Torrent Motorsports

In qualifying Kaasa put the Porsche on pole with a time of 8:11.2 with van de Laar joining him on the front row in the Spyker.

The 24 hours started, Kaasa pulled away into a early lead with van de Laar following a few seconds back. On lap 2 the SBi Porsche 996 got past van de Laar and closed in on Kaasa but on lap 4 the SBi car lost the car over the crest in sector 3 causing van de Laar to take avoiding action over the grass and rejoined safely in 2nd position.

After 12 hours Torrent Motorsports showed their domination running 1-2 but on the next pit stop disaster struck where the Spyker suffered a technical issue causing the car to be retired. This meant the Porsche car had a 2 lap lead and the car could cruise to an easy victory.

When the 24 hours were over the Porsche team had a 4 lap lead over 2nd in class and finished 4th overall.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – Round 1 of the GPVWC Super Cup season took place this week around the streets of Melbourne. As announced earlier this month Torrent Motorsports driver line up consisted of single seater specialists Petter Kaasa and Rickard Hellsten.

Qualifying: Hellsten set the pole time of 1:28.938 with Kaasa joining him on the front row just 0.041 behind him with his time of 1:28.978.

Race: Hellsten got a flying start and was clearly in the lead heading into turn one, Kaasa got a slow getaway and 3rd position man Alex Cooper got around the outside of him into turn on. Kaasa soon caught Cooper back up and pressured him for a lap till Cooper braked too late for turn 3 on lap 2 and went off, Kaasa was now back into 2nd place making it a TMo 1-2.

On lap 12 Hellsten made his pit stop and came back out in 3rd place behind new leader Kaasa and Cooper in 2nd. Kaasa and Cooper then pitted a few laps later allowing Hellsten to return to his lead. At the midpoint of the race, lapped car of Mal McKee didn’t let Hellsten through in a suitable place and they made contact in turn 14 where Hellsten was forced off the road; This allowed Kaasa to catch right up and now the Torrent Motorsports cars were running nose to tail. Kaasa was putting Hellsten under heavy pressure but Hellsten managed to hold on and win to take his début win in GPVWC and Torrent Motorsports début win in the super cup series.

Round 2 of the GPVWC Super Cup season heads to China at the Shanghai Circuit.

KENT, UK – The GPVWC Formula Challenge season opener took place at the Brant Hatch Grand Prix circuit in Kent, UK this past week. As previously announced Torrent Motorsports fielded a talented line up consisting of Jim Parisis and Ari Nieminen.

Qualifying: Parisis set the 2nd fastest time of 1:25.915 with Nieminen setting the 5th fastest time of 1:26.565.

Race One: The 40 minute feature race got off to a strong start with Parisis glued to leader Gaczella’s gear box. On lap 5 Parisis passed Gaczella onto the back straight but did not have the straight line speed to keep the position and Gaczella got back through. Then under heavy pressure Gaczella starting doing some questionable blocking, this limited Parisis to just sitting behind him so he didnt risk the car. At the mid point of the race Parisis pitted for fuel and new tires where Gaczella decided to stay out longer, when Parisis rejoined the track he was lighting up the live timing with fastest lap after fastest lap. Gaczella pitted 6 laps later and only took fuel, this gave Parisis 8 minutes to use the newer tires to his advantage. Within a lap he was all over his gear box once again, Gaczella went back to doing his questionable blocking moves. Then with 2 minutes to go Parisis got past him and pulled away swiftly to take his and Torrent Motorsports first win at GPVWC in their first race.

Nieminen had a strong race in his first open wheel series, he was running as high as 3rd but a few spins pushed him back down the field. Nieminen managed to recover back up to 5th place to score some solid points for him self and the team.

Race Two: For the second race of the day the top 15 finishing positions were reversed. This meant Parisis would start 15th and Nieminen would start 10th. Both drivers moved up positions on the first lap and on lap 2 they were both running in the top 10. On lap 3 disaster hit Nieminen when Gaczella went off after making contact with another car, when he came back on he pushed Nieminen off the road which caused damage after hitting a barrier. After a forced pit stop Nieminen was running a lap down in last.

Parisis managed to miss the madness in front of him and was soon in the top 5. With 4 minutes to go Parisis was closing in on Teien who was in 1st place. On the final lap Parisis was right on Teien’s gear box and was lining up a move into the final corner but Teien did 4 or 5 weaves down the straight which put Parisis off braking for the final turn and he spun. Luckily he didnt loose any positions and still finished in 2nd. Nieminen managed to recover up to 13th but wasn’t good enough to get any points.

Round 2 of the GPVWC 2012 Formula Challenge sees the series head to the Assen circuit in the Netherlands.

Race

Then disaster struck when Hellsten got his line slightly wrong in the fast Indianapolis turn causing the front splitter to come off, Hellsten pitted straight away and Kaasa got into the car but a new splitter wasn’t ready so the car was sent out still with a broken nose. After two laps struggling around Kaasa pitted and got the new splitter attached, when he exited the pits the Atlantic car was only 20 seconds behind.

At the end of Kaasa’s stint the lead was back up to over a minute and Carr-Smith jumped into the car with just over an hour to go, by this time the Atlantic car had decided to settle for second place and Carr-Smith brought the car home to win the RDLMS Season 3 – 12 Hours of Le Mans.

Saxony, Germany

Qualifying One: Hellsten was nominated as the starting driver so also had to qualify the car. After a few electrical issues with the Jaguar he managed to get 5th place with a time of 1.20.983.

Super Pole: The top 10 were sent back out for super pole where the times from Q1 get removed. Hellsten improved his time and set a time of 1.20.739 which was good enough for 4th.

Race: Hellsten held place to 4^th at the start but was setting strong times while fighting with the other Jaguar. Midway through the first stint he managed a hard but fair pass to move up to 3^rd, and then after the leaders tangled he moved up to 2^nd. At the first pit stop the first issue of the day happened when a timing bug caused the car to not register a lap, which would be fixed post-race. This meant Hellsten was running down in 11^th and fighting with cars that were effectively back markers, after getting back through the slower cars Hellsten was running in 6^th but one lap off the leader.

Hellsten was getting ready to pit and hand over the car to Kaasa when the second issue happened with a back marker not showing where he was going and Hellsten made contact giving him an instant puncture. After crawling back to the pits and completing a driver swap Kaasa was 2 laps down and running in 14^th.

Kaasa instantly was setting faster laps than the lead car and got his first lap back with about 20 laps to go. He tried putting in a final push after getting up to 3^rd place but the leader was too far away and after the lap was given back to the car post-race the TMo Jaguar was only 30 seconds off the lead.

Round 2 sees the GT-Eins Series head to the historic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium on Feb 18^th.

Tune into SimRace TV to see the action live!

Portimao, Algarve, Portugal – The traditional GRC Touring Car Championship end of season endurance event was held at the Portimao Circuit in Portugal this season. With newly crowned champion Borna Spoljaric and Dave Carr-Smith unable to compete TMo fielded debutants Kyle Williams, Jim Parisis and Ari Nieminen. They were joined by championship runner up Martin Palm and Ilija Brekalo.

Qualifying: Palm was the best placed TMo car with his 3^rd fastest time of 1:56.887, Nieminen set the 4^th fastest time of 1:57.227, Brekalo set the 7^th fastest time of 1:57.299, Parisis set the 9^th fastest time of 1:58.460 and Williams failed to set a time after not making it out on the track in time so he started on the final row of the grid.

Race: Williams would come through the field to complete a final lap pass on Sawczuk to take his first win in GRC on his debut. After fighting all race for a podium spot Palm would drop back to 6^th after needing a late pit stop for fuel. Palm was followed home by Nieminen and Parisis who had their own battle through the whole race with Nieminen claiming the bragging rights this time. Brekalo was unable to finish the race after running out of fuel from a miscalculation with his strategy.

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