Alpha Motorsports

Alpha Motorsports
Base	Sydney, Australia
Team Principal	Ed Greenhalgh
Noted drivers	Stefan van Renselaar Tobias Kederer Sean O'Neill
GPG Super League career
First entry	S1 Brazilian GP
Races entered	129
Constructors' Championships	1 (S13)
Drivers'Championships	1 (S13)
Race victories	13
Pole positions	10
Fastest laps	13

Alpha Motorsports, also known as Alpha, is an Australian GPGSL racing team. It was founded by team owner Ed Greenhalgh. The team entered the GPGSL in Season 1, replacing Team RAC after just one race of the season. It stayed in the series until Season 4 when Greenhalgh decided to focus his efforts on being a race driver only and sold the team to Alpha Racing Team. With Greenhalgh's decision to retire after winning three championships, the team returned in Season 11 replacing Greidanus Grand Prix.

Racing History

Season 1-4

Alpha Motorsport's Season 4 entry.

The team joined the league in the second race of Season 1 after the sudden demise of Team RAC. The team then competed in every race up until the end of Season 4. In this period, the team scored one win, two poles, two fastest laps and two podiums. The team's sole victory came in Season 3, with Stefan van Renselaar winning the English Grand Prix at Donington Park. In this season the team also achieved its best Constructors' Championship finish in the period with 5th place.

Throughout Seasons 1 to 4, Alpha Motorsports used Ford engines and Bridgestone tyres. The team had a variety of major sponsors including MasterCard, LG, Emirates and Castrol. In Season 1, due to the team's late entry to the series, they ran an interim white livery.

Season 5-7

Main article: Alpha Racing TeamAfter Season 4, regulations were introduced stating that no race driver could also own a team. With Greenhalgh deciding to focus on his driving, the team was taken over by former team driver Stefan van Renselaar and renamed to Alpha Racing Team. This team also folded after Season 7 having also achieved one race win.

Season 11-onwards

Early in Season 10, Greenhalgh announced he would retire from race driving at the conclusion of that season. At this stage Alpha Motorsports remained several places down the waiting list for new teams, however later developments in that season resulted in the opportunity for Alpha Motorsports to reform in the lead-up to Season 11. It was later announced that the team's drivers for Season 11 will be Tobias Kederer and Vimal Ana, both of whom moved from the now-defunct Team Shadow. However, before the season begun, Ana was replaced by Alessandro Sanvitale. Team boss Greenhalgh took up a position as test driver and signed a factory deal with Mazda - running a tribute livery to the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hour winning Mazda 787B.

The reformed team had near-instant success with Kederer winning the team's second race - the Malaysian Grand Prix. Kederer, who had already won four races prior to joining the team, went on to win two more races in the season and finished second in the championship behind Joseph Gilson. Meanwhile, midway through the season Sanvitale dropped out of the championship (one race after finishing on the podium) and was replaced by Sean O'Neill, who began a long and successful partnership with Kederer. O'Neill himself secured his first podium in only his fourth race which pushed the team to a third-place finish in the Constructors' Championship.

Kederer won rounds 3 and 4 of Season 12 to again setup a championship challenge, however three consecutive DNFs to follow dented his hopes. He would once again finish 2nd, this time behind Marcus de Bruyker. O'Neill scored two podiums and the team finished fourth in the points. In Season 13, Kederer only took one race win, but through a series of consistent top 6 results, went into the final race in the championship lead by six points over Michael Pedersen. O'Neill won the season finale, his second win of the season, and Kederer won the title despite his worst finish of the season of 9th. O'Neill's win also pushed the team to win its first Constructors' Championship.

Before Season 14, Mazda left the team on the high of the championship success. Renault joined the team as the new engine provider and major sponsor and the team failed to reach the same heights, with each driver only taking two podiums and the team dropping to fifth in the championship. However, the team bounced back with a first-round win in Season 15 for Kederer.

The team has seen little success in the Testers' Championship. While it has helped to provide opportunities to drivers including Dominik Karda and Aidan Keranen, team boss Ed Greenhalgh has struggled to find his form from his full-time career. Greenhalgh's best test season was in Season 14 in which he missed the championship by one point.

Complete GrandPrixGames Super League results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap; underlined races indicate most places gained)

Season	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
1	SMD-300	Ford	B		AUT	BRA	MON	CAN	GBR	GER	BEL	ITA	JPN	AUS								46	9th
				Bobby Neil		Ret	16	3	10	9	12	11	13	Ret
				Randy Winston		Ret	9	9	4	14	11	7	Ret	14
2	SMD-300	Ford	B		AUS	MON	BEL	ESP	BRA	JPN	AUT	USA	NED	CAN	ITA	GER	SAM	CZE	TUR	GBR		52	11th
				Randy Winston	15	16	15	20	18	Ret	18
				Ben Brown								7	4	19	9	Ret	19	11	21	19
				Bobby Neil	13	8	9	17	16	9	6	13	Ret	10	8	13	12	Ret	13	15
3	SMD-ZG01	Ford	B		AUS	GER	USA	CAN	EUR	SAM	NED	BEL	MAL	ENG	HUN	ITA	JPN	SMR	BRA	MON	GBR	94	5th
				Ben Brown	9	10	16	19	11	Ret	7	4	14	15	10	Ret	21	Ret	13	17	6
				Stefan van Renselaar	12	5	9	11	18	11	11	Ret	10	1	21	10	7	18	12	5	14
4	SMD-ZG01	Ford	B		AUS	ITA	BEL	JPN	EUR	MON	PAC	RSA	HUN	GER	BRA	UAE	MAL	USA	CAN	NED	GBR	72	8th
				Stefan van Renselaar	10	17	11	9	10	6	14	8	16	16	11	7	7	11	17	8	19
				Ben Brown	9	Ret	17	14	17
				Alexandre Koemmerer						17	10	20	5	10	5	14	12	16	Ret	14	16
5 - 10: Alpha did not compete as a constructor.
11	SMD ZG02LN	Mazda	D		AUS	MAL	JPN	ITA	ESP	RSA	BRA	USA	CAN	GER	AUT	BEL	GBR	NED				146	3rd
				Tobias Kederer	Ret	1	3	8	1	15	1	4	7	18	8	3	9	3
				Alessandro Sanvitale	9	Ret	18	5	18	17	3
				Sean O'Neill								Ret	19	10	2	10	15	Ret
12	SMD ZG02LN	Mazda	D		AUS	JPN	USA	CAN	SAM	BRA	RSA	AUT	GER	BEL	TUR	ITA	GBR	NED				132	4th
				Tobias Kederer	12	5	1	1	Ret	Ret	Ret	3	18	8	3	14	5	7
				Sean O'Neill	7	13	Ret	10	13	13	11	Ret	14	3	4	12	2	6
13	SMD ZG02LN	Mazda	D		AUS	MAL	ITA	BEL	AUT	CAN	USA	BRA	NED	AZE	GER	EUR	POR	GBR				184	1st
				Tobias Kederer	2	Ret	4	4	5	2	6	2	Ret	7	1	6	4	9
				Sean O'Neill	6	15	8	Ret	15	11	Ret	8	9	1	4	8	Ret	1
14	SMD ZG02LN	Renault	D		AUS	JPN	MAL	PAC	ITA	NED	UAE	RSA	BRA	CAN	USA	GER	BEL	GBR				145	5th
				Tobias Kederer	6	3	8	7	Ret	Ret	6	13	1	5	8	6	9	4
				Sean O'Neill	5	7	16	1	14	14	9	6	Ret	Ret	13	2	5	Ret
15	SMD ZG02LN	Renault	D		AUS	JPN	RSA	AUS	EUR	POR	BRA	CAN	TUR	NED	GER	BEL	ITA	GBR				147	3rd
				Tobias Kederer	1	4	4	6	15	4	3	13	Ret	Ret	3	12	10	1
				Sean O'Neill	4	11	13	10	10	11	4	21	12	2	13	3	16	Ret

Gallery

S1: Debut at round 2, running a white interim livery (which stayed for the whole season)

S2: Now with a 1997 Mastercard Lola inspired livery

S3: Taking the first win at the English GP

S4: Last season for a while, after rule changes no longer allowed a teamowner to drive at the same time

S11: The return, running the iconic 787B LeMans winning livery

S12: Back-to-back 2nd positions in the WDC, now with Orange as main sponsor

S13: Winning both drivers' and constructors' championship