Geoffrey Harris•3 Oct 2014

NEWS

MOTORSPORT: Blowin' in the wind

F1 to the Max as 17-year-old on track, but it may be minimal at Suzuka by Sunday; and V8s on the way out of major touring car series overseas

Typhoon threat to GP, Caterham on ropes, kid flies

An ill wind is blowing through Formula One – and winds of change through the world of touring car racing.

A typhoon threatens to disrupt, even cancel, this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, with the prospect of winds up to 240kmh as well as torrential rain. The race cannot be postponed beyond Sunday because the show has to move on for the new Russian GP at Sochi a week later.

Backmarker team Caterham, which has gone almost five seasons without scoring a world championship point, appears on the verge of collapse after bailiffs seized equipment from its base at Leafield in central England midweek.

And, as Max Verstappen made his debut in today's first practice session at Suzuka just three days after his 17th birthday (he hands the Toro Rosso car back to Jean-Eric Vergne for the rest of the weekend), speculation has heightened that Fernando Alonso may depart Ferrari after five years without winning a world title with the Italian team.

Honda is keen to secure Alonso for its return to F1 with McLaren next year, while Red Bull Racing and Lotus have been touted as other possible homes for the Spanish two-time world champion widely regarded as the best driver in F1.

Honda this week issued the first image of its V6 power unit and will release a video of it over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Verstappen clocked the 12th fastest time of the 22 drivers in first practice at Suzuka. The son of Dutch veteran of 106 GPs Jos Verstappen, the teenager was only 0.443secs slower than Russian teammate Daniil Kvyat but the Renault power unit in his car failed towards the end of the session.

The new Verstappen will replace Vergne in the team next year and become the youngest F1 race driver by almost two years when he debuts in Melbourne in March.

Germany, Japan axe V8 tourers – omen for Oz?

Germany's DTM – the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, generally regarded as the world's premier touring car championship – is to drop V8 engines at the end of 2016 and move to smaller turbocharged motors.

So too will Japan's Super GT series – and the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is likely to follow suit in America.

What is being called the new Class One to begin in Germany and Japan in 2017 will stipulate two-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged engines that will generate about 600 horsepower.

The big change comes as V8 Supercars contemplates its future regulations – perhaps away from 5-litre, eight-cylinder engines too, or maybe keeping them but allowing other configurations as well. There also is the prospect of the Australian series allowing coupes like Ford's Mustang that will go on sale here next year. Also in the melting pot, it seems, is another change to the ownership structure of V8 Supercars, which private equity company Archer Capital has owned two-thirds of for 3½ years.

The DTM has long run four-litre V8s and since the start of this year has had common chassis and aerodynamic regulations with Japan's Super GT.

Hans Werner Aufrecht, chairman of DTM organiser ITR (and founder of Mercedes-Benz associate AMG and 75-year-old operator of its HWA racing operation that did much of the initial work on Erebus Motorsport's Mercedes E63 V8 Supercars), said the uniform rules would open the way for teams to compete in other championships without major modifications.

"The agreement between the leading car manufacturers in Germany and Japan is an important milestone on the way to a set of joint, globally-implemented Class One regulations," Aufrecht said.

"It's up to the manufacturers to decide if they want to let their Class One vehicle race at Suzuka today, at the Nurburgring next week and at Daytona in a fortnight.

"This possibility provides totally new marketing opportunities for the manufacturers.

"And the joint name, Class One, is an important component, the [clamp] that is holding it all together.

"We are going to demonstrate our common ground, in Europe, Japan and the USA, with this distinctive name.

"All these moves will help us achieving a variety of brands never witnessed before at the highest technical level and, consequently, we will provide the crowds even more fascinating motorsport.

"Isn't it a fantastic perspective that spectacular racing cars such as the DTM vehicles can be run all over the world at reasonable costs in the future?"

Ricciardo reckons Suzuka is 'a delight – a dream'

Australia's F1 star Daniel Ricciardo is certainly hoping that the Japanese GP goes ahead because Suzuka is one of his favourite circuits.

"Suzuka is all good, but for me the first sector is just a delight," Ricciardo said.

"It's a dream. You have those fast changes of directions through the esses, hard around the Dunlop Curve and then, arguably the best bit, turns eight and nine: [the section known as] Degner.

"Through eight you're hanging on – it's so narrow and there's no room for error – but you want to push as hard as you can.

"Then, just as you straighten up the car, you're on the brakes, throwing it into this cambered right-hander and hoping you've got it right – because if you haven't it's all over.

"Getting to do that 53 times in a row is a pretty good way to earn a living.

"What you don't see on TV is that it's a real rollercoaster, dropping into valleys and climbing up again, so that you're rarely on a level surface."

Ricciardo's Red Bull-Renault teammate Sebastian Vettel has won three GPs at Suzuka and holds it in similar high regard, saying it's the only circuit in the F1 world championship that compares with Belgium's Spa-Francorchamps.

Prime time in Honda's hybrid project

Having revealed the first picture of its power unit for its return to F1, and promised a video of it this weekend, Honda says it is now running full bench tests of the unit and its turbocharger and energy recovery systems.

"Development of the power unit is entering its prime phase at our R&D facility in Sakura [Tochigi, Japan], where we transferred our automobile motor sports development earlier this year," said Honda's motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai.

The video will include the engine's sound through different rev ranges.

Honda most famously dominated F1 as the engine supplier to McLaren during the Senna-Prost era and later operated its own team but withdrew at the end of 2008 during the global financial crisis.

F1's switch to 1.6-litre turbocharged engines has enticed it back.

It's chaos at Caterham team

The Caterham F1 team has claimed there are many "unfounded and unsubstantiated rumours" about it, but clearly it is in turmoil.

Forty former employees of the team are taking legal action against it, claiming unfair dismissal.

British bailiffs seized equipment – including one of last year's cars and parts marked 'Due for Japan 2014' – from its headquarters on Wednesday and immediately listed those items on a website for auction.

The team was founded in 2010 by Malaysian aviation entrepreneur Tony Fernandes and originally used the name Lotus. It was taken over in July by a mysterious consortium of Swiss and Middle Eastern investors.

The bailiffs say their action was against Caterham Sports Limited, a company the new owners insist does not belong to them.

Team principal Manfredi Ravetto has said: "We keep having 10 surprises per day – then we have to keep doing 10 miracles per day."

New front wings, on which Caterham has pinned its hopes of improving its performance from last in the constructors' world championship, had been flown to Japan before the bailiffs' raid.

And, despite reports that the team may have had to shut the computer servers at its Leafield headquarters, engineers there held a teleconference yesterday with Caterham technicians at Suzuka.

The team's drivers are Japan's Kamui Kobayashi, hugely popular in his homeland, and Swede Marcus Ericsson, who brings sponsorship money to occupy the seat.

Forecast is rain – 'prolonged, increasingly heavy'

Typhoon Phanfone is expected to pass south of Suzuka on Sunday, but rain from its northern edge could drench the Suzuka circuit before or during the GP.

F1's chief meteorologist Steffen Dietz is pretty sure the race will be hit by rain, but is uncertain about the severity of it at race time.

"There are still big uncertainties for the storm track [from the western Pacific] in the coming days," Dietz said.

"The current forecast track keeps the eye of the storm to the southeast of Japan on Sunday, but with associated rainbands extending north towards Suzuka during the morning.

"Once it starts the rain is likely to be prolonged and become increasingly heavy."

Saturday qualifying at Suzuka was postponed to race morning in 2004 and 2010 because of heavy rain, while in the 2007 Japanese GP at the Fuji circuit a then-rookie Sebastian Vettel in a Toro Rosso ran up the back of Mark Webber's Red Bull in treacherous wet conditions, perhaps costing the Aussie his first F1 victory.

Rallycross world champ Solberg wants manufacturer backing

Having won the first World Rallycross Championship as a privateer in a Citroen DS3, Petter Solberg wants a manufacturer deal to defend his title next year.

"We have competed with and beaten the big manufacturers this year," said Solberg, who has won four of the 10 rounds and clinched the title with two events still to be run.

"When you look at the resources of the guys from Volkswagen or Peugeot or Ford we have to be so proud of what we have achieved.

"The racing is fantastic. We have made one hell of a show this year.

"We are ready for the next step now.

"I want to work with a manufacturer. I need a good backer."

Norwegian Solberg won the 2003 World Rally Championship with Subaru and reportedly has offers to return to the WRC next year.

He had funding and technical support from Citroen for the European Rallycross Championship last year but his own PSRX team developed the DS3 Supercar for the first World RX.

MOTORSPORT: Blowin' in the wind

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