Hello and welcome to Midrand, South Africa for the Team Principal's Thursday press conference ahead of this weekend's South African V-Prix, round four of the 2020 Formula Virtual World Championship. Joining us today, from left to right, are; William Ingram of Ingram V-Prix, Lilly Westwood of Westwood Racing Technology, Bradley Downton from Downton FV Team, Rai Miyamoto of Ocelot Japan Racing, and Shane O'Connell from BMPS Scuderia Meteor. Welcome all. Reporter: We'll start with you Shane. Obviously, Meteor have had a big down turn in performance since last year, but as things stand right now, with Beyer's 16th in Malayisa, you won't drop into Q1 after Britain. Do you think you can avoid Q1 for both the next two races and for the rest of the season?
Shane O'Connell: It is hard to think where we will be in the future but right now we have secured our position with Felix's 16th. We hope to keep the advantage but things change of course. R: On the other side of the garage, Ledesma has now completed 2 races, in which he's been okay but not outstanding. Are you keeping him in the seat for the rest of the season or is he only there as long as he performs? SC: Giani has impressed the team a lot. He spent so many years away from Formula V but comes back and is performing on Felix's level. He is a perfect fit in the Italian team and it can be confirmed that he will drive for the rest of this year. R: Well that's great news for any Italian fans, thanks Shane, we will come back to you. Moving to you Will, your main man Mattson has had a great start to the season, scored points in every race so far and is eight in the standings. Were you expecting this kind of pace or has it been surprising? William Ingram: We're very happy with Jean so far - he's been brilliantly consistent. We thought the car was capable of points when things fell our way and Jean is exceeding our expectations. Long may it continue! R: We asked you before Japan about how the Jaguar engine is coming along, so far you've had no mechanical issues. Have you been satisfied with the performance of the Jaguar so far? WI: The Jaguar team have been excellent so far. There's more performance in the engine and the Jaguar boys are turning it up every race. Having Arrow compete in the last race helped them immeasurably and we gained a lot more data as a result. R: Sticking with you Will, but bringing in Lilly and Bradley as well, of the 5 managers present here, you three are the ones who has been here since 2013. The current plans for next year see big changes to car development. How do the new rules compare back in 2013? Is it a massive difference? Lilly Westwood: I think changing the regulations from time to time is a great way to keep the sport interesting. Looking back, those 2013 cars were not nearly as advanced as the ones we race today. I would argue this isn't as big as 2015 however, when we got new tyres, new chassis and aero regulations, you name it. It's a close call though, and really opens up the competition! I can't wait to see what happens. WI: The 2021 regulations are the biggest shake up of the rules, I believe, since the sport began. While the basics remain the same, there is so much more scope to do something different to everyone else. Personally I'm really excited for the changes, but equally I'm trepidatious in case we choose the wrong development path. Bradley Downton: The rules now from 2013 are wildly different. And for next year they'll change again further. Yes, it is a massive difference, but it's a change I - and I think a lot of us - are excited for. As Will said though, there's also a bit of trepidation; there's a lot to it now, and if you go in the wrong direction - which we won't really know until the cars hit the track - it could be a lot of time and money down the drain. R: Seems these regulations could throw up some unpredictable results, thanks you three. We'll stay with you Bradley, for most of the part you've had a good start to the season, you do seem second quickest. But as seen in Australia there's a big gap to Mathershaw, can you close that down this year? BD: I think the gap to Porsche Mathershaw was magnified by the tyre choice. I think you need to look at qualifying for a more representative gap; where we've often been within a tenth. Can we close it? Absolutely. But they won't stop pushing either so it'll be a tall order. R: Behind the pair of Mathershaw and you, FIRST, Lopez and Ocelot are all very close to each other and not far off you. Which of those three teams do you see as a threat this year, if any? BD: We see Mathershaw Porsche as the threat. We're not here to finish second, we're here to win. Let's not be delusional - currently it doesn't look as though it's quite within our grasp - however it would be ridiculous to give up at the fourth race of the season. But - to answer your question indirectly - of those three you mention, FIRST seem to be quickest outfit and the best placed for third this year. Both Lopez and Ocelot are a little further back in the pack it would seem. R: Definitely FIRST have been quite strong. Lilly, these have been Beckenbauer's first races since early 2018, how has he settled back in to FV? Have you been impressed by him and do you think he's improved since he last raced for you? LW: Well we didn't have a lot to go by then or now! But Karl has retained his edge in spite of his absence, which you don't expect from a lot of drivers. He did fantastically well to get in front of a Phoenix last time out and I'm sure he'll continue to perform. R: Your best finishes from the first three races have been 2 14th places and a 15th. Do you think you can improve on that, maybe even get a few points later on? Or is 14th the limit? LW: 14th place is definitely not the limit. We kept Karl out late at the end because he was insisting he could make it, but after looking at the telemetry and info we had I just couldn't leave him out there, it wasnt safe. We're still learning a bit but we are definitely pushing forward make no mistake. R: It will be interesting to see how Westwood go on from here, thank you Lilly. Rai, nice to see you back in here, Ryan took his first points ever at his home race last week. How does it feel for him to "have the monkey" off his back? Has that race improved his confidence for the future races? Rai Miyamoto: We are very happy to see Ryan get his first points for the season. He's been a bit unlucky an hopefully he now keeps his eyes on the road and get us some more points in the future. R: Last year the Alfa Romeo engine was believed to be one of the weaker engines on the grid. This year it seems to be much better, have you been satisfied with the engine they produced? RM: It's been a good start so far, but we need to make sure we are looking at what everyone else is doing but also sticking to our own plan. R: Final question for you before we go back to Shane for a sec, Ocelot until now has been very up and down in performance since you join, but this season has seen a solid start from you. Is this the beginning of a more consistent period for the team? RM: We can't comment on the future but hopefully this will mean more consistency and better results. R: It would definitely be nice to see Ocelot back at the sharp end, as with any other team. Now Shane, last week the newest team principal, Ben Faz, saw his team take part in a race for the first time and you are the latest addition to FV after him. What is the toughest part of being a team principal and do you have any advice for Arrow? SC: Presuming the situation of Ben at Arrow is different to here at BMPS Scuderia Meteor. Not sure on the hierarchy at Arrow but here it is Mr Caliri who owns the team and he makes decisions, helped by Guido and myself. It can be hard because certain decisions are made which you do not always think are right but these are final decisions by people who own the team. Maybe for Ben some would say his hardest challenge will be the teams performance where he wants, or maybe if you ask other people from Scuderia Meteor they say Ellington is his biggest challenge!! R: Ha, wouldn't disagree with them. Anyway, question for all of you now, we are here at Kyalami for the first time since 2015, the only other race here. For everyone except Shane, how is it like being back here after so long, and is there any useful data avaliable to you from 2015? And for Shane, as this is a circuit the new management of Meteor are unfamiliar with, are you expecting a tough race? SC: In some ways this race may be an opportune moment for us as there could be challenges getting the strategy right for teams, but it is nice to come to another new place as most races are for BMPS Scuderia Meteor now. LW: I think to be honest, Shane wont be at any more of a disadvantage. We know the basic characteristics of this circuit but we've not run these tyres, or engines, or new generation cars at Kyalami, so we have very little data available. But being back here? Reminds me of the old days, of 2015 our spectacular season, and of a certain billboard... WI: Lilly is correct, it's been too long for our old data to have any real impact on our setups this year. I'm very happy that we are back here though. World championships should visit tracks across the globe and Kyalami has its own unique atmosphere. RM: It's nice to be back and it fantastic to see the fans here again, hoping we can give them a great race. As for the data its not much news to us in all honesty. BD: To be honest, I think Lilly nailed it. We know the layout, but that's about it. So much has changed since we were last here in 2015. We arrived here in 2015 as the most recent race winners, now look at us? I can't remember the last time we won a race... Jokes aside though, this weekend will be a challenge for everyone. Except maybe Mathershaw Porsche, who look as though they can't really do any wrong at the moment! R: Great answers from all of you, thank you ever so much. Now, unfortunately we're reaching the end of the presser so final question to you all again - what are your expectations for this weekend and do you have any other predictions? SC: We hope for lots of chaos but not involving Giani and Felix. A result to keep us away from the Q1 will be the aim. LW: For this weekend? We've just gotta keep on doing what we've been doing. Both cars through in Q1, and hang around the fringes of the points, hoping for the best! And maybe get in front of Cheema and stay there while we're at it. WI: Jean has been scoring points so we hope he can continue. It would also be nice if James effort garners the reward he deserves. RM: Hoping we can get a good result should be our aim, if a podium happens we will be ecstatic. BD: As usual, we want to win, but admit that is unlikely. We've probably opted for a different tyre strategy to Mathershaw Porsche again, so will be hoping if that's the case - it pays off. And that our drivers qualify the right way around this time to maximise that strategy. We want to leave here with the best result we can achieve on the day. It'd be nice - if nothing else - to keep the podium run going. R: And with that, that's all from us here for Thursday. Thanks to the five of you for coming here and good luck for the weekend. We will see you all tomorrow for practice on the Kyalami circuit, but until then, stay safe and goodnight!
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