rFactor1 2009 Teams presentation

After three races in the season and a pause between Chinese and Bahrein Grand Prix, we are going to show the full drivers/teams list for this season.

VODAFONE MCLAREN MERCEDES
MP 4-24 MERCEDES FO 108W
#01 Luc Bernard (FRA) Best Result: Ret.
#02 Adam Smith (GBR) Best Result: 6th


SCUDERIA FERRARI MARLBORO
F60 FERRARI 056
#03 Alex Zingalus (ITA) Best result: 1st (Malaysia)
#04 Mario Wariof (ITA) Best result: Ret.


BMW SAUBER F1 TEAM
F1.09 BMW P86/9
#05 Davide Corigliano (ITA) Best result: 1st (China)


ING RENAULT F1 TEAM
R29 RENAULT RS27
#07 Nicola Bianchi (ITA) Best result: 13th


PANASONIC TOYOTA RACING
TF109 TOYOTA RVX-09
#09 Daniele Vacca (ITA) Best result: 8th
#10 Antonio Iudicello (ITA) Best result: 5th


SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO
STR4 Ferrari 056
#11 Giammy Serra (ITA) Best result: 3rd
#12 Giacomo Serra (ITA) Best result: 12th


RED BULL RACING
RB5 RENAULT RS27
#14 Juan Manuel Cardozo (ARG) best result: 7th


AT&T WILLIAMS F1 TEAM
FW31 TOYOTA RVX-09
#16 Tomas Luty (POL) Best result: ret.
#17 Max Burdisso (ITA) Best result: 10th


FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM
VJM02 MERCEDES FO 108W
#20 Simone Cabiddu (ITA) Best result: 3rd
#21 Gianpiero Baroni (ITA) Best result: 1st (Australia)


BRAWN GP F1 TEAM
BGP001 Mercedes FO 108W
#22 Mario Nieto (MEX) Best result: 2nd
#23 Giuseppe Greg (ITA) Best result: 4th

Force India F1 Team Press Release

Force India-Mercedes Team is proud to announce the signed contract of a great driver like Gianpiero Baroni, the one that's actually leading the World F1 Championsip.
The Team Director Mark Smith, the driver Sburroso and the new arrived Baroni were closed into a night club til the early morning and they went out all sweated and tired with the contract signed and a big smile in their faces.
Baroni, in front of the press, said: "FORCE INDIA is always being my second skin, I was born to run like hell with this car and make our beautiful women fans go crazy with my penetrations in corners!"
After his new teammate Sburroso said: "My Championship has not begin in the best manner but with an experienced driver like Piddu by my side I will enjoy his great performances and will make our team grow and become a winner one!"
We all are excited fot the great season that's expecting FORCE Team.

Force India F1 Team Press Office

BMW Sauber F1 Team Press Release

Object: Gianpiero Baroni leaves the BMW Sauber F1 Team.

The BMW Sauber F1 Team announced his separation from his driver, the leader in the standing because of problems of various kinds.

The team hopes to Gianpiero Baroni continuation of a successful season and career.

For now the team will not seek another driver but will focus strongly on David Corigliano for the title fight.

BMW Sauber F1 Team Press Office



The formation of the BMW New Year is now a memory

rFactor1 Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix - Shangai - Comment

The third rF1 round showed us the most exciting race of the season, with all drivers fighting (sometimes over the limit) for points.

Before qualifying there were several schools of thought about strategies and Corigliano took an awesome pole position, followed by Baroni and Iudicello (great qualify). GM Serra seems in troubles and closed in 7th.

At the start, shooting in slow motion for Greg creating panic in the middle of the group. In first corner, Sburroso, Cardozo and other drivers went off and the Force India hit GM Serra, who closed the first lap in 5th. In third sector there was a contact between Nieto and Cardozo, while at the end of the lap Nieto and Sburroso pitted.


A victorious return for Corigliano

Fourth lap, irregular defense of Iudicello on Zingalus attack, the Toyota driver will be penalized at the end of the race. A lap later, Zingalus completed the attack at the 4th place, overtaking Iudicello. Pitstop for Bianchi.

In 7th lap, Iudicello made his pitstop, and coming back to track in 5th.
AT 8th lap, Corigliano leads, Baroni is second, Zingalus third and GM Serra fourth.

Nineth lap, pitstops for Cardozo, Vacca and the leader Corigliano.
In the following two laps, we had pitstops for the deb Burdisso, Zingalus and Greg, while Jack Serra with the second STR is going well up the rankings to sixth place.

In 13th lap, GM Serra and Baroni finally pit, showing they qualified with a full tank. Only one lap later, for the 7th place, Sburroso attacks Cardozo in second corner and overtake him. Two corners later they were involved in an avoidable accident that will cost a penalty at Cardozo. In consequence of this, Sburroso pitted for the second time.


Strategy has allowed Serra to seize an amazing third place

Few seconds after, hard attack of Burdisso on Nieto and also Zingalus was involved. Jack Serra is the last driver who pitted because of his strategy.
At 16th lap, after an hard fight, GM Serra overtook Iudicello and takes 4th place, while Bianchi retired for a technical problem. In corner 3, J Serra went off the track crashing his nose against the wall and pitting at the end of the lap.

Last laps were exciting, with a contact between the leader Corigliano and the lapped Vacca, Zingalus completely missed corner 3 and lost 3rd position and Nieto overtook Vacca in the T3 of the track.


After a really hard race and a penalty, Cardozo finished in seventh place.

One lap to go, Burdisso attacked Vacca who was in troubles with his Toyota, while J Serra finally retires for an electric fail.

Final results: 1st Corigliano (BMW), 2nd Baroni (BMW), 3rd GM Serra (Toro Rosso).

DRIVER'S STANDING

rFactor1 Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix - Shangai

Pole position for Corigliano, awesome third place for Iudicello.

AT&T Williams F1 Team Press Release

AT&T Williams F1 Team announced the subs of the polish Tom Luty with the Italian Massimo Burdisso, after Tom's domestic incident. The Italian signed a contract for four races (China, Bahrein, Spain, Monaco) and Team hopes its new pilot a good job.

AT&T Williams F1 Team also wishes his driver a speedy recovery.

AT&T Williams F1 Team Press Office


Object: Car #16 substitution.

rFactor1 Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix - Preview

The third round of rF1 World Championship takes place in China, Shangai International Circuit.


After the victory of Zingalus in Malaysia, due to Baroni's penalty, the BMW driver would like to win again the race, and try to fly in the standings.



In the rest of the group, the eligible candidates for the podium are Zingalus, Corigliano, Sburroso, Serra and Iudicello.



The race is tuesday, March 23rd, free practise will start at 09.00pm GMT time (10.00pm in Italy).
h 09.00 GMT Free practise - 35 mins.
h 09.35 GMT Qualify - 10 mins. (Parc Ferme)
h 09.45 GMTRace - 35% of real laps with a mandatory pitstop -20 laps.

The staff decide to enlarge the free practise session, startin 15 minutes before and endind as the same time as usual, so, free practise 35 minutes long.

P.S.: The staff would like to remember that this league is an amatorial and friendly league, with no money and no interests, so keep racing with calm and discipline and just enjoy it!

rFactor 1 Malaysian Grand Prix - Comment

It was an exciting race the rF1 Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang International circuit.
Tha staff was quite disappointing to see just 12 drivers of 16 in track, also because only Corigliazzu told about his absence.
Since first free practise, it was clear that the fastest driver today was Gianpiero Baroni, also because of the last-minute absence of his teammate, Davide Corigliano.
Baroni took his pole position with a good advantage on his fastest opponent, Zingalus (Ferrari) and a good qualify also for GM Serra (Toro Rosso) and Sburroso (Force India).


After an exciting first lap, Sburroso took a really precious third place

In the back, Nieto e Bernard are still in trouble and didnt succeed to repeat the good lap times of test sessions.
At the start, Baroni was a quite slow and Zingalus and Serra overtook him. However it was clear that Serra was not so performing in race and at the end of the first lap Sburroso overtook him. In the In the firs corner, Nieto misses the brake point and touched his teammate Greg, while at corner 9 Bernard tried a reckless attack on Giaki Serra, hitting him and ruining his suspension.
Second lap, we had the pitstops of Bernard, Nieto and Greg, after accidents of first lap. However, in the track, Cardozo touched Iudicello and Vacca dabs Giaki Serra, who definitely retires.
One lap later, Iudicello and Cardozo pitted.

At 4th lap, Greg pitted for the second time.
In 6th lap, Bernard (control problems) and Nieto retires.
Seventh lap, there was the hardest accident of the race: Cardozo lost the control of his Red Bull and hitted the wall in corner 13. His RBR was almost destroyed, but the argentinian is ok.
After three laps of "nothing", from 10th to 13th lap we had the pitstops of Zingalus, Sburroso, Vacca, Serra, Greg and Baroni. The leader toched the white line pitting out, and it will cost him the win.


Zingalus during his pitstop

Two laps later, Smith make his pitstop.
Last laps were calm, with no challenges, except Greg who overtook Vacca for the 7th.
Last lap, Baroni won in front of Zingalus, Sburroso (great podium), Serra, Iudicello (consisting driver), Smith, Greg and Vacca (good 8th).
An hour after the race, the announce of the penalty chenged the classification with Zingaus first and Baroni second.


Consisting race for Iudicello, 5th at the end

During interview, Iudicello said:
"Considering all tests I made in Sepang circuit, where I took more than once 1.34, I had not been really satisfied today of my qualify, because of a less of concentration and feeling with a full-fuel car. However I should consider myself satisfied, also if I wasn't too fast in the single lap, because I finished in 5th, also if I started in 6th and had some contacts with other cars. I'm only a little bit sad because I would like to fight for the 4th position."

DRIVER STANDING

rFactor 1 Malaysian Grand Prix - Results

Pole position for the Melbourne-winner Baroni.



Baroni dominated also the race, but made a stupid mistake pitting out and lost 1st position for a penalty.


Second race was really exciting, also with only 12 drivers in track.

PENALTIES
- +10 secs on Baroni's total time for cutting white line pitting out;
- Bernard (avoidable accident with Giaki Serra) and Vacca (cutting the white line) will start in last position next Grand Prix.

rFactor1 Malaysian Grand Prix - Preview

Second race for rF1 league, after an exciting debut in Melbourne.


Just after last race, the circus moved to Malaysia, not coming back in Europe. The Sepang track debuted in F1 in 1999 season, while for rFactor1 is going to be the 2nd of 15 races in season.

The race is tuesday, March 9th, free practise will start at 09.15pm GMT time (10.15pm in Italy).

h 09.15 GMT Free practise - 20 mins.
h 09.35 GMT Qualify - 10 mins. (Parc Ferme)
h 09.45 GMTRace - 35% of real laps with a mandatory pitstop.

rFactor 1 ING Australian Grand Prix comment

Australian Grand Prix was a really exciting race for the historic debut of rFactor1 league, with a great win by Gianpiero Baroni, on BMW Sauber.

Giammy Serra, polesitter in first rF1 race of th story.

In qualify, at last attempt, Giammy Serra took an awesome pole position, beating Corigliano and Baroni. Good laps for Cabiddu (5th) and the "deb" Iudicello, 6th. Nieto and Cardozo were in troubles with his setups and they finished qualify in the back of the grid.

The grid five second before the start of the race

In first corner, Serra keep the leading, while in the back his teammate Giaki Serra was involved in an accident with Luc Bernard and spun off. At the end of first lap, Iudicello miss the "Ascari" and Cabiddu can only took him and went to pit. Pit-stop also for Nieto.
At the second lap, Serra made a mistake in 11th corner and Baroni overtook him.
In the back, Giaki Serra attack Luc Bernard for 9th position, at 3rd lap. Bianchi is in troubles with his tyres and came out at the "Lauda" (will pit in in this lap), same problems for Vacca at 11th corner and decide to retire.
At 4th lap another little mistake by Serra GM let Baroni and Zingalus the chance to overtake him.
In 5th lap, pitstop for Iudicello, who also received a Drive Through for speeding in Pitlane. This is the lap of most important accidents: we saw the accidents of Bernard (retired), Bianchi (retired), Giaki Serra (pit) and Cardozo (pit).
In 6th lap, Giaki Serra and Carozo decided to pit in, but the Toro Rosso's engine blow up and the italian is constrict to retire. In the front of the group, Corigliano overtook Zingalus.
Two laps later, Iudicello served his penalty and Cardozo had his final accident at "Jones-corner 1".
Between 9th and 10th laps, there were pitstops for Baroni, Zingalus e Greg.

Mario Nieto took a great 2nd position starting from the back of the grid.

A lap later, Giammy Serra made his pitstop and Cabiddu overtook Nieto.
At 13th lap, Cabiddu retired for no fuel and we had the pitstops of Smith (was 4th) and Corigliano.
In the 14th lap, Giammy Serra made his second pitstop, after some problems with his brakes, but he didnt solved.
Two laps later, Smith went off at "White Ford" just few second after Zingalus (who is in troubles with brakes) and half lap later he lost the control and involuntarily caused the accident of Iudicello, who finished his race at the 11th corner.
Seventeenth lap, Serra completely lost control of his STR (brakes failure) and went off to "White Ford" beating hard the wall. Zingalus tried to solve his problems with a pit but the engine blow up. Pitstop for Corigliano too.
A lap to go, sadly Greg lost the second position having an accident at "Ascari" and closing 4th.

The winner Gianpiero Baroni on his BMW

The podium was composed by Baroni (BMW), Nieto (Brawn) and Corigliano (BMW).

See you in Sepang ;)

Look at the article down for qualify/race results.

rFactor1 ING Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne

Finally, first race of rF1 arrived and all drivers raced in Melbourne circuit.

The first surprise was during qualify with Giammy Serra tooking the pole position, after a really fast lap.



In race, lot of drivers suffered mechanical troubles, and the winner was Gianpiero Baroni (Sauber BMW), the second Mario Nieto (Brawn) and the third Davide Corigliano (Sauber BMW).
A great result for Sauber, while brakes gave problems to Iudicello, Zingalus, Serra (who lead for 3 laps) and Smith. Problems with fuel for Cabiddu and Bernard and Bianchi suffered of troubles with suspensions.

Next race, next tuesday, Malaysian Grand Prix.