Pippa Mann is about to embark on a second test with Sam Schmidt Motorsports in her quest for an Indy Lights seat for next year.

Mann, living in Indianapolis over the winter in order to pursue racing opportunites, will be returning to the cockpit with the front-running team, owned by one of the most respected figures in the Indy Lights paddock.

She has already completed an oval test at the Kentucky Speedway, along with fellow 2009 debutant Stefan Wilson, on the same day that her former team-mate Martin Plowman was testing with AFS/Andretti Green Racing along with Charlie Kimball.

Mann finished the day 0.02 seconds off Kimball’s best run and a couple of tenths quicker than her 2009 team mate.

Now she moves on to the 2.3-mile Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama for a one-day road course test scheduled for Monday November 9.

She said: “Kentucky was a really good experience. The Sam Schmidt Motorsports car is very different from the Panther Racing car. The engineers have a lot of experience and knowledge, and it was great to learn so much more about oval racing in just one day.

“The team made me feel very welcome and I’m definitely looking forward to getting back into one of their cars and seeing what’s possible on a road course.

“My main goal at the test on Monday is to understand what their car wants, and then start learning how to put that into practice.”

Top Gear Live, the stunt-filled live-action version of the BBC TV show, launched its 2009/10 tour at Earl’s Court on Bonfire Night. Title sponsors Shell V-Power invited Brits on Pole to the launch, so we scrambled roving reporter Scott McCarthy and sent him into action. Here’s his review.

Top Gear Live: heed the warning...

Some say it “features the fastest cars in the universe” and that it’s full of “trademark smashes, crashes and customised cars”. All we know is that it’s Top Gear Live!

The venue for all this mayhem is Earls Court in London, as part of the MPH Prestige & Performance Motor Show powered by Shell V-Power. The show moves to the Birmingham NEC next week as the second venue of a world tour that takes in Ireland, the Netherlands, Australia, South Africa and Hong Kong.

Cars to dazzle your senses

Upon arrival onto the exhibition hall floor you’re treated to a vast open space filled with all manner of supercars and exhibitors ready to dazzle your senses – either with the amount of polish on their cars or the sheer beauty of the machinery on display.

Earls Court is a massive venue so there’s plenty of room to walk around and look at (but not touch) the amazing cars on display. Some of the stands are peddling experience days in the cars they have on show, while other are simply there for us to ogle at.

Tucked away in the side stalls are some of the more specialist exhibitions, such as someone who’s created everything from a Terminator to a full size H.R. Giger Alien entirely out of used motorbike parts – surely a must for every living room?

'Beautiful Astons...'

So the overall format is mainly a vast array of cars you could never afford unless you’re a lottery winner or a Premiership footballer, from beautiful Astons to a somewhat garish gold Lamborghini.

In fact, about the only affordable commodity on display would be a tank of petrol, as showcased on the large Shell stand right in the centre – being the title sponsor clearly gives you first dibs on your stand’s location.

And even there, keeping with the ‘out of my price-range’ theme, it did have a 2008 Ferrari F1 car parked in it to mark the link-up between the two brands.

A visitor could easily spend hours happily wandering around all the stands, admiring the cars. I even enjoyed looking at a set of police cars from the past few decades and imagining the Sweeney tearing around corners in the Rover SD1 they had on display. However, without a doubt the Top Gear Live show was the reason most people were there.

At around 7:30pm you’re invited to wander over to Earls Court II to take your seat for the show. I’m sure the fact that tonight is Bonfire Night wasn’t lost on the organisers as we were treated to an amazing display of pyrotechnics, not to mention two mobile bonfires in the form of a pair of Imprezas with flames flying out of the back window, doing synchronised slides around the arena floor.

'Heavily scripted but often hilarious...'

I must admit, I wasn’t sure how the TV show would translate to the stage. Most of the entertainment on the TV comes from their outdoor activity and the studio is only used for interviews and to link between features.

Thankfully the emphasis of the show was on stunts and displays more than the heavily scripted but often hilarious banter between May, Hammond and Clarkson.

The arena was soon the showground for a set of very talented stunt drivers sliding within an inch of each other without making contact – despite the fact that an almighty prang is exactly was the audience were secretly hoping for.

The usual insane challenges were there too, including a race between cars powered by a lawnmower, a chainsaw and a hedge-strimmer, plus regular features from the show such as the cool wall.

For me, the most entertaining part of the show was the Reliant Robin race, which flipped so many times you’d think it was Pancake Day, not Bonfire Night.

'The usual insane challenges'

Looking around the audience, I’d say it was a fairly even spread of PR guests and members of the public. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the show, and there were various audience participation events such as holding up cards during the cool wall segment to decide where a car should be placed (subject to final approval from Clarkson, of course).

The only celeb spotted in the audience was Jay K of Jamiroquai, and sadly nowhere near where I was sitting. I later discovered that the Ferrari Enzo and the Porsche 356 Speedster used in the show belonged to him, so he was probably just there to make sure they were being looked after.

The finale of the show is the long-awaited appearance of The Stig in a Caterham R500. Jimmy Carr makes an appearance in a pre-recorded video to introduce “Carmageddon”, which is basically Robot Wars with real cars, but choreographed action. We’re treated to The Stig flinging the little Caterham around the arena until each “killer car” (such as an armour plated JCB, or a Dodge Viper fitted with a machine gun) is defeated by running over a firework.

For the final showdown, The Stig swaps the Caterham for a specifically modified stunt buggy and, in spectacular fashion, completes what we are told is the world’s first indoor loop-the-loop. Do let us know if this is a blatant falsehood – I guess it depends if Herbie doing it in the Monaco tunnel counts as indoor…

'Overall it was a great show...'

Overall it was a great show and, given that the waiting list to appear in the studio audience for the TV version of Top Gear is several years, this is a far better way to watch Clarkson and Co in action. Not to mention the chance to drool over everything from an Audi R8 to a Bugatti Veyron.

Sadly I have no real moments of controversy to report on. In fact, the trio were remarkably well behaved. Clarkson did call Gordon Brown a “two eyed Scottish genius” which is hardly cause for complaint, although I may have detected a small hint of sarcasm in his voice…

And on that bombshell… (You know the rest).

The new series of Top Gear starts on BBC2 at 9pm on Sunday November 15th. For more information on the show see the Top Gear Live website and for details on how to attend see the MPH Show website. Scott’s photos from the event can be seen here – please don’t re-post them without asking his permission.

A1GP is facing the indefinite postponement of two more events in its 2009/10 season with the China and Malaysia dates joining the inaugural Australia race in falling off the calendar.

And fans must accept that its prospects of continuing in its present form are now looking extremely slim.

Malaysian promoters at the Sepang circuit, which was scheduled to hold an event at the beginning of December, have told that country’s Star newspaper that they have not been contacted about an alternative date and are still waiting for further contact from the series.

In addition to the three postponed or cancelled races, which were lost after a much-anticipated financial rescue package failed to materialise in time, its cars now need adaptations before they will meet the latest FIA safety regulations.

Its dealings with the Australian government are the subject of two separate inquiries and there has been talk of possible legal action after its five-year contract to take part in the annual Gold Coast event was cancelled.

The future of the event is now uncertain with Gold Coast city councillors threatening to re-invest Aus$100,000 of state support in local projects instead and its state funding also coming into question.

The series has been losing staff and has also not renewed the lease on its Silverstone premises, meaning that its assets are now in storage.

The administrator charged with getting the best deal for creditors is reportedly hoping to sell the cars to someone who will be able to keep the series running. The hope has always been that promoter Tony Teixeira would be in a position to buy them back.

But the cancellations of the second and third rounds of season five does raise the question of how likely that outcome now is.

No statement regarding the Chinese and Malaysian races has appeared on the A1GP website at the time of writing.

The British racing community has paid tribute to Tom Wheatcroft – the building contractor and racing enthusiast who renovated Donington Park in the 1970s and brought a F1 championship race to the circuit.

Mr Wheatcroft, whose full name was Frederick Bernard, died aged 87 on Saturday from cancer. Born and raised in the vicinity of Castle Donington, he had watched pre-war motor racing at the circuit as a boy, preferring that to the tiresome business of formal education.

Donington Park had come into use in 1931 thanks to a local motor club, and was soon staging events for both motorcycles and cars. The young Wheatcroft had never seen anything like it; the course of his life was set.

But the outbreak of war in 1939 put a stop to racing. The circuit was requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence as a storage site for military vehicles and Wheatcroft joined the army, where he drove tanks.

After the war he set to work on making his fortune as a building contractor, being worth more than £100 million in recent years, and making it comfortably onto the Sunday Times Rich List. He started to amass an impressive collection of racing cars.

For a while he ran his own racing team and, in 1971, he bought the derelict circuit and started a long and often painful campaign to bring it back into use.

His car collection took up residence in 1973 but negotiations, arguments about rights of way and planning problems meant it took a further four years before racing could begin again at Donington Park.

A wide selection of events for four- and two-wheeled racers were staged – but Wheatcroft wanted to see Formula One racing at Donington Park and the circuit was upgraded with an extra loop in 1985 to provide the necessary length for more ambitious events.

Eventually his persistence paid off and, in 1993 Bernie Ecclestone was persuaded to grant Wheatcroft his wish. The European Grand Prix was held that year at Donington.

Competing in that race were Martin Brundle, Mark Blundell, Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert – but the only person who is really remembered is Ayrton Senna who put in a terrific drive on a rain-soaked track in a less-than-racy McLaren-Honda to come home more than a minute ahead of his nearest rival – Hill in a Williams.

The track played host to a wider and wider range of events including a Le Mans Series race and the British Motorcross Grand Prix as well as becoming a major venue for rock festivals – but still Formula One remained elusive.

All that changed in 2007 when Wheatcroft was persuaded to issue a 150-year lease on the circuit to Donington Ventures Leisure Limited in hopes of finally securing the British Grand Prix. That company managed to win the contract from Ecclestone but could not find the funding to support it.

Unfortunately the bid was declared a failure just days before Wheatcroft’s death and British racing fans are left hoping that a successful future for the circuit will provide a fitting memorial to the man who worked so hard to rebuild it.

Since his death he has received tributes from the highest echelons of the motorsport world. Bernie Ecclestone said:”It seemed like I had known Tom forever. He was a very special person and immensely dedicated to motorsport.

“Tom was very kind and I would trust him with anything. He was brave enough to put his own money into running a grand prix at Donington Park in 1993, and I admire him immensely for that.

“It’s a great, great shame the British Grand Prix will not go to Donington. I had spoken with Tom about his desire to see the race there, and it is a shame he did not live to see it happen.”

BRDC President Damon Hill said: “I knew Tom from going back to my bike-racing days. He has always been a tremendous, larger-than-life character and someone everybody loved to know.”

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: “The term ‘legend’ is maybe used a little too liberally in the world of sport, but without doubt it is justified in the case of Tom Wheatcroft.

“He was a larger-than-life character and an always-engaging conversationalist. He was also an able and successful businessman who contributed a lot more than many people perhaps appreciate to the story of motorsport in Britain. He will be very much missed.”

Murray Walker said: “Tom is an enormous and immeasurable loss to the world of motor sport. He was a wonderful character and a true friend to everybody – he was always enormously kind and hospitable to people.”

Tom Wheatcroft leaves a widow and seven children. His family is planning a private funeral and a separate memorial service.

A book of condolence has been opened at the circuit and anyone wishing to remember him can do so with a donation to the Hope Against Cancer charity.

• Autocar: Tom Wheatcroft’s motorsport life in pictures.

Double DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom has taken his third Race of Champions title – by winning every single race he competed in then beating Michael Schumacher in the event’s final.

The Swedish touring car and rallying star took the prize after outdriving triple World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx, five-time Moto GP champion Mick Doohan and multiple X-Games gold medallist Travis Pastrana in the group stage.

He beat eight-time Le Mans 24 Hour winner Tom Kristensen in the quarter finals and newly-crowned F1 World Champion Jenson Button in the semi-final.

Ekstrom said that the flexibility born of driving many different types of race car was the key to his success in the competition, which aims to pit champions from different disciplines against each other on equal terms.

He said: “I was born in the countryside in Sweden and drove lots of different cars as a boy, plus I’ve also had the pleasure of racing a lot of good touring cars, sportscars and rally cars. That is what makes the difference for me.

“I look across at Michael on the start line and I think ‘why should I beat him? His driving his spotless’. A tenth of a second here and there isn’t a lot but sometimes it is enough and driving against Michael is always a pleasure.

“I always pretend to be thinking about whether to come to The Race of Champions or not but actually I’m never thinking about it.”

Schumacher said: “It has been a nice event, all in all, as always. It has the right mixture of seriousness behind the wheel and a relaxed atmosphere in which to meet some good guys.”

F1 World Champion Jenson Button reached the semi-finals, having won his group and beaten his Nations Cup team-mate Andy Priaulx in the quarter-finals. Sebastian Vettel, runner-up to Button in the F1 World Championship, also reached the penultimate round before losing to his Team Germany team-mate Schumacher.

David Coulthard made it out of the group stages but was knocked out by his Red Bull colleague Vettel in the quarter-finals. Vettel went on to crash in the semis, handing a place in the final to Schumi.

Full results can be found at http://www.raceofchampions.com and a race by race account of The Race of Champions 2009 will appear on the site shortly.

You wouldn’t have wanted to bet against Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel going into this year’s Race of Champions and, sure enough, the pair have pulled off their third straight win in the Nations Cup in as many years.

Britain’s new F1 World Champion, Jenson Button, partnering World Touring Car ace and Channel Islander Andy Priaulx, ran them close in the final but were just pipped to the prize in a tie-break contest.

The German drivers had defeated teams from China and Finland to reach the semi-finals where they met America’s Tanner Foust and Travis Pastrana.

Despite a huge effort by Foust to beat Schumacher, Vettel’s two wins took Team Germany to the final once again.

Meanwhile, the heavily-supported Schumacher beat Button in the first heat of the final but Vettel, the
youngest ever F1 race-winner, was beaten by Priaulx in the second heat.

In the final the two winners faced off – only for Schumacher to beat Priaulx and dash hopes of a British victory.

The remaining British favourite David Coulthard, partnering 2009 Dakar Rally Winner Giniel de Villiers in an All-Star squad, was knocked out in the group stages.

Speaking after the race, the multiple F1 champion said: “We had a nice fight. I just come back to this event to use whatever there is left of a talent.

“With this track, it’s just a case of watching where the other guy is to know how hard to push. Of course, the racing is the highlight but the other stuff that goes on around that is part of the relaxed atmosphere of the Race of Champions that we all enjoy.

Vettel added: “To win three times in a row is something that no-one has done before, so it’s a real reason to be proud.”

This was a tired and clearly partied-out Button’s first appearance in the ROC Nations Cup final, despite regular appearances at the event, and he said afterwards: “To be out there celebrating being the first loser is never best, I don’t like finishing second. It was a lot of fun – I spent most of the evening trying to hang on to my team-mate’s coat tails.”

Priaulx added: “It was a great pleasure to race against Michael, I’ve watched him race for years.

“Tomorrow’s Race of Champions main event will be a tough night, as I won’t have a team-mate to pull me through, but it’s nice to have a little success tonight.”

Host nation China reached the semi-finals of the competiton with A1GP, GP2 and Superleague Formula competitor Ho Pin Tung (known in his home country as Dong He Bin) winning two of his group races to help he and team-mate Han Han progress.

The next Race of Champions event, in which 20 drivers will do battle for the Race of Champions crown, kicks off at 7.40pm on Wednesday. Follow the event live by visiting http://www.raceofchampions.com. or watch live at http://www.autosport.com/roc.

Andy Soucek seemed to have missed the memo telling him that he’d already won the championship when Formula Two convened for its last meeting of the year at the Circuit de Catalunya this weekend.

The Spaniard converted two front-row starts into race wins, saying the chance to lead the field home in front of his home crowd was a highlight of his year.

And Soucek has since said that he is confident of securing a drive on next year’s F1 grid. He told Autosport explicitly that he is negotiating for a 2010 seat – separate from the Williams test he gets as part of his prize, a test the team has said will be looked at very seriously.

Robert Wickens, in the running for the championship number two slot alongside Mikhail Aleshin, took charge of qualifying to land himself a double pole with Soucek alongside him on the front row for both races.

But in race one Wickens failed to capitalise on his position, handing Soucek the lead into the first corner. He was followed past the Canadian by Aleshin and Formula Two first-timer Tristan Vautier.

And before much longer the source of Wickens’ uncompetitive performance became clear as he slowed to a stop and retired with mechanical failure. Aleshin chased the champion all the way to the chequered flag but was unable to close the gap to the leader.

Natacha Gachnang finished in seventh, taking her only points of the season.

Jason Moore’s race was knocked off-course early on thanks to a collision with Jack Clarke that banished him to the rear of the field. Despite having an initially competitive car he finished in last place.

The highest-placed Brit in the field was Jolyon Palmer in 13th, followed by Tom Gladdis in 14th, Alex Brundle in 15th, Jack Clarke in 17th, Ollie Hancock in 18th and Tom Moore in 19th.

In race two Soucek secured a second home victory as once again Wickens had a messy start, losing ground to the series champion and to Nicola de Marco. He was never able to recover the lost places but did take the runner-up spot in the championship as a result of his podium finish.

After passing Wickens at the start Soucek led to the flag, at a rate of sometimes more than a second a lap over his rivals, and came home with an eight-second lead.

Jolyon Palmer and Alex Brundle were the highest-placed Brits, finishing in 11th and 12th. Tom Gladdis was 15th while Jack Clarke and Jason Moore rounded off their weekend with another accident each, causing them to finish the race in 14th and 16th places respectively. Ollie Hancock was 18th for the second time this weekend.

Sebastian Vettel led home a Red Bull 1-2 as the new Yas Marina circuit served up a contest every bit as dull as the billion-dollar venue was sparkling.

Only a late duel between Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber and new world champion Jenson Button, in which the Australian successfully held off the faster Brawn GP driver, provided any sort of interest during a race that was otherwise utterly devoid of tension.

Button said: “To be on the podium for the last race of the year is fantastic. The last few laps were really exciting and I was giving everything to take second place from Mark.

“I couldn’t quite make the moves stick as he’s a very difficult guy to overtake but it was a good clean fight and we were really on the edge. I’m a little bit disappointed not to get second but it’s still great to finish on the podium.”

Vettel’s win, combined with a fourth place for Rubens Barrichello, meant the German finished runner-up in the drivers’ championship while his team won the final three races of the season.

Polesitter Lewis Hamilton suffered brake problems almost from the start of the race and failed to build the early lead that had been widely expected. He was overtaken by Vettel during the pitstops and retired from the race shortly afterwards.

Hamilton said: “I had a good start, but I realised early on that something wasn’t right with the brakes. After three or four laps, it became clear that there was a problem with my right-rear brake pad, so I couldn’t open up the gap back to Sebastian and Mark.

“When the problem got worse, the team radioed me and told me to stop at the end of the lap. However, I think we can be really proud of our efforts: who’d have thought we’d finish third in the constructors’ championship at the start of this season?”

None of the McLaren or Ferrari drivers finished in the top eight, which meant the Woking team edged the constructors’ battle between the two teams by a single point, the score unchanged from before the weekend.

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh said: “Ferrari are always formidable opponents for us and the fact that we beat them to third place is of course a matter of pride to us. I want to pay tribute to all at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes for the superhuman efforts they all made in achieving that milestone.

“The team has worked tremendously hard all year to improve MP4-24, which started the year as one of the slower cars but ended it with two fine wins and a string of impressive points-scoring finishes.”

He said work on next year’s car was going well: “It’s already quicker than MP4-24 – and there’s every reason for us to be confident that we’ll be able to continue to develop and improve it significantly between now and the beginning of the 2010 season.”

The unexpected star of the race was Toyota rookie Kamui Kobayashi, who made a one-stop strategy work to great effect by taking sixth place, behind Nick Heidfeld, despite only qualifying 12th. Team-mate Jarno Trulli finished in seventh and Sebastien Buemi eighth.

The start of the race had seen Hamilton maintain his lead, while Vettel forced Webber wide. As the Australian recovered he caught Barrichello’s front wing, sending a rain of carbon fibre over the following Button.

Barrichello slowed enough to let Button past as he got used to the new handling of his car but, apart from that, the start saw very little change in the order. Heikki Kovalainen, out of place in 18th after a penalty for a gearbox change, regained the five paces he’d been docked, but Kimi Raikkonen lost out to Kobayashi and was unable to make his usual KERS-powered leap in position.

From there on, Hamilton’s brake problems let Vettel keep him in sight, Webber hung on to Vettel, and Button put some clear air between himself and Barrichello as the field settled down to await the two-stoppers’ first visit to the pits.

The ominous-looking underground pit exit proved not to be problematic, and the sole moment of drama during the stops came when Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersauri came in with a developing gearbox failure.

He pulled up in the middle of the only waiting pit crew in Red Bull-branded uniforms – only to find they were Vettel’s team. He was swiftly shooed out onto the circuit again, where he retired without completing another lap.

Moments later, Red Bull successfully sent Vettel back out into the lead of the race and soon afterwards his victory was guaranteed when Hamilton retired.

When Kobayashi took his only pitstop he was on schedule to challenge Button for third, but he found the second stint on soft tyres heavier going and dropped back. Despite this, he did finish as the top one-stopper.

Robert Kubica, seeking to finish the season in the points for the out-going BMW team, spun when attempting to take eighth from Buemi and was passed by Nico Rosberg. The pair finished ninth and 10th, ahead of the one-stopping, KERS-assisted Kovalainen and Raikkonen.

The close of the race was enlivened by Button finding some more speed in his Brawn GP car, knocking almost a second a lap out of the Red Bulls ahead of him. Vettel was safely up the road, but Webber fell into his clutches.

It took until the very last lap before he was close enough to launch an attempt at passing, and he forced the Red Bull driver onto the defensive for almost the whole circuit. But Webber picked his line well, defended stoutly, and hung onto second place.

Button said: “We expected the prime tyre to be the better tyre in the race but I was struggling for balance especially as the track temperatures started to fall and it became more difficult to get heat into the front tyres. The car felt great when we switched to the soft tyre for the final stint. It really felt transformed and suddenly I had a great front end and could carry more speed into the corners.

“I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone at the team in Brackley and at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines. It really has been a fantastic year and they should all be very proud of what we have achieved together. It’s nice to end the year on a high after what has been a very competitive and challenging season.”

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix finishing positions

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
2. Mark Webber, Red Bull
3. Jenson Button, Brawn
4. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn
5. Nick Heidfeld, BMW
6. Kamui Kobayashi, Toyota
7. Jarno Trulli, Toyota
8. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso
9. Nico Rosberg, Williams
10. Robert Kubica, BMW
11. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren
12. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
13. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams
14. Fernando Alonso, Renault
15. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India
16. Giancarlo Fisichella, Ferrari
17. Adrian Sutil, Force India
18. Romain Grosjean, Renault

Not classified

• Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
• Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso

Drivers’ championship final standings

1. Jenson Button, 95
2. Sebastian Vettel, 84
3. Rubens Barrichello, 77
4. Mark Webber, 69.5
5. Lewis Hamilton, 49
6. Kimi Raikkonen, 48
7. Nico Rosberg, 34.5
8. Jarno Trulli, 32.5
9. Fernando Alonso, 26
10. Timo Glock, 24
11. Felipe Massa, 22
12. Heikki Kovalainen, 22
13. Nick Heidfeld, 19
14. Robert Kubica, 17
15. Giancarlo Fisichella, 8
16. Sebastien Buemi, 6
17. Adrian Sutil, 5
18. Kamui Kobayashi, 3
19. Sebastien Bourdais, 2
20. Kazuki Nakajima, 0
21. Nelson Piquet Jnr, 0
22. Vitantonio Liuzzi, 0
23. Romain Grosjean, 0
24. Jaime Alguersuari, 0
25. Luca Badoer, 0

Constructors’ championship final standings

1. Brawn, 172
2. Red Bull, 153.5
3. McLaren, 71
4. Ferrari, 70
5. Toyota, 59.5
6. BMW, 36
7. Williams, 34.5
8. Renault, 26
9. Force India, 13
10. Toro Rosso, 8

DAMS rookie Christian Vietoris managed to stop a Davide Valsecchi juggernaut on the first weekend of the new GP2 Asia season as the drivers took to Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit for their inaugural meeting.

iSport’s Valsecchi, who is one of several participants to have also competed in the main series this year, looked to be unstoppable as he topped the practice and qualifying sessions then took a feature race win.

But he couldn’t quite defeat the reversed grid for the sprint race, ending up in second place but claiming 19 points out of a maximum total of 20 during the weekend.

Elsewhere on the grid no less than five British drivers took to the track for what was mostly their first taste of the series.

James Jakes, who returns to Super Nova after competing for the team last year, had a particularly strong weekend and scored a feature race podium to open his account in the driver standings.

Sam Bird, debuting for ART, and Oliver Turvey, who is Valsecchi’s team-mate at iSport, also both enjoyed a solid weekend.

Practice: Valsecchi tops first session of year

Valsecchi kicked off the 2009/10 GP2 Asia season with the fastest lap in the Yas Marina practice session after recording a time of 1:53.689.

Valsecci was 1.4 seconds clear of ART rookie Marcus Ericsson, with DPR’s Michael Herck a little more than a tenth of a second behind him. Ericsson’s team-mate Bird was the highest-placed Brit in sixth with Jakes eighth.

The other three British contenders were towards the bottom of the field with Barwa’s Max Chilton in 17th, Valsecchi’s team-mate Oliver Turvey in 18th and Scuderia Coloni’s Will Bratt in 23rd.

Qualifying: Valsecchi takes season’s first pole

Valsecci was able to translate his good form in practice into a maiden pole position with a timesheet-topping lap of 1:51.964 – his fourth of the session.

The Italian took the lead on his first flying lap then successively fought off Coloni’s Roldan Rodriguez, Meritus’ Diego Nunes and Ocean’s Fabio Leimer to hold onto the position. A promising challenge by Filippi was felled by a gearbox failure.

Bird qualified a stunning second in his first GP2 event with Leitmer eventually third and Filippi fourth. Jakes lined up seventh with Turvey 18th, Chilton 21st and Bratt 23rd in a field of 24 cars.

Race one: Valsecchi wins the battle for the lead

Valsecci and iSport took a somewhat foreseeable victory in the feature race after dominating the weekend to this point. Despite losing the lead twice the Italian eventually secured the race with a a 5.4-second gap to second-placed Filippi.

Bird took the lead in the first corner but Valsecchi swiftly re-passed him as Filippi and Jakes fought for third place. With Jakes winning through Bird appeared next in their sights and was passed by both to drop to fourth. Meanwhile Jakes lost out to Filippi who, having secured second, set his sights on hunting down Valsecchi.

Jakes was the first into the pits, followed by Valsecchi one lap later. Filippi pitted from the lead on lap 12 just as a safety car was deployed and managed to stay ahead of Valsecchi at the restart, with Jakes running in third ahead of Bird.

Valsecchi retook the lead on lap 19 in a thrilling side-by-side manoeuvre then put in consecutive quickest lap times to drive his victory home. A brief second safety car period in the very last stages of the race did little to affect its outcome.

Filippi kept Jakes in check for second but the Yorkshireman enjoyed his first podium since the 2008/09 series’ fifth round in Malaysia earlier this year.

Speaking after the race, he said: “I always knew we would be quick in the race. With my start, I could go up to the front really quick. Qualifying has been the area where we struggled a little bit. We haven’t managed to get fully on with the tyres and to get the best possible use out and I knew in the race we would be pretty strong.”

Bird was forced to retire in the penultimate lap following a brake problem but his bad fortune promoted Turvey to eighth place and the reversed grid pole position for the sprint race. Bratt finished 12th and Chilton 16th.

Race two: Vietoris stalls Valsecchi’s charge

Vietoris led from lights to flag in the sprint race after a perfect getaway from third on the grid. Valsecchi charged from eighth to second but was unable to catch Vietoris and make a clean sweep of the weekend.

Polesitter Turvey had a slow start that saw him fall to fourth place with Vietoris, Super Nova’s Josef Kral and Ocean’s Alexander Rossi passing him into the first corner. Turvey’s front-row partner Johnny Cecotto of Trident had an even poorer start, falling to seventh behind Filippi and Valsecchi.

The Italian set his sights on teammate Turvey and quickly overtook him for fourth place. The safety car was deployed when Bratt collided with Fabio Leimer and the field backed up behind it. At the restart, Vietoris easily stayed in control while Valsecchi climbed to third, taking second on the final lap.

Kral took third and Turvey fourth. Jakes was 10th, and Chilton 17th. Bird had an eventful race, gaining places through overtakes, losing them through spins, and setting the fastest lap on his way to an eventual 18th. Bratt’s incident meant he was not classified.

Drivers’ standings

1. Davide Valsecchi, iSport: 19 points
2. Christian Vietoris, DAMS: 9 points
3. Luca Filippi, Meritus: 8 points
4. Josef Král, Super Nova: 8 points
5. Alexander Rossi, Ocean: 7 points
6. James Jakes, Super Nova: 6 points
7. Oliver Turvey, iSport: 4 points
8. Johnny Cecotto, Trident: 3 points
9. Edoardo Piscopo, DAMS: 0 points
10. Michael Herck, DPR: 0 points
11. Roldán Rodríguez, Coloni: 0 points
12. Marcus Ericsson, ART: 0 points
13. Luiz Razia, Barwa Addax: 0 points
14. Will Bratt, Coloni: 0 points
15. Diego Nunes, Meritus: 0 points
16. Rodolfo González, Arden: 0 points
17. Charles Pic, Arden: 0 points
18. Daniel Zampieri, Piquet: 0 points
19. Max Chilton, Barwa Addax: 0 points
20. Fabio Leimer, Ocean: 0 points
21. Sam Bird, ART: 0 points
22. Vladimir Arabadzhiev, Piquet: 0 points
23. Plamen Kralev, Trident: 0 points
24. Giacomo Ricci, DPR: 0 points

Get all the news, race reports and stats at the GP2 Asia site here >>

The last race of the Formula One season – and, even with both championships decided, there’s still plenty to keep us interested.

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A spanking new track and a number of people out on it with no secure drive next year and something to prove, for starters. On top of that Lewis Hamilton’s set out to show Jenson Button the strength of the challenge he intends to provide next year.

But the two world champions may have their work cut out if they are expecting the freedom to duel amongst themselves. Yesterday’s fuel-adjusted qualifying grid sees the two Red Bull cars of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber look well-placed to flourish during this race.

Vettel, whose downcast attitude following Interlagos showed just how seriously he had taken his chances of winning the title himself, has rallied and is hoping to deprive Rubens Barrichello of a second place in the drivers’ championship.

And from the front row he should be in an excellent position to do that, so watch this space. We’ll be liveblogging all the action here for the last time this season, so please do put the kettle on and join us.

If you’ve enjoyed our liveblogs throughout 2009 you may like to know that we’ll soon be compiling them into ebook form.

This ebook is exclusively available to our newsletter subscribers so, if you’d like to be on the list, click here.

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Unfortunately we have to conclude from this race that, if Abu Dhabi is the future of F1 then F1 has a pretty dull future. It was particularly disheartening to hear the commentators saying all through the race what a wonderful time we were having and a wonderful spectacle we were seeing – when that differed so eloquently from the experience of the people watching.

You can only go so far with facilities – at least, as far as the paying for their tickets are concerned. The things that makes a race great are the track and the fans. Everything else is extraneous especially if, as is true for most of us, for most of the season, you are watching on the telly. The circuits offering this include Suzuka, Interlagos, Hockenheim and the Nurburgring, Silverstone, Spa, Monaco and Monza. Magny-Cours usually provides a pretty decent race and you could arguably include the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on this list as well. Courses that include a street element like Melbourne and Montreal (and of course Singapore) can also be fun.

Taking F1 into new markets is a fine ambition. But diluting the well-supported races at established and highly-regarded circuits with more and more “rentaTilkes” that serve up bland and processional racing offers a future for Formula One that has everything to do with business and spectacle and nothing to do with sport. It’s an example that we keep using but it is the obvious one. A future where Abu Dhabi is the jewel in the F1 crown is a future where the sport is about as truly competitive as professional wrestling. In this regard, Abu Dhabi has been a signally inappropriate end for one of the most exciting F1 seasons for years.

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And Vettel does a donut: “Kate’s dirty sister did it again!” Button to Webber: “You got me on the right side, you bastard!”

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Lap 55: Sebastian Vettel, he’s out in front. An untroubled drive since the first pitstops. Behind them Button and Webber are fighting and they get side by side but Webber has defended beautifully. The two of them are side by side for the second time and gets his nose ahead but Webber holds the place both times by virtue of keeping the racing line. Button has a last look but the place is Webber’s. Vettel wins, Webber second by the skin of his teeth, Button third. Rest of points are Barrichello, Heidfeld, Kobayashi, Trulli, Buemi. McLaren are third in the constructors by virtue of a single point.

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Lap 54: Button spends another lap going like fury but can’t get close enough. Looks like we are on for a Red Bull one-two.

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Lap 53: Button’s stuck in Webber’s dirty air and can’t get the leg-up he needs to overtake. But he’s right on the Aussie’s gearbox… Commentators speculating that he won’t feint and make his intentions clear, but just pounce. And the TV director decides we need to see a duel at the back between Fisichella and Grosjean.

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Lap 52: Button has closed to 0.7 seconds on Webber and is much better under braking. But he’s not past yet.

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Lap 50: Gap between Webber and Button is 1.1 second. Gosh, are we actually going to see a little bit of exciting racing in the final laps? Just to remind us what it looks like?

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Lap 49: Sutil has let Vettel through. Button is catching Webber faster than ever.

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Lap 48: Vettel warned he is approaching backmarkers who are fighting for position. Is there a way through?

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Lap 47: Button expected to be challenging Webber for second by the end of the race. But we don’t like his chances of overtaking much.

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Lap 46: Order is Vettel, Webber, Button, Barrichello, Heidfeld, Kobayashi, Trulli, Buemi, Rosberg, Kubica, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Nakajima, Alonso, Liuzzi, Grosjean, Fisi and Sutil. Both Hamilton and Alguersuari have retired with mechanical problems. Button catching Webber at the rate of three quarters of a second a lap but is still around four seconds behind.

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Lap 45: 11 laps left – and it feels like a lifetime. Barrichello fourth, Heidfeld fifth, Kobayashi sixth and catching them fast. As things stand Buemi will be earning a last-ditch point for Toro Rosso.

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Lap 44: Pass the brain bleach, please – Bernie is shown in a lingering clinch with Naomi Campbell. If you find that too revolting for words, look at this instead.

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Lap 43: Kubica spins but stays on track and is able to continue painlessly. He was having a look at Buemi when it happened – the Toro Rosso driver recovers reasonably unscathed but Rosberg got past Kubica during all that. Button pits. He has come out in third.

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Lap 42: Barrichello and Heidfeld both pit. Nick’s stop is 6.6 seconds, Rubens’ 7.2. The Brazilian is up the road first. They come out in fifth and sixth. Button due to pit next lap. He’s in second due to the stops at the moment. Sutil makes his second stop, as does Vettel.

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Lap 41: Webber is the first of the Red Bull drivers to make his second stop. 7.6 seconds and he rejoins behind Trulli in sixth. Wouldn’t you know it… of all the drivers you don’t want in front of you in circumstances like these Trulli has to be top bet.

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Lap 40: Ron Dennis pictured on the pitwall having a chat with Lewis Hamilton. This is supposed by the commentators to be his way of celebrating the passing of Max Mosley. Kubica pits and comes out in ninth.

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Lap 39: Much as you were as Rosberg pits from ninth – the first two-stopper. Comes out in 10th ahead of Kovy and Raikkonen.

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Lap 38: Sutil has just taken Liuzzi and, in terms of raw pace through speed traps, the Force Indias are some of the fastest cars on the track.

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Lap 37: Vettel looks on for a win and a secure second place in the drivers’ championship. As things stand McLaren would just about be ahead in the constructors’ with Kovy ahead of Raikkonen but neither of them in the points. Forgive us if we ignore Fisichella for the purposes of this. But of course there are still pitstops to come.

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Lap 35: Alonso, who started this race fuelled very long, finally pits. He goes onto the soft tyres after an 8.2 second stop. The sun is well and truly down now and we have a night race.

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Lap 34: Sutil has overtaken Grosjean. Held your breath during that one, didn’t you? Kobayashi not thought to be going fast enough any longer to trouble the top four.

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Lap 33: Nakajima pits. Red Bulls from Brawns at the front with only Kobayashi in with a shot of joining the party. Order on this lap is Vettel, Webber, Button, Barrichello, Heidfeld, Trulli, Kubica, Rosberg, Buemi, Kobayashi, Alonso, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Nakajima, Liuzzi, Sutil, Grosjean, Fisichella.

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Lap 32: Kovalainen pits. Button told that, on strategy, he is neck and neck with Kobayashi and can expect Barrichello to be snapping at his heels imminently. Kovy rejoins in 13th. Fisichella does his drive-through for pitlane speeding.

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Lap 31. Order is Vettel, Webber, Kobayashi, Button, Barrichello, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Trulli, Kubica, Rosberg, Nakajima, Buemi, Liuzzi, Alonso, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Fisichella, Suti. Kobayashi pits. Fisichella has a penalty for speeding in the pitlane. Kobayashi’s stop is OK and he gets back out on the track behind Sebastien Buemi in 11th.

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Lap 30: Kimi Raikkonen pits. 9.9 second stop as Massa and Schumacher peer intently down from the pitwall. No pressure lad – not that Kimi would feel it anyway. He comes out in 15th.

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Lap 29: J-Alg interviewed – he says that he retired with a gearbox problem not a lack of fuel. He says he came into the wrong pitbox because there were no mechanics out in his pitbox. Fisichella has pitted, if anyone is interested.

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Lap 28: Half-way point of the race. Kobayashi 6.4 seconds ahead of Button in fourth. Of course he needs to make his pitstop. Barrichello in fifth, Raikkonen in sixth, Kovy in seventh.

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Lap 26: Alguersuari had to retire because he ran out of fuel after his pitstop was messed up. We accept that this may not have been his fault but, as recent research into driver salaries has revealed, he’s being paid £300k a year to find the right pitbox. Webber in second and 8.9 seconds behind Vettel. Kobayashi lapping as fast if not faster than both of them.

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Lap 25: Retirements so far are Lewis Hamilton and Jaime Alguersuari. Hamilton is interviewed and says that he was having trouble stopping the car. He was brought in because it was too dangerous for him to continue.

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Lap 24: Kobayashi has just set his fastest lap of the race and is one of the fastest cars on the track.

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Lap 23: A queue is forming behind Button. Ferrari now looking likely to secure third place in the constructors, since McLaren’s hopes rest on Kovalainen.

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Lap 22: Red Bull one-two and Kobayashi on a one-stop third on merit.

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Lap 21: Oh noes! McLaren are retiring Hamilton and calling him in. There’s also a yellow flag and we’re not sure what that’s about – J-Alg coming to a stop? If Hamilton doesn’t score a podium in this race then Adam Christodoulou is guaranteed a third place in the Brits on Pole All-Star League. Hamilton has got out of his car looking quite cross and Whitmarsh has come over to explain things to him. He’s retired with mechanical failure because his brakes aren’t safe enough for him to continue. Oh well, them’s the breaks. Boom boom.

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Lap 20: Vettel pits and comes out in the lead. Hamilton second, Webber third – and all three of these have pitted. Alguersuari going at walking pace. A replay makes it look very much as if Alguersuari tried to pull into Vettel’s pit box.

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Lap 19: Webber pits. 9.3 seconds. Legard likens the pitlane exit to a multi-storey carpark and we can’t argue. Webber emerges fourth – crucially he is behind Hamilton. McLaren team radio reporting a possible right rear brake problem. Hang on – something odd has happened – a Toro Rosso tries to pit and is forced to drive through instead by the team.

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Lap 18: Hamilton’s stop is 8.6 seconds. Jenson Button also pits. Lovely roar of the engine through the tunnel. He emerges into clear air. Button comes out in front of Button and Kobayashi tries very hard to get past. They touch very gently and Button clears the place. On the next straight he has another go and gets past. We’ll repeat that: Kobayashi has got the place off Button.

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Lap 17: Barrichello pits and we get our first view of the pitlane tunnel. He emerges in 10th. Nothing done about his front wing. Hamilton pits.

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Lap 16: Button does a personal best and Barrichello is matching his times. Top five less than nine seconds apart. Race order is Hamilton, Vettel, Webber, Button, Barrchello, Kubica, Trulli, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Buemi, Kobayashi, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Nakajima, Liuzzi, Fisichella, Alonso, Grosjean, Alguersuari, Sutil.

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Lap 15: Commentators think that 11th-placed Kamui Kobayashi could cement his impressive start to his F1 career by leapfrogging Button in the pitstops on his one-stop strategy. At the moment it’s looking like Hamilton could end up behind both Red Bulls. Possibly the dropping temperature as the sun sets would explain the problems he is having.

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Lap 14: Vettel is 0.83 secs behind Hmamilton and set to stop later. The TV director is resorting to replays of Hamilton’s lock-up.

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Lap 13: Coulthard is asked for an explanation about how McLaren’s pace has just drained away. He says a few things about grip and balance but concludes Hamilton is not doing enough. Of course, he should not be mistaken for a neutral observer.

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Lap 11: Hamilton lost three-tenths of a second on that lap after locking a brake and running wide. That has not helped his cause one little bit. Vettel is now fairly close, just nine-tenths of a second behind.

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Lap 10: Hamilton has responded to the Red Bulls by setting the fastest lap of the race. Personal bests from Webber and Button also. But McLaren doesn’t think he’s doing enough and it’s six laps to his first stop.

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Lap 9: Vettel continues to chip bits out of Hamilton’s lead. Hamilton being told on the radio to up his third sector times. The sun is starting to set, giving the illusion that the race director has triggered some kind of fancy special effect. Kovalainen is stuck behind Raikkonen in 13th and is being told to either get past or save fuel.

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Lap 8: Webber has set the fastest lap and Vettel has knocked a tenth of the lead. Hamilton is failing to pull away to the extent that people are asking if anything is wrong with his car. Tyres said to be working beautifully for the Red Bull team. Button’s pace is also dropping off.

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Lap 6: Hamilton’s lead 1.6 seconds. Put the kettle on, someone. You could probably pop out and hand Lewis Hamilton a cuppa and a biscuit at this point. This is easily shaping up to be the least exciting race of the season.

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Lap 5: Hamilton has just set a fastest lap. The on-track action is so hot and exciting that the TV director has just shown Alonso taking Grosjean for 17th. Hamilton and Vettel opening a bit of a gap on Mark Webber who has Jenson Button quite close behind. Barrichello in fifth is hearing on his radio that the only car faster than him is Hamilton.

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Lap 4: Kovalainen has managed to make up all the places that he lost due to his gearbox change. Confirmation comes that Barrichello has damage to his car following a little altercation between Webber and Vettel that he collected the fallout from. As you were at the front.

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Lap 3: The top four cars are stringing out with a little gap to Barrichello, and then Kubica close behind. Top four separated by three seconds. Hamilton’s lead 0.8 seconds. Commentators more inclined to ooh and aah at the hotel than describe the on-track action. Gosh, this is exciting. Not.

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Lap 2: Kubica and Trulli touch and the Pole gets past to take sixth place in the only change at the top of the field. Apparently he’s got one of the lightest cars on the grid. Hamilton has hung onto his lead. TV pictures suddenly showing Button ahead of Barrichello and Romain Grosjean has got himself past team-mate Alonso. Kubica now looking at Barrichello which suggests maybe he got a little injury to his car at the start. He’s clearly not at the same pace as the top four.

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Lap 1: And they’re off. Hamilton is beautifully away with the two Red Bulls behind him and Barrichello already looking for chances to pass Webber. Vettel’s suddenly caught Hamilton after his KERS ran out and is having a look at him. Top 10 unchanged from quali, until Kubica tries to take Trulli for sixth. He’s not past yet though.

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Formation lap: And everyone is away safely. No-one due to start from the pits today. Strategy is thought to be a mix of one- and two-stoppers. Quite a long lap on this circuit, meaning the race is 55 laps long.

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Ron Dennis is interviewed, at a race for the first time since handing over to Whitmarsh, and looking a lot less focussed than we’re used to. He seems rather lost as a result. Says nothing much about anything much, trotting out the party line on the wonderfulness of the money facilities in the Gulf states.

And here’s Richard Branson who Eddie Jordan secures for interview by seizing his hand and hanging on. Branson has his arm in a sling after overturning a quad bike. Brundle cuts through the chat to ask the question we want to hear about Manor and Brawn but simply can’t get a straight answer. But Branson does say: “We do like to support the underdog.”

Mark Webber says he was pleased with his quali performance and thinks its a sensational circuit. He says he and Vettel are looking forward to taking on Hamilton. This week’s tame celebrity is cricketer Andrew Flintoff who is chatted to and sent on his way.

Hamilton’s walking off the grid, shepherded by his dad. Brundle asks if he expects to win, Lewis says he’s taking nothing for granted. Jordan points out he’s been the best driver for the second half of the season and Hamilton talks about the problems with the car and the great strides that have been made. He says he hopes to carry some momentum into next year.

Grid walk: This last effort of the season features none other than Eddie Jordan to give Brundle a hand. He’s in splendidly incoherent form this morning. Brundle has tracked down a British marshal to talk to. Not our Twitter friend Alan Green, unfortunately but a chap called Chris. He’s been marshalling for 30 years and nods approvingly when Brundle points out that there’s no better way of getting closer to the action. More information on marshalling here (that website’s under phenomenal strain at the moment so you might have to come back later).

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Pre-race: Jake Humphrey’s racing adventures currently being shown on the BBC. He comes last in a Lotus race after a first-lap crash. He acquits himself pretty well for a first-timer but doesn’t sound keen to continue. Coulthard has some mild fun at his expense. Good to have a package that shows just what a hard job racing drivers have.