The Crusaders
| File:TheCrusaders.png | |
| Full Name | The Crusaders |
| Base | Vatican City |
| Founder(s) | Valentino Nicchi |
| Team Principal(s) | Emanuele Nicchi |
| Technical Director | Ben Gleck |
The Crusaders is a motor racing team founded by Valentino Nicchi in 1991 to compete in Life GP and is currently run by his son. Until 2016 it competed in most series as Nicchi Motori. The team sometimes runs under the guise of Team IKEA in deference to their main sponsor. The team is known for their insistence that 'everything is better than F1', a belief passionately held by team founder Valentino.
Contents
Historical
1991-1993 - Life GP
After 2 guest appearances in '91, the team prepared for it's first full season. Nicchi immediately decided to pour almost all off the team's money into engine reliability. Because of this the car lacked qualifying pace and failed to make the grid for the first 9 races, by then Nicchi got bored of the series and after the Suiss SuperPrix where he amazingly managed to retire with the most reliable car, he moved to Indycar. He was replaced by Cameron Maroon who failed to qualify for any more races that year.
2004 - BTCDS
The team entered an Alfa Romeo 147 for former BTCC production class driver Toni Ruokonen.
???? - Warped
The team entered an Alfa Romeo 155 for Emanuele Nicchi.
RWRS
2016
IFRC
The team made it's first appearance in the last ever race organised by the Rejects of LFS Commission, the non-championship Aston 24 Hours of 2015 fielding an FZ50 with Nikolai Nurmovitsch, Jan van der Maeyede and Jasper Lerby at the wheel. The car was running in 2nd until Nurmovitsch spun off after 87 laps.
Under the new rules for 2016 the team managed to secure a full time entry, with Cosworth engines rebadged as Vauxhalls and a supply of Yokohama tyres. Raffaella Nicchi and Adélaïde Voeckler were the drivers, creating an all-female line up, the first in RWRS history.
F1RWRS
The team's first race in the highest level of Reject racing was the non-championship 2016 French Grand Prix, entering 2 cars for Terenzio Nicchi, Raffaella Nicchi and the reigning Auto GP champion Herberto Dominguez. A firestorm of controversy was created when it was found that the team was trying to sign Robert Anderson as the 4th driver, the team then approached Nestra Aya before finally securing a deal for Saeed Al Faisal to drive the #42 car in what would be his final F1RWRS event. The team finished 16th and 21st.
F1RDS
The team took over Kingfisher Racing's entry, but kept their signed drivers, Matt Grove and Manuel Riva.
Other series
The team also entered the Lupo Cup with newcomer Adolfo Moretti and entered their second year in the RTCC with a new driver, Bill Phenett and a new car, the Renault Laguna. They also fielded a Toyota in the RTSS for Jayleen Mori who would miss certain rounds due to GT-R commitments.
Complete racing results
International Formula Reject Challenge
| Year | # | Drivers | 1 AUS HEA |
2 AUS FEA |
3 MEX FEA |
4 MEX FEA |
5 FRA FEA |
6 FRA FEA |
7 GBR FEA |
8 GBR FEA |
9 ITA FEA |
10 ITA FEA |
11 USA FEA |
12 USA FEA |
13 GER FEA |
14 GER FEA |
15 NED FEA |
16 NED FEA |
17 FIN FEA |
18 FIN FEA |
19 BEL FEA |
20 BEL FEA |
21 RUS FEA |
22 RUS FEA |
23 JPN FEA |
24 JPN FEA |
TC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 37 |  Raffaella Nicchi
|
N/A | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 38 |  Adélaïde Voeckler
|
Complete F1RDS Results
| Year | Engine | # | Driver | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | TC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Kawasaki-Cosworth V6 2.0L | SPA1 | SPA2 | GBR1 | GBR2 | ITA | AUT | TUR1 | TUR2 | FRA1 | FRA2 | GER | NED | ENG1 | ENG2 | BEL1 | BEL2 | CZE1 | CZE2 | JAP1 | JAP2 | - * | - * | ||
| 26 |  Matt Grove
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 27 |  Manuel Riva
|
External links
Nicchi Motori on Twitter
