Hello and good morning to all of those who are here for the Formula Virtual Press Conference, for the 2021 Turkish V-Prix at Istanbul Park! Joining us today to answer our questions are Rai Miyamoto of Japan Ocelot Racing, Alex Easton of Royal Phoenix Motorsport, Dylan Lopez of Lopez FV Team and Arthur Lapierre of Coca-Cola Porsche Team Mathershaw. Reporter: We'll kick things off with Phoenix's Alex - what a phenomenal performance from Xylander in the Emirates, extremely unlucky to lose a podium right at the end, but 4th is Phoenix's best result. What was the team's reaction afterwards?
Alex Easton: Dubai was such an unbelievable experience all round, to be honest, not only because we had a great race there but just the entire experience of Dubai in general! As for the race, yeah, Thierry drove absolutely unbelievably & to see one of our cars up there fighting for the podium positions with the top dogs in the sport was quite surreal actually! Sort of like when Carson did a similar job at Spa in our debut year. But I think the Emirates V-Prix was almost a culmination of everything finally coming together for young Thierry, he’s deserved that sort of result for a long time now but one thing or another has always got in the way, but he’s proving himself to any doubters now. The reaction, as I’m sure you can imagine, was total euphoria, especially as we had Sergio in a fine eighth as well! We celebrated like any team should celebrate their best ever result, it’s important to make the most out of moments like those, especially a team like us. Reporter: As was just mentioned, 4th is your team's best result so far, beating Alvarez's 5th from last year. Does that result in a way make up for the 4th place you lost at the very last corner back in Malaysia 2018? AE: Err, not really, no. I mean, in some ways, it puts it to bed slightly because we’ve finally got that fourth position, but if you go to anyone in the team who was there on that day - or Sergio - and mention “Malaysia 2018”, you’ll get a wince out of them! It’ll always hurt but those moments are what make races like Dubai even more special when your luck does hold! R: I suspect Dubai will hold a large place in Phoenix's history. We'll move over to our polesitters last time out, Mathershaw. Arthur, this has been a much better season for Simon so far in 2021 compared to last year with a pole and 3 podiums, as well as being ahead of his teammate currently. What clicked for him this year that didn't last season? Arthur Lapierre: I think to say it didn’t click is to underestimate the work and contribution he made to last year. He continued to drive well and lead the development direction for us as he has done for the best part of 10 years, but at times the results just didn’t quite materialise. This year he has continued on that route and has proven once again why he is a top driver. R: Across this season so far, you've had a handful of great results, but ultimately the team hasn't been able to keep up with Downton in the constructors' standings. What do you think Downton did better than you this year? AL: I think the resource Downton have invested for 2021 can’t be overstated, with their previous successes contributing to that. We’ve always approached the sport with a pragmatic approach, and we’re achieving a good level of success in preparation for continuing and building on that for the 2022 season. R: There'll be plenty of fans looking forward to seeing how Mathershaw respond next year. Dylan's looking a bit edgy so let's go to Lopez. You managed to get 7th and 10th last time out in Dubai. However, do you feel the car had the potential for a better result if you went for a harder tyre, given you were the only team in the top 10 on the supers? Dylan Lopez: Dubai was well and truly a step into the unknown for everybody, so we stand by our strategy calls last time out. Everybody saw how effective the hard compound was and I hope for the sake of the event that we don’t see 20+ drivers use that compound next visit, because it was much better race tyre compared to many other circuits we’ve visited this season. Hindsight’s a wonderful thing, but all in all it was a complete stab in the dark, and we’ll be prepared next time we visit. R: Hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing, thanks Dylan. Coming to our final attendee now, Rai from Ocelot. You've had some struggles in recent races, your last points coming in Spain. Despite that though you are still solidly in the battle for 6th. A couple of teams are involved in that fight, how important is it for Ocelot to beat them? Rai Miyamoto: It's important for sure to our long terms plans that we do whatever is possible to beat them, we just have to keep to our selves and do the best possible thing we can. R: Your team has had 4 retirements over the course of the last 3 races, 3 of which were engine related issue, that run also including a double retirement back in Germany. Has the engine's reliability become a concern for the team and Alfa Romeo recently? RM: Reliabilty has been a key problem for us, we are working on this behind the scenes to do the best we can to improve. There will be lots of focus on this and hopefully some luck landing our way too. R: Overall though, you've managed to hold your place in the midfield from last year, finishing 8th last year which is where you currently are, albeit with potential for 6th. Is this a sign that the team is now starting to find some consistency? RM: I would like to think so but the midfield does not satisfy us, as we are now a race wining team. We need to strive for more. We are humble in how its gone for us but you shouldn't become complacent. R: Fighting talk there, love that. Cheers Rai, I want to come back to Arthur quickly. As it stands, you hold 2nd in the standings but you've got both Lopez and Franklin within striking distance and just under half the season left. Which of those two teams are you more worried about being a threat to you? AL: Worried isn’t quite the right word. We have to keep tabs on the opposition for sure, but we achieve what we do through constant improvement of ourselves and our processes, not by blindly following and reacting to what others are doing. R: That's very true, sounds like a good approach. I wanted to touch base again with our Aussie here, as was just mentioned to Arthur, there's a very tight battle from 2nd to 4th including yourselves, along with Franklin and Mathershaw. You currently hold onto 3rd between the two - would you be satisfied if you held onto that? DL: We certainly feel like we’ve deserved our position in the Top 3 this season. Our recent form hasn’t quite been up to scratch, however we’d be bitterly disappointed at season’s end if we drop out of the Top 3. R: Kangur has been great so far this season, collecting a couple of podiums and still placing inside the top 3 in the drivers' standings. He's also still Lopez's only winner. How much of a loss would it be for you if he got called back up to Mathershaw? DL: Kangur’s a superb driver, in the past 2 seasons he’s taken the car and put it places many others thought it shouldn’t be. So losing somebody who is a huge part of our recent history would be a difficult pill to swallow, especially with Wagner retiring at the end of the year. R: Wow, some strong praise there for Kangur. Keeping on the topic of drivers, Alex, unfortunately, it's already been announced that your current two drivers won't be racing for Phoenix next year, having been snapped up by others. We've had no news since, is there any other announcements coming up regarding your line up next year? AE: I can’t give you too much as of right now, Scott, simply because we don’t know yet! We’ve been working hard on our recruitment & we’re almost finished with compiling our shortlist, then it’ll be a matter of going through that list & selecting the two who tick all the boxes for us, but we as a team need to tick all the boxes for them too. I’m sure you know that Phoenix tend to hire a little differently to most teams, not necessarily going for the ‘best in the business’, or ‘quick-fix’ type of drivers, but drivers who we know will fit perfectly into our little team. R: Sadly, that confirms that James Thompson is still a contender. Anyway, let's move on - in case you haven't noticed, we are in Turkey this weekend. It's set to be the 6th running of this V-Prix, so my question to you all is: is there any moment or race here that you remember the most? AE: I’m not too sure what year it was, maybe 2019? But funnily enough, the memory of Turkey that most stands out to me is Cheema - now of course Highwind - getting their first ever points in Formula Virtual with that stunning drive in the rain from Niko & his incredible defending from Jean at the end to seal it! That’ll always stick with me. AL: I think for us the Turkish V-Prix has been an event we have historically enjoyed, with three victories with Adrien as well as a total of five podiums, but I think our most abiding memory will always be winning the first race in the country en route to the 2016 crowns. DL: I remember last year we had a twilight race here which was pretty cool, but off the top of my head I can’t really remember any great highs for our team. I think our good friends at Mathershaw have enjoyed some success in the past here though! RM: The 'moment' for the Turkish V-Prix is yet to happen for us. R: Great answers, seems like this is still considered Mathershaw's turf. With that, let's move on to our last question. What are your expectations for you team this weekend and do you have any predictions? And for those of you feeling lucky, what tyre do you think most people will use? RM: Hopefully some points and tyres wise I couldn't say I have no idea what the mad guys are all thinking DL: We’d love to get back onto the podium. It’s been a few races now and we miss the taste of champagne. As for tyres, probably back to the usual softer compounds doing the work. AL: Well, due to the regulations we start at the back, so expectations are naturally low… AE: The only personal expectations that we have are to be on the fringes of the points again, but that really heavily depends on how our quali goes, of course. I think you’d be a fool to bet against Nathaniel & Downton, but the guys behind will be hungrier than ever to halt his dominant run! As for tyres, I have absolutely no idea what the majority will go for! We’ll be going softer this weekend but it’s great that any of the four compounds could be a genuinely good strategy. R: And with that, we'll call it a day. Thanks to our attending team principals and thank you for tuning in today. FV will be back shortly with practice, but until then, take care and goodbye!
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