Toro Rosso finishes testing as leading Renault-powered team - MotorSportsTalk

As 2013 front-runners Red Bull and Lotus have struggled throughout pre-season testing, Scuderia Toro Rosso has seized the initiative and finished the winter period as the leading Renault-powered team.

With the teams that the French marque powers struggling to work with newly-designed turbocharged V6 engines, and with the management at Renault conceding that they are some weeks behind their rivals, it has been a difficult testing period for Red Bull, Lotus, Toro Rosso and Caterham.

However, following a disastrous first test in Jerez at the end of January, it appears that there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel. Caterham completed over 100 laps today as Kamui Kobayashi focused on long runs, whilst Jean-Eric Vergne performed well to finish in fifth place on the timesheets.

“These past twelve days have been very interesting in many ways,” Vergne explained. “I would describe today as positive and we did some good work, especially in the morning when we got through everything we had planned to do, with everything going smoothly. I had a really good feeling from the car today.”

Although the Frenchman admitted that there had been major problems over the winter, he is still confident that the STR9 will be a capable car once the issues are resolved.

“These winter tests have not been easy, but we are not alone in that. Even if there is no more testing, I know the team can work hard with our partners and fix many of these issues in time for Melbourne. The really positive thing is that I feel I have a good car, so once everything has been sorted out, I am sure we can be strong in the races.”

Vergne is joined at Toro Rosso this season by GP3 champion Daniil Kvyat. Given Red Bull’s tendency to chop and change drivers once they are no longer deemed to be capable enough, the pressure is on Vergne to perform as he enters his third season with the Italian team, especially with Antonio Felix da Costa and Carlos Sainz Jr. waiting in the wings.

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In a continuing effort to help fans keep track of the on track action, SuperMotocross is in the process of developing and implementing leader lights for the unified series.

Currently Supercross (SMX) utilizes stanchions in the infield that are triggered manually by a race official. At least two stanchions are used in each race as a way to draw the eye to the leader, which is especially useful in the tight confines of the stadium series when lapping often begins before the halfway mark in the 22-bike field. This system has been in place for the past two decades.

Later this year, a fully automated system will move to the bike itself to replace the old system. At that point, fans will be able to identify the leader regardless of where he is on track.

The leader lights were tested in the second Anaheim round this year. An example can be seen at the 1:45 mark in the video above on the No. 69 bike.

“What we don’t want to do is move too fast, where it’s confusing to people,” said Mike Muye, senior director of operations for Supercross and SMX in a press release. “We’ve really just focused on the leader at this point with the thought that maybe down the road we’ll introduce others.”

Scheduled to debut with the first SuperMotocross World Championship race at zMax Dragway, located just outside the Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 3D carbon fiber-printed LED light will be affixed to each motorcycle. Ten timing loops positioned around the track will trigger the lights of the leader, which will turn green.

SMX’s partner LiveTime Scoring helped develop and implement the system that has been tested in some form or fashion since 2019.

When the leader lights are successfully deployed, SuperMotocross will explore expanding the system to identify the second- and third-place riders. Depending on need and fan acceptance, more positions could be added.

SuperMotocross is exploring future enhancements, including allowing for live fan interaction with the lights and ways to use the lighting system during the race’s opening ceremony.

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