Rosco Vantini

Rosco Vantini (born 11th September 1994 in Monza, Italy) is an Italian racing driver, the runner-up in the 2014 F2RWRS season and who finished in third place in the 2015 F1RWRS season.

2014 Season
In 2014, Vantini drove for Falik Arrows in the F2RWRS and won one race in the series, the 2014 F2RWRS Hungarian Grand Prix. Before reaching the F2RWRS, Vantini had won the 2013 Italian Formula 3 title quite easily. However, his F2RWRS results were at first very disappointing for team owner Prince Falik, for whom only a podium was satisfactory. It took Rosco until the British Grand Prix to score his first podium in the series. Two races later, he finished fourth in Germany. He was fourth in the championship with 19 points. He bounced back by scoring three second places and a win in the four next races, getting to within 12 points of championship leader Mitchell Macklin. However, Vantini returned to his early-season form in the last five races, scoring just nine points, although the inconsistency of his rivals allowed him to clinch second place in the championship. At one point, it seemed Vantini wouldn't secure a drive for 2015, despite having been linked to the Prospec, ArrowTech, Tropico and Sunshine teams. Ultimately however Rosco was able to secure a drive with Jones Racing after Daniel Melrose left the team at the end of the 2014 season, opening up a seat alongside team owner Sammy Jones.

2015 Season
2015 proved to be a fantastic year for the young Italian. Handed a very easy to drive car by Jones, Rosco found himself a front-runner in the championship almost immediately, and whilst his car didn't have the pace of Mark Dagnall's DGNgineering car, it was one of the best of the rest. Aside from a retirement in the Australian GP, Vantini scored points in four of the first five races, including three podium finishes. The Jones car proved to be fairly reliable and over the season Vantini only retired on three occasions. Consistent points finishes kept him in the hunt for runner-up in the championship all the way through the year behind the rampant Dagnall and teammate Jones was well beaten as the ageing Briton entered the twilight of his career. Just before his boss announced his retirement the two were able to score a brilliant 1-2 finish at the Italian GP, with an emotional Vantini sealing victory at a circuit from which he was born only a few miles away. Jones retired following the race, and brought in Australian Rhys Davies who had finally tired of MRT's poor management and who had been battling with Vantini over second place in the drivers' championship. The change in driver unsettled Vantini however and his Italian GP win was the last time he'd score points in 2015 as Davies assumed the upper hand in form at Jones Racing. In the end Rosco had to settle with third place overall as a result, with Davies taking second, but Jones was more than impressed enough with both drivers to re-sign them for 2016.

2016 Season
But what a difference a year made for Vantini. After bursting onto the F1RWRS scene exactly a year previously, in 2016 he appeared lost, and short of confidence. In pre-season he was critical of the pace of the Jones car despite the fact Davies was finding good pace in it. Results continued to fall Davies' way too once the season got underway, and Rosco didn't even get on the scoreboard until he managed a distant fifth place at the site of his emphatic win in 2015, Monza. The contrast couldn't have been more stark, and Jones was growing tired with Rosco's complaints and lack of motivation whilst Davies challenged for the championship lead. After struggling to tenth in Austria whilst Davies finished second, Jones issued Vantini an ultimatum to improve over the three North American races or face the sack. Ultimately it didn't even come to that though, further complaints from the Italian and only seventh in Canada proved to be the final straw for Sammy. Rosco's contract was ripped up and he was replaced by another Italian, Fredo Mestolio who moved across from Prospec. With Gary Cameron's team struggling to source a replacement in time for the US South GP, Vantini took the drive but in the slow Prospec car, he couldn't drag it out of pre-qualifying and disheartened by the thought of half a season's worth of DNPQs, Vantini walked away from F1RWRS altogether.

Move to IFRC
He was handed a lifeline in the IFRC series at the Falik Arrows team for whom he saw out the remainder of that championship's season. The closer competition and largely less experienced drivers saw Rosco back towards the front of the grid and he managed consistent points finishes including a heat race victory in Finland which he backed up with a third place in the subsequent feature race. Despite these positive results and what would prove eventually to be eighth overall in the championship despite only doing half of the season, Vantini still fell in for criticism from some quarters. It was largely expected that the Italian would find success fairly easily in the series but instead front-runners Salvatore Miccoli and Terry Hawkin, the latter of whom who would win the championship, were rarely troubled by the Falik Arrows car.

Complete F2RWRS Results

 * * denotes a season currently in progress.
 * † denotes a race where the driver did not finish but was classified.