Australia's Least Famous Football International Champion
Australian international racing driver John Martin is about to receive a international series championship trophy. Thing is, he may get the trophy in the mail. If series organisers can afford the postage.
Two years ago Martin was in the middle of the very messy collapse of the Gold Coast SuperGP. As the lead driver of Team Australia in the A1 Grand Prix series, Martin was in the build-up press conferences prior to the race which never occurred when A1 Grand Prix simply failed to show up and never raced again. He was then asked to comment on all manner of business deals, or lack thereof, that he had no means of being able to comment on.
Martin races for professional racing outfit Alan Docking Racing, who has helped many Australians racing in Europe over the years with Mark Webber among their former graduates. In place of A1 Grand Prix, Martin was shuffled across to Superleague Formula, another series Alan Docking Racing fields a race team. Superleague Formula, now four years old, follows the very strange concept that the race teams of this series represent Football teams. For the first three years each race team was run. bankrolled, supported by a Football club. ADR's client clubs included Tottenham Hotspur, Rangers and Atlético Madrid while other clubs in the series included Liverpool, AC Milan and PSV Eindhoven. Martin raced for Rangers in 2009, then Atlético Madrid in 2010 before a mid-season "transfer" to Chinese club Beijing Guoan. However by 2010 Football clubs were losing interest. Depsite a nice TV package and great looking racecars in the V12 power Panoz DP09s the teams run only 80% of the grid were backed by Football teams. In 2011 it had dropped to about 30%. So the trend began that teams began to be identified by national colours, sometimes with the participation of the relelvant national football teams, most times not.
ADRs three 2011 cars no longer had football clubs and were badged, Australia, Brazil and England to line up with the nationality of their three drivers. What connection the Socceroos had with Martin was tenuous at best. The series began this year late, in June at the Assen circuit in Holland before travelling to Zolder in Belgium where Martin was one of the best performed drivers, winning a race and moving into a 22 point lead over Team Japan.
The series then was due to travel to Russia, Brazil, China, South Korea and New Zealand. All bar the Chinese races were cancelled, or the events themselves were never actually finalised. This week the only remaining races, two rounds to be held in China, were cancelled after series organisers and Chinese authorities could not agree to terms.
It's the second time this year major disruption has all but cancelled a series after the GP2 Asian championship was caught up in the Bahrain protests at the start of the year, although at least this time the race teams weren't caught up on the ground and forced to hide in hotels. GP2 Asia eventually re-arranged a series finale at the distinctly un-Asian circuit of Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit in Imola, Italy. But it too saw a larger series wound up and cut after just two events.
So with all remaining races cancelled, John Martin is the series champion and possibly again a man without a drive despite talent. It makes Superleague Formula's slogan "Racing like you've never seen" seem ironic. Or apt.
Two years ago Martin was in the middle of the very messy collapse of the Gold Coast SuperGP. As the lead driver of Team Australia in the A1 Grand Prix series, Martin was in the build-up press conferences prior to the race which never occurred when A1 Grand Prix simply failed to show up and never raced again. He was then asked to comment on all manner of business deals, or lack thereof, that he had no means of being able to comment on.
Martin races for professional racing outfit Alan Docking Racing, who has helped many Australians racing in Europe over the years with Mark Webber among their former graduates. In place of A1 Grand Prix, Martin was shuffled across to Superleague Formula, another series Alan Docking Racing fields a race team. Superleague Formula, now four years old, follows the very strange concept that the race teams of this series represent Football teams. For the first three years each race team was run. bankrolled, supported by a Football club. ADR's client clubs included Tottenham Hotspur, Rangers and Atlético Madrid while other clubs in the series included Liverpool, AC Milan and PSV Eindhoven. Martin raced for Rangers in 2009, then Atlético Madrid in 2010 before a mid-season "transfer" to Chinese club Beijing Guoan. However by 2010 Football clubs were losing interest. Depsite a nice TV package and great looking racecars in the V12 power Panoz DP09s the teams run only 80% of the grid were backed by Football teams. In 2011 it had dropped to about 30%. So the trend began that teams began to be identified by national colours, sometimes with the participation of the relelvant national football teams, most times not.
ADRs three 2011 cars no longer had football clubs and were badged, Australia, Brazil and England to line up with the nationality of their three drivers. What connection the Socceroos had with Martin was tenuous at best. The series began this year late, in June at the Assen circuit in Holland before travelling to Zolder in Belgium where Martin was one of the best performed drivers, winning a race and moving into a 22 point lead over Team Japan.
The series then was due to travel to Russia, Brazil, China, South Korea and New Zealand. All bar the Chinese races were cancelled, or the events themselves were never actually finalised. This week the only remaining races, two rounds to be held in China, were cancelled after series organisers and Chinese authorities could not agree to terms.
It's the second time this year major disruption has all but cancelled a series after the GP2 Asian championship was caught up in the Bahrain protests at the start of the year, although at least this time the race teams weren't caught up on the ground and forced to hide in hotels. GP2 Asia eventually re-arranged a series finale at the distinctly un-Asian circuit of Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit in Imola, Italy. But it too saw a larger series wound up and cut after just two events.
So with all remaining races cancelled, John Martin is the series champion and possibly again a man without a drive despite talent. It makes Superleague Formula's slogan "Racing like you've never seen" seem ironic. Or apt.