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Adrian Fernandez on Sergio
Adrian Fernandez, a celebrated Mexican racing driver talks about Sergio Perez, after McLaren announced hiring him for the 2013 season.
File photo of Sergio taking out C31 on its first outing at Jerez in Feb, 2012. Photo by Sauber F1 team. THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHES IN http://www.fernandezracing.com/ AND WAS REPRODUCED HERE BY KIND PERMISSION.
Hello Everyone,
With today’s announcement that Sergio will join the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team in 2013 and the news that I am his manager, I can now officially say that I begin a new and exciting chapter in my career.
The past few weeks have been hectic, but I am extremely proud of this accomplishment for Sergio, for his career and for our country. This is something that began a long, long time ago with Carlos Slim and Telmex – who supported Sergio’s career for many years – and the dream was realized when he joined the Formula One ranks. I am very thankful to Carlos and Sergio for letting me be a small part of the team then, and now to be actually taking over Sergio’s management. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without the help and support of Carlos and Telmex.
It has been very enjoyable to work with McLaren, and I have to take my hat off to Martin Whitmarsh, team principal, and everyone that we worked with to make this deal possible. It took a lot of work and I was very impressed with the level of professionalism from Martin and his team and I have to thank all of them.
Sergio is an unbelievable driver and he has earned his place at McLaren. He is not bringing money to the team. He has been hired to race. His performances earned him this position and that made my job easier because people were interested in him.
We obviously owe a huge amount of thanks to Peter Sauber and his team, who gave Sergio the opportunity to compete in Formula One and show what he can do. I know that Sergio will be putting forth all his effort to finish on the highest note he can for them this year.
For me, it is hard to describe how happy I am. As many of you know, I have been a part of Sergio’s life since he was a kid and his father worked for me for many years. He calls me “uncle” and, even though we are not related by blood, it just shows how tight our relationship is. So, to see this all the way through to today’s announcement, to know how bright his future is and to be a part of it puts me in a rare occasion – at a loss for words.
I have been a successful driver and a successful team owner and now, with this, I hope I can be a successful manager and do a fantastic job for Sergio so he can really dedicate himself to racing and I can take care of the other areas which, to be honest, are the areas that I have been doing all of my life. I think it’s a good combination, and I definitely think we have a potential World Champion in our hands.
As I have said, Mexico’s future in Formula 1 is shining brightly.
Thank you for your support,
Adrián
NB: You can find the original article by Adrian here:
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Bridgepoint brings together MotoGP and World Superbikes
Paris, 2 October 2012: Bridgepoint has announced that Dorna Sports and Infront Sports & Media have reached agreement to bring both their motorcycle racing interests under a single umbrella organisation. Dorna is the organiser of the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix (“MotoGP”), whilst Infront organises the eni FIM Superbike World Championship (“WorldSBK”) through its subsidiary Infront Motor Sports.
As a consequence, MotoGP and WorldSBK, will be integrated within the Dorna Sports group but managed as separate events with a view to enhancing the two distinct championships. The objective is to allow both series to develop and enhance their championship personalities, retaining their leadership positions in the arena of world motorcycle road racing – WorldSBK, with its focus on production-based racing, and MotoGP with its focus on prototype racing. At the same time, both championships will benefit from joint marketing and commercial strategies. Alongside this re-organisation, Infront has been appointed as marketing partner and global advisor to both championships, according to a Press Release.
Philippe Blatter, President & CEO of Infront Sports & Media, said: “Under the new structure, the two leading motorcycle road racing events are now set for sustainable further growth and development. A true win-win situation has been created. Both Dorna and Infront can now further strengthen and focus on their core competencies and, in addition, achieve leading positions in their specific area of expertise.” Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna Sports, added: “We’re very excited to have the two top motorcycle road racing series under one roof. We fully expect to develop and strengthen the distinct nature of both MotoGP and WorldSBK as separate properties and remain committed to working with teams and manufacturers, circuit owners, sponsors and broadcasters to give fans the best experience yet.” Commenting on the re-organisation, Bridgepoint said: “This is a logical and exciting development which should ensure that both these fantastic Championships continue to flourish.”
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Interroll Group to paratner Sauber F1 Team
Hinwil, 1 October 2012: Interroll becomes Promotional Partner of the Sauber F1 Team. With their Swiss headquarters and global operations, both companies strive for excellence as leading players in a highly competitive landscape.The Interroll Group is one of the world’s leading specialists within the field of internal logistics.The exchange-listed company employs around 1,500 people at 29 enterprises around the globe. Among the company’s 23,000 customers worldwide are plant manufacturers, system integrators and equipment manufacturers. Interroll’s products are in daily use by international companies and brands everyone knows, like Amazon, Bosch, Coca-Cola, DHL, Procter & Gamble, Red Bull, Siemens, Walmart and Yamaha (Motorcycles), according to a Sauber F1 team Press Release.“Until recently I had not heard of Interroll, but I now understand that I have been in touch with Interroll products almost every week”, says Monisha Kaltenborn, CEO Sauber Motorsport AG. “When we travel to the races we have to pass check-in desks and security checks equipped with Interroll conveyor products at airports all over the world very frequently. It’s obvious that Interroll is a very professional organisation with a great focus on quality. We clearly share a common culture.”“Formula 1, and the Sauber F1 Team in particular, represent the highest level of commitment to professionalism, perfection and quality,” said Paul Zumbühl, CEO of the Interroll worldwide group. „Sauber F1 Team is one of the most traditional and successful private teams in the Formula One arena. Our partnership is a perfect match regarding the ambition and corporate culture we share. At Interroll we call it the Climate of Excellence which strives for top quality, reliability and speed. Speed is of the essence, because the fast will eat the slow, not the big the small.”The partnership with Sauber F1 Team offers Interroll a platform to present its offering in an exciting context where logistics is one of the most critical factors. Interroll sees tremendous opportunities in making this connection, using the strong, dynamic parallels between the Sauber F1 Team and Interroll’s global internal logistics business to highlight the company’s cutting-edge profile in the years to come.Two time-lapse videos on Youtube show the logistical challenges in Formula One:Loading of trucks for European races: http://youtu.be/IwktteJxTcAPreparation of race cars for overseas transports: http://youtu.be/wE-L2v_JvK8 -
Disappointment for Karun, JRM
Bahrain, 30 Sept 2012: Indian racing star Karun Chandhok and his JRM Racing’s increasing promise went unrewarded in today’s Six Hours of Bahrain. The #22 HPD ARX-03a driven by David Brabham, Peter Dumbreck and Karun Chandhok had qualified in P3 in the privateers’ class for today’s inaugural FIA World Endurance Championship race in the Middle East and had high hopes of a podium finish, however electrical gremlins hit just a handful of laps into the race.
Karun Chandhok had started the six hours but the car developed a problem with the chassis electronics inside the one-hour mark. Chandhok was running in a strong 4th place and was setting competitive lap times on old tyres compared his rivals. The team tried to reset all systems but could not fully regain the data needed to run the car. After 50 laps the #22 came into the pits to effect full repairs but after just one lap back on track, this time with Peter Dumbreck, it became clear that the car required more fundamental work.
The car returned to the garage for the team to conduct repairs and rejoined with one hour 10 minutes remaining, but was forced to retire shortly afterwards. Post race the problem was traced to a faulty loom section, which the team will work to fully resolving prior to the next event in Japan.
Karun Chandhok, commented, “The race started OK and I was running behind Jonny [Kane]. I was a little bit slower than him, but this was as expected as I was managing the tyres very carefully. Then in my second stint the race started to come to me – I was quicker than the other guys on used tyres and I think we could have had a good race. However very early on in the first stint I lost the power to the dash and the guys had no telemetry, which is critical for the engine and also knowing where we are on fuel consumption. We pitted quite conservatively and lost time as we were caught speeding in the pitlane – the pitlane limiter didn’t work due to the electrical problem. From then on we tried to reset but it didn’t work out. Sometimes it’s like that, unfortunately.
Nigel Stepney, team manager and chief engineer, said, “What can we say – things happen when we are going well! We are not 100% certain of why the chassis electronics failed in the first instance, but an on-track reset didn’t work and we had to pull the car into the garage to change the control systems. When that proved ineffective, we had lost too many laps to score points so we decided to fully understand the issue so we don’t have a reoccurrence in Fuji.
James Rumsey, team principal, commented, “It’s disappointing that yet again we couldn’t realise our potential, but as a young team we are learning all the time about the car and its systems. With that comes a certain amount of risk, which we saw today. We will now focus on Fuji and hope that we can finally get a weekend we deserve.
About JRM
After winning the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship with Nissan, The British-based JRM Racing will partner with Honda Performance Developments to enter the brand new FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP1 class. JRM Racing will enter a single LMP1 Honda Performance Development ARX-03a powered by a specially designed and tested 3.5-litre naturally aspirated V8 engine. The ARX-03a is currently hailed as the most competitive petrol Le Mans Prototype around.
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Sahara Force India looks to bank on good Singapore show
Suzuka, 1 October 2012: Even as the `Good Times’ appear to end for Kingfisher Airlines back home, Sahara Force India team Principal and liquor baron Vijay Mallya is basking in glory with Paul Di Resta recording his best finish ever to come home in fourth place in Singapore in the last race. Now Sahara Force India looks forward to the Japanese Grand Prix with renewed vigour and hope.To watch Paul Di Resta’s video preview of Japan, click on the following link: http://bit.ly/SHzFoCSahara Force India picked up another fourth place in Singapore – it seems the team is edging ever closer to the podium…Vijay Mallya: “As I’ve said before that little bit of luck has eluded us. Hopefully it will come to us one day, because we’ve shown the pace of the car. This is the second time we’ve finished fourth in the last three races, so we’re becoming the bridesmaid a bit too often! Paul drove fantastically well and we earned 12 points. It’s not bad to be sitting at this stage of the season with 75 points in total – we’ve come a long way.”Is catching Sauber a more realistic target now?“I still remember the situation in 2010 when Williams pipped us by one point at the last race, so I guess it’s not over until it’s over! I’m still hoping that we can do it and one strong podium finish could help to wipe out Sauber’s advantage. It all depends how strong our rivals are in the final six races, but we certainly have some momentum.”Any thoughts on Suzuka?“Historically Suzuka has never been our best track, but hopefully this time the team has something up its sleeve. I think we have been pretty consistent on most tracks this season so we are quietly confident that we can perform well this weekend. I certainly hope we can pull some rabbits out of the hat in Japan and Korea and come away with some more points.”Paul Di Resta talks about his best finish in Formula One and hopes to build on the momentum in Japan.Paul, you said your result in Singapore was your best day in Formula One – does it give you extra confidence for the rest of the year?Paul: When we qualified sixth we knew it was going to be tough to even maintain that in the race, but things worked out very well and I was able to challenge Fernando for a podium in the final stint. I think we learned a lot in Singapore about how to get the most from the car and the aim now is to try and repeat the form we showed towards the end of the race. If we can do that, the momentum will carry on.File picture of Nico Hulkenberg, who is expected to go all out after a pointless race in Singapore. Sahara Force India photo. You raced at Suzuka for the first time last year – what did you think of the track?
It’s a track that’s all about aero so it’s a real test of your car. I also found it very technical with corners like the ‘S’ curves where you need a good change of direction. Finding the sweet spot isn’t easy because half the track is made up of straights so you need efficiency as well as downforce for the high-speed corners. Tyre degradation is also high so a neutral car is what you need during the race.Do you enjoy visiting Japan?The thing that surprised me last year was the commitment and enthusiasm of the fans. Even on Thursday the grandstands were busy. So that makes it a special race and the fact that it’s a track with a lot of history. I also enjoy Japanese food, although the challenge is making sure you order the right thing!Nico on JapanNico Hulkenberg looks forward to one of his favourite races of the season.Nico, tell us about your memories of racing in Japan…My race in 2010 with Williams was not especially memorable because I was taken out before the first corner. That was a real shame because it’s a track I really enjoy and with corners like the ‘S’ curves it’s a great experience in a Formula One car.What are the main challenges of the lap?Suzuka is definitely one of my favourite circuits: it’s really challenging and technical, and you need a good car balance to hook up a good lap. Because it’s so technical it’s important to find a good rhythm because if you mess up one corner you can lose the flow of the whole lap.How are you feeling as we enter the final six races of the season?I’m feeling positive and we have generated some good momentum within the team recently so I want to keep that going. The goal is to keep getting consistent results in the points.ends -
Clean sweep by Allwyn Jebaz, Ramesh Kumar in Round 4
Irungattukottai (Chennai), 30 Sept 2012: Round 4 of the 2012 MMSC-SIDVIN FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship came to a close with 14 action packed races today and mixed results across the various Championships.
Day 2 started with the Honda One Make Championship (CBF Stunner Open) where Vivek Mani of Chennai took the win ahead of Rajesh Rathinakumar with S. Madhana Kumar of Trichy rounding out the top 3, with all three riders crossing the finish line within a second of each other. The Honda CBR 150R Open category witnessed another fine ride from Ranchi’s Sumit Lucas Toppo who took the win ahead of Rajesh Rathina Kumar from Chennai while Sudhakar crossed the line 7 seconds off in third. The CBR 250R Open category took place in tricky conditions following a short downpour but it didn’t stop M. Gautam of MotoRev India who took a strong win ahead of K. Rajini, also of MotoRev India, with Sarath Kumar of MP Ten10 Racing completing the podium.
The TVS MMSC One Make Championship kicked off today with the Apache RTR 180 Novice category where yesterday’s top two finishers battled once again with MD. Intekhab Alam from Chidambaram this time taking the win ahead of Abdul Wahab of Chennai and R. Venkatraman, also from Chennai. The Apache RTR 180 Open category saw another fine performance from Rajesh Rathina Kumar, who has been impressive in various categories through the weekend, this time taking the win ahead of Vivek Mani and S. Padmanabhan, making it an all Chennai podium.
Yamaha’s MMSC One Make Championship saw riders battle it out in the YZF R15 Open category where Allwyn Jebaz seemed to ride a different race to everyone else in Race 1, crossing the finish line almost 15 seconds ahead of Shyam Shankar and M. Sudhakar who finished in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Race 2 of the Open category was also held today but not much changed for Allwyn Jebaz who made it a clean sweep with another dominant win ahead of Vivek Pillai and Shyam Shankar, once again making it a Chennai 1-2-3. The YZF R15 Novice race saw MD Intekhab Alam from Chidambaram put in an impressive ride once again with a win ahead of Chennai’s Ramesh Kumar and Rahul Rathod of Yavatmal.
Moving away from the manufacturer’s One Make Championships now where Ramesh Kumar of MotoRev India led his teammate, Meka Vidhuraj from Andhra Pradesh across the line, ahead of Performance Racing’s P. Sandesh in the Group D 165cc Novice category. Race 20 of Round 4 saw riders in the Group D 165cc Novice category battle it out once again with no change in the result as MotoRev India’s Ramesh Kumar came out trumps once again ahead of his teammate, Meka Vidhuraj from Andhra Pradesh while Sandesh .P completed the podium in 3rd.
Riders in the Group B 165cc Open category faced tricky conditions as the rain came down handing K. Jagan of TVS Racing a unique win under shortened race conditions of only 3 laps with every other rider giving in to the conditions and not seeing the chequered flag.
The Group D 130cc Novice race witnessed an inspired ride from Jalgaon’s Kamlesh Thakur (Sparks Racing) who crossed the finish line ahead of Chennai riders, Abdul Wahab of TVS Racing and K. Kunal Kumar.
Mother nature’s sudden downpour dampened proceedings briefly and although great efforts were taken by the MMSC Officials to kickstart proceedings once again, the time delay meant a cancellation of two races, the Group A 600cc Superbikes and Group C 165cc Open category.
The final round of the INMRC, Round 5, will take place in Chennai on 21-23 December, 2012.
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Allwyn Jebaz at the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship on 2nd day of Round 4 on Sunday at Irrungattukottai, near Chennai. All photos from MMRT courtesy Suhail Chandhok, Adrenna Comm. -
Chikmagalur TSD Rally
Chikmagalur (Karnataka, India) TSD Rally 30 Sept 2012. Photo courtesy Musa Sherif -
Karun Chandhok qualifies in 6th for JRM racing
Bahrain, 29 Sept 2012: Indian racing star Karun Chandhok and his JRM Racing will start the inaugural Six Hours of Bahrain, the sixth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, from third in class and sixth on the grid. The HPD ARX 03a was driven by Karun Chandhok for the 20 minute session, with the Indian recording a best time of 1:48.784 on his third lap on track. Yet again the privateer class was fiercely fought, with Karun pipped by just 0.3secs on the last lap by Strakka Racing for second in class.
The team will now complete its final preparations for the inaugural World Endurance Championship race in the Middle East tomorrow. Six hours of racing round the 5.4km Bahrain International Circuit will kick off at 16.00 local time, with the race starting in sunshine and finishing well into the hours of darkness. JRM Racing will seek to regain ground in the privateers’ championship, in which it is currently third, only six points adrift of second-placed Strakka.
Karun Chandhok, who has enjoyed success at Silverstone in every series through the years, added, “After practice this morning we thought we were around 0.4secs from Strakka over one lap and in the end we were a little under that. We have chipped away at them all weekend, so we can be quite happy. The gap to the Rebellion is larger than we would have hoped for – it looks like they changed their car for more top speed in qualifying – but if we look at the pace and fuel consumption from Sao Paulo I am optimistic we can match them again in the race.”
Nigel Stepney, team manager and chief engineer, said, “That was a reasonable session. We aimed to have a day without incident and that’s exactly what we had, which allows us to fully focus on the race tomorrow. All three drivers took part in the final hour of practice this morning, with Karun setting up the car very well for qualifying. We’ll now look at the information we’ve gathered and combine with the data we have on tyre wear and see what we can do in the race. The challenge will be to manage the tyres; the surface is very abrasive here to compensate for the sand on track so getting the tyre wear correct – and matched with fuel consumption – will be key to a good result.”
James Rumsey, team principal, commented, “We can be quite happy with P6 on the grid and third in class today. We are close to the other privateers, which bodes very well for a close fight tomorrow. Getting everything right and putting performance, reliability and strategy together in the race is our aim so we can deliver the result we have been aiming for – and promising – since Silverstone.”
You can watch live streaming of the Race at www.fiawec.com starting 6:30PM on Saturday
About JRM
After winning the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship with Nissan, The British-based JRM Racing will partner with Honda Performance Developments to enter the brand new FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP1 class. JRM Racing will enter a single LMP1 Honda Performance Development ARX-03a powered by a specially designed and tested 3.5-litre naturally aspirated V8 engine. The ARX-03a is currently hailed as the most competitive petrol Le Mans Prototype around.
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Karun Chandhok helps his team JRM Racing qualify in sixth. Adrenna photo -
2013 F1 calendar announced
Paris, 28 Sept 2012: A meeting of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) took place today, 28 September, in Paris and the following decisions were taken.
FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
The FIA President confirmed that positive and constructive discussions continue with regard to the new Concorde Agreement and it is anticipated a contract will be signed by the end of October.
Following a fax vote by
the Technical Working Group, the 2013 Sporting and Technical Regulations were approved by the WMSC.The 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar is confirmed as follows:
17/03 AUS Grand Prix of Australia 24/03 MYS Grand Prix of Malaysia 14/04 CHN Grand Prix of China 21/04 BHR Grand Prix of Bahrain 12/05 ESP Grand Prix of Spain (Barcelona) 26/05 MCO Grand Prix of Monaco 09/06 CAN Grand Prix of Canada 16/06 USA Grand Prix of Jersey (New York) * 30/06 GBR Grand Prix of Great Britain 14/07 DEU Grand Prix of Germany 28/07 HUN Grand Prix of Hungary 25/08 BEL Grand Prix of Belgium 08/09 ITA Grand Prix of Italy 22/09 SGP Grand Prix of Singapore 06/10 KOR Grand Prix of Korea 13/10 JPN Grand Prix of Japan 27/10 IND Grand Prix of India 03/11 ARE Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 17/11 USA Grand Prix of USA (Austin) 24/11 BRA Grand Prix of Brazil * TBC
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
The WMSC approved for the FIA to proceed with an agreement with The Sportsman Media Group and Red Bull Media House to become the new global Promoter of the FIA World Rally Championship from 2013. The Promoter will be responsible for investing and developing the WRC with a view to increasing its profile, reputation and commercial value. In particular, the Promoter, working in close collaboration with the FIA, will be focused on introducing live television and an innovative digital media strategy in the next years.
As part of a cost-reduction process and to attract greater entries, WRC Teams competing in the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship will now only have to contest one non-European event. WRC Teams must however still nominate and take part in a minimum of seven events.
The structure of the support Championships has been revised to reflect the interests and demands of the competitors. From 2013, the current Championship for S2000 cars will be replaced by the WRC-2 Championship including cars with four-wheel drive (R5, R4 and S2000). A specific cup for cars in the Group N category will also form part of the FIA WRC-2 Championship, and titles for teams, drivers and co-drivers will be awarded to those who have scored the most points in six of the seven events in which they have taken part.
The current Production Car World Rally Championship will be replaced by the FIA WRC-3 Championship, including Group R cars with two-wheel drive (R3, R2 and R1). Titles for teams, drivers and co-drivers will be awarded to those who have scored the most points in five of the six events in which they have taken part.
The current FIA WRC Academy will be re-named the FIA Junior WRC Championship.
For safety reasons and therefore with immediate effect, each crew that is entered with a WRC car is permitted to use a route note car on asphalt events.
To limit costs and encourage participation, from 2013 the use of the latest evolution of parts homologated by manufacturers will not be mandatory for WRC cars entered by drivers not scoring points in the Manufacturers’ Championship. This also applies to all cars in the S2000 category with a 1.6L turbo engine.
The 2013 FIA World Rally Championship calendar is confirmed as follows:
20/01 MCO Rallye Monte Carlo 10/02 SWE Rally Sweden 10/03 MEX Rally Mexico 14/04 PRT Rallye de Portugal 05/05 ARG Rally Argentina 02/06 GRE Acropolis Rally 23/06 ITA Rally d’Italia 04/08 FIN Rally Finland TBC DEU Rallye Deutschland 15/09 AUS Rally Australia 06/10 FRA Rallye de France 27/10 ESP Rally de España 17/11 GBR Rally of Great Britain Note: The finish date given is the Sunday of the rally weekend. Itineraries are however subject to final confirmation by event organisers.
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