Scott Parkin - FVTV: Hello everybody, and welcome back to the press conference room as we build up to the 2020 Italian V-Prix. Joining us today from left to right we have Arthur Lapierre of Coca Cola Porsche Team Mathershaw, Rai Miyamoto of Ocelot Japan Racing, Shane O'Connell of BMPS Scuderia Meteor, Lilly Westwood of Westwood Racing Technology, and Adrian Arnello of Arnello Milner and Ronson Autosport. Thankyou for joining us! We'll come to you first Rai. Congratulations are in order as Ocelot recently celebrated their 100th V-Prix, the first team to join the sport post 2014 to do so. What does this milestone mean to you?
Rai Miyamoto: It's amazing to have joined the big names in history in this sport and I'm proud of what we have achieved, it hasn't been easy of course. To join the greats in the 100 club is a fantastic milestone. SP - FVTV: It must be an incredible feeling of accomplishment. Moving over to Shane now: with your car and AMR being well off the pace for the most part in Q1, let alone Q2, are you solely setting your sights on the future? I can't imagine it's worth investing much time, effort, or money in the last few races this season. Shane O'Connell: Yes is the short answer. The last 3 races of this season come with no expectations even here at the home race of the Caliri family. SP - FVTV: We look forward to seeing what you can do next season! Sticking with you for the next one. You've been relatively quiet in the news since the Ellington move earlier this season. Can you tell us anything regarding your driver lineup for 2021, and will you be continuing with Lamborghini? SO'C: Ok so, yes, we will continue with Lamborghini for the 2021 season for sure. With drivers do you mind coming back to this question in a while? Going to send Guido (Caliri, Deputy Team Principal) a message to ask if we may reveal our news. SP - FVTV: Ooh some live action intrigue! I very much hope you can reveal all! Moving now to Lilly. Now the celebrations of your milestone 100th race have passed, you’re already looking to the future with your announced lineup for 2021, and further plans beyond that. What do you hope your team will achieve before race 200? Lilly Westwood: Yeah, we're definitely keeping our heads up and looking farther ahead than we used to. As for what we hope to achieve before 200? It may not sound a lot like Westwood, but a title might be nice to get, to put us on a really exclusive list. We'd probably need works backing from an engine manufacturer, and there are some - admittedly rather casual for the moment - conversations being had with one in particular. However, I can't say anymore than that. Most of all though, I hope to achieve another happy hundred races for me, my drivers, and all my team. SP - FVTV: Well we look forward to the next 100 races regardless of what happens. Now to Adrian Arnello! I can't remember the last time we had you here! The deal announcing Palou's arrival for the final four races somewhat surprised the paddock. What made you believe it was worth the gamble, and given your lineup next year, is Kovalenko's time in Formula Virtual up? Adrian Arnello: Dmytro's time is definitely not up! He is a great driver, and will contribute greatly to our test regime and car development throughout next season. We never know what to expect in this series, and we might even see him behind the wheel for a weekend or two; we don't quite know yet. We think Rafael has a ton of talent and we hope to qualify this year to give him a proper shot at a race. When you're not even qualifying for half the races, any gamble is a good gamble; it's not like we can fall any further back! SP - FVTV: I'm glad you said it! You do make a good point. Staying with you now for this one! Speaking of your lineup next season, you've struck a deal with Lopez for Max Meyer's services to partner Finn Schnyder. Being one of several teams to be bringing through new talent for 2021, including Westwood and Franklin, how exciting is it for you to get these young drivers into the hotseat? AA: Lopez have been generous enough to let us race a strong upcoming talent next year and we're looking forward to what Max can bring to the team! I think any time you run a new driver is an exciting time, as there's a strong element of unpredictability and a chance to watch someone grow and thrive. We will give Max (and Felix and Dmytro of course) as much support as he needs to make his stamp on the scene. SP - FVTV: Exciting times, thankyou! Now back over to Rai. You re-passed Westwood for 7th place at Belgium after they suffered from some poor luck. With three races to go, do you think you can hold off the bolting Boltonians and keep your spot in 7th? RM: It's going to be tight, we know the quality that Westwood have with their drivers, so it's going to be very hard but we have to do our best in trying to stay ahead of them. We need a bit of luck along the way but it's going to be very very tough. But there is hope that we can do this. But I very much look forward to the fight between ourselves and Westwood for 7th. SP - FVTV: It's sure to be a tight battle at the end of the season! Now over to Arthur. You achieved your first win since the Spanish V-Prix last time out, and your first double podium since the German V-Prix. Has it been disappointing watching your season unravel as it has based on the car's early pace, or was this always a potential risk of your development plan for 2020? Arthur Lapierre: I can't honestly be disappointed with anything we have done. We had a wonderful start to the year, and then we've had a number of difficult situations that haven't been entirely in our control. We're not out of this just yet, I admit it's unlikely, but stranger things have happened. SP - FVTV: To be in a position where people are asking if you're disappointed with second is still an excellent place to be. Looking to next season though, you haven't officially confirmed any of your drivers for your 2021 lineup. Are you still window shopping for potential candidates or are these announcements merely a matter of formality for Adrien and Enrique? AL: We'll announce our drivers in due course, there's no rush in the situation we're in - I certainly wouldn't expect any shocks though. SP - FVTV: I'm sure we'll all be keeping our eyes peeled! Now then, questions to all the team principals. First up; last race saw a massive pileup of cars on the opening lap, and now we move to Monza with a tight first chicane with an incredibly heavy braking zone. What's your typical advice or instruction to your drivers for the first corner? LW: It's always a case of making it through safely. If you see a clean gap, don't hesitate, but make sure you're not increasing your risk. These races are so much more than turn one. AA: I don't think I've cringed that hard in a long time, watching Giodano get launched! Our advice is always the same: "Think about the race distance first, then the first few corners". I imagine it's the same advice every other team gives their drivers, but as we know, drivers like to flaunt these things when an opportunity arises! I mean, it helps being at the back too, because you can see it unfold and react accordingly, so maybe being dead last is a benefit in these scenarios? RM: Avoid the pile up and don't crash into each other. SO'C: If you make it that far then you’re doing well!!! But seriously we will typically say to them to keep very calm and very patient being at the back of the grid you just want to see where you can get to by keeping both cars in the race. AL: While Formula Virtual is certainly sprint racing, the philosophy has to be similar to endurance racing - get through turn 1 at all costs. You can be strategic to gain some easy ground with a good start, but it's always preferable to lose positions rather than make contact and completely ruin your race, there is always nearly two hours to make that time back. SP - FVTV: Seems the general consensus is that discretion is in fact the better part of valor here. Lastly, with three races left to go this year, what's everybody hoping to get from this race? SO'C: As mentioned before this is the Caliri family’s home race and Mr Caliri is rumoured to be in attendance this weekend so it would be nice to see at least one car get to Q2. We hope the big V12 can aid our plight!! And also the response from Guido is here, he says we may reveal the plans for 2021. Felix will of course remain as a driver and Giani will stay here too but moving to his reserve role once again which leaves space for our new number 1 driver coming into the team who will be Carson Davenport. Carson will join BMPS Scuderia Meteor as a loan from the Lucas team!! RM: Our hope is for a bit of luck and to pick up points, as always that's the aim but we need to see if we can achieve this. It's going to be very hard, I expect Westwood to be ahead of us here. AA: We would just love to get out there and race on a Sunday! I think we would drink the town dry if we scored a point. Our shout! LW: We need to bounce back from our issues last weekend. We've identified the fault and rectified both cars, so it'll be a bit of guess work trying to get our car back up to speed. But past that, just looking for disasters ahead and picking up the pieces is going to be our aim. AL: I'd hope we can push for victory, but I think we're a bit too far from the ultimate pace to do that without some luck. Maybe we can push the other front runners and aim for the double podium, but the key is to be right there to capitalise on any misfortune for others. SP - FVTV: Great answers, and exciting news coming from Meteor! That opens a slot at Lucas, and I'm sure the paddock will be rife with speculation! Now then, let's get into our fan questions. Here's one to Adrian! How many more drivers are you looking to sign from Lopez's youth academy? AA: Ooh, that's a good question! I guess it depends on how many more juniors they plan on running! Jokes aside, we are fortunate to be working closely with Lopez and being able to give young talent the chance to showcase it is a bit part of that work. We're not exactly nailing podiums at the moment so they can run a proper FV session relatively stress-free. No pressure at the back! SP - FVTV: It's great to see young talent coming through. Now one for Shane; you inherited Meteor when they were mid-field challengers, however are now failing to make the races. Can you explain the drastic downturn in performance and can you see it getting better? SO'C: We did inherit a car that had had lots of investment put into it and we did a very good deal to put in a driver who was capable of getting the results that the car deserved. 2020 would always be a hard year for the new ownership with making the first car from scratch then also the issues with that driver did not help. We worked out some very basic fundamental errors which meant we would never be fast this season so from that point it has always been trying to make sure these are fixed for 2021. SP - FVTV: It definitely fits with Meteor's form historically. Next one is for Rai. You have regarded 2021 as 'Ocelot's year' before. As we are so close to the end of the current season, do you still see this as the case? RM: It won't be our year for 2021. I remember saying this but it's just PR, all companies do it. SP - FVTV: I'm sure Ocelot fans will be disappointed to hear that. This final fan question goes out to you all! There has been a bit of controversy in the paddock surrounding the incident between Addison and Xylander in Belgium. Who do you think was at fault? LW: I think it was just a racing incident. Both guys had their part to play in the incident, and both ruined their races accordingly. However it is my understanding that they've already made up over it; I may be wrong but knowing them both somewhat well it wouldn't surprise me. AL: I reckon there’s two sides to it but ultimately they both ruined their own race - the initial contact from the Phoenix was clumsy after he span, then both drivers weren’t willing to let it go, even racing down the pit entry. Not the best moment for either driver, that’s for sure... AA: I think it's just one of those track features that catches drivers out from time to time. It's happened before in other series, such as Maldonado into di Resta a fair few years back; the lines converge towards that apex and often the drivers pitting will sweep across that racing line. It's a piss-poor situation to be in especially since Nick was on for awesome points, but we take the lows as much as the highs in this spot. Just one of those things! SP - FVTV: Well, if that's all we've got time for, I'd like to thank you all very much for your time! And of course another big thankyou to the fans sending in their questions, we always love hearing from you. That's all for today, join us tomorrow for free practice!
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