The first round of the International Junior Grand Prix Championship has got underway with a bang today at Albert Park in Australia. It was with great intrigue the drivers and teams left their pit garages, with the new championship bringing questions of which of the young challengers competing will become one of the stars of the Virtual Grand Prix Championship. The first qualifying session of the year began with glorious sunshine, giving the drivers the perfect first opportunity to show their talent on the biggest junior motorsport stage, and of course prove to their teams and the GPC team bosses who may be worthy of a 2014 season seat. All 20 drivers set competitive lap times, with 1.8 seconds covering the whole field, and there was an amazing session of driving, with each driver setting lap after lap of clean driving. On pole position for the race in Melbourne is Yrjana Vahasoyrinki for Fun GP2, giving a fantastic account of himself, taking the early championship lead with 2 points. 2nd is Juan Alejandro, 3rd is Mikko Heininen, and 4th is Yohan Dubois. At the other end of the grid, a shock came in the form of early favourite Pedro Costa starting dead last, while Dino Palma and Christos Lostovolos were only just faster. To view the full qualifying results, please click the off
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TEAMS AND DRIVERSKenyon Racing 1. Yohan Dubois 2. Christos Lostvolos Volkswagen Lucas Wilson Racing 3. Juan Alejandro 4. Callum Brandon Peurteor 5. Jean DePanon 6. Frances Bouvert Scuderia Rossi 7. Lorenzo Moretti 8. Pedro Costa ART Grand Prix 9. Dino Palma 10. Kraig van Snelheid Piuttosto Veloce 11. Felipe Cesar 12. Vito Certonio Liverpool Grand Prix Junior Team 14. Michael Wilkins 15. Jamie Gerrard Fun GP2 16. Yrjana Vahasoyrinki 17. Germund Svensson Team 23 18. Henk Dekzwabber 19. Luis Pesdesbills Morley Engineering 20. Mikko Heininen 21. Christian Fischoff CALENDARRound 1: Australia, Albert Park
Round 2: China, Shanghai Round 3: Japan, Fuji Speedway Round 4: Malaysia, Sepang Round 5: Italy, Imola Round 6: Monaco, Monte Carlo Round 7: Britain: Brands Hatch Round 8: Hungary, Hungaroring Round 9: Netherlands, Zandvoort Round 10: Portugal, Estoril Round 11: Argentina, Buenos Aires Round 12: Brazil, Interlagos Round 13: Mexico, Mexico City Round 14: USA, Indianapolis Round 15: Canada, Montreal Round 16: USA, Austin Round 17: France, Pau Points System: 1st, 25 points, 2nd, 20 points, 3rd, 17 points, 4th, 15 points, 5th, 12 points, 6th, 10 points, 7th, 8 points, 8th, 6 points, 9th, 4 points, 10th, 3 points, 11th, 2 points, 12th, 1 point. Pole position: 2 points. Despite announcing earlier in the season that all drivers in relation to Meteor Motorsport would be out of a drive for next season, Kazuki Armos has now revealed he is considering re-signing Frenchman Gerard Alaniz over fears of a lack of French talent amongst drivers.
"Now in talks with the boss, hoping it goes well!" - Was the recent comment made by Franklin-F1 test driver, Enrique Ruiz, but what does it mean for next season?
As we arrive in France for the upcoming French Grand Prix, rumors have grown that Downton are close to signing a deal with someone or something Dutch - strongly believed to be an engine deal for next season with Dutch team Team 23.
With the mid-point in the season upon us, we took the time to sit down and talk to with Franklin F1 driver, Will Hoskins about how he thinks the season has gone so far, and where he expects it to go from here.
Kazuki Armos treated the entire team from racing staff to marketing to a matinee performance of Top Hat at the Aldwych Theatre today. The show starring Gavin Lee and Kristen Beth Williams is rumoured to have gone down a storm with the team and were toe tapping as they left the theatre. Armos is said to have treated the team to the trip after all their hard work this season and a strong performance in America. Kazuki Armos has admitted he is worried that he will lose out on the chance to sign racing driver Lewis Ellington. Ellington was part of disqualified squad BMW Zyla and Armos has been openly impressed by Ellington. Armos has insisted that it would be a shame to see a driver with talent go to waste but fears that he won't be able to sign him as his budget won't stretch far enough. Armos has insisted that he will wait until later in the season to see if he can afford to sign Ellington but is now looking at other talent as a back up.
Following another disappointing Qualifying performance ahead of the United States Grand Prix, Downton-Pagani team manager Bradley Downton has spoken out and called for his team to rally round.
'There's no point sugar-coating it. We aren't where we want to be at the moment. We need more, we need to improve.' With the recent news that Honda have expanded their supply of engines to two teams, team principal Jamie Franklin had his own news to share with the world, as well as discussing the implications of not being the sole supplier of the Japanese company.
The secondary series' to the Virtual Grand Prix Championship are steadily growing, with the calendars being revealed and the addition of Thruxton to the touring car schedule, and the current numbers have been revealed.
In the JGPC, there are already 5 teams from the VGPC who have lodged entries, which means the series is well on it's way to achieving the minimum grid of 14 teams for the championship. Teams who are on alert to join the championship include current GP2 and WSR teams and their drivers, while there are also F3 giants Mucke and Prema ready to step up. The ITCT has had slightly fewer entries, with 3 teams so far, but there is no shortage of big names ready to step in, coming from series such as the BTCC, DTM and V8 Supercars, as well as the WTCC. However, the EWS is in less fine health, with only a single entrant in Lucas Wilson's VW backed team. While Audi, Toyota, Porsche and Peugeot are ready to step in, it is rumoured at least 4 VGPC backed teams are needed to get the series underway in it's entiret |
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