Difference between revisions of "YTF1"

Revision as of 03:56, 30 June 2015

YTF1

Full name	YTF1 sim-racing team
Owner/s	Matthew Allington
Base	Cheshire, England
Website	{{{Website}}}
Competitions
Superleague Team	Johan Lindberg Teemu Valkeejärvi
Début	2013 Challenge French Grand Prix
Supercup Team	Ben Hackeson Rob Mason
Début	2013/14 San Marino Touring Cup
Formula Challenge Team	None
Début	2014 Daytona 500 Masters
International Touring Cup Team	Matthew Allington Roy Schroten
Début	2015 Spanish Sport Series
Masters Series Team	Maurice Brackhahn Rob Mason
Début	2015 Grand Prix of Alabama
World Sport Series Team	None
Début	-
Atlantic Series Team	None
Début	-
World GT Team	None
Début	-

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.

Team History

2013: YTF1 arrives at the GPVWC

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: A year of varying fortunes

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 all 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: Points to prove

In 2015, YTF1 will return to the Formula Challenge series with an all-new driver lineup; the team's hopes in the series were initially carried by Teemu Toikka and Teemu Valkeejärvi. They raced with the numbers 36 and 72 (respectively) in accordance with the new numbering system introduced into the Career Ladder for 2015. Valkeejärvi gave the team a great start with a pair of top-10 finishes in Melbourne, though as of the Turkish round, the team is yet to repeat this performance. Following the Portuguese round, Toikka and the team parted ways: Johan Lindberg was brought in as the team's reserve driver, serving as an immediate replacement for the Finn.

YTF1 also secured an entry into the World Sport Series for the first time, teaming up with Dutch Superleague outfit Edonis Engineering and running Sandeep Chodha and Roy Schroten. Internet issues for Chodha resulted in Bart de Vos driving for the team in Portugal and achieving YTF1's best result of the year up to that point: 4th place in the reversed-grid race 2. All of YTF1's drivers seemed to suffer dismal luck during the course of the season, but morale was boosted by a tremendous drive by Schroten in Monaco; netting 7th place in race 2 having started from the back (though he was later demoted to 13th thanks to a penalty). Allington and de Vos would share the #40 car from the Canadian event onwards: Allington taking the team's first podium of the season at Silverstone, followed by a podium for de Vos in Austria, whilst Schroten stepped up his game with a series of strong points finishes. To add to the team's good run of form, de Vos took YTF1's first victory of 2015 at the Hungaroring.

YTF1 also returns to the International Touring Cup, retaining Ben Hackeson, Rob Mason and Tobias Olsson in the driver lineup, the former two sharing one car. YTF1 switched from Vauxhall machinery to initially become the only team on the grid to use a Ford Focus in the 2015 season, however this changed from the British round onwards with the arrival of Apex Racing. Olsson departed the team following the Indonesian round, leaving a vacancy in the team's lineup, which would be filled by Thomas Hinss.

YTF1 secured entry into a fourth different series, becoming one of only three teams to do so in 2015 thus far: the Cheshire-based squad was announced as one of 17 teams competing in the inaugural running of the Atlantic Series. Highly-rated German driver, Maurice Brackhahn spearheaded the team's lineup, with Rob Mason, a familiar face within the team, taking the role of reserve driver. After a dreadful first round where neither car made it past the start line, Maurice opened up his account with a 5th-place finish at Indianapolis. Eric Stranne took part in the GPVWC Indy Classic and sensationally took the chequered flag, havig started in last place, only to be demoted to 3rd place for a technical infringment! Brackhahn returned for the Las Vegas round and took his first podium of the season.

Liveries

Career Ladder

• 

  YTF1 A20
  (GPVWC FC-013)
  2013 FC season

• 

  YTF1 A23
  (GPVWC FC-014)
  2014 FC season

• 

  YTF1 VE-A24
  (GPVWC FC-015)
  2015 FC early season

• 

  YTF1 VE-A24B
  (GPVWC FC-015 Valiant)
  2015 FC season

Independent Series

• 

  BMW 320si
  2013/14 ITC early season

• 

  BMW 320si
  2013/14 ITC late season

• 

  Vauxhall Astra
  2014 ITC season

• 

  Indy 500
  (Dallara IR03)
  2014 Masters Series

• 

  Enduracers Flat6
  (Porsche 911)
  2015 WSS season

• 

  Ford Focus
  2015 ITC season