ArrowTech-Acuri Autosport

ArrowTech
Full Name	ArrowTech-Acuri Autosport
Base	Montreal, Canada
Founder(s)	The Fox
Team Principal(s)	The Fox
Technical Director	Andrea Acuri
Current Drivers	#7 - Phillippe Nicolas #8 - Hansuke Shioya
Other Noted Drivers	Jari Kekkonen Nicolas Steele Daniel Melrose Daniel Martins Saeed Al Faisal Mirko Bosevic
Debut	2011 F1RWRS British Grand Prix
Races	93 (85 starts)
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race Wins	2
Podiums	13
Points	145
Pole Positions	2
Fastest Laps	0

ArrowTech-Acuri Autosport, known simply as ArrowTech, was a Canadian AutoReject World Series racing team founded in 2011 by a man known only as The Fox as ArrowTech ART. It then merged with Acuri Autosport after the 2014 season and changed their name to their current one.

History

ArrowTech's logo used in the 2011 season. The slogan reads Destroying careers one race at a time!, a light-hearted jibe whilst the team suffered with poor results. Both slogan and logo were retired at the end of the season.

2011 Season

The team was founded by "The Fox," whose real identity, and the reason he keeps it secret are not known. The team began competition when it received permission for an entry at the 2011 British GP, hiring Jari Kekkonen and Nicolas Steele. Over the course of the 2011 season the team bounced back and forth in pre-qualifying though the team finished in the points on three occasions. Kekkonen scored consecutive points finishes at New South Wales and Surfers Paradise, the latter being his best finish of the year, 5th place. Steele could only score points once, on the team's debut at Silverstone and with only a single other finish to his name he was sacked and replaced by Portuguese driver Daniel Martins for the 2012 season.

2012 Season

The ArrowTech AT-02, driven by Kekkonen and Martins. Almost identical to the AT-01, it shared the same livery.

The 2012 season started well for ArrowTech, with a major sponsorship deal secured with Bud Light, and new Lamborghini engines. Combined with the AT-02 chassis, Kekkonen and Martins still struggled with pre-qualifying, particularly in the first half of the season, but overall enjoyed a more successful year. Kekkonen scored on four occasions, though he was unable to repeat his best result from 2011, with a best finish of 6th at Brands Hatch. Martins meanwhile brought the team its best ever finish, which still stands to this day, with 2nd place at the Australian GP, though the Portugese driver failed to score at any other point during the season, failing even to finish in the top 10 at any other race.

2013 Season

Saying that the team was uncompetitive, Kekkonen left after 2012, and was replaced by three-time F1 world champion Daniel Melrose for 2013. The new AT-03 chassis was the most promising yet, and along with new engines from Ford, ArrowTech went from strength to strength. The team amassed more podium finishes, with Melrose matching the team's best result of second in only his third race for the team at Mexico, where Martins followed him home in third. It was comfortably ArrowTech's best ever race. Melrose collected a third place finish at Belgium, and Martins scored his second third place of the year in France. It was a far better season for the team, who ended up finishing a strong fifth in the constructors championship.

At the Dutch GP The Fox surprised the paddock by announcing that the team was up for sale, later clarifying that he would part with 50% of the team. Nigerian Prince Falik bought the 50% stake in ArrowTech, assuming control of the team's development and sponsorship, whilst The Fox retained control over chassis, engine and driver choice.

The Fox offered contracts to Martins and Melrose for the 2014 season, although Prince Falik was keen to sign up current championship leader Mark Dagnall. It was then confirmed that Melrose would leave the team at the end of the season, but he left with two races to go, filling the vacancy created at Castrol Jones Racing who'd fired Kay Lon. Melrose was replaced by Frenchman Sebastian Groves for the remainder of 2013.

A test was run following the end of the 2013 season to determine who would secure seats at ArrowTech for 2014. Those confirmed in the ArrowTech test were Mirko Bosevic, Saeed Al Faisal, Dave Simpson, Kay Lon and Issac Evans (a test driver for the F1RLFS Cup team Engine Failure Racing).

2014 Season

Eventually, The Fox cut the tension loose and signed Bosevic to a 1-year deal. There was a campaign after Prince Falik was released from prison to have Daniel Martins become a pay-driver, but it was rejected by the F1RWRS council. The team switched to Peugeot engines.

In Monaco, against the varying conditions, Mirko Bosevic scored ArrowTech's first pole position. It was rather varied in the race, as Bosevic finished fourth, but it did give the team a huge confidence boost.

Despite the consistency of the car, the team has trouble scoring points. Martins has already announced he was stepping down from his position at the team, the rumours speculated Rosco Vantini, Alberto Cara and Nathanael Spencer to the second seat.

In the North Sea GP, the team gained their first double points finish since the 2013 French Grand Prix, with Martins 5th and Bosevic 6th.

Buyout of Acuri Autosport

Following their dismal showing after the North Sea GP, ArrowTech experienced financial troubles, along with that of Andrea Acuri's team. Initially, The Fox sold the rights to the team name to Acuri, but later bought out the team, chassis and engines from Acuri for the 2015 season. The result is a merged team with The Fox managing the team while Acuri holds the commercial rights to the name, and also holding the position of Technical Director.

The buyout occurred after Acurigate, in which Acuri Autosport was attacked twice by Danish terrorists. The team lost money as a result (among other things), so The Fox bought out the team to improve the financial outlook for both teams (since Acuri had a boatload of sponsors at the time). The team was renamed ArrowTech-Acuri Autosport and will still retain the ArrowTech history, name, stats, etc. The name change will come into effect as of the end of the Japanese GP (but the constructor name will still be ArrowTech)

2015 Season

Shortly after the buyout, Martins was then replaced for the 2015 season by Saudi Arabian Saeed Al Faisal, who was originally rumoured for driving in 2014. Mirko Bosevic was signed on for another season alongside Al Faisal. It is obvious that Al Faisal was hired for his sponsorship money. Other drivers considered were Rosco Vantini (who signed for Jones Racing), Alberto Cara, Nathanael Spencer, Jean-Luc Schiller and James Davies. Davies was offered the third driver role for the team, and said that he will accept that in the event that he does not obtain a seat. He eventually signed with Sunshine Infiniti. Phil McCracken was also hired as test driver, but it is unlikely that he will be upgraded to a race seat considering he has not obtained a Super Licence yet. Eventually Sebastian Groves was signed as third driver for the team.

Bosevic scored a point in the first race at Adelaide. After that, the teams' performances went steadily downhill, having a run of six straight non-points finishes. This might have been prevented with Bosevic running second at Monaco before a transmission failure let him (and the team) down. After 8 races in the season, despite Bosevic scoring another point, ArrowTech was shifted down to Pre-Qualifying, and Al Faisal was sacked due to his poor performances. His replacement was his fellow teammate at Sunshine in 2013, Shinobu Katayama, loaned from Revolution Engineering DMS. Although the loan was to be from Germany to Austria (three races), further talks managed to extend the loan another race to Monza.

In Katayama's first race for ArrowTech, she scored in fourth, silencing the critics who thought her career was in shambles. After a sub-par race in Belgium, the team again put up an amazing points-scoring performance with Bosevic placing third (the first podium for a Croatian in the F1RWRS), and Katayama once again fourth. The points haul in that race alone (7) surpassed the amount they had gotten in the previous 10 races (5). After Katayama's loan ran out, Ron Mignolet was loaned to ArrowTech for the last four races of the season. He failed to impress, as he only finished once in the four races. Bosevic, meanwhile, picked up another podium in Zandvoort, which wound up being the last points finish for the team in the season. Bosevic and MRT refugee Phillippe Nicolas were signed for the 2016 season.

2016 Season

After signing with Gillet to power their cars, ArrowTech looked to be in their finest form. Nicolas scored in his team's debut with fourth place at Adelaide. It was followed by a fantastic victory in Bathurst, giving the team lots of optimism for the season. Bosevic placed second in Brands Hatch, before the team placed first and third at Monza. After four races, the team had the lead in both championships, with Nicolas leading the WDC. After a pointless race in Austria, they managed to score a podium in Montreal, the first time they did so on their home race.

The fallout from Jones Racing and their poor results meant that recently sacked driver Rosco Vantini signed for them as reserve driver. Jones' fortunes improved after the sacking, and after ArrowTech posted two straight double DNFs, Jones Racing took the lead in both championships. The team then only posted two fifth places from Nicolas, and the team fell further behind as outgoing Scuderia Alitalia passed the team for 2nd in the Constructors. A faulty upgrade from the team was to blame for the sudden lack of competitive pace.

In Monaco, Bosevic took pole position and led for most of the race, only to lose it in the closing laps after spinning. He also led in Belgium and spun, bt held on for third place. However, despite optimism saying otherwise, the pace of the ArrowTech fell behind, and the reliability troubles caught up to them, as the team only scored three points in the last four races. Bosevic was sacked after the season ended.

2017 Season

Replacing Bosevic for the 2017 season was Hansuke Shioya, who had two podium finishes to his name going into the season. High expectations were placed on him and the team, riding off their big finish in the Constructors' Championship the previous season. However, the season started terribly for the team, as both cars were well off the pace and eventually both cars retired off the race. The race in Bathurst went much better, as Nicolas dragged the car kicking and screaming to second place, as the competitors ahead of him retired from the points.

F1RWRS Results

Year	Chassis	Engine	#	Driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	CC	Pts
2011	ArrowTech AT-01	Cosworth CR-6 3.0 V10			BAV	GER	SAX	LUX	BEL	GBR	ENG	KEN	NED	TAS	AUS	NSW	SUR	CHN	USA		17th	11
			24	Jari Kekkonen						9	14	16	DNPQ	12	DNPQ	6	5	DNPQ	DNPQ
			25	Nicolas Steele						5	13	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNS	DSQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ
2012	ArrowTech AT-02	Lamborghini			BAV	SAX	GER	LUX	BEL	NED	GBR	KEN	ENG	TAS	SUR	NSW	AUS	CHN	USA	500	=11th	17
			29	Jari Kekkonen	DNPQ	7	DNPQ	Ret	8	DNPQ	DNPQ	6	DNPQ	16	18	25	8	20	20	14
			30	Daniel Martins	DNPQ	14	12	Ret	DNPQ	17	DNPQ	DNPQ	17	DNPQ	20	23	2	Ret	Ret	11
2013	ArrowTech AT-03	Ford HB IV			TAS	AUS	MEX	USA	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	NED	BEL	POR	MED	MAC	CHN	JPN	BRA	5th	30
			36	Daniel Martins	8	Ret	3	7	Ret	3	9	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	Ret	7	12	DNQ
			37	Daniel Melrose	5	4	2	Ret	Ret	6	8	10	Ret	3	9	Ret	5	11
				Sebastian Groves															18	4
2014	ArrowTech AT-04	Peugeot A7			TAS	AUS	BRA	MEX	USA	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	BEL	ITA	MED	NDS	MAC	CHI	JPN	8th	13
			9	Daniel Martins	10	13	6	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	10	10	10	Ret	5	Ret	11	6
			10	Mirko Bosevic	14	Ret	10	Ret	5	4	5	6	Ret	Ret	8	8	6	Ret	10	12
2015	ArrowTech AT-05	Renault RS1			TAS	AUS	MED	MON	MEX	USA	CAN	GBR	GER	BEL	AUT	ITA	NDS	CHI	JPN	BRA	7th	16
			15	Mirko Bosevic	6	8	13	16*	Ret	Ret	7	6	14	DNQ	3	14	3	Ret	11	Ret
			16	Saeed Al Faisal	13	17	17	14	Ret	Ret	10	16
				Shinobu Katayama									4	15	4	Ret
				Ron Mignolet													10	Ret	Ret	Ret
2016	ArrowTech AT-06	Gillet GV11			AUS	NSW	GBR	ITA	AUT	CAN	SUS	NUS	GER	NSE	MON	BEL	MEX	ARG	CHN	JPN	4th	54
			11	Mirko Bosevic	Ret	5	2	3	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	7	11	8*	3	7	Ret	Ret	Ret
			12	Phillippe Nicolas	4	1	Ret	1	Ret	3	Ret	Ret	5	5	Ret	Ret	Ret	4	Ret	Ret
2017	ArrowTech AT-07	Gillet GV11B			AUS	NSW	GBR	ITA	AUT	CAN	SUS	NUS	GER	NDS	BEL	MON	MAR	ARG	JPN	CHN	5th	20
			7	Phillippe Nicolas	Ret	2	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	DNPQ	DNPQ	3	3	Ret	7	DNPQ
				Template:FRA Marie Simon														7	10
				Rosco Vantini																DNPQ
			8	Hansuke Shioya	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	14	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNQ	6	DNQ	6	DNPQ	8	DNQ	DNPQ

*Car retired but finished 90% of the race distance.