Hello to everyone tunning in today for the press conference for the German V-Prix at Hockenheim! Joining us today are Jamie Franklin of JFPT Franklin Honda, Lilly Westwood of Samsung Galaxy S Porsche UK Team Westwood Racing Technology, Ben Faz of Arrow Mechanics, Ahmed Cheema of Highwind FV Racing and Bradley Downton of Downton FV Team. A warn welcome to you all! Reporter: Kicking off today's presser will be Jamie Franklin. A strong opening few races for the team has been followed by a few poor performances. Luck and the tightness of the top order this year plays a factor, but are you worried that you're slipping back?
Jamie Franklin: No, we're not worried that we're slipping back, I just think we've been incredibly unlucky in comparison to the other teams around us. Last race, for example, I have no doubt that Danilo would have finished in the top 4, if not on the podium had it not been for reliability, which is no real difference to our performance in the opening races, it's mainly just reliability and qualifying performances which have hampered our ability to score more in comparison to our rivals, whilst other teams have lucked into more situations. R: Thanks Jamie. Jumping across to one of your main rivals in Downton: Bradley. Your team have been dominant this year, with 6 wins in 7 races. You have a huge lead in the standings as well. Is there any point where you'll think that this season is in the bag and it's time to focus on 2022? Bradley Downton: Any team will tell you that you can never safely assume a season is in the bag, just look at last year. But just because we're still pushing this season, that doesn't mean we're not already working hard on 2022. R: Your main opponents at each race have varied between Lopez, Mathershaw, Franklin and FIRST. Is it easier or harder to have to cope with different teams on different weekends? BD: It makes no difference to us really. We just turn up and try to do our job, which is to beat everyone else. If anything, the changing is an advantage, because they're all taking points off of each other. R: That is a very good point. Going on to Ben, officially this is the Arrow team's home race, and last year you had a decent weekend, with both cars making it into the race. Are you hoping to put on a show this weekend for the fans? Ben Faz: Oh yeah, for sure, really hoping we can gain a result this weekend in front of the fans, its always special around here with the home base not too far, we bring a few of the factory staff to the hospitality box around this weekend, so I can only hope it'll have a good outcome. R: On the whole, it's been a good debut season so far for Brynildsen. He's stacked up solidly against Takahashi who impressed many last year. How would you rate the Norwegian's season so far? BF: Zander has impressed me, although at times he seems to lack the raw pace in the race to keep up with Yakumi, he is a very consistent driver for us though and constantly brings data and a better understanding of the car, I'd say his season is good but he'll need to put together a string of results to secure a seat for next season R: You've hit 25 starts altogether in FV last time out, along with your 23 entries. So far overall in your time in this sport, what would you say is the most difficult aspect of running a team here? BF: I'd have to say aspects of development and the secrets around the sport, I'm not going to lie, there is a huge uncovered portion of tricks that the teams that have been here before us for many years use again and again and again, its just about finding what's best as a new team. R: Some interesting answers there, thanks Ben. Now onto Highwind and Ahmed, you recently declared an all new lineup for 2022 - albeit not revealing the full lineup itself - but in a somewhat unconventional fashion. With the number 18 car being shared between McLaughlin and Bergkvist, are you not worried that they won't have time to settle into the car? And is this a statement of intent to progress from Highwind's new owners? Ahmed Cheema: I can understand where you're coming from, but the bottom line is these are the world's best drivers. Extra time would always be ideal but we're confident that both drivers will still be able to perform at a high level, and with this approach we will be able to identify our best possible line-up for the season. And yeah it's meant to be a statement of intent from what I understand, their view is that we won't move up without doing something different. R: Well there is probably some truth in that. We'll come back to you but first, finally coming to you Lilly, it's been fairly close between you and North Star this season, with the two of you on either side of the Q1 cut-off. You're currently on the right side of it - is it crucial you stay ahead of them? Lilly Westwood: Every place in the championship is worth a lot, especially when it guarantees both your cars a spot on the grid. In my opinion staying out of the bottom four is crucial for consistency and team morale. R: Back in the day Germany was one of Westwood's strongest tracks - poles in '13 and '15 along with a podium. Is Hockenheim a track that the team looks forward to attending? LW: Hockenheim does have a very special place for us with our first pole courtesy of Douglas primarily. It's a track we know we've made a package before that performs well here, but we've also struggled here like we did last year. We try to approach almost every race the same way; determined, focused, and optimistic. R: Cheers Lilly, we'll return to Bradley briefly. It's harsh to say Van Snelheid has underperformed this season, but he has been thoroughly beaten by Powers so far in the races. Is his form a concern, especially with Zetticci waiting in the wings? BD: I don't agree that he's been thoroughly beaten by Nathaniel. Nathaniel himself will tell you that Klaas is as close to his pace as ever and he's having to work harder than ever before just to try and keep ahead, but he'll also admit he has absolutely had the luck of the green so far this season. Every result since Malaysia that Klaas has had we can attribute to some bad luck - of which his has been utterly torrid this season - or a duff strategy call by us as a team. We expected them this season of course - while learning the new tyres and how they work - but it just so transpires that nearly every bad call we've made has been with Klaas' car, and for that we can only apologise. But Klaas is grown up enough to know that this is just how things go sometimes, and he's working with the team to try and minimise these errors in future. So we're not worried about his form in the slightest, regardless of how well Matteo is consistently performing in both VWRS and practice sessions. R: Fair enough, I'm sure few doubt KVS' ability. Ahmed, out of 14 chances for a grid slot, you've only managed to place on the grid 5 times this season and find yourselves plum last in the constructors championship. How does a tough season like this affect the team morale behind the scenes, and do the drivers get rusty from a lack of racing? AC: If anyone tells you that results like ours don't affect team morale, they're probably lying. But you've just got to get on with it, we can't fastforward through this year so everyone knows they have to just do their best and hope it pays off this year. The drivers tend to keep active with simulator work and we run as much as possible in practice, but it's hard to tell if they are rusty when we barely qualify. R: In Britain you were less than a tenth off of making it to the grid. Since then that gap has extended to approximately three tenths in the following two races. Are we going to circuits unsuited to your car, or is it just that much of a close fought battle even at the lower reaches of the field? AC: It's probably just down to development. Of course there's always a chance of a crazy result but realistically us and Meteor have nothing to fight for. Westwood, North Star; Arrow, they all have places to make up, they're obviously going to push each other forward and further ahead of us. R: It'll be interesting to see in that gap continues to increase. Jamis, as we mentioned, it's very tight in the top order this year. Franklin are no strangers to being on at the top - how does this season compare to the rest in your opinion in terms of how close the top teams are? JF: I think it's certainly more competitive. Usually, you have two teams at the top, but this year it seems like four, which in some ways makes it more difficult, but at the same time, if you're lucky, then it works in your favour as your rivals take points off of each other, so both situations have their positives and negatives depending on the situation you find yourself in. R: There are some rumours that Addison is going to be resigned. Both Xylander and Cesar confirmed, while we believe Forini is on a multi year contract. How does Addison fit into your plans? JF: We're happy with where we are at the moment. We have plenty of options for next year, not only at our own team, but at other teams as well, so I have no doubt that all drivers involved will find themselves in a good position in 2022. R: A Franklin seat must be highly rated among drivers. Want to drop back with you Lilly before we move to the final two questions. The only reliability issue you've had this season is a brake failure for Kinnumen in Spain, in which he was still classified so you haven't had a single retirement. How important is a reliable car for a midfield team? LW: I didn't even realise that! That is a nice stat - although I'm sure Tumo might disagree with you if you asked him! We had a few reliability issues last year and this year we've worked hard to rectify those. Its super important to always have that reliability and consistency because you never know when high attrition will be your friend, especially if points are at a premium. R: That's been evident already this year at Australia. Thanks all, we now have a question to the 5 of you. We've had enough races to see how the new regulations for this year have panned out, such as more development areas, shorter races and so on. From a neutral perspective, how do you think these changes have panned out as a whole and have certain changes been better or worse for the sport? JF: Honestly, I'm not sure that the new regulations have made all that much difference. Some teams seemed to have benefitted, whilst others not so much, but it appears as though a lot of teams have gone with similar designs, so we're not really seeing the variety that perhaps was intended. I certainly don't think they've been to the detriment to the sport, but there's still plenty to assess for the rest of the year. BD: I'll touch on the race distance first. I'll be the first to admit I wasn't keen when this was announced, but I have to hold my hands up and confess that for the most part it's worked bloody well. There have been some races - like Silverstone - that were just chaos and impossible to follow because too much was going on, but for the most part I think it's been quite a success. The tyres could probably be tweaked a little as we've often seen races have quite set stops per tyre compound, for example supers do 4 stops, softs do 3 and mediums 2, but not much else. In terms of the development changes, I think they've clearly closed the field up which is great for the spectators, but I think we also just need to be careful we're maintaining that balance between development meaning something and the field just being artificially closed up for added excitement, otherwise development could become somewhat pointless. BF: The changes altogether with the new structure of the car have improved the racing to a certain degree. Although I'd like to see more done about how we can adjust and tune our cars in line with the regulations before next year. AC: I don't want to sound like I'm dodging the question but really it'll take a season or two before we see the true effects of the rule changes. Overall though, the bottom line is the team that does the best job tends to win, so it's not like the rules are taking away from the sport or anything similar. LW: From a neutral perspective its been interesting. We are seeing some interesting tyre differences from race to race, and the shorter races seem to have invigorated the drivers in wheel to wheel combat. I think despite reducing the distance, the hard work behind the scenes to make the shorter races entertaining has paid off. R: Expectations for your team, predictions for the podium and do you think it will rain? LW: For our team we always have to be looking for points. We can only do our best to get as close as possible on pace and then hope for our rivals to slip up. The podium? It would be hard to bet against a Downton one-two at this point, but I reckon Addison or Forini will have something to say about it. Franklin did okay here a couple years ago. As for rain? We've seen the rain threaten a lot this year but not arrive, and I think that trend will continue! AC: Qualifying for the race is pretty unrealistic so a trouble free practice and Q1 is the most to ask for. Expecting another Downton win at the front. BF: Honestly from our end its about bettering our car ahead of the reg changes, any result is a bonus. Rain seems likely ahead of the weekend so I'll go for a mixed podium, but utlimately I think Powers may break the record BD: The rain seems to be very hit and miss so impossible to call, but like that other racing series we always seem to just manage to avoid it when the cars are on track. In terms of expectations, we want to score more points than our rivals and continue our run of form. The podium could be any mix of ourselves, Mathershaw, Franklin, Lopez and FIRST - I couldn't suggest which three. JF: For starters, we need to sort out our qualifying performance, and from there we just have to see where that leaves us for Sunday. But in general, we need to take some more risks. I think there's still 8 drivers within a shot of taking the spots on the podium, so it's anyone's guess right now, and that's if it remains dry. In the wet, who the hell knows. R: It's fair to say Downton are easily favourites among majority of you but as Bradley and Jamie mention, it could be anyone's race at the front. Thank you to each of you for joining us today and good luck out there. We'll be back for practice tomorrow, until then - goodnight! *The transcript of the press conference was initially lost by the FVA, but was found after the race and has been released.
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