Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/710370
22 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 3 AUGUST 2016 Sport MOTORSPORTS FORMULA 1 IAN Fenech and Sacha James were declared winners of the ASMK's 'Once a Year Auto- cross Endurance Race', held last Saturday evening. This is an Autocross race where drivers can team together to drive the same car over the 'One Hour Long' race. This year's edition saw eight teams with 16 drivers registered for the event but only six teams with 12 drivers par- ticipated. At around 9pm the Autocross Track at Ta' Qali looked significantly different under arti- ficial lighting. All of the six Starting Cars were lined up at the strike of the hour while sev- eral Officers of 'Malta Records' were on sight and ensuring+ that all regulations of this race were being scrupulously observed. At the GO sign all cars drove off along the one kilometre track hoping for the best that their vehicle would survive the punishment of this hour long race. The starting line was composed of Angelo Galea and Dexter Bianco on Peugeot 106, Quin Camilleri and Rodner Bianco on Peuge- ot 106, Katrina Zammit and Steve Micallef on Renault 5, Ian Fenech and Sacha James on Citroen AX, Carlo Mifsud and Darren Magro on Ford Fiesta and Brandon Lee Vassallo and Dennis Vassallo on Peugeot 205. Right from the start it could be seen that the teams adopted different strategies. Some made mildly fast laps while others took ad- vantage of any clear spot and raced as fast as they could. One could also note that each pit stop lasted the equivalent of two laps on the track. Ian Fenech and Sacha James on their Citroen AX, ahead of Mifsud together with Magro on Ford Fiesta were among those who started registering fast laps. All cars were maintained and re-fuelled by a small team in the pits while racing was still in progress. At the strike of the hour plus One Lap the Lap-Sheets were again inspected by the Malta Records Officers. They declared Ian Fenech and Sacha James as the winners by registering 87 Laps on Citroen AX. The second placed Ford Fiesta driven by Mifsud and Magro cov- ered 86 Laps. Katrina Zammit and Steve Micallef on the Renault 5 placed third Overall by covering 70 Laps. Brandon Lee Vassallo and Dennis Vassallo on Peugeot 205 managed to place in fourth, though they experienced problems at the end of the race and lost valuable time, they covered 64 Laps. The Quin Camilleri and Rodner Bianco team on the Peugeot 106 covered 23 Laps and finished the race in fifth Place followed in sixth by Angelo Galea and Dexter Bianco on Peugeot 106, having covered 19 Laps. The last two teams had to retire early in the race due to mechanical problems. Meanwhile, the association is currently preparing for the third edition Autocross in Gozo event, in aid of Arka Foundation. This event will be held for the first time on the Gozo Horse Racing Association Track in Nadur on Sunday, 11th September. For more information one can visit the website of the association www.asmk.org.mt or the social site Facebook called ASMK Malta or email info@asmk.org.mt. Ian Fenech, Sacha James win Endurance Race 2016 Ferrari admits lack of progress with chassis FERRARI team boss Maurizio Arrivabene accepts that the squad has not made the expected devel- opment with its SF16-H chassis across the European season, hav- ing slipped behind rivals Red Bull in the standings. Ferrari challenged for victories earlier in the year amid substan- tial gains on the engine side, but has not finished on the podium across the past three races. Ferrari has now dropped to third in the championship, 14 points behind Red Bull, after both Dan- iel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen finished on the podium in Ger- many. "I think in Canada we reacted quite well with the engine," Ar- rivabene explained. "But if I look at the situation now and go back, I think we don't have great improvements in terms of downforce since [the Spanish Grand Prix in] Barcelona. "You have two types of down- force, I don't have to teach you, one is the aerodynamic down- force, the other is mechanical downforce [grip]. "We have to work in that area as they have to talk together, and sometimes they talk a different language." Arrivabene added that Ferrari is restructuring its technical team amid the departure of James Al- lison, whose second stint with the operation came to an end last week. "I don't want to talk about James for personal reasons," he com- mented. "We are reorganising the team first of all without panicking, as taking that decision means we are clear in our mind in what to do. "We are looking forward to the rest of the season, and we know very, very clearly the areas [in which] we have to work." PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARIO MICALLEF