Joe Tandy, 1983-2009

Joe Tandy's death yesterday afternoon, at the age of just 26, has removed the linchpin of one of the brightest emerging teams in British single-seater racing.

An accomplished racer in his own right, the Bedfordshire-based driver turned engineer became obsessed with motorsport from an early age and made his first foray into the sport through Short Oval Ministock racing aged 11.

A keen rugby player, footballer and swimmer during his school years, Tandy nevertheless remained undeterred from the motorsport path and won the World and National Ministox titles in 1998, aged 15, adding a further national title the following year.

Tandy graduated to circuit racing two years later, competing with moderate success in the Mini Se7en Challenge from 2001 until 2004 and in the latter days of the TVR Tuscan Challenge.

Meanwhile, after finishing college and completing an engineering apprenticeship, Tandy began working as a technician for Jonathan Palmer's Palmersport corporate driving days concern.

His engineering acumen elevated him to chief mechanic by the age of 22, while his racing career continued to go from strength to strength.

The opportunity for him to test a Formula Palmer Audi single-seater at Bedford Autodrome resulted in him breaking IndyCar star Justin Wilson's then lap record. Tandy decided this was enough of an incentive to make the leap from 70bhp Mini racing, to 350bhp single-seaters.

He sold his Mini, found the budget to compete in the 2005 FPA championship and promptly won the title at his first attempt - taking six wins across the season, which included a triumph on his category debut at Oulton Park.

Tandy also made the final of that year's McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, but a lack of funds and opportunities to progress his own career prompted him to turn his attentions to younger brother Nick, who had just won the BRDC Single Seater Championship having also trodden the Ministocks and Mini circuit-racing path.

Problems with the works Ray team in British Formula Ford stifled Nick's progress mid-way through the following season and, after cutting a deal to buy a Ray chassis, Joe set up his own Joe Tandy Racing team to run Nick for the rest of the campaign.

Nick won on his JTR debut at Thruxton in 2006 and added a further triumph at the Castle Combe season finale.

That success prompted a team expansion to three cars for the following season as Nick won a further six races and finished third in the standings - firmly establishing JTR as a championship frontrunner.

JTR also became the first team to win the Formula Ford Festival on the road in a Ray chassis that year, before a safety car infringement and subsequent exclusion robbed the Tandys of their success.

In order to continue Nick's rise through the motorsport ranks, JTR purchased a Mygale Formula 3 chassis and graduated to British F3 for 2008, while also switching its emerging Formula Ford squad to running the French manufacturer's cars instead of Rays.

The Tandys went on to earn the respect and admiration of the entire British F3 paddock for turning an unfancied car into a regular frontrunner, railing against the established Dallara hordes with a small operation and a meagre budget - driven by little more than fierce intellect, a straight-talking attitude and a shared passion for the sport.

This tragedy comes just as Joe looked to set to help propel his brother into the ranks of British F3 race winners and title contenders.

AUTOSPORT offers its sincere condolences to Tandy's family and friends at this difficult time.

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Renger van der Zande says he would like to extend his one-race British Formula 3 deal with Hitech Racing beyond this weekend at Silverstone to contest the rest of the championship.

The Mercedes-backed Dutchman, who finished fourth in F3 Euro Series last season, hoped to graduate to GP2 with Arden in 2009 but lost the deal when his major sponsor pulled out at the end of last year.

A planned switch to the DTM with Mercedes, after some encouraging testing performances, also fell through two weeks ago when the pointed star decided to reduce the number of cars it would field in this year's championship.

"For now it's only one race, but I'd like to do the full championship here, the Masters and Macau," van der Zande told AUTOSPORT.

"I like the team, it's a really good team. Mercedes contacted the Grubmullers who said they could sort something out for me. The first time I saw the car I was smiling and after the first time I drove it yesterday I was smiling even more."

Van der Zande will start his first British F3 race from the front row after setting second fastest time in qualifying this morning, just 0.021s adrift of pole-sitter Max Chilton and over three tenths clear of team-mate Walter Grubmuller.

"There's definitely more time in the car," he added. "The thing for me is getting used to the tyres. The Kumho [used in the Euro Series] is very round and has more slip angle to play with, whereas the Coopers are narrower and just snap when you go over the limit. The compound is also softer and gives better grip."

Van der Zande ruled out the possibility of graduating to GP2 or the DTM this season, but hopes to make the move next year.

"This year I don't think there's a chance of GP2 or DTM," he said. "Mercedes brought me in this weekend and my focus is on getting good results for them, but I'd really like to do DTM - the car is super quick and sits me really well.

"I can drive it quickly with two fingers in my nose, as we say in Holland."

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Bridger signs for Litespeed

Reigning British F3 National Class champion Jay Bridger has signed a deal with National Class outfit Litespeed to help run his championship class Mygale Mugen-Honda for the rest of the season.

Bridger missed the previous round at Silverstone earlier this month after enduring a difficult start to his campaign and splitting with Team West-Tec.

The 20-year-old ex-British Formula Ford front-runner will return to action at Rockingham later this month, testing on May 18th with a newly liveried car run under the Litespeed/Bridger Motorsport banner.

"This is a terrific opportunity for me to demonstrate what I am capable of," said Bridger. "There is a definite meeting of minds with Litespeed and I am looking forward to a long and highly successful future together.

"I would like to thank the team for their financial and engineering support and can't wait to work with such passionate and friendly people."

Director of engineering at Litespeed Steve Kenchington added: "We are delighted to have Jay on board as he is an extremely capable British driver and a thoroughly nice guy.

"Jay's results at Oulton Park and subsequent missing of the race at Silverstone GP are unfortunate in terms of his challenge for the 2009 title, however we are confident that we will turn his fortunes round for the rest of the season. The car needs some development, but it won't take us long to have it in great shape."

Bridger's 2008 race engineer, Teo da Silva Lopes has joined the set-up and will run Bridger's car, assisted by Litespeed's engineering department.

Litespeed and Bridger Motorsport are also in discussions about establishing a Junior Team for 2010, managed by Bridger and engineered by Litespeed.

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Ricciardo tops Silverstone testing

British Formula 3 championship leader Daniel Ricciardo underlined his early-season superiority by setting fastest time during official testing at Silverstone today.

The Australian lapped the damp Silverstone GP circuit in 2m01.953s in his Carlin Motorsport Dallara Volkswagen during this afternoon's fourth and final session, almost 0.3 seconds faster than Fortec rival Riki Chbristodoulou's Dallara Mercedes.

Brazilian Adriano Buzaid (Dallara Volkswagen) cheered up T-Sport, after a difficult opening round at Oulton Park last weekend, by returning the squad to the sharp end of the timesheet with third fastest time, while team-mate Wayne Boyd was sixth behind Max Chilton and Nick Tandy.

On-going problems with his West-Tec-prepared Mygale Mugen-Honda prevented Jay Bridger from running, while National Class championship leader Daniel McKenzie didn't test either due to food poisoning.

Pos Driver Team Car Time 1. Daniel Ricciardo Carlin D/V 2m01.953s 2. Riki Christodoulou Fortec D/M 2m02.243s 3. Adriano Buzaid T-Sport D/V 2m02.841s 4. Max Chilton Carlin D/V 2m03.189s 5. Nick Tandy JTR M/M 2m03.513s 6. Wayne Boyd T-Sport D/V 2m03.964s 7. Henry Arundel Carlin D/V 2m04.273s 8. Oliver Oakes Carlin D/V 2m05.081s 9. Stephane Richelmi Barazi Epsilon D/M 2m05.618s 10. Victor Garcia Fortec D/M 2m05.700s 11. Hywel Lloyd CF D/H 2m06.124s 12. Carlos Huertas Double R D/M 2m06.577s 13. Walter Grubmuller Hitech D/M 2m07.416s 14. Max Snegirev West-Tec D/H 2m07.689s 15. Daisuke Nakajima Double R D/M 2m07.989s 16. Gabriel Dias T-Sport D/H 2m08.969s 17. Victor Correa Litespeed S/H 2m11.032s

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Ricciardo takes third British F3 win

Daniel Ricciardo extended his British Formula 3 championship lead by storming to his third victory from four starts in race two at Silverstone this afternoon.

The Australian sat behind Carlin team-mate Max Chilton for most of the race, before beating him with a gutsy move around the outside at the super-fast Stowe corner to grab the win in the late stages.

"We stayed in formation for most of the race, but my car came on a bit better towards mid-race and I saw him have a few problems with oversteer," said Ricciardo. "But I managed to get alongside through Maggots/Becketts and run side by side through a couple of corners. It was fun and clean."

A lap later Fortec's Riki Christodoulou feinted left, before making a superb lunge down the inside of the Dallara-Volkswagen at the Abbey chicane to steal second as a demoralised Chilton's challenge faded. The double poleman just held off the lurking Raikkonen Robertson car of Daisuke Nakajima to clinch the final podium spot.

An aggressive-looking Nick Tandy showed yet more improvement with his Mygale-Mercedes, to take fifth place and a new lap record with the race's fastest lap at 1m41.282s.

The JTR driver took advantage of a storming start and some typically opportunistic racecraft to rise from 10th on the grid to sixth by the end of the third lap.

Henry Arundel (Carlin) rounded out the top six, ahead of Hitech's Walter Grubmuller, whose race one-winning team-mate Renger van der Zande ran third early on, before losing out to Christodoulou's brave braking into the Club chicane at mid-distance, and fading to 12th late on with an apparent loss of power in his Dallara-Mercedes.

Gabriel Dias (T-Sport) completed a National Class double by mugging Daniel McKenzie on the last lap of the race and thus slightly reducing a substantial points disadvantage to his Fortec rival.

Pos Driver Team Car Time 1. Daniel Ricciardo Carlin D/V 30m46.091s 2. Riki Christodoulou Fortec D/M + 1.963s 3. Max Chilton Carlin D/V + 4.755s 4. Daisuke Nakajima Double R D/M + 5.046s 5. Nick Tandy JTR M/M + 13.029s 6. Henry Arundel Carlin D/V + 22.007s 7. Walter Grubmuller Hitech M/M + 23.770s 8. Carlos Huertas Double R D/M + 25.434s 9. Oliver Oakes Carlin D/V + 26.781s 10. Adriano Buzaid T-Sport D/V + 27.439s 11. Wayne Boyd T-Sport D/V + 27.875s 12. Renger van der Zande Hitech D/M + 29.287s 13. Hywel Lloyd CF D/H + 29.869s 14. Gabriel Dias T-Sport D/H + 32.553s 15. Daniel McKenzie Fortec D/H + 33.269s 16. Victor Garcia Fortec D/M + 33.539s 17. Stephane Richelmi Barazi D/M + 50.656s 18. Victor Correa Litespeed S/H + 52.572s Retirements: Max Snegirev West-Tec D/H 4 laps

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Chilton secures dual Silverstone poles

Max Chilton claimed his third British F3 pole position from four attempts this season after topping the times in qualifying for race two on the Silverstone GP circuit this afternoon.

The Carlin driver, who claimed he completed an almost perfect lap to snatch pole in this morning's first session, found another 0.017s this afternoon, to set a best lap of 1m39.781s on his first run on new tyres and claim the top spot.

He then parked his Dallara-Volkswagen in the pitlane with almost a third of the session remaining and watched his rivals try and fail to beat his benchmark.

Chilton's Australian team-mate Daniel Ricciardo recovered from his first session off at Copse to set second fastest time, 0.148s adrift, and lock out the front row for Carlin.

Like many, the Red Bull-backed driver had three bites at extracting the best from his tyres and his 1m39.929s best came on his 11th lap with barely a minute of the session remaining.

That supressed Fortec's Riki Christodoulou to third on the grid, 0.011s further back and the last man to break through the 1m40s barrier in this slower session.

Hitech's Renger van der Zande failed to extract some expected extra pace from his Dallara-Mercedes this time and finished the session fourth on a 1m40.016s best, 0.164s clear of T-Sport's Adriano Buzaid.

The Brazilian again joined the action late, but struggled for speed initially before nailing a decent lap at the death to drop Daisuke Nakajima, who again set the pace early on for Raikkonen Robertson Racing, to sixth on the grid.

JTR's Nick Tandy showed marked improvement compared with this morning (when he struggled to 15th) but his 1m40.517s best was still only good enough to round out the top 10, behind Henry Arundel, Carlos Huertas and Walter Grubmuller, who again struggled to match the pace of their team-mates.

Pos Driver Team Car Time 1. Max Chilton Carlin D/V 1m39.781s 2. Daniel Ricciardo Carlin D/V 1m39.929s 3. Riki Christodoulou Fortec D/M 1m39.940s 4. Renger van der Zande Hitech D/M 1m40.016s 5. Adriano Buzaid T-Sport D/V 1m40.180s 6. Daisuke Nakajima Double R D/M 1m40.251s 7. Henry Arundel Carlin D/V 1m40.286s 8. Carlos Huertas Double R D/M 1m40.424s 9. Walter Grubmuller Hitech D/M 1m40.468s 10. Nick Tandy JTR M/M 1m40.517s 11. Wayne Boyd T-Sport D/V 1m40.748s 12. Oliver Oakes Carlin D/V 1m40.919s 13. Gabriel Dias T-Sport (N) D/H 1m40.975s 14. Daniel McKenzie Fortec (N) D/H 1m41.128s 15. Hywel Lloyd CF D/H 1m41.314s 16. Victor Garcia Fortec D/M 1m41.326s 17. Stephane Richelmi Barazi Epsilon D/M 1m42.583s 18. Victor Correa Litespeed (N) S/H 1m43.062s 19. Max Snegirev West-Tec (N) D/H 1m44.397s

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