YTF1 Sim-racing Team

**YTF1 Sim-racing Team**, also known as **MAD Bears YTF1**, is a team that has competed in various championships. It was founded in 2010 (as **YouTube F1**) to participate in a private series in which the team's founders were heavily involved. In late 2011, Matthew Allington took over ownership of the team and prevented it from closure. In 2013, the team expanded to online sim-racing and the team was renamed **YTF1**.

## Racing History

### **Touring Car Championship**

#### *2018*

YTF1 joined the IVRC in 2018 to enter the premier season of IVRC's Touring Car Championship. The team entered a single car for team manager Matthew Allington, who took pole position an a win in the team's first event at Brands Hatch. Allington took a 2nd victory at Road Atlanta and 2 more pole positions, eventually finishing 7th in the driver's championship.

Allington intially entered the championship in an Audi TT Cup car. After qualifying on pole position at Brands Hatch, Allington made a slow start but recovered to engage in a memorable duel for the victory with Constantin Grimminger and sealed his maiden victory in his very first race with a move around the outside of Westfield bend. Allington had a less successful 2nd race, colliding with Cristian Alvarez and was eventually classified 7th.

At Donnington Park Allington took his 2nd podium of the season with 3rd place in the day's first race and followed this with a 2nd place at the Nurburgring Nordscliefe. At the 2nd Nurburgring race Allington finished 5th despite being victim in a multi-car pileup at the end of the 1st lap.

At the Hungaroring technical issues prevented Allington from starting the 1st race and his Audi could only finish 9th in the 2nd race. By this point it was apparent that the Audi's long 1st gear was negatively affecting Allington's race starts and this, combined with the poor performance at the Hungaroring, provoked Allington to ditch the Audi TT during the summer break.

Allington arrived at Imola with a Honda Civic TCR with immediate success, taking 2nd place and his 4th podium of the season in the first race before crashing his car later in the day. Allington would take his 2nd and final victory of the season at Road America, escaping from a frentic battle behind him to take a comfortable win.

The later stages of the season would be defined by Allington's incredible pace combined with a series of errors. Allington took pole position and initially dominated at both Laguna Seca and Bathurst before mistakes under braking cost him the win on both occasions. Allington's first retirement in the IVRC came after being victim of multiple 1st-lap collisions in the 2nd race at Laguna Seca, but the 2nd Bathurst race went better, with Allington stalking Constantin Grimminger for much of the race before unsuccessfully attempting to take the lead at the final corner of the final lap: Allington finished 2nd.

At the final round in Macau, Allington qualified on the front row but a slow start demoted him to 3rd. He would then suffer a big accident at turn 1, having misjudged his turn-in point behind Marc Stwerka, and retire from the race. He recovered to finish 4th in the final race of the season on the tight street circuit.

#### *2019*

YTF1 and Allington were only able to participate in 4 rounds of the 2019-1 season (at the Nurburgring, Red Bull Ring, Suzuka and Bathurst), but achieved notable success with 2 pole positions and 5 victories from 12 races.

Allington claimed pole position for the first race at the daunting Nurburgring Nordschliefe but lost the lead at the first corner. Having taken the lead from defending champion Marc Stwerka at Aremburg on the 2nd and final lap of the race, Allington lost control and spun into the barriers, eventually finishing 5th. Allington made amends by taking the lead of the 2nd race from Constantin Grimminger at Kleines Karussell and staying there, taking the fastest lap on the final lap also. He then proceeded to dominate the shortened 3rd race, leading from lights to flag.

Allington was less comfortable at the Red Bull Ring, despite qualifying 2nd, finishing 5th in the first race and spinning into the pit lane during the 2nd. Allington started on the front row for the reversed-grid final race of the day and held off intense pressure from Constantin Grimminger to take his 3rd win of the season.

At Suzuka, Allington qualified 3rd but looked to be the fastest car throughout the first two races of the day, demonstrated by taking a pair of fastest laps and winning the first race of the day, having taken the lead from polesitter Carlos Frau on the penultimate lap. Allington experienced an extraordinary 2nd race: on the 2nd lap he triggered a collision which resulted in the loss of his rear wing and fell down the order. Allington proceeded to make an incredible recovery, with the reduced aerodynamics hindering his confidence under braking but greatly improving his straight-line speed. He finished 2nd on the road, less than 1 tenth of a second behind the winner Samuel Perryman, but was penalised for his part in the lap 2 collision. Allington engaged in a titanic battle with Dimitris Giannopoulos and Phillip Volland for the victory in the third race, losing to Volland by a similarly small gap.

At Bathurst, Allington became the first and only driver during the 2019-1 season to achieve a hat-trick (pole position, fastest lap and victory) in the same race: he led the first race from lights to flag, and was noted to have been relieved to have won after having thrown away a win at the same circuit in 2018. In the 2nd race, Allington was punted at turn 1 and dropped to the back, eventually recovering to finish 6th. Having started 3rd on the grid for the final race of the season, Allington made an excellent start and led the race from the first corner. However, Bernard Mróz would eventually pass the Brit on the penultimate lap after Allington made a mistake, forcing him to cut the track, and voluntarily gave up the position to negate any time gain.

YTF1, despite being a 1-car team participating in less than half of the season's races, finished 5th in the Teams' Championship.

### **Winter Series**

YTF1 entered the first two rounds of the 2018–19 Formula E season with Allington, who took an unexpected victory in the season opener in Beijing.

### **Special Events**

#### *Bathurst 200*

The team entered the 2018 Bathurst 200 race with Allington driving a Nissan Altima. Allington proceeded to win the event, achieving pole position and fastest lap along the way.

#### *F3 World Cup*

The team entered the 2018 Bathurst 200 race with Allington driving a TODA-engined car. Allington finished in 6th place.

### **Other Leagues**

YTF1 has a long history in other leagues, particularly in the Grand Prix Virtual World Championship (GPVWC). Since 2013, the team has taken several event victories and helped drivers to 3 championship victories. YTF1 are yet to win a Teams' Championship title.

## Results

### **Winter Series**

* D.C. = Drivers' championship position.
* T.C. = Teams' championship position.

† — Drivers competed for various teams over the season.
\* — Season still in progress.
^ — As a 1-car team, YTF1 was ineligible for Teams' championship points in the 2018 TCC season.