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Once more on C4: F1 and motorsport 2018

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    Once more on C4: F1 and motorsport 2018

    F1
    So the upcoming 2018 season is the final one which includes live races on free-to-view British TV. Sky's deal for the six seasons hereafter is exclusive and immutable, so we could see audiences tail off for the sport. Whether or not a highlights deal will be done, we'll have to see.

    As to the cars, they are going to have 'halo' roll bars, looking something like this:


    And the driver merry-go-round has been in full swing, with Williams currently having a vacant seat. There are several available drivers who might be chosen for it, such as Jolyon Palmer who left Renault (Sainz Jr moved there from Toro Rosso), Pascal Werhlein (who left Sauber but is rumoured to be looking at returning to German Touring Cars, DTM) - or maybe offering a route back for Daniil Kvyat or Paul di Resta. But the front-runner for Williams, at least for the first part of the season, is thought to be Robert Kubica.

    And the races for 2018 will not include Malaysia, which had dropped off the calendar, and sees a return of a French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard. It's also a Hockenheim year.

    WRC
    We go again with the four teams who provided an entertaining season in 2017 - M-Sport, Hyundai, Citroen and Toyota. Citroen have announced that multiple former champion Sébastien Loeb is coming back for a few of the rallies, and the prospect of some Loeb vs Ogier showdowns is pretty exciting. Hopefully Citroen will have a bit more luck and give Chris Meeke a decent shot at Ogier's title. Though Thierry Neuville at Hyundai will have something to say about that, I'm sure, as will Ott Tänak, who has moved from M-Sport to Toyota, replacing Juho Hänninen. We start in Monte-Carlo on 25 January

    Dakar
    This one starts on Saturday 6 January. Loeb will be there, Sainz senior will be there and, er, Andre Villas-Boas will be there.

    #2
    BriSCA Stock Car Racing will continue to eat itself in 2018, with promoters self-interests over-riding that of the sport, with a number of Saturday evening slots left blank, and then scheduling meetings starting at 16:00 on a Sunday at Belle Vue, now the only track remaining in its former heartland of the North-West. Meanwhile fans, and I include myself albeit very much passsive these days, will still hark back to the golden days and hanker for the returns of Coventry and more improbably, Odsal. A tiny handful of drivers will invest huge amounts in cars and especially engines, meaning that a tiny handful will win the trophies and apart from the dedicated, and no doubt well remunerated enthusiasts, driver numbers will continue to fall. Fan numbers are already falling as more and more disillusionment sets in, something that appears to be in parallel with speedway.

    Still, on a positive note, my brother-in-law has secured a further 2 year deal with Shredded Wheat for his BTCC team, and Tom Chilton is to drive for them in 2018.

    Comment


      #3
      There's still a possibility the Sky deal may be renegotiated. There were some stories at the back end of last year that Sky felt they'd overpaid (they paid something like £900m), and Liberty have said that it is a deal they wouldn't have done but would honour as an inherited contract. Liberty have shown a preference to have a free-to-air element to deals, it was announced this week that RTL are keeping their deal in Germany and there's some coverage back on free telly in France.

      The Williams drive will probably go to Sergei Sirotkin. Kubica tested in Abu Dhabi but didn't really set the timesheets on fire, reports came out that Williams felt he had the same pace as Massa. Think they wanted a bit more than that given there's some element of doubt about whether he could physically cope with a full F1 season. Renault similarly cooled on him in the summer after he tested in Hungary, their analysis showed he was faster than Palmer (a fairly low bar to clear admittedly) but slower than Hulkenberg.

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        #4
        Ah, in fact today it comes out that Renault have basically told Williams 'We've seen both of these guys, and you should definitely take Sirotkin.'


        Endurance Racing / Le Mans
        BMW are coming back to the WEC, with a GTE Pro class car based on the M8. My word, it looks good. They've said they are going to race it in the 24 Hours of Daytona first, since it will be doing America's IMSA series as well as the WEC.

        Spreaking of which, Lance Stroll is planning to do the Daytona 24 with Jackie Chan's team, while Alonso and Norris are also set to race it (along with Paul di Resta in fact) for United Autosports.
        Last edited by Kevin S; 22-12-2017, 13:09.

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          #5
          Originally posted by nmrfox View Post
          Still, on a positive note, my brother-in-law has secured a further 2 year deal with Shredded Wheat for his BTCC team, and Tom Chilton is to drive for them in 2018.
          Cool, if he's also the team principal then I remember him racing prod saloons with a fair degree of success back in the day.

          In domestic motorsport news, Chelmsford MC are planning to run the first 'closed public roads' rally in England under the new legislation on 22 April on the Tendring peninsula in Essex. It's a massive undertaking but if it passes off successfully then more events (not just rallies, but competitive demo's, hillclimbs, races etc.) could all follow, which would change the UK motorsport landscape quite dramatically.

          Comment


            #6
            Tendring is be a good area to go for, some nice sharp corners and gradient changes on the roads around there.

            Good luck to the BTCC team foxy. Here's the schedule below. Donington is having a lot of work done ahead of the new season with a bar/restaurant area being built as well as a grandstand.

            8 April Brands Hatch Indy
            29 April Donington Park
            20 May Thruxton
            10 June Oulton Park
            24 June Croft
            29 July Snetterton
            12 August Rockingham
            26 August Knockhill
            16 September Silverstone
            30 September Brands Hatch GP

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              #7
              The, uh, new logo, looks, uh, really good (*eyeroll followed by finger deep in the throat*)

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                #8
                Anyone after their Dakar fix might want to look at Red Bull TV:

                https://www.redbull.tv/live/AP-1TPGK...kar-rally-2018

                Peugeot, winners of the car class with Stéphane Peterhansel the past two years, have said this will be their last go at the race. Peterhansel, Loeb, Sainz and five-times winner Cyril Despres form the star-studded list of drivers. The team is sponsored, of course, by Red Bull.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Ah, so it seems basically everyone is sponsored by Red Bull then.

                  Sam Sunderland begins his defence of the bikes title by leading after day one. Toyota and Mini dominate the car class, and Loeb has lost a stack of time with a brakes issue.

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                    #10
                    "It's not the way I wanted my first Dakar to go."



                    Bryce Menzies, who had been fourth ahead of day two, ignores Mortensen's caution, smashes up his Mini and breaks his co-driver's ankle.

                    https://twitter.com/AbsChile/status/950154205662273536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxsports.com.au%2Fmotorsport%2Frally%2Fdakar-rally-bryce-menzies-spectacular-crash-out-of-fourth-place%2Fnews-story%2Fa1e8c76bb9b99512f6335179c8c03665
                    Last edited by Kevin S; 08-01-2018, 11:24.

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                      #11
                      Race situation report from Fox Australia:
                      https://www.foxsports.com.au/motorsp...22dcb62aee5158

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                        #12
                        Sam Sunderland is out with back pains after a fall.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          And we can add Loeb, and Villas-Boas, to the list of retirees. Peterhansel has a strong lead.

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                            #14
                            The 2018 Indycar is a handsome vehicle:



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                              #15
                              Sweet. Is that the oval or road version?

                              This car:

                              is a new British LMP1 from Ginetta to compete in the WEC including Le Mans.
                              Manor has already committed to running one of the new Ginetta cars in the 2018/19 WEC superseason, while Ginetta says it has had a further three orders from an as-yet undisclosed team. A total of 10 cars will be built in the initial production run, although the firm is open to building more subject to demand.

                              "We've got huge interest in the car," said Ginetta owner Lawrence Tomlinson. "We will be doing 10 chassis, six cars - hopefully three two-car teams.


                              Given that Audi are not doing Le Mans any more, the only manufacturer focused on LMP1 is Toyota. So this is set to be a year where privateers make a comeback. A couple more, as well as the Ginetta, are mentioned here:
                              http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/b...ting-programs/

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                                #16
                                Today is a rest day for the Dakar. Peterhansel has excelled over the sandy stages in the first week but Sainz won yesterday's stage to reduce the deficit to under half an hour. He might fancy his chances of pulling the leader back in on firmer surfaces. The three leading Toyotas are all over an hour down.

                                I forgot to mention that on Wednesday's stage, one of the Minis made a navigation error and ended up in the ocean.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  In F1, Kvyat makes a comeback as Ferrari's development driver.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    So Sainz was able to steal a march on Peterhansel sooner than expected, as the champion hit a rock on Saturday while overtaking a bike. Despres (who is almost two days behind the lead after a difficult first week) stopped to assist him but Peterhansel lost 1 hour 48 minutes on Sainz, who now leads the car class, and moved down to third place.

                                    But Peterhansel roared back yesterday to win the stage and, while still third, is a mere 7 minutes behind the Toyota of Nasser Al-Attiyah.

                                    ASO have cancelled today's stage due to heavy rain making the destination point something of a quagmire.

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                                      #19
                                      Also, Dan Gurney, 1931-2018, has passed away.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        Originally posted by Kevin S View Post
                                        Also, Dan Gurney, 1931-2018, has passed away.
                                        Not unexpected, but still sad - one of the true greats of the 1960s.

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          Williams confirm Sirotkin gets the drive, Kubica as reserve.

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            Dakar - two stages to go.

                                            Sainz still leads Peterhansel, by 45 minutes. It's going to be a Peugeot win one way or the other - probably Sainz - despite some excellent stage performances from Al-Attiyah, winning again yesterday for Toyota.

                                            The bikes and quads didn't run yesterday but the trucks did and, well, what can you say? With only two stages to go, Nikolaev leads with Villagra second. Oh yeah - the time difference? One second.

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              Motorsport.com reporting this on the TV deal negotiations for F1:
                                              Formula 1 is set to all but disappear from mainstream free-to-air TV in Italy in 2018, with only the country's own race at Monza expected to feature live on RAI. State broadcaster RAI has been the backbone of live TV coverage in Italy for decades, although it has been diluted by a move to Sky Italia in recent years.

                                              Until last season Italy operated a similar system to the UK, with all the races carried live by Sky Italia and nine live on RAI, together with highlights of the rest.

                                              Recent negotiations over 2018 arrangements led to RAI failing to satisfy Liberty's financial requirements, and no deal was agreed, leaving Sky as the only source of live races this season.

                                              The Italian situation is the opposite of that in France, where live F1 races are returning to free-to-air on TF1, which will be showing the French and Monaco GPs, and two others, plus highlights.

                                              However, that arrangement may yet be replicated in Italy, albeit not on a mainstream channel.

                                              It's understood that Sky is working on a deal to have four live races and highlights of the rest on its free-to-air digital subsidiary TV8, which already carries MotoGP events and UEFA Europa League matches.

                                              Liberty continues to conclude TV deals on region-by-region basis, having recently confirmed the continuation of free-to-air in Germany on RTL, plus extended pay deals with Movistar in Spain and Fox in Latin America.

                                              A key factor in any negotiations has been Liberty's plan to introduce F1's own OTT live streaming service, as many ongoing contracts give such rights to the current broadcasters.

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                Been avoiding this thread as I was running days behind on my Dakar watching, but caught up tonight. The bikes have been proper dramatic, poor Van Beveren wiping out with a big lead within his grasp and Walkner left clear when all the other leading contenders had a navigational nightmare. Also been loving Lyndon Poskitt’s GoPro antics on Eurosport, happily with the audio left on as he bins it to a big frustrated shout of “FUCK!! Fuck. For FUCK’S sake!!”

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                                                  #25
                                                  Pleased Sainz got his win with Peugeot. What a brutal race - you can see why no-one under 35 has ever won it, experience must be so important.

                                                  Back onto asphalt this weekend for the WRC opener (yes, already!) with Rallye Monte Carlo.
                                                  Last edited by Kevin S; 23-01-2018, 23:36.

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