Invicta Racing 2024 season so far: Topping the table

25 October 2024

Two races to go and Invicta Racing are leading the way in both the Teams’ Standings and Drivers’ Championship. Gabriel Bortoleto has spearheaded a second half of the season charge alongside teammate Kush Maini that has the Norfolk-based team leading the pack.

Team Principal Andy Roche admits that while they are very happy to be in the position they find themselves in, nobody is getting carried away. He underlined just how quickly things can change, and pointed to what we’ve seen so far in 2024 as proof of just that.

“In Monza, we had a bit of luck go our way but at the end of the day, we’ve had two or three Safety Cars mess us up this year, so you take it as it comes.

“It can turn around so quickly. We’ve got to keep doing what we’ve been doing, keep our heads clear and do our jobs. Both the drivers are there to help win this and I hope we can pull it off.

“It’s always difficult, you can see how quickly it can turn around as it did with Campos. One bad Qualifying or race and if the other team score with both drivers, you’re back in second again.

“So we’ve just got to be as prepared as we can be and to stay as calm as we can and do our jobs.”

Invicta have been almost ever-present at or near the top of the Teams’ Standings going all the way back to Round 1 in Sakhir.

Team Principal Andy Roche is confident the team have hit their stride at this crucial phase of the year

While Bortoleto’s season didn’t get off to a great start, an early Pole for Maini along with two podiums ensured Invicta were in the hunt.

But the team was already confident that they’d be able to turn things around based on their pre-season preparations with the new F2 2024 car.

“I’m not sure what’s made the difference,” Roche said. “I think it was down to our prep with the new car though. We put so much effort into the new car in order to be there right away. I think over the year, people have caught up, certainly after two or three years with the same car teams will, so it’s become a bigger battle as the year’s gone on, that’s my feeling.

“I think we were just so well prepared with the new car, we got a bit of a jump on everyone else, and it’s paid off.

“I think the first time we tested the car we realised we were in a decent position. So it just gives you confidence to move on to the races, and the drivers are confident as well.

“Both drivers have come on a lot as well. Gabriel’s improvement and learning curve if you like has been tremendous. He's picked everything up and really got to grips with the car and the tyre management. So has Kush. He's had a few bad races as of late but hopefully we can finish strong this year with him. They’ve both won races so we’re working hard to make sure that happens again.”

Maini was able to add a victory to his F2 record in Budapest and is aiming to finish 2024 on a high note

Since the opening three fly-away rounds, Bortoleto has been on the podium five times with two of those coming via race victories, while Maini became a winner in F2 for the first time also in Budapest.

Having extended the gap to Campos following the Baku Round last month to 35.5 points, there is a cushion over their closest rivals now. Despite that though, Roche underlines that their preparations for Lusail and Yas Marina have not changed despite their Championship-contending position.

“The biggest problem is the gap and keeping the drivers in the right place for the races because they’re off doing stuff and then there’s holidays and stuff like that.

“We're doing what we can, keeping them all in the loop and we’re in communication with them all the time about what's happening.

“We’ll be doing two or three sim days before Qatar and we've got to ship the rebuilt car back to Qatar because we're rebuilding it here. Luckily, we couldn't have done that on the road so there's plenty going on. It's all quite busy.”

Part of that work has been the rebuilding of Maini’s car following the dramatic start-line incident in Baku at the beginning of the Feature Race.

Along with the familiarity between drivers and engineers at this point in the campaign, the Invicta Team Principal says that it has all added up to help the team to where they now find themselves.

“We’re building up a new car for Kush but we’re doing our normal prep outside of that. We're prepping so much for every race - sim work and everything, and we're just putting so much into it. Things haven’t really changed if I'm honest, we're just doing what we've always done.

Bortoleto is aiming to go back-to-back in winning the F3 and F2 Titles in consecutive seasons

“I can't say we're doing anything different. It's just some years it gels and works, and others, you struggle. This year, it's really gelled, we've got a good handle on the tyres now, which I think has helped with it being a new car. So, things are coming together.

“Everyone's getting on, the team is stronger with the driver relationships and it's just working really well. There’s trust from both sides, and it works.

“The engineering inside is so strong now, we should be there pretty much all the time, and that's the plan. You're always going to get an odd race that throws you out of sorts, but that's what every team strives for - to be at the front all the time.”

With both titles in 2024 in the balance, Roche admits that the thought of clinching a sweep of F2 honours this season cannot be ignored. But, there is an air of confidence stemming from the team’s previous form late-on in the Formula 2 season.

Jack Doohan had been in contention back in 2022 around Yas Marina until losing a wheel forced him to retire. But the Australian got his reward one year on, dominating the final round of the 2023 campaign, converting Pole Position into victory on Sunday.

Roche says there’s nothing to indicate why the team won’t be setting the pace in Abu Dhabi come the finale.

“The ideal scenario is to win both, absolutely. The way Gabriel’s driving at the moment is so good. He’s really strong and there’s no reason why he can’t win the Drivers’ Championship that’s for sure.

“Abu Dhabi – we’ve always been strong at, and Qatar is a new track for everyone, so that will throw things around a bit. But I don’t see any reason why we won’t be strong in Abu Dhabi like we always have been. If we come through Qatar strongly then the confidence going into the final race will be there and we should be fine.”