2018 Preview : Gojira AutoSport

One of the series’ oldest and most prolific teams on the grid has had a few makeovers in the 2010s with two name changes and different operating nationalities, but its core has always been the outspoken Brazilian, Gui Cramer. Despite many championships over the teams’ various guises, the two most recent seasons have been tough with two consecutive 8th places in the Teams Championship. This has largely been traced down to the team preferring to develop their engine instead of the car’s aerodynamics. While this has benefitted Mugen’s customers with Mitchell winning the 2016 Drivers Championship, the main Mugen team has had to endure some poor results.

Best Season: 1994

All 11 teams were starting afresh for 1994 with the two-year technological period coming to a close. The second of those two years was a case of what could’ve been for Gojira as their talisman, Ayrton Senna, threw away at least two wins at Monaco and Spa by crashing into the barriers. The Brazilian decided to give it one more try to win a fourth Drivers Championship, and he would have a good opportunity to do so as he had the powerful works Renault engine at his disposal. Even lead commentator, James Brickles, was predicting a walkover. The opening race at Interlagos was a fairytale as Senna took the first of what would be 12 pole positions followed by a comfortable win in front of his home crowd. The following two races weren’t quite as simple as Eddie Irvine used strategy to beat Senna at Aida before Monaco saw Senna unbelievably repeat his mistake from 1993 to crash out of the lead.

Senna’s Monaco mistake seemed to ignite something within as he then went on a rampaging run of seven consecutive podium finishes including four wins in a row from Magny-Cours to Spa. Come Monza, five races remaining, Senna had the opportunity to wrap up the Drivers Championship. Although it was his young Brazilian protégé who won the race, a 2nd for Senna was enough to win what was at the time, a record-breaking fourth Drivers Championship, a result made sweeter by Erik Comas taking his only career podium finish. The Teams Championship was far from settled however as CBA Racing were still in contention, but Suzuka would see their challenge end as Senna crushed the opposition. As for Comas, his season ended sooner than anticipated after a collision with Irvine at the first corner sent the Frenchman violently careening into the barriers. He would sit out the final race of the season with Roberto Moreno standing in, and the all-Brazilian line-up would deliver a brilliant 1-2 finish at Adelaide with Senna signing off his FF1M career in style. Cramer describes this season as “great and meaningful.”

Worst Season: 2016

Brand new car shapes and a reset of the ERS system for 2016 season left teams wondering how to tackle a new era of aerodynamics, particularly manufacturer teams such as Gojira, who had to balance aero and engine development at the same time. Since 2014, they had a habit of boasting about their naturally powerful Mugen engine, and during pre-season testing, their confidence remained with all six days topped by Mugen runners with Gojira topping one session courtesy of young Italian test driver Alessandro Farina, affectionately nicknamed ‘The Flour Man’. The first race of the season started off brilliantly for the Mugen customer teams as they annexed the podium, but the main Mugen team of Gojira weren’t exactly on the pace with Jean-Eric Vergne doing well to finish 5th after qualifying in the midfield.

As the season went on, it became clear that the BD-16 was a very poor car aerodynamically with points finishes hard to come by. Robert Kubica in particular was struggling with only two points to his name before a horror smash at Road America after a collision with Romain Grosjean dented his confidence even further. He was dropped after Silverstone in favour of 2015 FF2M champion James Clark, but this didn’t make much difference. As for Vergne, a spirited performance at Spa resulted in a podium finish, but that was as good as it got as Gojira finished 8th in the Teams Championship with their lowest points haul in the main series. An honourable mention for the team’s worst season was 2004, a season dominated by the turbo teams and technological warfare, an era Cramer “thoroughly disliked.”

Present day

Throughout 2017, Gojira had been playing catch up, starting off with another underdeveloped car aerodynamically before experiencing race-winning pace towards the end of the season with Farina running Daniel Ricciardo close at Suzuka. In fact, they had one of the best aerodynamics by the final race and keen to keep up the momentum, Gojira have carried over their BD-17 chassis into 2018. With the Mugen engine continuing to perform strongly, Farina could be a dark horse for the Drivers Championship, and team returnee James Clark should finally be able to showcase his tremendous talent being the only driver on the grid to have won FF4M, FF3M, and FF2M championships. Can he add the premier series to his collection?

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