Following the last week of rumours and speculation, it has been confirmed by Phoenix Motorsport that James Thompson will make his Formula Virtual debut for the team at the final round of the 2020 Formula Virtual World Championship, in Brazil. Initially it was leaked by the media that Thierry Xylander had been dropped by the team following the Mexican V-Prix, where the Belgian suffered yet another race ruined by incident after he out-braked himself into turn one on the very first lap and lost his front wing. This proved to not be true, however, as the team later came out and confirmed – via their Twitter – that Xylander would indeed sit out the Brazilian V-Prix but had not been ‘dropped’.
This kicked off yet more rumours, with numerous media outlets picking up on a story that Diego Campos of Cheema would take Xylander’s place for the final race, with Phoenix reserve James Thompson going the other way. Again, though, this ultimately proved to be nothing more than speculation and Phoenix have today confirmed that Thompson will in fact be substituted in for Xylander to make his Formula Virtual debut. The British driver, who was born in Burton upon Trent although grew up in Manchester, has been with Phoenix for the entirety of his single seater career. After their debut season in FV2 in 2015, Phoenix branched out into FV3 for 2016 and he joined the team; alongside Theo Blackman and Ryan Carter. He had a strong debut season; finishing seventh in the championship – just a few points shy of the likes of Maximilian Thunstrom, Stefan Klien and Rafael Palou – picking up a victory along the way. He was then swiftly moved up to the FV2 team for 2017 - as a replacement for Callum Brandon who had just secured a drive in IndyVirtual – where he lined up alongside Dominic Hanson who was recently re-signed by Phoenix as a reserve for 2021. 2017 proved to be a tough year for Thompson and the team, as he struggled to 20th place in the championship with just nineteen points – which was nineteen more than Hanson could manage. In 2018, Phoenix Motorsport were granted entry to Formula Virtual and Thompson was kept on as a reserve - a position he has held exclusively until now – although he did have a second FV2 season, this time on loan to Bronislav Competition. The 2018 FV2 Italian V-Prix was his last competitive race and, whilst he has spent countless hours and days in the simulator and testing for the team since, it would be no surprise to anyone if he is a little rusty in Brazil. Thompson and Deputy Team Principal Christian Sear spoke briefly on his surprise call-up: James Thompson: “Well, it really will be a dream come true to finally get the chance to line up on the grid for Phoenix amongst the absolute best drivers in the world. I’m sure the whole weekend will be a bit mental really, I mean I’m used to practice sessions but from qualifying onwards… yeah, I’ll really need to get my head down and not let it affect me. The grid is something I’m really looking forward to, however qualifying goes, when we get called to the front for the national anthem I’ll be stood there alongside the likes of Nathaniel [Powers], Enrique [Ruiz], Adrien [Simon] and Klaas [van Snelheid]… it sends a shiver down my spine whenever I think about that.” Christian Sear: “He’ll be alright. We’re not in any sort of fight for a position in the standings anymore but we still have a job to do in Brazil. The forecast looks a bit iffy which could work for or against us but we just want a clean and enjoyable race, so as long as JT keeps his nose clean then we couldn’t really ask for too much more.”
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