GTs (Autosport.be)

Sims is returning for a sixth crack at the race this year with Double R Racing, but concedes that experience is no guarantee of success.

“It’s what you make of it really,” says the Briton, who first raced at Macau in 2009. “There are a few bits and pieces that with experience you understand the way the track evolves and understand when the time comes to push, because it’s very difficult to attack every lap of the weekend like you would on a normal race-track, but as with all races you have rookies that get on top of it straight away.”

Those who instantly click with Macau are certainly worth watching in more powerful machinery, as besides a lack of circuit knowledge, they will have little – if any – prior experience of being a part of a headline event, which comes with its own unique pressures.

“The first time you go there it’s unbelievable,” says Tincknell. “There’s a lot of press over there, it’s a big step up from the regular European championship because beforehand you were always supporting DTM or something else, you definitely notice the attention. It’s a bit different with all the razzmatazz on the grid, and a lot of people can get sucked into the sense of occasion and end up not delivering on the track, but you just have to try and soak it up and stay focused on what’s going on. Sunday night you can have a bit of fun in the after-party and everything, but until then you’re there to do your job.”

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Whilst an unfortunate clash with the GP2/GP3 meeting at Bahrain has prevented the returns of those with unfinished business – 2013 FIA F3 champion Rafaelle Marciello could have done with reminding everybody of his talent after failing to kick on in his second season of GP2, while GP3 title contender Esteban Ocon, who beat Verstappen to the F3 crown last year, was denied a shot at victory after tangling with Tom Blomqvist – the 62nd Macau GP features a healthy entry list featuring two former winners and a few stars of the future. The Motorsport Journal assess the contenders.

The contenders:

1.       Felix Rosenqvist – Prema Powerteam

The most experienced man in the field, defending event winner and now with the F3 title he has always craved. The Swede has traditionally always gone well round here and theoretically has the best package at his disposal, but since when did that count for anything?

2.       Jake Dennis – Prema Powerteam

The Racing Steps Foundation-backed racer has been Rosenqvist’s lieutenant this year and will go into 2016 as one of the favourites once Rosenqvist (surely) moves on. A former winner of the BRDC Autosport Young Driver of the Year, Dennis will be aiming to emulate fellow Brit Alex Lynn’s efforts here in 2013.

3.       Nick Cassidy – TOM's

Cassidy finished a fine third last year for Three-Bond, although was rather fortunate to do so with deranged suspension. The Kiwi won the Japanese F3 title this year and impressed in his two outings in Europe with Prema this year. Undoubtedly a dark horse.

4.       Antonio Giovinazzi – Jagonya Ayam with Carlin

The Italian was a valiant second in points to Rosenqvist this year, but looks to have his future mapped out for him with Volkswagen after making his DTM debut in Moscow for Audi. The Mercedes-powered Prema cars are likely to have the ultimate edge on Macau’s long straights, but anything less than a podium would be a disappointment.

5.       Charles Leclerc – Van Amersfoort Racing

In the car vacated by the F1-bound Max Verstappen, Leclerc was one of the revelations of the season before a mid-season dip in form that considering his tender age, should hardly have come as a surprise. Should he remain in F3, the Monegasque will likely be up against Dennis for the title next year and could do worse than staking an early claim on his first trip to Macau.

6.       Dani Juncadella – Fortec Motorsport

Wildcard number one. The Spaniard himself will admit that he was fortunate to win in 2011 when the race finished behind the Safety Car, and will be itching to add a ‘normal’ win to his résumé after a tough year in the DTM. Crashed out on his last visit in 2012.

7.       Alexander Sims – Double R Racing

Wildcard number two. Mightily unfortunate not to win a second British GT title on the bounce, BMW-contracted Sims is as quick and experienced as they come – this will be his sixth visit to Macau –  but all will depend on whether Double-R, winners with Mike Conway in 2006, are at the races.