Racing lines: Looking to a brighter future

Jarvis piloted his Mazda to second at Sebring in January

Jarvis piloted his Mazda to second at Sebring in January

Our world may be on hold, but imagine the release of energy when real life can start again. It’s a warm thought to cling to, even if we have no clue when that time might come.

In terms of motorsport (insignificant, I know, but always a welcome distraction from real life, even in the best of times), you have to wonder how likely it now is that international racing will be scratched from the rest of 2020. Once lockdown ends, exactly when will overseas travel be allowed? Weeks? Or months? The immediate future has never been foggier.

*A world turned upside down*

Oliver Jarvis is among the minority of drivers to have actually raced this year, along with those competing in Formula E. The sports car specialist saw action at the Daytona 24 Hours in January, where he took pole position in his Joest-run Mazda prototype and finished second in the race, and then travelled directly to the Bathurst 12 Hours to race for Bentley’s GT3 squad.

A dual campaign in the US with Mazda and in Europe with Bentley promised an exciting season – but since then, as for us all, his year has been turned upside down. Not only by the coronavirus; Mazda has also ended its association with Joest, one of the best sports car racing teams in the world. The Multimatic team, which formerly ran the Ford GT programme, will now take full control of a campaign for which it was already providing the engineering.

“The sad part is the Joest guys would have got to say goodbye at the Sebring 12 Hours, but that was cancelled,” says Jarvis, who, like everyone else, is longing to return to some form of normality.

But let’s set aside the frustrations of today. Jarvis, like many others in sports car racing, is looking further down the line to the arrival of the new LMH hypercar class at Le Mans, plus the accord with US organiser IMSA that will allow its next-generation LMDh racers to compete at the 24 Hours also. This new era – whenever it begins – could open a new chapter in the Englishman’s career and even give him another crack at winning Le Mans.

A three-time podium finisher with Audi’s hugely successful Joest-run LMP1 team, he was left high and dry when the car maker withdrew from the World Endurance Championship and Le Mans in 2016. He won the LMP2 class at the 24 Hours and finished a remarkable second in 2017 (ironically his best result at the race), but he could have been forgiven for thinking his career had then peaked.

*Reasons to be cheerful*

“I wouldn’t say I thought that was it, but there were certainly concerns, because there weren’t many opportunities,” says Jarvis. “Audi had pulled out and Porsche and Toyota were full. Then Porsche pulled out too.

“It has been great to see Toyota continue, but without this [LMDh-LMH] announcement, to be frank, to go back and fight for the overall win was very unlikely.

“However, it works with Balance of Performance, which is almost a dirty word: an LMDh car should be able to race against a Toyota hypercar. It will entice so many manufacturers both from Europe and America.”

BoP – artificially equalising performance between cars of different concepts – is indeed an uncomfortable subject, but Jarvis understandably believes it’s the best solution for modern sports car racing.

“BoP is a necessary evil nowadays,” he says. “If it allows more manufacturers to enter, I’m all for it. But how they manage it is much more important than allowing it. I don’t envy who will have that job.”

At 36, Jarvis has already enjoyed a long professional career, first in single-seaters and latterly in sports cars. But he could have another 10 years in him before retirement is beckoning – plenty of time to achieve that overall Le Mans win.

“I’m very aware of my age, but I don’t feel my age,” says Jarvis. “I feel like I’m driving better than ever, and with age comes experience. I’m so fortunate to still be doing what I love.

“Those were tough times back in 2016 when Audi pulled out. To be four years down the line with works drives and competing for outright victories both in IMSA and the GT World Challenge in Europe is an incredible position to be in.”

Talk about an example of how life goes on after a crushing blow. “I wouldn’t say it’s a reinvention, because I’m still doing what I did at Audi, but it’s easy to drop off the map,” says Jarvis. “Now I don’t see why I can’t be doing this for many more years.”

*Vets out of practice*

Among the rash of sim races that have exploded online in recent weeks, the one that really caught my eye was a ‘veterans race’, starring some familiar names that you wouldn’t exactly associate with computer games.

Two-time Formula 1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi (73), was among the old-timers who logged on for the Legends Trophy, part of The Race’s All-Star Battle. And the other novelty? It was a virtual one-make race for one of the most evocative Formula 1 cars in history: Gordon Murray’s 1975 Brabham BT44B.

Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti (46) claimed the win after front-row starters Juan Pablo Montoya (44) and Emanuele Pirro (58) made contact at the first corner.

Works Aston Martin GTE driver Darren Turner, still very much active in real racing at 45 and the owner of a sim-racing business, chased Franchitti hard. But the Scot’s purple Brabham (not quite as classy as the original Martini livery) just had the legs to win.

Fittipaldi was the last of the 13 finishers, also among them David Brabham (54), Jan Magnussen (46) and Gil de Ferran (52). Looks like this gaming craze has given the old boys a new lease of life.

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