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WHO GOES THERE? - 2010
8.09.10
This is one of two enhancements - by popular request - to "Late Braking News with Action Resources Ltd" from December 2008 - a dossier of the latest news regarding who is working for or with whom in the motor-sport and performance engineering sectors. Action Resources Ltd. is itself a noted recruitment and executive search organisation dedicated to this industry and, of course, offers driver /rider management services as well:
The former boss of Channel 4, Andy Duncan, has been appointed Chief Executive of the top-end car dealership, H R Owen, in succession to Nick Lancaster who left the Company after 16 years back in May. H R Owen's shareholders are said to include Phil Collins and Nick Mason; it trades from showrooms in London's Berkeley Square and South Kensington, sells marques such as Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Bugatti and achieved sales revenues of £125m last year (September 2010).
Former Head of Performance Development at Ferrari - Nigel Stepney - has taken over from Allen Orchard as Team Manager at GT1 World Championship Nissan Team, Sumo Power (September 2010).
Dave Moore, who ran Fortec's Formula Renault UK team, has left the Organisation. Mick Kouros, Fortec's head of engineering for British F3, will now split his time between these two parts of Richard Dutton's operation (August 2010).
Thruxton's Senior Instructor, Pat Blakeney, was invited to compete in the British rounds of the Trofeo Maserati Gran Turismo MC when the Series visited Brands Hatch as part of the WTCC package in July 2010.
Brian Corcoran, the former MD of NASCAR, has resigned as Executive Vice-President of Fenway Sports Group to launch his own agency, known as Shamrock Sports Group, based in Portland, Oregon (July 2010).
After 17 years at McLaren, Pat Fry has left the Woking outfit to join Scuderia Ferrari as Assistant Technical Director. Fry worked at Benetton from 1987 until 1993. At McLaren he engineered the cars of David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen before becoming Chief Engineer of Race Development in 2002 (June 2010).
The Hispania Racing Team has finally ditched its chassis design partner, the Italian firm of Dallara. Former B.A.R. man Geoff Willis is to supervise the technical aspects of the cars raced by Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok (June 2010).
The former Commercial Director at RML, Daryl Cozens, has become a consultant with Chris Niarchos's GT and UK Formula Renault team, CRS Racing. Cozens had been a long-term RML man and had overseen the production of the RML-developed Saleen GT race car. Prior to RML, he had spells with Prodrive and Xtrac (May 2010).
Somerset-born 2009 F1 World Champion and 2010 Championship leader Jenson Button is said to be moving home from Monte Carlo (where he settled after joining Williams in 2000) to the Channel Island of Guernsey (where his Manager, Richard Goddard, is a resident). Financier Guy Hands, who originally owned and developed the Rockingham Motor Speedway in Northamptonshire, also lives on the Island. Other F1 stars who have been attracted to the Channel Islands (albeit to neighbouring Jersey) include Nigel Mansell and Derek Warwick (April 2010).
Mercedes-Benz and Audi have each confirmed their nine drivers for the 2010 DTM. For Mercedes Gary Paffett, Paul di Resta, Ralf Schumacher and Bruno Spengler will be in '09 machines whilst David Coulthard, Congfu ('Frankie') Cheng, Susie Stoddart, Jamie Green and Maro Engel will feature in '08 cars. Gone from the 2009 line-up is Mattias Lauda. The Audi pilots will not include Tom Kristensen this year; he's replaced by 21-year old Spaniard (in an older car), Miguel Molina. The newer Audis will be handled by Timo Scheider, Mattias Ekstrom, Martin Tomczyk and Oliver Jarvis; the remaining older machines will be driven by Katherine Legge and Markus Winkelhock for Audi Sport Team Rosberg and by Alexandre Premat and Mike Rockenfeller for Audi Sport Team Phoenix (April 2010).
Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds seem to have reached an agreement with the FIA that will draw a line under the unfortunate "Crashgate" affair (Piquet's crash at the 2008 Singapore GP). Briatore may return to F1 from the start of 2013 as a result, although he is recently on record as saying that he is through with the sport. The bans handed down by the FIA (in the Mosley era) were overturned by a French Court in January and new FIA President, Jean Todt, has been keen to secure an honourable end to the affair (April 2010).
James Key is the new head of Sauber's technical department and replaces Willy Rampf. Key transfers from Force India where Mark Smith replaces him as Technical Director (April 2010).
Force India's Director of Business Affairs and a stalwart of the Silverstone-based team in its various guises, Ian Phillips, has left the organisation. Before joining Eddie Jordan's outfit 19 years ago, Phillips was Team Manager of the Leyton House F1 Team (with Capelli and Gugelmin as its drivers) and also managed Donington Park Circuit at one point; he was a past Editor of 'Autosport' Magazine too (April 2010).
RML has appointed Graham Watson to undertake the role of Team Manager for the Chevrolet Cruze outfit as it looks to conquer the prestigious world championship title this year with Rob Huff, Alain Menu and new signing, Yvan Muller, at the helm (March 2010).
Jonny Kane is to be the third driver of Strakka Racing's HPD ARX-01 LMP2 entry at Le Mans and, where necessary, in the LMS, alongside Danny Watts and Nick Leventis (February 2010).
Former B.A.R-Honda Sporting Director, 2003 Indy 500 Winner and twice IndyCar Champion Gil de Ferran has done a deal to join forces with Steve Luczo and Jay Penske to form Luczo Dragon Racing/de Ferran Motorsports for participation in the Izod IndyCar Championship (February 2010).
Takuma Sato, who lost his job in F1 when Super Aguri quit the sport in mid-'08, is to race for KV Racing Technology in the Izod IndyCar Series (February 2010).
NASCAR star Jeff Gordon has become a Client of Zak Brown's Just Marketing International, the world's largest motorsports-exclusive promotions agency. JMI will provide the 3-times Daytona 500 winner and 4-times Sprint Cup Series Champion with timely advice on "strategic consultation, endorsement procurement, contract negotiation, brand strategy and marketing deliverables" and will guide Gordon's exploration of commercial opportunities. Jeff Gordon drives the Hendrick Motorsports no 24 DuPont Chevrolet in the Sprint Cup this year (February 2010).
The Indy Racing League has taken on Randy Bernard as its new CEO, to replace Tony George. Bernard was the founder and CEO of Professional Bull Riders Inc. (PBR), which he has run since 1995, and he presided over PBR's growth into a very large entertainment business which manages four different tours and organises 300 events every year, generating a tv audience of some 100 million (February 2010).
The AT&T Williams Team has confirmed that Finland's Valtteri Bottas (aged 20) will be their official test driver (February 2010).
Jermain Defoe, the Tottenham Hotspur striker, has signed a contract with 2mb International Soccer Management, the boutique talent management company launched by former F1 driver Mark Blundell. The CEO of the Soccer Division of 2mb is Jimmy Carter and an advisory board member of the Company is Lewis Hamilton's father, Anthony Hamilton, who has himself been in the headlines recently for seeking to set up an F1 rookie drivers' academy, using year-old F1 machinery, so that drivers new to F1 might gain some experience in reasonably contemporary cars (February 2010).
David Smith, the Chief Executive of JLR (Jaguar Land Rover), has vacated his post (February 2010).
Audi Sport has signed three new drivers to its squad for Le Mans - Swiss Marcel Fassler, German Andre Lotterer and Frenchman Benoit Treluyer. Fassler contested two ALMS races for Audi in 2008. The trio is planned to line up together on 9 May at the Spa 1000kms, as a rehearsal for the 24-Hours (February 2010).
The 18-year old Israeli-French racer, Alon Day - the Asian Formula Renault Champion - has signed with Bobby Issazadhe's Performance Racing Team to contest the 2010 German F3 Series, which kicks off at Oschersleben on 16-18 April. Performance Racing is also providing an F3 test at Silverstone for the 18-year old Swedish driver, Felix Rosenqvist, who recently won the "Rydell Special Award" for the second consecutive year. Felix joins Marcus Ericsson, Philip Forsman, Timmy Hansen and Jimmy Eriksson in receiving support from the Swedish Automobile Sport Federation this season (February 2010).
Martin Whitaker, who has been running motor-sport in Bahrain (most especially the Bahrain GP) for the past 6 years, is to move to Australia's Gold Coast this Spring to take up the post of CEO of the V8 Supercar Championship. He is to be replaced in Bahrain by Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa. Whitaker was educated in England's Westcountry and became a journalist with "Motoring News"; he then worked for spells as a Press Officer with the (RAC)/MSA and with the FIA. His CV includes a PR role at McLaren, working for Bernie Ecclestone and becoming Head of Ford Motorsport Europe (February 2010).
Virgin Racing's Team Principal Alex Tai has stood down and returned to his job as Head of Virgin Special Projects after just one month. The Team's Sporting Director and founder of Manor Motorsport, John Booth, will take over and Graeme Lowdon will become Chief Executive (January 2010).
Former Jordan racer and Williams test driver Narain Karthikeyan (India's only F1 competitor so far) has been appointed Racing Brand Ambassador for MRF Tyres (January 2010).
McLaren Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh has been appointed as Chairman of the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA), succeeding Ferrari's Luca de Montezemolo (January 2010).
Richard Divila is the Senior Race Engineer at Toyota Team SARD for the 2010 Super GT series (January 2010).
Steve Brown - former Director of Research & Development at Brawn GP - has joined USF1 whilst Dr Eric Warren comes into the new American F1 operation as Chief Aerodynamicist (January 2010).
The former Honda Racing VP Otmar Szafnauer has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of the Force India F1 Team, replacing Simon Roberts who had been on loan to the Silverstone-based outfit from McLaren (January 2010).
Paul Atkin has moved from MIRA to the Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground as General Manager (January 2010).
For confidential recruitment, executive search or organisational development discussions, without obligation, call Roger Phillips at Action Resources Limited NOW - + 44 (0) 1458 253 442.
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