Shortly after yesterday’s V-Prix in Hockenheim, in which Sergio Alvarez scored Phoenix’s fourth point of the season, a reporter from FVTV caught up with Phoenix team principal Alex Easton. FVTV: Hi Alex, thanks for taking a minute to talk to us. First of all, great race and congratulations on scoring another point, that could prove crucial in the battle in the Constructors’ standings couldn’t it? Alex Easton: Nice one, cheers! Yeah, absolutely, we’re buzzing with Sergio securing tenth today. He really was made to work hard for it by Elroy in the first half of the race, then towards the end he had Judson flying behind him, but thankfully he kept his nerve. Of course, we were aided massively by the fact that both of the Downton guys had their issues so that elevated us up two places, but you’ve got to take these opportunities, haven’t you? The aim for us is to double our points tally in the second half of the season. It’s gonna be really tough as the teams who are generally the six fastest seem to have really decent reliability this season, but you’ve got to have a target, and that’s ours. FVTV: You mentioned Alvarez keeping his cool there, can you shed any light on where he’ll be racing next season? AE: As of right now, absolutely nothing is confirmed for Sergio. He’s had a wonderful first half-season of his Formula Virtual career, in the second half we’ll be expecting him to keep on improving and giving us something to think about for next season. Sergio knows what he has to do to be driving here next season but, as I’ve discussed with him, he might even get an opportunity higher up the grid if he shines like we all know he can until the chequered flag in Brazil. FVTV: How is the partnership between him and Davenport working out? Do they get along? AE: If you ask any of the other eleven team principals that question about their drivers, I’m sure most would say yeah they’re getting along, even if they weren’t, but no seriously Carson and Sergio work brilliantly together. More often than not they seem to find themselves racing on track for roughly the same position, which shows how evenly matched they are, and they race each other hard! But they know where the line is and not to cross that line, we can’t afford double retirements! Away from the track they spend quite a lot of time together during race weekends, along with James, and that really helps the whole garage feel unified to be honest. The team spirit here is incredible, and always will be. FVTV: Where do you think Davenport would have finished had he not come across Halvosen in the pitlane, then had his crash later on? AE: Well, you just never know d’you really? I reckon the absolute highest we could’ve got was ninth ahead of Mattson who, by the way, had such a good race today. Jean just quietly scythed through everyone and seemed to suddenly appear in the points! But yeah, as far as Carson’s concerned, ninth maximum I’d say, it was a tough race for him really after a great qualifying lap. FVTV: Some people have remarked on Phoenix punching above your weight and have suggested that you’ve put everything into this season’s car and might struggle next season, given the lack of resources.. can you comment at all on that? AE: Unfortunately, yeah, obviously I really can’t comment too much on that. But what I will say is; we’d be massive fools if we weren’t planning ahead for next season, and even thinking about 2020! I think we, like every other team, has a plan set out and so far things are going massively better than anticipated, long may it continue! FVTV: Okay last question before I let you get away Alex; there’ve been plenty of rumours circling recently to do with engine partnerships next season, most notably Rai Miyamoto stating that Alfa engines would be available to another team. Where do Phoenix stand regarding 2019 engines? AE: Funnily enough, only recently have we, along with Judd, made the decision to split after this season. Well.. I hate using the word ‘split’, it’s more of a parting of ways. Judd have produced a great little engine at such short notice for us in our debut season, but they have their own ventures that they want to move into in the future and we feel that we need an engine supplier to be one hundred percent focussed on Formula Virtual, y’know? FVTV: Oh okay! So, has a deal been agreed with a new engine supplier? AE: As of yet, no. We’ve got options on the table and we want to make sure we make the right decision, not only for us but for the potential engine supplier too! We don’t want to just sponge off of someone, we want to create a real partnership that works well for all parties involved. FVTV: Can we expect any sort of announcement date? AE: We aren’t in any rush to actually announce anything to be honest, but we’re hoping to have a contract signed anywhere between the Slovakian and Belgian V-Prix. I hope that gives you a little bit to go off! FVTV: Well, thank you for your time Alex! I personally can’t wait to see what develops over the next month or so! AE: No worries mate, take care! Comments are closed.
|
|