The official season preview for the 2022 Virtual World Racing Series season, brought to you by FutureFV.com. The Virtual World Racing Series, which – along with eV2 – acts as the step directly below Formula Virtual and eVirtual, will see possibly the biggest shake up in the history of the competition as no fewer than eight new teams enter the series, replacing eight departing teams. Thirteen drivers from last season have left; either graduating to Formula Virtual in the case of 2021 champion Matteo Zetticci and runner-up Daniel Zientek, stepping up to eVirtual in the case of Hector Draper, or simply moving onto new challenges. Replacing them are nine rookies fresh from various Tier Three series, as well as four familiar faces from the past returning. Join us as we take a look through the class of ’22. Team: Formation Competition Team Base: Monte Carlo, Monaco Team Principal: Louis Vasseur Drivers: #1 Spencer James (JAM), #2 James Thompson (GBR) Debut: 2014 2021 position: 1st Reigning champions Formation Competition, who have so far notched up a staggering fourteen Teams’ Championships and 16 Drivers’ Championships, will start the new season on the back foot. The Monegasque outfit are now without their star driver from the last few seasons, Matteo Zetticci, as the Italian has stepped up to Formula Virtual with Downton. Taking Zetticci’s place as the team’s lead driver is Jamaican driver Spencer James. James, also known as ‘The Memelord’, has become a bit of a cult hero amongst Virtual Motorsport fans since his VARS debut in 2019, but the man from Montego Bay is a ruthless driver. Having finished second in his debut VARS season, he then made the switch to VERS the following season, where he once again finished second before making the step up to VWRS for 2021. James took his first victory in VWRS at the third Brazilian race, as well as taking a further five podiums last year. 2022 will be his second season in VWRS and he is sure to be a force this year. Joining him at the most prestigious junior series team in the history of Virtual Motorsport is Phoenix reserve driver James Thompson, another cult hero amongst fans and teams alike. ‘JT’ returns to Tier Two to finally compete in his third and final season, having previously raced at this level in the 2018 FV2 Series. Whilst initially raising a few fans’ eyebrows, Team Principal Louis Vasseur backed the decision to utilise the 28-year-old; “JT will be great to have in the team with Spencer. He brings a wealth of testing experience with him from four years in FV with Phoenix and a mature attitude when it is needed.” Team: OSM Racing International Team Principal: Christian Sear Team Base: Manchester, United Kingdom Drivers: #55 Ott Eskola (EST), #56 Chloe King (GBR) Debut: 2021 2021 position: 2nd After a hugely successful debut in VWRS last season, OSM Racing International will be looking to keep their strong momentum going. Like Formation, they have lost their star driver as Zientek has stepped up to Formula Virtual with Highwind. However, a new Phoenix Academy driver will step up to take his place. Ott Eskola remains with the team for a second season after an impressive first season in 2021, where the Estonian finished top rookie in sixth place but lost out in the Rookie Championship to Henri Ruotsalainen. The 18-year-old will be looking to add to his two wins this season. He will be joined by British driver Chloe King, the latest Phoenix Academy driver to make the step up to Tier Two. Chloe debuted in VOARS in 2020, finishing fourth behind Carlos Zapatero, Theo Sorensen, and Ethan Knight, who will all race alongside her this season. Last season, she moved back home to Europe to compete in last year’s VERS where she won a third of the races across the season and took the title by 100 points, ahead of teammate and fellow Phoenix Academy driver Barney Hoskins. Now, making her debut in VWRS, the 21-year-old will want to hit the ground running as the competition gets tougher. Team: Johansson Motorsport Team Base: Helsingborg, Sweden Team Principal: Roland Johansson Drivers: #61 Elnur Aliyev (AZE), #62 Logan James (GBR) Debut: 2016 2021 position: 3rd Swedish outfit Johansson Motorsport have been forced into an entirely new line up for 2022. Erik Oliversson has left the team after completing his three seasons in VWRS, while Icelandic driver Robert Stefansson has moved to Full Send Racing. This left the team with limited options for their driver line up. Elnur Aliyev will lead the team this season, the Azerbaijani returning to Tier Two racing for the first time since 2018. He will be joined by ex-Franklin junior driver Logan James. James comes into his second season in VWRS after a tough season in 2021 where the Brit scored 29 points, finishing 21st in the standings. Johansson will be hoping both drivers will be able to secure some solid points finishes this season. Team: Nebula Powerteam Team Base: Oslo, Norway Team Principal: Johannes Holst Drivers: #87 Henri Ruotsalainen (FIN), #88 Heikki Veskila (EST) Debut: 2020 2021 position: 5th 2022 will be Nebula’s third season in VWRS, after making their debut in 2020, so the Norwegian team will be looking to mount a serious title challenge after a successful first two seasons. Their debut season yielded a win and a further eight podiums on their way to fourth place in the Teams’ Championship. This was followed by a fifth placed finish last season, with two more wins and a third place. Johannes Holst’s team have kept the same line up from last year; Highwind junior driver Henri ‘Ruotsey’ Ruotsalainen, partnered by Ingram junior driver Heikki Veskila. Ruotsalainen was impressive in his debut season in VWRS last year, picking up a win in Brazil on his way to seventh in the Drivers’ Championship. Meanwhile Veskila also had a solid debut, also picking up a win and a third place in a solid season which saw him well in the mix with the other highly rated rookies. Nebula looks poised to have a great season if the promise of Ruotsey and Veskila comes to fruition. Team: Kowhai Racing Team Base: Drury, New Zealand Team Principal: Alex Tunnicliffe Drivers: #45 Chase Newfield (USA), #46 Krzysztof Kozlowski (POL) Debut: 2020 2021 position: 7th Kowhai, like Nebula, are another team who made their debut in 2020 and have had moderate success. Fifth place in their first season – with three wins courtesy of Max Meyer along the way – was a great effort for Alex Tunnicliffe’s team, which they followed up with seventh place last season. The team have lost Ingram reserve Urmo Kruuda as the Estonian has completed his three seasons in Tier Two, but keeping Chase Newfield for a second season could be crucial as the continuity should pay dividends with all the other changes in the series creating instability across the rest of the field. Newfield will be joined by Polish Tier Two rookie Krzysztof Kozlowski who has made the step up from the Virtual European Racing Series after three years in the category. Kozlowski has consistently been competitive in VERS since his debut, with five wins in three years against some very highly rated young talent. A solid debut season from Kozlowski would do wonders for his reputation going forwards as he aims to someday reach FV, following in the footsteps of countryman Daniel Zientek. Team: Gray Autosport Team Base: Stevenage, United Kingdom Team Principal: Luca Gray Drivers: #57 Theo Sorensen (DEN), #58 Cosmo Roberts (USA) Debut: 2020 2021 position: 8th The expanding presence of Gray Autosport across various Virtual Motorsport categories cannot be underestimated. After making their VWRS debut in 2020, the team from Stevenage – headed by Luca Gray – has since expanded their operation into GTV, the Virtual 24 Hours, and eVirtual. With the British team gradually becoming a well known and respected team outside of Formula Virtual, it is no surprise to see progress being made on track. The team’s first season in VWRS was, naturally, a struggle. Gianluca di Stefano and Michael Kennedy could only manage 21 points that season, leaving Gray last in the Teams’ Championship. However, Theo Sorensen and Logan James fared far better last year, scoring 125 points with Gray finishing in eighth place – as well as making their debut in eVirtual. For 2022; Sorensen remains with the team for a second season and will be joined by impressive American driver Cosmo Roberts. Roberts is now in his final season in VWRS and, therefore, this is his final chance to impress any FV teams enough to sign the 22-year-old. Team: Lapierre Formule Team Base: Le Mans, France Team Principal: Arthur Lapierre Drivers: #21 Alexandre Francois (FRA), #22 Raj Sharma (IND) Debut: 2016 2021 position: 10th Lapierre Formule, run by Porsche Mathershaw Team Principal Arthur Lapierre, are one of the oldest junior teams in Virtual Motorsport having debuted in the 2014 EJGP series. The French team has acted as a junior team to the Mathershaw Formula Virtual outfit – in its various guises – since Lapierre’s inception and has helped the careers of many notable drivers, such as; Didier Arnaud, Viktor Ostberg, Alexander McLaughlin, Zander Brynildsen, Blaise Duval, Allar Kangur, Thierry Xylander, Sebastien Vocquelin, Jules Barclay, Timo Ziegler, and Fleur-Elora Delacour, as well as Carlos Zapatero coming through the ranks at Lapierre Nouvelle Caledonie. Lapierre’s 2021 line up, Zapatero and Luca Romero, have both moved on to new teams for this season, forcing the French team to field two new drivers. Frenchman Alexandre Francois takes the coveted #21 car, entering his second VWRS season following three seasons in VERS previously. He will be joined by Lopez junior driver, and AMR reserve, Raj Sharma. Sharma had an impressive second season last year finishing fifth overall, with the Indian winning the race at the Yas Marina Circuit. Lapierre will want more of the same from Sharma and a solid season from Francois. Team: Manziel Racing Team Base: Cleveland, Ohio, United States Team Principal: Sven Schubert Drivers: #27 Pablo del Fuego (COL), #28 Ethan Knight (GBR) Debut: 2022 2021 position: N/A Manziel Racing is the first of the crop of new VWRS teams for 2022, after the Fusion Elite eVirtual Team was bought by American Football player Johnny Manziel – following Sven Schubert becoming the replacement Team Principal at the team. Manziel Racing have burst onto the Virtual Motorsport scene over the last six months; firstly, taking over the Fusion Elite team in eV, then announcing their entry to the 2022 VWRS. The American team clearly have lofty ambitions and will hope their driver pairing of Pablo del Fuego and Ethan Knight can deliver the goods. Colombian driver del Fuego, formerly an Ocelot junior driver, enters his final season in VWRS after a couple of seasons in the series with moderate success. He will be joined by British driver Ethan Knight, who drove in VWRS last season for Outback Motorsport. Knight – not to be confused with GTV driver Ethan Wright – managed a win and a further two podiums in his debut season; mixing it comfortably in the midfield. If he can progress this season to be in a position where he’s regularly fighting for podiums, the future looks bright for one of the youngest drivers in VWRS. Team: Full Send Racing Team Base: Point Pleasant, West Virginia, United States Team Principal: Edward Mothman Drivers: #19 Robert Stefansson (ICE), #20 Zack Drayton (GBR) Debut: 2022 2021 position: N/A Full Send Racing, whilst having never previously competed in an FVA approved series, are an experienced team in the world of Nascar Virtual – having competed there for many years with relative success. Full Send, or FSR for short, is run by Edward Mothman out of West Virginia, United States. For the team’s debut season in VWRS, Mothman has signed highly rated Icelandic driver Robert Stefansson and 17-year-old Brit Zack Drayton. Stefansson has had a slightly unusual junior career, having spent two seasons in Tier Three in 2018 and 2019 before securing an eVirtual drive with Lada in 2020. After losing his seat, Stefansson was allowed to step back down to VWRS for 2021; finishing fourth behind only Zetticci, Zientek, and Draper. Now in his final junior series season, Stefansson is surely a contender for the title. Drayton, on the other hand, is making his debut in VWRS at just 17 after two seasons in VOARS. The Franklin junior driver is the youngest driver in the current field and may take some time to adjust to the higher level of competition. However, after beating Timo Ziegler relatively comfortably to the VOARS title last season, Drayton looks to be a force to be reckoned with once he finds his feet. Team: Scuderia Fiore Team Base: San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina Team Principal: Sofia Amarotto Drivers: #79 Zeferino Cardoso (POR), #80 Freddie Hayward (GBR) Debut: 2022 2021 position: N/A Another new team on the VWRS grid for 2022 is Scuderia Fiore. The Argentinian team was founded in late 2021 by eccentric Fiore CEO Enzo Fiore. Fiore installed Sofia Amarotto into the Team Principal position, with Icelandic Technical Designer Stefan Hrafn Klemensson becoming the team’s Technical Director. Enzo Fiore made it very clear in the build up to Scuderia Fiore’s debut that the ambition was “Fifth or more!”, which could prove tough with such a competitive field but shows great ambition. The Scuderia begins life in VWRS with two rookies in Cardoso and Hayward. Cardoso makes the step up from VERS, having finished fourth there last season behind the highly rated Chloe King, Barney Hoskins and Fleur-Elora Delacour. Hayward, meanwhile, makes the step up from VARS where he too finished fourth – behind Ellie-Mae Theodoulou, Kiyoko Yoshioka and Carl Sandholm. Hayward raced in VARS for the past two seasons after making his Tier Three debut in VERS in 2019. Team: K8ley Racing Team Base: Northwich, United Kingdom Team Principal: Rhys Kateley Drivers: #7 Ellie-Mae Theodoulou, #8 Carl Sandholm (SWE) Debut: 2022 2021 position: N/A K8ley Racing join the Virtual World Racing Series as one of the oldest Virtual Motorsport teams in existence. Originally formed in 1998 by Rhys Kateley, K8ley spent many years competing in Virtual Touring Cars independently before joining forces with Mercedes in recent years. The British team, based in Kateley’s hometown of Northwich, already compete in eVirtual and have strong links with Formula Virtual team Arrow, as well as the aforementioned Mercedes. It is perhaps no surprise then, given the teams relationship with Arrow, that Arrow junior driver Ellie-Mae Theodoulou finds herself in the number seven K8ley Racing car. Theodoulou has spent the last two seasons competing in VARS where she finished second and was the Rookie Champion in 2020, before winning the VARS title last year driving for Signature Performance. There is a huge amount of excitement around this young lady as she tries to become the first woman to break into Formula Virtual since Kiara Thunder, way back in 2016. Joining Ellie-Mae at K8ley is Swedish rookie Carl Sandholm. Sandholm, like Theodoulou, makes the step up from VARS; although Carl had the full three seasons in the series. In his rookie year, Sandholm finished a strong sixth, just behind Heikki Veskila, before having a strong second season where he finished fourth with three wins and a further three podiums. Last season, on his way to third in the championship, he picked up another three wins and five podiums on top of that. A solid debut in VWRS would do wonders for his growing reputation. Team: Newman Harts Racing Team Base: TBC, United States Team Principal: TBC Drivers: #71 Declan Byrne (IRE), #72 Luca Romero (SMR) Debut: 2022 2021 position: N/A Little is known, as yet, about the Newman Harts Racing team, as they make their debut in VWRS. The American team have quietly gone about their business in the build up to the season, kicking up far less of a buzz than some of their rival teams. Do not underestimate them, though, as they have an experienced driver pairing which will help enormously as so many new teams bed themselves in during their debut seasons. Popular Irishman Declan Byrne joins the team having raced for Italian team DeMarco last season. Byrne has never particularly shone in VWRS, scoring 16 points in 2020 then 29 last season – with a best result of fifth – but is a driver who knows the ropes in this series and his experience could be crucial in an important moment. His teammate, Luca Romero, had one less season in Tier Three but is also entering his final year in Tier Two. The former Ocelot junior driver has had more success in VWRS than Byrne, scoring a victory and a third place in his debut VWRS season in 2020 before somewhat plateauing and ending last season on fewer points than 2020. However, the Sammarinese driver will be keen to have a strong final VWRS season in order to bolster his chances of ascending to a higher series. Team: Muskwe Racing Team Base: Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States Team Principal: Kundayi Muskwe Drivers: #83 Hitoshi Katayama (JAP), #84 Carlos Zapatero (ESP) Debut: 2022 2021 position: N/A Muskwe Racing, founded and run by Kundayi Muskwe, make their VWRS debut in 2022 having never previously competed in any FVA approved series. The team, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, announced their entry relatively late and will hope to not be on the back foot from the get-go. Despite being one of the last teams to join the 2022 grid, Muskwe managed to sign a solid line up of Hitoshi Katayama and Carlos Zapatero. Katayama made his Tier Three debut in VOARS in 2017, finishing fifth with one win and a further four podiums in a season utterly dominated by Rafael Palou. The following season, Katayama impressively challenged Draper and Sharma consistently to finish third overall, with another two wins and four other podiums. In 2019, Katayama simply could not live with the pace of Sharma, Eskola, and future teammate Zapatero, but still managed three more wins and three third places. The Japanese driver was then picked up by Mitsubishi for their eVirtual venture where, unfortunately, Katayama looked consistently out of his depth and stepped back down to Tier Two after a point-less 2020 season in eV. Katayama’s first season in VWRS, last year, was mediocre but did include consistent points finishes in the first half of the season before dropping off towards the end of the year. Hitoshi will want a much improved 2022 in order to re-establish himself in the minds of eVirtual teams, with a possible move back to Mitsubishi potentially on the cards. Carlos Zapatero joins Katayama at Muskwe after making his VWRS debut last season. The Spaniard consistently found himself on the pace of fellow rookies Veskila and Knight and will likely make a further step forwards this season. The former Mathershaw junior driver won the 2020 VOARS championship driving for Lapierre Nouvelle Caledonie after finishing second in FV3 then third in his debut VOARS season, so the talent is clearly there. Team: Wagner Racing Team Base: Hamburg, Germany Team Principal: Elroy Wagner Drivers: #9 Pietro Silvestri (ITA), #10 Alex Didlock (IRE) Debut: 2022 2021 position: N/A When it was announced late last year than Elroy Wagner would be retiring from Formula Virtual, many wondered what the future had in store for the 2015 World Champion. Elroy answered those questions by teaming up with Formula Virtual CEO Nic Morley to create his own team; Wagner Racing. Wagner’s first foray into the world of Virtual Motorsport management is sure to be a baptism of fire as his team were the penultimate team to announce their entry, but his experience of competing amongst the very best will surely rub off on the rest of the team. Wagner’s first driver signing of his managerial career is Italian driver Pietro Silvestri. Silvestri, now 30, has not had a full-time drive since 2018, when he raced in FV2 for O’Connell Racing – the Irish team ran by none other than Ahmed Cheema, before Cheema entered Formula Virtual the year after. Silvestri’s results in FV2 were mixed; the Italian finished seventeenth that season but did pick up a couple of fine second placed finishes in Great Britain and the USA. A return to a full-time single seater championship could be tricky for Silvestri, especially in such a competitive field, but the Italian’s experience will help both him and the team this season. His teammate for 2022 will be Irish driver Alex Didlock. Didlock is another driver who has been given a second chance of sorts after missing out on a seat last season, after a relatively poor VWRS campaign in 2020, where he scored just twelve points. Didlock knows more than anyone that he must hit the ground running this season and establish himself as a solid midfield runner in order to reignite his career. Team: Oppenheimer Motorsports Team Base: Sonoma, California, United States Team Principal: Noah Oppenheimer Drivers: #77 Alex Allen (USA), #78 Finlay Green (GBR) Debut: 2022 2021 position: N/A The final team on the VWRS 2022 entry list is another American team; taking the total number of American teams up to a whopping five. Oppenheimer Motorsports came into existence only six months ago as Noah Oppenheimer – the team’s Founder – raised funding from a group of investors looking to capitalise on Virtual Motorsport’s growing popularity within the United States. The team is based in Sonoma, California, but has an additional factory in England in the works in order to support the team in European races. American rookie Alex Allen was chosen by Oppenheimer to race for the team in their debut season. Allen has just two years’ experience under his belt in the FVA junior series, having competed in VARS over the last two seasons. 2020 saw Allen finish ninth overall in his debut season, with the highlight being a second placed finish in Uruguay and consistency which saw the American finish outside of the points just once all year. Last season, Allen showed clear improvement as he picked up five podiums on his way to sixth in the championship, just behind some very highly rated drivers in the top five. The step up to VWRS could be a difficult one, but Alex will surely back himself to make a mark at this new level. His teammate at Oppenheimer will be 17-year-old Zack Drayton, who will be the youngest driver on the 2022 grid. Drayton, like Allen, has only two seasons in Tier Three behind him, in VOARS. The Brit immediately looked quick and he was snapped up by Franklin as he picked up two wins in his first season, back in 2020, with a further four podiums and 172 points putting him in fifth place overall. Last season saw Drayton take the VOARS title with relative ease ahead of highly rated German Timo Ziegler and Thai driver Charyl Ratanarak. Six wins and a further five podiums saw Drayton win the title by 35 points over Ziegler, convincing Franklin to re-sign him to their academy for a second season. It is well documented that being a Franklin driver, even in their academy, comes with expectations and pressure, so Drayton will want to prove himself amongst the talented VWRS field. That concludes our preview of the 2022 Virtual World Racing Series season, we hope you enjoyed! The new season is sure to be a thriller with some drivers looking to do enough to make the step up to the promised land of Formula Virtual or eVirtual, whilst other drivers are simply looking to get their career back on track. Amongst all that is the battle in the Teams’ Championship; historic greats against new money teams and minnows alike, it’s sure to be absolutely nail-biting stuff all season long!
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