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By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted June 26, 2015 | In MotoGP, Sport News, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
Sebastien Buemi has won the first of 2 races in London that will decide the 2014/2015 Formula E world championship.
The Swiss driver has closed to within 5 points of championship leader Nelson Piquet Jr after taking pole position’s 3 points and the 25 points for winning the race. Additionally, e.dams Renault have clinched the constructors’ championship with their drivers finishing 1st and 7th.
Nelson Piquet took 5th place behind both of his closest title rivals; with Lucas Di Grassi just one place ahead of him in 4th. They both missed out on the podium, with Jerome D’Ambrosio and Jean-Eric Vergne beating them to the rostrum.
Sebastien Buemi was one of the six championship contenders heading into the penultimate race of the 2014/2015 Formula E world championship. He was trailing Nelson Piquet and and Lucas Di Grassi in 3rd place in the championship, but he kicked off his London ePrix weekend in the best possible style by grabbing the pole position and the 3 bonus points that come with it. Coupled to this, drivers were all saying how important it was to get pole position in Battersea park due to the tight and twisty nature of the circuit. Jerome D’Ambrosio, who had a mathematical but unlikely chance of taking the title this weekend, put his Dragon racing car in 2nd ahead of Di Grassi. Piquet Jr lined up 3rd as the first driver with FanBoost. Fellow boosted drivers included Oliver Turvey and Sakon Yamamoto.
During the practice sessions prior to Qualifying and the Race the drivers and teams discovered a massive bump in the road on the run into turn 1. The bump was so big that the FIA decided to start Saturday’s race behind the safety car to prevent an accident. Sebastien Buemi has a brilliant start when the safety car came into the pits, with all the drivers maintaining position.
Nelson Piquet Jr needed to find a way past championship rival Lucas di Grassi as soon as possible if he was to have a chance of challenging for the win. He used his first FanBoost to draw alongside and almost past the Audi Sport ABT driver, but Piquet started moving over too early. Contact was made which forced Piquet to jump the next chicane. Di Grassi held his position with Piquet falling into the clutches of Vergne, who swept by into the Millennium chicane.
On one hand, Di Grassi will have been smiling when he saw that Piquet had fallen behind Vergne, but soon Vergne had caught up and was right on the gearbox of Di Grassi’s car. Sadly for Vergne he did not have FanBoost to help him get by. This didn’t stop him from pulling off one of the best overtaking moves of the year by lunging up the inside into the final chicane. He locked both wheels of his Andretti, but he still got the car stopped and into 3rd place.
The pit-stops began at the end of lap 14, with nelson Piquet Jr uncharacteristically eating through his energy to be the among the first to pit. Vergne and Di Grassi joined him along with Turvey, Duval, Heidfeld and Leimer. Vergne held his track position from Di Grassi and Piquet, with race-leaders Buemi and D’Ambrosio coming in at the end of that lap. Those who hadn’t the first time around came in the next time by with the exception of Bird who pitted one lap later and re-joined in 9th. A disappointing home race so far for both Bird and the Virgin team; who announced prior to the race that they would team up with Citroen’s DS group for next year.
The was a high chance of a safety car thanks to the bumpiness and the tightness of the London ePrix circuit. The Qualcomm safety car finally made it’s appearance at the end of lap 17 after Daniel Abt put his Audi Sport ABT car into the wall at the final turn. The car seemed to have an issue with under-steer, with Abt running wide 3 rimes before finally parking itself in the wall at Chelsea-Gate.
The safety car came in at the end of lap 20 of 29, with Buemi sprinting off. D’Ambrosio stayed in touch with Buemi this time, with Vergne behind ahead of Di Grassi and Piquet.
Piquet was soon all over the back of his fellow-countryman and rival Di Grassi. He had to pass him not to just extend his lead on Di Grassi, but also to limit the damage done by race-leader Sebastien Buemi, who would close up to within just 3 points heading into tomorrow’s final race should the positions have remained as they were. He almost drew alongside into turn 3, but he couldn’t make it stick. He used his final FanBoost to get slightly closer, but that didn’t work either. He was practically inside Di Grassi’s gearbox as the pair approached the Millennium chicane, with Piquet just holding onto the rear of his car to prevent the pair of them from crashing.
Soon after, Piquet went quite wide at turn 1 which then cost him time to Di Grassi who pulled away slightly; with Lucas then taking the fastest lap next time around. He took the fastest lap and the 2 bonus points away from race-leader Buemi. Di Grassi’s lap put him within touching distance of Jean-Eric Vergne for the final position on the podium with just 3 laps to go in the first race at London.
Up at the front, Sebastien Buemi had driven a brilliant and controlling race in his e.Dams Renault. He would cross the line to take his 3rd Formula E race victory which puts him well and truly in the fight to take the championship tomorrow. He now trails Nelson Piquet Jr by just 5 points. Buemi’s win, along with his team-mate scoring 7th, was enough to seal the 2014/2015 Formula E constructors’ championship for e.dams Renault.
Jerome D’Ambrosio took a superb 2nd place ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne; with the Frenchman holding off a late charge from 4th placed Lucas Di Grassi. Lucas denied Buemi from taking the maximum points on offer by stealing the fastest lap by 3 tenths.
Championship leader Nelson Piquet Jr may have held his championship lead for another day, but with Buemi just 5 points behind and seemingly one of the fastest in London, he will now be worrying ahead of tomorrow’s 2nd qualifying session and race that will decide the championship. Piquet held off Sam Bird, who charged through after a slow pit-stop to take 6th place ahead of Nicolas Prost.
Loic Duval put his Dragon racing car in 8th place to make it a double points finish for Jay Penske’s team. He finished ahead of Formula E debutante Oliver Turvey in 9th; with Stephane Sarrazin taking the final point in 10th.
2015 London ePrix race 1 results:
POS |
Driver |
Team |
Points |
Grid |
1 |
Sebastien Buemi (P) |
e.dams Renault |
28 |
1st |
2 |
Jerome D’Ambrosio |
Dragon Racing |
18 |
2nd |
3 |
Jean-Eric Vergne |
Andretti Autosport |
15 |
5th |
4 |
Lucas Di Grassi (FL) |
Audi Sport ABT |
14 |
3rd |
5 |
Nelson Piquet Jr (FB) |
NEXTEV TCR |
10 |
4th |
6 |
Sam Bird |
Virgin Racing |
8 |
9th |
7 |
Nicolas Prost |
e.dams Renault |
6 |
6th |
8 |
Loic Duval |
Dragon Racing |
4 |
11th |
9 |
Oliver Turvey (FB) |
NEXTEV TCR |
2 |
7th |
10 |
Stephane Sarrazin |
Venturi |
1 |
14th |
11 |
Salvador Duran |
Amlin Aguri |
0 |
10th |
12 |
Simona De Silvestro |
Andretti Autosport |
0 |
16th |
13 |
Karun Chandhok |
Mahindra Racing |
0 |
15th |
14 |
Nick Heidfeld |
Venturi |
0 |
12th |
15 |
Fabio Leimer |
Virgin Racing |
0 |
19th |
16 |
Jarno Trulli |
Trulli |
0 |
20th |
17 |
Bruno Senna |
Mahindra |
0 |
8th |
18 |
Alex Fontana |
Trulli |
DNF |
18th |
19 |
Daniel Abt |
Audi Sport ABT |
DNF |
13th |
20 |
Sakon Yamamoto (FB) |
Amlin Aguri |
DNF |
17th |
(P) = 3 points for Pole Position, (FL) = 2 points for Fastest lap, (FB) = FanBoost winner
Are you ready to explore the transformative power of athlete sponsorship for your brand? Click here to learn more about how sponsorship can help brands grow and thrive in the exciting world of motorsports.
A graduate in Public, Social and Political Communication from the University of Bologna, he has always been passionate about marketing, design and sport.
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By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
When first approaching a sponsorship or sports marketing project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Sports is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
Sports is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A sports marketing and sports sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which sport, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the real heart of sports sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a sports marketing project you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase on the Web, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
We have been involved in sports sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
Gianluca Degliesposti
Executive Director Server&Storage EMEA
Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
Commercial Director
Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
Head of Communication
We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
Team Principal
I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
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