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Formula One: Palmer fastest on final day of Catalunya test, Mercedes still lead lap charts
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted May 12, 2015 | In Formula1, MotoGP, Sport News, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted May 12, 2015 | In Formula1, MotoGP, Sport News, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
Formula One: Palmer fastest on final day of Catalunya test, Mercedes still lead lap charts
Jolyon Palmer has finished as the fastest driver on the final day of the first mid-season test of the 2015 Formula One World Championship. Mercedes led the times with Spanish Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg yesterday, with Pascal Wehrlein leading in the W05 today until the final 15 minutes when Palmer bested him on super soft tyres.
Jolyon’s time in the Lotus E23 was over 1.7 seconds slower than the best time set yesterday by Nico Rosberg, but it was still enough to pip Pascal after a very late run. Palmer may have had the fastest time, but it was Wehrlein who continued to lead the lap count, with 137 laps to the DTM drivers’ name; 7 less than Rosberg’s tally yesterday.
Pierre Gasly had his first taste of Formula One testing yesterday with Toro Rosso. Today he followed that up with a jump into the senior car; the Red Bull RB11. His day wasn’t as smooth as he had experienced yesterday, with the Frenchman coming to a halt at the end of the pit-lane to cause 1 of 3 red flags. Nevertheless, Gasly ended the day 3rd fastest; 6 tenths down on Palmer after 75 laps of the circuit.
McLaren ended the first test yesterday at the bottom of the times with Oliver Turvey behind the wheel. Today however, Jenson Button took the Honda-powered MP4-30 to 4th fastest after 100 laps; a solid day of running for the team who have struggled so far this year. Today, despite Button being quoted to say that McLaren may not score a point all year, Honda revealed that they are targeting podiums in the middle of the season and to have caught up to Mercedes by the end of the year; ambitious, but not impossible targets.
5th fastest belonged to British driver and reigning GP3 champion Alex Lynn; who had his first day of running in the Williams after being appointed as a development driver earlier this year. Lynn was 4 hundredths slower than Button ahead of him and 6 tenths ahead of 6th placed reigning Formula 3 Euro series champion Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman was recently appointed as a Mercedes junior driver, joining Pascal Wehrlein; the pair also raced in last December’s race of champions in Barbados. Ocon completed 94 laps in the Mercedes-powered Force India.
Esteban Gutierrez got his first running in this year’s Ferrari after moving into a reserve driver role having driven in Formula One with Sauber for the last few years. Gutierrez completed 119 laps in the SF15-T and was 6 hundredths faster than Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso in 8th place. Propping up the times was Raffaele Marciello, who having driven the Ferrari yesterday jumped into the Sauber. The day didn’t start as the Italian had hoped after crashing at turn 3 in the first hour of running. He later made it back out on track to complete 75 laps.
Formula One teams won’t get another opportunity to conduct mid-season testing until the week after the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring. In the meantime, the team’s will head back to their factories to prepare for this year’s Monaco Grand Prix in a week’s time; with the unique Thursday practice sessions starting on the 21st of May.
Catalunya mid-season test day 2 time-sheets:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
| 1 | Jolyon Palmer | Lotus | 1’26.080 | 87 |
| 2 | Pascal Wehrlein | Mercedes | 1’26.497 | 137 |
| 3 | Pierre Gasly | Red Bull | 1’26.683 | 75 |
| 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1’26.927 | 100 |
| 5 | Alex Lynn | Williams | 1’26.967 | 52 |
| 6 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1’27.520 | 94 |
| 7 | Esteban Gutierrez | Ferrari | 1’27.930 | 119 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1’27.997 | 126 |
| 9 | Raffaelle Marciello | Sauber | 1’28.829 | 75 |
Emanuele Venturoli
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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Read MoreWhy choose RTR Sports Marketing
In an era where it is possible to get anywhere with a click, there is a strong temptation to approach teams and properties directly for sponsorship projects.
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.
Save time and money
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.
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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 beating heart
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.
Objective measurements for a certain return
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.
Sit back, relax, we’ll take care of it
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
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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.
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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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