Good morning and welcome to Istanbul, Turkey for the Team Representatives’ Thursday press conference ahead of this weekend’s Turkish V-Prix – round nine of the 2022 Formula Virtual World Championship. Joining us today, from left to right, are; Adam Blocker of FIRST Motorsport, Bradley Downton of Downton FV Team, Ahmed Cheema from Highwind FV Racing, and Adrian Arnello from Arnello Milner & Ronson Autosport. Welcome gentlemen. Scott Parkin – FVTV: Starting with you today, Bradley. It seems to always pour when it rains for Downton and the race in Brno was certainly one to forget, with a double retirement providing a huge blow to you in both championships. After a race like that, how easy or difficult do you think it will be to immediately bounce back here in Istanbul? Bradley Downton: It's certainly rough when we get a result like we did in Brno, but if anything it just inspires the team more and makes us even more keen to get back to the race track and do a quality job, to try and put something positive between us and the disappointment. So in terms of how it will be as a team to bounce back, it'll be easy enough - they're consummate professionals. We have to acknowledge however that Mathershaw look incredibly strong, and we're probably now at the point where beating them is unlikely without an error from them, so in terms of race results, bouncing back might not be that straight forwards. SP – FVTV: Of course, well, best of luck to you here! Adrian, an excellent race from Finn and Oleksandr saw AMR score seven points with a double points finish, the team’s first since Beyer and Will Hoskins in China 2017. Can you tell us just how much that means to yourself and the entire team? Adrian Arnello: It's incredible. Honestly incredible. We have worked so hard for so long, and a payoff like this is mighty for our team! We partied hard in Brno that night, that's for sure! I think we even ran a pub out of beer! Imagine that, in the beer capital! SP – FVTV: That was an incredible story, brilliant stuff! Adam, a great call from the team to put Felix on the hard tyres in Brno resulted in two crucial points for the team. Having said that, it does seem as though the car has improved significantly since the start of the season, are the team feeling much more comfortable with the performance now? Adam Blocker: Thanks! Yeah that was definitely the right call. I think overall we’ve picked up a good amount of speed since the start of the season but so have many of our rivals in the midfield like Arrow, North Star, and AMR. SP – FVTV: Okay, coming to you now Ahmed. The last race before the mid-season break threw up an incredibly unfortunate double engine failure for Thierry and Alexander. Was it the same issue for both cars that caused the failures? Ahmed Cheema: Not quite, Alexander had a spark plug issue, so he was down to a V11, then a couple more of them went before he eventually pulled over - that was why he was able to carry on for a while, but unfortunately getting to the end was too tough. Thierry's crankshaft snapped on the other hand, so it was pretty much an immediate game over. Both engines have been returned to Alfa for forensics, in the meantime we've reverted to a slightly older specification so hopefully we shouldn't have issues. SP – FVTV: Fingers crossed that’s the case. Okay, we’ll do the Fan Questions now, the first one here is for you, Adam. “Yet another engine failure last race saw Klien retire prematurely after being just behind Perez. Do you think he would’ve scored his first points in FV otherwise?” AB: Last week I think he was on course for P10 or P11. Similarly he was on for a good result/points at Australia before having issues - there’s been a few times he’s gotten unlucky this season. Hopefully he gets the points he deserves here in the second half of this season. SP – FVTV: He certainly deserves a good result soon. Okay, next one is for you Bradley. “Nathaniel Powers, who of course won so much during his time at Downton, will sit out this weekend after Lucas missed the strategy deadline. How sad is it to see Nathaniel lose his 100% record at no fault of his own?” BD: It's a huge shame, and I know Nathaniel is personally gutted that things have turned out this way. Obviously we have a fairly close relationship with Lucas, but we're not entirely sure what is going on at the team so can't feed any further details - and from our conversations Nathaniel doesn't appear to have a much clearer picture either, so yeah - it's just sad. Not only for Nathaniel but the team too. They had such a promising start to the season and it all just seems to be falling apart. SP – FVTV: It is indeed a sad situation, hopefully Lucas are back for the next race. Okay, Ahmed; “Your driver, Alexander McLaughlin, has been signed by Porsche for 2023 following his debut in the Czech Republic. After working with Alexander this season so far, can you enlighten us on the sort of driver Porsche have got themselves to line up alongside Enrique Ruiz?” AC: Look, to be brutally honest, all I can say is Ruiz is going to get his ass handed to him. SP – FVTV: Laughing Well, there you have it, Ahmed has made the first bold prediction for 2023! Final Fan Question now for Adrian. “It’s been announced in the last few weeks that your Deputy Team Principal, Alex Tunnicliffe, will be entering Formula Virtual with his own team next season. Will AMR be looking for someone to fill the upcoming vacant position?” AA: We're absolutely ecstatic that Alex will be joining the grid, and we look forward to racing alongside them! For now we are holding steady but there's always a possibility of taking on another talented mate as we weigh up options. SP – FVTV: The Team Representatives will now take questions from the assembled media. Rebecca Parnell – XtremeV: Ahmed, we had the unfortunate news in the run up to Brno that Highwind will be leaving Formula Virtual at the end of this season. What does this mean for yourself and all the staff back in Dublin? Will the team completely close or is there still a future in other forms of Virtual Motorsport? AC: Well, for me, it means for me that I won't be answering your questions for much longer, so get them all out now. For the team? We've started a full programme to land all of our staff jobs - mainly in the motorsport sector, but elsewhere as well. 70% of the workforce are in that - the rest have their own plans or are looking at retirement. For the rest, we're making good headway on securing their futures - it's the least we could do for their commitment over the last 4 years. The team will close completely - John [Doe, CEO] left it up to Kimi [Young, TD] and I since we started this all up and we agreed that we want to keep our achievements with us. I suppose if someone comes along and calls their team Highwind, I won't be assed chasing after them but they'll be no more Highwinding from our side. Edgardo Agretha – Play Virtual: Congratulations on the result last race, Adrian! The fantastic points haul has lifted AMR into ninth in the championship and out of Pre-Qualifying for the first time this season. What difference will it make to not have to contend with the perils of the short Saturday morning elimination session? AA: It's a huge psychological shift. We go from that feeling of unease of not making the cut, to being able to just focus on how high we can qualify. Its the little wins that count at the moment given how long and hard we've fought for decent stuff! Kurt West – FOX: Adam, the team finished in a points scoring position in the last race but still dropped into the elimination session for this race. How will you approach the weekend with this extra hurdle? AB: This weekend I think we got lucky because Lucas missed the strategy deadline and are excluded from the weekend, so everyone within 102% will qualify. On weekends in the future the main goal will be to play it safe in the pre qual session because we have enough pace to easily make the field everywhere. Aside from that, I think the main thing we are doing is pushing even harder for points so we can get out of the pre-qualifying situation. Hugues Antoinette – Canal+: Bradley, the lead of the Constructors’ Championship now rests with Porsche Mathershaw with 23 points the deficit. With the rivals having the fastest car and the mighty Enrique Ruiz at his best, what can your team do to stop them walking away with both titles? BD: I'd love to sit here and say we'll take the fight to them, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you guys and the fans. I think the battle is largely out of our hands now. The team are doing an outstanding job, but in terms of car performance we've been playing catch-up since day one, and it's incredibly difficult to catch a team up in this series that is throwing everything - including the kitchen sink - at this season before they depart at the end of the year. We're not going to run our team into financial ruin and risk several years of lower performance just to fight a fight that is very much against us. So in short, we can do no more. We can only rely on luck, but that also seems to be against us so far this season. Neil Allenby – FVTV: My question is to all of you. In the last week, the FVA have released a new set of financial regulations, which are set to commence next season. What are your thoughts on the different aspects of these new rules and how do you think the changes will affect the series? AC: I don't like the new rules but they aren't my problem either, unless aliens come down and force me to stay in FV. AA: I don't think it'll change much, but its early days for sure. We just need to wait and see how it pans out. AB: I think there are pros and cons of it but I won’t be too sure how I like it until we do a couple seasons with it and figure out all of the fine details in it. Overall to me on the surface I don’t have a problem with it either way. I like the strategy of having driver and car funding from the same budget, but at the same time this should lead to less drivers being dropped unfairly from FV and it should keep the best drivers in the series. I think that’s the goal of the change and I’m looking forward to that part of it. BD: The new rules are interesting for sure. Obviously there was quite a lot announced to various different aspects of the regulations, and I think all will have an effect, but on the base of things I think they look mostly positive. However, we won't know how things play out until we get a few seasons into them. They seem to be a good step forwards however. I think it will make the driver market more exciting definitely. SP – FVTV: Okay, excellent, final question now to everyone. Over the mid-season break, the FVA have announced that the Porsche team will be led by Sven Schubert from next season onwards, as well as revealing the identity of one of the new teams for next season; Toyota Kowhai Racing, headed by Alex Tunnicliffe. What are your thoughts on the future of Porsche under Sven and the new Kowhai entry? BD: I've got to know Sven a little from his role within Phoenix, and he seems like an incredibly intelligent person. I have no doubt whatsoever that Porsche have chosen absolutely the best guy they could for the role. As for Kowhai, it's fantastic to finally see them able to make the step up to Formula Virtual. Alex has been a mainstay of the paddock for a number of years now and it's great to see him and the team finally get the opportunity. AC: I talk to Alex [Easton] far more than is good for my health and from I've heard from him about Sven - as Phoenix's deputy - Porsche are going to be just fine under their new management. He's got big shoes to fill but the guy clearly knows his stuff, he's got enthusiasm as well and clearly a good eye for drivers so my money would be on Sven being one to watch for the future. I wouldn't same I'm close to Alex T per say, but whenever I've met him in the paddock he's a top notch guy, and the fact he's been around for ages speaks volumes about his passion for the series. Plus, I doubt its coincidence that AMR are having their best year in ages since they got him as deputy. I believe Arrow were the last new team so it'll be cool to see how Kōwhai do, wish them the best of luck. AA: We absolutely embrace them both and wish them all the best in the championship! New faces, many places, let's go! AB: I think it’s cool that Porsche will continue in FV, we will have to wait to see what Sven has envisioned for the team before I really have many thoughts on it. In general between them and Kowhai it’s great to see fresh blood get into the sport, we’ve been stagnant for a few years in terms of team managers, with a lot of people waiting on the sidelines - a good problem to have. SP – FVTV: Thank you very much everyone, some great questions and answers today as always. Make sure you join us tomorrow for Friday Practice ahead of the Turkish V-Prix!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
|