2021 marked a new dawn for our young racing team - a management change and complete overhaul of our brand. There has been low points and high points across the board, as we've extended our operations across FV, eV and endurance racing. So join us as we reflect back on this year, look to the future and make some announcements. Formula VirtualHighwind FV Racing - 15th - 0 points We're not one to chew our words, and our FV season was a massive disappointment for us. To take you back about a year ago - Nic Morley announced a raft of technical regulation changes, with modified cars and new development areas. Of course, any radical changes lead to an opportunity to make a massive leap up the order. Unfortunately, the opposite happened to us. But, it's not all doom and gloom. As a certain Mr. Young alluded to when talking to FVTV, lessons have been learned. We also managed to beat Scuderia Meteor when it came to making the races - including some appearances later on in the year, a testament to our perseverance. Not to mention a brief fight between Niko and the Mathershaw cars in USA... kind of. After this year we - sadly - say goodbye to our drivers (more on that later), but we say hello to some of the brightest young stars in racing. Daniel Zientek, VERS champion on debut, a top driver throughout his tier 2 career and vice-champion in VWRS last year: watch out for the Pole next year. Alongside him, former Mathershaw stalwart and Phoenix's hero last year, Theirry Xylander, with a pole position and oh-so-close 4th under his belt as he joins us. 2021 may have been dark, but 2022 looks bright. John Doe, Highwind CEO: "Next year is a critical time for Highwind - FV is obviously our main concern. We're working towards repairing the damage from this year, and while we aren't expecting miracles in 2022, nothing below 12th will do - our performance next year will define this team's future. But I'm confident we can reach our goal. We stood strong through this and with fresh changes next year, we can push forward to more." eVirtual(After 2 rounds) Highwind Electric Racing - 5th - 15 points - 1 podium After a struggle in the last eVirtual season, it has been an incredible turnaround in our electric racing fortunes. A factory has been built in New Zealand specifically for our eV operations and a separate fraction of our team now works specifically in this category - though still work in harmony with our FV side to ensure both teams work at the highest level possible. Benji Rhodes, a former stock car driver from South Africa, now leads the eV team. Before we go onto the season, let's get an announcement out of the way. Unfortunately, Cosworth will leave eVirtual after this year. Having been fantastic partners with us in developing a new electric motor for this season, they have been very happy with the first two races but feel that electric racing doesn't slot into their future plans. However, on a positive note, we have had interest from several other manufacturers and hope to confirm one after the season. Back on track, things started off slowly - a good result was on the cards in Australia until Lewis Ellington hit the barriers. But in China, we reached a huge landmark, collecting our first podium in the series. It was thanks to some fantastic driving from Stefan Klien, dispatching his rivals ruthlessly at the end to claw his way up to third and 15 points. Now out of Q1, it looks like our eV team could be in for a fruitful year. Next season Klien won't be with us, as he goes on to bigger and better things at FIRST in FV - we wish him the best of luck with that and hope we get some more success together. Hal Reisiger, Cosworth CEO: "While the end result in Australia was disappointing, the pace there was promising and you saw just how good the car was in China. The power output has exceeded our targets and Highwind's car has worked in tandem with it perfectly. While we may be spliting next year, we nevertheless will give this season our all - Cosworth will be leaving on a high." VWRSHenri Ruotsalainen - Nebula Powerteam - 7th - Rookie Champion - 1 win - 1 pole - 135 points It's not really unknown news at this point - Mr. Henri Ruotsey is a future star. Fresh off 3rd on debut in VERS, before hitting VARS for a Gayle sized 6 last year, Henri was given the go ahead to step up to VWRS, driving for Nebula Powerteam. Needless to say, it went pretty well. Consistency was the name of the game - 14 top 8 finishes from 24 races speaks enough in itself. Ruotsey was the top placed rookie no fewer than 5 times - joint highest with Ott Eskola and Spencer James. All this combined to bring Henri 7th place in the standings, just behind Eskola, and he was crowned the rookie champion to top it off. The single podium was perhaps Henri's best drive of his career, a dominant lights to flag win from pole in Brazil, race 2 - in a race drenched with rain, he drove like a driver with years of experience. It's his 3rd win in the wet in single seaters, further proving his special touch in the rain - his 4th place in the US, race 2 is his "worst" result in a wet race. Yeah. As has been announced, our flying Finn is sticking with Nebula, who have been fantastic in supporting him. The obvious aim would be for Ruotsey to continue his duels with Eskola and James next year - but it's worth mentioning that he was only a handful of points behind the highest driver in the standings who will return next year. We shall have to wait to see if a title push materialises, but all of us here at Highwind fully believe Henri can. Henri Ruotsalainen, Highwind junior driver: "It's still hasn't really sunk in yet, how everything has gone so far. I struggle at times, couple of retirements, so I still need to improve. But Nebula helped me through that and the win in Brazil felt amazing. Rookie champion is great but Ott did better than me still, he deserved it more - I hope to return the favour. Highwind put a lot of faith in me and I want to make them proud." Virtual 24 Hours#1 Campos Motorsport - Campos, Mattson, Milkovich - Prototype Pro - 1st #49 Highwind Endurance Racing - Cheema, Doe, Young - Prototype Am - 5th #71 Highwind Endurance Racing - McLaughlin, Zientek, Ruotsalainen - GT-LM - 8th #99 Highwind Endurance Racing - Ellington, Oliversson, Miyamoto - GT-D - 2nd If the 2020 Virtual 24 Hour race around the Nurburgring was brilliant, this year's edition in Daytona was exemplary - both for us and in general. This year saw 3 cars fielded by Highwind - one in Proto-Am, where Ahmed, John and Kimi all went together to tackle the 24 hour event as the first ever fully human amateur line-up in a Ligier designed car powered by an Alfa. The #71 car from last year returned for the new GT-LM class, along with a new #99 car for GT-D - both using a Ferrari 488 car. Alex and Daniel made an early debut alongside Ruotsey in the #71, while Lewis similarly joined us before eV started in #99, joined by junior driver Erik Oliversson and a certain Rai Miyamoto. What's more, the greatest racing team ever were back - Campos Motorsport, with Diego, Jean and Nikolai, backed by ourselves and the other greatest racing team ever, Ingram. It started off poorly for Campos, but Jean banged in a great lap to place the car on the front row. When the likes of Vasquez and Powers fell sideways, it was Campos v Nakley and Porsche. Despite pressure on restarts, the three drivers drove amazingly, defending for their lives. It came down to a sprint to the line with Diego at the wheel - he kept his head, batted down Hutchinson and crossed the line for a historical win. In P-Am, the Highwind ran into early issues after being tagged from behind, but our three guys got their heads down and by the end, dragged us well ahead of the GT classes, a solid return after that major set back. The #71 car was up at the front for a long time, fighting for the podium. Several FCYs gave it a chance to power to the lead of the class, until unfortunately an incident ruled it out of contention. Down in GT-D, the #99 was going great guns, Ellington leading the way for most of the part. The late FCY however hampered the car with Rai running, and it lost out to Downton for the win - a nevertheless strong stint from the Ocelot manager meant 2nd was still a fine reward. It was a race of plenty ups and downs, and it was a shame not to come away with a win, but taking the first podium ever for the Highwind name was a fantastic achievement by Lewis, Erik and Rai. The GT-LM boys had a lot to be proud of, while it was a brilliant experience for Ahmed, John and Kimi. And of course, who wasn't cheering in our garage when Diego crossed the line? Ahmed Cheema, Highwind team principal: "After missing out on the podium last year, it was great to see the #99 get 2nd, while Alex and Daniel drove exceptionally well. It was awesome to drive alongside Doe and Kimi, I'm tired as hell but it was worth it, we kept on encouraging each other and now we are down in history - it's a niche way to do that but hey, we're the first ever fully amateur line-up. And I'm proud of Diego, Nikolai and Jean's achievement, they really deserved it." 2022 - what's next?As John has alluded to, Highwind will be aiming for 12th or higher next year in FV - a tough target after this year, but certainly achievable for us. The team will be pushing harder than ever - with Daniel and Thierry leading the charge. Sebastian and Alexander will be staying on as reserve drivers and play a major role in testing the car. We have some sponsorship news coming up after the new year, while plans are in place for John to take over general media duties for the team, with Ahmed focusing on the general day-to-day running of the team. At the time of writing we are still waiting for round 3 of this year's eVirtual championship, but as mentioned before, it is clear that there's plenty of prospect in store for Highwind Electric Racing. The aim for the rest of the season is an obvious one - pick up that elusive maiden win. What about the V24hr? Well, nothings etched in stone yet - except of course, Campos Motorsport will be back and Ingram plus ourselves will be there helping out. For us, the plan is for the three chairde to be back in Proto Am in the #49, and to have all our contracted drivers racing in some form. The hope is to expand to running a Highwind entry in all categories, and more excitingly, we're hoping to return back to running our very own prototype that will be designed and manufactured in Dublin. Meanwhile we expect to be working with Alfa on preparing a GT car for the pair of classes together - more on both of those announcements when the marquee races approaches! The GTV Supercup kicked off this year but will be expanding significantly going into next year. Just like last year; Highwind along with Ingram will be supporting the Campos Motorsport entry, this time armed with a car built together by Tauro and Corvette. There may be a possibility of a Highwind designed car (in partnership with Alfa) joining the series in 2023 as well - watch this space... We can confirm one thing for sure - our 2022 FV car, the Imad-04, will be revealed on 17th January. A full testing programme at Mondello Park is planned that day - fans are invited to attend and see the car in action for the first time, driven by Alexander. Afterwards the fans can come to an interview with the team and ask questions. So mark the events down in your calendar! On a final note...We bid farewell to Nikolai Milkovich and Diego Campos from Highwind FV Racing after this year. Throughout this team's existence, Nikolai and Diego have been present, through the Cheema era and Highwind's formation. They have achieved Cheema's best results in Formula Virtual, been part of several great moments and without them, this team wouldn't be where it is right now. Highwind will continue to work with them, through the esteemed Campos Motorsport, but for now, we take a look back on some of our best moments with Nikolai and Diego. Malaysia 2019 - Nikolai qualifies for our first race start ever, ends in retirement after Elroy Wagner brutally assaults him (or Wagner pushes him into the pit wall, depending on your point of view). USA 2019 - A strong race from Nikolai yields 13th, moving us from the bottom of the standings for the first time ever. Germany 2019 - Diego qualifies for his first race start for Cheema. Both drivers proceed to drive superbly and while Nikolai is taken out by Felix Perez for the 2nd time in the year, Campos gets Rudolfo de la Fuente at the death to take a brilliant 12th. Turkey 2019 - After mixing with the top of the midfield, a perfectly timed swap to wets moves Nikolai into 9th, before he holds off Jean Mattson to bring home our first ever points and cement his status as a Highwind legend. Brazil 2019 - In a race that made as much sense as pineapple on pizza, Sir Diego Campos keeps his head and his car on track to, somehow, take 8th place, his first points in 5 years in a superhuman effort. Japan 2020 - After pulling off a spectacular double overtake early on, Nikolai chases down and passes Karl's Westwood on the last lap for 13th, arguably one of his best performances for us. USA 2020 - A hard tyre strategy call pays off as Nikolai finishes 9th, our only points of the year and Nikolai's last points ever for us. Brazil 2020 - Diego's last race for us. o7 USA 2021 - Nikolai's last race start for us. o7 Do svidaniya, Nikolai. Adiós, Diego. You've been two amazing drivers for us and best of luck for wherever you go on from here. And see you next year at Fuji!
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