Formula 1 and Other Motorsport 2006

**tom_b** · 23rd January 2006, 11:55

I hope we dont lose Spa, it is a ultimate race track (after the Norschliefer or however its pronounced).

Na, Ive been to last years British GP but Im setting myself up for my next motorsport event, Wales Rally GB in December (go to http://www.walesrallygb.com www.walesrallygb.com for more details). Speaking of which, yesterday saw the conclusion of the WRC season-opener in Monte Carlo. Heres the top 8 (& their co-drivers), retirements plus the best of the Brits.

Monte Carlo results
1: Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautainen (Ford) 4h11m43.9s(A brilliant way to kick-start your debut with a new team. 1st asphalt win for Gronholm
2: Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Kronos Citroen) +1m1.8s (A mistake on Fridays final stage cost Seb a 4th consecutive Monte Carlo)
3: Toni Gardemeister/Jakke Honkkanen (Astra Peugeot) +1m23.1s (Good start to the season, shame Toni doesnt have a full season he deserved after last year)
4: Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor +1m42.3s (OMV Peugeot) (Promising start, winning the final 2 stages)
5: Stephane Sarrazin/Stephane Prevot (Subaru) +3m20.2s (Better Monte Carlo then last year)
6: Chris Atkinson/Glenn Macneall (Subaru Australia) +5m2.4s (1st points on asphalt and showing good adaptation to the surface)
7: Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Ford) +6m19.5s (Good effort but experienced problems that Ford were fearing could happen)
8: Dani Sordo/Marc Marti (Kronos Citroen) +7m15.2s (Excellent World Rally Car debut)

Best Brits
15: Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr (VK Stobart Ford) 21m1.3s (Faced with a steep learning curve, he achieved his goal of a finish)
21: David Higgins/Ross Butler (Mitsubishi Lancer) +32m47s (21st overall, yes, but 2nd in the Production Cup)

Retirements (mainly front-runners & PWRC drivers)
1: Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Subaru) (Out at the end of day 1 with oil leak, Monte Carlo has never been good for Petter)
2: Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini (Mitsubishi) (Crashed on Stage 4, rejoined but out with mechanical problems on Stage 9)
3: Francois Duval/Patrick Pivato (Skoda) (Performing well till he crashed on Stage 9)
4: Jasen Popov (Mitsubishi) (Off the road on Stage 12)
5: Henning Solberg (OMV Peugeot) (Out on final stage with mechanical problems)

Drivers Championship (Round 1/16)
1: Gronholm (10)
2: Loeb (

3: Gardemeister (6)
4: Stohl (5)
5: Sarrazin (4)
6: Atkinson (3)
7: Hirvonen (2)
8: Sordo (1)

Manufacturers Championship (Round 1/16)
1: Ford (14)
2: Citroen (11)
3: Peugeot (6)
4: Subaru (5)
5: Skoda (3)

Production Cup
1: Fumio Nutahara (10)
2: David Higgins (

3: Nasser Al Attiyah (6)
4: Stefano Marrini (5)
5: Jari Matti Latvala (4)

Next round of the WRC is 3-5 Febuary which also sees the start of the Junior WRC.

**tom_b** · 6th February 2006, 11:15

Well guys, Sweden was a good rally though Im tiring of the boring, cheesy jokes. scripted commentary :sad: Save that for the DVDs. Anyway another win for Gronholm & Rautainen, a 3rd world title on the cards perhaps? Mitsubishi shouldve had a works team this year after the pace of the Lancer in Sweden. Heres the top 8, standings and JWRC standings plus best of British.

Sweden results
1: Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautainen (Ford) 3h9m1.9s (Had hydraulics problems on final morning, but top job by Ford and Marcus. Happy 38th, Marcus)
2: Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Kronos Citroen) +30.9s (Kept Gronholm on his toes despite finishing half a minute back)
3: Daniel Carlsson/Bo Holmstrand (Mitsubishi) +2m56.8s (Fought with Galli for that last podium spot. Eclipses career of 6th from 12 months before here)
4: Gigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini (Mitsubishi) +3m3.8s (Lost 3rd gear on final stage ending hope of a possible podium. Shame but still its a career best)
5: Thomas Radstrom/Jorgen Skallman (Olsbergs Subaru) +5m53.3s (Scores well on 1st outing since the 2002 Rally GB)
6: Kosti Katajamaki/Timo Alanne (VK Stobart Ford) +7m34.8s (A brilliant drive from Gronholms protege, Kostis finish bags 6 manufacturers points for VK Stobart Ford)
7: Xavier Pons/Carlos del Barrio (Kronos Citroen) +8m35.6s (Xavier eclipses his best Sweden finish of 38th overall last year)
8: Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud (OMV Peugeot) +9m1.5s (Made it to the finish despite rolling and breaking his windows on day 2 and a puncture on day 3)

Best Brits
14: Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr (VK Stobart Ford) +14m40.4s (Lost 3 minutes on day 2 after getting stuck in a snow bank but fights back to clinch another manufacturers point for VK Stobart Ford)
38: Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Suzuki Swift) +52m17.6s (Driveshaft problems on day 2 results in 9th place in the JWRC and no points)

Retirements (front-runners)
1: Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Subaru) (Excluded after start violation on Stage 18. Another unlucky rally for Petter)
2: Kristian Sohlberg/Kaj Lindstrom (Red Devil Subaru) (Engine problems on final stage of day 2 force Kristian into retirement)
3: Mattias Ekstrom/Stefan Bergman (Red Bull Skoda) (Crashed after a jump on stage 13. But with a brilliant performance in the rally, he should be in the WRC and not wasting his time in the German tin-tops with Audi)
4: Andreas Aigner/Timo Gottschalk (Red Bull Skoda) (Suffered a similar incident to his team-mate on stage 16)

Drivers Championship (Round 2/16)
1: Gronholm (20)
2: Loeb (16)
3=: Carlsson & Gardemeister (6)
5=: Galli & Stohl (5)
7=: Radstrom & Sarrazin (4)
9=: Atkinson & Katajamaki (3)
11=: Hirvonen & Pons (2)
13=: H. Solberg & Sordo (1)

Manufacturers Championship (Round 2/16)
1: BP Ford (26)
2: Kronos Citroen (24)
3: OMV Peugeot (10)
4: Subaru (

5: VK Stobart Ford (7)
6: Red Bull Skoda (3)

JWRC Standings (Round 1/9)
1: PG Andersson (10)
2: Patrik Sandell (

3: Urmo Aava (6)
4: Pavel Valousek (5)
5: Kalle Pinomaki (4)
6: Jozef Beres (3)
7: Peter Zachrisson (2)
8: Michal Kosciuszko (1)

Next month brings the 3rd round of the WRC & the 2nd round of the Production Cup from Mexico. Can Petter Solberg start his comeback here? I hope so. What does everyone think of the WRC coverage? Because Im already fed up of the scripted commentary by anonymous commentators who cover WRC footage on the DVD reviews, Eurosport and Men & Motors. Bring back Jon Desborough & Robbie Head, thats what I say. Anyone else have any thoughts about the WRC footage?

**jamesb** · 6th February 2006, 12:16

cosworth with 1000 rpm and 50bhp more than anyone else in F1?
surely not!

(info, not always 100% acurate, filters down to me now and again)

**tom_b** · 6th February 2006, 13:43

Yup, i cant bereave it either

Itll be interesting to see how Williams-Cosworth will do this year

**jamesb** · 6th February 2006, 14:25

i do not, in any way want to say anything that may offend our oriental friends but.....
you dont bereave it

lol

**tom_b** · 8th February 2006, 07:56

An Al Murray expression.

Im off on holiday to Tenerife tomorrow, so see you, guys.

**tom_b** · 25th February 2006, 00:04

Im back & there has been so much happening.

The new Super Aguri team ran their new car and drivers Takuma Sato and Yuji Ide at Barcelona. However their best time was 3 seconds off the next slowest car, this team may, dare I say it, be the first to dissolve in their 1st season since Lolas efforts in 1997.

Also the 2006 GP2 driver line-ups are in.

GP2 Driver Line-up
ART: Alex Premat (F) & Lewis Hamilton (GBR)
Arden: Nicolas Lapierre (F) & Michael Ammermueller (DEU)
Super Nova: Fairuz Fauzy (MAL) & Jose Maria Lopez (ARG)
iSport: Ernesto Viso (VEN) & Tristan Gommendy (FRA)
Racing Engineering: Javier Villa (ESP) & Adam Carroll (GBR)
Piquet Sports: Nelson Piquet Jnr (BRA) & Alexandre Negrao (BRA)
DAMS: Ferdinando Monfardini (ITA) & Franck Perera (FRA)
Fisichella Motorsport: Luca Filippi (ITA) & Jason Tahinci (TUR)
BCN: Hiro Yoshimoto (J) & Timo Glock (DEU)
David Price: Olivier Pla (F) & Clivio Piccione (MC)
Durango: Lucas di Grassi (BRA) & Sergio Hernandez (ESP)
Campos Racing: Felix Porteiro (ESP) & Adrian Valles (ESP)
Trident Racing: Gianmaria Bruni (ITA) & Andreas Zuber (AUT)

(Message edited by Tom B on February 25, 2006)

(Message edited by Tom B on February 25, 2006)

**jamesb** · 25th February 2006, 15:19

if you have a look at the latest issue of F1 racing you will see a table of relative engine performance.

based on the info that the expected performance of the new v8s was: -

700 bhp @ 19,000rpm max

it is interesting to see this well informed magazine say that cosworth have:-

745bhp @19,800 rpm max

so i was 5bhp and 200 rpm out then? lol

for the record, ferrari have approx 730bhp @ 19,200 so standards are higher than expected, except for mercedes with a rather disapointing 710bhp @ 18,200rpm.

dont expect this to last though, current info comming to me says cosworth is looking at a tiny development budget, so will be overtaken by ferrari/toyota etc, before the races come back to europe.

McLaren to start the season with its old V10???

**tom_b** · 25th February 2006, 17:10

Aw, shame but what can you do? The ITV F1 preview show is on Sunday March 4th at 12:40pm. This is what will be seen in the show.

1: Presented at Bahrain by Martin Brundle, Ted Kravitz, Louise Goodman & ITVs new recruit, Steve Ryder.
2: A look at the new rules and regulations.
3: Martin Brundle shows us the quickest way round the season opener at Sakhir, Bahrain.
4: An assessment on the runners and riders for the season.
5: Exclusive interview with Jenson Button with his thoughts on the season ahead.

The time again, thats on Sunday March 4th at 12:40pm.