Tag: racing

BOSS GP Award Ceremony

We proudly present the 2020 BOSS GP Award Ceremony.

Hopefully we will be able to hand over the trophies personally again next year. Thanks to all drivers and teams participating this season and a very special thanks to all our supporters, the organizers and marshals around the world.

Report: Race 1 Imola

Fantastic season opener for the BOSS GP at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

Chris Höher (AUT, Top Speed) wins the race in the FORMULA class. Although he was beaten by Luca Martucci (ITA, MM International) in the qualifications, in the race none of his fellow racers were able to keep up with Höher’s impressive pace. The 23-year-old former GT3 ace flawlessly secured his fifth BOSS GP racing victory.

Behind him, two thrilling duels kept us in suspence for almost the entire race. Martucci and Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) competed for second place in the FORMULA class, while  Marc Faggionato (MCO, Zig-Zag) and Salvatore de Plano (ITA, Coloni) engaged in a fierce battle for fourth place. While Martucci had to defend himself against Ghiotto until the very end and took a hard-fought second place, the fate of who would take fourth place was determined by a defect in Faggionato’s car, which tipped the scales in favour of de Plano in his A1 GP car. Walter Steding finished the race fifth just behind Nicolas Matile, while Christian Ferstl (AUT Top Speed) finished seventh, which crowned him the best of the six rookies.

In the OPEN class of Formula 1 cars, five-time BOSS GP overall winner Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) did not give in. He drove his Toro Rosso STR1 to overall victory without any troubles. Second place went to Ulf Ehninger, who achieved his best BOSS GP result so far. Riccardo Ponzio (ITA, Adriatico Competition) was unable to start with his Jaguar R3 due to mechanical failure. Race 2 starts at 16:15.

Report Qualifying Imola

Ingo Gerstl on pole, fastest FORMULA driver was Luca Martucci.

The first qualifying session this season for the BOSS GP Racing Series brought a big surprise. While Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) will once again start from pole position with the Toro Rosso STR1, the Italian Luca Martucci (MM International) will start for the very first time from row 1. At his home race, the GP2 driver brought himself into an excellent position in the battle for victory in the FORMULA class.

From row 2 the actual favourites Christopher Höher (AUT, Top Speed) and Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) will start the first of two races this weekend. Only a few tenths of a second separated the three fastest GP2 drivers from each other.

Marc Faggionato (MCO, Zig-Zag) was able to fulfil high expectations by finishing fifth overall. After a messed up 2019 season, Salvatore de Plano (ITA, Coloni) can be pleased with 6th place, as this is his first time in an A1 GP Lola car. Walter Steding (DEU) also boasted an impressive performance as as he qualified in his first outing with his new team Scuderia Palladio ahead of Ulf Ehninger (DEU, ESBA Racing) in the Benetton B197 Formula 1. Roman Hoffmann (AUT, Hoffmann Racing) proved to be the fastest of the BOSS GP rookies: he finished 10th overall.

Riccardo Ponzio (ITA, Adriatica Competition) could not participate in the qualifying. The engine of his Jaguar R3 needs to be changed until tomorrow. The 20-minute race 1 starts at 11:15 and, race 2 over a distance of 25 minutes at 16:15.

Preview & Guide Imola

BOSS GP brings back world-class motorsport to Italy this weekend.

The 26th BOSS GP racing season kicks off with Forza Fanatec in Imola (July 11th-12th), where the season finale is set to take place just 15 weeks later. The BOSS GP races are the first major motorsport event in Italy after the lockdown. Just like the races in Spa at the beginning of August (1-2), the meeting is a two-day event without spectators on site.

In Imola, there are a couple of new drivers and cars on the grid. All eyes are certainly on the 22-year-old Italian Riccardo Ponzio, who will make his debut with a 2002 Formula 1 car from Jaguar. With Ulf Ehninger (Benetton B197) and OPEN champion Ingo Gerstl (Toro Rosso STR1) two more Formula 1 cars are in the mix.

Other debutants are Austrian hill-climb specialist Christian Ferstl, former touring car ace Roman Hoffmann (both GP2) and Michael Aberer (AUT, WSbR). Also participating for the first time in the FORMULA class are Estonian Bruno Jarach and Italian Roberto Vanni, who will compete in the only Formula 3000 car.

They will take on champion Marco Ghiotto (Scuderia Palladio), Luca Martucci (MM International) and Florian Schnitzenbaumer (Top Speed), among others. We can also be excited about the first appearance of Salvatore De Plano in the A1GP Lola car of Coloni.

The new dry tyre from Pirelli in purple also makes its debut. This tyre is intended to enable experienced drivers to achieve faster lap times and make it easier for less experienced drivers to handle the “black gold”.

Modern and historic sports car and touring car series will round up the Gruppo Peroni event, as well as the Lotus Cup and the Alfa Revival Cup.

When are the BOSS GP cars on track?

Saturday, 11 July 2020:
10:35–11:05 Free Practice 1 (30 minutes)
12:50–13:20 Free Practice 2 (30 minutes)
16:10–16:40 Qualifying (Q1 20 minutes, Q2 8 minutes)

Sunday, 12 July 2020:
11:15–11:35 Race 1 (20 minutes)
16:15–16:40 Race 2 (25 minutes)

Where can fans follow the races online?

Gruppo Peroni livestream on www.youtube.com/user/PeroniRace
Livetiming and results on www.autodromoimola.it/live-timing-imola
All results on bossgp.com as well
Up-to-date with Instagram @bossgpofficial and Facebook @bossgpofficial

Ready for the anniversary: the BOSS GP 2019

The 25th season of BOSS GP starts this weekend at the Hockenheimring in Germany. With more track time and more power than ever.

Europe’s fastest racing series has been around for 25 years, ten of them under the label BOSS GP. Reason enough to get the party rolling for the Big Open single Seater 2019. The season traditionally begins on the Formula 1 circuit of Hockenheim near Stuttgart this weekend (26 to 28 April).

Two races of the spectacular BOSS GP are on the schedule, in a setting that could hardly be more wonderful: The Bosch Hockenheim Historic, in honour of Scottish racing driver Jim Clark, who died in an accident in Hockenheim on 7 April 1968, attracts around 500 starters and more than 20,000 fans to the Motodrom every spring. The ticket includes free access to the paddock, the exhibitions, the pit roof and the pits themselves.

Competitors: BOSS GP
20 drivers are registered for the race weekend in Hockenheim. With record champion Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Toro Rosso STR1), Gerd Thöny (LIE, Jordan EJ13), Phil Stratford (USA, Benetton B197) and Ulf Ehninger (DEU, Benetton B197) four Formula 1 cars have been announced.

There will also be 15 Formula 2 cars on the grid, including local heroes Andreas Fiedler (runner-up in the FORMULA class 2018) and Walter Steding.

The definitive starter list will be published later.

Apart from Andreas Fiedler (paddock), the teams and drivers of the BOSS GP will be based in the front pits (numbers 3 to 21).

You can’t get any closer to the beasts: open doors in BOSS GP

Timetable: BOSS GP at Bosch Hockenheim Historic
The 4.5-kilometre Grand Prix circuit and the supporting events will compete for the favour of the spectators. Each of the three days of the event start at 9 am. Alongside the BOSS GP, the highlights are the FIA Lurani Trophy, the CanAm racing cars and the Young Timer touring cars.

The BOSS GP will have two half hour practice sessions on Friday. On Saturday morning the qualifying for the starting grid of both races will take place. The first race (20 minutes) will be held on Saturday, the second race (25 minutes) on Sunday at prime time at 2:10 pm. Before that there will be an additional warm-up for the drivers and fans in the morning.

Thursday (25 April) is test day.

Friday, 26 April 2019
11:20–11:50: Free Practice 1
16:00–16:30: Free Practice 2

Saturday, 27 April 2019
10:10–10:40: Qualifying
16:10–16:30: Race 1 (20 min)

Sunday, 28 April 2019
10:10–10:20: Warm-up
14:10–14:45: Race 2 (25 min)

All times local time

The time schedule with all the racing this weekend can be found under the following link: www.hockenheim-historic.de/en/info/timetable/

Race start last year: Gerstl leads, Stratford and Schnitzenbaumer follow

Weather Forecast: Typical for April
Packing an umbrella can be helpful this weekend. In typical April weather with a change of sunshine and rain the drivers must adapt to changing conditions. At temperatures of around 10 to 15 degrees Celsius.

Tickets: Bosch Hockenheim Historic
For Friday there’s an offer for 10 euro. A day ticket for Saturday or Sunday costs 30 euro each, 45 euro the weekend. Wheelchair users and children under the age of 14 have free admission – paddock and free choice of seat included.

Tickets can be ordered on site, via the online ticket shop or by calling the hotline +49 6205 950-222.

New regulations for 2019

Only 86 days left until the first race of the BOSS GP 2019. Here are the first details about the anniversary season of Europe’s fastest racing series.

Interested drivers and teams can now find the preliminary version of the sporting and technical regulations for the 2019 season on bossgp.com/forteams or directly here for download. The most important changes have been marked yellow in the PDF document.

The biggest change concerns the classification of the classes:
If enough entries are submitted, a separate ranking for the otherwise less competitive 6-cylinder vehicles will be offered in 2019. The name of the new class is BOSS GP Prestige. Cars from the World Series by Renault V6, the World Series by Nissan and Formula 3000 cars built from 2002 onwards are permitted.

This has an effect on the start numbers: The Open class for Formula 1 cars, IndyCars and cars with similar performance gets the starting numbers 1 to 9, the Formula class for Formula 2 and similar cars the numbers 20 to 99, the Prestige class 100 to 990.

Drivers and teams can already submit their entries for the entire season. For all those who register before the end of February, there is a discount on the entry fee. The document can also be found at bossgp.com/forteams or downloaded here. The closing date for entries is March, the 29th 2019.

In 2019 the Big Open Single Seaters (BOSS) will have their 25th season. Six attractive events with 12 races on the most beautiful racetracks in Europe are on the schedule:

First entries for 2019

22 drivers and 11 teams have already confirmed their participation in the BOSS GP race series 2019. New for the upcoming season: The PRESTIGE category for cars with 6-cylinder engines.

In 2019, if there are enough registrations, a separate classification for the 6-cylinder cars will be awarded. This concerns, among other cars, older World Series vehicles. Alongside the OPEN (F1, IndyCar) and the FORMULA (GP2, World Series, A1 GP, Auto GP, Superleague etc.), there is now a third classification within the Big Open Single Seaters.

With Formula Prestige and ESBA Racing, two new teams have announced their involvement in the BOSS GP 2019. The GT-experienced team ESBA enters a 1997 Benetton F1 for the German Ulf Ehninger. This would allow us to see a second B197 in the OPEN class alongside Phil Stratford’s car.
The Italian based team Formula Prestige has announced two drivers seats. You can still apply to the team for a place in one of their World Series race cars. More details on their fan page: www.facebook.com/formulaprestige

A current overview with updates on all drivers can be found at bossgp.com/driver

Interested drivers and teams are invited to contact our race coordinator Malin Strandberg at race@bossgp.com or by phone at +43 650 78 40 7 784 to register for 2019.

 

Season review clip 2018

Highlights of a dramatic season full of speed, action and fun. From Europe’s fastest racing series. Check out also on our YouTube channel @bossgpofficial.

Credit: 7 Berge Filmwerkstatt

Report: Qualifying Brno

Ingo Gerstl (Toro Rosso STR1)

Ingo Gerstl heats up to the unofficial lap record in the Automotodrom with over 200 km/h average speed. Salvatore De Plano was the fastest FORMULA pilot on his return to BOSS GP.

Sixth qualifying, sixth pole position: Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) is on his way to the next championship title. The fact that he doesn’t slow down despite his dominance is proven by the qualifying best time of 1:35.155 min. Since the engagement of tyre supplier Pirelli the lap records have tumbled, but a possible new track record (1:36.065; Ingo Gerstl last year) only counts during the race.

In addition to Gerstl, Phil Stratford (USA, Penn Elcom Racing) will start the 20-minute first race from the front row this afternoon (starting time: 14:50 local time) in the 1997 Benetton. Wolfgang Jaksch (DEU, F Xtreme Racing) in the Super Aguri had to start in Q2 once again, but still managed a strong time despite traffic. In the race a duel for 2nd place with Stratford is quite possible.

Salvatore De Plano (MM International)

Salvatore De Plano (MM International)

 

Salvatore De Plano (ITA, MM International) makes his racing comeback after a five-month break and has lost nothing of his speed. The fast Italian with a time of 1:45.751 is only three tenths behind the slowest OPEN car. Florian Schnitzenbaumer (DEU, Top Speed) is the leader of the FORMULA standings. Schnitzenbaumer qualified ahead of his fiercest competitor for the title Andreas Fiedler (DEU, Fiedler Racing). Bernd Herndlhofer (AUT, H&A Racing) is a former BOSS GP champion De Plano and the two Germans. A thrilling four-fold fight for the podium places in the FORMULA is to be expected for the races.

Veronika Cicha (H&A Racing)

Veronika Cicha (H&A Racing)

 

The two Speed Center drivers Christian Eicke and Peter Göllner will follow in positions 8 and 9. Local Veronika Cicha made it into the Top Ten. Nicolas Matile (MCO, ZIG-ZAG) finished behind her. Like his team mate Marc Faggionato (no time in qualifying due to clutch damage), he also participates in a BOSS GP weekend for the first time this year.

Nicolas Matile (ZIG-ZAG)

Nicolas Matile (ZIG-ZAG) and Bernd Herndlhofer (H&A Racing)

 

The fast and technically demanding track in the Czech Republic claimed its victims in qualifying, with Armando Mangini, Walter Steding, Nicolas Matile and others spinning. However, all drivers were able to continue the qualifying without damage.

 

Pictures: Michael Jurtin/BOSS GP

Full racing line-up: BOSS GP in Brno

Fastest woman in BOSS GP

At the Masaryk Racing Days almost everything that has wheels is on the track. The main event in the Czech Republic are the Big Open Single Seaters.

With a track length of 5.403 kilometres, Brno is the longest challenge in the BOSS GP 2018 racing calendar. The track is most famous for the MotoGP Grand Prix every year, nevertheless the track is also popular for drivers in Monoposti. On the one hand, it offers many smooth and fast corners that alternate with a technically demanding part, and on the other it is one of the safest race tracks on the calendar. Engine power is also important at the penultimate stop of the BOSS GP 2018, as the Czech roller coaster (9 right and 6 left turns) climbs steeply in the last third of the track.

Salvatore De Plano is back on track

Salvatore De Plano is back on the track in Brno

 

The fastest boys and girls
Ingo Gerstl (Top Speed) holds the lap record on the largest Czech racetrack. The Austrian and three-time BOSS GP champion drove round the track last year in only 1:36.065 min, faster than any other driver in the 30 years since the opening of the circuit. Gerstl (Toro Rosso STR1, 3 litres, 10-cylinder Cosworth) could already secure his third consecutive OPEN title in Brno: If he scores four points more than his opponent Phil Stratford (Penn Elcom Racing), he will already be champion before the final in Spielberg (21-23 September 2018). The US-American Stratford delivers consistently good performances this year and makes hardly any mistakes. The technique of his Benetton B197 (4 litres, 10-cylinder Judd) works better and better, which increases the driving pleasure and extends the driving time.

As third starter in the faster OPEN class Wolfgang Jaksch drives a Super Aguri SA06 (3 litres, 10-cylinder Cosworth). The German with Swiss license was the only one who could win a race this year except Gerstl. However, several retirements in the championship threw him far back, good individual placings are now the goal.

In the FORMULA class all eyes are on Veronika Cicha (H&A Racing). The Czech racer is currently the only woman in the BOSS GP and most recently took her first podium in Assen. The former hill climb racer has been driving in the BOSS GP since 2015, and many guests will support the Czech at her home race.

The FORMULA is also about the championship and a possible preliminary decision. 34 points separate leader Florian Schnitzenbaumer (Top Speed) from rival Andreas Fielder (Fiedler Racing). Both had a DNF at the last event in the Netherlands. Everything is still undecided, 25 points are awarded for a victory, four races are still on the calendar.

You should also keep an eye out for the comeback of Salvatore De Plano (MM International). In the first race of the season he injured himself in an accident in the fight for victory. After a long-forced break, the fast Italian is back in the race car. Marc Faggionato and Nicolas Matile (both ZIG-ZAG Motorsport Service) are also back after a long BOSS GP break. Matile starts with a Lola-Zytec from the Auto GP, making him the only non-GP2 pilot.

Masaryk Racing Days in Brno 2017.

Brno has produced many good BOSS GP races throughout the last years

 

Masaryk Racing Days: Quite busy
The race days in September are the second largest circuit racing event in the Czech Republic after the Motorcycle Grand Prix. In addition to the headliner BOSS GP, other racing series will run from Thursday to Sunday: FIA Central Europe Zone for sports cars, touring cars and formula cars, ESET V4 Cup with TCR, Suzuki Swift Cup Europe, Chevrolet Cruze Eurocup, Renault Twingo Cup and various historic racing classes (HAIGO).

The weekend ticket costs 300 Czech crowns (=13 Euro), at the entrances to the race track there are ticket counters. Children under 14 and seniors over 67 have free entry. The BOSS GP cars are in the pits between 2-11, Andreas Fiedler is placed behind them in the paddock.

 

Timetable: BOSS GP at Masaryk Racing Days

Friday, September 7, 2018

11:35–12:05: Free Practice 1
16:00–16:25: Free Practice 2

Saturday, September 8,2018

10:00–10:30: Qualifying
14:50–15:25: Race 1 (distance: 20 minutes)

Sunday, September 9, 2018

12:15–12:50: Race 2 (distance: 20 minutes)

 

Participants: BOSS GP

The OPEN class is for type Formula 1 car built from 1997, Champ Car and IndyCar built from 1997. Engine is free; numbers from 1 to 99.

Starting No.
Name Team Nat. Car
1 Ingo Gerstl Top Speed AUT Toro Rosso STR1
7 Phil Stratford Penn Elcom Racing USA Benetton B197
26 Wolfgang Jaksch F Xtreme Racing Team DEU Super Aguri SA06

 

FORMULA is open to GP2/Formula 2, GP3 (13/16), Auto GP, A1GP, Formula Acceleration 1, Superleague Formula, World Series by Renault, World Series by Nissan, F3000 cars build from 2002. Only the original engine is allowed, organisation committee can make an exception in the classification of a car according to the performance data of the car; Numbers from 100 to 999.

Starting No.
Name Team Nat. Car
100 Thomas Jakoubek Top Speed AUT Dallara GP2
101 Peter Göllner Speed Center SUI Dallara GP2
116 Nicolas Matile ZIG-ZAG Motorsport Service MCO Lola Auto GP
129 Marc Faggionato ZIG-ZAG Motorsport Service MCO Dallara GP2
221 Bernd Herndlhofer H&A Racing AUT Dallara GP2
222 Veronika Cicha H&A Racing CZE Dallara GP2
321 Andreas Fiedler Fiedler Racing DEU Dallara GP2
323 Armando Mangini MM International ITA Dallara GP2
505 Walter Steding Inter Europol Competition DEU Dallara GP2
555 Christian Eicke Speed Center SUI Dallara GP2
888 Florian Schnitzenbaumer Top Speed DEU Dallara GP2
999 Salvatore De Plano MM International ITA Dallara GP2

 

Photos: Michael Kavena/BOSS GP