CR Motorsport

CR Motorsport was a Spanish team best known for winning the inaugural Formula 1 Rejects World Race Series race, the 2010 German Grand Prix. The rest of the team's existence was characterised by mediocrity, frequently propping up the rear of the grid. Darren Older Jr drove for the team in every race it entered over a period of four years. The team was sold at the end of the 2013 season and became Tropico Grand Prix, but returned in 2016 under the John Laurinaitis' People Power brand, only to withdrew before the last three races.

History in the F1RWRS

The team was founded by soccer legend and motorsport fan Cristiano Ronaldo. Known for his interest in motorsport, John and Frank Zimmer invited the legend to enter a team into their newly created racing series, the F1RWRS. After finding local investors, he gladly accepted and CR Motorsport was entered as one of the ten founding teams for the inaugural 2010 season. The team signed up British pair Ashley Watkinson and pay driver Darren Older Jr, the first of his kind in the series. CR weren't expected to be troubling the top of the timesheets too often, with a fairly conservative in-house chassis and a customer supply of Ford engines. They took everyone by surprise at the first race of the year however, when Watkinson took a sensational victory having started 9th on the grid.

Over the remainder of the season, Watkinson was able to consistently finish in the points, though after his and the team's maiden win, he never troubled positions higher than 5th, and ended up in 9th place in the drivers' championship by the season's end. In comparison, Older Jr. struggled, only scoring twice, with two 8th places at Luxembourg and Belgium. Consequently, CR weren't able to mount a strong challenge in the constructors' championship, and finished 7th overall, with a total of 33 points. The reality was however that this would turn out to be CR's highest finish to a season in its lifetime.

Watkinson wasn't happy with the team's performance though, and left the team at the end of 2010, looking for a more competitive drive, subsequently signing to drive for the Pacchia team. Older Jr remained as CR's sole driver for the 2011 season, and despite a new chassis, with the team keeping the same Ford EDA engines from 2010, they struggled. A fifth place at Zandvoort was their best result all year, with Older Jr only able to score on a further two occasions, as well as failing to pre-qualify six times. As a result, CR slid down the standings, ending up in 18th place overall with a paltry 8 points to show for their 2011 efforts. As far as Larry Walker was concerned, it simply wasn't good enough.

The CR F212, the car that brought CR it's second and final victory.

Retiring from the team on the back of their dismal 2011 campaign, Ronaldo sold CR and Eliseo Ortega, a Basque investor, took overall control. Damon Cannon joined the team to partner Older Jr, and a new chassis, the CR F212, alongside new Ford EDB engines suggested that CR were on the up for 2012. This belief gained momentum when Older Jr won his first race and set the fastest lap on the way at the season-opening Bavarian Grand Prix. The bubble was soon burst though for as far as points were concerned, Cannon scored the team's second and last points finish with 8th place at the Nurburgring. With 18 DNPQs from a total of 32 entries, the early points were enough to keep CR in the midfield for the constructors' championship, finishing joint 11th, but didn't hide the fact that it was an otherwise awful 2012 season.

Things got progressively worse during the 2013 season. The ever-faithful Older Jr remained as his sponsors continued to come up with the goods, whilst another pay driver, Andrea Massini was initially signed on a race-by-race basis. By the fifth race of the year, the Monaco GP, Massini's money had run out, and another Italian pay driver, Fredo Mestolio, whose manager was Chris Dagnall, was brought in for the rest of the year. Despite the boost in finances, the CR F213 chassis and new Life engines were woefully inadequate and the team failed to qualify for a single race all year. Once pushed into pre-qualifying for the second half of the year, CR racked up a full house of DNPQs. Even a major sponsorship deal with MasterCard secured prior to the British Grand Prix failed to bring about any improvement at all. A surprising turn of fate though introduced the leader of the island republic Tropico, El Presidente, to the effort, culminating in a takeover of the team by a German council under direct command of El Presidente at the end of 2013. The team was renamed Tropico Grand Prix, and began competition in 2014. Dispute over Tropico's refusal to have Barii Mori drive for the team ended the Tropico association, and the CR name returned in 2016 under control of wrestler John Laurinaitis and his People Power brand. The team scored their last point ever in the New South Wales Grand Prix and left the sport for good before after the Mexican round, having sold their chassis to Equipe Gauthier.

Complete F1RWRS Results

Year	Chassis	Engine	#	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Points	CC
2010	CR F210	Ford EDA			GER	LUX	SAX	CHN	TAS	BHR	BEL	GBR	AUS								33	7th
			18	Ashley Watkinson	1	5	10	6	10	10	13	8	12
			19	Darren Older Jr	12	8	17	19	18	18	8	16	15
2011	CR F211	Ford EDA			BAV	GER	SAX	LUX	BEL	GBR	ENG	KEN	NED	TAS	AUS	NSW	SUR	CHN	USA		8	18th
			11	Darren Older Jr	16	11	8	Ret	9	12	DNPQ	DNPQ	5	DNPQ	DNS	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	6
2012	CR F212	Ford EDB			BAV	SAX	GER	LUX	BEL	NED	GBR	KEN	ENG	TAS	SUR	NSW	AUS	CHN	USA	500	17	=11th
			31	Darren Older Jr	1	DNPQ	14	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	18	Ret	DNPQ	DNPQ	9	DNPQ	DNPQ	Ret
			32	Damon Cannon	DNPQ	DNPQ	17	8	DNPQ	15	DNPQ	DNPQ	12	Ret	16	22	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	Ret
2013	CR F213	Life W12			TAS	AUS	MEX	USA	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	NED	BEL	POR	MED	MAC	CHN	JPN	BRA	0	=17th
			32	Darren Older Jr	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ
			33	Andrea Massini	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
				Fredo Mestolio					DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ