The second and final season of the Rial team in Formula 1 began with the complicated task of having to rebuild the entire technical department, common practice in teams led by the fiery Günter Schmidt. Following the departure of Austrian engineer Gustav Brunner, the designer of the solid ARC1 from 1988 which managed to achieve a fourth place in Detroit with Andrea de Cesaris, Schmidt entrusted the development of the new ARC2 to a group of German-oriented technicians led by Stefan Fober.
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| RIAL ARC2, Christian Danner Imola, San Marino GP 1989 |
The new car remained closely related to its predecessor, retaining the same carbon fiber monocoque chassis and the suspension layout, which was heavily inspired by the Ferrari F1-87 designed by Brunner himself. The wheelbase and track measurements also remained unchanged, making the ARC2 essentially a reworking of the 1988 car. In addition to sharing the same mechanical base, the engine used was again the customer version of the Ford-Cosworth DFR V8, coupled with the same six-speed gearbox developed directly by Rial.
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| RIAL ARC2, Volker Weidler Jacarepaguà, Brazilian GP 1989 |
For the development of the new car, Fober enlisted the help of designer Martin Goodrich and, most notably, aerodynamicist Bob Bell, who had previously worked at McLaren alongside John Barnard. Bell’s influence was particularly evident in the sharply tapered rear end, the engine cover that fully enclosed the rear section, and the rounded shape of the sidepods, stylistic choices clearly inspired by the teachings of Barnard.
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| RIAL ARC2, Volker Weidler Montecarlo, Monaco GP 1989 |
The drivers were also German, and for its second season in the top class, Rial Racing entered two cars, entrusted to the relatively experienced Christian Danner and the rookie Volker Weidler. The latter, in the ten races he entered, never managed to get past the Friday pre-qualifying stage and, in line with Schmidt’s erratic nature, was fired and replaced by French rookie Pierre-Henri Raphanel, who also failed to get through pre-qualifying in the six final races he participated in. Danner didn’t fare much better, despite a promising fourteenth-place finish in the season-opening Grand Prix and three other race finishes, including a fourth place in Phoenix, he was also dismissed after several failures to qualify and replaced first by Swiss driver Gregor Foitek and later by Frenchman Bertrand Gachot.
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| RIAL ARC2, Pierre-Henri Raphanel Estoril, Portuguese GP 1989 |
Neither of the new drivers managed to qualify on Saturday, hindered by a car with undeniably poor performance. The overcrowded starting grid of the 1989 championship, with the mandatory and infamous pre-qualifying rounds, combined with dismal results and especially financial difficulties, ultimately overcame Günter Schmidt’s passion, forcing him once again to permanently shut down his team at the end of the season.
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