The iGP Racing Experience (T.i.R.E)

Star Racing Malaysian Round Review

With a tumultuous week leading up to the Malaysian round of the TiRE season, Star Racing were looking to again strike some fear into the rest of the field. Instead it was Star that faultered, missing the right strategy needed along with a poor setup while the drivers only reportin a few FG'sof feedback, this was going to be a tough round.

Paddock Comments from S.Stephens and both Star Drivers

Scott Stephens, Star Racing team principal

Quallifying: “Both Hof and Wilson drove commendably solidly in qualifying here today, in tricky conditions in which it would have been all too easy for them to have made costly mistakes. In terms of car performance, while we’d never be even remotely satisfied with P8 and P10, it’s fair to say that we’ve made a small amount of progress, so I want to say thank you to all the guys, both on the road and back home in Perth, for their sterling efforts in that respect. Just as important, though, we’ve continued to gather useful data, which we’ll now number-crunch intensively with a view to continuing our evolution of SRA-5. There’s still a long way to go, because as I say we’re not yet even close to where we want and need to be in terms of car performance, but it’s probably fair to state that, although the gains we’ve made have been small so far, the development trend appears to be in the right direction.”

Race: “We achieved a very good result for the team this weekend and to score some solid points is very satisfying. We have continued to show an upward performance trend although there is still work for us to do to close the gap to the leading cars even further. Both Hof and Wilson both drove extremely well today. Tough decisions have to be made sometimes and it was important for us that both cars finished the race and we scored some solid points. Congratulations to everyone here at the track, and back at Perth, we will keep pushing hard to make sure that more will follow.”

Fabian Hofmann 
Quallifying (8th, Q3 - 1:32.397s): “I don’t think we can really expect to qualify any better than P8 right now – but,  We’re still not quick, but the guys are doing a fantastic job to get everything they can out of our car. As for tomorrow’s race, all I’ll say is that as always we’ll battle hard and see what the race brings.”

Race: “I think we can be quite happy with the result today. It was a tough race, I spent a lot of time stuck behind the guys who started on softs in the middle phase of the race and I’m sure if I could have passed him earlier then I would have stayed ahead, but by the end my tyres were finished so it was best i could do. It’s not the result we would have wanted at the beginning of the weekend, but at the end of the day it’s more points for the team and we’ll try to come back stronger in Shanghai.”

Nuno Wilson
Quallifying (10th, Q3 - 1:32.429s): “Considering how our car was behaving at Albert Park just a week ago, I guess you could say that was not an encouraging qualifying session. Hof and I both got into Q3, which was a relief, but obviously we know we’ve still got a long way to go in terms of car development. Having said that, I can see how hard the team is working to improve our car, and it’s a really good feeling to be a part of that. It often rains in the late afternoon here in Sepang, so I guess the race could be up in the air an may well be affected by wet conditions. But I really enjoy racing on this circuit, and, whatever the weather, I’ll give my best tomorrow for the best team in Formula One.”

Race: “I feel quite well rewarded going home with four points after my  race. I am quite happy with how it went, especially at the start of the race when we were average on the hards. But then I was stuck in traffic and couldn’t find my way past other drivers. I think eighth was well deserved, considering I had to fight and push a lot today. I think the potential is there, and now we have to work on a few details.”


Will the RaceGate saga continue to effect Star Racing? Has Arrow's protest set unrest with-in the team and its drivers? Find out at Round 3,  Chinese GP

Star Racing Chinese GP Round Review

After an action-packed start to the season,  the 18 drivers and 9 teams reconvened in Shanghai this week for the third race of the year, the 2013 TiRE Chinese Grand Prix. With RaceGate still open an on many teams minds and agendas, the unanswered an un-resolve of clarification for the ruling from the sanctioning body  FlatTirRE has left many teams still in disarray an uncertainty

Paddock Comments from S.Stephens and both Star Drivers

Scott Stephens, Star Racing team principal

Qualifying: “That was a very tightly contested qualifying session. We stuck to our game plan we formulated before qualifying, using one set of the soft tyres (Nuno) for the session. Nuno did a super job to qualify just off the front row behind the Polar drivers. Hof, despite his heavier fuel loads and hard tyres, will line up in ninth place and with the way you can overtake at this track he’ll be able to make progress from there. So, a very solid qualifying and one we can hopefully build on in the race. Well done to Rudi for getting pole today.”

Race: An absolutely impeccable drive from Hof today. He executed five brilliant overtakes. The strategy worked almost perfectly with the tyres that we conserved in qualifying, which ended with a dominant 4th place, but finishing right on the gearbox of Quinn. For Nuno, after racing very well in the first stint and making progress through the first round of pit stops, in the second stint he pushed very hard on the first few laps which effectively elevated him down a few position. Unfortunately he couldn’t achieve the longevity in those stints, which put him under pressure for the final. His last stop put him in the range of those on on the podium and then it was a matter of making it to the end. Despite fighting fantastically well and racing very hard with Wiszkowski, he ran out of rear tyres before the end of the race, but still got some valuable points.

Nuno Wilson
Qualifying (3rd, Q3 - 1:31.076s): It’s really good news that once again we managed to do well in qualifying, which is our Achilles heel!  Race time goes better thanks to our race pace, I am really pleased to see our potential already maximized on through praccy an qually sessions. The data seen from short runs means we can be optimistic about a race in which our main adversaries are represented by the Polar Team in front and the Orange Lizards which might be behind us on the grid, but they will definitely be in the game. We didn't discover which is the best strategy until the race had started and it’s impossible to make predictions. But I think the best tyre for the race will be the soft and that could work in our favour, given it’s the one I have been most comfortable on all praccy sessions.

Race: We definitely didn’t have much luck today and that’s a real shame, at the end of what had been such a positive day for me and Hof up until tonight. We had been competitive in free practice and qualifying and we were both expecting to have a good race. After the opening laps, when I thought the rear tyres had gone off, the pit wall informed that the DRS wasn't right. It wasn’t fixed properly at the first stop and so I had to come in for another one. From then on, the clear instruction from the pit wall not to use it an that affected my race. I tried to recover but it was really difficult finding places to overtake without DRS. When you are far back, in the middle of a group, tyre degradation is even harder to manage. I am sure that without the problems I had, I would have finished higher up, because the car responds very well and it is definitely our best of the last two seasons. But having a good race involves a lot of factors, including a bit of luck. Let’s hope it balances out very soon, maybe even starting in Bahrain, the next race. There, it will be even more important to have a good qualifying, because it’s not easy to overtake on that track and so starting from the front is vital.

Fabian Hofmann 
Qualifying (9th, Q3 - 1:31.502s): It wasn’t the best qualifying session after a day which hasn’t been the easiest so far either. It was difficult at times to find the balance with the car.  Praccy session felt good with mostly FG's, it felt good and we didn’t do too bad in free practice, but we didn’t quite get it right last night. My lap wasn’t great, plus i went with the higher fuel and hard tyres from the start, but it’s a long race so we’ll just have to see what we can do tonight.

Race: It’s great, a fourth place and a race that was probably my strongest driving in a GP this season so far. The podium was very close for me, but with our strategy we were always going to be vulnerable at the end of the race - especially to Quinn who had a new sets of hard tyres. I had a good start to the race, a strong opening stint and we showed our true speed an fighting spirit tonight, but ultimately fourth place was the maximum that was possible. I know now that we went to sort on the opening stints, an that cost us in the last stint. We will get back to the podium one day, hopefully soon, but for now we can be very happy with the points we’ve scored today. A big thanks to the whole team because it’s been an excellent weekend and I feel we managed to get 100 percent out of the car and 110% out of myself.

Next Round: With RaceGate still the talk of the paddock, teams have been notified of an up an coming "poll" to make the decision. Will we see teams feel they are being hard done by? Will this separate the league, teams deciding to leave an not return? Time will tell, will there be an answer by round 4, Bahrain? Six words, TUNE IN - TUNE IN - TUNE IN

BREAKING NEWS  - FLaTTiRE, rumoured to received protest papers from Star Racing

Rumoures are spreading through the paddock that FLaTiRE has received paper work from Star Racing in a alleged protest again Brett Wilson an his team, Team Arrows. Information gathered so far is that Brett Wilson was seen spying on DPG Motorsports, (who has a technical affiliation with Star Racing) whilest they were competing in another league. Star Racing will aledge that, not only has Brett Wilson been spying on DPG, but there was mention (through the live chat  channel) that spying of other teams representing Graham Sinclair under his RECS agreement with iGP had previously occured. 

While it is not confirmed as yet to what informations were gathered, but strategy, fuel range, tyres and laps to pit on, had/have been gathered in an attempt to get an advantage over Star Racing in which Team Arrows races against in the TiRE League. This information is rumoured to be helping Team Arrows with their strategies, along with getting inside ifnformation on Star Racings own strategies for race day in the TiRE league.

More new on this matter will unfold as we receive anymore information.

The iGP Race Experience (T.i.R.E.)     
RD 03 – The Great Wall Chinese iGP Pro Tier
 
Pre-Race:
FLaT TiRE was expected to comment on the Rage-Gate saga before the start of the Chinese iGP however they were unable to get the support required to push the case forward in time. An announcement is now expected after the race.


Qualifying:
We seen a similar  situation here in China as we did in Malaysia with the top 8 electing to start on the soft compound. It was a Polar Motorsports front row lockout for the second race in a row this time lead by R Graca. Arrows, Prawnstouche & Orange Lizards also had both their drivers on softs while Star Racing and elected to split their strategies with N Wilson in 3rd on the option and F Hoff the first driver on the prime tire in 9th, the rest of the field from here down also started on the prime tire. [url= http://igpmanager.com/play/?url=race-launch/225581]Full Grid[/url]
 

Race Results:
It was another hot and sunny day with Air temp again in the +30 deg range. Teams faced the same decision as they did last round with a 2 or 3 stopper both looking very achievable depending on track position. In the end it was a another 1-2 victory for Polar Motorsports with R Graca leading home A Muller.

The last 10 laps thou seen an epic battle for 3rd as Arrows C Quinn chased down Star Racings F Hoff.  Hoff pitted from the race lead on lap 24 fitted the prime tire and was looking to do the longest stint of the race with 18 laps to go to the checked flag as he rejoined in 4th. Quinn pitted from 3rd on lap 32 also fitted the prime tire and only had a 10 lap dash to the end. Hoff making full use of his KERS as he seen Quinn exit the pits as he crossed the start finish line heading down the main straight and into turn 1. Quinn held the inside line but was only ever going to lose his front wing if he did not back out as Hoff had tires that were already up to temp was able to drive around the outside.  For the next 7 laps there was nothing between them and it looked as if Hoff had the pace as it was Quinn who would drop back each lap only to catch up again down the back straight with the DRS. Many were expecting a last lap effort from Quinn however he seen a chance with 3 laps to go and made the pass and drove well beyond the limits of the car each and every corner trying to hold on. Both drivers set a blistering pace on the final lap going some 3 sec quicker than there previous best race laps. But it was Quinn who was able to hold off the Hoff despite his epic last lap efforts to finish 3rd just .3 sec ahead.

This was Arrows first podium since their rookie season and the second time this season Star Racing has missed out on a last lap battle after N Wilson was passed and finished .2 sec behind Orange Lizards A Williams back in Australia for 4th. Questions will also be asked of Star Racings technical director Ryan Jones as F Hoff has been in a position to challenge for the victory mid race in the last 2 ounds but has for some reason dropped out of contention after his final stop.
rIt was a case of teammate leading teammate home for the rest of the field from 8th on down. It was T News (lead lap), Hungry(-1), Prawnstouche(-1), Telos IV(-1) & Black Dog (-2). [url= http://igpmanager.com/play/?url=race-result/225581#race]Full Results[/url]
 
 
Post Race:
Teams have now been asked to vote on the Race-Gate saga and depending on the result we could even see some form of penalties applied to the teams in question. Ironically one team that will not be in a hurry to vote will be the team that started the whole Race-Gate saga and that is Team Arrows, they will be partying long in to next week and if there is one thing Arrow’s can do that is party hard.   
 

China GP Post race Team Arrows

Q: Fantastic Result There brett, How does it feel having one of ur cars back on the podium?
A: BW - "It feels (beep) fantastic. Our goal has been for consistancy in points this season as our car is quite a fair way off in design But to pull off a Podium finish is unbelievable Both drivers did exceptionally well here today."

Q:Was this a result of the upgrade we bought to China.?
A: BW - "Yes and no, What i mean by that is we were only able to bring a couple of upgrades as the others either didnt arrive at track or were left off the car, But the upgrades that were fitted i believe gave the drivers confidence to be able to push and achieve consistent laps." 

Q: Brett i need to ask... i know you wont like this but can you give us an update on the RACEGATE incident?
A: BW - "Look thats the last thing on my mind atm but i will say to clarify again we are only looking at getting confirmation on what we can and cant do. I do not wish for anyone to be penalised in this process, we just want clarification as its abit of a grey area ATM. "

Q: What are your feelings on this topic ?
A: BW - "Well look personally i dont think it should be done it takes the sportsmanship outta the coming season. We all know that when u race you gather infomation and you gain experince, does that give u an advantage for the up coming season ? who knows ? But as i have mentioned in my filing report i dont want any penalising to occur I want clarification for the seasons ahead. I will not be talking about this anymore."

Q: We have heard some reports circling the paddock in regards to the RACETICKETS scandal can you tell us anymore ?
A: BW - "What ? RACETICKET scandal ? *Turns to Chief Mechanic* Oliver you heard of this ?(ponders) Well first i have heard.... Ill have to get back to you on that one *laughs*."

Thank you for your time today Brett.

Q: C Quinn Contratulations on your race today coming away with 3rd position how do you Feel?
A: C Quinn "Amazing its a great feeling first podium with Arrows it was very hard out there today one of the races i will remember for the rest of my life specially the last lap.I was losing alot of time pushing hard and making small mistakes that were adding up and losing laptimes but i gave it my all on the last lap and through everything i had left in me it was very emotional. The guys prepared the car well, the pitstops where great !!" 

Q: Tell us how the car felt and what can we expect from you in the next races to come.
A: C Quinn - "As i said the car was prepared well there were a few ares that were Feeling Good but there were also a couple here and there that just didnt feel right at all but we managed it over the course of the race. As for the next race thats too far away at the moment Ill be kicking back with Liam partying somehwere hopefully Jessica will come as well."

Q: any last words to your rivals next week?
A: C Quinn - "I hope to see you all next week..... in my rear view mirror !! *laughs*"

HAHA thanks for your time C Quinn.

Other News

A Wiszkowski Has flown back to the team factory to assist with the flood damage caused by the storm that took place earlier. We have been given reports that their factory was flooded to the 2nd storey and they have had to relocate losing a days worth of work on the car design.  

Liam Kelly of Black Dog Racing
"Wow, we really suck this season, even the Prawn fiddlers are showing us a clean pair of heels,bright red high heels as it turns out...very fetching!
I dont know if you caught it on camera by Sam had to be lifted out of the car at the end of the race......team doctor said he is physically fine but I think the idea of being last really broke him mentally. Last I saw him he was in the motorhome wearing nothing but an adult nappy and booking a flight to some spiritual retreat in Nepal"

Samuel Jones of Black Dog Racing was unavailable for comment. Samuel is currently assessing his options and making some time for family. Any rumours that he was seen wearing nothing but an adult diaper and weeping while laying on the roof of Jennifer Hawkins house are unfounded.

Jessica Walker, Technical Director for Black Dog Racing
"OMG, I am soo much hotter than Jennifer Hawkins, I mean I know right!?"

FLaTTiRE RaceGate

RaceGate Vote: TiRE leagues sanctioning body FLaTTiRE has released a poll for all to vote on the break between seasons. The rulings in mention are: Article 22.4H: Pre-season racing is not permitted and Article 2.2B: Teams can leave/join a league at anytime provided the season has NOT started. If the season has started, nobody is allowed to leave. If the tiers in a league are not full, people can join at anytime but again, they can't leave until the season is over.

Once voting has been finished, all votes will be tallied an FLaTTiRE will make an announcement, with clarification from the TiRE League Organizer. to vote please head here http://igpmanager.com/play/?url=league-info/1679#tab2

New Teams Enter

Two new teams: FLaTTiRE has received entry forms of two teams to the Pro Tier of the TiRE League. One team (Rai Team) has seen all the right paper work filled out and given the tick of approval. Rai entered into the iGP series back on the 10th May 2013. The team is now in its 6th championship having had 3 wins, 14 podiums, 3 pole positions and 1 fastest lap so far. The teams drivers have been with the team since may 29th, with Yoni Shahar having only raced with Rai Team, while Levi Walker has had a couple of months experience, now in his 4th team.

The next team (due to incorrect entry paper work, the team name will not be released until FLaTTiRE have the correct entry information) will have to wait until all entry forms and information is suuplied to FLaTTiRE. The team has a fair amount of experience and could be a shock to some of the regular teams within the TiRE Series. The team in question has been with iGP since the end of 2012, having 30 wins, 69 podiums, 30 pole positions and 24 fastest laps, seems the only thing missing is a championship. The amended entry forms is expected to be received within the next few days, with the team hoping to compete in the Wednesday night round.

It is with some relief that Black Dog Racing announces the release of Samuel Jones from his contract and the signing of Cooper Thomas, a young new hotshoe with some race wins to his name and a keen desire to prove his worth, and according to the grid girls, is a welcome addition to the grid!

Jessica Walker of Black Dog Racing
"Black Dog Racing under went a deep analysis of its driver requirements, and given the highly publicised decline in Samuel's mental health we felt it was in every ones interests to find a new direction. Happily Cooper was available and the team manager really liked his name so we made him an offer. As yet the team manager hasnt told me what to do with the cupbaord full of adult nappies that Sam left behind, maybe I should just forward them to the mental health facility he is holed up in?"

Team Arrows scratching their head after Spain Race

After Finishing 3rd on the podium at China Team Arrows has seemed to start dropping off sliding back down the order. It has raised alot of eye browns in the Arrows garage. 

Team manager Brett Wilson had these comments to say - "Yeah definatey a head scratcher... Our stratagiest is really unnder the pump specialyl with the last few races, We thougth we were heading in the right direction with car speed and strategy but we believe we were on the wrong track. The car balance is good but we are struggling with our race setup atm. The last qualifying session did us no favours ad we had a yellow flag in sector 2 so we could not improve on time which is very crutial this season as not much seperates the top 10. We are back at monaco and this track was not kind to us last season once again strategy let us down leaving us well outside the top 5 so we have something to prove here."

Driver C Quinn Comments - "Feel like i let my fans down today, I struggled with qualifying and was not were i watned to be at ALL!. The race setup was not that good i just couldnt get the car to feel good. Look we got some points today but we had a missed oppertunity to score more. I will definatley be underpressure for monaco I want to give the absolute best race i can which i willbe dedicating to my good friend Mark Webber who will be retiring from open wheel racing at the endof this year.

So whats install for Team Arrows at Monaco ? Will the drivers be able to put them selves in a better race finish position by qualyfing well ? Find out Monday night 8.30pm AEST

Team Arrows post race Monaco

Team Arrows had their own goals coming into this race, to improve on their overall race position from last season.  This time last seaon Team Arrows qualified way down the order in 11th and 14th and finished the race in 11th and 12th. This time around was quite different pointing at both ends of the specturm qualifying 2nd and 15th and finishing the race 5th and 13th. Lets hear from Brett.

Q. Brett, this time around you guys had a point to prove around here how did the results matchup to your exceptations. 
A. "Well for qualifying I thought C Quinn did a phenomenal job to qualify 2nd. I was actually suprised on both ends. The head scratcher this time was both cars where setup quite well for the drivers today but yet we managed a 2nd and 15th !!! I could understand if fuel loads were significantly different but they were the same. The only thing i can put it down to was perhaps A Muller had slowed down to much on A Wiz hot lap and around here there is not much room to move and overtake, I dont believe it was done intentionally but it affected our run, compounded with how close qualifying was every 100th of a sec counted and we lost alot of time in the 2nd sector."

Q.How about the race itself ?
A." frustrating. We lost alot of time in the pits i thin my rough estimations were around about 4secs every pit stop i will need to analyse the data more.  We had had a problem with both drivers strategy too which seem to force them to pit earlier than expected and this ultimatley costed us a couple of positions plus early on we were scraping for positon and DRS which abused our tyres as we were using KERS so after our 2nd stint it was really minimising the damage.
Holding onto even 5th was alot harder than it looked but none the less an ok result, as for A Wiz starting that far back around here no matter how fast you are around here your not going to make up alot of positions. it was a shame it would have been great to see him in the points or at least meet his objectives i think it was rather unrealistic for him to acheive 7th from back there but he drive rather well. Im sure the drivers will be closer together next race as they usually are maybe its jsut not one of his tracks and i dont blame him cause it a tough track to begin with."

Q.What can we expect from you at Turkey?
A. " Much of the same TBH, The other guys are in a league of their own so we are just going to makesure we can improve from the previous season making sure we come away with points, Make sure drivers can reach their race objectives and anything else is a bonus."

Well there you have it have, Has Team Arrows already conceded for this season ? Will Their drivers be able to push forward and land podium finishes or even the race win ? Find out tomorrow night @ the Turkey GP.

The iGP Race Experience (T.i.R.E.)     
RD 06 – Moet Monaco iGP Pro Tier
 
Pre-Race:
Celebrations continued all the way to Monaco following Star Racing’s break through 1-2 at the last round in Spain. It was a much different feeling however over at Orange Lizards as they failed to score any points for the first time in the team’s history. Team Owner G Sinclair was not at the Spanish race and the team clearly struggled without his guidance.       


Qualifying:
Fans were treated to a spectacular session as drivers pushed the limits to find even just an extra thousands of a sec and boy did they need it. R Graca (Polar) & F Hoff (Star) both did a 1:26.633 only to end up 6th & 7th!! The top 17 were covered by <1sec and the top 10 were all within .5 sec of each other. If that was not enough for fans there was 5 different teams in the first 5 positions and 7 different teams in the top 9. [url= http://igpmanager.com/play/?url=race-launch/225590]Full Grid[/url]

Race Results:
A Muller (Polar) was looking to make amends for last rounds poor performance and he had a 2 sec lead after the first lap and had a full pit stop advantage by the first round of stops over 2nd place. He was in a race of his own setting a fastest lap some 4.3 sec faster than anyone else on the way to another Golden Grand Slam (pole, fast lap, win, lead every lap)

The real race was a 4 way fight for 2nd place between C Quinn (Arrows), N Wilson (Star), R Graca (Polar) & A Williams (Orange). Quinn pitted early Wilson pitted late Graca used up too much KERS coming through the field and it was Williams who was able to hold on in the end as they crossed the line with just 2 sec covering all of them on the last lap.

Newcomers Rolling Chicane were able to make it back to back point scoring races with T White coming home in 9th after starting 12th. Prawnstouche are still looking for their first points of the season. Hungry & Telos IV seemed to be missing key personnel on the pit wall at times during the race, rumors of an invitation only pre post-race party might have had something to do with it thou. [url= http://igpmanager.com/play/?url=race-result/225590#race]Full Results[/url]

 
Post Race:
Results were finally made public of a referendum that was passed by all team owners to allow pre/post season testing in other leagues. Star Racing and Orange Lizards have subsequently been cleared by the governing body of any wrong doing in the RaceGate affair. Flat TiRE is expected to release full details of the ruling and amendments to Articles 22.4H & 2.2B in the coming days.

Star Racing Monaco GP Round Review

Round six of the championship sees the paddock arrive in Monte Carlo for arguably the most famous event on the calendar, the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2013. So how will the teams fair for the unique challenge that is the Principality’s streets, can Star Racing remain on top of the podium?

Paddock Comments from S.Stephens and both Star Drivers

Scott Stephens, Star Racing team principal

Qualifying: “A very strong team performance with both cars lining up on the 2nd row an 4th of the grid in what was a very tight qualifying session. Wilson put in a very quick lap at the beginning of Q3 and unfortunately didn’t quite have enough onto the 1st row. Nonetheless a great performance from him and from Hof who once again has done a great job in Monte Carlo.”

Race: “Thirrd  and eigth with the least amount of time for both our cars in the pit lane today is a very positive team result. We managed to get both cars ahead during the pit stops and safety car period, in what turned out to be a relatively processional race due to everyone adopting a long fuel run strategy. At Monaco you can never overtake, so it was all about conserving tyres and managing the pace until the end of the race. As we saw with Wilson, the pace was there as he set some fast laps today, but today I think second and eigth was probably optimum for today.”

Nuno Wilson
Qualifying (4th, Q3 - 1:26.585s): “Yeah I’m pretty happy with that. It’s very easy to be towards the back when you have a disruptive session with those conditions, but we managed to survive all the tricky sections and put together a reasonably tidy effort. You can always look at timings later and think you could have done things differently, but in the heat of the moment you make the decision as to what you think is right and overall it wasn’t too bad. The conditions are changing and the tyres are tricky, so starting on the second row here is not bad. It’s a long race and a lot of strategy can unfold, so we’ll see what we can do from there.”

Race: “First of all congratulations to Alexander, it’s a very special place to win here and he had a seamless weekend, that’s what you need to do here. Even though he started in the lead, you still have to pull it off so well done to him. For us, we knew we were a little bit against it starting on the second row, but I got an absolutely incredible start and it’s sod’s law that it’s the shortest run into the first corner here. Williams and I had nowhere to go, so we were lifting while Muller and Quinn looked like they had tricky ones. We will save some of those starts for future reference! Then after that it was basically about saving the tyres and making the two-stop work for us. It was predictable that if the race was going to stack up, then the two-stop was not really an option as you could have come back into traffic. We had to go pretty long and all the drivers were nursing the tyres – it was nice to get Graca on the stops.”

Fabian Hofmann 
Qualifying (7th, Q3 - 1:26.633s): “It’s not great to cross the finish line, feel like you’ve just done a mega lap, and find that you’re only seventh. Still, I put in a really strong performance here today, and I felt like I’d really maximised the full potential of the car. We know we’re not quite there yet performance-wise, so we need to keep pushing. But the team has done a fantastic job so far this weekend, and I hope we can keep the momentum going score some good points. Anything can happen at Monaco.”

Race: “In some ways, it was rather a boring race, as I never had a clear track ahead of me! All the same, it's always exciting to race at Monaco, especially when you score points. In the closing stages, Ulyanov did a good job in front of me passing early at the hairpin, but I was coming up behind and couldn’t get past as of course he blocked me. It was a good race of course, finishing eighth and picking up four more points. After some unfortunate races earlier this season, I said good luck and bad luck come round in equal measure and today everything went well for us. On top of that, it was clear that our car was very strong today and in fact I set my best lap really early on with a lot of fuel, as the rest of the time I was in the middle of the pack which was frustrating, as my car was faster than those ahead of me. I’m pleased to be eighth, but I am looking forward to doing better in the coming races.”


Next Round: Round seven of the championship sees the paddock crossing the Turkish GP. Graca took victory for Polar last season, but can he do the same for this year after is lowst scoring round at Monaco? Can Star Racing keep the momentum going, getting a foot on the podium again an scoring some valuable points.

Star Racing Turkey GP Round Review

In Turkey this week, for once team personnel conference looks set to be a far bigger draw than driver session, thanks to the on-going intrigue surrounding RaceGate. FLaTTiRE will be giving answering following the questions an poll set out by event management TiRE. All information to be revealed in the next coming days.

Paddock Comments from S.Stephens and both Star Drivers

Scott Stephens, Star Racing team principal

Qualifying: It’s fantastic to get the 2nd row in Turkey. It was a really difficult qualifying session and it’s very easy for things to go wrong in a session like that. Just to get one car in Q3 was a result, so to get P4 with Hoff on the grid for tomorrow’s grand prix is a really positive starting position. But a difficult day for Wilson, we got a lot more out of the car, and the drivers handled the difficult qualifying conditions very well. Ultimately Nuno was unlucky with his final lap before the red flag. He had completed the final corner and was on the way to the line when the red flag came out. His lap time would have taken him easily through to Q3. That’s a bit disappointing, but from P11 we can still score points on a track like this. The car should be strong in the race.””

Race: “To win in Turkey is a fantastic result and Polar just dominated today, good for them. Having come so close over the last couple seasons, even though we didnt win today, we showed we are still a dominant force and what we did today was a tremendous performance, despite a couple of heart stopping moments, particularly when Hoff touched the wall. He was totally commanding today and thoroughly deserved the a podium, but forth is still great and great to see Brabham up there for Rollings first podium in the season. It was a shame for Wilson that his race was compromised by  a low order starting position. But, despite that, Nuno did a tremendous job to still finish sixth. He shouldnt have done that good, just think if he had started but in the front couple of rows.”

Nuno Wilson
Qualifying (11th, Q2 - 1:29.346s): “It was really bad luck today. I was on a good lap and could have made Q3, but then the red flag came out 200 meters before the finish line. But I think, after a difficult day in praccy, we improved quite a bit and P11 is not too bad to start from - it’s close to the points. According to the weather forecast it’s going to be dry and warmer than it has been all weekend. We have to wait and see how competitive we can be.”

Race: “Incredible! I’m very happy. The best result for me today. It is even more satisfying, because it was a normal race in the dry, with no one going out in front of me so we achieved this position fair and square. It’s a great result for the team as we are making progress race by race and it’s very encouraging for the rest of the season. It wasn’t too complicated, because we had the pace to maintain through the race, although we did not have the speed of the podium. I passed White in the last couple of laps and Quinn on the last lap, which was just so satisfying, he even had KERS an DRS on the last straight. That meant I could never ease up until the flag but i managed to and even had a little gap at the line too. After finishing forth in Monaco, this result on another difficult track has boosted my confidence and I feel I have progressed as a driver. We must continue to push hard on the development of the car, starting with the next race at the British GP, so that we can aim even higher than this.”

Fabian Hofmann 
Qualifying (6th, Q3 - 1:29.078s): “We were well aware how difficult this weekend could be, because with such changeable weather, the track can change from one lap to the next and right to the end, you can never be sure what are the right tyres to use. I am reasonably happy to have salvaged what I could from a qualifying that featured so many unknowns. Starting from sixth here isn’t bad, because you can overtake at this circuit. I’m definitely hoping for a race with no rain, because in the dry, looking at yesterday’s long runs, we can be more competitive and quicker than some of the cars that start in front of us tomorrow. The aim is still to make up ground on our closest competitors. In any case, I won’t take anything for granted, because here, especially if it rains, anything can happen and it can be the case that strategy counts for less than luck does.”

Race: “I got a sensational start, but I didn’t have too many places to go. I went to the middle and Quinn and tores were there, so I went to the other side and lost some momentum. We are certainly getting our starts sorted, but so far there’s been no opportunity to show how good they have been! We lost some time with Brabham in the first stint, and the car was getting hot behind him in the slip stream. Once I got in free air, the car was handling much better. Then we had the incident with Quinn which caused some front wing damage and made it more difficult; the whole top section of the wing was gone on the left hand side, so it didn’t help from then on. I don’t know what he was doing. as we approached the T7 I rolled to the inside, giving him plenty of space so he knew I was there, but when we got to the apex he tried to hit it; I don’t know what was going on with that. There were some positives from today, but it would have been nicer to have finished on the podium"

Next Round: Round eight of the championship sees the paddock move back for the 2013 TiRE British Grand Prix at Silverstone - another fly away race for the majority of the teams and for drivers. After a dominant display of strategy anddriver ability, will we see Polar dominate again, or will Rolling be stepping up and taking the spot on the top step of the dias.

The iGP Race Experience (T.i.R.E.)     
RD 07 – Steggles Turkish iGP Pro Tier
 
Pre-Race:

The glitz and glamor of Monaco seen many drivers getting more action off track then on. Race winner A Muller was not seen for 4 days following the race and reportedly only emerged from the presidential suite of the Cannes hotel when a silicone leak left one of his “guests” out of balance.             


Qualifying:

While not as tight as Monaco last week we still had the top 15 covered by <1 sec. It was a 3x3x3 session with Polar Motorsports locking out the front row for the 3rd time this season by 3 tenths. Rolling Chicane put in their best Saturday performance of the season with a 3rd place start for M Brabham in only their 3 race in this league. While Arrows C Quinn started from the 3rd row for the 3rd time this season.  [url= http://igpmanager.com/play/?url=race-launch/225593]Full Starting Grid[/url]

Race Results:

A Muller (Polar) made it back to back victories, not as easy as he did in Monaco but still a commanding performance by him and Teammate R Graca as they finished 1-2 some 24 sec ahead of the field.   

3rd thru 10th was covered  by just 24 sec with 8 drivers from 5 different teams all running completely different strategies. M Brabham converted his qualifying performance and held onto 3rd for Rolling Chicane’s first podium of the season. F Hoff finished strong for Star Racing coming from 8th after his last stop to end up 4th. J Torres was 5th for Orange Lizards while N Wilson (Star) gained the most places moving up 5 places from 11th to finish 6th.

Showing how close the mid field is we take a closer look at the strategy used by each team, keeping in mind that after 43 laps there was less than 20 sec covering the following 5 teams.  [url= http://igpmanager.com/play/?url=race-result/225593#race]Full Race Results[/url]  

Rolling Chicane: S-H-H-H
Star Racing: H-S-H
Orange Lizards: S-S-S-S
Arrows: S-H-H
DPG: S-S-S-H
       

 
Post Race:

Polar Motorsports look to be back in form, Rolling Chicane seem to be coming into some good form, Star Racing are close to showing their true form, Arrows are threatening to finally come into form, Orange Lizards are still a bit hit and miss with their form, Telos IV want some form, Prawnstouche need some form, Black Dog are looking up the term form & Hungry inc are filling out a form.

FLaTTiRE Official Press Release: RaceGate

A referendum has been held in relation to pre/post season testing. No action is to be taken against either Star Racing or Orange Lizards in relation to breaches of the sport code prior to the start of the current season. Teams requested and it was acknowledge that clarification was need on Article 22.4H & 2.2B. The sporting code has been amended as follows. Article 6.8 has also been added

Article 22.4H: In season testing is not permitted unless officially sanctioned by the governing bod. If a in season test it to take place it must fully comply with following (i) the test is to be open to all teams (ii) the governing must notify all teams prior to the test (iii) a minimum of 3 days’ notice is to be given.   

Article 2.2A: (i) Teams are permitted to leave the league at the conclusion of the final race of the current season and rejoin prior to the start of the following season. (ii)Teams that elect to leave at the end of the current season are not guaranteed re-entry for the following season. (iii) re-entry and will be subject to availability.

Article 2.2B: (i) Teams that leave the league prior to the end of the current season will not be eligible to race in the following season for the number of race for which the missed in the current season (ie: teams that withdraw with 5 races to go in a season will thus miss the first 5 races of the next season)

 Article 6.6: (i) Teams that join the league after the fourth round will not be eligible to finish in the top 3 of either the drivers or team championship. (ii) teams in the top 3 prior to the start of the final round will be removed from the league prior to race start.
 
Amendments and inculsion of article 6.6 of the sporting code and are effective immediately.
 
FLaTTiRE

Star Racing British GP Round Review

As most teams headed to the round in Britian this week, the information regarding RaceGate was still up in the air. But day before the GP, saw FLaTTiRE finaly close the gate on the saga that now has just been speculation from Arrows team to try an put off the front funning teams like Polar, Star and Orange. Unfortunatly this has not occured and leaves Arrows team a bit red faced still sitting in 4th on the teams championship standings.

Paddock Comments from S.Stephens and both Star Drivers

Scott Stephens, Star Racing team principal

Qualifying: “The team has worked incredibly well over the last week to achieve a result like last night. We have been chipping away at the performance, quietly bringing new updates and continuing to push, while also focusing our efforts on how we could improve our tyre management issues, and it seems to be paying off. The engineers and drivers got the cars into the perfect place for qualifying and, as the wind dropped towards the end of the session, both Hoff and Wilson were able to deliver strong performances. Hoff put in a stunning lap at the end of the session and it's great to see him and Wilson pushing each other so hard in every session. It will be more of a challenge to remain as competitive in the race but we gathered good information and hope to be able to build on that for other qualifying sessions in the future.”

Race: “It was a spectacular race, but not an easy one to manage, because the problems concerning the tyres made the job on the pit wall very complicated. In order to try and prevent any possible tyre failure we made a few changes, aimed mainly at managing the pressures and we tried to give the drivers advice on how to deal with the difficult situation. With Hof, we were a bit lucky, whereas with Wilson we were not, but we can still take satisfaction from how we read the race, because the performance of both cars improved compared to what we saw last week. In the short time we have before the next race in Germany, we will try and work methodically on all aspects that could help us improve our performance, trying to find the right compromise between qualifying and the race, because, as we saw today, the points are only given out on the finishing positions from the race.”

Nuno Wilson
Qualifying (2nd, Q3 - 1:18.869s): “A fantastic team result today and it's great to see how much progress we have made together since last round. The feeling of confidence that our car will be quick in qualifying is fantastic and I love going to a race knowing that we have a shot of a strong grid position. The team are doing a great job and we are keeping up the development so a big thank you to everyone at the factories, many of whom cant be here today watching. My lap was good and starting from the front row is great but Hof did a fantastic job today. I hope we have improved our race pace; it will be all about tyre management and keeping the others behind us. I'm confident that we can get a good result.”

Race: “That was a chaotic race, but for most of it I was in a reasonably strong position. I didn’t get the best of starts, but managed to make up for that, however I then lost a bit of time at both pit stops. Towards the end of the race, I had a very good pace but I think we might have done better with a different strategy when we changed to a two stopper. At the end we were on used tyres and those who changed for a third time were able to pass me. Eighth is a good result, but I see it as a missed opportunity to score more points, because today we were quicker than the Chicanes an Lizards so to finish behind them, particularly Williams, is a bit disappointing. I don’t know what was happening with the tyres, as I kept seeing people going off the track and there was debris everywhere. It was a little bit dangerous and we need to look into it. For my part, I just had normal degradation.”

Fabian Hofmann 
Qualifying (Pole, Q3 - 1:18.711s): “It feels incredible to be on pole, just like it did back earlier in the season. My lap in Q3 was a lap for the fans out there around the circuit. I haven't been feeling comfortable in the car all weekend, so I was really happy to find a good lap and this feels fantastic. The team has done a phenomenal job and it's a great reward for the guys here at the track but also back at base, especially as our two factories are so far away to the track. But we know that our race performance isn't quite as strong right now. Our long run pace looked ok and we were able to manage the tyres quite well. It's going to be tough to keep Polar behind but we will give it everything we've got.”

Race: “The start of the race was looking very good because we were always planning either a two or three-stop strategy and I was in 1st on lap one. It was a challenge to look after the tyres and keep them going, but the main problem for me was the other cars because the those around me chose to pit early. I stayed out and fell back on those cars, but the cars behind with fresh rubber had a big advantage and were able to overtake me quite easily in the final few laps. It’s disappointing to slip back so close to the finish, but sixth place gives us some good points so we can be happy with the result.”

Next Round: With Polar streaming ahead of the field, is anyone, any team going to step up an challange them consistantly for wins and podiums? Wednesday night we might see, with rumours speculating that Polar team manager/owner will be a now show.

Team Arrows post race comments British GP

Q: Brett tell us your thoughts on the weekend here at the British GP.

A: "Well it was a roller coaster for us....firstly qualifying - Adam did a fantastic job putting the car on 6th positon for the race start he was abit over .240 off pole and he almost beat his best qualifying positon this season. Its really hard to keep up with these faster teams but we wont go down without a fight. C Quinn on the other hand had a horrible qualifying session and we were actually shocked  he start so far down the grid our cheif engineer told me he will be looking over car data as we should have been a hell of alot faster around here.

The race itself i was delighted with right up to the point i was informed that we pushed too hard with alex's car and didnt conserve fuel and another stop was needed I put this down do the problem we had back on pit wall where we lost power a couple of times during the race and lighting was very dismal. we were running 3rd at that point in time but realistically we would not ahve been able to hold that position as the other teams consistantly running at the pointy end would have snapped us up over the course of the last lap.
C quinns race was good as could be expected it appeared that the same problem he had in qualifying cropped up in the race which we are still analaysing But tremendous effort to finsh 9th from 17th position. As the season is moving along at a rapid pace while we are improving we just dont have the experince like the other teams so running mid field is all we can do for now and making sure we finish races in the points and not through away great oppurtinities like we did today."

Q: Now that we are well into the season how do you see yourself coming out on the otherside? And how are your feelings now that the racegate saga is over?

A: "Hopefully in a better position than last season, we seem to have alot more consistancy this season in our race positions be that as it may they are not big finishes but we have some moments of brilliance. Id like to say we would love to give Orange Lizard a run for their money But i think we have our hands full with Rolling chicane, Im not sure we will be able to fend them off but that would probably become our goal for this season. Im glad racegate has concluded we got the result which was clarification so im very happy actually now we all know where we stand and we look forward to preseason testing."

Q: Optimistic about being promoted to elite this season ?

A: " Nope not at all. And to be honest we need another season in Pro we are a young team and it will give us time to grow and gather the experince needed to compete at the higher levels."

Thanks for your time Brett. Well there you have it, a rather mixed event for Team Arrows best of luck to them for the upcoming race as they will need it.  

The Chicane Speaks!


An odd thing occured just a few weeks ago when Rolling Chicance, headed by American manager Greg B arrived at Catalonia with all the proper credetials. Repeated requests to speak with the the manager and driver have been turned down by the team's PR staff. The team appeared to be very aloof after the first race when they posted a shocking 4th and 6th place finish and still refused interviews. Monaco saw them put 1 driver in the points with 9th and 11th place finishes. Was this the form they should be showing or was it botched strategy? No one knows because they still refused to talk to the media! Turkey saw Rolling Chicane lead their first lap and notch their first podium with a 3rd place/8th place finish under the dominating performance by Polar Motorsports. Was this the true capability of the team? Still they refused to speak. Finally Great Britain saw the team struggle with qualifying, but still turn a poor starting positions outside the top 10 into a 4th and 7th place finishes.

Manager Greg B
It's a long and sorted history and I really don't want to bore you with the details.... but if you insist. We have bounced between a few different series mainly trying to work it into our schedule as best we can. We had just wrapped up a slightly disappointing season in a weekday Lunchtime series. That was some tough competition. Anyway, as you may know, both my drivers are Austrailian and they mentioned to me that there was a group of Austrailians running a tough series not too far off our current schedule. Seeing as how the mid-day races were no longer a good fit for us, I took a long look at the series. Sure enough, there was Star Racing. A team we faced in an evening series before that schedule was ruined. Star was a solid team and proved to be a handful. So told the team to pack up the cars and get to Spain.

It must be the jet lag, but it felt like the race went off at 6:30AM. We were tired but luckily we went to our notes and pulled together a set up and strategy that seemed to work well for us. Starting in the top 10 and staying there was a pleasant surprise as we left in such a rush we left some of our new parts in the shop.

Then there was Monaco.... I am disgusted with Monaco. Poor start and poor finish. We just had a bad day.... I think it was the jet lag again because I swear it was 6:30AM. Looking at the results, we just had the wrong strategy. We took 1 extra stop and we figure if we had not of done that, we could have been fighting for a top 5 for at least T White. Brabs just went backwards...possibly too much fun at the casino? We are still looking into it.

Turkey, and again the 6:30AM feeling...but Brabs rebounded nicely from Monaco with a starting spot on the 2nd row. He must have realized his contract was coming due. What T White did was respectable, but we need him to do better. The team as a whole is really coming together; leading laps, podium finishes.... I think we have a real shot to finish in 4th despite missing the first 4 races.

Finally, British GP. I swear this league just feel like it goes off at 6:30AM. Guess it is good that it only runs twice a week. This was a true testament to the team we started well back on the grid but turned that around for a solid finish. It could have been better if the drivers had not used their KERS up so early in the race and were unable to defend their spots in the final laps.

How have we been received? About as well as any red-headed stepchild I suppose. I kid! They guys have been great to be around and I think we will stick around as long as they will have us, or as long as my schedule allows us to make most of the races.

The iGP Race Experience (T.i.R.E.)    
RD 10 – Hungary Hungary Hippo iGP Pro Tier
 
Pre-Race:

Fears held for Star Racings Scott Stephens grew stronger this round after a pub crawl gone wrong following the British GP. Scott disappeared shortly after RD 08 and has not been seen since. Rolling Chicane secured a season best 2nd place last round and narrowly missed out on a victory despite a might last lap effort from M Brabham. Greg B said “we had a 3rd then a 2nd now it’s time for a win”   


Qualifying:

Yet another very tight session seen the top 3 covered by less than one tenth of a second. It was however Polar Motorsports on top with a 1st & 3rd split by A Williams (Orange Lizards) in 2nd. C Quinn (Arrows) again was right there in 4th. A Guessous put in a season best effort for Hungry inc to start 5th. With most of the field on the option compound there was only < .8 covering the top 18. [url= http://igpmanager.com/play/?url=race-launch/]Full Starting Grid[/url]

Race Results:

All but 2 teams ran a standard 4 stint race on softs, as such there was no real strategy to be played and it was a straight out sprint race every stint. The return of their team manger seen Polar Motorsports and Orange Lizards back inform with a 1-2 for Polar and 4-5 for Orange.

Having just missed out last round by just .2 C Quinn finally made it back onto the podium in 3rd. This was Arrows second appearance on the podium this season and equals their previous best result in China with a 3rd & 7th. Rolling Chicane seem to have dropped a little pace this weekend with a 6th & 8th having come so close to a victory last round this was a disappointing result.    

Telos IV picked up the final championship point with T Schafer in 10th having started 17th this was superb result and only the 2nd back to back points result for the team this season. Star Racing had a weekend to forget finishing 1 lap down and really need the guidance of their team manager having just lost 2nd place in the championship they are at risk of being overtaken by Arrows for 3rd.  [url= http://igpmanager.com/play/?url=race-result/]Full Race Results[/url]
 
Post Race:

Toma Popov who replaced M Nguyen at Prawnstouche Racing following the first round in Australia has for some reason himself been replaced. In his 9 races Popov’s best 3 qualifying efforts were 3rd, 4th and 8th while his teammate M Juranowski’s best 3 efforts were 6th, 10th and 10th again. Popov has also finished ahead of his teammate in the last 7 races but somehow finds himself looking for a new seat. Given his raw talent and top physical condition Popov is sure to attract a lot of interest from other teams.
 

Standings:

NEWS FLASH ******** Adam Wiszkowski leaving Team Arrows*******

Adam Wiszkowski has annnounced he is leaving Team Arrow immediatley. Adam has signed a 1 yr deal to race with Citroen in the Rally cross championship.

Adam Wiszkowski "Comments at press conference " Im very much looking forward to this new challenge after my time in F1, Ive been thinking about this for a while and i can see now its taking a strain on not only myself but the team and effecting my performace so time to call it a day.. Vendi Vici Verci" 

Brett Wilson - "yes very sad to see him go... he will be missed he been one of the key elements in our success this season. I wish him all the best."

Some speculation around his departure had been circulating that he wasnt cutting the mustard and was slipping further down the field.. Will his replacement hit the ground running ? Will this have an impact ont he Contrustors Championship ? FIND OUT MONDAY NIGHT at SPA !!!!!!!!