New Zealand has it rough in virtual motorsport - it's only FV competitor took part in 2 races 8 years ago, which was time enough for him to impressively cop a double race ban while also pulling off a hell of an assist for the big man himself. Now, the next man to follow in his footsteps has a few more credentials to his name - and plenty of promise to boot. Yes, Alexander McLaughlin, former VWRS rookie champion, IndyVirtual winner and a last grasp champion in eVirtual has finally made his long awaited FV debut. "It's about time, eh?", were his first words with a grin. "But nah, really it's a dream come true. A few years back I didn't think I'd ever make it to FV but eV changed it all and to get a chance to finally achieve my final goal means the world to me.
"I've got to thank the boys and girls at Highwind - it's been awesome working with them over the last few months, had plenty of laughs. I know 'boss' has been pushing for this so I got to hand it to him. "I'm just buzzing about this, I really can't wait to go out on track now!" The New Zealander will be replacing Daniel Zientek for the inaugural Czech Republic V-Prix in the #17 car, the famous Highwind car raced formerly by team legend Nikolai Milkovich. It is understood that McLaughlin was initially meant to race in Germany, having previous experience but it was delayed to allow Zientek to build some momentum after his first race in Britain. McLaughlin's career has been far from normal - a middling FV3 year in 2015 gave way to a breakthrough Winter FV2 campaign - fighting for the title with other drivers including, ironically, a certain Otso Toivonen, he finished as runner up and went to VWRS, becoming junior champion in 2016. He struggled however to improve in 2017, in FV2, before being moved to IndyVirtual. He did begin to find his feet in the series, winning two races, though it's sudden ending hurt him. He was initially not a candidate for eV but when Mitsubishi was unable to sign Yakumi Takahashi, McLaughlin was called on - an inspiring choice which saw him score every single point for the team - as well as pulling an incredibly comeback last season to snatch the title from Will Taylor and Oleksandr Zozulya. It is a highly anticipated debut and Highwind, especially their team principal, are understood to be very excited to see McLaughlin in action. The team have disappointed recently though, so they have said they don't expect miracles. What about McLaughlin's expectations? "Well, I beat Will Taylor in eVirtual and he has a podium, so you tell me..." *laughs*
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
|