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Desi motorsport roundup.

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Renault Roadshow in Delhi

With an amazing season coming to an end, the F1 circus, Renault in particular, took a detour to India before heading home.

The road show of the F1 team, sponsored by ING Vysya, will have a spectacular display of the 2007 Renault F1 cars driving down the Rajpath. The show will comprise stunts by professional drivers on Renault Megane Trophy cars, the Toon cars and the display of their Logan cars.

Delhi GP delayed by a year

Meanwhile, Delhi’s GP has been delayed by a year [Tip F1 Fan]. There is no official word on why the GP has been delayed by a year, up until the announcement, Mallya was convinced that the 2010 time line was realistic. The other problem with the GP also seems to be internal politics. With the Indian Olympics Committee originally set to handle the entire event, another private firm seems to have taken the lead role, while news still trickles out of IOC.

India’s date with Formula One racing is delayed by another year, to 2011, Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi said on Thursday but refused to give any reason for it.

Management Changes at Force India F1

In related news, Force India F1 have parted ways with Mike Gascoyne and team boss Colin Kolles. It looks like Vijay Mallya will play a bigger role in next years operations. For those who care to remember, Gascoyne was the brain behind the Toyota team and helped design their car up until he moved to Force India. A new technical director, according to Mallya will be named shortly.

In a statement, Mallya said

Force India is my most difficult project to date and it has become clear that it requires more direct input from my side and greater performance accountability, We have come a long way this season, but we need more and that requires some radical reorganisation of the management structure to ensure the maximum productivity. I would like to thank Colin Kolles for his tireless efforts in keeping such a small team alive and to Mike Gascoyne for bringing his wealth of technical expertise. Both have played an instrumental part in making the team what it is today.

On Monday November 10th, I will announce the new technical direction of the team as well as the appointment of a new Chief Operating Officer who will assume overall responsibility for our Silverstone and Brackley facilities, Race and Test operations.

For the Indian fans, this gives a very small opening for Narain Karthikeyan to get into Force India. Karthikeyan did not have a great relationship with Kolles and this was public knowledge. When Karthikeyan did not get picked, even as a test driver for Force India, rumors were circulating on the web that it was Kolles who was blocking Narain’s return to F1. This should no longer be the problem.

Team India scores first point in Chinese round of A1GP

Speaking of Karthikeyan, Team India managed to secure their first point in the 08-09 A1GP season at the race in China. With the construction of cars being delayed, Team India was one of few outfits that did not participate in the season opener. This gave Narain additional time to run in the rookie practice session and he managed to top the time sheets, however when it came to race pace, it looks like the Indian team has more work to do. However, banking a point in the “first” race of the season is better than coming home empty handed.

Force India, splits with Ferrari, picks McLaren for next year’s engine.

Updating our earlier story Force India have officially parted ways with Ferrari. Instead of picking the Italian engine and KERS system, they have opted to move to a Mercedes powerplant.

With huge changes in the pipeline for Force Indian, including the reported signing of a technical deal with McLaren that will see the backmarker outfit supplied with engine, gearbox and the new KERS from the Championship-winning team, Mallya has implimented a management reshuffle.

With so much happening, I lost track of Naren Kumar and his WRC results. Does anyone have any updates on that?


© Karthik for Über Desi, 2008. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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