Hello and welcome to Jerez, Spain for the Team Principal’s Thursday press conference ahead of this weekend’s Spanish V-Prix – round seven 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, William Ingram from Ingram V-Prix, and Alex Easton from XXX Energy Phoenix Motorsport. Welcome to you all. Scott Parkin – FVTV: We’ll start today with you Adam. Another great race for the team last time out in France – admittedly aided slightly by Enrique’s retirement – ended with another second place for Will; his third of the season so far. Do you believe Will has made a big difference to the team in that you always seem to be able to depend on him where, possibly in the past, one of your drivers hasn’t always been right there? Adam Blocker: One of the big improvements with Will on track is that he is consistent from week to week, especially in qualifying. Qualifying up front is really important at some of these tracks where passing is difficult and it just allows more strategic freedom. And then add on his experience and help off the track working with the engineers and he has been great so far. SP – FVTV: Some very good points there! Okay, Will and Alex. France was yet another dreadfully unfortunate race for Ingram and Phoenix; the two teams now equal on the highest number of retirements so far this season with four apiece. How demoralising was it for you to suffer double retirements when points could’ve – and probably should’ve – been on the cards? William Ingram: It's frustrating that we've lost a fair few points, but it's not demoralising. Our car is consistently pushing for points and I'm sure that we will find ourselves in similar positions again. In France we really should have taken home a nice haul of points but sometimes the luck doesn't go your way. Alex Easton: I’d pretty much just agree with what Will said really; it’s disappointing but not demoralising. I suppose the difference is that Ingram clearly have a very good car and they will hopefully find themselves consistently scoring points this season, as Jean did for the first few races. Phoenix, on the other hand, are a very different story. I think the result in Japan flattered us; a combination of an excellent performance from Sergio and the Downton engine really being able to stretch its legs, otherwise our pace has been similar to Cheema, I think. SP – FVTV: Alright Nick, coming to you now then. Magny-Cours was another good race for North Star with Halvosen picking up another eight points and Gabriele looking solid. In the last three races, you’ve scored 32 points to Lopez’s twelve, is fourth place firmly the target in the championship now? Nick Forrest: It almost has to be at this stage, I would say. We've shown the pace to be scoring ahead of both Lopez and Ocelot at most race weekends so far, the teams who seem to be our nearest challengers at the top of the midfield, so barring any drastically bad fortune, I've every confidence we can continue to close the gap in the coming races, and overhaul them before season's end. It does hang mainly on the development race, however, we do seem to have the edge right now, but a lot of it is going to depend on how much those teams are willing to sacrifice their 2021 season. SP – FVTV: It’ll certainly be intriguing to see who blinks first in that regard. Okay, the Team Principals will now take questions from the assembled media. Rebecca Parnell - XtremeV: As mentioned before, Ingram have been desperately unlucky so far this season and, as a result, sit just one point ahead of Westwood. Will, are you concerned with dropping behind them or are you looking up towards the Lopez/North Star/Ocelot fight? WI: We'd be fools to not consider Westwood our rivals. They're famously good at in season development and I imagine they'll improve the car further. That said I think our car could be a consistent scorer with a bit of luck so it could be a good scrap. Layton Smith – Thegrid.net: Adam; Felix was clearly angry with Klaas’ driving last race, as we saw on social media. What was your opinion of the Dutchman’s driving and did you feel it cost you at all? AB: I share Felix’s view that Klaas did cause the incident between the two, just a lack of respect really. Not the first time we’ve seen it from Klaas. Fortunately, from a team perspective while it hurt Felix it helped Will’s race and I think Powers was going to win anyway so ultimately it didn’t affect our points score too much. Kurt West – FOX: In the last few days there’ve been rumours about Ford increasing their presence in FV. Could either of you shed any light on this, and also what do you expect from Ford in the future? With FIRST and North Star looking more and more like consistent challengers further up the field, is it a sign that we may be seeing the emergence of the new best engine manufacturer in the series, only really rivalled by Porsche? AB: FIRST will remain a privateer team. Fords involvement is a constantly evolving situation, so even I don’t know exactly how things will end up in 2 years or so. Right now I don’t know if I’d say Ford are 2nd because Downton are also strong but the positive thing is that all of this development is sustainable and that means we expect to be no worse that what we are this season in upcoming seasons. NF: I think it was an American presence in general, from what I've heard, rather than specifically Ford itself? Although it is easy to understand why a successful US manufacturer would want more US faces in the sport to expand the audience stateside: teams, drivers, personnel, plus there hasn't been an American driver on the grid since 2017, correct me if I'm wrong. As an engine supplier, Ford are definitely heading in the right direction, we're only in our second season with them, but already the performance they're offering is right up there among the best on the grid, and I'm very excited to see where the Ford teams can go from here. Theo Parker – VM Magazine: Question for you Nick. It was Jerez 2019 where North Star claimed their last podium – which was one of the shocks of the season – do you think a repeat is possible this weekend with Johan in such great form? NF: It's certainly possible, Jerez is one of those tracks that really rewards strategy, with it being one of the most challenging circuits to overtake at on the calendar. I think we might need quite a bit of luck to reach the podium again, as we had last year. Porsche have looked pretty imperious all season long, but if the strategy shakes out well, there's no reason why we can't be aiming for another significant haul of points at the very least to close up to Lopez in the championship. Matt Stevenson - WTFV: Will; the Jaguar engine will clearly be improving all the time as the team and manufacturer get used to the new relationship and find ways to develop, as possibly proven by Arrow making it to the race with both cars last time out. How crucial is it to have four cars gaining data for Jaguar, Arrow and yourselves instead of just the two Ingram cars, and how is the relationship with Jaguar and Arrow working so far? WI: It's very important and we, Ingram, have been very impressed with how professional and ambitious Arrow are. The Jaguar team are also happy with Arrow, although happier when they qualify! The more cars the merrier. Layton Smith – Thegrid.net: I have a question for Alex. Last week the team announced the re-signing for the third – or is it fourth – time, of Dominic Hanson. I won’t hold back, what on earth is the point in signing a driver who was clearly out of his depth in the second tier and is already thirty years old? AE: Technically it would be the fourth time, I suppose! I said this at the time but I’ll have to reiterate; for anyone who doesn’t know the team well, the signing will seem strange but to everyone inside the team it makes perfect sense. Dom is a great character and keeping people around who have been with us for our whole journey so far is something we’re immensely proud of. It’s not like we’ve gone out there and splashed ten million on Nathaniel Powers, and Dom was already part of the VTC division of the team anyway, we’ve just shifted him over really. Rebecca Parnell – XtremeV: This isn’t strictly a question regarding your team Alex, but we’ve all seen the issues Phoenix have had and I was wondering what your take is on Cheema’s financial struggles that emerged in the news this week? How tough is it for teams towards the back of the midfield and below? AE: Yeah, I knew it was coming as I keep in close contact with Ahmed and the team over at Cheema but it still didn’t prepare me for the news. I can’t give you much information on what’s going on over there as I doubt even they know right now, I can only imagine they’re going through a similar situation that we went through at the back end of last year and I can tell you it’s not nice at all, I hope they can get things sorted. As for how tough it is for the smaller teams? Incredibly tough, I won’t lie! I mean I have to give absolute full credit to the FVA for the way the prize money works in Formula Virtual; it’s an incredibly fair system which is rarely seen in sport these days. However, the big differences come when you look at big sponsorship deals and manufacturer backed teams with huge budgets. To compete with the big teams requires a serious long-term plan and incredibly careful thinking or you end up in a situation like ourselves and other teams have found themselves in. When you look ahead to 2021, you’ve got the mammoth operations like Porsche Mathershaw, our engine suppliers Downton, FIRST who now seem to have made the step up to be consistent front runners, North Star who are on a remarkably consistent upwards trajectory, Franklin and Westwood who I’m sure will both be looking to reclaim their spot amongst the sport’s real big hitters. Then you’ve got the likes of Ingram who now have Jaguar factory backing, Ocelot and Lopez who both have recently joined the winners’ circle and seem to be constantly expanding their operations. The one thing about this, though, is that it’s fantastic news for the series in the future; to have all these great teams slugging it out in the top half of the field is going to be excellent. That leaves the likes of Lucas, ourselves, Cheema, Scuderia Meteor, Arrow and AMR. Lucas, of course, have plenty of backing and I have no doubt they’ll be able to re-join those big teams soon enough when they’re ready. Scuderia Meteor, I couldn’t really comment on, it remains to be seen how the Lamborghini engines and new ownership works out for them. Arrow I’m sure will only be looking upwards along with AMR, but it just shows how much of a huge challenge it’s going to be for the little teams going forwards. We’re under no illusions at Phoenix that tough times are ahead. Neil Allenby – FVTV: Following the French V-Prix, the Formula Virtual Association revealed the draft calendar for the 2021 season; featuring seventeen races. So, to all of you, what are your thoughts on the proposed changes? AB: I like going back up to 17 races, that can only be good for the series. The three new additions are interesting, particularly Dubai and Botniaring. The racing should be good as it is almost anywhere and they will definitely be fun to travel to and experience. NF: I think it'll make for a very interesting season, having three brand new venues to the series with no previous data for the teams to go on, that can only throw up unpredictable action. I'm glad to see the stalwarts of the calendar have remained, though, the likes of Silverstone, Spa and Monza. It seems to be a decent balance of classic FV tracks and new, exciting venues, so I'll be looking forward to 2021 all the more, I reckon. I've never been to a race in Finland before, though, I'll probably take a jumper or two, just to be on the safe side! WI: I echo the thoughts of Adam and Nick, I am looking forward to these new tracks and new locations. Nic generally gets the track decisions right so there's no reason to think this will be any different! AE: I, like Will, echo what the others have said! I definitely agree with Adam that going back up to 17 races is great, and I’m very much looking forward to the new venues. As Will says, Nic knows what he’s looking for when selecting new tracks so we all have every faith in him. Scott Parkin – FVTV: Final question, to all of you. We are here in Jerez this weekend for the Spanish V-Prix which has become known amongst the Formula Virtual community for being a race dominated by strategy, with many calling for the race to be scrapped. So, to the five of you, how do you like coming here? Is it a track you would like to stay or not? AB: Historically I’ve liked it, it’s a unique race and adds to the variety of the schedule. However adding more tracks like it to the calendar wouldn’t be a good move in my opinion, and Kyalami seems to race similarly. So I’d be ok with getting rid of one of them. We’ve played the strategy right in years like 2017 and gotten a great result. Then last year our race was a disaster. Hopefully we’ve learned from our mistakes and will have a good race this weekend. NF: Jerez does seem like a different kind of track, I think would be the best way to put it, on the Formula Virtual calendar. I'm of the opinion that a little bit of variety is always a good thing, we've already had four different teams winning races in the first six rounds this season, with some of those races decided heavily by strategy as well. The underlying issue with Jerez seems more to be a lack of overtaking, rather than too much strategy. I'd be slightly disappointed to see it go, but if it does end up dropping from the calendar, hopefully we can give it a memorable race to go out on. WI: I enjoy visiting Spain but I wouldn't be too disheartened if Jerez fell off the calendar. However, if our luck changes here and we're back in the points then I'll be all for keeping it. AE: I can’t add too much more than has already been said really, it’s a great race if you enjoy the strategy but if you want a lot of overtaking then it won’t be high up on your favourites. I suppose “sunny days wouldn’t be special if it wasn’t for rain” so maybe venues like Jerez and Canada - and possibly Kyalami now too – make us appreciate the great tracks even more. SP – FVTV: Okay fantastic thank you to you all for your thoughts and answers to the questions today. That’s it for the press conference, make sure you join us tomorrow for Friday practice ahead of the Spanish V-Prix!
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