Hello and welcome to Sepang, Malaysia for the Team Principal’s Thursday press conference ahead of this weekend’s Malaysian V-Prix – round two of the 2020 Formula Virtual World Championship. Joining us today, from left to right, are; Nick Forrest of North Star Racing, Adam Blocker of FIRST Motorsport, Dylan Lopez from Lopez FV Team, Bradley Downton of Downton FV Team, and Shane O’Connell from BMPS Scuderia Meteor. Welcome gentlemen. Scott Parkin – FVTV: First of all today we’ll come to you Dylan, of course. Massive congratulations on your first ever win in FV. What does it mean for the team and do you believe it has already changed the way people look at Lopez? Dylan Lopez: Thanks Scotty, we still can't quite fathom how well Allar drove the other day, and for all the boys and girls both at the track, at the factory, and all of our fans, this means everything. I was informed that on social media there were fans in Kangur's hometown of Tallinn celebrating out in the streets on a cold, wet Sunday morning back there. It's brought smiles to everybody that's a part of the team, but now we want to do better. In the past our upgrades haven't been as strong as some of our rival teams in the midfield, but we hope we've rectified that this season, and remove the impression that we're that team who doesn't rock up after May. SP – FVTV: Fantastic, what a day for the whole team. Bradley; Klaas drove a very mature race, almost snatching second place from Ruiz right as the chequered flag fell. It’s easy to forget that he is still the second youngest driver on the grid – at 22. How has he coped with a second title loss and what is his mentality like coming into his fourth FV season? Bradley Downton: I think as the season progressed last year it became clear to us all that we were the hunter, despite being ahead. The Franklin rapidly became the faster car and they put it to good use. After they scored the back-to-back one-two's in Austria and Germany we sat down with the drivers and told them the focus was on winning the Constructors. We would back both of them for as long as mathematically possible, but as we've always told them, the team comes first. Klaas was first to reply, and said "If we can beat them at all now, it's a job well done because that car is f***ing fast, and Enrique is driving amazing. I'll give it my all, but do we really think it's possible?" I told them I had every faith they'd do it, but Klaas knew it was a long shot. Did that stop him being disappointed? Of course not. So many small things during the season going a different way could have turned the result. We ballsed his strategy up in Spain, he had a late engine failure in Germany, Ruiz took him out on the opening lap in Monza - he was fuming with that - and then obviously the late stop in Brazil from a Championship winning position. It was painful for him to come that close then lose it, but we were able to reassure him by reminding him that he came that close to a man widely regarded as one of the best drivers in the series, despite being in what was an inferior car for most of the season. He took himself off over the winter, went skiing with some friends and his girlfriend, and returned with such a refreshed attitude. He's absolutely raring to go this season and hungrier than ever to earn that World Championship that we know he deserves. His mentality is the strongest I've ever seen it at the start of a season, so I'm excited to see what he can produce. SP – FVTV: It’s great to hear little stories from behind the scenes there! Next question is to Adam and Nick. Both FIRST and North Star look to be up at the sharp end of the grid again this season, but Ford aren’t always talked about as highly as the likes of Honda, Downton and now Porsche. Do you think your 2020 is the year that changes? Adam Blocker: To be honest, I don’t care that people don’t hype up Ford as much as some others. We know how strong the Ford powertrain was last season and is this season, and it’s right up there. I do think Ford’s reputation will naturally improve as we continue to run near the front this season. Nick Forrest: I think that sounds about right, in my view. Honda have got their reputation from Franklin's championships, Downton likewise with themselves, as well as whatever engine's in the back of the Mathershaw. Given that both Adam and I only joined the series in 2016, we haven't had a chance to compete for championships yet, but the Ford engine has been brilliant for the time we've been running it, and with how strongly we've been running this season and last, I think it definitely deserves to be in that same discussion. SP – FVTV: It’ll certainly be interesting to see how Ford’s reputation elevates over the next year or so. Shane, we’ll have to address this; following some unpleasant comments from both parties after the Japanese V-Prix; Lewis Ellington has been sent to Arrow for the rest of the season, what happened between him and the team? Shane O’Connell: Lewis feels quite rightly he deserves a certain standard in a team and he felt in a certain way about things going on at Scuderia Meteor. He clashed with members of the team who share also the same hot headed nature but there is no more to say than already has been. We hope this move to Arrow works for everyone. SP – FVTV: Okay the Team Principals will now take a few questions from the media in attendance. Rebecca Parnell – XtremeV: Dylan; what an unbelievable start it was for Allar for his first race as a Lopez driver and it was fantastic that the transcript was made public after the race so we could see the emotion from everyone involved. Now the tricky question is; can you replicate it? DL: To answer the question as simply as I can, why not? Kangur was a superstar on Sunday. The blokes just went out and put in one of the best drives I think we've ever seen in the competition's history. He's already set an incredibly high benchmark. Because he went out and did it, we don't see why we can't replicate it this weekend. That being said, Sepang is a completely different can of worms to Fuji. For one, we're all stinky hot and sweaty in here. It' completely different conditions and a completely different circuit, but we're here to go for that win again. Neil Allenby – FVTV: Question to all of you except Shane. It certainly looks possible that your four teams as well as Ocelot could be in a huge scrap for second place – and not as far away from Porsche Mathershaw as initially expected! Was it motivational for you all to see how much closer that group is to the front than people were predicting before the season? DL: It's certainly nice to see there are multiple teams that are in contention for the competition. To be a part of the leading pack and not just another midfield scraggler is where every team wants to be, and we're fortunate enough to be one of the few who have an incredible opportunity to compete for races along with four or five other quality teams. I believe that winning first up in Japan is a signal to us all that any of us can go on and topple not just the teams sitting here, but even the Mathershaw Porsches on any day. It could lead to one of the tightest seasons we've ever seen at the front of the field. AB: It is encouraging to be relatively close. We aren’t and weren’t expecting to beat Mathershaw Porsche this season, but being close allows us to potentially get some really good race results given different scenarios. Like Lopez in Fuji. I’ve said before the season that the minimum acceptable contractors’ position for us is third. That’s still true. It’s too early to judge whether we will be able to fight Downton over the season for second. NF: To some degree it helps, seeing that we're closer to the pace than last season. I think you have to pair ambition with realism, though, a lot of the results between the teams you've mentioned, along with the constructors' standings at the end of the season could just end up coming down to sheer luck more than anything else, it's happened to North Star on a number of occasions already. BD: Honestly, yes. We were expecting Mathershaw Porsche to be much further up the road, but they're actually within striking distance. Do we think we can challenge them for the title? Nothing is impossible. They're clearly very quick and have a brilliant pair of drivers, but so do we. A lot of the season is going to come down to luck. We'll have to see how things play out but our focus is firmly in front of us at the works Porsche team. Layton Smith – Thegrid.net: Bradley; yet another mistake from Powers which probably didn’t cost him in the grand scheme of things – but only by sheer luck. Is there too much pressure on Downton drivers to deliver? Not enough pressure? If this was Franklin, something would have been done by now. BD: raises a quizzical eyebrow Are you an idiot? Of course there's pressure. There's pressure from every team on every driver to perform. There isn't a single team on the grid who doesn't expect their drivers to the best for the team - that is pressure. No-one here just gets away with anything - apart from you asking stupid questions it would seem. Too much pressure? Well, both drivers are still here and haven't decided to leave yet. We expect the best from them, as they do from us - but we also support our drivers when they're having a tough time. In regards to Franklin, my simple response is - we're not them. We do things very differently and to me it looks as though it's working. The second seat at that team became not only a revolving door but somewhat of a poisoned chalice. We're not going to kick a man when he's down, but Nathaniel knows the mistakes need to be wound in a little, and I'm confident here you'll see him back at his brilliant best. LS – Thegrid.net: Hopefully for the team’s sake he is. Adam; would it be fair to say you’re already seeing a big difference with Will coming into the team? How does a driver of his calibre compare to previous FIRST drivers? AB: The biggest difference between Will and others is his FV experience and technical knowledge. Will is great at giving feedback during testing, practice, and simulator sessions that helps us select development paths and improve setups. As to how he compares to previous FIRST drivers calibre-wise, I’ll wait until we are further into the season to make a judgement. Gianmario Angelino – Sportitalia: Hello Shane I have some questions for you. The pace from last season has vanished, how is there this huge change in just a few months? SO: You can ask the same question to lots of teams over the years in Formula V. The 2019 car was inherited by us from the previous team when everything was purchased so you could say it was not our car. This is the first one we have made although it keeps similar things we started to learn from last season. It seems that almost every team has moved forward but we have not as such. GA – Sportitalia: Giani Ledesma returns to race in Formula Virtual for the first time since 2013. An Italian driver in an Italian team with famous Italian sponsors reminds the tifosi of the legendary Scuderia Rossi team from many years ago. Do BMPS Scuderia Meteor aspire to capture the Italians like Rossi did? SO: Giani is already very popular with the team after just a few months he gets on with everybody and of course speaks Italian which goes well. Comparing BMPS Scuderia Meteor to Scuderia Rossi is not something that is done Rossi were a team that earned lots of respect and fans by their triumphs on track and of course Italy loved them. It would be stupid to not want to be adored as they were and still are but we must earn that. RP – XtremeV: Nick, the hard tyre gamble was unfortunately a spectacular failure in Japan. Whose call was it and has it put you on the back foot, effectively giving the teams around you a head start? NF: Well of course it did, they all scored points and we didn't. The tyres were incredibly marginal at Fuji last season, teams have to lock in their strategies before the weekend starts - you know this - then by race day the temperature had dropped several degrees from the forecast, and there was nothing we could do about it. That's the long and short of it, as far as I'm concerned. Theo Parker – VM Magazine: There has been a lot of discussion recently about the season opening V-Prix being in Japan instead of Australia. Question to all of you; what is your opinion on this and also what is your opinion on the Formula Virtual calendar trying to be unique from other motorsport series? This one is to everyone. DL: Being an Australian, and Melburnian, I do have a subtle bias towards the season opener remaining down under at Albert Park. Nobody I've talked to has argued as to why it has to be elsewhere. As for the calendar as a whole, I think firstly that Formula Virtual is the highest class of virtual motorsport going around. We should be racing at the most iconic circuits on the planet. Like seriously, we may as well race not race at Silverstone anymore if we don't want to be like that other Formula series going around. AB: I don’t care too much whether our calendar is unique, I care more about whether the tracks we go to produce quality racing and are challenging for the teams and drivers. My opinion is that quite a few of the F1 tracks, for example, are fairly bland so I wouldn’t want to race those. As I’ve always said, I’d welcome a second American race. We have some proper circuits that could put on excellent racing. NF: I'm not all that bothered, to be perfectly honest, the season has to start somewhere. And I'm finding myself in agreement with Adam on this one as well, we should be at tracks that let the drivers race and give us entertaining races. I'm really not a fan of the "we've always done it like this" line of thought. SO: It’s not something which concerns us as much as some. Melbourne is something familiar but we go wherever the calendar takes us and hope to do the same as any venue. BD: It wasn't bad to be in Fuji, but it was no Albert Park. Melbourne and Australia just feels right to start the year off. It's that familiar look, feel and smell - proper first day of school type feeling that I personally just didn't get in Fuji. It lacks the character of Melbourne. Does it produce the best race? No, probably not. But it's always absolutely up there for me just because of what it is. In terms of being unique, I think Adam said it best. We should just be racing at the best tracks available to us regardless of what else goes on - but I'd most definitely have Melbourne in that list still. SP – FVTV: This weekend is, of course, the Malaysian V-Prix where some of you here have had great past races while some have had some torrid ones. The question to you all is; what is your personal favourite Malaysian V-Prix over the years and why? DL: My favourite memory will hopefully come this upcoming this weekend, because otherwise we haven't had too many moments worth celebrating. That being said, Wagner getting to sixth place in 2018 when we were wearing floaties in the paddock was a bloody fantastic effort given the circumstances. AB: The most memorable is 2018, although that race was a mess really. I’d pick 2017 for my favourite, lots of drama with a double DNF for Downton and our maiden points with Hutchinson getting seventh. NF: It's a bit tough to gauge, personally, because most of them have been a bit rubbish for us in some way. 2016, I think, was the only year where nothing really went wrong for us, but Johan's sixth place last season was a great result, with Gabriele backing him up in eighth. I think the less said about the penalty, the better. SO: 2019 was the first one to actually be there at the track for the V-Prix and it was good. 2018 must stand out in lots of minds because of the weather and craziness that went on. BD: It certainly wasn't 2017 that's for sure! And I'm starting to get a bit suspicious of Adam because that's not the first time I've heard him say he enjoyed that race because of a double retirement for us! 2018 was rather chaotic but I don't know if that necessarily made it great, and seeing as my memory doesn't go back much further I'll plump for last season. Klaas was on fire all weekend; pole, fastest lap - and though he only just took the win, he drove maturely to hold onto it. With Nathaniel also on the podium in third, it was most definitely our best trip to Malaysia so far. SP – FVTV: Excellent, thank you to the Team Principals for attending today, make sure you tune in tomorrow for Nick hastily takes his microphone off and heads off ...erm, Nick, where are you going? Nick? Well that's him gone, he doesn't look very happy at all... anyway as I was saying; I hope you join us tomorrow for Friday practice ahead of the Malaysian V-Prix!
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