Difference between revisions of "Blokkmonsta Motorsport"

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The team raced in the [[Life GP Series]] and later the [[Rejects-1 World Championship]], but by 2000 the team faded back into obscurity. In 2016 the team reappeared from seemingly nowhere, the small firm in Leipzig bought by the enigmatic [[Andrea Schnass]]. Since then the team quickly made an impression in the Reject World Federation, winning races in lesser categories and securing a seat in the [[Formula 1 Rejects World Race Series]] by 2018.
 
The team raced in the [[Life GP Series]] and later the [[Rejects-1 World Championship]], but by 2000 the team faded back into obscurity. In 2016 the team reappeared from seemingly nowhere, the small firm in Leipzig bought by the enigmatic [[Andrea Schnass]]. Since then the team quickly made an impression in the Reject World Federation, winning races in lesser categories and securing a seat in the [[Formula 1 Rejects World Race Series]] by 2018.
 
The team is known for its close relationship with [[RonDen Racing Engineering]], having shared drivers between the two teams for much of the 21st century.
 
  
 
== Formation: From Film to Racing ==
 
== Formation: From Film to Racing ==

Latest revision as of 23:18, 23 April 2020

Blokkmonsta Motorsport (sometimes appears as Blokkmonsta Racing) is a racing team founded in 1989. The team's official nationality is Germany, but the team administration and crew are a mix of Dutch and German. The team premiered in the 1992 Life Grand Prix Series season and has since been participating in races of varying disciplines.

The team raced in the Life GP Series and later the Rejects-1 World Championship, but by 2000 the team faded back into obscurity. In 2016 the team reappeared from seemingly nowhere, the small firm in Leipzig bought by the enigmatic Andrea Schnass. Since then the team quickly made an impression in the Reject World Federation, winning races in lesser categories and securing a seat in the Formula 1 Rejects World Race Series by 2018.

Formation: From Film to Racing

The Blokkmonsta company was founded in 1982 by a group of amateur filmmakers and close friends. The film group produced primarily slasher and horror films on tight budgets. Although Blokkmonsta made around a dozen films, none of them sold well, and the company was mired with debt by 1985.

Blokkmonsta collapsed in 1985 and its members quietly disappeared from the film business. What happened over the next few years remains a secret within the group, but the group returned to the public with a sizable amount of cash and was revived as a small-time racing team named Blokkmonsta Motorsport in 1989. Speculators suspect that Blokkmonsta obtained a large amount of money through criminal means, but Blokkmonsta's administration declined to comment on the issue.

Life Grand Prix Series (1992-1993)

Reborn as a racing team, Blokkmonsta spent its first year sponsoring low-level one-make series, but by 1991 the team expressed interest in the Life GP Series. The team had found some promise in a young rookie from the United States named Vic Sunset and by the start of the 1992 season the team had a car and a driver for the series. Although the team had missed the 1992 season's practice session in Italy, the administration of the Life GP allowed the team in despite the maximum number of drivers already met from team sign-ups. Now officially in Life GP, the team is hoping to make a strong impression on their first outing in the world of professional racing, and hopefully attract attention from other racing series in the process.

1992

Blokkmonsta entered the 1992 season just after pre-season testing. The team was fairly under-equipped, with just Sunset as their only driver and only one spare car with a few scattered sponsors. Blokkmonsta have announced right before the Argentine GP their plans to score at least one point for the 1992 season and to earn more funds to improve their car and attract more sponsors for next season.

Blokkmonsta had an incredible start to the season at Argentina, with Sunset finishing 2nd on his very first race in the series. Their luck had faltered with 2 DNFs in the next to races, but have since been performed well in Life GP, with 5 finishes out of 7 using such a troublesome car.

Sunset has formed a small rivalry with Mikhail Karimov of The Team of the Workers Party, as a press conference after the Brazilian GP, where Karimov retired by colliding with Sunset's retired car before it left the track, confirms that Sunset wishes to finish the season ahead of Karimov.

1993

Closed-Wheel Racing

2015

Blokkmonsta cracked into closed-wheel series in 2015 as part of the team's attempt to return to popularity. The team betted their hopes on an unknown kart racer named Michael Rohnstock, who impressed in a non-championship race in RTCC by reaching the points-scoring positions in Restov Racing's outdated Peugeot 405.

2016

Blokkmonsta began racing in the RTCC in 2016. The team fielded two Audi A4s, which curiously copied the works liveries of the BTCC Audis of the 1990s. The team performed better than expected with Rohnstock and fellow newcomer Travis Crabtree, finishing most of their races in the points. The season did end for them on a sour note with an attempted lawsuit by Audi over use of their livery without permission. The dispute was settled out of court, but the team was never allowed to run an Audi chassis in motorsport ever again due to a restraining order made by the German automotive company.

The team also ran briefly in the short-lived Rejects Rallycross Championship, not performing very well in the opening races, and eventually dropped midway through the season to focus on the RTCC.

At the end of the year the team participated in the Super GP round of the GT-Rejects World Championship. In an attempt to repair their reputation, the team ran two Nissan 350Zs in contract with Nissan, and one of the cars was ran as a charity car. To this day Blokkmonsta's running in the Super GP round is always a non-profit endeavor, with all of their proceeds from the race being donated to charity.

2017

In 2017 the RTCC became AutoReject Super Touring, and Blokkmonsta entered the championship class with the same driver lineup as the previous year. The team fought and won the ability to use two customer cars (BMWs) despite ARST management wanting to keep customer car teams at one car in the main class.

The team had a very strong opening to the season, with Rohnstock taking 2nd place at the Round of Bathurst. Rohnstock would then move on to give the team their first win in the series in France when rival Turki al Faisal drove his car off the track.

After the win the team fell into the lower midfield, with mechanical problems and many controversial collisions keeping them finishing higher than the lower points on most occasions. The latter half did have a high point for the team, with Crabtree scoring his first ever podium with a third at Watkins Glen.

A late series charge by Rohnstock netted the team a substantial haul of points thanks to the young German's top 10 finishes. Crabtree was not as lucky, as collisions and unreliability prevented him from following his teammate in results.

The team's up-and-down season had them finish 9th in the constructors championship.

Afterwards, Rohnstock participated in the 2017 Macau Touring Masters in a privateer Mitsubishi Lancer and, in a shocking performance, won both races against the seasoned Ricardo Llosa.

Return to Open Wheelers (2016-)

With the team's growing successes in closed-wheel series Blokkmonsta turned to seek a return in open-wheel racing. Participation in RTCC gained the team favor in the Reject World Federation. With guidance and some financial consulting the team began funding operations in several series around the globe.

2016: Japanese Debut

Blokkmonsta began their first open-wheel series in two decades by participating in the Formula Rejects Nippon Series that ran during the winter. The team relied on F2RWRS driver Gregor Pascal and newcomer Malik Zidan as their drivers. Almost in a mirror of their 1992 debut the team brought a rookie to the win at the first race of the season, with Zidan taking his first win in his career at Autopolis. Zidan would go on to take another podium at Yeongnam, but the team could not keep their race-winning pace going beyond a single weekend. Pascal would take a few lower points finishes, and by the end of the short season Blokkmonsta placed 6th in the constructors championship.

2017: Into AutoRejects

With the restructuring of the Reject World Federation's racing series Blokkmonsta found itself able to take up spots in lesser formulae. The team would enter AutoReject 3.5 as themselves and AutoReject 2.0 North America as Crabtree Garage by Blokkmonsta as part of a partnership with Travis Crabtree's family.

AR 3.5

Blokkmonsta faced lack of funding and aerodynamic testing for AR 3.5, so the team entered partnership with RUF Automotive. The team would run the series as RUF Blokkmonsta Motorsport, with RUF providing technical support and engine tuning.

For a driver Blokkmonsta made the controversial decision to hire Tanner Jason as their one driver. Jason was barred from the series' previous incarnation, Rejects of LFS, for the controversial collision that lead to the death of Nobushige Fukuda. The team face negotiations with the series organizers and agreed to let the American race again on the grounds that he would be banned again if he ever caused another major accident.

Blokkmonsta had a difficult first season, the car not being able to escape the heat races for almost every weekend. The team would finally get results at the season finale at Japan, where Jason would score points with a 5th place in the heat race. However, Jason would then cause a major accident as a result of reckless driving in the final race. Jason would be subsequently banned from the series, leaving Malik Zidan to take his place at the non-championship race at Autopolis, the race named in honor of the late Fukuda. Zidan would provide an impressive performance, gaining ten places over the course of the race to finish 11th.

Blokkmonsta would score 5 points in their 2017 season, beating Clockwork Racing for 18th in the constructors championship as a result of Jason's 5th place finish at Suzuka.

AR 2.0 NA

Due to a lack of spots for AR 2.0 Blokkmonsta had to relegate to the North American series for the 2017 season. The tea would run Malik Zidan, fresh off of FRENCH, and Alexi Schnass, son of team owner Andrea Schnass.

Zidan lead the team for much of the season, consistently placing in the points and several podiums, culminating in a win at Indianapolis. However, the team would soon fall down the grid, the team not scoring a single point after Indianapolis. Schnass had a terrible season, only finishing in the points once, at the same race which Zidan won. The team would finish 6th in the constructors championship.

Other

Blokkmonsta would again particpate in the FRENCH series, now renamed the Super Auto Nippon Drivers Winter Championship. The team would partner with Bandai to run as Bandai "Red Comet" Racing, the sponsor deal based on Bandai's anime series "Mobile Suit Gundam". The team would run with Kastazumo Nakaya and Alexi Schnass at the start of the season, but Schnass would be replaced with Malik Zidan after the latter's poor performance in the first few races.

The team could not repeat the heroics of 2016, but Nakaya consistently finished in the lower points. The team's high point would be when Nakaya brought the car to 3rd place at Yeongam.

After the series Alexi Schnass would retire from racing to take up team manager duties at the International ProCar Series for 2018.