Novinky
Na letošní druhé oficiální testy Světové série F Renault 3.5 nebude jezdec týmu ISR Filip Salaquarda rád vzpomínat. V rychlosti 240 km/h mu přestaly fungovat brzdy na zadních kolech. Stalo se tak na konci dlouhé rovinky. Následoval průjezd únikovou zónou a pak náraz do zdi. Štěstím v neštěstí bylo pro Filipa to, že zeď byla obložena třemi řadami pneumatik, které náraz částečně utlumily. Český jezdec navíc zachoval chladnou hlavu, díky brzdnému účinku předních kol snížil nárazovou rychlost a zbytečně netočil volantem. Čelní náraz, kdy se formule zabořila na metr do bariéry z pneumatik, přestál Filip Salaquarda bez zranění, naštěstí jen s potlučeninami prakticky po celém těle. A přitom se vše zpočátku vyvíjelo podle představ týmu i jezdce.
„První den dopoledne jsem ujel asi pětadvacet kol. Auto fungovalo výborně, přestože jsme použili starší pneumatiky. Nové gumy jsme šetřili na odpoledne, protože trať se stále zrychlovala,“ připomíná úvodní část testování Salaquarda. „Zajeté časy slibovaly pro odpolední část testů další zrychlení. Bohužel kvůli závadě na převodovce jsme ujeli jen pár kol. A na neděli je lepší zapomenout.“
Druhým jezdcem, který se v Jerezu objevil v barvách ISR, byl domácí Sergio Canamasas. Nevedl si nijak špatně, když v konkurenci čtyřiadvaceti jezdců obsadil 9. místo, což je oproti Barceloně, kde testoval s jiným týmem, posun o třináct míst kupředu.
Tým teď čeká oprava Filipovy formule a pak cesta do španělského Motorlandu Aragon na poslední testy před ostrým startem Světové serie F Renault 3.5.
29. 07. 10 - Filip just off the ground
Filip Salaquarda has not abandoned his steering wheel even in a period during which the World Series by Renault regulations prohibit its participants from driving on circuits. The ISR Racing team driver just replaced his Formula cockpit with a kart seat.
“Thanks to Josef Kališ’s understanding, we’ve got a really good-quality machine with a Birel chassis that had appeared in the European Championship,” says the Prague-based driver. Although the original plan to take part in several races during the holidays had been cancelled, the harder he trained in the kart.
He headed for a new track in Cheb as well as the “classic” one at Vysoké Mýto. “I was quite surprised to see how I got used to it again immediately even though I had driven a go-kart in about 2006 for the last time. It was a considerable number of commercial visitors that annoyed me a bit in Cheb while it was visibly better at Vysoké Mýto in this respect. I even met some boys who have taken part in the European Championship. The achieved times were very respectable considering that we hadn’t tuned up the kart very much and had run a richer set-up. At first, I preferred learning the track, which has been changed a great deal, and was running in the engine. But towards the end, I pushed harder. I feel good about my performance. In any case, it was a good training run,” Filip concludes. Now he faces another kart test work at Sosnová and then an important step in his private life: he is going to enter into a marriage.
22. 07. 10 - Drudgery in Italy
The present mid-summer holiday break in the World Series by Renault does not mean that the participants in the series may enjoy pleasant idleness. For example, the two ISR Racing Team drivers, Filip Salaquarda and Esteban Guerrieri, have made the most of the break staying in the Formula Medicine specialized centre in Viareggio, Italy for a week.
“Ninety per cent of the clients are racing drivers,” said Filip Salaquarda after his return. “The colleagues we met there included Robert Kubica who lives in Viareggio and is a regular visitor to the centre. The training itself consists of two parts: the first one is aimed at the driver’s mental condition while the second one, at his stamina. As part of our mental training, we have completed a number of stress tests focussing, above all, on examination of our reflex capacity, but also our memory. As far as fitness is concerned, attention was focussed particularly upon those areas that are most strained, which means the back, shoulders, and especially neck and the back of the neck. We’ve also undergone a general medical check-up.”
The number-one priority was to get methodical instructions on how to precisely proceed when further developing and strengthening the drivers’ mental and physical abilities. But this does not mean that Filip and Esteban did not get a hard workout. “I will remember how we were crossing the local river as a practice. We’d been trying to scramble up its steep bank for about three hours; we had to swarm up a rope in some sections. And the temperature was thirty-five degrees in the shade!”
In spite of this horrible experience, Filip Salaquarda was extremely happy as he returned home from the Apennine Peninsula. “I brought a training plan, which I’m going to follow in coming months. I’ve also received valuable advice as regards the general regimen. That’s why I’d like to go to Viareggio at least once more during the course of this year.”
19. 07. 10 - The cracked monocoques to be repaired by their manufacturer
Disappointment over the previous round of the World Series by Renault at Hungaroring is slowly dying away in the headquarters of the ISR Racing Team at Čestlice near Prague. The event was over for the Czech team as early as Friday when the technical scrutineers declared both of their racing cars unfit for the race, and excluded the ISR Racing from the entire weekend event.
“The grounds for our disqualification, which we were officially given, were cracks on the monocoque floor. This is a usual thing that occurs during standard racing operations. We’ve never had any problems like this until now. Nevertheless, we must accept the technical scrutineers’ decision. This is a great lesson for us,” said Team Principal Igor Salaquarda.
The two monocoques are already with their manufacturer, the Italian Dallara company, at the moment in order to undergo an overhaul. The racing teams mustn’t repair such damage by themselves. “It’s not such a big trouble for us because we counted with maintenance like that during the two months long summer break anyway,” Igor Salaquarda added.
Although the World Series by Renault is on holiday now (meanwhile, no test sessions are scheduled either), the ISR Racing drivers, Filip Salaquarda and Esteban Guerrieri, don’t laze around in the meantime. They headed for a special racing driver physical conditioning centre in Viareggio, Italy in order to improve their fitness. In addition, Salaquarda is most likely to return, figuratively speaking, to the beginnings of his career in the ensuing weeks: he should take part in some kart races!
03. 07. 10 - A Red Card Shown by Technical Scrutineers
“That’s really infuriating,” said Igor Salaquarda, the Czech ISR Team Principal, commenting on the decision taken by technical scrutineers on Friday evening. The team’s drivers, Filip Salaquarda and Esteban Guerrieri, were not admitted to the start of the Saturday and Sunday races of the World Series by Renault 3.5. What was the reason? Allegedly it was because of some cracks on the monocoque of each of the two cars. It is difficult to argue with the race control. “It’s impossible to repair something like that overnight. The only solution to this problem is to buy a new monocoque and rebuild everything. This is what you can’t complete over a race weekend,” Igor Salaquarda sadly reviewed the situation that had unexpectedly occurred. His team decided not to improvise unnecessarily and instead, to carefully get ready for the remaining races of the World Series by Renault 3.5. This is why they left Hungaroring for home ahead of schedule. But in fact, the Friday free practice sessions entered by the two drivers turned out very well for the team. In the morning, Esteban Guerrieri of Argentina was second fastest, and his team-mate, Filip Salaquarda, finished sixth in the competition among twenty-four drivers. They were doing in a similar vein in the afternoon session. “We’re satisfied for the time being,” Filip Salaquarda said before the jury’s decision although he was not much content with the track. “I’m disillusioned with the track surface. It’s bumpy and gutted in some places. Moreover, it’s dirty off line.” Esteban Guerrieri had the same feelings. In addition, like anyone else in Argentina, he loves football, so he looked forward to the quarterfinal match between Germany and Argentina apart from the races.
Such an absence from racing is a very unpleasant complication for the ISR team. The team and Esteban Guerrieri fought for second place in the constructors’ championship and the drivers’ championship respectively. As far as Filip Salaquarda is concerned, he moved up to the top ten in the provisional classification after two consecutive podium finishes and had a real chance of further advancement.
Now the drivers have a two-month break before them. The next race will take place at Hockenheimring early in September.
Text by Sport-Press
Photo by Renault Sport
22. 06. 10 - Playing with Tyres
The race result can sometimes be affected by decisions taken within seconds. This turned out to be the case just before the start of the Sunday race of the World Series by Renault held at Magny-Cours, France. Six cars changed wet tyres to dry ones right on the grid literally at the last minute – including the two ISR Racing team’s single-seaters with Filip Salaquarda and Esteban Guerrieri behind the wheels. What was it that made Team Principal Igor Salaquarda adopt such a decision?
“Looking at the sky, it was fifty-fifty. It rather looked as if it were going to stop raining. But I must admit that I acted according to what our arch-rivals from Carlin Motorsport and Tech 1 Racing teams had done. Based on simple reasoning that if we put a foot wrong, at least we won’t be down on them. And they relied on slicks. Of course, we ran a big risk. If it had rained for two or three more minutes, everything would have finally happened in a completely different way. This way, it went smoothly on wets for a while but then our drivers began to lose massively – up to ten seconds per lap”, Igor Salaquarda explained the whole story.
The tyres also played an important role in the battle for the Saturday victory between Guerrieri and the current standings leader, Mikhail Aleshin. Let’s hear from Igor Salaquarda again: “Still, Aleshin was getting on better, and we already know why. We took notice of him deliberately rubbing off wet-weather tyres on dry surface on Friday practice. By contrast, we started the race on completely new tyres. I suppose it might be all right under other conditions, but the Magny-Cours track is slippery pretty much. Besides, it was very cold. Mercury didn’t rise above twelve degrees in the thermometer. This is experience we still lack and acquire as we go along.”
All the same, there is great satisfaction at Čestlice near Prague, the ISR Racing team headquarters. “It’s naturally much easier for me to race than if nothing turned out well. Our team is in high spirits. All of us are looking forward to Budapest”, said Filip Salaquarda. His father agrees with him: “Everybody took us as harmless rookies when we entered the World Series. Now we feel they show enormous respect for us. Someone keeps peeking into our box all the time and watching how we are doing things.” The team’s achievements have positive practical effects. The ISR team has moved up to third place in the team rankings (Guerrieri third and Salaquarda eleventh in the driver standings), which is why its boxes have moved closer to the pit exit. That's because the garages are allocated to the teams based on their points haul. Lying at or near front means, particularly in free practice sessions but also in qualifying, the possibility to hit the track faster without losing time unnecessarily.
The World Series by Renault now continues at the Hungaroring circuit near Budapest, Hungary over the weekend of 3–4 July. The most successful Czech formula racing team of all time will try to further enlarge its remarkable trophy collection amassed this year.
20. 06. 10 - The Sisyphus-like Filip; a runner-up finish for Esteban
Filip Salaquarda had to feel like Sisyphus in Greek mythology during the Saturday race of the World Series by Renault on the Magny-Cours circuit in France. He was forced to climb from the back of the field upwards three times. Unfortunately, his efforts eventually came to naught.
In qualifying, the Prague-based driver took a solid seventh place though he could have finished even higher on the starting grid if it had not been for a few slight mistakes. By contrast, his ISR Racing team-mate, Esteban Guerrieri, avoided any mistakes and won a clear pole position!
The early phase of the race, too, was going very well for the ISR team pairing. In heavy rain, Guerrieri retained the lead while Salaquarda moved up several places. Then the Czech applied the brakes in a braking zone, and yet… “The car went on straight ahead. It didn’t turn at all. By now, I haven’t learned the cause of the failure. The fact is that about a dozen cars ran wide in that area”, said Filip. The Czech driver went through the laborious process of regaining his footing, but Kunimoto of Japan thwarted Filip’s plans crossing his path. The Japanese defended his position in such a rude way that he made Filip spin. Then another pursuit followed, ended up with a driving error which sent Salaquarda off the track for a moment. Filip was not able to make up the deficit again and crossed the line in fifteenth place being a lap down.
It was a completely different story for Guerrieri. At that point, the Argentine conducted a relentless fight for first place with the championship leader, Aleshin. In the final stage, the Russian got the upper hand of Guerrieri and won the race while the ISR driver was unsuccessfully attacked by Coletti at the finale. “Now I’m pleased to find myself second overall as well. Grip was gradually getting better during the race. All the same, I think Aleshin had found a better set-up”, the second-placed Argentine said after the finish. His words have been confirmed by Team Principal Igor Salaquarda: “We didn’t hit a low-downforce setting for wet surface this time. Maybe it will be better tomorrow”, he promised. And “better” than second means a victory…
