Autoworld Blog

A new dawn in the history of Korean motorsport rose yesterday as the new A1 Team Korea officially unveiled its entry into the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at a launch ceremony in Seoul.
 
More than 500 guests from Korea’s political, business and entertainment world attended the event on Wednesday evening, enjoying a five-course banquet and the large-scale on-stage production that heralded the Republic of Korea’s first step into international motorsport competition in A1GP this season.
 
Seat-holder Jung-Yong Kim, whose entry first announced at the Shanghai A1GP event in April, said: “Launching A1 Team Korea will open a new chapter in Korea’s automotive industry, and add pride for our nation. We want to popularise motorsports in Korea, and the nation versus nation concept is ideal.”
 
A1GP CEO, Pete de Silva, also addressed the crowd. “Korea, as the fifth biggest manufacturer of cars, is a powerhouse in the automotive world,” he said. “Adding motorsport to that has always been an ambition of A1GP, and we’re delighted that Mr Kim has achieved that.”
 
Alongside a show car with its new livery for the start of the season, the team also unveiled the men who will form its driving squad. The primary driver will be Hwang Jin-Woo, 25, a former single-seater racer who currently competes in the Japanese-based Super GT series. He will be backed up by promising 18-year-old driver Sung-Hak Mun, who currently races in the UK in Formula Renault.
 
Long-time motorsport team boss, Trevor Carlin, whose operation will oversee the technical running of the team, said: “It’s a hugely exciting chapter for Korean motorsport. Our team contains much motorsport experience, and we look forward to using all this to develop the young Korean driving and engineering talent.”
 
Representatives of A1 Team China and A1 Team Malaysia attended the launch to show support for the latest addition to A1GP from the Asia-Pacific region.

 A1 Team Malaysia’s Azrai Razuan said: “On behalf of all Asian teams participating in the series we welcome Korea with open arms. This is good news for the series and it is great news for Asian motorsport.”

WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R

The Super GT International Series In Malaysia, Round 4 of the 2008 Autobacs Super GT, was held at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia on June 22 and the WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R driven by the pair of Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira and Seiji Ara came through to win its first race of the season in the GT500 class. This was the second consecutive victory for this team at the Sepang round. 

The race started a 16:00 in the late afternoon to avoid the mid-day tropical heat. Starting from 4th position on the grid, Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira did the first stint at the wheel of the WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R and passed one machine on the first lap to move into 3rd position. He brought the machine into the pit on the 25th lap and turned over the wheel to teammate Seiji Ara. Ahead of Ara, the 1st and 2nd place qualifiers, the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R and the ARTA NSX, were battling for the lead, but the two machines collided when the NSX was trying to pass the GT-R. The NSX was given a drive-trough penalty  for this, which enabled Ara to move into 2nd position. Then on the 50th lap, when the leading MOTUL AUTECH GT-R lost acceleration momentarily exiting the second corner, Ara passed it and raced onto the checkered an victory at the at the end of the 54th lap.

MOTUL AUTECH GT-R

This is the first victory for MOTUL AUTECH GT-R since last year’s round four at Sepang in June. Thus it is also the second consecutive victory for this team at the Sepang round. It is also the second Super GT win for the team managed by former Japanese celebrity Masahiko Kondo, popularly known as Match. For Nissan GT-R teams, this is the third victory of the season, following wins at the season opener and round two. It is also the third 1-2 victory for the GT-R.

The GT300 class victory went to the No. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA driven by Tetsuya Yamano and Kota Sasaki. This was the first Super GT win for the IMPREZA since September of 1998 (Round 5, Motegi).

CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA

==Winner Comments==
 
No. 24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R [GT500]
Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira: “Fantastic! Nothing can beat this feeling. The team, the crew, the tires, everything was in great condition, so I was confident we could win. Last year, ours was a come-from-behind win. But this year the lead machines were also very fast and it was a difficult race where we had to push, push and push the whole race.”
 
Seiji Ara: “As a team, we were aiming for a win here at Sepang. Our Yokohama tires were better in every aspect compared to last year, and that helped us go into the race more aggressively than ever. De Oliviera got us a good position in yesterday’s qualifying and he turned the machine over to me today in a good position, which made things easier for us. Both the machine and the tires performed with good consistency and we expected to have a close competition with the other GT-R machines, but it looks like we had more to spare than machine No. 22. The performance was especially good in the low-speed turns, and when No. 22 made a mistake, I was able to pass it with no sweat.”

Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira, Masahiko Kondo & Seiji Ara
 

No. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA [GT300]
Tetsuya Yamano: “Kota [Sasaki] got the pole position for us, so I had a very easy start. The team had told me to go out and get us a 15-second margin and I was able to do that, so it was a perfect race for me. Two years ago, our team manager, Mr. Omizo, brought me to this team saying that he wanted me to help them win with the Impreza. Last year we tried but couldn’t turn the effort into results. This year the machine has been very good, so we really wanted that first win, and everyone on the team was determined that this race at Sepang would be it. Everyone did there job to give us this win. I am really happy.”
 
Kota Sasaki: “This is the first time in my life that I have gotten three wins at one event. It has been a fantastic weekend. I am really grateful to all the staff on the team. Yamano-san got us a good margin over 2nd place, but our pit work takes time, so things were very close. I knew the machine was fast, and that made things easier for me mentally, but there were some worries about the durability of the course of a full race, so I was paying full attention to everything. For me this was just another win, but when I think about how long and hard the team has worked for this win, I really feel the weight of it.” 

Kouta Sasaki & Tetsuya Yamano

RACE RESULTS TOP 3
[GT500 CLASS]
1. 24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R ~ J.P.L.De Oliveira/S.Ara
2. 22 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R ~ M.Krumm/M.Yanagida
3. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX ~ R.Michigami/T.Kogure

[GT300 CLASS]
1. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA ~ T.Yamano/K.Sasaki
2. 46 MOLA LEOPALACE Z ~ K.Hoshino/H.Yasuda
3. 7 ORC AMEMIYA SGC-7 ~ H.Iiri/R.Orime

ORC AMEMIYA SGC-7

TAKATA DOME NSX

MOLA LEOPALACE Z

(more…)

Desperate for championship points, Michael Krumm took his NISMO Nissan GT-R to the top of the grid after taking pole position in qualifying at the 2008 Super GT International Series Malaysia at Sepang Circuit today.

“It will be good to win tomorrow; but what’s more important is to collect as much championship points as possible,” said Michael, who would be seeking his second win in Sepang after topping the inaugural race in 2000.

Partnering Masataka Yanagida, Michael said that starting from pole position would provide them ‘the prime position’ to take control of the race; but he was quick to add that it would be a very tough race tomorrow.

“The race is going to be very hot and very tough. The Honda machines have always been fast in Sepang and I expect them to be very quick as well tomorrow. However, we have a very good car and we are ready to go all out for victory,” said Michael, who clocked 1 minute 55.155 seconds around the 5.543-km Sepang Circuit.

A two-time overall champion, Krumm also said that he benefited from his early stay in Malaysia when he joined Sepang International Circuit and the GTA team in some promotional activities for the race.

“It’s good to be here early and get acclimatized for the race. The weather here is very hot and challenging. I also had a lot of training during my stay here and that obviously helped me,” said Michael who arrived in Kuala Lumpur last Friday.

Sixth in the overall standings and failing to collect a single point in the last two races, Michael said that he would need to score points in all upcoming rounds because the rules would take into account only seven best results from the nine rounds. 

Former F1 driver Ralph Firman, driving a Honda NSX, was second fastest with a time 1 minute 55.356 seconds and Toshiro Kaneishi, in another Honda NSX machine, was third fastest with a time of 1 minute 55.443 seconds.

Representing Team Cusco Racing, Kuota Sasaki was fastest in the GT300 class with a time of 2 minutes 7.530 seconds in his Subaru Impreza machine.

Sepang hosts Round 4 of the nine-round championship and the race tomorrow starts at 4pm

SUPER LAP - RESULTS
Top Five Finishers

GT 500
1. MOTUL AUTECH GT-R - Michael Krumm
2. ARTA NSX - Ralph Firman
3. REAL NSX - Toshihiro Kaneishi
4. WOODONE ADVAN CLARION GT-R - Joao Paulo Lima
5. TAKATA DOME NSX - Takashi Kogure

GT 300
1. CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZ - Kota Sasaki          
2. RACING PROJECT BANDOH - Manabu Orido         
3. ARATA Garaiya - Shinichi Takagi      
4. JIM GAINER - Tetsuya Tanaka       
5. TEAM DAISHIN - Takayuki Aoki

Two-time Sepang Super GT winner Michael Krumm today provided a sneak preview of the hot battle awaiting at the upcoming 2008 Super GT International Series Malaysia at Sunway Pyramid and immediately declared that he was ready to claim his third victory on Malaysian soil.

Driving the Xanavi NISMO Skyline race machine, Krumm, who is a two-time overall champion, thrilled the crowd at the open car park area as he drummed the machine to its thunderous roar and making squeeking ‘dough-nut’ spins around the open car park area.

Speaking at a press conference before the Street Demo, the German driver said the 2008 Nissan GT-R machine would be ‘much more powerful’ than the one used at the street demo; adding the race in Sepang would be an exciting thrilling affair for the fans.

“What you are about to see here will just be a small portion of the real action that would be happening in Sepang next weekend; it’s just to give you a feeling of the atmosphere of the race,” said Krumm, who would be partnering Japan’s Masataka Yanagida for the race.

Sepang hosts Round 4 of a nine-round 2008 Super GT International Series, which Krumm said had not started to well for the team; leaving them in sixth position with 18 points. The series is currently led by their Nismo Xanavi team-mates Satoshi Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer with 48 points.

After coming in second in the opening race in Suzuka, Krumm and Yanagida crashed in Round 2 at Okayama International Circuit and failed to score a single point in Round 3 at Fuji Speedway last month.

“I am looking forward to the Sepang race next weekend and for a change of luck for the remaining of the season. We would be going all out for the win and there is a 70 percent chance that we could do it,” said Krumm, who won in Sepang at the inaugural race in 2000 and in 2004 – all in a Nissan NISMO machine.

“In general, Sepang track favour the Honda NSX machines, so they would be strong. Having said that, it is very difficult to predict as the Super GT races over the last few years have been very close,” said Krumm, who hoped it does not rain next Sunday.

“I hope it will be very, very hot and very, very dry … I love it hot and dry,” said Krumm, who said that he had always liked the Sepang track because of its combination of fast and slows corners and its width that provide opportunities to try different racing lines.

Born on March 19, 1970, Krumm made an immediate impact in his racing debut in the German Formula Ford 1600 and won the German Formula Ford Series champion in the following year.

In 1990, he won the German Formula Opel Lotus Series champion and in 1993, Krumm won the All Japan F3 Championship before winning his first Japan GT crown in 1997.

“I have enjoyed my racing in Japan very much and I hope to continue to do this in a couple more years. It has been fun and exciting,” added Krumm.

London, Great Britain - The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport car for the 2008/09 season continued its intensive testing programme this week with two days at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola.

Following on from successful tests at Fiorano, the Ferrari test track in Italy, Andrea Bertolini has been back behind the wheel of the Powered by Ferrari car, putting it through its paces at Imola.

This is the first time the car has run outside the confines of Fiorano but feedback continues to be positive with the car running on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

Testing will continue next week with five-days running scheduled at Guadix Circuit, a recently constructed facility in Spain. The three-kilometre track near Granada has a good mix of fast and slow corners with varying cambers and a 750-metre main straight set against the stunning back drop of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

A1GP General Manager, Technical and Operations, John Wickham: “We’ve completed about 900-kilometres of testing so far and everything is going relatively smoothly. The car is performing very well and the driver is happy with it; the balance is good and the tyres are working well. We haven’t done as much testing as we hoped but that’s partly because we were waiting on the weather at Fiorano. We ended up just running in the rain in the end but the car looked very quick in the wet!  In general the car has been very reliable. We look forward to five consecutive days running next week with the tight Guadix Circuit ideal for further testing of the handling of the car. ”

The official pre-season testing for all the teams will take place at Silverstone on 18 - 20 August 2008 and Mugello on 17 - 18 September 2008.

Their decision to race a car that was not 100 per cent ready drew some attention from the WRC fraternity, after all this is a ahighly competitive world and coming into the fray with second best is very nearly suicide.

But as it turned out, the new super hatchback was good enough to come in second to the all conquering Sebastian Loeb and his Citroen.

Subaru Morld Rally Team Boss, Dave Richards was clearly pleased with the result and to him the spectacular result showed that they are moving in the right direction and that the car has huge potential, especially when it s properly ready in the next few rounds.

“Many thought our decision to come here was risky but I’d like to pay tribute to the tireless efforts of our test team whose efforts have been totally vindicated,” he said. “We are now onto the next stage of development for the WRC2008. We’ve completed the first event, and the many lessons we have learned here will stand us in good stead for the second half of the season.”

Richards also revealed that Chris Atkinson was running a different set up on his WRC2008 when he recorded the model’s first stage win on SS14. “Chris continued his development and testing of the car today and tried a few new things that proved successful,” said Richards.

Following his retirement with suspension damage on Saturday Atkinson was keen to prove a point this morning. But after his fastest time on the day’s opener, the Australian spun on the next stage and retired after damaging his rear suspension on a rock.

“It’s was a good to get the first stage win for the new car on its first rally,” said Atkinson. “We wanted to see what the car would do and it felt good this morning, which showed in the speed. We can be faster though as there is still more to come. When we get the package just right we’ll be a lot faster still.”

Declaring that the Super GT International Series is the best racing series in the world, visiting GT Queens Ayami Sasaki and Kotomi Kurosawa say that they are enjoying every moment of their association with the series and are very excited with the upcoming Malaysian round at Sepang Circuit from June 20 to 22.
 
As the official GT Queens for the 2008 Super GT International Series Malaysia, Ayami and Kotomi, who prefer to be called Amie and Tomie, are ambassadors and key promoters for the event. And, they would be leading the other GT Queens at the grid presentation on Race Day. 
 
“Super GT is very good. It’s No. 1 (in the world). We love Super GT … we love to become GT Queens,” says the 20-year old who also works as a part-time model and dancer in Tokyo and occasionally follows the Formula One World Championship.
 
Despite her limited English vocabularies, Amie was crystal clear in explaining herself why she loves the series. “I like racing … I like race cars,” Amie said expressively as she held up both her hands; trying to gimmick some driving maneuvers to stress the point.
 
The introduction of both Amie and Tomie as the official GT Queens were made at the official launch of the 2008 Super GT International Series Malaysia, which was performed by Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob at the ministry in Putrajaya (30 May) today. 
 
Amie said : “Super GT (is) good (because) it got many beautiful cars,” said Amie in clear reference of the massive numbers of participating stylish race cars; featuring all of the world top sports car models from the auto makers of Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Subaru, Ford, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche.
 
“Super GT got good drivers … all famous drivers,” she said, adding she like all the drivers and all the competing teams without any preferences. “I like all of the drivers,” said Amie, who dreams of driving her own Ferrari car.
 
First introduced in 1994 as a local series as the All Japan GT Championship, the series had grown into a prominent international series; drawing top international drivers with the likes of former F1 driver Ralph Firman, Michael Krumm, Erik Comas, Richard Lyons, Andre Lotterer, Andre Coute, Peter Dumbreck, Frenchmen Benoit Treliyer and Sebastian Phillipe, and Bjorn Wirdheim.      
 
Since 2002, Sepang hosts an official championship round of the series and the 2008 International Series Malaysia would be Round 4 of a nine-round championship this year. As a championship round, drivers and teams pushed their cars to the limit to secure maximum points in their effort to win the overall crown. 
 
While Amie is impressed with the drivers, Tomie spoke highly of the mechanics and the supporting team crew. “I like the mechanics,” as she gestured some tyre-changing actions during a pitstop.  
 
With the race running up to 300kms and two drivers to a car, activities at the pits especially the driver change and pit-stops added more live and colour to the highly entertaining Super GT International Series.  
 
Having worked with Team Toyota Kraft for three years in 2005, 2006 and 2007, Tomie had understandably picked the No #35 Toyota Lexus SC430 racecar as her favourite with the Scottish Dumbrek as her top driver.   
 
And, having come to Sepang for the past three years, Tomie rated the Malaysian track as No 1 in her list of favourite race tracks; upstaging the likes of Fuji Speedway, Suzuka, Sportsland Sugo, Autopolis and Twin Ring Motegi in Japan.
 
“Sepang is big and beautiful. I loves coming to Sepang,” said Tomie, who also declared that she would always prefer the sunny and hot Malaysia weather than the cold, chilling air at the Japanese race tracks.
 
“Hot weather good … makes you active,” said Tomie, adding that the entire Team Toyota Kraft also loved coming to race in Sepang. “They also love Sepang … they like (to) race in Sepang,” added the 25-year old Tomie, who hailed from Nagasaki.

For round seven of the World Rally Championship, you will see this car tearing about. Subaru is ready to unleash their latest Impreza STI on the world rally scene and they will bare all tech details on May28, the day before the rally so don’t forget to visit us then.

Subaru says the new car is “the most radically different Subaru World Rally Car in 15 years”, the Impreza WRC2008 will be driven at the Acropolis Rally by Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson.

Also gone with the old car is the famous blue-yellow colour scheme, they went modern and chose grey on blue instead.

Prepped by Dave Richard’s outfit in the UK, this car should give us an idea why Subaru changed their mind and approach so radically and gave us a hatchback instead of a saloon. If it performs better then everything makes sense, if not…well back to the drawing boards boys…no you don’t get to go back to your computers…..you screwed up.

Here is what Dave Richards have to say about the car;

“We are very excited to be able to launch the all-new Impreza WRC2008 ahead of schedule.

“It is testament to the dedication and commitment of the team behind the scenes in the UK and at STI in Japan. Just as the latest Impreza road car represents a new era for Subaru so the WRC2008 represents a new era for all of us at the Subaru World Rally Team and I am confident that we will arrive in Greece able to fight competitively.

FUTURE CHAMPS: The Minister (centre sitting on minibike) with some of the minibikers

That’s all motorsports development is getting this this year. Now I know that four million may sound like a lot of money but for any kind of sports development it is not a lot of money.

When you consider that this amount has to be spread thin over the whole of motorsports development then it is pittance. it’s like spending RM4 million on athletics development for a whole year, it would not even pay for coaches salary.

WE WOULD LIKE MORE: Azman says they will ask for a bigger sum next year so this year has to be a success.

The Money is being channeled through the Motorsports Association of Malaysia which also comes under the Motorsports Commission of Malaysia under Datuk Azman Yahya.

We asked him why he was spending so little he said he had asked for more but the Government is only willing to spend so much.

Azman said they will use this year to prove to the Government that they can make a difference and maybe that will convince the Government to give them more money.

GOOD PROGRAMME: Ismail Sabri liked MAM’s plans and what he saw at the launch

We hope that Youth and Sports Minister, Datuk Sabri Ismail Yaakob is listening. After all we spend so much more on other things. In fact I was told that one motorsports promoter was given RM4 million for his race series.

Surely if it takes RM4 million to organise one race series, it is going to take a lot more to develop all of motorsports in this country.

The MAM plan covers two and four wheels and takes into account many levels from pure grassroot to intermediate level motorsports.

START THEM YOUNG: Minibike riders can be as young as five but to compete they must be at least 7 years old

One example of grassroot motorsports that’s getting some of the funding is minibikes, this is a fantastic low-cost motorsport for everyone, for less than RM1,500 you can buy a machine.

Other grassroot two wheel sports getting MAM support is Motocross and Scooter prix.

On the ntermediate level they are looking at the 125 Supersport Production Series which is being organised by MotoMilia.

Moto Milia is building this series on the success of their 50cc series which they funded privately.

EARLY EXPOSURE IS CRITICAL: Young drivers have more time to learn and perfect their skills

Four-wheel support will start at go-kart level and will comprise of talent search programmes held at various kart rircuits in the country, mostly in the Klang Valley.

Each circuit is suppose to start with a pool of 50 youngsters and whittle the number down to a handful of really good drivers.

CARPARK WARRIORS: Autocross is a good for development and it’s fun for everyone

Up one notch, they are looking at suporting Grass Racing’s carpark Autocross events which is considered a good-low-cost intermediate motorsports involving real cars. They are also supporting rally sprint series which will be organised by MAM.

Datuk Azman appears to have a clear idea of what he wants and that is to have our talents groomed for international competition and understands the obstacles involved and are working towards solving them, chief among those is getting more corporate support for motorsports.

RM4 million is not the start that a lot of motorsports fan have been expecting but it is the first step and we will all have to lend our support to MCM to help make the first year programme a success so that they can persuade the Government to give them more funding for motorsports development next year.

Last year A1 GP announced that their cars from the 2008-2oo9 season onwards would be powered by Ferrari engines and have chassis that will enjoy input from Maranello.

It was a great publicity generator, after all everyone likes Ferrari and it would be a treat to hear 20 Ferrari engine screaming at the top of theri lungs.

This yellow car, according to A1GP is based on the F204 chassis which featured very clean aerodynamics and ground breaking engine-gearbox packaging that allowed it to have a very low engine cover.

Below is the full Press release

London, Great Britain - A1GP World Cup of Motorsport has revealed the first image of its brand new ‘Powered by Ferrari’ car for use in season four (2008/09). The CAD drawing was released ahead of the car’s inaugural shakedown test in Southern England.

A1GP’s own tv commentator and Formula One legend, John Watson, will have the honour of driving the car for the first time, powered by a V8 Ferrari engine producing in the region of 600 bhp.

The chassis is based on the design of the highly successful F2004 chassis, incorporating A1GP’s core values to deliver close, exciting racing among a competitive field where overtaking is an essential part of the entertainment.

A1GP Technical Director, John Travis, is overseeing the design, development and production of the car from premises in Bognor Regis in the UK, with Rory Byrne acting as a consultant. Meanwhile the work on the manufacture and supply of the A1GP engine is being overseen by Ferrari’s Jean-Jacques His.

The Powered by Ferrari project was first announced on 11 October 2007 when the most famous name in motorsport signed a six-year agreement to manufacture and supply all A1GP engines for this unique series and provide consultancy on the design of all A1GP chassis from season four onwards.

Speaking ahead of the shakedown and what will be an intensive testing programme for the new car and engine, Tony Teixeira, Chairman of A1GP, said:

‘Everyone is very excited about this project and it will be fantastic to see the new A1GP powered by Ferrari car turn a wheel for the first time on Friday. We obviously still have a lot of work to do as this is just the first step in what will be an intense development and testing programme, but I am very happy with the progress made so far. We have a small, dedicated group of people in Bognor Regis and are very lucky to be able to use some well known motor racing companies for certain areas of expertise. I am pleased to say we are on schedule and we will be announcing the date of the official unveiling of the car soon.’