In the aftermath of the United States V-Prix, Nick Forrest has launched several scathing remarks about the strategy of FIRST Motorsport, along with the actions of their two drivers, Oleksandr Zozulya and Arden Hutchinson, during the race. The North Star Racing team principal was not short of words when addressing the media in the post-race press pit. "It was disgraceful, is what it was, absolutely appalling," he said. "Earlier in the week, FIRST mentioned us closing in on them for 5th in the standings, and we were expecting a fair fight between the two of us, but it's patently obvious now they don't have any intention of that at all."
Both North Star drivers were involved in incidents during the race, both of which are currently under investigation by Formula Virtual stewards. Judson Sikes was involved in a spin with Hutchinson at Turn 4, while Karl Beckenbauer was collected by the Ocelot of Jochem Van Snelheid as the Dutchman exited the pit lane. Forrest suggested, however, that Beckenbauer's incident stemmed from being held up by Zozulya. "We'd all three made our first stops, Karl and the Downtons," he explained, "we'd come out ahead, Karl was in a net lead, and when we caught Zozulya, he was blocking Karl like mad, we were losing seconds every lap. Both Downtons jumped us, Zozulya let the pair of them past immediately, and then carried on blocking Karl." "We were only able to get back up to speed once he came in to pit, and that was after at least six laps," he elaborated. "If Zozulya hadn't been blocking Karl to the extent that he was, Karl wouldn't have been in that position when Jochem came out of the pits, and there wouldn't have been the contact." Talking then moved on to the subsequent collision between Sikes and Hutchinson. "I don't think there's any question about that one," Forrest commented. "Arden lost the place, and rather than race for it, he decides he's going to crash into Judson instead. Just plain drive into the back of him at the very next corner, and try to take him out." Journalists were skeptical of claims that the contact was deliberate, but Forrest remained adamant. "He turns left. I've seen the replay, they're going into a right-hand corner, and he turns left. He was trying to hit him!" The Scot then turned his attention to the FIRST team itself. "This is what they do, they're so happy to dance around the rules when they can," he continued. "The second they got the development points for keeping Bacon on, he was out the door. They put Zozulya in the seat before the FV2 season had even started, but they were somehow able to run him in both seasons despite that being illegal - I don't know either. One of their cars lost a rear wing back in Germany, and then stayed out, so other cars were tripping all over it, messing their races up. Any chance they get, they'll try and screw their way to an advantage, and that's exactly what we just saw." When asked if he still believed the American outfit could be caught, Forrest remained cautiously optimistic. "We've seen the kind of tricks they're willing to pull, but North Star are definitely the better team, and we're just gonna outrace them. Gloves are off now."
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