We reported earlier this week on the award from the Professional Motorsport World Expo to Lawrence Tomlinson for his Outstanding contribution to Motorsport. A swift glance at the remaining awards categories shows that LNT is far from the only awardee of interest to our readers.
The full shortlists and citations listed below are as published by the PMW Expo.
Motorsport Facility of the Year: Circuit de la Sarthe, France
Also shortlisted:
• Watkins Glen
• Multimatic
• iZone
• BPS
• Daytona Speedway
New garages, improved safety and re-profiled corners comprise the changes to the iconic Circuit de la Sarthe. Four additional garage spaces were built ahead of the 2016 season, allowing for an expanded grid size of 60 cars, a figure not seen at the event since the early 1950s.
The expansion was originally intended to be completed in two stages, over two years, but the increased number of entries for the 2016 event led the ACO to accelerate its plans. Other changes to the circuit include revisions to the Indianapolis and Porsche Curves series of corners to improve safety and viewing opportunities, as well as the widespread implementation of SAFER barriers. One judge, Ford Performance’s Gerard Quinn, had numerous reasons for awarding the circuit full points, stating, “Safety improvements keep the iconic Le Mans race alive, generating greater audience appeal at the race circuit, and building stronger motorsport advocacy at a time when fans are increasingly turning to digital and social platforms.”
Although the Circuit de la Sarthe seemingly ran away with the category, the three-way fight between the recently completed US$400m expansion of Daytona International Speedway, the recently resurfaced Watkins Glen and Andy Priaulx’s iZone driver training facility continued until the last vote came in, with the two circuits rounding out the top three.
Motorsport Team of the Year: Ford Performance
Also shortlisted:
• Peugeot Sport
• ABT Sportsline
• Prodrive
• HWA
• Team Porsche
• Renault e.Dams
• Barwell Motorsport
Ford Performance’s portfolio of motorsport programmes has always been comprehensive, but 2016 saw it add participation in the GT LM category of the IMSA WeatherTech Championship and LM GTE Pro category of the FIA WEC to its roster. Victory at Le Mans with the 2016 Ford GT repeated the famous 1-2-3 of 50 years earlier, and its activities in NASCAR, multiple domestic and international road race championships, drag racing, rallycross, drifting and rally raid events have seen Ford take a number of further victories and titles in addition to its ongoing support of grassroots-level competition.
The depth and diversity of the portfolio, in combination with a tendency to perform well across a number of disciplines, were reasons continually put forward by the judges when justifying their votes. PMW editor John O’Brien explained, “The sheer number of motorsport programmes that Ford is involved with never fails to impress by itself. But the way in which Ford has embraced the sub-brand, and how it is now using it to further its road cars, to great success, has to be considered as the template for other OEMs to follow; it’s marketing done right.”
Despite Ford Performance taking victory in the category, the lead changed multiple times as judges’ votes came in. Last year’s winner, Team Porsche, narrowly missed out on retaining the title, and Formula E’s dominant Renault e.Dams squad was not far behind, in third.
Motorsport Engineer of the Year: George Howard-Chappell, Programme Manager, Ford GT
Also shortlisted:
• Yves Matton, team principal Citroën Racing
• Yusuke Hasegawa, head of F1, Honda Racing
• Bob Bell, chief technical officer, RenaultSport
• Michel Nandan, team Prinicipal, Hyundai Motorsport
Instrumental in the return of Ford’s GT to both endurance racing and Le Mans, George Howard-Chappell worked on the GTE project for two years and oversaw Multimatic’s development of the racing version of Ford’s GT. His involvement with the project also saw him assemble a Europe-based team for the Chip Ganassi squad’s debut season in the FIA WEC. Ford’s victory at the 2016 Le Mans race added to Howard-Chappell’s previous victories with both Ferrari and Aston Martin.
Judges were especially forthcoming in their praise for Howard-Chappell, with Dallara’s Andrea Toso stating that Ford Performance’s showing at the 2016 Le Mans ensured the team had “resurrected the myth of the Ford GT”. Javier Arús, editor-in-chief of Evo Spain, simply added, “To create a winner at Le Mans is a good enough reason in itself.”
Behind Howard-Chappell, Mercedes-HPP’s Andy Cowell won praise for his team’s continual development of the all-conquering PU106B Formula 1 power unit, while Hyundai Motorsport’s Michel Nandan and Honda’s Yusuke Hasegawa drew praise for the development of the i20WRC and the resurgent form of the McLaren-Honda partnership respectively.
Race Car of the Year: Toyota TS050
Also shortlisted:
• Hyundai i20 WRC
• McLaren 570S GT4
• Ferrari 488 GT LM
• Ford Focus RS WRX
• Ford GT GT LM
• Subaru Levorg BTCC
• Volvo S60 WTCC
• Škoda Fabia R5
• Callaway Corvette
• BMW M6 GT3
• Opel Astra TCR
• Mercedes-AMG GT
Much like last year, the longlist for the Race Car of the Year category was a bumper edition, with more than 30 eligible vehicles put forward, before being whittled down to 13 for our panel of judges to deliberate over. Eventually, it was Toyota that emerged victorious with its heavily revised TS050 built by Toyota Motorsport, “practically every part” of the outgoing chassis was redesigned to accommodate an all-new powertrain concept. A 2.4-liter, twin-turbo, direct-injection V6 petrol engine is combined with front and rear motor-generators and an all-new lithium-ion battery.
The switch in storage method has moved the car up to the 8MJ hybrid class. At Le Mans 2016, the team came agonizingly close to becoming the first Japanese manufacturer to claim outright victory since Mazda in 1991, with a solitary component failure robbing them of a guaranteed win in sight of the checkered flag.
As juror Andrea Toso highlights, “The TS050 exemplifies why we go racing, both professionals and fans. Enduring, losing, regrouping, making it better, and above all, brand recognition. I think more people will remember Toyota losing than Porsche winning the 2016 Le Mans. Most engineers in motorsport would now love to work there, for their ethics, their respect of their competitors, and the market.”
Outstanding Contribution to Motorsport: Lawrence Tomlinson, Chairman of the LNT group
Also shortlisted:
• Stéphane Ratel, founder of SRO Group
• Gian Paolo Dallara, founder and owner of Dallara
A new category for 2016, the Outstanding Contribution to Motorsport award has been created to honour those who go above and beyond what is required of them in this industry, often at great personal expense. After a closely fought contest in the award’s inaugural year, the winner was Ginetta’s charismatic CEO, Lawrence Tomlinson.
As juror Phil Morse explains, “Lifting a company from the brink of administration to the level where it can campaign GT cars around the world is a technical and business success to be sure, but there are overtones of real passion in Tomlinson’s moves, from his commitment to developing young drivers, to his promotion of the history of British motor racing.”
With fellow shortlisted nominees, SRO Group’s Stéphane Ratel, and Dallara CEO Gian Paolo Dallara, equally deserving of the award, it is unsurprising to find that the lead in this category changed the most, with equal praise for the trio’s respective contributions to motorsport.
