Kazukia Armos and Dylan Lopez were on hand together at Istanbul to ’officially’ confirm the immediate futures of Jules Simon, Sebastian Vocquelin, Jamie Gerrard and Mario Juan Lopez. The managers of both teams were both together in the Istanbul Park paddock on Tuesday afternoon to make the news public.
Kazukia Armos: ”Firstly, welcome to Istanbul ladies and gentlemen! It’s a pleasure to be at every event we attend, and Turkey is certainly no exception. Dylan and I are here to confirm the news that Mario Juan Lopez will be joining Meteor for the 2019 season. Dylan approached me with an offer and it didn’t take long for us to negotiate and allow Lopez, Mario that is (!), to get his opportunity on the biggest stage in motorsport. I’m also here to announce that Sebastien Vocquelin will be his teammate in 2019. We wouldn’t have said that after the first 4 or 5 rounds, but we all know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. We see Vocquelin as somebody who has the potential to become a very successful driver in the coming years, and giving him the role of lead driver next year will do wonders for his progress. It was an incredibly difficult decision to make, because this means that Jules Simon will be demoted to reserve driver, and Jamie Gerrard will leave the team after 2 seasons as our reserve driver. We do thank him for his services and wish him luck on his future endeavours. For Jules on the other hand, he completely understands the decision and knows, like Sebastien, his best years are still ahead of him. He’s working as hard as anybody on his fitness and driving skills, and with a season’s worth of experience under his belt, he’ll be ready to come back into the big league at a moment’s notice. He has job security with us as he is contracted up to and including the 2020 season, so don’t expect this year’s season finale to be the final time his name is brought up in commentary!” Dylan Lopez: ”I’m also incredibly delighted to announce Mario Juan Lopez is going to drive in 2019. Lopez and… I, had some discussions behind closed doors and we came to the conclusion that he is ready to take the step to Formula Virtual. Given the current situation with our driving lineup, we decided a loan move was the best decision for his future. It’s in his hands now, and we’re confident he has it in him to revisit his form from the end of the last year’s VWRS series. And yes, we’re aware Mario Juan Lopez already posted about the news the other week. He’s ecstatic that he’s driving next year, albeit not quite ”in a Lopez” if I correctly recall Bradley Downton from earlier this season in commentary! But all things aside, he’s got his chance to strut his stuff on the race track, and all of us at the Lopez… FV Team, and Meteor are looking forward to his debut as much as he is! As for our driver lineup, we've still got our 2nd seat and reserve seats to announce soon. We are looking at signing 'a' driver in the coming weeks, but until then this is probably the last you'll hear from me regarding 2019 drivers for the time being. Comments are closed.
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