Comini dominant in TCR opener

Stefano Comini took a dominant win in the first ever TCR International Series race in Sepang, as SEAT completed a podium lockout.

After an additional formation lap, both front-row men got a sluggish start, allowing Rene Munnich to challenge Comini for the lead into turn one from fifth on the grid. However, both missed their braking points and ran wide, Comini somehow surviving a lurid half-spin and still emerging in second, with polesitter Kevin Gleason coming through to the lead.

Undeterred, the Swiss driver tracked Gleason around the rest of the lap and pounced at the turn 15 hairpin. Thereafter, he was never troubled and duly romped away to take his and Target Competion’s first win.

Comini took a determined win in the inaugural TCR event (TCR International Series)

As Gleason struggled to keep pace with Comini, he found himself under intense pressure from the Craft-Bamboo SEATs of Sergey Afanasyev and Pepe Oriola, who managed to cut through the turn one mayhem from seventh and eighth on the grid respectively.

By the end of lap two, both Lukoil machines had muscled past, although what appeared to be a missed gear from Afanasyev promptly gifted second to Oriola, who will start a promising third for Race Two on Sunday.

Gleason would at least mount a late fight-back against Afanasyev and forced the Russian into a huge lock-up at turn nine, but was unable to convert the pressure into a passing opportunity. The American would eventually lose out to the second Honda of team-mate Gianni Morbidelli and fellow front-row starter Andrea Belicchi, who recovered well from first-lap contact with Ferenc Ficza to finish fifth.

Race Two polesitter Jordi Gene had a quiet race on his return to action in seventh, with Michel Nykjaer, Ficza and Lorenzo Veglia rounding out the top ten.

Mikael Grachev had been running a strong sixth on the debut outing for the Liqui Moly Team Engstler Audi TT, before encountering problems that forced him to join team-mate Franz Engstler and Munnich among the watching spectators.

TCR Set For Sepang Launch

17 cars from five different marques will take to the grid as the TCR International Series gets underway at Sepang this weekend.

After months in the works and a successful BOP homologation test in Barcelona, TCR founder Marcello Lotti’s vision has finally come to pass, and will kick off with SEAT, Honda, Opel, Audi and Ford all represented at the inaugural meeting in support of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Following two practice sessions on Friday and a qualifying session on Saturday, Rounds One and Two will both be streamed live on TCR’s official YouTube channel at 08:25 CET on Saturday and 05:30 CET on Sunday respectively. Each will run to ten laps or 20 minutes.

TCR is set to go racing in Malaysia (TCR International Series)

Although the concept and machinery is unfamiliar, with the Proteam Ford entry for Diego Romanini announced only on Tuesday, there will be several recognisable names on the driving front, with former WTCC winners Gianni Morbidelli, Michel Nykjaer, Franz Engstler and Pepe Oriola heading the bill.

The popular Spaniard Jordi Gene returns to the cockpit of a SEAT two years on from his last racing foray in the STCC, while former Renault Megane champion Stefano Comini, World Endurance Championship convert Andrea Belicchi and single-seater graduate Sergey Afanasyev could also be ones to watch in this foray into the unknown.

More entries are expected in time for Round Three and start of the European leg of the championship at Valencia in May, by which point hopefully the mist will have cleared and the favourites will have come to the fore.

Joni Wiman: Taking Rallycross By Storm

To a certain generation who sadly missed the late Colin McRae operating at his peak, Ken Block is the epitome of cool. Revered for his unique brand of drifting, ‘Gymkhana’, the Californian has become a YouTube sensation, his latest video racking up an astonishing 22 million hits and counting since it was posted in November.

But flash back to the first round of the 2014 Global Rallycross Championship at Barbados, and Block was on the ropes. After a demon start, Block had a clear track ahead of him, but let his concentration slip and ran wide at the penultimate turn, allowing Joni Wiman to sneak past him. Possibly too eager to atone for losing his lead, Block charged down the inside into the fast right-hander to finish the lap, launching his Fiesta over the kerb and over, onto his roof.

Just who was this fresh-faced 20 year-old rookie that Block had gone to such extraordinary and ultimately disastrous lengths to try and pass?

Block barrell-rolls out of the final in Barbados trying to pass Joni Wiman (Alison Padron)

By season’s end, nobody was left in doubt.

After that first chaotic weekend in Barbados, ultimately ruined by a penalty for taking the joker lap twice, Wiman drove impeccably. Though others hit higher peaks – in fact, he didn’t win a race all season – few could match Wiman for consistency, which thrust him into position for a final-round title showdown in Las Vegas with Block.  After a crash in Seattle left him down in ninth at the finish, Block knew that nothing short of a win would suffice in the final and duly upheld his side of the bargain. But the title was Wiman’s to lose, and a measured drive to second, his fourth podium finish on the spin, ensured it was the Finn who took the crown in his rookie year.

“It wasn't the easiest of starts!” he concedes. “I got a bit frustrated after Barbados, but once I got the podium in Washington, things just turned around and I got my self-confidence back. Once you have that it becomes a lot easier.”

The foundations of Wiman’s title challenge were built on an unrivalled run of seven top-four finishes from the final eight races, interrupted only by a puncture in Daytona. As the championship challenges of former F1 duo Scott Speed and Nelson Piquet Jr gradually lost steam, Wiman showed the makings of a champion with his mistake-free approach. Under pressure, he did not crack.

Wiman, with Brian Deegan (left) and Sverre Isachsen (centre) scored four
consecutive podiums to round out the Global Rallycross season (Alison Padron)

“During the year I knew I was fast, but I had to get all the things together and get one clean race, so that was the main target for the rest of the year," he said. "I haven't always been strong under pressure but I've grown up a lot this year and as I said, everything starts from the self-confidence and if you can handle the pressure too. 

"It was a really good end to the season; the second half was perfect. Of course to win the championship it was still a surprise for me as I didn't have a win, but sometimes consistency is the key.”

For such a young man, Wiman’s level-headed approach is a refreshing virtue that should serve him well in his future career. The imprint of his mentor, double World Rally champion Marcus Gronholm, whose recommendation it was that Wiman take up rallycross after the funds for a single-seater career dried up, is clear to see.

Wiman takes up the story; "I was driving single-seaters until the end of 2011 but then my career was stopped because it was getting too expensive. Then Marcus said we should try rallycross for one year and see how it goes - I've been doing Folkrace since I was 16, so I went into Super 1600 in the European Championship and I was fast right away, so I knew it could be my thing.

"[Gronholm] is a big help, he hasn't told me too much about driving because I know that part, but he just takes care of the sponsors and of course it’s amazing to have him there, and always if I have something to ask, he is there. It's just like normal, you would never believe he was a double World Champion when you see him because he is so warm, he's just like a friend."

Former WRC champion Gronholm has earmarked Wiman for the top (OMSE)

With Gronholm’s guidance, Wiman headed Stateside to continue his rallycrossing education in the GRC Lites category in 2013. Wiman blitzed the opposition, impressing Olsbergs MSE boss Andreas Eriksson enough to offer him the seat vacated by his compatriot Topi Heikkinen, the 2013 GRC champion. A former racer himself, Eriksson’s penchant for putting his faith in youth and getting the best out of them – his FIA World RX lineup of Andreas Bakkerud and Reinis Nitišs, who won the inaugural team’s championship, have an average age of 21 – has been a big part of his team’s success on both sides of the Atlantic and offers Wiman an environment in which he can thrive.

"That's just a part of how Andreas wants to build up the team, for us to grow up in the team so we know how it works and that is the way to be the best,” Wiman says. “My relationship with him is obviously really good, otherwise I wouldn't be driving for him. His driving style was a bit aggressive, so he knows how to cool a driver down and tells me to drive smoother and so on. He knows how it all works.”

Wiman is set to defend his GRC crown in 2015, where he will face even stiffer opposition than before, with all the usual cast plus former champion Tanner Foust back for the full season in the Andretti Autosport VW Beetle. Securing that elusive first win will be first on the agenda, but what will be next on the Finn’s horizons? 

After an appetite-wetting outing in the World Championship at Trois-Rivieres, a full season assault beckons at some point in the future, but for now, Wiman is content to bide his time.

“Well of course I want to be a World Champion at some point, but it's not a must right now as I have a lot of years ahead of me. I want to be a professional driver and just focus on rallycross, that's the main thing for me.”

Wiman celebrates on the roof of his Fiesta after winning the GRC title in Las Vegas (Joni Wiman)

Bortolotti Raring To Go

The return of Lamborghini to top-level international motorsport with the new Huracán GT3 has been welcomed across the sport. Mirko Bortolotti has more cause than most, having been selected to join the marque’s roster of factory drivers in what is undoubtedly the biggest opportunity of his career so far. That might seem a strange admission for a man who has tested for the Ferrari, Williams and Toro Rosso Formula One teams, but the Vienna-based Italian is unequivocal and some weeks after the announcement, still exhibits the broad grin of a man with a winning lottery ticket.

“To be a factory driver for Lamborghini means so much to me; it’s definitely the biggest project I’ve been involved with in my career, so I’m really proud to be part of this programme” said the 25 year-old. “Overall definitely it’s a great opportunity, especially because we have quite a nice project ahead with the new Huracán, the first in-house produced GT3, so I’m really happy to be selected. Lamborghini is a novelty brand, it’s very popular in Italy, so being a part of it as an Italian is something very special. It means I’ve done something right in my career!”

Bortolotti is eagerly anticipating the Huracan's first race at Monza. (Mirko Bortolotti)

His story is a familiar one; without the funds to continue racing single-seaters after winning the FIA Formula Two title in 2011, Bortolotti set about reinventing himself as a sportscar racer. He dominated the 2013 Eurocup Megane Trophy in his first season with a roof and last year impressed Lamborghini with his seamless transition to GT racing, dovetailing campaigns in the Italian GT championship and one-make Super Trofeo series.

The results weren’t always there due to a proliferation of technical problems and the inevitable corollary of sharing with gentleman drivers, but as preparation for the rigours of the Blancpain Endurance Series – including the Spa 24 Hours – the experience served him well. And as he showed by emphatically winning the season-ending World Final at Sepang from 13^th on the grid, his racecraft is more than up to scratch.

“It’s going to be a new experience for me, I’ve never done a 24 hours before so it will be a tough one that’s for sure, but all those experiences helped me to grow up as a driver and as a human being to improve in general and definitely it helped to become a factory driver of such an important brand,” Bortolotti reminisces.  

“It wasn’t always about the results because last year in Super Trofeo I was mainly racing with gentlemen drivers in my car, which was a new experience for me. I took it as an opportunity to learn; in formula cars you always used to hide as much information as possible, but in GT racing you have to cooperate with your team-mates to help each other to become quicker, because all of them have to be competitive and strong for you to be successful. It was overall a positive year for me and I got used to it quite quickly, which bodes well for this season.”

The Huracan GT3 is still in its early phases of development. (Lamborghini Media)

Of course, much will depend on whether the Huracán will come out of the blocks all guns blazing in much the same way Bentley managed last year with the Continental GT3, which won on only its second start at Silverstone.  Development is still in the very early stages, but Bortolotti already feels right at home and is confident that Lamborghini partner team Grasser Racing, who proved their credentials by running Jeroen Bleekemolen and Hari Proczyk to third in the Blancpain Sprint Series in 2014, will have the car ready in time for the Monza season-opener. 

“I’ve driven it once so far at the end of last year; we’ve done two outings in total and I’ve done one of those, so the car is still at the beginning, but we have a good baseline, a solid platform to work from – the car is at a good level even though we haven’t done much mileage yet,” he said. “The guys are doing a great job, from their side last year they had a really positive year in the Blancpain Sprint Series, so they absolutely deserve to be the factory team for Lamborghini. I think together we have a good package, the factory is pushing really hard, the guys from Grasser are working well and also the drivers are well-qualified, we have a good mix of youth and experience in the team, so the atmosphere is absolutely mega.

“We are definitely still in the development process at the moment, so we cannot say at this moment that the car will be competitive at this specific moment, but we are working hard and every day helps us to improve all the small things we need to fix in order to make it 100% reliable. We’re at a good point at the moment in our schedule, so I’m very confident and looking forward to the season obviously. I think we have done our homework in the best possible way, so we will see where we are in the first race in Monza; hopefully we will be on top!”

This article originally appeared on Racing.GT

Comment: Jenny Tinmouth Blazing A Trail For Women In Motorsport

Fairy stories don’t come along all that often in sport. The law of averages state that ninety-nine times out of every hundred, it’s the big boys who come out on top. The underdog is so-called for a reason, after all. But every so often, in flagrant defiance of conventional logic, a ‘Steven Bradbury moment’ comes along out of the blue. These moments are the stuff of dreams that we, the general public, can identify with and aspire to. And sometimes, like the proverbial buses, two can come at once.  Indeed, amid the clamour surrounding humble League One outfit Bradford City’s shock FA Cup win over Jose Mourinho’s big-spending Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, it would have been easy to overlook the news that stalwart privateer Jenny Tinmouth had been signed by the factory Honda Racing Team to campaign a full season in the British Superbike (BSB) championship.

Honda Racing UK's new signing Jenny Tinmouth (Double Red)

It goes without saying that the 36-year old’s appointment is an enormous step forward for women in motorsport and by her own admission, the news came as something of a shock, although perhaps it shouldn’t have been have given her reputation as a trailblazer in motorcycle racing. In 2010, Tinmouth broke her own record as the fastest female ever to lap the fearsome Isle of Man TT at an average speed of 119.945 mph and became the first woman to score a BSB point at Snetterton in 2013. She is not one to be content with merely making up the numbers.

As anyone who has seen the epic final lap battle between Tommy Hill and John Hopkins at Brands Hatch to decide the 2011 title will tell you, BSB is a hidden gem of British sport where risk truly does equal reward. Tinmouth knows all about that; the first and so far only female competitor in the series, having run her own bike since 2011, Tinmouth embodies the endearing underdog spirit and richly deserves her opportunity in the 2013 championship-winning outfit, which returns after a year away with Jason O’Halloran and Dan Linfoot also on its roster. Having always had to ride within herself, knowing that any accident could prove enormously costly, Tinmouth has been rewarded for her efforts with a seat at the top table and the weight of a fully-fledged manufacturer behind her.

Ahead of the biggest opportunity of her career, which she described as "the ultimate dream come true," Tinmouth faces a steep learning curve. With the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade still unproven in a race environment and Tinmouth not slated to test until March, it is far too early to make any predictions as to where she will end up. 

But in a sport where men and women can and do compete together on track, the underdog now has the chance to show what she’s truly capable of. Godspeed Jenny.

TCR – What We Know So Far

When Marcello Lotti took to the stage at Birmingham’s Autosport International Show in January to announce that five manufacturers – Ford, Honda, SEAT, Volkswagen and Opel – had all been confirmed for 2015, with a further three (Alfa Romeo anybody?) in the pipelines, it was the clearest sign yet that the TCR International Series is set for big things.  It’s been a long time in coming since the first announcements back in July, with only the odd press release and mocked-up graphic to keep our mouths watering, but the wait is almost over, with just two months to go before the first race in support of the Malaysian Grand Prix on March 29^th.  

Before that, group testing will commence in February to work out the Balance of Performance and equalise the machinery, where the cast-list will no doubt become clearer. German veteran Franz Engstler is the only driver to have been announced having switched from the WTCC, but the roll-call of customer teams is certainly impressive. Multiple Swedish Touring Car champions WestCoast Racing, stalwart WTCC privateers Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Mike Earle’s Onyx outfit, the reformed Paolo Coloni Racing, and Target Competition, running the SEAT León Racer – the only TCR-spec car to have previously competed in the one-make Eurocup series – are the five to have been announced so far, with Lotti confirming that 20 of the 24 available spaces have been filled.   

The first image released by JAS Motorsport of the TCR Honda Civic,
to be ran by West Coast Racing (TCR International Series) 

Lotti, the former WTCC boss no less, clearly intends for his new initiative to challenge his former employers and has set forth ambitious plans for a homogenised, cost-effective platform to run across various national championships, much the same as GT3 has done in sportscar racing. With priority given to developing touring-car racing in new markets, Lotti has no plans to go up against the behemoth that is the British Touring Car Championship, but has already announced an Italian, Portuguese and BeNeLux championship due in 2016 to join TCR USA – which will run as a sub-class in the US Touring Car Championship (USTCC) in 2015 – and TCR Asia, to be ran by experienced promoter David Sonenscher. Further announcements are expected regarding expansion into Thailand, China, Russia, Spain and the Dominican Republic, a mightily impressive achievement even before a wheel has been turned.

Personal disappointment that the TCR International Series won’t be visiting Britain aside, the calendar is mightily impressive, comprising five Grand Prix circuits, including Monza, Sochi and Singapore, with a rumoured end-of-season trip to Macau thrown in for good measure. It’s far too early to make any predictions, but if the jigsaw pieces can come together, then there’s no reason why Lotti’s vision won’t materialise. 

Lewis Hamilton: A Deserving SPOTY Winner

Was Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton a deserving winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award? Whomever you ask, a different response is proffered. Many favoured runner-up Rory McIlroy, having won both the Open and PGA titles, as well as playing a crucial role in helping Europe to victory in the Ryder Cup, while Jo Pavey’s 10,000m gold at the European Championships, aged 40, less than a year after giving birth, also attracted high praise. The debate could go on forever, but to argue that Hamilton was an unworthy choice to succeed the likes of Bradley Wiggins and Andy Murray because he drove the fastest car, or as self-styled football philosopher Joey Barton claimed, because he is a tax exile, is frankly ridiculous.

Hamilton became the first British double-champion
since Sir Jackie Stewart (Photo: Mercedes AMG F1) 

In any case, having the fastest car is no guarantee of glory; just ask Hamilton circa 2007, when he conspired to throw away a 17 point advantage with a pitlane blunder in Shanghai. He had to rely on a healthy slice of luck to deprive Felipe Massa of the title in 2008, but no such accusations could be levied at him in 2014, as Hamilton found another gear in the second half of the season to win five races on the trot. That the title would fall into his lap in Abu Dhabi when his closest rival Nico Rosberg hit problems is largely academic in the grand scheme of things; Hamilton had already won the psychological battle following their high profile clash at Spa, which saw the German openly pilloried by Mercedes bosses.  

Rosberg was a worthy adversary, becoming the first team-mate of Hamilton’s career to outqualify him over the course of the season with ten poles to Hamilton’s seven. But Sunday is where the points are decided and it was here that Hamilton’s superior racecraft shone through; he had no right to keep Rosberg at bay in Bahrain and in Hungary, but did so with aplomb both times. Hamilton was furious with Rosberg’s qualifying faux pas in Monaco which perversely prevented him from challenging for pole, but channelled his frustration in a positive direction where the temperamental Hamilton of a few seasons ago perhaps might not have. By and large, Austria and Brazil apart, the mistakes we have become accustomed to seeing from him were few and far between in 2014; instead, it was the usually unflappable Rosberg who allowed wins to slip through his fingers in Italy, Japan and the USA.  

Having finished runner-up in both 2007 and 2008 to boxer Joe Calzaghe and cycling legend Chris Hoy, this was truly the year that Hamilton transcended to greatness as he became the first British double-champion since Jackie Stewart. McIlroy’s day will surely come, but for now, let Lewis enjoy his moment.