Difference between revisions of "Constant Racing SL"

Revision as of 14:30, 23 May 2011

Constant Racing is a sim-racing team co-owned by Joe Consiglio and Mark Stanton. The St Helens based squad was founded in 2009 and have been competing in the GPVWC ever since. Over the years Constant Racing have fielded cars in the Superleague, Supercup and Masters Series.

2009 Superleague Season

It all started in early 2009. Good friends Joe Consiglio and Mark Stanton were driving in the GPVWC Superleague (rFactor). Joe was signed as lead driver to Nordsjoen Racing whilst Mark was driving whatever he could get his hands on, spending a short stint at Evans Blue before guest driving for R4 Engineering at Round 3 in Japan.

Coincidently only weeks before the season start, Joe and Mark had joked about forming their own team, Constant Racing, at the time it seemed like a distant dream. However after the Japanese Grand Prix, R4 went bust and Stanton quickly approached the GPVWC about filling the spot. The position was granted and Constant Racing was born.

Consiglio and Stanton both held a 50% stake in the team, with Mark deciding to take on managerial responsibilities as well as becoming the teams lead driver. Consiglio stayed on at Nordsjoen but was also in charge of driver recruitment and PR at Constant.

In order to be ready for Round 4 at Charade, the two owners had to work round the clock at the team's headquarters in St Helens. In this time Stanton managed to come up with the team's livery as well as securing Renault engines for the rest of the season. So in record time the team unveiled the beautiful CR-SL09 to world's media on April 24th at a sunny Silverstone. Meanwhile Consiglio secured the services of Ryan McConkey. The American signed to drive the 2nd car on a race by race basis.

The team had a fairly-tale debut qualifying session in France. Amazingly Stanton and McConkey managed to lock out the 3rd row, qualifying 5th and 6th respectively. The race went less well with McConkey crashing out before half distance and Stanton suffering a number of issues on his way to 7th.

McConkey went on to score points in Ireland and Monaco but unfortunately was unable to continue driving for the rest of the season. Australian Richard Bayes was drafted in at Silverstone and fared well on his debut. The highlight of the year came at Bahrain were Stanton finished 4th and Bayes came home in 6th.

During the long mid season break Stanton decided to step down as the teams lead driver. William Ponissi was recruited from Allen GP as his replacement. So as the cars lined up in Canada, it was Ponissi and Bayes representing Constant Racing.

Both drivers went on to score valuable points for the remainder of the season. Ponissi's improvement under the hand of "driver coach" Joe Consiglio was one of the stories of the season. Bayes even managed to qualify 3rd at Mexico before crossing the finish line in 6th. However Rich was unable to drive the last two races and so Stanton deputised for the Australian. Zandvoort was a difficult race for the team, however it wasn't all bad news as co-owner Joe Consiglio realised a seven year ambition to become GPVWC World Champion 2009! With the field in relaxed mood at the final round, Stanton finished a fine 5th in the league's first night race on the streets of Singapore.

Reflecting on their first year in the series, Constant Racing had a lot to be proud of. As well as producing one of the leagues’ most striking liveries, the team managed to finish a credible 8th in the Constructors Championship and emerged from the year as regular point scorers.

2010 Superleague Season

Both Stanton and Ponissi were re-signed for 2010 with rookie Ben Warren joining the team as test driver. However, Constant Racing’s 2nd year in the Superleague didn’t start quite as well as the team might have hoped. Pre-season engine negotiations hit problems when Renault decided not to continue their partnership with the team for a 2nd season. This decision came quite late in the day and with little other options available it looked like Constant would be forced to run with the less powerful Toyota engine. However, in a dramatic turn of events, Renault powered Red 5 Racing dropped out of the league and in doing so handed Constant a lifeline. Stanton was quick to re-enter talks with the French manufacturer and the outcome resulted in the team once again being powered by Renault for the 2010 Superleague season. Crisis averted!

Pre-season testing showed that the competition in 2010 would be fierce and it’s fair to say both race drivers struggled in the early stages of the championship. Accidents and reliability problems plagued the team in Australia and China, leading to zero points after two rounds. The breakthrough came in Japan with Stanton finishing in a solid 7th and Ponissi just outside the points in 11th.

Ponissi picked up his first point of the season a round later in Adu Dhabi. After this came a solid run of points for the team, the highlight of which was Stanton’s 6th place at Silverstone and Ponissi’s 7th in Bahrain. Another 7th from Stanton in Turkey was a prelude to the Englishman’s best race of the year in Canada.

Stanton qualified a season best 6th in Montreal and clearly had the pace to mix it with the big boys in the race. With Kieran Ryan and Agustin Canapino succumbing to accidents around midway through, Stanton found himself in 4th as the race entered its final stages. In a bizarre turn of events, race leader Consiglio suffered brake failure with only 2 laps to go. Consiglio’s late retirement saw Stanton power home to a well deserved podium finish at a track he loves. This 3rd place equalled Stanton’s best ever Superleague result and gave Constant Racing their first ever Superleague podium. Meanwhile Ponissi added to Constant's delight by finishing the race in a fine 6th.

Unfortunately Stanton’s season tailed off a bit after the joy of Canada and apart from an 8th in Brazil the rest of Englishman’s season was littered with accidents and misfortunes. Conversely Ponissi finished his season strongly with a 7th at Monza and a superb 5th at Zandvoort. Mark’s brother Dave Stanton drove a one off race for the team at Barcelona and scored a useful 6th despite having little time to get accustomed to the car.

The team looked good for a double points finish at the last race of the season in Singapore before bad luck intervened. At mid distance Ponissi was defending hard from the attacks of team-mate Stanton. As the Italian hit the brakes to enter the pits, the following Stanton was caught completely by surprise and slammed straight into the back of his team-mate. Both drivers were instant retirements but neither blamed one another for what Stanton later described as an “unfortunate racing incident.”

Despite an unlucky final race Constant Racing finished the season 5th in the Constructors Championship and achieved their first ever Superleague podium courtesy of Stanton’s excellent 3rd place in Canada. After a slightly shaky start the team once again emerged as regular points scorers and met all their 2010 goals and objectives.

2011 Superleague Season

To be completed