Plus One Kingfisher Racing: Difference between revisions
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| BLA<br>HEA<br><small></small> | |bgcolor="#dfdfdf"|BLA<br>HEA<br><small>2</small> | ||
| BLA<br>FEA<br><small></small> | |bgcolor="#cfcfff"|BLA<br>FEA<br><small>17</small> | ||
| WES<br>HEA<br><small></small> | | WES<br>HEA<br><small></small> | ||
| WES<br>FEA<br><small></small> | | WES<br>FEA<br><small></small> | ||
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| KYO<br>FEA<br><small></small> | | KYO<br>FEA<br><small></small> | ||
| KYO<br>300<br><small></small> | | KYO<br>300<br><small></small> | ||
! | ! 8th* | ||
! | ! 3* | ||
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Revision as of 05:39, 22 November 2012
Kingfisher | |
---|---|
Full Name | Kingfisher Racing |
Base | Sevenoaks, Kent, England |
Founder(s) | Michael Alexander |
Team Principal(s) | {{{Team Principals}}} |
Technical Director | {{{Technical Director}}} |
Current Drivers | #34 - Ashley Watkinson #35 - David Neuberg |
Other Noted Drivers | Matthias Valsattis Steven Mackintosh |
Debut | 2014 Tasman Grand Prix |
Races | 2 (28 entries) |
Constructors' Championships | 0 |
Drivers' Championships | 0 |
Race Wins | 0 |
Podiums | 0 |
Points | 0 |
Pole Positions | 0 |
Fastest Laps | 0 |
Mitie Aviation Racing (or MA-Racing for short), is a team currently competing in 2014 Formula 1 Rejects World Race Series season. For 2015 onwards, the team will be knows as Kingfisher Racing.
Formula 3
Early Years (2009-2011
The team was founded in 2009 after Mr.Alexander, a board member with Mitie Aviation, decided to finance his own team, with the help from his company. The team are based in Sevenoaks, Kent. The cars are coloured blue and white across the whole bodywork, with a black front and rear wing. Mitie Aviation are obviously the main sponsor, as they fund 80% of the team. Other sponsors include Playstation, Eurotunnel, Nèscafe and Adidas. In the teams first year in F3, they used a two-year old Zetec engine to reasonable effect. Points at round three (9th), round nine (8th) and a double-point finish at the final round (8th & 10th) saw the team claim a respectable 9 points and 11th in the final standings.
2010 proved to be another solid year, although several sponsors left throughout the year, leaving the cars virtually brandless at seasons end. Rounds four and five proved the only highlights as Irish driver Shaemus O'Dalliran claimed an excellent 4th at Silverstone before taking a marvellous 3rd on the grid at Brands Hatch. Unfortunately, gearbox failure late in the race robbed the team of a certain podium. The team ended the season with 14 points, lying 8th in the standings.
In 2011, the team lost O'Dalliran to GP2, so resigned themselves with two young drivers with little experience. Mickey Davis took the occasion well, qualifying for all the races and scoring points at Silverstone and Oulton Park, with the 6th place at Silverstone the best result. Team-mate Simon Chadwell fared poorly though, only making the grid in two of the first nine races. In both the races he started, a crash at Snetterton and a 13th place at Brands Hatch forced the team to drop him early. Replacement driver, Italian Vincent Da Setti, fared little better, qualifying only the once in the final race, finishing two laps down in 16th.
Triumph and Tragedy (2012)
2012 showed an upturn in fortunes after Mitie Aviation increased their stake in the team to 80%. This led to the purchase of a brand new Lola chassis and Zytek engine. Along with a brand new factory in Sevenoaks, the team set themselves a target of podiums early on. GP2 team SuperNova lent their reserve driver Nicolai Drubovnik for the season, bringing valuable experience and technical nous. The season started promising enough, a point finish at Silverstone (6th) was followed by the elusive podium at Snetterton at round three. This was also achieved by Dubrovnik. The second car was left vacant for the first four rounds, until French F3 star Ludovik Gistrand took over. The team continued to improve as the season went on. A 4th by Gistrand at Brands Hatch was followed by another 3rd from Dubrovnik at Thruxton. By round seven, midway through the year, Dubrovnik was in 4th place whilst the team were sitting in an excellent 3rd. But tragedy was just around the corner.
Two days before round ten, Dubrovnik was involved in a fatal car crash whilst travelling back from the factory late on Wednesday night. He was pronounced dead at Sevenoaks Hospital, with internal bleeding to cause. This rocked the team to the core. Not only had they lost their best-ever driver, but also a good friend to many of the staff. The team raced on that weekend, with Gistrand driving the sole MA-Racing car. The team removed all sponsors for the weekend and painted the car black as a mark of respect. Gistrand however, failed to reach the finish, engine failure after just 7 laps. The team quickly filled the vacant seat with another Italian pay-driver, Antonio Razzia.
The next three rounds passed quickly, Gistrand scoring a 10th at Oulton Park in round ten. With two races remaining, it was clear the tragic death of Dubrovnic had a significant effect on the teams performances. Razzia failed to qualify for all three races, and was promptly sacked before Silverstone. The second car remained empty for the final two rounds, as the team wanted the season to end as quickly as possible. But Silverstone proved to be a unique event for MA-Racing. Firstly, a wet qualifying threw up a topsy-turvy grid, with many of the front-runners outside the top 10. Gistrand however, was 4th. Dry weather on race day meant the faster cars would eventually make their way through the field so it was crucial Gistrand got a good start. That he did, up to 2nd by the end of lap 1. For lap after lap, Gistrand followed the TechSport car of Davide Strallas, the gap never growing over a second. With just 4 laps remaining, the TechSport car gave up, blowing it's engine and pulling off the track. MA-Racing could hardly believe it. Gistrand slowed the pace down in the final laps, to take a very emotional win. It was his and the team's first win in F3. As a mark of respect, Gistrand took the Russian flag to the podium, remembering his fallen team-mate. There wasn't a dry eye in the house.
The final race at Brands Hatch proved to be an anti-climax for the team. Problems in qualifying hindered Gistrand's progress and he only managed 5 laps on his was to 26th and last on the grid. Problems arose again in the warm-up with the gearbox failing to select first gear and the season was over before the first lap. All-in-all, the season promised so much but delivered nothing but heartache for everyone. The win at Silverstone proved the team still had the pace to compete at the front.
A New Beginning (2013-Present)
For 2013, the team cut back slightly in development and used last years engine and chassis combination. The drivers were Stephen Mackintosh and Matthias Valsattis, younger brother of Formula 1 star Masta. Stephen Mackintosh proved to be an excellent signing, as a win at Thruxton in round two was quickly followed by back-to-back wins at Brands Hatch and Snetterton. By round six, he had amassed nearly 100 points and led the Championship. Valsattis meanwhile, struggled at first, failing to qualify for the first race. But his form and confidence improved gradually. Sadly for the team, Steven Mackintosh injured himself and missed several races, effectively killing off his title chances. Matthias rose to the occasion well though, helping the team with some good point finishes. Before the season was over though, rumours started circulating that Mitie Aviation might be leaving the series and moving to the F1RWRS for 2014. Before the final race of the year at Silverstone, Mr.Alexander confirmed the teams interest in moving to F1RWRS.
F1RWRS
Mitie Aviation Racing were formally accepted into the RWRS two weeks before the first test, quickly buying a chassis and engine from the RWRS database. The team announced Matthias Valsattis will be joined by reserve driver Alexy Pchelintsev, for the beginning of the year at least. The team were put into pre-qualifying, and approached their debut race with excitement and anticipation. But manager Mr.Alexander was quick to point out the mammoth task the team face to make the grid. "We have to remain optimistic at all times, it's going to be difficult to make the grid. There's a lot of established teams around us."
Early races prove uphill struggle:
The first race of the 2014 season took place as the Tasman Grand Prix in Australia. The team were confident of posting competitive times. As it turned out, Valsattis and Pchelintsev ended the pre-qualifying session in a disappointing 11th and 12th place, around 4.5 seconds off the fastest times. At the second race, held at the fantatic Mount Panorama circuit in Australia, Valsattis showed a slight improvement to be just 2.3 of the pace, but still down in the midfield in 10th place. Alexey Pchelintsev was a further second behind Matthias, finishing the day in 13th. Clearly, the team were never going to be world beaters straightaway, but the team were still disapponted to make no obvious improvement without changes.
Driver changes and Pre-Qualifying Cup:
Before the third race at the Nelson Piquet International circuit in Brazil, Mr. Alexander announced Pchelintsev was being dropped and Steven Mackintosh would make a dramatic return, less than 4 months after leaving the team after the F3 season. Mackintosh had remained with the team as an official tester, but jumped at the chance to help MA Racing move up the pre-qualifying field. Whilst Valsattis struggled with understeer and gearbox issues to end up 13th, Mackintosh put the car into a morale-boosting 7th place, less than 1.7 seconds away from the fastest time. The team were delighted to have placed that high, mixing it with the Phoenix car of The Stig and the Acuri of Mignolet. MA-Racing again showed good speed at Mexico for round 4. Unfortunately for Valsattis, he still placed 10th after setting a time just 1.7 of the pace. However, he was less than 2 tenths away from 6th. Mackintosh meanwhile, suffered a session from hell. A crash in the practice session limited his set-up time, then driveshaft and gearbox issues meant he had just 2 laps to post a time. He finished last but one, setting a time nearly 4 seconds away from pole.
After Mexico, Mr. Alexander still needed more funding to improve the car. Despite the engine upgrade after Australia, money was tight and reliability wasn't good. Therefore, F3RWRS driver David Neuberg was promoted to the main team for round 5 onwards. David had been competing in the junior series for Mitie Aviation alongside Torbani with mixed results. David also brought much needed sponsorship from his personal family sponsor Drubnik. Mr. Alexander immediately commissioned a further engine upgrade, whilst the team also brought in a new technical director and race engineer for both drivers, helping as best they could to get maximum speed out of the cars.
The team moved onto round 5, held at Long Beach USA. Before Friday though, it became apparant that some of the teams mired in pre-qualifying, mainly MA-Racing, began discussions with the F1RWRS Council over helping those at the back with more money. Several ideas were bandied around, including changing the TV prize money around (leaving those finishing at the back claiming more money that those at the front) and allowing the end of season prize money to be filtered further down the order. It was finally Mr.Alexander's idea that began to pick up pace. A Pre-Qualifying Cup for those at the back to compete in. The idea was simple: those that set a time in the top 8 score points and at the end of the year, extra money would be given to those that performed best. At first, many teams were reluctant to run with the proposal, mainly due to the same idea being scrapped early 2010, but Mr.Alexander finally got the majority vote and the Cup wa launched. Whilst teams like Acuri and Phoenix picked up a good haul of points early on, thanks to Mackintosh's 7th place at Mexico, MA-Racing had two points to sit in 8th place.
Neuberg the star on debut:
It was clear that Neuberg was brought to the team for his money rather than his skill, but the young German proved to everyone that he also had a fair bit of speed. An excellent pre-qualifying session saw him claim a fantastic 4 points with 5th place, beating such drivers as Acuri's Mignolet, Prospec's Gary Cameron and Mecha's Saeed Al Faisal. It was a brilliant performance that oh-so nearly put Mitie into the main qualifying draw. Valsattis sadly had more problems with his car and languished down in 13th. Neuberg meanwhile, addmitted he couldve been further up the order, as he lost 3 tenths on his quickest lap. The extra 4 points moved Mitie up to a provisonal 10th place out of 11 teams. But with half of those above not yet meeting the '4 pre-qualifying rounds' rule, Mitie look good for more much-needed cash at season end.
Results
F1RWRS
Year | Chassis | Engine | # | Driver | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | CC | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | MA-01 | Ford DFR | TAS | AUS | BRA | MEX | USA | MON | FRA | GBR | GER | BEL | ITA | MED | NDS | MAC | CHI | JPN | =15th | 0 | ||
34 | Matthias Valsattis | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNQ | |||||||
Ashley Watkinson | DNPQ | DNPQ | ||||||||||||||||||||
35 | Alexey Pchelintsev | DNPQ | DNPQ | |||||||||||||||||||
Steven Mackintosh | DNPQ | DNPQ | ||||||||||||||||||||
David Neuberg | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | Ret | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | 11 | DNPQ | DNPQ |
F2RWRS
F3RWRS
*Season currently in progress
Year | Chassis | Engine | # | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Points | TC |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | MA-Junior 001 | Holden | AUS | USA | GBR | GER | BEL | CHN | SUR | 9th | 18 | ||||||||||||||
Massimiliano Torbani | 10 | ret | 20 | 14 | ret | X | ret | X | X | 10 | ret | X | |||||||||||||
Ashley Lilly | 28 | 1 | 13 | 14 | 25 | X | 23 | ||||||||||||||||||
Harry Austin | 13 | NC | 13 | Ret | ret | ret | 29 | NC | X | 23 | 3 | 12 | 12 | ||||||||||||
2015 | KJ-002 | Holden | AUS | USA | TUR | MON | GBR | GER | SPA | ITA | JPN | SUR | 0 | ?? | |||||||||||
TBA | TBA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
TBA | TBA |
Rejects of LFS
Year | Chassis | Engine | # | Driver | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | DC | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | Scaven S15 | Toyota-Judd 3.0 V8 | 30 | Matthias Valsattis | BLA HEA 2 |
BLA FEA 17 |
WES HEA |
WES FEA |
FER HEA |
FER FEA |
SOU HEA |
SOU FEA |
AST HEA |
AST FEA |
KYO HEA |
KYO FEA |
KYO 300 |
8th* | 3* |