Photo: Auto GP

Despite some notable flaws, the 2013 Auto GP season was quite thrilling as it delivered a season-long close fight for the championship. In the end, four drivers went into the finale with a shot at the title and it was Vittorio Ghirelli who emerged victorious after a breakthrough season.

2014 promised more of the same, with a number of potential championship contenders landing seats in the series. Kevin Giovesi and Tamas Pal Kiss returned after great part-time stints in 2013. Sergio Campana, who had finished that season in third, was also back. Former F2 frontrunner Markus Pommer landed a coveted Super Nova seat. Finally, despite some clashing GP2 commitments, 2013 runner-up Kimiya Sato was back as well.

All of that made for excellent intrigue, but the suspense in the title fight was short-lived. While some of the individual races were great, the champion would become obvious after just three rounds.

The champion

Having narrowly missed out in 2014, Sato made the most of his second shot at the Auto GP title (Photo: Auto GP)

Kimiya Sato started off the season by qualifying in fifth place at Marrakech, which was quite promising for those worried that last season’s runner-up came back to dominate. Unfortunately for them, it was a false dawn.

The Japanese driver won a crazy opening race to take the lead in the championship, which he maintained by finishing on the podium in the next three races.

But his biggest hit to the opposition was delivered at the Hungaroring. He seemed to have hit trouble in qualifying, caught out by a red flag to start ninth. But it took him one lap to take fourth and, eventually, he fought through to the win. Eighth on the grid for the second race, he won that one as well.

It should’ve been over after that, but a glimmer of hope for his opponents surfaced when he missed the Monza round. Yet he’d come back at Imola to take victory again. At Spielberg, he took his first pole and actually lost the lead off the line, but bounced back to win yet another feature race.

Finally, at the penultimate Nurburgring round, brake problems in qualifying forced Sato to start last. But, as he fought through and those around him picked up penalties for yellow flag infringements, he’d again be the winner. The day after that, he crowned champion.

The fact that he missed four races speaks volumes about his dominance. He was on the podium in all but two of his outings, one of which included a suspension failure when running in third.

The regulars

After losing two wins via post-race decisions in 2014, Giovesi finally got one to stick this year (Photo: Auto GP)

There might not have been much of a title fight, but those in Sato’s shadow did manage to put on a solid scrap for the runner-up spot, which seemed to change hands every weekend.

The first two rounds of the season saw qualifying locked out by Kevin Giovesi with the new Eurotech squad. He led much of the first race at Marrakech, but lost the lead to Tamas Pal Kiss and subsequently forced the Hungarian and himself into the barriers.

After nearly stalling on the grid in race one and then spinning out, Super Nova’s Markus Pommer lined up on race two pole and comfortably won his first race. Kiss and Giovesi didn’t take long as well, celebrating their first victories at Paul Ricard.

Out of the three, Kiss was the most consistent. He often finished on the podium and did not record a DNF since the opener. However, an Imola weekend full of technical difficulties was followed by the Hungarian leaving Zele Racing for Virtuosi for the three final rounds. He won two races with the British team and comfortably secured second in the standings.

Pommer was definitely the top man in qualifying, claiming four poles throughout the season, but struggled to convert that into race pace. In fairness, he also had a fair share of mechanical issues – with two pole positions undone by tyre issues (Hungaroring) and a first-lap failure (Imola).

Giovesi lost some top results to luck as well. At Monza, a pit stop issue robbed him of a podium, albeit he rebounded to win the second race. He was on track to win a third race at Spielberg, but his car’s wheel broke off, sending him into retirement.

Kiss and Pommer ended up taking centre stage in the fight for the runner-up spot (Photo: Auto GP)

When the Italian missed the finale, he ended up slipping back to fifth in the standings, overtaken by Andrea Roda. The Virtuosi driver enjoyed easily his best season in single-seaters yet, although it started with disaster when he crashed out of second on the final lap in the Marrakech opener. Still, he was classified in seventh and ended up enjoying a perfect point-scoring run. At Spielberg, when Giovesi lost his wheel, Roda picked up the pieces to get his first race win.

Michela Cerruti also enjoyed a bit of a single-seater breakthrough, quickly getting up to pace with the Super Nova team and eventually held off Giovesi at Imola to take her first Auto GP victory. She then fought her way up from the back of the grid in a retirement-heavy Spielberg race, claiming a second podium.

A word has to be said for the series’ regular journeymen Michele La Rosa and Giuseppe Cipriani, who both seemed to improve on the previous seasons and even got to stand on the podium, albeit only in the ridiculous Marrakech opener.

The part-timers

Michimi’s three-round stint culminated in a surprise win at Estoril (Photo: Auto GP)

It was a pleasant surprise to see F3 Open race winner Sam Dejonghe get a chance with Virtuosi after missing most of 2013. He had some tough luck during the first two weekends, hit by La Rosa at Marrakech and retiring due to mechanical failures at Paul Ricard. He did take a maiden podium at the Hungaroring, but lost the seat right after.

Sergio Campana was set to contest his third year in Auto GP, but crashed out in race one at Marrakech and was out with technical issues in race two. He left the series after the round, going on to race in FA1 for the rest of the year.

2011 CIK-FIA KF2 world champion Loris Spinelli got a chance to race with Eurotech. After finishing sixth in the opener, he led the Marrakech reverse-grid race early on before parking it in the barriers. Another reverse-grid chance was wasted when his gearbox failed at Paul Ricard and, after two further difficult rounds, he left the series.

Shinya Michimi was on course to take fourth on his Monza debut, but retired with a car issue. He did manage a solid points weekend at Spielberg and then won the Estoril finale due to a superb early stop strategy.

2013 champion Vittorio Ghirelli returned for three rounds and finished second twice. Meanwhile, 2012 runner-up Pal Varhaug made a one-off appearance at Imola, taking a fourth and third.

Ex-F1 driver Antonio Pizzonia and GP3’s Luis Sa Silva joined Zele for the Estoril finale and both got to stand on the podium in the reverse-grid race.

Future plans

After having spent 2014 with Campos, Sato went on to test with 2013 champions Russian Time (Photo: Dunbar / GP2 Series)

Sato’s concurrent debut season in GP2 was nothing to write home about but his Auto GP dominance should earn him another stab at the F1 support series. During the Abu Dhabi test, he ran with Russian Time for a day.

Kiss reportedly seeks the budget for an ELMS seat and apparently has offers from several teams.

Pommer might have failed to win the Auto GP series, but has the “small” consolation of a well-deserved German F3 title. He seems to be in Motopark’s good graces and could move up to FIA F3 with the Oschersleben squad.

Cerruti is currently racing in Formula E with Trulli GP, having recorded a best finish of 12th in the three races.

Giovesi retuned to GP2 for the season finale, but has not participated in the post-season testing. His compatriot Roda took part in a Porsche Carrera Cup Italy introduction test.

The post 2014 Auto GP season review appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Alexandre Guillaumot/DPPI

Carlos Sainz wrapped up the Formula Renault 3.5 title despite not scoring at the Jerez finale. The crown was sealed when Roberto Merhi was involved in a first-corner collision having needed to win to deny Sainz. Sainz struggled for pace all weekend, finishing ninth in race one before a penalty for contact dropped him to 15th, followed by 11th in race two. Merhi had an even worse weekend, ending up with a double retirement after a technical problem in his pitstop. That had come after he was denied pole by a penalty for impeding.

Will Stevens marked his first race since joining Marussia by getting on top of his qualifying woes to take his maiden pole and convert that into his second win of the year. The lack of pace returned on Sunday though, restricting him to 13th and leaving him sixth in the final points.

Stevens held off a late charge in race one from Oliver Rowland, denying the Racing Steps Foundation ace by less than a tenth of a second. Rowland inherited pole for race two after Merhi’s penalty, and went on to score a dominant second win of the year. He finished fourth in the standings, just two points behind Merhi.

Pierre Gasly took the runner-up spot away from Merhi despite his run of four straight podiums coming to an end. He would have to settle for sixth in race one after a superb defensive effort by Beitske Visser, while in race two he finished fourth as Arden team-mate Will Buller held him off for his first podium. A surprise second was Nicholas Latifi, whose decision to choose FR3.5 over F3 this weekend paid off. Sergey Sirotkin finished within half a second of the win in third place on Saturday, and fifth on Sunday, as he took P5 in the championship.

Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0: De Vries ends with maximum points, guest Russell wins

Photo: Alexandre Guillaumot/DPPI

Nyck de Vries completed his time in Formula Renault 2.0 with maximum points at the Eurocup finale at Jerez. The champion pulled off a move on his rival Dennis Olsen to win the first race and finished second in race two to end up with more than double the points of runner-up Olsen, who was excluded from second in race one for a technical infringement and was seventh in race two.

It was George Russell who beat de Vries to the win in race two after claiming a shock pole position. The 16-year-old was making his second wildcard appearance in the Eurocup, and his first race weekend with the Tech 1 team. He had earlier shown promise with fifth place in race one, and has marked himself out as one to watch next year should he join the series on a full-time basis.

Fellow Briton Jack Aitken ended the year with a flourish, inheriting second in race one after Olsen’s penalty and then taking third in race two, promoting him up to seventh in the final standings. Getting up to third was Lotus junior Alex Albon thanks to a fourth and fifth from the two races, while Andrea Pizzitola failed to score and fell to fourth. Hans Villemi scored a maiden podium after Prema team-mate Olsen’s exclusion.

FIA F3 European Championship: Verstappen, Blomqvist and Auer win final races

Photo: FIA F3 European Championship

Tom Blomqvist overhauled Max Verstappen for the runner-up spot in the FIA F3 European Championship at the final round at Hockenheim. Toro Rosso recruit Verstappen had extended his advantage in race one with his tenth win of the season – more than anyone else. However, a poor second qualifying session left him with work to do, salvaging a fifth and a sixth.

Blomqvist had finished third in race one, and then won race two from pole position. He was on pole again for race three, and third place was enough to secure him the P2 spot.

Lucas Auer was on the pace all weekend at a circuit he won at earlier in the year. He was second in race one, third in race two and then claimed his third win of the year in race three as he ended the year fourth in the standings. Antonio Fuoco held on to fifth despite a point-less weekend, including a race two crash that broke a finger and saw him skip race three. Antonio Giovinazzi took sixth after a fourth, a second and a fifth, ahead of Jordan King, who was sixth, 14th and second.

Champion Esteban Ocon had a quiet weekend as his Prema team seemingly struggled for pace, making do with a seventh, a fourth and a seventh, succumbing to Verstappen in the last race in a close side-by-side duel. The last chapter of their 2014 rivalry will come at Macau next month.

Auto GP: Kiss and Michimi win on final weekend

Photo: Auto GP

In the absence of champion Kimiya Sato, Tamas Pal Kiss took victory in the first race of the Auto GP final round at Estoril, securing him second place in the final standings. Kiss was fourth in race two, which wasn’t enough for his Virtuosi squad to overhaul Super Nova for the teams’ title.

2013 champion Vittorio Ghirelli returned for the third time this season for Super Nova, this time in place of the injured Michela Cerruti, and finished second in race one ahead of team-mate Markus Pommer. Ghirelli retired from race two, while Pommer was fifth – but the German F3 champion still did enough for P3 in the standings ahead of Andrea Roda (was was a quiet fifth and eighth in Portugal) and Kevin Giovesi, who withdrew from the event.

Sato’s compatriot and Euronova team-mate Shinya Michimi won race two ahead of debutant Luis Sa Silva and ex-Formula 1 driver Antonio Pizzonia, who returned to the series after previously appearing at the end of 2012.

French F4: Sorensen takes title, Mawson and Haxhiu also win

Photo: Auto Sport Academy

Lasse Sorensen claimed the French F4 title with a round to spare after his seventh win of the season in the third race at Jerez. The Dane, younger brother of Marco, had earlier finished second in race one and seventh in race two. His closest rival Felix Hirsiger had a best result of just ninth from the weekend, and so he was leapfrogged by Dorian Boccolacci, who was fourth and sixth in the opening races but back in 20th in race three.

After topping qualifying, Joseph Mawson returned to the first step in race one for the first time since the season opener at Le Mans. He suffered contact in race two and was then passed by Sorensen for the win in race three. The race one podium was completed by Patricio O’Ward, while Valentin Moineault took his turn on the rostrum in race three.

The reverse grid race two saw three first-time podium finishers: Gjergj Haxhiu ahead of David Droux and Niclas Nylund.

Formula Renault 1.6 NEC: De Pasquale takes title at Zandvoort finale

Photo: Dirk Bogaerts

Dominant Formula Renault 1.6 NEC ace Anton De Pasquale wrapped up the title with victory in the first race of the Zandvoort finale triple header. The Australian took his ninth and final win of the campaign in race two and finished back in seventh in a chaotic last race.

Florian Janits came through to win that final race, having finished fourth in race one and then third in race two as part of a 1-2-3-4 finish for the Lechner squad. Ferdinand Habsburg was second in races one and two to climb to fourth in the standings before ending his weekend with a ninth.

2013 champion Roy Geerts returned and finished third in race one before a non-finish and a tenth. Runner-up Ralf Aron and Boris Kolff completed the race three podium behind Janits. Early title contender Janneau Esmeijer was absent from the final round, dropping him from third to sixth behind Janits, Habsburg and Max Defourny.

Formula Masters China: Munro, Parsons and Wells win, Munro is champ

Photo: Formula Masters China Series

James Munro sealed the Formula Masters China title at the final round in Shanghai. The New Zealander won the first race, as rival Matthew Solomon failed to score due to gearbox issues.

Munro then finished fifth in race two – one spot behind Solomon – to put the title beyond doubt. He ended the season with a fourth place.

Fellow Antipodean Jake Parsons claimed the win in race two, preceded and followed by second-place finishes. Dan Wells was the victor in race three having finished in P3 in the earlier two races.

MRF: Sowery wins twice on opening weekend

Toby Sowery claimed two of the four wins on offer at the opening round of the 2015-16 MRF Challenge in Qatar. The 18-year-old – who won the MSV F3 Cup in his first season of car racing in 2014 – was dominant in qualifying and won the first race by 18 seconds in just over 30 minutes. Third in the reverse grid second race, a poor start in race three consigned him to third again before winning the fourth and final encounter.

Indian driver Tarun Reddy was sixth in race one, and won race two from reverse grid pole. He was seventh and fifth in the two Saturday races races. Compatriot Raj Bharath was only ninth and seventh in the two Friday races, but claimed a victory and a second place on the Saturday.

GP3 regular Ryan Cullen scored two podium finishes from the weekend, as did South African Kyle Mitchell. Russian karting graduate Nikita Mazepin finished second to Reddy in race two.

FA1: Melker takes title with two wins at Assen finale

The FA1 series concluded after a four month break with two races at Assen, both won by former GP2 and Formula Renault 3.5 racer Nigel Melker, who became champion. His season-long rival Mirko Bortolotti was absent, but Melker did have competition for the weekend from Dani Clos, who had been involved since its inception but not yet raced.

After Melker won the first race, Clos started the second from pole but was passed by Melker early on and the Dutchman went on to win by a staggering 38 seconds.

Sergio Campana and Richard Gonda joined Melker on the race one podium, while Clos finished back in fifth after a slow stop, behind Nathanael Berthon. Campana completed the race two podium ahead of former Superleague Formula star Craig Dolby and Berthon.

F3 Brazil: Piquet and Baptista win again at Curitiba

Photo: Duda Bairros/Vicar

F3 Brazil champions Pedro Piquet and Vitor Baptista continued their winning ways by taking a victory each at the penultimate meeting at Curitiba. Piquet won the opening race by 14 seconds over B-class champion Baptista, who scored his third outright win of the campaign in race two. Piquet retired on lap five.

Arthur Fortunato was third in race one and then second in race two, taking the main class victory in Piquet’s absence from the podium. Victor Miranda – another B-class driver – was third.

Star Driver: Oliver Rowland

Sainz may have won the title and rival Gasly claimed second place and top rookie honours, but Rowland showed what he could do in the final round of the season at Jerez. He couldn’t have come much closer to the win in race one, and may well have got it on a track where overtaking was not so difficult. In race two, he was dominant. If he returns next year, he will be a serious title contender if he can replicate his Jerez form on a consistent basis.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

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Photo: Auto GP

Japanese driver Shinya Michimi collected his first Auto GP victory in the final race of the season at Estoril.

Michele La Rosa led the first lap after starting on pole position, but was passed on lap two by series debutant Luis Sa Silva.

Michimi had fallen back from third to eighth at the start, but an early pitstop allowed him to run in clean air and post a series of fastest laps. That put himself in position to take the lead once everybody else stopped.

Sa Silva had rejoined from his stop close behind Michimi, but slipped to 3.6 seconds behind by the flag.

Antonio Pizzonia ran third early on, taking second from La Rosa on lap four but rejoining behind Michimi when he stopped, leaving him third at the end.

Race one winner Tamas Pal Kiss was close behind in fourth, which was not enough to claim the teams’ title for Virtuosi. They finished up six points adrift of Super Nova, whose lead driver Markus Pommer was some way back in fifth despite stopping even earlier than Michimi.

La Rosa wound up sixth ahead of late stopper Francesco Dracone, Andrea Roda and Salvatore De Plano. 2013 champion Vittorio Ghirelli retired after front end damage.

Race results

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Photo: Auto GP

Tamas Pal Kiss scored his third of the Auto GP season in the first race of the finale at Estoril, clinching him the runner-up spot in the championship.

The race began in confusing circumstances, with a red flag being shown on lap one after an apparent issue with the medical car. At the restart from behind the safety car, Kiss began to open up a lead over the rest of the field, headed by the returning Antonio Pizzonia.

That advantage stood at four seconds when Pizzonia made a slow pitstop that would seem him finish behind the Super Nova pairing of 2013 champion Vittorio Ghirelli and German F3 title winner Markus Pommer.

Kiss had a reduced lead over Ghirelli once he had made his pitstop, but opened that back up to four seconds before the flag.

Andrea Roda finished a lonely fifth but did briefly lead once Kiss had pitted, while Shinya Michimi recovered to sixth after having to serve a penalty for speeding in the pits.

Luis Sa Silva was seventh on his debut ahead of the lapped Michele La Rosa and Salvatore De Plano. Francesco Dracone was an early retirement after contact with Sa Silva.

Race results

The post Kiss wins first Estoril Auto GP race to secure runner-up spot appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Auto GP

Tamas Pal Kiss pipped 2013 champion Vittorio Ghirelli to top the final qualifying session of the Auto GP season at Estoril.

Ghirelli had topped the Q1 phase, which was purely a case of going through the motions given that only ten cars are taking part this weekend, meaning that – in theory – no cars should have been eliminated.

However, debutant Luis Sa Silva did stop on track after just three laps, triggering a red flag and preventing him from competing in the second session.

In that more decisive second session, practice pace-setter Kiss managed to outpace Ghirelli by 0.083 seconds.

Ghirelli is making his second appearance for Super Nova this season as a stand-in for the injured Michela Cerruti.

Antonio Pizzonia, returning to the series with Zele Racing two years after his previous appearances, was third quickest and less than a tenth slower than Ghirelli.

More than half a second off the pace in fourth was German F3 champion Markus Pommer, who now has work to do to beat Kiss to the runner-up spot in the championship. The Hungarian’s two bonus points for pole open his advantage up to 15 points.

Shinya Michimi, in Euronova’s lead car in the absence of champion Kimiya Sato, was fifth ahead of Andrea Roda. Italian enthusiasts Michele La Rosa, Francesco Dracone and Salvatore De Plano will line up next on the grid ahead of Sa Silva.

Qualifying results

The post Kiss beats Ghirelli to pole for Auto GP finale at Estoril appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Auto GP

Tamas Pal Kiss set the fastest time in practice ahead of the final round of the Auto GP season at Estoril.

In damp conditions, the Virtuosi driver was 0.7 seconds clear of second-placed German F3 champion Markus Pommer.

Pommer narrowly edged out 2013 Auto GP champion Vittorio Ghirelli, who has joined Pommer at Super Nova for this weekend after Michela Cerruti was forced out by injury.

Ex-Formula 1 racer Antonio Pizzonia was fourth on his return to the series after two years away, followed by Zele Racing team-mate and series newcomer Luis Sa Silva.

Sixth was Shinya Michimi – who is Euronova’s lead entry this weekend in the absence of champion Kimiya Sato – followed by Italian quartet Francesco Dracone, Andrea Roda, Michele La Rosa and Salvatore De Plano.

Session results

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Photo: FIA F3 European Championship

Max Verstappen enjoyed an impressive first weekend as a Red Bull Junior in the FIA F3 European Championship at the Nurbrgring. After outclassing the field in a wet qualifying session, he claimed his eighth win of the campaign in race one despite twice losing the lead on a drying track. In race two he took the lead off the start and soaked up the pressure of having four drivers behind him, until he suffered an engine failure just laps from the end. Faced with the first of three grid ten-place grid penalties in race three, he dodged first corner carnage on his way from 12th to third.

Antonio Giovinazzi showed his Spielberg form was no fluke, inheriting his second victory in the space of three races in race two of the weekend, after coming third in the first race. His race three ended in turn one contact with Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman improved on his failure to score in Spielberg, but was only sixth in race one and needed Verstappen’s misfortune to make the podium in race two. His championship lead has been cut to 77 points, but he will wrap up the title next time out in Imola if he maintains a lead of over 75.

Lucas Auer scored his first win for 23 races in the final encounter, and after a seventh and a fifth in the earlier races, is still in mathematical title contention. Closer than him is Tom Blomqvist, who after a fifth in race one, started both of Sunday’s races from pole. A poor start left him second to team-mate Giovinazzi in race two, while he was passed at a restart by Auer in race three. Though his haul could have been larger, he has closed to within 87 points of Ocon.

Antonio Fuoco stole the lead from Verstappen at the start of race one despite starting fifth, but a mistake cost him the lead and forced the Ferrari driver to settle for second. He added two fourth places in Sunday’s races. Spike Goddard also led that first race after starting on wets, but he dropped back again once the track had dried out.

Auto GP: Kiss can’t stop Sato sealing title

Photo: Auto GP

Tamas Pal Kiss twice took the chequered flag first in the penultimate round of the Auto GP season at the Nurburgring, but his efforts would not be enough to prevent Kimiya Sato from wrapping up the series title. Kiss initially appeared to have taken victory in race one after the other top drivers had all been handed drive-through penalties for setting personal best sectors under a yellow flag on lap two.

However, the Hungarian was given a similar sanction post-race, dropping him to fourth and handing the win to Sato, who had come from the back of the grid after crashing in qualifying, despite being one of those to be penalised. Kiss did manage to seal a victory for good in race two, but third for Sato and the fastest lap was enough to give the Japanese driver a 51-point lead, therefore putting him out of reach with one weekend remaining and only 49 points available. Sato has only contested six of the seven rounds so far this campaign.

Markus Pommer scored his fourth pole of the season on home soil, but would have to make do with third and second in the two races. Kevin Giovesi was second in race one and sixth in race two.

British F3: Two for Cao, one for Rao

Photo: Sarah Warwick

Martin Cao and Matt Rao continued their scrap for the British F3 title at Thruxton amidst a new-low grid of just five cars, with the Fortec duo locking out the top two positions in each race. Chinese driver Cao took his first two wins in the series the opening races, with Rao settling for second.

Rao got the better of his rival in the final race of the weekend, which was enough for him to leave Thruxton with a four-point lead in the standings with two rounds remaining.

With Sam MacLeod opting to focus on an appearance in Japanese F3 next weekend and Andy Chang switching to the European championship, Peter Li completed the podium in the first two races, while Camren Kaminsky finally grabbed his first rostrum appearance in race three. Formula Ford racer Max Marshall replaced Chang alongside Kaminsky at Double R and took a trio of fourths.

BRDC F4: Fielding is first ever triple winner

Photo: BRDC F4

Sennan Fielding claimed his maiden BRDC F4 Championship win as the series returned to Silverstone for round five, and proceeded to add two more victories as he became the first driver to ever net a treble win in the category. None of his wins came easy, with the winning margin being less than half a second on each occasion as he was forced to defend a late attack from behind. While he led the first and third races from pole, the second saw him charge from eighth on the reverse grid after gambling correctly on slicks on a drying track. He’s moved up to third in the standings, just 29 points off the lead.

George Russell retained the championship lead, despite only managing a fifth and two sixths, complaining of a mysterious handling issue at a circuit where he won twice on his debut in April. In the opening two races he came out on top of battles with chief rival Raoul Hyman, but the South African finished a close second to Fielding in race three, enabling him to close to within 11 points of Russell with three rounds remaining.

Struan Moore twice joined Fielding on the podium, following him across the line for second in race one and taking third in race three. It was Brazilian rookie Gaetano Di Mauro who pushed Fielding home in race two, while Arjun Maini and Will Palmer completed the podium in races one and two respectively, the latter coming from 20th on the grid on slicks after a race one retirement. Euroformula Open star Alex Palou showed pace on his debut for usual team-mate Sean Walkinshaw’s team, claiming a fourth and a fifth from the two main races.

Formula Masters China: Solomon gets two more wins

Photo: Formula Masters China Series

Matt Solomon closed on Formula Masters China Series leader James Munro as he added his third and fourth consecutive wins at Sepang. The Hong Kong driver beat his New Zealand rival in the wet opening race and the dry second encounter. Solomon then finished second in race three, with Munro only fourth. Munro, who began the year with six straight wins, is now 14 points ahead in the standings with two rounds remaining.

Jake Parsons impressed on his debut in the series, having previously won four from four in the AsiaCup opener at the same circuit. He claimed pole for the opening race but spun off, dropping him to fourth. He took third in race two, before overhauling Solomon to win the final race.

Dan Wells completed the podium in races one and three, but was unable to start race two due to a wishbone failure. ADAC Formel Masters regular Philip Hamprecht scored a best result of fifth on his maiden appearance.

F4 Sudamericana: Ponte picks up two wins at El Pinar

Photo: F4 Sudamericana

Experienced Argentinian driver Martin Ponte turned up to F4 Sudamericana’s return to El Pinar for round three and won both races. Points leader Bruno Baptista was third in the opening race and then second in race two, increasing his lead over fellow Brazilian Felipe Ortiz, who had to make do with a fourth and a third.

Uruguayan driver Miguel Wholer finished a close second to fellow debutant Ponte in race one, but finished sixth and last in race two, a lap down after an early incident.

Formula Renault Argentina: Mallo holds off rivals for two Resistencia wins

Manuel Mallo claimed his first two wins in Formula Renault Argentina at the Resistencia round. Starting from pole, he won the first by a narrow margin from Martin Moggia, and won the second also by less than half a second, this time in front of Guillermo Rey.

Championship leader Federico Cavagnero retired from race one, but finished third in race two to give him a 13-point lead over Mallo, who is up to second with Rey a further five back in third. Miguel Calamari and Felipe Schmauk have dropped to fourth and fifth after both failing to finish race two following top five finishes in race one.

F3 Cup: Sowery forced to settle for second at Brands Hatch

F3 Cup leader Toby Sowery had to make do with two second places at Brands Hatch behind experienced campaigner Tristan Cliffe. Car racing rookie Sowery twice took the lead off the start ahead of pole-sitter Cliffe, but lacked the same pace as the 33-year-old, who took his first two wins of the season. Lanan driver Sowery still has a 51-point lead over Cliffe in the standings, with two rounds remaining.

Star Driver: Sennan Fielding

Up to now, Fielding had been a frontrunner in BRDC F4 without being able to get a win, but he finally made that breakthrough in style at Silverstone. His speed wasn’t dominant, but he had to out-race a rival in a last-lap tussle on every occasion, managing to survive under pressure. If he can keep up something close to that form and be a consistent frontrunner, he could be a real threat in the title run-in.

Photo: BRDC F4

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Photo: Auto GP

Tamas Pal Kiss was victorious in the second Auto GP race of the series’ penultimate weekend at the Nurburgring.

The Hungarian driver assumed the lead during the second lap and comfortably kept pace throughout the remainder of the race to celebrate his second victory of the season.

Following Kiss for the bigger part of the race, Markus Pommer took second, finishing right ahead of Kimiya Sato, who completed the podium.

Having also recorded the fastest lap of the race, Sato ended up with a 50-points lead in the standings, which was enough to?officially win him the 2014 Auto GP championship.

Italian trio Andrea Roda, Michela Cerruti and Kevin Giovesi finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively as the latter was closely followed by Euronova’s Yoshitaka Kuroda.

The race was completed by gentleman drivers Michele La Rosa, Giuseppe Cipriani, Francesco Dracone and Salvatore Deplano.

Sato is the fifth champion of the Auto GP’s current era, following in the footsteps of F1 driver Romain Grosjean, Italian Kevin Ceccon, GP2 race winner Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and Vittorio Ghirelli.

Race results

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Photo: Auto GP

Kimiya Sato ended up taking his sixth victory of the Auto GP season in a feature race full of penalties during the 2014 campaign’s penultimate stop at the Nurburgring.

The race started with a three-way battle for the lead between Kevin Giovesi, Tamas Pal Kiss and polesitter Markus Pommer, while Sato, who started from last, impressively fought his way up to fourth before the first pit stops.

After most of the competitors had changed tyres, several drivers including Sato, Pommer and Giovesi were given a drive-through penalty for setting improving sector times under yellow flag conditions earlier on in the race.

With his rivals ruled out of the fight, Virtuosi’s Kiss cruised to take victory at the flag, only to be relegated to fourth post-race due to a penalty for the very same yellow flag infringement.

This, despite Sato’s penalty, allowed the Japanese racer to claim the win from last place on the grid, with Giovesi and Pommer both also moving up a spot in the classification.

As such, Sato extends his championship lead and can now realistically clinch the title in tomorrow’s reverse-grid race. He leads nearest rival Kiss by 58 points, with only 49 available in the championship’s finale at Estoril.

Francesco Dracone originally claimed fifth on the road, but wound up relegated to eighth post-race. As such, Andrea Roda and Michela Cerruti finished fifth and sixth respectively, less than three tenths apart.

Euronova’s Yoshitaka Kuroda was promoted to seventh, while Michele La Rosa rounded out the finishing order.

Race results

* – 25-second post-race penalty

The post Sato inherits Nurburgring victory amidst mass penalties appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Auto GP

Super Nova’s lead driver Markus Pommer was fastest in the rainy Auto GP qualifying at the Nurburgring.

The German driver timed his benchmark Q2 lap in perfectly, crossing the finish line as rain started to pour down the track. The times got drastically slower as the session went on, which ensured pole for the German at his home track.

A problematic qualifying for title contender Kimiya Sato saw him eliminated in Q1 – as such, he will have to start the first race from the last place. The Japanese driver suffered brake problems for the bigger part of the session and, while he was able to join?the track in the last couple of minutes, he would go off, causing a ed flag

In Q2, series?frontrunners Kevin Giovesi and Tamas Pal Kiss took second and third, separated by 0.012s. The former previously led Q1 by more than seven tenths, but had to settle for second overall.

Italian quartet Michela Cerruti, Andrea Roda, Francesco Dracone and Michele La Rosa claimed grid positions from fourth to seventh.

Japanese racer Yoshitaka Kuroda took eighth, followed by Salvatore Deplano and Giuseppe Cipriani, with the latter not completing a lap in the second part of the qualifying.

Qualifying results

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