Sebastien Ogier clinches Race of Champions

At an event that sees all the “Greats” of Motorsport coming together and battle it out for top honours, this year it was World Rally Championship driver Sebastien Ogier who delivered a thrilling performance to topple 15 superstars to win the Race of Champions held at the Düsseldorf’s ESPRIT arena recently.

Ogier, who was placed third in Driver’s Standings in WRC overcame Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen in the best-of-three Grand Final on the RoC parallel track to earn the title of Champion of Champions at his very first attempt. Previously Kristensen had defeated seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher by less than two hundredths of a second while Ogier prevailed over DTM champion Martin Tomczyk in the other semi-final to reach the grand finale. “I’m so happy,” commented Ogier. “It was a very nice weekend and it was already great to be in the final at my first time. There are a lot of cars to learn here and the track as well. But I didn’t do too badly and I pushed hard all the way. Tom is a really good driver but to win this race is amazing.”

In RoC Nation’s Cup, it was the team of Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher that picked up the trophy for Germany for the fifth time in a row. They defeated Team Nordic’s Tom Kristensen and Juho Hänninen in the final after being taken to a decider in the best-of-three semi-final against Team Great Britain’s Jenson Button and Andy Priaulx. Meanwhile Team Nordic on their way to the finals defeated Team France (Sébastien Ogier and Romain Grosjean) by two heats in the semi-finals. “It’s special to win five in a row. This is a difficult event and a lot of things have to come together. You jump into different cars and it’s easy to lose it so you have to push yourself to the limit. Winning at home makes up for the Nürburgring, which wasn’t my best race of the F1 season!” claimed Vettel. Meanwhile fellow teammate Schumacher said, “It’s always a pleasure for us to be here – and especially to win it. Sebastian and I are good mates and we work well with each other and help each other. In the end it worked out right for us”. The performance by team Germany has been by far the best considering that there is a great legend in the form of Schumacher with Vettel setting many records in F1 to be called as one of the great racing drivers.

Walavalkar and Rajvirdhan crowned Champions

Ameya Walavalkar has won the Formula LGB Swift category for the 2011 season during the 14th JK Tyre National Racing Championship that was concluded at the MMST Track in Sriperumbudur last month. Meanwhile in the Touring Cars category, it was V Rajvirdhan of Prime Racing who won the Championship winning the penultimate race, followed by N Leelakrishnan who took honours in the last race.

With rain playing havoc, the LGB Swift category saw some great action. After just two laps being completed, Pushan Das and Raghul Rangaswamy (teammates at Meco Motorsports) crashed out leaving the track in an utter mess. Once the debris was cleared, the race restarted with Sarosh Hataria taking the lead, followed by Ameya Walavalkar in second. Sarosh unfortunately spun off the track, enabling Ameya to gain the lead and take the checkered flag for the sixth time this season. Sarosh recovered to take second position and was followed by Chitesh Mandody who got promoted to third as Kartik Krishna got penalized for overtaking during a yellow flag.

V Rajvirdhan of Prime Racing claimed the Driver’s Championship in the premier Indian Touring Cars class with a race to spare by winning the provisional race, which was held the previous day. Being placed third on the grid, the moment the race started he moved up into second by passing Sidharth Kishore of Performance Racing at the first corner, only to lose the position to Kishore once again at the next turn. Rajvirdhan then played the waiting game, until Sidharth and Leelakrishnan got involved in a fight for 1st place giving Rajvirdhan the opportunity to dive in and claim the chequered flag. For the last race of the season, Rad Racing’s N Leelakrishnan completed a memorable comeback to racing by winning the final leg. At the restart, both Leelakrishnan and Rajvirdhan were forced towards the back of the grid for a yellow flag violation, but once the race started they moved up positions quickly. In the end, it was Leelakrishnan who found the opportunity to get his nose alongside Rajkumar and B Balavijay on the final lap to snatch the race. Meanwhile, it was Rajvirdhan who took second followed by GD Raj Kumar in third position.

In the Junior Touring Car category, HCZ Racing’s Feroze Khan claimed his third win of the season and he was followed by Fahad Kutty in second and Diljith Shaji in third place respectively. In the provisional’s it was Diljith Shaji, who emerged Champion in the Indian Junior Touring Cars class by winning the race..

Force India picks Hulkenberg and Di Resta for 2012

From being the third driver for Sahara Force India for the year 2011, Nico Hulkenberg or ‘The Hulk’ has now taken over driving duties from fellow driver Adrian Sutil. With this change Sutil, who demanded certain clarifications in his contract prior to the Indian Grand Prix, will now be seen behind the wheel in a Team Williams car (no official word yet). The 24- year old Hulkenberg made his debut with Williams in 2010 and will now be seen joining partner Paul Di Resta in the coming F1 season.

We all remember him from the Brazilian Grand Prix, where he claimed his maiden pole position, and the youngster would want to continue with his form. Sutil did put Force-India on the map by finishing 9th on the driver standings, but at the end of the day it was time for him to move on. So, will we see force-India making it to the top five this year with a new driver behind the wheel? Come March 2012, all questions will be answered, till then we wait and watch.

KIMI back in F1

2007 Formula 1 world champion, Kimi Raikkonen, has signed a two-year deal to return to F1 racing with Renault from the coming season.

As Renault star driver, Robert Kubica, continues his rehabilitation from injuries suffered in a rallying crash at the beginning of last year, the path was cleared for Kimi’s return to the sport with Renault. He had also been rumoured to be in conversation with Williams for a return to the pinnacle of motorsport.

With the Finn back on the grid, 2012 will see 6 world champions lining up to fight it out – Vettel, Button, Hamilton, Alonso, Raikkonen, and Schumacher. As always, Kimi is expected to be extremely quick – how consistent he can be, and how well his Renault can perform remains to be seen.

Speaking about his return, Raikkonen said, “I’m delighted to be coming back to Formula 1 after a two-year break, and I’m grateful to Lotus Renault GP for offering me this opportunity. My time in the World Rally Championship has been a useful stage in my career as a driver, but I can’t deny the fact that my hunger for F1 has recently become overwhelming.”
Raikkonen is joined at Renault by GP2 champion, Romain Grosjean, who also returns to F1 following a brief stint with Renault in 2009.

Toro Rosso's all-new driver lineup

Toro Rosso has gone in for an all new driver line up for the 2012 season. The Formula One team recently signed on Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne as their drivers. The pair would be replacing Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari who raced for the team in the 2011 season.

Both the drivers were selected through the Red Bull Junior driving programme and the decision to take them on for next season was taken by Toro Rosso in consultation with Red Bull.

Aditya test drives Audi R8 LMS

After having finished 5th overall in the Scirocco R-Cup 2011, Aditya Patel has set yet another milestone in his racing carrier by becoming the first Indian driver to test drive the Audi R8 LMS for the upcoming season of ADAC GT Masters in Oschersleben, Germany recently. The young rookie from Chennai drove 15 laps in the morning followed by a race simulation of 5 laps and a 35 minute race distance run.

Speaking on the occasion Aditya said, “The test was a big surprise for me. It´s almost like an early Christmas gift. In the test I was able to control the car very well. Compared to the Scirocco, the Audi has a lot more down force and a lot more grip. The car is lower and tyres are bigger. The car has fantastic balance and feels very neutral on fast corners. On the long straight Audi did about 250 km/h compared to the Scirocco which does about 210 km/h. I’m grateful to the Volkswagen group for giving me this opportunity. If I could drive the ADAC GT Masters or a GT3 Car in a championship next year, it would be a dream come true.”|

Previously, the 2011 season of ADAC GT Masters comprised of 146 drivers taking part in 16 races from
17 nations.

Sameer Gaur wins Promotional Promoter Trophy

Sameer Gaur, Managing Director and CEO of Jaypee Sports International Limited (JPSI) was recently presented the best promotional trophy at the 2011 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) prize-giving gala ceremony held for the first time in India. He was presented the trophy by Formula One group CEO Bernie Ecclestone, for his contribution in making India one of the finest motorsport destinations in the region with Buddh International Circuit. Last month, the Buddh International Circuit was awarded the ‘Motorsport Facility of the Year’ at the Professional Motorsport World Expo 2011 Awards, held in Cologne, Germany.