Photos: TGR Media Service

Super Formula’s long wait to return to action during the coronavirus pandemic came at Twin Ring Motegi last weekend, and the series didn’t feel the same as before. Ida Wood runs through five major talking points

For a series that to some is a holding ground between Formula 2 and Formula 1, to others the pinnacle of motorsport in the ‘Eastern’ world and a fiercely competitive playground for two of the world’s biggest automobile manufacturers, and for many a half-noticed single-seater series populated by drivers they’ve never heard of, it wasn’t encouraging for anybody watching that the long-awaited first Super Formula race of 2020 ended up being a lengthy sprint race very light on overtaking.

The four Toyota-powered drivers that ran at the front from start to finish, after fourth-place qualifier Toshiki Oyu’s Honda-powered car suffered damage on the opening lap that sent him back to pitlane, all set their fastest laps within the opening eight laps of the drastically shortened 35-lap encounter. They stretched out a considerable lead as a train of cars formed behind Yuhi Sekiguchi in fifth, then they mostly just ran in formation for the remainder of the race.

All but one of the next six cars to finish, the omission being Oyu’s Nakajima Racing team-mate Tadasuke Makino who had worse tyre wear than those around him late on, set their fastest in the final three laps of the race when fuel loads were light and the track was at its grippiest.

They had all been bottled up by behind Team Impul’s Sekiguchi for the first 20 laps, and had depended on Dandelion Racing’s Nirei Fukuzumi on breaking the deadlock to up the pace. So difficult is overtaking at Motegi, despite four hairpins and another tight corner preceded by a long straight, that even Fukuzumi could only manage it after striking the rear of Sekiguchi’s car and ultimately send him on a race-ending trip to the gravel. The reality is though, that’s not new for Motegi.

But what made this year’s race so boring was its shorter distance from 51 laps down to 35, so the organising Japan Race Promotion (JRP) company could fit in the third free practice session and qualifying into the same day as the race to run a shorter weekend schedule.

The compulsory use of two tyre compounds was dropped as a regulation too (in fact the medium tyre was dropped entirely) meaning less pit crew are needed and ultimately a reduction in risk in the spread of COVID-19 by having less personnel in the circuit facility. That means no more tyre changers jumping over car noses, even for unscheduled stops.

And the loss of the strategy element – which admittedly sometimes played out in 2019 anyway as a trip to pitlane for fuel and tyres being only a first or last lap consideration for drivers happy to manage what they had for the duration – realised the current grid’s fears of a total procession in aero-heavy cars that are F1’s closest rival in downforce figures.

SF double-headers, such as the trip to Suzuka this year on December 5/6, do tend to run to the shorter format where races are fitted into an hour. But a SF race running on its own is usually nearer 85 minutes and 250km long. The current plan is for the five other tracks on the calendar to follow Motegi’s race format, but it could change.

JRP is not averse to modifying the rulebook between races, although changes do obviously feel more seismic in a series with so few rounds than when the FIA makes regulation tweaks between every few grands prix in a 21-event strong F1 season.

Having lengthy races run on one set of tyres therefore put a huge onus on qualifying, although winner Ryo Hirakawa was the only driver who finished in the same position he started from, which leads into the second major talking point.

Photo: Toshiki Oyu

After the first race of 2019 at Japanese Grand Prix venue Suzuka – a circuit which requires a lot of bravery, downforce and set-up knowledge to be fast on – a great amount of intrigue surrounded usual struggler Nakajima Racing after it qualified a convincing one-two with its all-rookie line-up of F2 graduate Tadasuke Makino and Alex Palou, and then looked set for victory with either of the two before both of its new Dallara SF19 cars suffered from freak wheel failures.

The pair were convincingly quickest on qualifying and race pace, which was a surprise to everyone. But that form continued, with Palou claiming three poles in the next six races and Makino a few more appearances in the final segment of qualifying.

Palou’s new IndyCar career means Oyu was brought in this year as his replacement, and he showed that once again Nakajima Racing is best over one lap. The debuting Oyu may have actually qualified in fourth, but he was the only Honda-powered car to make it into Q3 – at what is basically Honda’s home circuit given its racing department’s use of the circuit for development and the fact that Honda actually built the circuit in the late 1990s to attract IndyCar to Japan.

In the first free practice session Oyu was 0.004s short of being top Honda driver, he topped FP2 and scraped through qualifying’s second stage as the Toyota-powered drivers upped the wick. Fastest laps in the race came down to who had clean air, which Oyu had in abundance once the damage he picked up on the opening lap was fixed.

His first lap at race pace once he returned to track stood as the fastest lap of anyone until KCMG’s Toyota-powered Kamui Kobayashi pitted due to a puncture and used fresh rubber to beat him by 0.101s. The next two drivers who had the clean air advantage were also Honda’s, but half-a-second adrift.

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

The driver with the third fastest time was fellow debutant Ukyo Sasahara, standing in for Red Bull junior Juri Vips at Team Mugen for a one-off appearance. While his pitstop was a strategic decision to counter expected tyre wear on his first weekend driving a SF car, he then charged up to 11th, and was second best Honda driver in qualifying in 13th place.

While understeer held him back in qualifying, it was oversteer that unsettled him in the race, especially in braking zones.

“In terms of performance I think that we did the maximum this weekend,” said Sasahara. “We struggled with some things set-up-wise through the weekend. That is why my team-mate was out in Q1, I managed to get through to Q2 so I think I showed a bit the performance I’ve got.

“In the race I made a good start, up to around ninth or 10th before Turn 1. Unfortunately I got pushed out right to the outside and dropped almost to last. We made a plan before the race that our strategy would be to stop maybe once for tyres. I dropped at the start so we decided that there was nothing to lose so we would stop on lap 10 or 11.

“Actually it worked very well and I got clean air and was 1.5 to two seconds quicker than anybody else and I gained a lot of places up to P11.

“Mixed feelings but I think that if I do get the chance for the next few rounds I can do very well, definitely.”

While it would be even crueler to Vips if he doesn’t get his SF chance due to Sasahara’s adaptability, after a year of torrid luck for the Estonian that continued on his F2 debut last weekend, it is clear that 2019 Asian F3 champion Sasahara deserves to stay in the series and there is no guarantee that Vips will be able to get to Japan in time for round two in September.

The class of the rookie field when it came to finishing position was Kondo Racing’s Sacha Fenestraz. The reigning Super Formula Lights champion qualified a superb second and then finished third after his team-mate Kenta Yamashita at the start, and both were quick to seek hydration once the race ended – which actually interrupted the usual post-race procedures.

While track temperatures were beyond 45°C, which made thermal degradation of the Yokohama tyres an issue after just a few laps, it was the air temperatures which were more painful for the drivers as they surpassed a verifiable 34°C. B-MAX Racing with Motopark’s Teppei Natori – another stand-in driver – didn’t even start the race due to dehydration worries as he was on double duty racing in Super Formula Lights with Toda Racing in the breaks between SF sessions.

“Physically I didn’t struggle, but it was [mentally] mainly with the hotness,” Fenestraz told Formula Scout.

“I think I’ve never suffered that much on a race. It was just so hot in the car. I think I lost over a kilo, at one point two kilos in the race without rehydrating a bit. It was difficult.

“It was my longest race in a formula car for sure. Can’t wait for when the real long races are going to come, hopefully next season. I think that’s going to be a bit more difficult. And everyone said that Motegi is generally one of the hottest races as well, because of where the track is based.”

In the post-race press conference, Fenestraz said that within a few laps he was wondering when the race would end due to the heat, and that he needed to work on being physically more ready for such conditions in future races.

Despite the shorter races, SF is as physically tough on drivers as ever, and the Japanese weather is one of the unique features of the series that has not been lost for 2020.

The other major difficulty was tyre management, with the spec soft compound tyre needing to be cared for from very early on. But the loss of the medium compound pleased Fenestraz.

“For us [Kondo] I think it’s better. Last year, the team really struggled with the medium tyres. I think quite a few teams were struggling with that. And some other ones were particularly strong on those tyres. So for everyone it’s the same situation now.

“But when I was speaking with Hirakawa, he was saying that he thinks the tyre has changed a bit compared to 2019 because there was much more deg than last year’s tyres. Maybe there’s been some changes on the tyre, but it was hard. I was really trying to manage it, I knew I had Kazuki Nakajima behind and of course he’s an incredible driver.

“I was trying to manage myself compared to him in terms of laptime and so on, because I knew he had more experience than me on how to manage those tyres. And I think I did a pretty good job, as I had a bit more [than him] left as well in the last two or three laps.”

Further comments across the grid suggested having only one tyre compound of tyre was hugely challenging, and it probably would have made the race more entertaining had the structural degradation been to a point where a pitstop was a strategic option for more than just those at the back, and if the extreme thermal degradation hadn’t been so easily manageable for a grid mostly made up of professional drivers.

There’s one month until round two at Okayama. Will the rules have changed, and will the competitive order have changed too?

The post Five things we learned from the Super Formula season opener appeared first on Formula Scout.

The 32-year-old, who has won six SF races since debuting in the series in 2016, was narrowly faster than INGING’s Hiroaki Ishiura in the two-hour session and set his best time at the very end of the test.

Behind the Toyota-powered pair was Dandelion Racing’s Naoki Yamamoto, with the top three covered by just 0.075 seconds.

Yamamoto’s team-mate Nirei Fukuzumi had gone to the top of the times with a few minutes to go, but with many going for late improvements he was shuffled down to fifth, 0.186s behind Sekiguchi.

Tomoki Nojiri slipped between the two Dandelion drivers in fourth place for Team Mugen, and had a 1.375s advantage over his debuting team-mate Ukyo Sasahara who is standing in for Red Bull junior Juri Vips.

Kazuki Nakajima beat reigning champion TOM’S team-mate Nick Cassidy and was sixth fastest, with Cassidy in ninth place and just under half a second slower than Sekiguchi.

The rookies mainly had a difficult session, with Nakajima Racing’s Toshiki Oyu causing a red flag but running within a second of the pace in 13th, while Sacha Fenestraz (Kondo Racing), Tatiana Calderon (ThreeBond Racing with Drago Corse) and Teppei Natori (B-MAX Racing with Motopark) were the three slowest drivers in the session despite setting the most laps.

It was Honda junior Natori’s first ever running in the Dallara SF-19 car, having been signed up at the last minute to replace Red Bull’s Formula 1 reserve driver Sergio Sette Camara due to the Brazilian being unable to make it to Japan.

Test results

The post Yuhi Sekiguchi fastest in test for Super Formula season opener appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Macau Grand Prix

Alex Palou will contest the Macau Grand Prix for B-Max Racing together with Super Formula ace Yuhi Sekiguchi.

Palou raced in the Formula 3 European Championship this year for Hitech GP, finishing seventh in the standings after taking seven podium finishes. He is not part of the British team’s Macau line-up however, with regular Enaam Ahmed instead joined by Jake Hughes and Charles Leong.

Spaniard Palou will switch to Volkswagen-powered B-Max after racing against the team through 2017, when he came third in Japanese F3 with the ThreeBond Tomei engine project.

This will be Palou’s third Macau appearance, after making his debut with Fortec Motorsports in 2014.

Sekiguchi, 30, will be making his sixth Macau Grand Prix start.

He finished fourth with Mucke Motorsport in 2011, the year he won the Japanese F3 title with B-Max. After returning with Mucke two years later, he then appeared for B-Max in 2015 and 2017.

Sekiguchi has finished in the top four in the Super Formula standings every year since joining the series in 2016.

B-Max has added a third car to bring the grid up to a capacity 28, with its final entry to be driven by team principal Ryuji ‘Dragon’ Kumita, who made his debut in 2017 but failed to race after injuring his hand in a qualifying crash.

Entry List

The post Palou and Sekiguchi to race for B-Max in Macau Grand Prix appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FIA F3 European Championship

European Formula 3 champion Felix Rosenqvist topped Thursday’s opening qualifying session at the Macau Grand Prix, responding to a challenge from an impressive Callum Ilott.

Last year’s winner Rosenqvist was the first driver to get a time on the board and led the session from there.

After spending the middle part of the session in the pits, the Swede returned to the track to increase the margin between himself and rival Antonio Giovinazzi to a quarter of a second.

After crashing in practice, car racing rookie Ilott was showing well throughout the session and then, after going quickest of all in the middle sector, moved up to second quickest in the final minute.

He was just 0.084 seconds off Rosenqvist, but the veteran replied by pulling out a gap of eight tenths on his final lap.

Giovinazzi took third after pitting before the end, while Sam MacLeod claimed a surprise fourth at the finish for West-Tec.

2011 winner Dani Juncadella recovered from difficulties in practice to take fifth for Fortec ahead of Motopark’s Markus Pommer, who ran as high as third.

After all four Japanese entries made the top 10 in practice, experienced B-Max campaigner Yuhi Sekiguchi was the sole representative this time after taking seventh on his last lap.

That put him ahead of Mikkel Jensen, who sat third during the middle of the session for Mucke Motorsport.

Gustavo Menezes and Alexander Sims made the top 10 before the end, forcing Charles Leclerc to settle for 11th.

Behind Yu Kanamaru was Lance Stroll, with the other Prema driver Jake Dennis 16th after his puncture-induced practice crash.

He was behind European series team-mates Arjun Maini and Alessio Lorandi, who both had spells inside the top 10, as did fellow rookie Dorian Boccolacci in 17th.

The TOM’s pairing of Kenta Yamashita and Nick Cassidy wound up 18th and 20th, either side of Mucke’s Santino Ferrucci.

It was a remarkably clean session, with the only incident of note being Sergio Sette Camara coming to a halt at Donna Maria late on.

The drivers will have a second chance to qualify on Friday, with the best times from the two sessions counting towards the grid for the qualification race.

First qualifying times

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Photo: FIA F3 European Championship

European Formula 3 runner-up Antonio Giovinazzi set the early pace in a first practice session for the Macau Grand Prix interrupted by crashes for British first-timers Jake Dennis and Callum Ilott.

Prema driver Dennis was the first to cause a red flag when he crashed in the Esses early in his maiden running on the circuit.

Red Bull Junior Ilott later crashed further along the track to cause the second stoppage, and the session restarted with only a few minutes left on the clock.

Ilott’s Carlin team-mate Giovinazzi was by then at the top of the times, heading the session with a best lap of 2m13.829s.

His season-long rival and 2014 Macau winner Felix Rosenqvist took second for Prema, 0.754 seconds adrift.

Motopark’s Markus Pommer was third ahead of a trio of Japanese racers; TOM’s racer Kenta Yamashita, B-Max veteran Yuhi Sekiguchi and late Carlin call-up Yu Kanamaru.

The other TOM’s and B-Max entries of Nick Cassidy and Mitsunori Takaboshi respectively also made the top nine, sandwiching lead rookie Lance Stroll, while Alex Albon completed the top 10 for Signature.

Charles Leclerc was 13th, one spot ahead of Alexander Sims. Ilott finished up 19th, Dennis was 23rd and 2011 winner Daniel Juncadella was 27th of the 28 drivers, 12.892 seconds off the pace.

The post Giovinazzi sets early Macau pace as British pair trigger red flags appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: GCS

Macau Grand Prix organisers have released a 28-car entry list for the 2015 running of the race, headed by last year’s winner and new European champion Felix Rosenqvist.

Rosenqvist will make his sixth consecutive appearance at the race as part of a three-car line-up for Prema Powerteam, which again runs in association with long-time Macau entrant Theodore Racing.

Joining him will be his full-season team-mates Jake Dennis and Lance Stroll, currently fourth and fifth respectively in the European series and both making their Macau debuts.

Nick Cassidy, who has been a part of Prema’s F3 line-up for the past couple of European events and finished third on his Macau debut last year, will line up with his Japanese series squad TOM’S.

Cassidy goes into next weekend’s Japanese title decider tied on points with his TOM’S team-mate Kenta Yamashita, who finished ninth in Macau last year.

Carlin take four of its six regular drivers, with Rosenqvist’s championship rival Antonio Giovinazzi under the Jagonya Ayam banner alongside Gustavo Menezes and British teenagers George Russell and Callum Ilott also entered with the squad.

Another of this year’s title contenders Charles Leclerc will be present with Van Amersfoort Racing alongside Alessio Lorandi, with two more rookies at Signature in Alex Albon and Dorian Boccolacci.

German squads Motopark and Mucke Motorsport will also enter two cars each, with the former?taking its leading duo of Markus Pommer and Sergio Sette Camara?while Mikkel Jensen and Santino Ferrucci (eighth last year) lining up for the latter.

Pietro Fittipaldi leads a three-car Fortec entry, together with Macau native Chang Wing Chung and the last British F3 champion Hongwei Cao, who have shared a car in the European series this year.

A number of drivers who normally race as part of the series’ bigger and more prominent teams will switch to others for Macau.

Arjun Maini moves from Van Amersfoort to be T-Sport’s sole entry – the Indian youngster’s mentor Karun Chandhok spent three years racing for Russell Eacott’s team.

Ryan Tveter and Sam MacLeod (joint 22nd in the European standings) will line-up for West-Tec rather than with Carlin and Motopark respectively, while Fortec regular Li Zhi Cong switches to Jo Zeller Racing (which has run Ferrucci’s Mucke car this year).

Veteran Alexander Sims will join Rosenqvist in making it to a half-dozen Macau appearances (his best being fourth for T-Sport in 2013) by joining Double R Racing, who ran big-name Roberto Merhi to fourth last year.

Sims, who did a solitary F3 round last month at Portimao with the new Hitech GP entry, joins Double R regular Matt Solomon.

Joining Toyota-backed TOM’s as a Japanese entry is the Nissan-supported B-Max Racing squad, which will field title outsider Mitsunori Takaboshi for his second Macau GP and 27-year-old Yuhi Sekiguchi, who won the 2011 Japanese title for the team and finished fourth at Macau that year for Mucke.

The post Entry list for 2015 Macau Grand Prix revealed appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Japanese F3

Honda Formula Dream Project racer Nirei Fukuzumi dominated Japanese F3’s second visit to Motegi of 2015, recording his first and his second wins of the season.

Fukuzumi led every lap of the way in both races, neither of which saw any changes in the points-scoring top six after the opening lap.

In race one, he led Nick Cassidy off front row and pulled away at a rapid pace, finishing a full eight seconds ahead of the Kiwi.

Cassidy’s teammate and title rival Kenta Yamashita was third, withstanding pressure from Mitsunori Takaboshi, while Yuhi Sekiguchi and Keishi Ishikawa completed the top six.

Yamashita was Fukuzumi’s main rival in race two and stayed within two seconds for the entire distance, but couldn’t defeat the Honda driver.

Takaboshi picked up the final podium spot, with Ishikawa fourth and Cassidy just fifth, down on pace. A first-lap collision between Sekiguchi and Lucas Ordonez allowed Tsubasa Takahashi to take the final point.

TOM’S pairing Cassidy and Yamashita are now level on points heading into the Sugo showdown, the Japanese driver ahead on countback of third-place finishes. Takaboshi, 15 points down, retains mathematical chances.

Both races in the National class went to 2015 champion Ryo Ogawa.

The post Fukuzumi upstages Japanese F3 title fight with Motegi double appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: GCS

This weekend sees the curtain come down on the junior single-seater calendar with the biggest single event of the year, the Macau Grand Prix. The race isn’t the barometer for future F1 success that many make it out to be (none of the current F1 grid won there), but it still provides an opportunity to watch a number of the most promising young drivers around attacking one of the most challenging circuits in the world. Here’s our guide to the class of 2013.

Last year’s winner Antonio Felix da Costa heads the entry list in difficult circumstances, taking the Carlin seat vacated by Daniil Kvyat who will be at the United States Grand Prix after getting the nod for the 2014 Toro Rosso seat over the Portuguese driver. He obviously has to start amongst the favourites, but he appears to thrive on confidence and his mind set could be crucial. In theory he will be fired up and keen to impress, but time will tell.

Felix Rosenqvist was the man who got closest to Felix da Costa in last year’s race. His second place last year came at end of a slightly lacklustre campaign in Europe but this year he’s been superb, and dominant on more than one occasion. This will be the Swede’s fourth start at Macau – his third with the Mucke team.

The man who beat Rosenqvist to the European title has to be considered a contender by default. Raffaele Marciello had a fairly quiet run to eighth last year on his Macau debut but he and Prema Powerteam have been the package to beat in Europe and the Ferrari protege will be aiming for nothing other than the win this time around in his final F3 race.

Marciello’s team-mate Alex Lynn took a surprise pole position on his Macau debut last year with Fortec. His form has been a little on and off this year with Prema but he finished the campaign strongly and if he’s as good around Macau as he was last year he’ll be a contender. Joining Lynn under the famous Theodore Racing banner at Prema is Lucas Auer, who had a tough Macau debut with Van Amersfoort last year but has matched Lynn for most of this year. Esteban Ocon makes his top-line F3 debut in Prema’s fourth car having impressed while testing. If he appears in the top ten the Formula Renault 2.0 graduate will be doing very well.

Lynn is in a position to improve on his third place last year (Photo: FIA F3)

Felix da Costa is part of a six-car team at Carlin. Fellow Red Bull Junior Carlos Sainz returns to F3 after a year away and will want to turn his talent into a headline result on what will be his third Macau F3 start. Harry Tincknell had a solid run to fifth in the European Championship this year and was ninth on his Macau debut last year with Fortec, and his ability to stay out of trouble could put him in contention for a podium.

Jazeman Jaafar is another returnee, starting his fourth Macau and returning to Carlin after a tough time with TOM’S last year. A podium on the streets of Monaco was the standout result of a difficult Formula Renault 3.5 campaign, while he won twice on his F3 qualifier at Brands Hatch. First-timers Jordan King and Nicholas Latifi complete the Carlin line-up – the former after an impressive rookie campaign that saw him take the British crown and finish sixth in Europe, while the latter bagged a couple of top fives in the European Championship.

Mucke have had a difficult time this year with their non-Rosenqvist cars, and only bring two to Macau to be filled by non-regulars. Japan’s Yuhi Sekiguchi was a superb fourth for the team in 2011 after winning the Japanese F3 title, but was a quieter 18th when he did the Masters at Zandvoort earlier this year. Dennis van de Laar moves across from Van Amersfoort, having suffered a last lap collision last year.

Fortec have struggled to keep their F3 line-up intact this year but found five drivers to take to Macau, led by the only ever-present driver in their 2013 campaign, Pipo Derani. The Brazilian finished an impressive sixth last year and has followed that up with a decent season, coming on particularly strong towards the end of the year and should be a top ten contender again this time. Will Buller had a disappointing start to the year with T-Sport and missed out on the British title after switching to Fortec, but did do well after joining the FR3.5 grid. Winner of the Formula BMW support race in Macau in 2009, he’s scored a best result of sixth in his three F3 starts since then, in 2011 with Fortec.

John Bryant-Meisner joined the team for the final two European weekends and did a promising job as he looks to step up full-time from German F3 next year. Fellow Swede (sort of) Tom Blomqvist has had a tough run to seventh in the European Championship as a sole entry with EuroInternational but will hope for a boost after returning to the team with which he won the Formula Renault UK title in 2010. Newly-crowned F3 Open champion Ed Jones completes Fortec’s quintet having driven for the team in Eurocup Formula Renault and contested the FIA F3 round at Hockenheim

Derani leads Fortec’s assault after finishing sixth last year (Photo: FIA F3)

Another British team, Double R Racing, brings a four-car entry to Macau, lead by Kevin Korjus who should be fired up to do well after slipping from third to seventh in this year’s GP3 standings at the final event. Sun Zheng provides some Chinese interest and impressed on his way to the British F3 National Class title. Regular team-mates Antonio Giovinazzi and Sean Gelael make their Macau debuts, the former having scored a number of top ten finishes in the closing European Championship rounds.

Alexander Sims could be an underdog contender in T-Sport’s sole entry having taken five podiums from 12 races this year. Stefano Coletti returns to F3 to drive EuroInternational’s car, looking to bounce back after the disastrous second-half to his GP2 campaign that had begun so well. Plucky privateer Lucas Wolf is back with URD Rennsport after a first-lap retirement in 2012, while Nelson Mason, third in the F3 Open, lines up for Jo Zeller Racing.

Japanese entries have been disadvantaged by having to switch back to the outgoing engine specification after the domestic series adopted the new FIA powerplants this year. Yuichi Nakayama dominated the championship but TOM’S are not the force at Macau that they were when his compatriot Keisuke Kunimoto took an unfancied win in 2008. B-Max’s Katsumasa Chiyo finished third in the Japanese standings, winning twice at the final round in Nakayama’s absence.

The post 2013 Macau Grand Prix preview appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Francois Flamand / DPPI

Imperious Magnussen and conservative Marciello both confirm titles, while the Eurocup sees the championship battle come down to the wire…

Formula Renault 3.5

Magnussen crowned champion after win one, completes double the next day

McLaren junior driver Kevin Magnussen was technically not yet the series champion when he arrived at Catalunya for the Formula Renault 3.5 season finale. However, you could hardly tell that from the demeanor of everyone involved – the officials, the press, his rivals and Magnussen himself.

He might’ve had more dominant individual sessions, races, weekends as a whole, but Catalunya was so obviously Magnussen’s territory. The Dane made that clear as early as on Friday, when he was outright imperious in both collective test sessions.

Entering into the weekend, Magnussen needed just eight points to secure the title. But, on Saturday alone, he would deliver the whole 25 – taking a record fourth pole in a row and converting it to a controlled win. With the title decided, he wound up doing the exact same thing on Sunday, despite the qualifying being called off due to fog and despite the bold strategies attempted by his rivals in the race.

While the champion’s adieu to Formula Renault stole the show, his numerous rivals managed to quietly bolster their own CVs. Stoffel Vandoorne capped off a brilliant rookie season with two well-deserved podiums, while Caterham junior Will Stevens delivered two great drives to accomplish the very same feat. In fact, only Stevens seemed at all close to stealing Magnussen’s thunder, matching his pace throughout race one and taking the fastest lap in race two.

Will Stevens came close to disrupting Magnussen’s dominance (Photo: Francois Flamand / DPPI)

With the same three drivers locking out the podium in both races, there were naturally no places left on it for anyone else. While that would end up disappointing many a challenger in the field, it was Antonio Felix da Costa for who it probably meant the most.

It is still not entirely clear whether the decision to deny him an F1 promotion was made before or after the Catalunya weekend, but, in either case, the two Montmelo races were no help. On both days, the Portuguese driver’s race chances were compromised in qualifying. Whether he crumbled under pressure or was compromised by tech is something known to only Antonio and Arden Caterham, but the fact remained – his lone points finish of the weekend, a quite stellar fourth-place effort in race one, was not enough to change Red Bull’s mind.

The rest of the usual frontrunners were, as expected, there or thereabout at the sharp end. AV Formula’s Arthur Pic was well on his way to his second podium of the season on Sunday, but a loose wheel sidelined him immediately following the mandatory stop. Lotus driver Marco Sorensen qualified well on Saturday, but was taken out in a hard crash on lap one of the race. His Sunday qualifying was sabotaged by a red flag, but a quality strategy from the team helped him take some points in a luckless weekend.

Nico Muller was among the podium contenders on Sunday, eventually settling for fourth place. Finally, Nigel Melker would take away two points less than Sorensen from race two on Sunday after inadvertently being the one who sent the Dane’s car flying the day before.

While Magnussen, Vandoorne and Felix da Costa expectedly made up the top three of the standings, Stevens managed to leapfrog both Muller and Melker in the fight for fourth in the standings.

Report: Magnussen takes 3.5 title with sublime Catalunya win

Report: Magnussen wraps up stellar Catalunya double

Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0

Gasly v. Rowland decided in a collision, the Frenchman emerges with the title

Gasly’s composure and concentration ended up securing him the Eurocup title (Photo: Gregory Lenormand / DPPI)

Tech 1’s Pierre Gasly and Manor MP’s Oliver Rowland have spent the 2013 season partaking in what was one of the most entertaining title fights of the year. At Catalunya, the duo’s championship battle was resolved in a suitably gripping fashion.

The Briton, coming off the heels of complete dominance in the final round of Formula Renault 2.0 NEC, kicked off the weekend by obliterating the opposition in Friday practice sessions. On Saturday, however, he was the first one to flinch as he he lost out in his group to Koiranen’s Nyck de Vries, while Gasly ruled in his, seeing off strong rival Esteban Ocon.

The superb time set by de Vries saw him start the race from pole and he dutifully converted that into his second victory of the year. The real story, however, unfolded behind, with Rowland getting a great launch from third on the grid. The RSF-backed junior was ahead of Gasly on turn one and, at the checkered flag, the Frenchman’s advantage was down to eight points, as he rounded out the podium behind Rowland.

On Sunday, the order in which qualifying groups ran was reversed, meaning the advantage was with Gasly. And, while Rowland again missed out on pole against a very on-form de Vries, Gasly managed a stunning last-lap effort to overhaul Ocon’s group benchmark for pole.

Ocon and de Vries both added to their respective sole victories in 2013’s Eurocup (Photo: Francois Flamand / DPPI)

However, the real takeaway moment of the weekend was saved for last. As the race commenced, Gasly held on to first, while Rowland got the best of Ocon off the line. Mere seconds later, the Briton was ahead of de Vries as well, pulling off an risky pass around the outside. He caught up to Gasly and pressed his luck with a lunge down the Frenchman’s inside and, as the Tech 1 racer moved over to close the door, the pair collided. Gasly ended up facing the wrong way, while Rowland carried on with a barely-attached front wing.

A number of chain-reaction incidents in the same corner triggered a safety car, for which Rowland lined up in third and Gasly in tenth. But the fight was already over – at the restart, Rowland, who was already looking at a tough race with the car damage, was handed a drive-through.

The remainder of the race was rather calm, as Ocon cruised to take his second victory in the series, ahead of de Vries and maiden podium finisher Andrea Pizzitola. Gasly drove valiantly after the restart to take sixth and crossed the line as the 2013 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 champion.

Report: De Vries wins at Catalunya as Rowland cuts Gasly?s lead

Report: Gasly crowned champion as Ocon wins final race

FIA F3 European Championship

Marciello secures title, gets one win to Rosenqvist’s two

There was nothing to choose between Marciello and Rosenqvist at Hockenheim (Photo: FIA F3)

An almost season-long championship battle between Prema’s prodigy Raffaele Marciello and Mucke’s team leader Felix Rosenqvist saw a decisive conclusion in the European F3 season finale at Hockenheim, where two wins from the Swede did not prove sufficient to deny the Ferrari junior the title.

While a 45.5 advantage over Rosenqvist with 75 points up for grabs allowed a lot of breathing room, Marciello did not hold back in qualifying, securing two out of three poles and the duo of title rivals locked out the front row on all three occasions.

In race one, Rosenqvist managed to deny Marciello early celebrations, pulling off one of his trademark great starts to secure the lead. The Swede proceeded to cruise to victory, finishing six seconds ahead of the seemingly conservative Italian. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Sven Muller took his first podium of the year in third, while Britons Alex Lynn and Harry Tincknell rounded out the top five.

The Mucke man had pole for race two and would need to win the race with Marciello finishing fifth at most to keep the title fight alive into the final race. With yet another dominant race victory, Rosenqvist held up his part of the bargain, but Marciello produced a calculated drive to fourth, surrendering podium positions to quicker teammates Lynn and Lucas Auer without much in the way of resistance, while Carlin’s Tincknell took another fifth behind.

As such, the title fight was done and dusted. Still, there was another race on the line, made more challenging by the suddenly difficult weather conditions. For Marciello, though, it probably made things easier, as starting under the safety car meant he not under threat of losing first to Rosenqvist at the line. That would prove sufficient as the Italian held on to the race victory, narrowly crossing the line ahead of Rosenqvist while Auer, Tom Blomqvist and, yet again, Tincknell made up the rest of the top five.

Report:?Rosenqvist wins first Hockenheim race to keep title chances alive

Report:?Marciello wraps up F3 title despite another Rosenqvist win

Report:?Marciello finishes with a win in wet final race

Formula Abarth

Frontrunner issues set up free-for-all final weekend at Monza

The slipstream-heavy track combined with the usual frontrunners’ issues made for a hectic Abarth weekend (Photo: CSAI-ACI)

The Formula Abarth season finale at Monza marked the fourth round of the year which saw three different winners in the three races of a weekend. And this time, the somewhat inconsistent results among the frontrunners were especially glaring, as bad luck struck without much in the way of pattern.

Alessio Rovera, the series champion, was the first to suffer a major setback during the weekend, as his car broke down in qualifying, forcing him to the back row of both feature races. Meanwhile, at the front, usual suspects Simone Iaquinta and Michele Beretta locked out the front row for both races, securing a pole position start each.

The two Italians, fighting amongst themselves in the standings for the runner-up position, clearly had the pace on the rest of the field, which was particularly noticeable in race one, when they managed to build up a huge advantage over the others even while fighting for the lead. The inevitable (for Monza) jockeying for position didn’t wind up lasting long, though, as Beretta soon had to serve a drive through for jumping the start.

As such, Iaquinta was seemingly free to cruise to the victory. However, the GSK Motorsport driver would pull into the pitlane with mere minutes to go due to a mechanical failure, giving the surprise victory to Dario Orsini. In another surprising turn, Rovera fought his way up to second, but was overtaken while exiting Parabolica on the final lap by a recovering Beretta.

In race two it was, again, Iaquinta who took the lead early on, in spite of starting from the back row. His car survived the race distance this time and he crossed the line in first, more than 20 seconds ahead of second-placed Orsini. As usual frontrunners Rovera and Beretta had races to forget (the former retiring and the latter losing lots of time after a spin), it was Vitaly Larionov who completed the podium.

The final race of the season saw series newcomer Denis Nagulin join the usual suspect Iaquinta at the front, as the duo ran away from the rest of the pack. On lap eight, the Italian had another car failure and was out of contention, allowing F3 Open regular Nagulin to take a race win on his first weekend in Abarth racing. Rovera made his way from the back of the grid to cross the line in second, while Larionov was once again third, inherting the position after Orsini’s car failed inspection post-race.

Iaquinta’s car issues have allowed Beretta to secure the runner-up spot in the standings.

Formula Renault 1.6 NEC

Geerts beats Rump tot title, albeit with team orders at play

Team tactics came into it, but there was no begrudging Geerts the championship title (Photo: Chris Schotanus)

The inaugural season of Formula Renault 1.6 NEC came down to a classic two-driver showdown, which was to be decided in the series finale at Assen. Estonian Martin Rump and Dutchman Roy Geerts emerged as the chief title contenders early on in the season, remaining the only two drivers to lead the standings throughout the first ten races, the former emerging from them with a lead of just six points.

On the series’ second visit to the Dutch track, Rump took the early advantage, qualifying in second and third for the two races while Geerts lined up in eighth and seventh. The double pole, meanwhile, was secured by Pontus Fredricsson.

Race one was the appropriate “calm before the storm”. Fredricsson had a bad start and wound up retiring over the opening lap. Rump took over at the front, but subsequetly surrendered the lead to Paul Blomqvist and settled for second. Larry ten Voorde and Patricio O’Ward were third and fourth respectively, while Geerts crossed the line in fifth, his deficit to Rump now? at 14 points.

All the weekend’s drama was saved up for race two. Fredricsson, again, was ruled out of contention right away, when he made a jump start off the line. As Tommy van Erp inherited the lead when Pontus served his drive through, Geerts was passing car after car, while Rump started falling down the order with a car issue.

The Estonian tumbled to seventh, which would’ve been enough for the title unless Geerts took the win. However, the Dutchman was working on it – he made it up to third on the road and, as his teammate ten Voorde passed van Erp for the lead, he managed to follow through. What went on next was exactly what was to be expected – ten Voorde moved over on the final lap, allowing Geerts into the win. Blomqvist took third, van Erp and Janneau Esmeijer rounded out the top five. And Rump? He retook sixth despite the car troubles, but that still left him one point away from the title, which now belonged to Roy Geerts.

Report: Blomqvist victorious in first FR1.6 NEC race at Assen

Report: Geerts takes title in controversial Assen race two

Japanese F3

Series champion Yuichi Nakayama ended his season in Japanese F3 early, as he withdrew rom the final round at Fuj following practice sessions.

With the dominant frontrunner absent, it was Katsumasa Chiyo who got to shine. The experienced driver took his first race victory in the penultimate race of the season, clearing the rest of the field by seven seconds, as Nobuharu Matsushita beat Takamoto Katsuta to second.

In the wet second race, Chiyo lost a number of positions over the opening lap, but managed to recover just as quickly. On lap three, he overtook poleman Katsuta for the lead and ran away with victory. Behind Katsuta, who had to settle for second, 2011 Japanese F3 champion Yuhi Sekiguchi made it onto the podium on his guest appearance.

PaddockScout Driver of the Weekend

Kevin Magnussen

The DAMS car was clearly quite good at Catalunya, but that doesn’t quite explain how Magnussen almost made us forget about there being another 24 drivers in the field.

The post Roundup: Magnussen confirms title with Catalunya double appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: GCS

Macau Grand Prix organisers have released the entry list for this year’s Formula 3 race, with Carlos Sainz returning to F3 to lead the field as part of a six-car line-up from 2012 winners Carlin.

It will be Sainz’s third appearance in the race, hoping to improve upon his seventh place finish last year. The Spaniard has yet to contest an F3 race this season, having been racing in GP3 and Formula Renault 3.5, and so is set to enter the MSV F3 Cup round at Snetterton like last year’s Antonio Felix da Costa did in order to qualify.

Sainz is joined in Carlin’s assault by fellow Red Bull Junior Daniil Kvyat, with the pair looking to repeat Felix da Costa’s success. Kvyat will be making his Macau debut having taken part in the FIA F3 European Championship with Carlin alongside his GP3 commitments, claiming pole positions and a race win. He will fight for the GP3 title in Abu Dhabi two weeks before Macau.

Jazeman Jaafar will return for his fourth attempt at Macau and his third with Carlin. He has raced for the team in Formula Renault 3.5 this year but also claimed a double victory on his return to British F3 at Brands Hatch. Harry Tincknell, currently fifth in the European standings for the team, gets to drive with Carlin having entered with Fortec last year. Jordan King makes his Macau debut after winning the British series, with fellow rookie Nicholas Latifi completing Carlin’s sextet.

European Championship leader Raffaele Marciello leads a three-car entry from Prema after finishing eighth last year. Regular team-mates Alex Lynn and Lucas Auer also make the trip for the second time – Lynn having claimed pole position last year before finishing third.

Mucke Motorsport also bring a three-car line-up headed by their European Championship contender and 2012 Macau runner-up Felix Rosenqvist. Mitch Gilbert returns after making his debut with the team in Macau last year, as does Yuhi Sekiguchi after his fine fourth?with the German squad in 2011, when he also won the Japanese F3 title. Now a regular in Super GT, he qualified by contesting the F3 Masters earlier this year for Mucke.

Fortec Motorsport have a five-car entry, led by the team’s European Championship regulars Felix Serralles and Pipo Derani – the latter finished sixth last year. Joining them are Will Buller, who previously did Macau with the team in 2010 and 2011 and won the Formula BMW race in 2009. Tom Blomqvist switches from Eurointernational to the team with which he won the 2010 Formula Renault UK title, while German F3 regular John Bryant-Meisner adds Macau to the two remaining European Championship rounds he will contest with Fortec.

EuroInternational’s sole car is on the entry list but without a driver confirmed.

Alexander Sims will race the ThreeBond T-Sport car for the second year in a row, having contested the three most recent rounds of the European Championship and finished on the podium at the Nurburgring.

Double R will have a four-car entry with Kevin Korjus returning for a second attempt with the team. The GP3 regular will need to do an F3 race to qualify, with Autosport expecting him to replace Sims at T-Sport for the European Championship finale at Hockenheim. Team regulars Antonio Giovinazzi and Sean Gelael will make their Macau debuts while Sun Zheng will be the sole Chinese driver in the race after winning this year’s British F3 National Class.

Sven Muller will line up with his new team Van Amersfoort Racing while fellow German Lucas Wolf and his URD Rennsport squad will be present for the second year running.

The Japanese F3 Championship will be represented by dominant champion Yuichi Nakayama making his second appearance with TOMS and Katsumasa Chiyo with the B-Max Engineering outfit. Both will revert back to older-spec engines after the Japanese series took up the new FIA powerplants this year.

The Macau Grand Prix F3 race will take place on 17 November.

Entry list

The post Sainz and six-car Carlin squad head Macau entry list appeared first on Formula Scout.