Keith Camilleri wins ICC 2014 Championship

The final meeting of  the 2014 Grimaldi Lines Hill climb championship at Gnejna, Mgarr brought with it typically autumnal weather. Sunny intervals and intermittent heavy rain or showers served up some interesting results during the course of the day. With less than fifty competitors taking part, those who did attend were rewarded with no less than four timed runs. However, mid way through the first run, the rain came, just as the slick-shod group-2 touring cars took to the track, rain coming down hard resulted towards  an enduring intermission till the road was completely dry. 

Once nearly dry, practice got underway promptly, on an initially damp track. The first timed run took place before the lunch break and, broadly speaking, were on a wet track. The remaining runs were dry. This gave the drivers the confidence to push harder, as it became easier to know everyone’s limit,  the results on the timesheets reflected all of this.

Keith Camilleri rounded off his first full season with the fastest time of the day (FTD) for the fourth time at Gnejna’s Island Car Club Hillclimb Championship finale. 

It was perhaps one of the most closely-fought competitions of the season with 2012 champion Zach Zammit in his Urban Jungle Ralt and 21-year-old Keith Camilleri in his Chevron Britannia-Tours Radical Prosport both vying for the day’s honours and most of all the championship title.

The event kicked off with a titanic struggle between them for victory. It was indeed a final showdown of extreme competitiveness in a decider that would have rewarded the title. On the penultimate run, Camilleri was dominant on a road he had never raced on before and again broke the track record (33.544sec).

The championship was confirmed to Camilleri on the fourth round without him having to execute his final run after Zammit suffered a gearbox breakdown upon exiting the first chicane which meant that Camilleri did not need complete the final run. So, elation for Camilleri and heartbreak for Zammit (34.234sec) but, no doubt, he will be fired up for revenge next year.

The final podium step went to Adam Galea (36.463sec) in his A’C-Steel-Works DALK, after a fine showing put his successful home-built chassis half a second ahead of fourth placed aforementioned Matthew Zammit in his Radical Pro Sport (36.926sec). David Galea in his blue Dallara had to settle for fifth place (36.933sec), he was just under a hundredth of a second away from Zammit, whilst Patrick Gauci in his pink Hawk DLB6 completed the top six rankings (37.816sec).

Not surprisingly, there were some strong performances from many of the touring-car competitors in their different classes. Ryan Mangion won the rear-wheel drive series in his Ford Escort Mk1 and placed an impressive 7^th overall with a time of 39.265sec.

Didier Bugeja won the best front-wheel drive class in his Peugeot 106 and took half a second off his old track mark (39.573sec) whilst Steve Baldachino picked up another hatful of points for his first place in the all-wheel drive category (41.593sec).

And so the day ended. Mixed bag weather, but four timed runs sent everyone home happy and expectant for a new 2015 Hill Climb Championship. Will there be many new comers and more competition? Only time will tell.

Info provided by Etienne Grech

F1 – Abu Dhabi Its testing time

At the final in-season test of the year, held straight after the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Pirelli’s 2015 tyres were seen for the first time – although there were no dedicated Pirelli test days, with each team concentrating on its own independent programme.

McLaren-Honda – Sutton Images

Every team is allocated 135 sets of tyres for testing purposes throughout 2014, and for the final test of the year teams had 10 sets of this existing allocation replaced with 10 sets of the new 2015 tyres. Pirelli brought the medium, soft and supersoft 2015 tyres to Abu Dhabi, in their definitive specification. All the teams took up the option of running on the new tyres at some point during the two days, in order to have a first look at the 2015 rubber, which is an evolution of the existing tyre rather than a new departure.

As well as testing new tyres, many of the teams also tried out out some new drivers and components for 2015. Added to the warm daytime track and air temperatures, as opposed to the falling temperatures seen in qualifying and the race, this meant that the lap times set in testing could not be usefully compared to those in the race. Nonetheless, the drivers who tested the new tyres gave positive feedback about their first taste of the 2015 P Zero specification.

“We’ve been very pleased to hear the initial impressions from the drivers of our new tyres, which suggest that the improvements we have aimed for are already taking effect. We’ve made a few small alterations: in particular to the belt area of the rear tyre that sits in the footprint. This new construction optimises the temperature distribution through the tyre in order to distribute heat more evenly, which should lead to more consistent performance and better traction. We’ve also got a new supersoft compound on the rear, which is designed to improve mechanical resistance. Our objectives with the 2015 tyres remain the same as they have always been: to provide between two and three pit stops per race. One of the biggest factors of course will be the way that the cars improve: we’re expecting to see cars that are a second per lap or more faster than the 2014 cars next year, and this obviously will impact on tyre behaviour.” commented Paul Hembery

Testing facts:

Both days of testing were held in warm and dry conditions, with track temperatures that peaked at 44 degrees (33 degrees ambient) on Tuesday and 43 degrees (32 degrees ambient) on Wednesday.

The fastest time set during the two days of the test was a 1m42.624s set by Mercedes driver Pascal Wehrlein on the supersoft tyres, in the closing stages of day two.

The highest number of laps run on day one was 114 laps from Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes, while the highest number of laps run on day two was 112 from Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber.

The 2015 tyres were available in medium, soft and supersoft specification, with all four tyres in the 2014 range also available for the teams to test. In total, 454 laps were completed on the new 2015 tyres and 903 laps on the current 2014 tyres.

The next test will take place at the first official pre-season session of the year, from 1-4 February at Jerez in southern Spain. Following that, there will be just two more sessions in Barcelona from February 19-22 and February 26-March 1 before the season starts.

Day 1

Bottas	Williams	1m43.396s	2015 Soft new
Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m43.888s	Supersoft used
Rosberg	Mercedes	1m44.512s	Soft new
Palmer	Force India	1m44.516s	Supersoft new
Sainz	Red Bull	1m45.339s	Supersoft used
Stevens	Caterham	1m45.436s	Supersoft new
Pic	Lotus	1m46.167s	Soft new
Ericsson	Sauber	1m46.253s	Supersoft new
Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1m47.194s	Soft new
Vandoorne	McLaren	no time set	2015 Soft new

Day 2

Wehrlein	Mercedes	1m42.624s	Supersoft new
Marciello	Ferrari	1m43.208s	2015 Supersoft new
Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1m43.763s	Supersoft new
Ericsson	Sauber	1m44.551s	Supersoft new
Stevens	Caterham	1m44.888s	Supersoft new
Goddard	Force India	1m44.944s	Supersoft new
Ricciardo	Red Bull	1m45.151s	Soft new
Nasr	Williams	1m45.937s	2015 Soft new
Lynn	Lotus	1m46.168s	Soft new
Ocon	Lotus	1m47.013s	Soft new
Vandoorne	McLaren	no time set	2015 Supersoft new

F1 – Lewis Hamilton, F1 World Champion 2014

Mercedes-Benz celebrates one-two victory
in the Formula 1 drivers’ world championship

• MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS driver Lewis Hamilton is the new Formula 1 world champion
• First Silver Arrows driver to claim title since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1955
• Silver Arrows works team driver Nico Rosberg finishes season as F1 championship runner-up
• 16 wins, 18 pole positions and 31 podiums for the 2014 Silver Arrows in the first season of the new hybrid era in Formula 1

A triumphant end to the 2014 Formula 1 season for Mercedes-Benz as MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS driver Lewis Hamilton wins the concluding race of the campaign at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi to take the Formula 1 world championship title for the second time in his career. His team-mate Nico Rosberg ends the season as runner-up. Between them, Hamilton and Rosberg accumulated 16 wins, 18 pole positions, 12 fastest laps and 31 podium finishes. With eleven one-two wins in a single season, the team surpassed the previous record set by McLaren in 1988. The 16th victory of the season in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix means that MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS no longer share the record with any other team for the highest number of wins in one season.

“Congratulations to the new Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton,” said Dr Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars. “He has truly earned that title with a fantastic performance this year. At the same time, I would also like to congratulate his team-mate Nico Rosberg and all of our staff in Brackley, Brixworth and Stuttgart on this fascinating and highly successful season. Formula 1 is a team sport, and they have all achieved a magnificent result from their joint efforts this year. The fact is that world champions drive Mercedes-Benz. Motorsport has a long tradition at Mercedes-Benz. The very first Mercedes in 1901 was a racing car. Ever since the invention of the first automobile by Karl Benz, our company has been a force for innovation in the automotive industry. Right from the start, Mercedes-Benz regarded racing as a proving ground for some of our most important developments. The new Formula 1 regulations on hybrid power units has taken the sport in the same direction that the automotive industry was already heading. Formula 1 is carrying out pioneering work in areas that will also be of great importance in the car industry of the future.”

Mercedes-Benz already clinched the F1 constructors’ championship in the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi. MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS became the first team to win the trophy in the new Formula 1 hybrid era. The knowledge gained from using this advanced technology has already proved of immense benefit in car manufacturing. A prime example is the latest series of hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles from Mercedes-Benz, namely the S500 PLUG-IN HYBRID.

“What a great season! Congratulations to the new Formula 1 drivers’ champion Lewis Hamilton and to the constructors’ champions MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS,” said Professor Dr Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Group Research and Mercedes Benz Cars Development. “The success of our Silver Arrows works team in developing the Mercedes-Benz W05 F1 Hybrid is not only restricted to the racetrack, however. Formula 1 serves as the fastest research laboratory in the world. Nowhere else are new technologies so systematically and rapidly developed as in the highest echelon of motorsport. This is where racing and series production derive mutual benefit. In designing the world championship-winning F1 W05 Hybrid, the engineers in Brackley, Brixworth and Stuttgart made full use of existing synergies to ensure that the Silver Arrow would take the title in the first year of the new regulations. Conversely, Formula 1 itself comes up with new solutions that have general applicability. In this way, we have shown the world what is possible. The technology transfer between Formula 1 and series production is highly beneficial. In the past, technologies such as petrol direct injection have found their way into series production via the Silver Arrows of the 1950s. Today, the knowledge gained from Formula 1 can help with the similarly complex challenge of designing pioneering road vehicles such as the S 500 HYBRID PLUG IN. The objective is the same in both areas, namely the conversion of efficiency into superior performance.”

Winning both the drivers’ and the constructors’ world championships represents two special milestones for Mercedes-Benz in what was already a very special year. In 2014, the brand with the three-pointed star celebrates 120 years in motorsport and the 80th anniversary of the legendary Silver Arrows. In the 1954 and 1955 seasons, Juan Manuel Fangio in a Mercedes-Benz W 196 R won the drivers’ championship in the premier class of motor racing.