As Formula Virtual gears up to begin the series’ eleventh season, Sky Sports FV takes a look at all the stories around the paddock heading into the first round of the season. Formula Virtual is back! After a long winter break, we’re finally back for the eleventh season of our beloved Virtual Motorsport series. With one new race, in Argentina, three teams going through major changes, and three brand new teams joining the fray; 2023 is sure to be one of the most exciting seasons to date. To get you up to speed on what has changed since last season: following the departure of Franklin, Lucas and Highwind, Formula Virtual has three new teams; Kōwhai, SRT and Scuderia Maserati. Additionally, the departure of Robert Mathershaw and Arthur Lapierre’s side of the Porsche Mathershaw team has left the team to become simply Porsche FV Team – with Sven Schubert being brought in as the team’s new Team Principal. The old Westwood team have now transitioned into a full Peugeot works team, now known as Team Peugeot TotalEnergies Westwood. Finally, Scuderia Meteor – or BMPS Scuderia Meteor for sponsorship reasons – have been taken over by Lamborghini and are now called Eni Lamborghini Squadra Corse. That’s the team changes, but what about the drivers? Without a doubt, the biggest driver change from last season is Nathaniel Powers’ move to AMR. The five-time Champion was on loan from Downton to Lucas last season, until the team withdrew midway through the season, but now finds himself in possibly the best seat outside of an orange car. Following Highwind’s withdrawal from the series, both Daniel Zientek and Alexander McLaughlin were left with uncertain futures. Lead driver Thierry Xylander had already been snapped up by Peugeot earlier in the year, but the Pole and the Kiwi were left searching for a seat. Zientek’s parent team, Phoenix, had already filled their seats with Will Taylor and VWRS Champion Ott Eskola – following Allar Kangur’s move to Ingram – so the British team managed to work out a deal with ARROW to place Zientek in one of their seats. McLaughlin, meanwhile, was surprisingly signed by reigning Drivers’ and Constructors’ Champions Porsche – giving him an unbelievable opportunity to show his pace against triple World Champion Enrique Ruiz. We tried to catch Enrique for a quick word but unfortunately the reigning Champion was in a hurry, “We try our best to finish as high as possible here in Adelaide. Vamos!” was the shout from the Brazilian as he flashed past us in the paddock earlier today. Felipe Cesar and Hector Draper, at Ocelot and North Star respectively, will make up our rookie contingent as the pair both make the transition from eVirtual along with recently crowned eVirtual World Champion Marcus Thunder – who joins new team Kōwhai for their series debut. He will be joined by Hunter Ryan, previously of Ocelot. Scuderia Maserati ensured that their driver line-up was the most experienced of all three new teams; Johan Halvosen joining the Italian team from North Star and Will Hoskins making his comeback following Franklin pulling out of the sport early last year. Finally, Seifert Racing Team, or SRT for short, brought Danilo Forini and Jean Mattson on board, seemingly going for the perfect blend of youth and experience. "I'm very relaxed. It's a new team, I know that,” Mattson, who begins his final season in Formula Virtual before retiring, told the media earlier today. “The team doesn't put any pressure on me in the first races, which suits me very well. I'm not the youngest anymore! smiles The whole team around me has settled in well. We're all working together for the first time, so there might still be one or the other problem, but I think that will change quickly. In any case, I'm curious to see how our car compares to the rest of the field. The testing days have already given us slight indications that we are in the lower middle field, but in qualifying we will see the true power of our car! I'm really looking forward to that." The German team looked solid in testing but may face a tough battle to get out of pre-qualifying, as the veteran French driver mentioned. "The pre-qualifying will be an exciting task! A new challenge that I've never had before. We'll see how we compare, but I'm confident that Danilo and/or I will pull through. Danilo was very strong on the test days! He becomes the most important target. I'm the team leader, I don't want to let a younger guy show me where I can go faster! laughs And if I'm only number two in Adelaide, then I've got some good stuff to do in Malaysia." Who is on form? Of course, with this weekend being the opening race of the season, we have no form guide as everyone starts from zero. We do, however, have pre-season testing as a slight indicator on what we can expect in the early rounds of the season. Downton certainly looked to be the team to beat, once again, as the four times Constructors’ Champions stretched their legs in the latter stages of the three pre-season testing days. We spoke briefly to the expert’s pre-season favourite to take the 2023 title – Klaas van Snelheid – who believes he’s as fit and prepared as he’s ever been. "We don't know for sure until qualifying exactly where we stand, but as a team we're confident we're at least in the fight again this season,” Klaas told Sky Sports FV on Thursday. “AMR and Porsche both look strong, and Finn, Nathaniel and Enrique are formidable drivers - I've fought all of them for titles before. However, I feel the fittest and most prepared I've ever been for a season - and we went well here last year, so I'm confident I can be fighting for the victory." Klaas comes into this season off the back of yet another second placed finish in the Drivers’ Championship – the fourth time in his FV career so far. One could look at such a record and question whether the Dutchman has what it takes to get a title challenge over the line, being such a nearly man. However, it is important to remember that on two of those occasions, Klaas in the Downton had the inferior car to the eventual champion – in 2019 with Ruiz in the Franklin, then again last season with the Brazilian in last year’s Porsche Mathershaw. Additionally, Klaas’ first time finishing second in the standings was in his debut season where he finished behind only his teammate – the great Nathaniel Powers – by just two points. Therefore, we at Sky Sports FV believe Klaas’ tag of being Formula Virtual’s nearly man is slightly unfair, and we predict he will finally shed that this year; starting this weekend. Klaas’ biggest challenge this year could well come from the aforementioned Powers and his new team, Downton customer team AMR. The Australian outfit have been through some of the worst times any team could expect to endure, but the last two years have certainly seen a marked improvement with some real high points. Now, as we enter the 2023 season, many are predicting AMR to emerge as Downton’s main rival for both titles. Murmurings began even before this year’s challenger, the AMR-FV-9, was revealed and only gained traction as the car immediately looked quick in pre-season testing. The mood in the team is very much one of excitement and anticipation, with Team Principal Adrian Arnello revealing he thinks his team “reckon we've got a few tenths still to go”, alluding to the fact that reserve driver Dmytro Kovalenko was the sole driver in action for AMR over the three testing days. The true pace of the car will be seen as the cars hit the Adelaide track for the first time tomorrow morning. Who is on the back foot? As for who could potentially endure a tough weekend here in Adelaide, we’ve picked out Lopez and Lamborghini as the two main potential strugglers. Lopez’s pre-season testing was skewed by Sergio Alvarez missing almost the entire second day due to issues with the car, which Team Principal Dylan Lopez referred to in this morning’s Team Representatives’ Press Conference. However, even with this taken into account, it was clear for everyone to see that Lopez could be in for another tough year. The pace of the car, or lack of, was worrying but the team remain hopeful they’ll have found some in the weeks between then and now. If, however, the team do find themselves having a difficult weekend, it will surely only increase the pain that they will be doing so at their Team Principal’s home race. As for Lamborghini, well, pre-season testing was incredibly concerning. The team, previously known as Scuderia Meteor, were the only team bar Lopez to manage less than 100 laps across the three timed sessions, with Team Principal Shane O’Connell citing “teething problems with the new engine” as the main issue. On top of this, though, was the extreme lack of pace in the car, which was presented in the fantastic testing analysis provided by FV Post’s Ken Heasman. The analysis showed Lamborghini as being 2.87% off the pace, while last year – which was a disastrous season until the latter stages – they were just 2.50% off the pace, a worrying statistic indeed for the Italian team. The only saving grace for them could be that they are currently working with a car designed over two years ago; the SM221. Used initially for the 2021 season, it was then brought back last year as the SM221B before being used once more for the start of this season – now as the SM221C – until Lamborghini are ready to race their brand-new Lambo 223 chassis. Until then, the team will need to extract as much as possible out of the old car and pray that they can be in the right place at the right time in an attrition-filled race before they fall to the clutches of Pre-Qualifying.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
|