Hello, and welcome to the very first press conference for the 2021 season! We'll be kicking things off this year in Japan. I'm joined today - from left to right - by Rai Miyamoto of Ocelot Japan Racing, Bradley Downton of Downton FV Team, and Arthur Lapierre of Coca-Cola Porsche Team Mathershaw all on the top row, with Dylan Lopez of Lopez FV Team and Ben Farrell of Arrow Mechanics. Thankyou for coming everyone!
Scott Parkin - FVTV: Let's kick things off with a question for Rai. Last year was your first season without Puccio Giodano since he first joined your ranks back in 2016. How much does it mean to have him back, especially after an incredibly strong season last year? Rai Miyamoto: It’s fantastic to have Puccio again, we were thrilled when we came to a deal for Puccio, as we know the the type of talent he is. We are hoping he can bring that 2018 form again for this season and we can build on 2020. SP - FVTV: It's true that Puccio, or 'Poochy' has proven himself an incredible talent year after year! Now then, let's move to Bradley. You enter 2021 as the joint most successful team in FV history, with your lead driver being the most successful driver in FV history. It's only natural to assume at this point that anything less than victory is considered a disappointment, so do you think you can equal Franklin's record of three consecutive titles? Bradley Downton: Can I firstly just clarify that we don't have a lead driver within the team, both drivers are completely equal. In response to your question, that is certainly our aim. However, testing has shown that a number of teams are very close at the front this season, and we have definitely had some homework to do. I'm confident that our guys and girls can pull back any deficit we may have however, so we'll certainly be striving for another pair of titles this season, but we'll have to see where we stack up against everyone else once the pace gets laid bare in qualifying. SP - FVTV: It certainly seems like a lot of teams are looking to make their step forward this year with the rule changes. Now let's jump to Dylan; you kicked off 2020 with a win, your very first win and at this circuit no less. However, it was really all downhill from there. By now that is just considered the Lopez way, but is 2021 the year you keep your foot on the throttle and prove everybody wrong? Dylan Lopez: That'd be ideal wouldn't it? We'd love to have the facilities and the budget of the big teams and really put our car where we want it to be week in, week out. That made last year's victory even more special. We're pushing to become the best versions of ourselves as we can be. Consistency and better results will come in due course. SP - FVTV: I suppose good things come to those who wait. This next one is for Ben Farrell. You had what was widely regarded as a successful debut season in FV, qualifying with at least one car at all but five races. How do you look to build on that success in 2021, after a quietly promising testing? Ben Farrell: Thanks for the question, I guess we always of course look to expand on where we were last year, it is always debatable whether or not that was a good season err- from the point of view of seeing Westwood and Franklin out-develop us during the course of the season. However, we come to the first race of the season hoping that the car shows us the data that we saw from it during pre-season testing, we decided to keep a little of our pace underneath the rug undoubtedly like every other team on the grid except meteor.. hah... so hopefully that data we saw translates into a bit of pace to make it exciting for us and the fans this year. SP - FVTV: Well I'm sure plenty of fans are excited to see what you do going forward. Now then Arthur, Robert Mathershaw has downplayed the expectations the team have for 2021, is it true you're expecting to struggle or do you still believe you can maintain your record of being the only team to acheive a top three constuctor's finish every season? Arthur Lapierre: Struggle is a relative term, but if you consider our aforementioned record then I’d say we're going to struggle. To be frank, I think top three will be nearly impossible, but with the guys we have around us in the team, I'm confident that we can maximise our performance to the best of our capabilities and capitalise on the chances that do come our way. SP - FVTV: With an organisation such as yourselves, I think we'd all be surprised if you weren't able to extract the maximum from your car and your team! Ben again, with Takahashi having only a year under his belt, and Brynildsen being given his debut in FV, are you at all worried about how such a young and inexperienced line-up will cope both in terms of development and performance? BF: In terms of development , we still have our good partner Rodolfo, who helps massively on the er- setup and research elements of the car, influencing our decision to mirror North Star and Franklin with the S-Ducts on the nose in order to help us get a bit of an edge on aerodynamic performance compared to the teams around us, onto performance and which teams we actually think are the ones around us, we cannot be sure for now, I have watched Zander for a while now in my past year with the team and have seen something quite special. I think the media questioned us last year when we signed Yakumi, which I think speaks for itself by the end of last year. So err-- we are not concerned in terms of performance, for now we have what we have and we need to give them a car capable of performances and race results, as well as making or even escaping the Pre-Qualifying battle, which we failed to do last year... SP - FVTV: Seems like you've got some steady and achievable goals. Ok Dylan, get ready for another question. With Kangur surely not at Lopez forever and Wagner having an abysmal 2020 campaign, combined with Max Meyer landing a drive on loan and Raj Sharma performing well in testing and lower formulae, how much pressure is there on the former world champion to perform this season in order to retain his drive moving forward? DL: I disagree that Wagner had an "abysmal" season, per se. The cards just never really seemed to fall his way when we had a car that was capable of fighting for wins and podiums. I believe Wags also won the qualifying battle with Allar, and we all know what he's capable of as the only driver on the grid to beat Enrique Ruiz in equal cars. We're also very happy with both Meyer and Sharma and how they're developing. It's a big season for Maxy over at AMR, and even though he isn't driving with us right now, and Rajjy Boy certainly raised a few eyebrows on Day 2 in Portugal. Both the pair of them and Wags all know how the next handful of years should pan out. So to answer your question, there's absolutely zero pressure on Elroy to keep his seat in the immediate future. It's not like we had to fight like hell to keep his services this season either. SP - FVTV: Interesting stuff, thanks! Ok back to Bradley, Nathaniel Powers has been proving year after year that he can continuously deliver the goods, with Klaas losing out over the course of the year three of the four times he's faced off against Powers. With Zettici looking rapid in the lower ranks, and expected to perform strongly in his final season of VWRS, surely 2021 is crunch time for Klaas in the intra-team battle at Downton? BD: At present, we are very happy with Nathaniel and Klaas. They get on well and push each other - and the team - to be better all the time. It's a great combination and clearly a winning formula, so why is there any need to change it? Matteo however certainly looks like a huge talent for sure and we can guarantee he will be in Formula Virtual in 2022. He's making a strong case for that debut to be with us, but we will not make any rash decisions. Every option will be carefully calculated and we will do whatever is best for the team and the future. SP - FVTV: Well we look forward to seeing who he does make that debut with! Over now to Rai again, despite finishing 8th, 2020 was your second best season to date, behind the top three success of your 2018 campaign. Should we expect to see Ocelot continue to grow forwards in a more consistent manner? RM: We will need to focus on ourselves rather than others in regards to improving and being more consistent, we’ll have to take it one at a time and see where we are come seasons end. SP - FVTV: Sounds like a completely different approach to the Ocelot of old! Arthur again, 2020 was viewed by some as an opportunity lost for Porsche and Mathershaw. Do you feel the same way, or is it viewed as successful foundation to build on for this partnership? AL: Yes - I think last year was a highly successful foundation, the first year of any new manufacturer in a series is a big challenge so five race victories an excellent record to finish with. However this year looks set to be tougher, it's all about learning the new regulations we have in place to move forward into 2022 and mount a sustainable title challenge. SP - FVTV: It certainly is a strong way to introduce yourselves to the sport. Speaking of those rule changes, you've given me the perfect segue into a question I have for all of you! Going left to right on the top row and then the bottom, 2021 marks a huge rule change in FV, the first big shakeup since 2018. How excited are you for this next era of change, both from the perspective of a team principal, and as a fan of the sport? RM: It’s exciting to see how wacky things may become if st all with the new rules now. Everyone is going in slightly blind and it’ll be fun for us and viewers of course! BD: As a team principal, not massively excited! But I suppose that is to be expected when we were really the leading team during the last set of regulations. In all honesty though, it is very good for the sport. We now have more technical freedom which is really testing our engineers, but it's been a breath of fresh of air for them. I think it's also going to shake things up in the order, which will be great for the fans. In terms of some of the other sporting changes, I can't say I'm the biggest fan - but I've already made that known publicly. However those are the rules that have been set and it is our job to make the best of them. I certainly feel it will take me a while at least to get used to a shorter race distance! AL: I think it's highly exciting. If you look from my point of view as team principal it's different from previous seasons, but it's a new challenge compared to the previous years, but we'll embrace and it will bring out the best in the team in the long run. As a racing fan, new rules are always an exciting and intriguing prospect, and I think this will bring the field together like we've not really seen before. DL: Our boys in the factory have been grinning from ear to ear and having a blast trying to build a car with the new regulations. I don't think some teams showed all of their cards at testing in Estoril either, so as a fan I'm as excited as the next man to see just how the pecking order shapes out when we get to Japan, just as long as we're where we want to be. BF: These rule developments are as new to us as everyone else, however I don't think we will experience as much of a change from normal as the other teams which will hopefully give us an advantage during the race, as we already had limited data on race strategies which are now less accurate compared to last year, of course we hope that these shortened races can give us more of a chance to maintain positions to the quicker cars around us which would be nice, but for now our focus is making the race and then going from there. Thanks. SP - FVTV: It's certainly going to be new to everyone! Now then, I believe we have a couple of fan questions... Let's see here... First one is directed to Dylan. "You won here last year but never won again. You and your team failed dramatically in living up to that early result and ended up finishing the year off poorly. What lessons can you take from last year and can Lopez continue good results if they have a good car right off the bat". DL: We'll just try to be better next time. That's all. SP - FVTV: Ok then, let's see the next one. This one is addressed to one Bradley Downton! "Your team is known for starting the season off poor. This time will it change? Is it correct that your team is scared of the competitors this year?" BD: It's true we've never won the opening race of the season but I think 'poor' is a little harsh. We've featured on the podium in the opening race of each of the last three seasons. If that's poor, then the other ten plus teams behind us might as well pack up and go home! As I said earlier, this pre-season has been difficult to read with a number of teams showing strong pace. As it stands, we do not believe we have the quickest car arriving in Japan, but I'm not going to sit here and say either 'we will win in Japan' or 'we definitely won't win in Japan', because we simply don't know. Our aim will be strong points and maximising our result to look at the bigger picture of the Championship, same as ever. In terms of being scared? Absolutely not. We've never scared of competition. It's competition that drives us on to perform at even higher levels, so we welcome it. If anyone is going to be scared, our rivals should be. I know what this team can do when up against it. SP - FVTV: Wow, fighting talk there! I suppose you do have the championships to back it up. Anyway, we've reached our final question to all of you, but slightly different to the usual. Can you all please make any prediction for the 2021 season? Anything you can think of related to FV! We'll go in the reverse order to the previous open question. BF: In terms of performance I can say for sure Jaguar and Ingram have shown us some impressive data over the course of the pre-season, so you might be wise to keep an eye out for them. DL: I'm gonna go into bat for a little bit of Aussie patriotism, and say that our friends at AMR will get on the podium this year, and that Nick Addison will win the title. AL: There are going to be six race winners this year. Don’t ask me who for definite, but if I had to guess, I’d say Powers and van Snelheid, Addison, Pérez, then maybe Forini and a more surprising winner - let’s say Enrique or Adrien as a hope! Oh, and Lilly will find a way to get thrown out of the commentary booth I’m sure! BD: Crikey, that's an ask. I think testing showed we're in for a very open season, so any predictions are very hard to judge. Erm, I will say that all bar one team will score points. I'll leave it to your imagination as to which team that one will be... RM: There will be an Australian Winner This Season! SP - FVTV: These should be fun to look back on in six months! Thankyou very much for your time all of you, and thankyou for listening in at home. Nothing left now until the race weekend gets well underway, so we hope you'll join us for coverage of free practice tomorrow. In the meantime, see you on the grid!
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