Torrent Motorsports

Most, Czech Republic – The finale of GRC’s 11^th Touring Car Championship season saw the series head to the Autodrome Most Circuit in the Czech Republic. Torrent Motorsports were represented by Borna Spoljaric, Martin Palm, Dave Carr-Smith, Andrius Stankevicius and Ilija Brekalo. The success ballast for the round was Spoljaric with 60kg, Carr-Smith with 37kg, Palm with 28kg and Brekalo with 16kg.

Qualifying: Spoljaric again claimed another pole position this season with a time of 1:45.910, Palm set the second fastest time of 1:45.938, Brekalo made it a TMo 1-2-3 on the grid with a time of 1:46.131, Carr-Smith had an issue on his lap and was down in 12^th. Stankevicius also had issues and was unable to set a time.

Race One: Spoljaric and Palm fought all race long for the top step on podium but on the final lap Palm tried an aggressive move into the complex and made contact with Spoljaric sending them both off the track. This allowed Brekalo through to take his first win in GRC, Stankevicius followed in 2^nd with the recovering Spoljaric and Palm in 3^rd and 4^th to make it a 1-2-3-4 for TMo. In the battle for 3^rd in the championship Carr-Smith lost 2 points to Sawczuk reducing the gap down to 7 points.

Race Two: Stankevicius would be the second driver this round to claim his first ever win in GRC after Spoljaric put him under heavy pressure in the final laps, Spoljaric’s second position was enough to claim the drivers title after Palm had an electronic failure on his car. Brekalo finished in 3^rd to make it another all TMo podium. Carr-Smith gained back a point on Sawczuk after claiming the fastest lap setting up a final race show down between both of them with just 8 points between them.

Race Three: Carr-Smith was the best placed TMo finisher with his second place; Sawczuk didn’t manage to finish the race so Carr-Smith managed to hold on to his 3^rd place in the championship. Spoljaric celebrated another podium this season to end his season in style. Stankevicius finished in 4^th with palm following in 5^th after starting last. Brekalo had an issue late on and finished in 12^th.

Broadcast on demand replay can be viewed here: Broadcast Replay

The end of season Trophy endurance race takes place in Portugal this time at the Portimao Circuit. Tune into SimRace.tv on Monday December 19th at 20:00 UK time to see all the action live.

Varano, Italy– The penultimate round of the GRC touring car championship saw the series head to the tight and twisty circuit of Autodromo Riccardo Paletti or commonly known as the Varano Circuit. Torrent Motorsports were represented by Borna Spoljaric, Martin Palm, Dave Carr-Smith, Andrius Stankevicius and Ilija. The success ballast for the round was Palm with 58kg, Spoljaric with 50kg, Carr-Smith with 41kg, Stankevicius with 6kg and Brekalo with 3kg.

Qualifying: Spoljaric claimed his third pole of the season with a time of 1:14.070, Brekalo set the 3rd fastest time of 1:14.319, Stankevicius set the 4^th fastest time of 1:14.558, Carr-Smith set the 13^th fastest time of 1:15.218 and Palm was unable to set a time after a technical issue.

Race One: Carr-Smith produced one of the drives of the season by winning the race after starting 13^th with a last turn pass on Johnston to claim his 3^rd win of the season. Spoljaric showed fast pace from the off but suffered a braking issue that caused him to finish in 3^rd. Brekalo had his best race for the team so far by finishing 5^th, Stankevicius didn’t finish the race after getting collected when having a spin and Palm’s technical issue couldn’t be fixed so had to watch from the side lines.

Race Two: After fixing his braking issue Spoljaric dominated the race and claimed fastest lap to win his 6^th race of the season. Carr-Smith followed home in 2^nd with Brekalo close in 3^rd to make it yet another TMo 1-2-3 finish. Palm managed to start a race and battled up to 9^th position and Stankevicius didn’t start the race after the crash damage from race 1.

Race Three: Spoljaric carried his form through to the final race of the day to claim another win and stretch the gap in the championship, Brekalo finished in 4^th, Palm climbed up to 5^th, Carr-Smith dropped down to 6^th after a collision caused him to half spin and Stankevicius finished in 9^th after starting last.

Broadcast on demand replay can be viewed here: Broadcast Replay

Round 8 and the final round of the Championship sees the series head to Autodrome Most in the Czech Republic. Tune into SimRace.tv on Monday December 12th at 20:00 UK time to see all the action live.

Montreal Canada– Torrent Motorsports are celebrating once again this week after securing the GRC touring car teams championship. There are still two rounds and 6 races to go in the current season but Torrent Motorsports IPForge drivers Borna Spoljaric and Martin Palm managed to score enough points over second the second placed team which happens to be sister team Mowbol.

Torrent Motorsports had five cars fielded for this round with Borna Spoljaric, Martin Palm, Dave Carr-Smith, Andrius Stankevicius and Ilija Brekalo. The success ballast for this round were Spoljaric on maximum weight of 60kg, Palm on 53kg, Carr-Smith on 10kg, Stankevicius on 9kg and Brekalo on 1kg.

Qualifying: TMo had a 1-2-3 lock out with Palm claiming pole with a time of 1:50.067, Carr-Smith in 2^nd with a time of 1:50.339, Spoljaric in 3^rd with a time of 1:50.467, Brekalo in 5^th with a time of 1:50.825 and Stankevicius in 12^th with a time of 1:51.711.

Race One: Carr-Smith won the race after a race long battle with Palm who would follow him home in 2rd, Spoljaric struggled with his weight on the car and finished in 4^th. Stankevicius would be the mover of the race climbing up to 5^th after starting in 12^th and Brekalo finished in 7^th.

Race Two: Palm this time would win the race after another long battle with team mate Carr-Smith, Carr-Smith had a late spin and dropped back to 3^rd. Spoljaric would drop another position and finish 5^th, Stankevicius had a hard fought battle and finished in 7^th with Brekalo following him to the finish in 8^th.

Race Three: With the reverse grid Spoljaric started in 2^nd and would take the lead early on, he would fight Carr-Smith for the win until Carr-Smith spun on the final lap to allow Spoljaric to take his first win of the round. Palm would claim 2^nd place with Carr-Smith following him closely in 3^rd. Stankevicius had another strong race to finish in 5^th and Brekalo would had a few issues with other drivers causing him to drop to 12^th.

With the Teams Championship done and dusted the attention moves to the driver standings with Spoljaric and Palm fighting with each other. The gap currently stands at only 7 points and with 210 points still available it’s still wide open.

The broadcast on demand replay can be viewed here: Broadcast Replay

Round 7 of the Championship sees the series head to Varano in Italy. Tune into SimRace.tv on Monday December 5th at 20:00 UK time to see all the action live.

Torrent Motorsports ended their dominant Grand Prix Online season in style this weekend with a double win at Interlagos. Florian Bekker was untouchable in the World Championship race claiming pole, setting fastest lap and winning the race. Petter Kaasa finished in 7^th after being put into the wall on lap one. Sven Hesse won the Sprint Trophy race to claim 2^nd in the drivers’ championship off team mate Matt Varley. David Noden finished in 4^th and Jim Parisis finished in 8^th.

This meant that Torrent Motorsports claimed all four titles with Florian Bekker winning the WC Drivers Title and TMo sister team Mowbol GP winning the Constructors Title. Borna Spoljaric claimed the ST Drivers Title and Torrent Motorsports claimed the Constructors Title.

Many thanks to everyone involved this season that helped us be so successful!

These people are:
Florian Bekker
Petter Kaasa
Mindaugas Klumbis
Kevin Brents
Mike Wrightson
Borna Spoljaric
Sven Hesse
Matt Varley
David Noden
Mikael Tuomaala
Jim Parisis

Indiana, USA– The fifth round of the GRC touring car championship saw the series compete on new venue in the championship at Putnam Park. Torrent Motorsports fielded five cars for this round with Borna Spoljaric, Martin Palm, Dave Carr-Smith and TMo debutants Andrius Stankevicius and Ilija Brekalo who joined the team after driving a Ford in the first four rounds. The success ballast for the round were Spoljaric with 45kg, Palm with 41kg, Carr-Smith with 13kg and Brekalo with 1kg.

Qualifying: Spoljaric claimed his second pole of the season with a time of 1:10.100, Brekalo set the 4^th fastest time of 1:10.482, Palm set the 8^th fastest time of 1:10.801, Stankevicius set the 10^th fastest time of 1:11.207 and Carr-Smith was 17^th after some car issues with a time of 1:20.684.

Race One: Spoljaric had a race long battle with Van Camp for the lead, on the final lap in turn one the two made contact and lost time. Van Camp spun and Spoljaric dropped to 2^nd, this was where he finished. Palm finished behind Spoljaric in 3^rd after another battle through the field. Stankevicius climbed up to 6^th after a solid first race, Brekalo showed he had the speed but a spin mid-way through the race caused him to finish in 10^th and Carr-Smith had a disaster of a race by collecting a spun out car and struggling around to finish 17^th.

Race Two: Spoljaric set the fastest lap early on but started to struggle with tyre wear late on and finished in 3^rd. Palm again followed Spoljaric home in 4^th. Stankevicius had another solid race finishing in 7^th; Brekalo again showed good pace setting the second fastest time but had another spin dropping him down to 13^th. Carr-Smith battled up to 8^th after starting 17^th.

Race Three: Carr-Smith started on pole after the top 8 were reversed this time but his run of bad luck carried on after a technical issue caused him to pull off the track and get collected by another car. Spoljaric, Palm and Stankevicius had a race long battle for the win with Palm coming out on top, Spoljaric following in 2^nd and Stankevicius settling for 3^rd. Brekalo climbed up to 9^th from 13^th again showing good pace and making some great passes.

Broadcast on demand replay can be viewed here: Broadcast Replay

Round 5 of the Championship sees the series head to Montreal in Canada. Tune into SimRace.tv on Monday November 28th at 20:00 UK time to see all the action live.

Suzuka, Japan – The fourth round of the GRC touring car championship saw the series compete on the East layout of Sukuza. The short twisty track with only one clear passing place into turn 1 and 2 would be a challenge for all the drivers. Torrent Motorsports fielded only three cars for this round with Borna Spoljaric, Martin Palm and Dave Carr-Smith flying the TMo flag. The three heaviest cars for this round were TMo cars with Spoljaric running the maximum ballast weight of 60kg, Palm was second heaviest with 47kg and Carr-Smith had 36kg.
Qualifying: Spoljaric put in one of his best laps of the season with 60kg to put his BMW in 3^rd on the grid with a time of 0:54.768 that was .154 off pole. Carr-Smith and Palm struggled setting the 11^th and 13^th fastest times.

Race One: Spoljaric managed to hold his position off the start but with tyre wear problems and the front wheel drive car getting a unfair performance boost for this round he could only manage to finish in 4^th. Palm did well to climb up to 7^th from his starting position of 13^th and Carr-Smith had a coming together with another car after a promising start that caused him to finish in 14^th.

Race Two: Spoljaric had a solid second race by having a race long battle for a podium spot and went on to finish 2^nd. Palm again climbed up more positions to finish in 4^th and Carr-Smith had another disaster of a race after going off early due to a technical glitch finishing in 13th.

Race Three: The top five got reversed which gave Palm a front row start and he didn’t pass on the opportunity taking the lead off the line and went on to win the race. Spoljaric had a race long battle for 2^nd place but on the final lap had a coming together and dropped down to 6^th. Carr-Smith again had a shock of a race, he got spun out on lap 2 and struggled to get through heavy traffic finishing 13^th for the second time.

Broadcast on demand replay can be viewed here: Broadcast Replay

Round 4 of the Championship sees the series head to Putnam Park in America. Tune into SimRace.tv on Monday November 21^st at 20:00 UK time to see all the action live.

Sakhir, Bahrain – Round 3 of the GRC Touring Car Championship saw the series head to the Bahrain International Circuit, Using the shorter version of the track. Matt Gray made his debut for the Mowbol team, three of the four Torrent Motorsports were running success ballast again, Martin Palm was the heaviest car of everyone with 52kg, Borna Spoljaric had 49kg and Dave Carr-Smith had 13kg.

Qualifying: Dave Carr-Smith was the best placed Torrent Motorsports car in 3^rd place with a time of 1:32.050 which was .2 off pole, Martin Palm was alongside Carr-Smith in 4^th with a time of 1:32.189, Borna Spoljaric set a time of 1:32.336 which was good enough for 6^th and Matt Gray set a time of 1:34.029 that put him in 17^th.

Race 1: Carr-Smith got a poor start and he dropped down to 5^th, but caught back up to the Storm Car of McNaughton and made a clean pass around him only for McNaughton to spin Carr-Smith out in turn 1. Carr-Smith fought back to finish in 5^th. Spoljaric put in a solid drive to move up to 2^nd with Palm following him in 3^rd. Gray had an early spin but recovered to 15^th.

Race 2: With the finishing order from race 1 being the starting grid this meant Spoljaric started in 2^nd, Palm 3^rd, Carr-Smith 5^th and Gray 15^th but race 1 winner Keithley retired from the rest of the weekend due to illness so all cars moved up a place. Spoljaric and Palm worked together early on in the race to make a gap and they would finish in this order. Carr-Smith battled up to 3^rd to make it another TMo 1-2-3 this season. Gray finished 14^th after being in a race long battle for 10^th.

Race 3: With the random reversed grid for race 3 this time the top 5 were reversed, this meant Carr-Smith started 3^rd, Palm 4^th, Spoljaric 5^th and Gray 14^th. Carr-Smith had a good first lap which say him take the lead in the final corner and he went on to win the race which was his first win in the main series at GRC. Spoljaric followed in 2^nd Palm finished 3^rd making it the second 1-2-3 of the round. Gray managed to finish in 14^th.

The replay of the broadcast can be viewed here: Broadcast Replay

Round 4 of the Championship sees the series head to the Suzuka East Circuit, Tune into SimRace.tv on Monday November 7th at 20:00 UK time to see the race live.

Moscow, Russia – Round 2 of the GRC Touring Car Championship saw the series head to Autodrome Moscow, A tight and twisty track located 15kms from Moscow. All Torrent Motorsports were running success ballast, Borna Spoljaric was the heaviest car of everyone with 35kg, Martin Palm had 11kg and Dave Carr-Smith had 5kg.

Qualifying: Martin Palm claimed his first pole of the season with a time of 1:40.258, Borna Spoljaric made it a Torrent Motorsports front row lock out by claiming 2^nd with a time of 1:40.522 and Dave Carr-Smith claimed 9^th position with a time of 1:42.424.

Race 1: Borna Spoljaric took the lead from Martin Palm on lap one after Palm was forced wide by an out of control Viirok in the hairpin. Spoljaric went on to win the race with Palm catching him back up late on making it the second 1-2 finish of the season. Dave Carr-Smith found himself in 6^th on lap one after cars in front collided in the first turn; he went on to climb another place to finish the race in 5^th.

Race 2: With the finishing order from race 1 being the starting grid this meant it was another Torrent Motorsports front row and Carr-Smith starting in 5^th. Palm and Spoljaric swapped positions on lap two, Spoljaric followed closely in 2^nd position and this would be how they finished. Carr-Smith had a hard race, after holding his position at the start he found himself in 3^rd position due to misfortunes to others with heavy pressure from Ruskus and Gaczella. Carr-Smith would hold onto the position by only 0.019 seconds making it a Torrent Motorsports 1-2-3.

Race 3: With the random reversed grid for race 3 this time the top 7 were reversed, This meant Carr-Smith would start 5^th with Spoljaric in 6^th and Palm in 7^th. On lap 1 Carr-Smith got spun out in the chicane dropping him down to last. Spoljaric moved up to 5^th with Palm following in 6^th. But halfway into the race Spoljaric went too wide on the last turn curb exit and spun out dropping him down to 10^th with the recovering Carr-Smith behind in 11^th. Palm would pass two more cars to finish on the podium in 3^rd. Spoljaric would make one more position up and finish in 9^th with Carr-Smith behind in 10^th.

The replay of the broadcast can be viewed here : Broadcast Replay

Round 3 of the Championship sees the series head to the Bahrain International Circuit, Tune into SimRace.tv on Monday 24^th at 20:00 UK time to see the race live.