Team News

M-sport returned home today victorious with both drivers and team championship titles setting GMWC history by being the first UK team to win either title.

One week after securing the Driver Championship thanks to Anthony Cochrane, M-sport drivers kept the Antares challange at bay to end thier domination of the Team title which they have held since SDL last fielded a strong team in 08.  Team boss Matt Lewis commented, "I'm over the moon that the team achieved exactly what it set out to do this season.  The boys did a superb job, especially as not everyone in the squad got the most out of the MP010A. It has been a tough season for some of us, but the guys rallied and put in sound results whilst Anthony took the challenge to the front.  We might not have had his pace but it was a great showing from everyone."

The team has also today provided first details of its new look and images of its new challenger for 2010B. Featuring a revised livery, the team's designers have hinted that the car handles much like the 08C/09A challenger with a promise of it being more accessible to all the team drivers compared to 10A.  Limited testing and software problems with updates in the design department have hampered the new car's development.  How competitive will the new car be?  Only time will tell.

M-sport racing today unveiled its 2010A GP contender ahead of what it hopes will be its strongest season to date. Sporting a slightly revised livery the team is bolstered by new drivers who bring with them additional sponsors now displayed proudly on the car.

Fuelled with freebies from new sponsors Krsipy Kreme Doughnuts, staff worked endlessly and the MP010A car underwent a significant development program after the 009C car was found lacking in performance. Along with the teams trademark low CG , a narrower track suspension is featured compared to standard is a brave move but one the team hopes will suit the driving style of the teams drivers. In fact after trying many options and hours of testing, a clear favorite emerged and the Chocolate Dreamcake was by far the preffered choice of the drivers although the glazed lemon filled came a close second. As a side effect to the tortuous testing regime however, a fitness boot camp is required over the next few weks so as not to cancel out that low CG design with driver weight.

Team principle Matt Lewis said "We are highly optimistic with a good design and strong driver line up for this coming season. We have a number of unkowns if the no refuel rules but we are in the same boat as other teams. Testing has shown the car to be equally good to drive with full and low fuel loads. The car is faster than our 009C car but we wont know how we are compared to the competition until we hit the streets of Adelaide. The guys are fired up and ready to launch the attack on that teams title, hopefully challenging for the driver prize on the way"

After the motorsport world was rocked recently by such well kept secret news bombshells such as Alonso going to Ferrari and Mercedes buying into Brawn, GMWC today equally has its own well kept, not even in the slightest rumoured or discussed news headline.

Today the press world was shocked at a hastily called conference at M-Sport HQ when the following announcement was made

“Earlier today the M-Sport team fully acquired the remaining assets of the A-Tek motorsport team in a move to form one of the strongest squads to field on the 2010A grid”

The assembled press were so shocked by the well kept secret that absolutely no response whatsoever was initially made, although well humoured journalists jibed with “tell us something we don’t know” type comments.

Former A-Tek CEO Antony Cochrane was on hand to explain “Last season a small core of drivers parted with another team and came knocking for drives at M-Sport. Matt Lewis at the time was very supportive but wished to see new teams on the grid. He agreed to provide customer cars and thus A-Tek racing was born. Halfway through 2009C though things were not going and well and we nearly folded the team there and then. Once again M-sport stepped in to help and encourage A-tek to continue even though we went on to beat them to 3rd in the Team title. Our foray into team management was over however so the natural step was to merge our teams assets with M-sport”

M-sport CEO concluded “We welcome A-tek into the fold of M-sport racing and its fitting that something we helped build comes home to strengthen our team. Anthony and Alex Du Plessis join the great roster we already have and we believe we can finally mount a serious challenge on the Teams Championship. 2010A is shaping up to be an exciting season for us and we cant wait to get going”
 

Well that’s the question being asked in the media lately ..the usually fairly forthcoming team has indeed been fairly quiet with little in the news of late.  Some say its due to poor performance on track lately, others that devious dealings are being done…. All we really know is.. well bugger all really.  The gutter press have had the usual silly rumours and wild stories (Alien abduction etc) but nothing concrete or worthy of any substance has come out. Even veteran series promoter Bernie Ecclescake was questioned, the blank look of a vacated intelligence didn’t really help before the nurse took him away for his afternoon medication….. not that we really care what the old fart thinks these days anyway.

So in order to get to them bottom of things, the UK’s not quite leading monthly magazine Autosprint, paid a surprise visit to the Peterborough base of M-sport Racing where the team principle reluctantly agreed to an interview.

Autosprint – Thank you to agreeing to this short notice interview Mr Lewis and welcoming us to you open plan office and workshops, very little has been said about M-sport recently and the world waits for news. Why have things been so quiet?          

M Lewis – well we have a reason for everything we do as I’m sure you would imagine

AS – I must say looking around your staff seems to be very busy, one almost get the impression they are hiding things.         

ML – Not at all, we have a strict tidy desk policy and you just happen to have arrived just before my weekly inspection.

AS – Various rumours have been around about dodgy dealings, does M-sport have something to hide?      

ML – No, this isn’t Scuderia De Loyer you know!

AS – This season has been a bit of a disappointment hasn’t it?         

ML – Yes indeed, although we have picked up some wins its no secret that results could have been better, some of our drivers had other commitments including myself meaning I missed the first cup, I’m still in contention for 3^rd so I guess that’s as good as I could expect…  the guys have done a good job though when they have made it but we had hoped to be challenging for the TC title.

AS – So what for next year hence the reason we are here.

ML – We are hard at work developing for next season, in fact two of our drivers are testing at Silverstone today.

AS – But all your drivers are here today, I’ve seen them

ML – Er...You must be mistaken..besides Silverstone isn’t far away.. amazing how fast you can get there.

AS – Can you explain then why you have two new lockers over there next to your other drivers with different initials on them?

ML – Ah no.. those are for our aerodynamics controller and our aerodynamics development processor… they like to stay close to the drivers for tech input.

AS – So are you confident for next season and who do you fear.

ML – Yes we are very positive or next season, of course Antares will be the ones to beat and that who we are gunning for in the team race. Celso and AJ will be fast as usual.

AS – What do you make of the story that an Antares 09C car disappeared from trackside after retirement at the Silverstone last week?

ML – Terribly frustrating of course but with only one race to go I doubt they will miss it

AS – So no ideas where it may be now then?

ML – Let me show you round our new museum which is this way… Fred, the store shed round back is closed and locked isn’t it?

No sooner had the teams packed up after the season finale at Paul Ricard and M-sports 2009C plans swung into action. Whereas most teams headed for home the UK-based squad headed straight to Bahrain for a major unveiling of the new team branding.

Team owner Matt Lewis was on hand to explain “When we were first founded we relied heavily on heavily on our sister team for support but last year we starting introducing sponsors to stand on our own two feet. Our impressive performance and feature race win here last season went down well with the locals which has led to our first major sponsor deal with Bahrain based international and regional airline Gulf Air.”

Sporting a smart new livery the M-sport driver squad ran demonstration laps in the various cars.

It certainly is a departure for the leading British team after many a cold and wet pre-season unveiling at Silverstone, but is this new direction a signal of an end to the long standing partnership between M-sport and SDL, “no absolutely not, SDL were a key piece in our teams formation and although our designs last year went down differing routes, this year we have a similar approach even though it was arrived at independently.”

As usual though, scratch below the surface and all is not what it seems... Once back in international airspace the usual M-Sport suspects could be found in the first class bar on the flight home and were a little more forthcoming…  “The boss came back from a SDL meeting in Seattle recently and said we have to find funds before De Loyer looses the plot completely and realises his family fortune has evaporated into his racing saga and the taxman comes knocking. SDL, sure they are there and the bond remains but have you seen what is going on with their new cars? I don’t know what they are on over there but it must be good stuff.”

Claims from within the team that some of the famous SDL gold Zeppelins have been found to contain illegal vegetation are thought to be unfounded. When SDL press office was asked to respond to the allegation that the Gold zeppelin distribution network was a cover for more sinister operations, especially bearing in mind its star driver is currently serving time behind bars for related offences… only a no comment could be obtained, reportedly from De Loyer himself but nobody could see through the press room smoke haze enough to be sure.

Jo King – Auto news daily

Worried faces were aplenty a few weeks ago in the M-sport camp when the various new team cars rolled out the garages in Brazil for the pre season showcase and the Turbo trend became apparent.

  Having opted for an entirely different technical development route from most of the grid (Rusyn the exception), the MP009-B car struggled for pace in the pre-season test down the long Jacarepagua straight compared to the turbo cars and fears had set in as to whether the right development had been chosen.

 Two events in however and the worry has eased with the team sitting strong in the drivers and manufacturers tables. Test Driver and race regular Alex Dorsett AKA Bruce admits “The attraction of a big turbo was there for sure so yes we were worried sticking with a standard engine was a risk. Having tested a turbo side by side with the standard engine we found the disadvantages negated the advantages. The drivers found the standard engine also a lot easier to drive and that’s what made the choice for us.” 

 Asked how the rest of the season will develop, team owner Matt Lewis said “We are very encouraged by the results seen so far but we know tracks are coming that will suit the turbo teams more than us so we must capitalize where we have the upper hand. At the same time the ever present threat of Rusyn remains with a lot of development budget remaining and I have no doubt that AJ and his boys will be back up front soon. It will be interesting to see how they deploy their remaining budget and again we must capitalize on our advantage whilst we have it.”

M-Sports 2009B plans have been hard to come by so far as the 2009A Championship heads into the final rounds. Details about how the team intends to adapt to the new regulations have been kept tightly wrapped up although sources indicate they are working closely with technical partners Scuderia Deloyer. An insider confirmed ongoing shipments being recieved of the SDL trademark Gold Zeppelins into the UK Based M-sport factory and said, "we keep getting tons of the damn things and they pile up in the corner, its just as well gold still has good value in these tough economic times as we have been doing good business in gold ingots from molten zeppelins"

The team owner has also denied that the team had stopped developmental support on its 2009A MP-009 chassis as the season draws to a close. "we really want to try and finish the season on a high. Our drivers may be behind int the drivers points race but we have a good chance in the team race. Antares may be a little out of reach at the top be we aim to be the highest place team with an legitimatly developed car design"

It is belived that in effort to gain extra performance, the team will run without the SDL patented monker fur filters on the air intkaes for the final few rounds.

London December 10th

Rumours were abound yesterday that prominient persons from the worlds foremost world championship recently attempted to lure M-Sport into joining their series rather than the GMWC. Its reported that in light of a major teams withdrawal, they are seeking to bolster their 2009 grid.

Whilst M-sport officials remain tight lipped about the alleged meeting at rival series's Paris HQ, a M-sport inside source confirmed a meeting did take place with two leading figures whom he refused to name but hinted they were amonst the sports most powerfull persons. "To be honest we were sceptical about attending but the trip was all expenses paid so hey what the hell...  I was somewhat gob-smacked however as to how lavish the whole affair was but the taller one of the two said " dont worry we stitched a team with a huge fine in 07 and we'll be dining out on this piggy bank for years"

It seems however the meeting soon turned sour. " The short scruffy looking guy promised numerous perks including access to the secret 2nd pitlane where no penalties apply, selective blind eye policy and influence on steward selection" our informant went on to say " My boss was not impressed by these un sporting perks and beside was not prepared to paint the team cars in the colours they were stipulating in return. No matter how much extra, no questions asked "entertainment" the tall guy offered the boss for the hotel that evening he would not be swayed and soon grew irate. The short guy was so shocked when the boss went nose to nose with him and suggested he was due for retirement that he fell off his step stool before rushing off to take a call from his divorce lawyer."

The only official comment to come from the team stated " GMWC is our home and we hope to remain here for some time in this respected championship"

Following lengthy negotiations, heated debate and gold zeppelins flying across boardrooms, a new UK based team opens its doors today, swelling the team ranks in the GMWC.

 M-Sport racing based in Cambridgeshire, UK has been founded by SDL driver Matt Lewis who will continue to drive for the former until the end of the current season.

The new team owner was unavailable for comment and is believed to be bound by SDL contract until season end when the team is officially launched.

Until then little is known, however an SDL insider recently interviewed in a Seattle ER department being treated for minor head injury, did hint that M-Sport will remain closely linked to SDL as a technical partner and is rumoured to be actively chasing other UK drivers who live within the East of England area, one can only assume this would include Brian Gould and promising new talent Tom Castellani. When quizzed why M-sport would base itself in the UK whilst trying to remain close linked to US based SDL, the informant was quoted “Who can blame them, I meant just look at my head! This is 5^th time I have been to ER this year and its getting out of hand so who knows I might join them… after all the last time a zeppelin managed to fly across the Atlantic was in the 1930’s”