Difference between revisions of "YTF1"

Revision as of 17:15, 25 January 2015

YTF1

Full name	YTF1 sim-racing team
Owner/s	Matthew Allington
Base	Cheshire, England
Key staff	{{{Staff}}}
Year Joined	2013
Series Entered	2013 Formula Challenge 2013/14 International Touring Cup 2014 Formula Challenge 2014 International Touring Cup 2015 Formula Challenge
Associated Teams	None
Website	[1]

YTF1 is a British team currently competing in the International Touring Cup and Formula Challenge. The team, in it's original from, was founded in Schoonhoven, the Netherlands, in 2010 and participated in a private series with friends of the original owner, using Grand Prix 3. After hearing about the intention of the original owner to shut the team down, Matthew Allington took over the team in December 2011 and continued to run it in the aforementioned series. After the series fizzled out, Allington decided to reorganize the team and enter it into the GPVWC.

History

2013

YTF1 made it's GPVWC début at the 2013 Challenge French Grand Prix, the 13th round of the season. It's main drivers were Romanian Florea Calin and Englishman Scott Berrisford. The team's original lineup featured Joshua Anderson and Mikael Tuomaala. However, both drivers left the team after the French round, resulting in the team's reserve driver, Berrisford, being promoted to 'Primary driver' status and the other seat being handed to Calin. Perry Vink deputized for Calin at the 2013 Challenge United States Grand Prix.

Berrisford scored the team's first points in the German round and continued to score points in every round thereafter. The team's best result of the season was a 5th place at Suzuka.

On 9th October, YTF1's application to join the 2013/14 International Touring Cup season was accepted. Shortly afterwards it was announced that Tuomaala would be returning to the team, driving alongside fellow Finn Tommi Koivunen in BMW machinery. Koivunen was later replaced by Morten Wernersen.

Tuomaala scored YTF1's best result to date at Snetterton, scoring a 4th-place finish in the third race. Wernersen later made history at the Watkins Glen round by becoming the first driver to lead a race for YTF1, having been granted reversed-grid pole for race 3.

2014

In 2014, YTF1 entered their first full season of Formula Challenge. With their lead driver of 2013, Berrisford, moving to Enterprise GP, YTF1 hired race-winning Dutchman Wopke Hoekstra to spearhead their 2014 lineup. YTF1 later announced that Adam Ozgur would join the team for their FC campaign. Unfortunately, YTF1 had a season that fell below expectations and rarely had the opportunity to shine. Even the addition of highly-rated Open Series racer Rob Mason to the team, as reserve driver, failed to gain ground for the team. YTF1 ultimately finished 16th out of 21 teams in the final standings, with their only result of note being a solitary podium for Hoekstra in the Canadian round.

YTF1 also returned to the International Touring Cup, fielding Anderson and team owner Allington for the first round, before giving up the seats to Ben Hackeson and Mason for the remainder of the season. However, personal issues for Mason forced the team to seek a substitute - this came in the form of Eric Stranne. The Swede made history for the team - first came a podium in the Australian round, then a pole position in the Austrian round, followed by YTF1's first victory in GPVWC competition at the 2014 British Touring Cup.

Having put himself in a position to challenge for the Drivers Championship, Stranne defected to THR prior to the Czech round. Thereafter, the two YTF1 cars were shared by Hackeson, Mason and another Swedish talent, Tobias Olsson. All showed encouraging improved pace even in Stranne's absence from the team, thus YTF1 secured a top-10 finish in the teams standings.

YTF1 were later rewarded by Stranne, who elected to put the name of YTF1 on his championship trophy.

The team also participated in the first three rounds of the Masters Series, entering a single car for Allington at the Daytona 500, collaborating with Cosmo Autosport to field an entry into the 24 Hours of Le Mans and fielding five "Itashas" at the Indy 500.

2015

In 2015, YTF1 will return to the Formula Challenge series with an all-new driver lineup. They will race with the numbers 36 and 72 in accordance with the new numbering system introduced into the Career Ladder for 2015.