Vod:Bul Racing

Vod:Bul

Full name	Vod:Bul Racing
Base	Liverpool, England
Team principal/s	Mike Pitman
Race drivers	14. Philipp Puschke 15. Oskari Kantonen
Test drivers	Douwe Tapper
Chassis	VBMP14
Engine	Valiant VA15
Tyres	GPVWC
GPVWC Superleague Career
Début	2006 Belgian Grand Prix
Latest race	2015 Brazilian Grand Prix
Races competed	85
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	1
Podiums	4
Pole positions	1
Fastest laps	2
2014 position	6th

Vod:Bul Racing, formerly known as Vod:Bul Racing F1, is an English Superleague team based in Liverpool and run by Mike Pitman and is considered, naturally, the premier team of the VBMotorsport group (VBM). It has had two iterations, the team that took part in the erstwhile F1VWC from 2006 through to 2008, and then the present team which has taken part since the start of the 2014 season. The current team is, in effect, the result of the Vod:Bul Supercup team's promotion at the end of the 2013 season; 2014 was only the second year of VBM's return to the GPVWC.

Historically, the team has had numerous drivers, several of whom had, or have since had, highly notable careers. Among them were Leontin Nemet, Dave Carr-Smith, Adam Rouse, Vitaliy Kambarov and Laurent Keersmaekers.

The team goes into the 2015 season with German reigning-Supercup champion Philipp Puschke and Finland's Oskari Kantonen as its primary drivers. Dutchman Douwe Tapper is the team's official third driver.

Significantly for 2015, Vod:Bul won the bidding process to find a new engine manufacturer to replace the defunct Krevder line, resulting in the creation of the Valiant VA15 engine, which will power Vod:Bul and three other teams in 2015. They also became the title sponsor of the 2015 Formula Challenge season, and 5 races of the season.

History

2014 season

The name Vod:Bul returned to the top tier of the GPVWC after an absence of 5 years. One key change from Vod:Bul's original stint was that Superleague now raced real-time in rFactor, meaning that in some respects, 2014 was an entirely new venture for the team.

The team's 2014 drivers were Dane Morten Wernersen, who had previously raced for the Supercup team in 2013, and Belgian Kenney Lybeer. The team's third driver was fellow-Belgian Bart de Vos, who would go on to race for the team four times, while Englishman Jonathan Holmes, nominally one of the drivers of VBM's then-Formula Challenge affiliate Tanskanen Racing, drove at Monaco, while Douwe Tapper, normally driving for VBM's Supercup affiliate Streetfighter Racing Systems, drove for the team at Belgium.

The team had a bold, if steady start to the season, securing a highly beneficial deal to have their engines supplied by Potentia, the same engine that powered the likes of Midnight Motorsport and eventual winners CSG Racing.

Lybeer's 4th place at Bahrain, only the team's 3rd race back in the Superleague, was a huge boon to the team. It, coupled with Wernersen's 7th, also proved to be the team's best result and although the team would suffer a disastrous Spanish round in which both cars retired, the team then went on to score points in each of the remaining rounds, with 7 of those rounds seeing double points finishes. Though the team never bettered its Bahrain result, its consistency saw it finish 6th in the championship, beating the likes of Nordsjoen and Torrent. Vod:Bul's success saw it awarded with the title 'Best New Superleague Team' at the 2014 GPVWC Day.

Gallery

• 

  The VBMP06, the team's first entry in the 2006 season.

• 

  The team's 2007 car.

• 

  The team's 2014 car, driven by Morten Wernersen

Complete results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position) (results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Points	Pos
2006	VBMP01	Toyota RVX-06	B			BEL	MYS	AUS	SAN	EUR	ESP	MON	GBR	CAN	USA	FRA	GER	HUN	TUR	ITA	CHN	JPN	BRA	30	7th
				Leontin Nemet	22	8	Ret	7		DNS	9	9	6		6	12					7	5	13
				Martin Buchan					10	9									Ret
				Dave Carr-Smith													11	Ret
				Lennart Kaiser	23	Ret	DNS	DSQ				DNS		DNS		9
				Adam Rouse					7		8		12	8	9		8	11	5	12	6	6	Ret
2007	VBMP02	Toyota RVX-07	B			AUS	MAL	BAH	ESP	MON	CAN	USA	FRA	UK	GER	HUN	TUR	ITA	BEL	JPN	CHN	BRA		54	4th
				Adam Rouse	14	8
				Martin Buchan			10	DNS					DNS	Ret	DNS		10	11	DNS
				Vitaliy Kambarov					5	DSQ		3
				Matteo Keersmaekers												DNS
					15			DNS	Ret	DNS
				Francesco Passeri	14																DNS
					15														Ret	Ret
				Laurent Keersmaekers																		1
				Leontin Nemet		5	8				5	9	Ret	2	DNS	Ret	DNS				2	DSQ
				Dirk Bertram														14
2008	VBMP03	Ferrari	B			AUS	MAL	BHR	ESP	TUR	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	EUR	BEL	ITA	AUT	JPN	BRA		0	NC
				Daniel Bolman	10	Ret		C	Ret	C	Ret	Ret
2009 – 2013: Vod:Bul did not compete in Superleague.
2014	VBMP14	Potentia PGE-02	G			AUS	MYS	BAH	CHN	ESP	MON	CAN	AUT	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	USA	UAE	JPN	BRA		136	6th
				Morten Wernersen	28	16	20	7	Ret		Ret	9	9	11	7	9	10	12	12	Ret	14	14
				Bart de Vos						Ret
					29		14								DSQ	Ret
				Kenney Lybeer		Ret		4	11	Ret		8	11	15				DSQ	11	6	9	11
				Jonathan Holmes							11
				Douwe Tapper													8
2015	VBMP15	Valiant VA15	G			AUS	BAH	ESP	POR	TUR	MON	CAN	GBR	AUT	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN	JAP	UAE	USA	BRA		402	2nd
				Philipp Puschke	14	2	2	3	1	2		10	1	2	1	1	1	8	2	5	7	1
				Ruud Heesterbeek							4
					15							4
				Oskari Kantonen		13	18	Ret	19
				Tim Straub						Ret
				Douwe Tapper							Ret		9							11	12
				Jernej Simoncic										3	6	3	7	Ret	10			Ret

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See also

• VBMotorsport
• Mike Pitman