Good morning everyone, welcome to the Automotodrom Slovakia Ring ahead of this weekend’s Slovakian V-Prix, round ten of the 2018 season. Joining us to start the second half of the season in today’s Thursday press conference; on the back row are Will Ingram of Ingram Grand Prix, Adam Blocker from FIRST, and Adrian Arnello of Arnello Ronson & Milner Autosport. On the front row are Jamie Franklin from Franklin, Bradley Downton from Downton FV Team, and for the first time, we have Nic Morley; CEO of Formula Virtual. Welcome to you all! Reporter: Firstly, Bradley. I’m sure you knew this one was coming! In Germany, Nathaniel and, to a much lesser extent, Klaas put in probably the worst Downton performance we’ve seen in a long time! What on Earth went wrong for them? Bradley Downton: sighs Yeah, I knew this was going to come up, couldn’t have started with an easy one eh? Klaas I think was just unlucky. For some reason the tyres didn’t seem to work and nor did the car in traffic, and then there was that small error behind the Meteor’s where he just hit the kerb at exactly the wrong angle and from there, he was a passenger. As for Nathaniel, I’m not entirely sure what to say. It was one disaster after another and in the end, I think the red mist just descended. He acknowledges this was wrong and apologised to every single member of the team individually – even flying back to base mid-week to speak to the guys and girls back home too. Everyone is entitled to an off-day, we’ll consign it to the history books and move forwards, and just hope it doesn’t happen again. Reporter: Absolutely, I don’t think anyone enjoyed watching Nathaniel struggling like that. Jamie; Ruiz picked up his third podium in a row in Germany. Is his form improving or would you say his form has been good all season and it’s more a case of the car improving? Jamie Franklin: Ruiz has been unlucky this season. That’s all there is to it. Reporter: I anticipated that answer to be honest! Amidst plenty of rumours and news coming out about various teams’ engines for next season – which we’ll come to later – are Honda looking to expand their supply or is the current deal, involving yourselves and Ingram, perfect? JF: We aren’t actively looking. If any team wants the best engine on the grid, then they need to talk to us. I’m not in the business of pandering to lesser teams. Reporter: Okay then.. we’ll come to you Will; after a great race last time out - which even prompted a few team principals to specifically praise your drivers – how would you assess the season so far for Jean and James? Will Ingram: Germany was a good race for us – both James and Jean made the most of the opportunities given to them – we have to take the maximum when teams ahead of us have issues. James delivered the maximum result. Overall both drivers have been brilliant this season. James’ podium was a great moment for the team and Jean does what Jean does – consistently pick up points. Reporter: Nikolai Milkovich is seemingly a slightly forgotten man this season, is there any chance at all we’ll be seeing him in the car again before he moves on next year? WI: I think it speaks volumes about how well the two J’s are performing this season that Nikolai hasn’t been mentioned – with such a strong reserve driver it really keeps the pressure on the current drivers. It’s unlikely that he’ll run in a race again for us – we could let sentiment rule last year as our car was going to be at the back no matter what happened. This year our car is competitive, and it would be unfair on our drivers to ask them to miss the opportunity for more points. If our situation is cleared later in the season we can revisit this. Reporter: Very true, thank you Will! Moving onto you Nic, thanks for coming along today! We’re at the half way point of the season with these new 2018 cars, how would you assess the success of the change so far? Nic Morley: I think it’s been a great success. I remember last year there was criticism that it might hinder the racing, but we’ve continued to have fantastic racing with close following cars. The cars are beautiful to look at and I’d say the nicest we’ve had so far. Overall, it’s been very positive. Reporter: I think we can all agree there. I’ve got an interesting question that I’ve been meaning to ask a while actually! Where do you personally see Formula Virtual in five years’ time? NM: It’s hard to say. In an ideal world I’d like to see it still here as the highest virtual motorsport in the world continuing to produce close seasons. For the sake of positivity, I’ll say Formula Virtual will still be about, but who knows with what rules and regulations. Reporter: Slightly cryptic there! Thanks, Nic, we’ll move onto the fan questions now! Let’s start with this one, for you Adam; ‘Would you ever consider bringing Hutchinson back?’ Adam Blocker: If we were not legally blocked from racing him until 2021, I would highly consider it. Unfortunately, our team is forced to sit back and watch everyone else pass over a very capable driver. With that being said, we currently have a strong line-up with three capable drivers that produce some healthy internal competition and adding Hutchinson back into the team would be a difficult decision. If anything, our driver slots are already overfilled. Reporter: It’s certainly a shame to see Arden without a drive in FV. Err, Will, this one here says; ‘Rumour has it that you’ve virtually agreed a new deal with Mattson, do you think he’ll retire at Ingram?’ WI: If Jean continues to be quick then he can stay here forever! Or at least until he gets a podium, which could be forever. We are negotiating with Jean and hope to have it all signed and sealed soon. Reporter: Oh excellent! One here for you Adrian; “With Schnyder doing really well so far, will we see Kovalenko or Wilson in the car again this season?” Adrian Arnello: Finn and Dmytro will both race this weekend. Emma has two more outings with us, so we’re just deciding which tracks would suit best. Rest assured those two will race again! Reporter: Ah, good stuff! Right, oh dear, we’ve got one for you here Jamie, I don’t think you’ll like it; ‘Is Inman still driving for a seat next year or has that decision already been made?’ JF: Are you serious? This again? Are you guys really that f***… you know what… I’m out. I’m done. Rips off mic and walks out Reporter: sighs I feared that might happen… oh well, Bradley, you’re welcome to his orange juice if you fancy it. We’ll come to you actually; ‘In Germany we saw Powers really struggle to get through the field in comparison to the Ocelots, who flew back up into the points. Does your car struggle in dirty air?’ BD: Thankfully over the last year and a bit we’ve never really had to experience it, but on the basis of Germany, it would certainly seem to be the case! When we don’t have a back-to-back race weekend we’ll analyse it a little more. Reporter: We actually have another fan question for you here which we couldn’t leave out; ‘Would you ever consider leaving the series, and why?’ BD: Well now, that’s a question. If I’m honest – and I think anyone here will say the same – the thought of walking away has crossed my mind a few times. Other things ramp up and stuff happens and it all just feels totally manic. But every time I consider it I think about what this series gives. A fantastic bunch of people – some of whom I have the pleasure of calling close friends – and the allure of the series, the fantastic racing, being a part of it all – it just draws me back in every time. Do I get frustrated? Absolutely, but it wouldn’t be sport if it didn’t spark that passion. But could I ever walk away? I doubt it. As long as the series keeps going in the right direction, we’ll be a fixture. In five races time we’ll be on the starting grid for the 100th race, and I fully anticipate Downton being around for the 200th too. Reporter: That’s fantastic to hear, I can see Nic smiling over there too. Now, this is an interesting one.. sticking with the topic of Downton, but coming to you Nic; ‘What’s your personal opinion on the DS/Downton split? Is it good for the sport that they won’t be running identical engines anymore?’ NM: I was actually really shocked by the news as I didn’t think those two would split. It is good for the sport though, both are championship rivals, so it doesn’t seem right to me that they have such a close partnership. In a championship battle I want fireworks and proper punch ups, so hopefully in 2019 we will see more of that. I’m interested to see what unfolds with DS Automobiles, but all we can do is just wait and enjoy the ride. Reporter: That’s all the fan questions for this week. With that, we’ll come back to you Bradley; Last week we had the huge announcement that Downton and DS will be splitting at the end of the season, then just yesterday we got the official statement regarding plans for next year. Will the relationship between the teams in the partnership continue to be as strong as before, or will Nic get his wish? BD: Absolutely. Nothing about the way we work together will change in the slightest. Following the release of the statement last week I don’t want this to take up too much of the press conference but yeah, we’ll work as closely as ever. We’ll just have different engines in the back of the car! Reporter: It’ll certainly be intriguing to see how it all plays out over the coming months! Coming over to you Adam; are you worried by the pace of some of the teams who are behind you in the Constructors’, or are you half expecting them to overhaul your points advantage? AB: North Star and Phoenix have looked strong recently and I can confirm that I am worried that they will outscore our points total. Personally, I think it is more likely that they will and that we will need some luck to finish eighth or ninth. Reporter: We heard Seth McCormick explain last week that you now know what went wrong with the 2018 car, is it something you think you can do anything at all about this year or is it all eyes on 2019 now? AB: I think that Seth already said enough in his post-race comments, arguably too much. His comments were good for the fans of the series to get some insight into how the teams operate but I like our competition knowing as little as possible about our development plans and team finances. Reporter: Understandable! Okay, a couple of questions for you Adrian before we start to wrap up the press conference. Firstly; in the couple of races that they’ve been in together, Finn has outperformed Felix with relative ease. Are you pleased with how he’s doing so far? AA: It’s a little bittersweet for us; we love Felix as he’s been a part of the team for so long, but Finn has the upper edge right now and it’s placed a lot of pressure on Felix and his ability to deliver. He has been pretty downbeat since the Malaysia incident which I don’t think is doing him well at all. At this point with three drivers and only two seats, he knows he - and we - have a decision to make soon. Reporter: I think we’d all love to see Felix back on his A game! Moving into the second half of the season, how do you evaluate your chances of beating Meteor in the championship? AA: There’s a few more circuits on the calendar that should suit our car a bit better, which gives us a bit of a chance. It’s the power circuits we’re worried about, like Canada and Spa. There’s always a fighting chance but at this stage we’ve somewhat accepted that we’re gonna bring up the rear of the field. Our focus is on 2019. Reporter: Thanks Adrian. Question for everyone now; this is the very first race here in Slovakia for Formula Virtual, how important do you all think it is for FV to continue venturing into new territory and how do you evaluate the track from what you’ve seen so far? Who wants to start us off? Adam? AB: To be honest, I am very unfamiliar with this track so I’m not going to judge it until I see a race on it. I enjoy new tracks on the calendar in general, though. It presents an additional challenge for the drivers and teams. Drivers have to learn a new circuit in a couple days, teams have to keep an open mind about setup possibilities, and strategies are likely to vary more than usual. Personally I would have rather seen a race in a country with more of a motorsport following, but hopefully if we put on a good race Sunday and the organisers do their job well we will begin to grow our following in Slovakia. Nic: It’s a fantastic circuit with a fantastic layout, and I believe we’re in for some fantastic racing. It’s arguably an unknown circuit, compared to your usual Silverstone’s and Monza’s in that sense, so it’s nice to bring some unknown to the sport in the terms of race circuits. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it’s the first circuit to debut in Formula Virtual that has never been used in that other top racing series I’m sure we all know about. It’s important for the series to freshen up it’s race calendar here and there, nothing crazy, but to try out new circuits and countries is something I’m fond of. In saying that, the circuit has to be brilliant as I’m not going to chuck in anything just because it may be different. The first trip to Slovakia is an exciting prospect for Formula Virtual and definitely into the unknown. BD: Like Adam, I’ll reserve judgements until I’ve seen a race. I’m not particularly fussed where we race, as long as the fans are there to enjoy it. It could be argued that you need to race in new places to build fan bases – and I don’t disagree at all, as long as it doesn’t get silly and we end up with three of four new races in the middle of nowhere where the only people around are one man and his dog! WI: I really like the fact we’re in a new location – hopefully we can see a trickle down and a surge of Slovakian young drivers. As a series we can go anywhere, and I hope this will lead to more locations – perhaps somewhere more exotic next time… as the others have said I have no strong feelings about the track until we’ve seen some action on it. AA: So long as we get a good balance of the new and the classic I think everyone’s happy. New tracks, new languages, new beers, what’s not to love? Reporter: Absolutely! Let’s hope we get a great race on Sunday to really mark the occasion. Finally, now Nic; who do you expect to take victory this weekend? NM: The great thing about this year is that we have a few teams that can challenge for victory. DS have been on some great form, Downton will be seeking revenge for Germany, Franklin are on good form with Ruiz and the long straights may suit Ocelot. I’ll go with DS Mathershaw though and expect they will take their fourth win in a row. Who knows though. Reporter: And the rest of you; what are your personal hopes and who looks good for the win? AB: DS seem to be the strongest team at the moment, so I’m expecting one of their cars to win. Our hope for the weekend is another top fifteen finish and to be comfortably ahead of Meteor and AMR while not being too far off North Star and Phoenix. BD: Has to be our friends at DS Mathershaw, but the track bears resemblance in places to Estoril, where Franklin were always really strong so it’s tough to call. Hopefully us, but after the disaster that was Germany, we just need to find our feet again. WI: Ninth and tenth is the realistic aim. Any more is a bonus. It’s hard to go against DS – they’ve been in such fine form recently, but hopefully Franklin, Downton and Ocelot keep them honest. AA: We’ll do our best to keep out of the way when lapped! In seriousness, ahead of Meteor would be a good morale boost. Might hit the town to see how the Slovakians like to party. Reporter: Ha! Excellent stuff guys, thank you to you all for attending today and best of luck for the weekend. That’s all from us here today but make sure to join us tomorrow for Friday practice! Comments are closed.
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