Australian iGP Series

Spain Post race comments

M Kulavir
“It’s great to be back in the points it’s a fantastic result for the team. It hasn't been an easy start to the season for me, but we made good progress through the practice sessions. I felt much more comfortable in the car and the result today is a deserved reward for everyone after all our hard work. 6th to 9th were very close today, but with our strategy we were always going to be vulnerable at the end of the race but some how i managed to put in some good consistent laps before our last pitstop which in turn covered off some other cars we were worried about. Going foward im not going to jinx myself we will just wait and see what unfolds thanks guys and Gratz again ot the podium finishers"

D Zukas
“Considering the problems we have been having, I think we got 100 percent out of the car today. We put everything together today, working well as a team and managing the tyres, and 10th was the maximum I could have achieved. We are really looking forward to the next race where we should see a step forward. We must stay together and positive. It looked good for a while there being inside the top 10 but I was released back into alot of traffic at the last pitstop which hindered me getting back to inside the top 10, Still we scored pts and that's progress forward."

Team Manager Brett Wilson
“Both drivers did a fantastic job today. We know our car can be kind on tyres here so we really wanted to play those strengths here today and rectify the disappointment of qualifying yesterday. We chose an aggressive strategy with our drivers, opting for a three-stop race from 9th and 12th on the grid, and it worked almost perfectly, so we are very happy as our drivers delivered everything we wanted from them. We achieved so many targets today and its good to see that the car can be competitive for pts."

The iGP Race Experience (T.I.R.E.)     
RD 6 – Monaco iGP Pro Tier
 
Pre-Race: Major upgrades last race in Spain provided a season best result for Star Racing in 6th & 8th. It was Umbrella’s run of having both drivers in the top 10 that came to an abrupt end as they both finished out of the points for the first time this season. Arrow was able to pick up points for only the 2nd time this season. However it was the glitz and glamor of Monaco that was on everyone’s lips leading up to race start. “A list” celebrities were lining up to see and be seen with the 3 top teams while "The Hoff" was being escorted by security out of the midfield teams hospitality tents on several occasions.         
        
Qualifying: For the second consecutive race the front row was decided by less than a tenth with R Graca (Polar) taking his 2nd pole of the season by just 0.043 from points leader S McNamara (MC) & T Muller (Polar). A Williams (Orange) again was able to mix it with the KERS teams and started 4th. P Klein (Umbrella) scored a season best 5th while Star Racing still found themselves stuck in the midfield and started 7th & 8th. Arrow looked to struggle a bit and ended up 11th & 13th. It was less than 1 sec (.8) covering the first 13 starters. Top speeds in the speed trap were very tight with everyone within a 2km/h range of each other between 205.34km/h – 207.64 km/h    
 
Race Results: With such a tight qualifying, expectations were high for close race and strategy was set to determine the finishing order given it was so hard to pass on track. A 3 stopper was on paper the quickest option however it soon became clear most teams were pushing the soft tire life to the limit and tried to stretch it out to a 2 stop race with a heavy fuel load.

The top 3 in the championship quickly pulled away from the rest of the field and held a 22sec lead after just 22laps over 4th place by the first round of stops. For the 6th race in a row it was another grand slam. Thus it was R Graca (polar) taking the win and back on the pace this round after a 1 race deal with Tifosi in Spain seen them finish some 30sec behind the race winner. Polar Motorsports quickly went back and resigned with Murk for the rest of the season. S McNamara (MC) had an amazing last lap fight for the win but was not able to pull it off and finished 2nd but still keeps his championship lead. A Muller (Polar) made a return to the podium in 3rd and was happy to have the Murk engines back on board. A Williams (orange) fresh of his podium last round backed it up with a solid 4th and proved Orange Lizards championship last season was well deserved and they could very well be challenging for race wins before the end of this season once they get KERS.

R Aso (Star) showed glimpses of the form he displayed in Spain and looked to be on for a 5th place finish but settled for 6th as he was unable to find clean air and found himself behind P Klein (Umbrella) for most of the race. P Klein was the first car on a 3 stopper and running a lighter fuel load helped him control the pace of those behind at times. Running in 5th before the first round of stops he finally came home in 7th for the fourth time this season. J Williams (star) & J Torres (Orange) had a great battle for 8th & 9th with Williams able to use KERS in the final few laps to ensure he stayed ahead. D Genario (umbrella) 1 lap down picked up the final points paying position in 10th making both Umbrella cars the only 3 stoppers in the top 10.

M Kulavir (Arrow) was never inside the top 10 running a 3 stopper and teammate D Zukas even tried a 4 stopper to no avail. Arrow has shown some good pace at times this season but has been a bit hit and miss when it comes to race pace. X He & N Ryan (DPG) had yet another weekend to forget. 3rd in the championship last season must seem so long ago for them as rumors about the teams future and financial stability start to circulate the paddock.        

Star shines brighter in Monaco

After the appauling start to the TiRE season 1, Star Racing seems to be gaining some old found form, speed and reliability. When the team personal were put on notice after the dismal performances of round 3-4, a shock ending to the contracts of both the Chief & Technical positions were seen to part their ways. S Stephens (Star RAcing Owner) giving the final marching orders and was on the hunt for some new fresh blood, going on to hire Chief Designer Magnus Wilden & Technical Director Theophilus Chambas.

Magnus's history is a short but an interesting one. Having only being involved with Team IrocZ28 from March 13 to April 13, but his results speak for themselves. Having 22/35 races, wins 16/22 and total of 32 podiums. His work is marticulious, his work ethic is not seen before from anyone. From the moment he walks in the door, he goes and greets every employee in the building, knows them by name, asks how they are, how they are going, is there anythings he can help to make their work load better or easier. It is just remarkable. Just the team moral boost that has occured in the last week, over the last two rounds since Magnus has been here is just fantastic. The team is looking forward to having him on board and guiding us to future wins and podiums.
                                                                                                   
Theo started his iGP career out in the start of 2013. Working with two teams previously, Theo was left with no where to go after a major upheaval of staff at Team MCT. Understandably not sure why, Theo was down in the dumps, not sure where or what to do. Looking at heading to the USA to try his skill & craft at Nascar The Game, before an out of the blue phone call saw him in the boardroom at Star Racing signing contracts for a 17 race deal. Theo made an impact at his first race, round 5, setting a great strategy, having both drivers fininsh in the top 10, but returning some turn of speed along with a race high position of 2nd for Aso. 

 Scott Stephens
WOW WOW WOW WOW
What else can i say????  I said earlier in the season that the team may start to see the turn of speed that we used to have around the mid to 3/4 point of the TiRE season. I saw glimps's of that speed mainly at the Monaco round with both Star Racing drivers up in the points, battling out against some better teams. It was fantastic to see, but we still have a lot of work to do. We are not getting ahead of ourselves here. Our aim is the A5 TiRE Season 2 chassie. To be honest we are not worried about this season, season 1. From our receptionist through to our partners, we all are on the same path, A5 & S2. 

The new additions of Magnus & Theo have overseen a varst turn around and a lot sooner than we thought. We were expecting around round 11-13 to see some better performance, but it shows that we are on the right path, back to the teams competative ways at least. The drivers are able to report better feedback and the relationship they have made with Theo is strong already. Aso & Williams are reporting the same infomation, want the same changes so that is pleasing. We know the areas that need the work on the car and also on the drivers to help them improve for the future.

We have some new updates coming with side pods and front wings for Turkish GP, we will see how things go there and see how we are agisnt the teams we were competative with at Monaco. It will give us good indication of our development, our true speed and results or just that the Monaco track suited our car better.

Team Arrow keeps missing the mark
 
After 6 rounds team Arrow has found itself still looming around the bottom of the table with some rather inconsistent results giving them a tally of only 16 points. Two DNFs of which were due to bowser failures and a shuffle in staff and finances.
 
The team has solider on and used an updated version of if previous car from round 3. The new Chief Designer did what he could with the limited funds available and he is hoping to maximize the potential of car through the season as new sponsorship deals start to emerge.
 
Monaco Post race Comments from Team Manager Brett Wilson
 
“Tough Race indeed, we seem to take 3 steps forward and 5 back, in hindsight obviously today’s strategy was not that correct one but what was surprising was our lack of pace, its difficult when we seem some of the teams who I feel we are on par with just smoke us out of the water, which is leaving me lost for words atm”
 
Driver - M Kulaviir
“Wasn’t an exciting race for myself, it seemed like the only thing I could challenge for was getting the car over the finish line  ... I can definitely say that our car did not feel good around here which was ashame as it has put us further back to where we want to be. I’m hoping that we have upgrades for the next race that might give us more balance with the cars aerodynamics and some more speed….Towards the end of the race I was hearing some rattling coming from the engine so im thinking a replacement engine is high on the list.”

The iGP Race Experience (T.I.R.E.)     
RD 7 – Turkey iGP Pro Tier
 
Pre-Race:
The celebrity’s shone bright at Monaco and lucky they did so the spectators had something to look at as the precession of cars on track provided no entertainment at all. Martin Kaulavir despite finishing out of the points in Monaco put pen to paper and secured his seat at Arrow for an additional 9 races. Istanbul promises to see a return of multiple race strategies amongst the field.   
 
Qualifying:
V Kettunen in only his second race for MC Racing took a very impressive pole position from R Graca (Polar), S McNamara (MC) & A Muller (Polar). Orange Lizards locked out the third row while D Zukas was just ahead of Star Racings R Aso & J Williams. M Kulavir was the first driver on hards down in tenth. N Ryan (DPG) did well to start eleventh ahead of both Umbrella drivers who also qualified on hards

Race Results:
There was not as much difference between the softs and the hards as teams expected. The top 3 as normal shot out to an early lead and as such it was the midfield race that was up for grabs with some teams short pitting on the softs, some running long on softs, and Umbrella who started on the hards running even longer. First round of pit stops seen everyone that was on the softs change to hards. Most teams elected to go with a 2 stop as the tire degradation was also lower than anticipated.

R Graca (Polar) took his third win of the season ahead of points leader S McNamara (MC) and A Muller (Polar) rounding out the podium. R Aso (Star) managed to work his way up to third but was running a 3 stopper compared with the 2 stopper of those ahead of him, he was still able to finish a season best 4th as the improvements for Star Racing continue. Orange Lizards had yet another solid finish in 6th & 7th.  J Williams (Star) came home in 8th for the third straight race. D Grenario (Umbrella) was running fourth before his first pit stop after starting on the hards but dropped down to finish 9th while teammate P Klein was running in twelfth and out of the points with just 5 laps to go but put in an amazing last few laps to steal the final points paying position in 10th. Both Arrow drivers came home in 11th and 12th as their hit and miss season continued. DPG had yet another race to forget and will be putting all their efforts into next seasons car.

Up an Down for Star Racing

Rounds 7 & 8 of the TiRE season continued to be an up an down affair for Star Racing. While the team maintains they are throwing all concentration on the A5 for Season 2, both drivers Aso and Williams are driving as hard as ever to keep the team moral up and the sponsors happy. While Aso is dominating out of the two drivers, it seems that both drivers are very keen to continue with the progress the team is taking.

Grand Prix of Turkey

The Grand Prix of Turkey, saw Aso and Williams post reasonable times netting an 8th & 9th positions on the grid. Both drivers were happy with this, but a mis-calculation on the grid saw both cars being switched to soft tyres just before the start of the race. The drivers were very strong on hards being able to push and make some great lap speed. While other drivers were setting down for taking it easy, Aso rattled off fastest laps, lap after lap in the 2nd and 3rd stints. Aso scored his highest finish position of the season with a 4th and Williams a bit down, but what could have been a 6th position if his KERS had worked earlier, finished down in 8th.

Drivers were able to speak in a short media conference and had this to say.

Aso

Today, today's race was great, we showed we still have what it takes to race with the "big boys". We really took it to them, and passed them on track with genuine speed. None of this pit stop strategy stuff. So i am very pleased with the race, the way i drove and our strategy. Yeah we made a bad tyre choice at the start of the race and switched because everyone else was on softs, but we took a chance. There was no knowing what would have happened if we had gone hards, so that's racing. Im just excited, excited for the team, for Star Racing and for myself.

Williams

Hey you know, today we put a good foot forward an really had a crack, the fight on track was intense. Look at Aso, he raced very hard all race and managed 3rd position for a while there. So that's awesome news, makes me and the team know that the season looks like its going to turn for us soon and a podium isn't far away at all. I managed to find myself up in 7th highest, that's ok as im working on some different stuff and getting some great data for the team. We were on different strategy's and i know that my position in the team is as strong as ever.

Great Britain GP

Great Britain, not so great after all or is it???
With a track that doesn't suit Star Racing chassis at all, and the drivers are not fond of it, it was going to be a long race for both driver and team. With team owner, deciding not to be track side and worried about securing sponsor agreements for the continuation of the team. The strategy was to stay out of trouble and get some lap times with newly developed parts. The drivers both having not so good qually results, finishing down the order in 11th & 12th. In what seemed like a bad way to start, was not the way it looked at the finish of the race. A result no one would have ever seen coming, both drivers in the points, finishing a very creditable 7th & 8th. Williams with a race high position of 2nd at one stage.

As both drivers were rushed to the airport for a quick return to the Star Racing head quarters and some testing on new parts for the next round, found an empty media room after the race.

---LOL--:)

The iGP Race Experience (T.I.R.E.)     
RD 8 – British iGP Pro Tier
 
Pre-Race:
Despite being locked in a battle for both the drivers and constructors titles Polar Motorsports & MC Racing announced a joint agreement to stop development on this seasons car. Both teams have been quoted in saying that they felt the maximum performance and development had been reached “Given the current regulations it is uneconomical to continue any further development. We have gotten the maximum out of the car for now, there is no more to be gained by throwing more money at it” rumors that staff have been reassigned to different departments are yet to be confirmed.  


Qualifying:
S McNamara (MC) was on pole by .065 from R Graca (Polar) with their teammates lined up directly behind them. Arrow had a lot to celebrate Saturday night with M Kulaviir having a season best performance to start 5th. While A Williams (Orange) & D Genario (Umbrella) had identical times down to the thousandths of a second on a 1:19.272. Even more amazingly D Zukas (Arrow) was on a 1:19.273 just .001 behind. Star Racing missing their team manager had a season equaling worst session starting 11th & 12th.

Race Results:
For the eight straight race it was the pole sitter who went on to win the race. So it was S McNamara (MC) extending his lead in the drivers championship while R Graca 2nd & A Muller 3rd extended their lead in the constructors championship for Polar Motorsports. V Ketunen (MC) had another solid result as he continues to fit in well to his new team. Orange Lizards again proved to be best of the rest as A Williams & J Torres came home 5th & 6th. With the top 6 running a standard 3 stopper on softs, Star Racing following their poor qualifying starting outside the top 10 elected to start on the hard compound. Both R Aso & J Williams made it work and made the hard tire last for a 2 stopper and made a great recovery to finish 7th & 8th. Umbrella Racing also went for a 2 stopper but started on softs before switching to the hards at the first stop and picked up the last 2 points paying positions with P Klein 9th & D Genario 10th. 

If everyone at Arrow did not already have a hangover after partying too hard on Saturday following qualifying they would have been feeling like it after the race. M Kulaviir started 4th but found himself 13th after the first round of pit stops. Fighting back for the entire race he made it back to 9th & teammate D Zukas in 10th, with only 2 laps to go both Arrow cars were in the points and both Umbrella cars were just behind them out of the points and….. It happened again! P Klein (umbrella) came charging through to steal not only 10th but 9th as well on track. D Genario (umbrella) then took over 10th as on the penultimate lap both Arrow cars pitted and finished well outside the points in 12th & 13th 1 lap down.   

The iGP Race Experience (T.I.R.E.)     
RD 9 – German iGP Pro Tier
 
Pre-Race:
Germany marks the midpoint of the season and as such there was plenty on contract talks taking place in the paddock. While there has been no major new driver signings a lot of technical and design staff have been retained by the front running teams with sponsorship agreements also being extended into next season. Friday practice seen many of the midfield teams running KERS units for the first time but we did not see them used for this race. We should however start to see them being used in the next couple of rounds once all the technical issues are ironed out.    


Qualifying:
There was a very clear split as the top 3 teams all qualified on softs leaving the top 6 drivers covered by just .5 sec. V Kettunen (MC) took his first pole position of the season followed by A Muller (Polar), R Graca (Polar) and S McNamara (MC). Orange Lizards again as they have done so often this season locked out the 3rd row. Also on softs was M Kulaviir (Arrow) in 7th and teammate D Zukas in 9th. R Aso (Star) started 8th on the hard compound as did the rest of the field behind him. DPG were very happy with their best qualifying of the season in 10th & 11th. Neither Umbrella car looked stable at all under braking and they started a season worst 12th & 14th.

Race Results:
A Muller (Polar) took his second win of the season and by doing so became the first driver of the season to win outside of pole position. Teammate R Graca made it a one-two for Polar Motorsport. S McNamara (MC) keeps his championship lead despite his 3rd place finish. V Kettunen (MC) was a bit disappointed with 4th and is still looking for his first podium of the season. With the top half of the field on a 3 stopper R Aso (Star) on a 2 stopper drove a solid race to finish 5th. Aso lead the race for the first time this season briefly before his first stop and he knows that first podium of the season can’t be too far away. Orange Lizards seem to have dropped a little pace in the last few rounds as the came home 6th & 7th some 40sec behind the leaders. J Williams (Star) needed just one more lap to pass J Torres (Orange) as he came from 6sec behind with only 4 laps to go but had to settle for 8th.  D Genario (umbrella) kept his point’s streak alive in 9th while for only the second time this season DPG made it into the points with X He in 10th.

P Klein (Umbrella) was unable to pull off a third consecutive miracle in the last 5 laps and finished out of the points for only the second time this season in 11th. N Ryan (DPG) would have been looking for some points today but found there just was not enough pace in the car with heavy fuel loads. Arrow was the only team to use a combination of the hard and soft compounds and it was looking like the best strategy however a call to run a double soft stint at the end instead of another 1 stint on the hards cost them a possible ninth to eleventh place finish.    

So the question is, are you happy for the top 3 A teams to remain?I am happy for them to remain through the season. But I think next season a limit of two teams per person could be a better option in the league

If so is there anything we can change for this season to make it better? I dont think there is anything you could change really. The pace of the 3 top teams is just how it is. We have to deal with it an im sure other teams will catch up and be a more level playing/racing field

What do you want to see for next season? (maybe a lvl cap for teams) Dont think that is the answer, other teams (mine included) just need to get there act together. I honestly thought you onlt had two teams in here, but knowing you have 3 in pro tier and they are all out in front means if you only had 2, their is potential for other teams to get on the podium and closer to winning/or being competative in the championship race.

I presume you all still enjoy the race reports? is there something you would like added or removed? Still like racing here and will continue to next season. My withdrawl of DPG was a tatical one for the team an its development.

Scott had set up a “ teamSpeak” voice chat channel last season should we do it again? Cant do the TS thing any more unfortunately. We are going through a heap of changes at the mo.

Reward Points were offered to attract more teams …do you want to keep them next season? I had forgotton all about the reward points. Maybe it doesnt interets me then, i just like the management side of it all tbh

I like the older style race recaps too ;)

Hi Graham

Great job all round !!!. I'm happy for the teams to stay as what u said (more prise money) I must say I have been unfarmilar with prise money this season LOL but its nice when i can get it... so yeah dont mind at all.. Teamspeak server would be good not sure if i have the bandwidth though in melb but happy to try (every 2nd week). Its been a interesting season and i have appreciated all the advice from fellow team mates and forum users. I jsut feel alittle burnout / frustrated with things i cant explain with the game even after experinmenting which clearly means im really missing out on some key information somewhere LOL..But in saying that im still enjoying the game I have had some good battles but would definly like more drivers to come join.. (cant wait for next season)
 
The only thing im finding pissing me off atm is how the lap chart works.. it changes to the leader (not to what lap your drivers are on)and if ur far behind it can really throw doubt on when u should be pitting even thought i have my strat worked out for the lap i need to pit (eg if not not paying attention i look up see that im on lap 24 go work out calcs etc the i see im 1/2 way round track its lap 25 oh thats hwen im ment to pit so i pit then next time round i see im pitting  a lap earlier im like weird i had enough fuel and then comes the end of race and im short of fuel and need to pit) its probably the most stupidest way of explain it tbh.. but yeah it really throws me off especially when im consentracting on other things ..... so ineed to spend more time than nessary making sure i am still onn target to piton the PROPER lap not leaders lap (if that makes sense). Maybe they could have a lap count stuck on the drivers windows down the bottom perhaps ??? that would help heaps so you can see what lap your drivers are on and what lap the leader is on.. 

Other than that im probably abit frustrated with myself and how things have and havent worked and where i am on the ladder but its all apart of learning the game and unlocking its secrets.

The only thing I dont want to change is the races per week.. 2 a week is really pushing the thresh hold of what i can do if we were to start doing more i would not be able to participate as i just dont have the time due to family time and work and trying to get back into iracing.. atm its a very fine balance and i havent been able to do alot of iracing with work etc... 

Thats it from me Gents :) 

Cheers

Brett

 

Team Arrow - Martin Kulaviir - Released from Contract
In Further news this week Team Arrow has just released Martin Kulavirr from his contract. Team Manager Brett Wilson mentioned that his (M Kulaviir) relaxed approach and being in "holiday mode" half the time was not doing any favours in the moral department for the rest of the team. 

M Kulaviir was spotted leaving the Australian head quarters in Sydney being escorted by security guards.. 
Comments from MK
"Now i will get to take that holiday !!, You will be nothing without me im the Best driver out there you fools, i hope you rot in hell..!!!!!!!!!!!"

Police were called to the scene as M Kulavirr was handcuffed and taken away... Team Arrow is not pressing any charges at this stage.
Rumors have it that Adam Wiszkowski will be Driving for the team for the remain races this season.

LOL - this just gets better!

Season best post Thus far :)

The iGP Race Experience (T.i.R.E.)     
RD 10 – Hungry iGP Pro Tier
 
Pre-Race:
With most of the contracts for next season signed there were a few very worried looking drivers and team personnel walking around the Hungaroring paddock who were yet to put pen to paper. Rumors that DPG is in serious trouble were fueled further by the fact they turned up with no hospitality or catering facility’s for this round and were running a skeleton crew. On Track testing and development of KERS seen the majority of Friday practice red flagged as cars stop at almost every point on the circuit, needless to say none of the midfield teams will be running KERS this weekend.   


Qualifying:
Polar Motorsport locked out the front row with A Muller & R Graca. MC Racing’s S McNamara was close behind in 3rd however the story of Saturday was D Zukas (Arrow) qualifying performance that sees him start 4th. Orange Lizards in 5th and 7th were split by V Kettunen (MC) in 6th. M Kulavir was 8th and both Umbrella cars rounded out the top 10. Star Racing again opted to start on the hard compound and as a result started 11th and 12th. DPG were fortunate to only be 2 sec of the pole time and did not need to request special dispensation from the stewards as had been expected.        


Race Results:
A Muller (Polar) took back to back victory’s with another golden grand slam, teammate R Graca pushed hard but never looked like making a pass for the lead. Given the early lead both Polar Motorsports drivers had it was clear both drivers were staying information. The top 4 was a carbon copy of the last race with S McNamara in 3rd but still holding on to the championship lead and V Kettunen in 4th. Orange Lizards clearly had no team orders and both drivers fought each other hard but clean to come home 5th & 6th.  Star Racings R Aso again made the hard tires work and was able to turn the race into a 2 stopper to finish 7th. ASO ran on the hard compound all race while the top 6 ran a 3 stopper on the sort’s however he was still disappointed to be over 1min behind the race winner. Umbrella Racing had both cars in the points with P Klein in 8th & D Genario 10th also running a 3 stopper on softs. Arrows M Kulavir was the only driver to start on the softs and then change to a 2 stopper on hards. He was 12th after his final pit stop but was able to manage his tires well to pick up 2 positions in the last 3 laps and finish 9th.  J Williams (Star) went the opposite way refitting hards on his first stop and running a short final stint on the softs and was looking good for a 8th placed finish but another fuel miscalculation seen him walking back to the pits with 1 lap to go as he ran out of fuel coming off the back straight. D Zukas (Arrow) wished he would have saved some rubber having used up 5 of his 6 sets of tires in qualifying 4th he had no pace at all on used tires in the race and quickly dropped down the order and ended up 1 lap down in 12th.

After finishing well outside the points and again 2 laps down DPG announced following the race they would not be able to see out the season and are withdrawing from the championship effective immediately. They are disappointed it has come to this however they believe by withdrawing from the championship now they will be able to focus exclusively on next seasons car and make a much more competitive return next year.           

The iGP Race Experience (T.i.R.E.)     
RD 11 – European iGP Pro Tier
 
Pre-Race:
The streets of Valencia seen 2 new drivers in the field. F Hofmann replaced J Williams at Star Racing, Williams had complained all season about a non-competitive car however he only scored 23 points compared to 53 by teammate R Aso.  A Wiszkowski now fills the empty seat left by M Kulaviir’s dramatic departure over at Arrow. Kulaviir had scored 16 of the 18 championship points for Arrow almost 90% yet was released from his contract under a “dispensary behavior” clause. Both drivers released form their contract are sure to be seeking legal action. Arrow also had a new engine supplier here this weekend in Tifosi after they were unable to secure an extension of the current contract with Murk. Tifosi desperate to supply more teams on the grid brought extra engineers and were able to get 2 KERS units working and operational for Arrow to use during the race.     


Qualifying:
There was no surprises in the top four as Polar Motorsports locked out the front row with MC Racing on the second row. F Hofmann made a great first impression for Star Racing qualifying 5th a good .5 sec ahead of R Aso In 7th. Orange Lizards had an average day and will start 6th & 8th. Umbrella had the fifth row all to themselves. While Arrow looked to be down on power with their Tifosi engine only managing 307kph in the speed trap some 3kph off their nearest competitor and 16kph off the leaders. As such they fill the last 2 spots on the grid.     


Race Results:
A Muller (Polar) managed a repeat performance from Germany and remains the only driver to win a race starting outside of pole position. He is now also the first driver to win 3 races in a row. Still third in the champion he has closed the gap down from 38 to 11 points. S McNamara (MC) finished 2nd and holds on to his championship lead. R Graca (Polar) came home 3rd and is just one point ahead of teammate A Muller. A Williams (Orange) finished in 4th and continues to outperform his teammate J Torres in 6th. Williams has made it clear that he is looking for a driver next season with the top 2 teams. V Kettunen was brought in by MC Racing to boost its constructor title chances however he is not delivering and might soon find himself looking for a new seat if the funding dries up.

R Aso (Star) again showed glimpse of his brilliance but the race pace just was not there. A problem that has been compounded by the fact Star Racing continue to run a 2 stopper race while the top 3 run a 3 stopper. F Hofmann (Star) went into anti-stall on the grid and dropped to 10th at the end of the first lap after starting 5th. He then appeared to get held up for the rest of the race behind Aso as he looked like he had a lot more speed but with no team orders at Star Racing there was nothing he could do apart from pressure Aso into a mistake but that was never going to happen, both Aso & Hofmann had a best lap of 1:35.6 but still ended up over 1 min behind the race winner.

Arrow also ran a 2 stopper and it would have not been of much interest apart from the fact that after starting last and clearly down on power with the new Tifosi engines A Wiszkowski finished in 9th less than 10sec behind Aso & F Hofmann. Post-race calculations show that a 3 stopper and Murk engines could have had Wiszkowski ahead of both Star Racing drivers. However on the other side of the Arrow garage D Zukas must know the writing is on the wall after finishing not only dead last but 1 lap down and some 30 sec behind his teammate who has now scored just as many points in his one and only race as Zukas has all season. Umbrella managed to get D Genario into 10th with P Klein just out of the points in 11th both drivers sorely missed not having KERS as 9th-10th-11th all finished within 2 sec of each other and with KERS worth over 3 sec it could have been a much different result.    

Team Arrow - D Zukas Wrote on the wall "GONE".....

In a unusual move D Zukas approached Arrows management team and handed in his resignation..Utterly dissapointed by his performace of late his last race sealed his fate D Zukas was overwhelmed by media reporters as he exited Arrows Head quarters in Sydney.

D Zukas comments 
"Well its been a wonderful journey that i needed to cut short i was no good..I havent been in the right frame of mind is my Mimma got ill.. I thought it was best to give up my drive seat to someone more worthy of it."

Reporter A) - D Zukas what is your ....Mimma (snickers) suffering from ??
"she has had grasto for the last 2 months maybe its her cooking but i miss her and she needs me"

So who will fill Team arrows latest availble seat ??Tune into tongihts race at SPA to find out !!!. In other news Martin Kulaviir has been spotted entering Arrows head quarters with his laywer team, rumor has it he is sueing for Unfair dismissal.

Cathal Quinn said to be "thrilled" after signing for Arrow
Cathal Quinn signed with Team Arrow only hours before the start of the belguim GP. As Dunaz K annouced he was stepping down due to his mema falling ill over the past few months which has effected his performace.

Comments from Cathal Quinn
"yes, Im over the moon, thrilled actually to be apart of the Arrow team, there is alot of Buzz in factory with 2 new drivers and we seem to be pushing each other to our limits which in turn is producing great results. Im heading back in for more simlautor work, thanks for the chat guys and catch you out in the paddock next week."

Post race interview Team Manager Brett Wilson

How are you feeling about your two new drivers ?
"2 words - Bloody unreal, Our new drivers are settling in well and are giving us results that we deserve with the current state of the car design. The Belgium race was the best result we have had all season seeing both cars finish high up in the top 10. Not only that but great effort by the pit crew and their fast stops, we even managed fastest lap of the race !. it shows us what we can achieve when everything goes right on race day."

There is a lot of talk in the paddock that you are experiencing Deja vu, as last season  you hired  new drivers mid way through and showed some fantastic results then you went on to win the last 4 races straight.
"haha, yes id like to see that happen myself ! :), I must say im just happy that the team is coming together and is able to extract as much as they can from the car and to be up in the mix again for points its still earlier days but the team has set the mark high and that is the minimum level I expect moving forward here.. But in saying that the competition is very close this season so any small mistake (wrong tyre choice, and error in fuel or a pitstop gone wrong can have you running up front to last in a matter of minutes.)"

Thank you for your time Brett.  

In other news Martin Kulavirr (Arrows team Ex driver) Lawyers have withdrawn his case after MK was involded in yet another incident outside their head office after an eye witness reported him to the police.

Eye witness - "So i was down at my local fish market and spotted MK (he WAS one of my favourtie drivers) I saw him buy all this sushi i mean heaps more than he could carry, So i followed him.... it lead me to the Arrows factory THEN he began hurling it at staff and smear it all over the windows.. i recorded the whole thing on my phone here have a look........then i called the cops"  

STOP PRESS - ASO DUMPED FROM STAR RACING

In what has been a shock couple of weeks at Star Racing, They have hit the headlins and front pages of most good news papers and motorsports magazines world wide. Aso's marching orders. He is no longer with the team, managers had chats two races ago and Aso wasnt sure about where to go or what to do. He did say that the family Sushi business in fianical issues was playing on his mind and that is having an effect on his driving and help development of the car.

Scott Stephens (team owner) commented

The teams car is fine, it should have been more competative in the hands of Aso, an Williams for that matter. I cant hire a new driver of Hofmann's lvl beating on the gearbox of Aso for two races in a row, espcially in a car that is only new to him.  Aso has had it for 3/4 of a season. Its an joke, im not happy, its interupted the team and we had to go on a new path. Both Aso an Williams were complaining the car isnt good enough, well proof is in the racing and they didnt stand up and deliver. So i wish them all the luck if they get picked up by another team. Im sure they will, as there driving ability on paper is great and we helped get them a lot of that.

The teams changes are in the right direction for long term potopential, for both the team and its drivers. In hiring the two drivers Hofmann and now Wilson, the look at the structure of the drivers and there highs and lows were very much looked at. I have had an eye on them for quite some time, it is going to pay dividends once they have developed certain parts of there driving abilities that we have all the equipment and training staff in place to help them develop as fast as we can. The base is there, its what was missing from Aso and Williams. Now we have what we want and what we need to press for better results, maybe not straight away, but it wont be to far off.

With changes to the drivers, the car is going to be heading in a newer development under the guise of the two new drivers. Where in the past, the team has been playing a different strategy to most, we are now looking at different scenarios that will help to be more competative. This season has been a write off and all team personel know this, but we are concentrating still all our efforts onto the A5 design. Its being developed really well so far, running at about 25% developed for next year already the team and drivers believes it will be a good packge for both drivers.

Hofmann

You know, ive been watching this team for about 2 season. Well you watch a driver (Aso) and look up to them. Then next thing you are sitting beside him in an equal car about to leave pit lane. I was fortunate enough to learne what i could in the small time working together and his heart wasnt in it anymore. There were days he would be eating burgers, deapfried foods etc. His physical wasnt going anywhere but downwards and the team was suffereing from his attitude. Im glad that we (the team) now have two new fresh faces that are going to push each other to the limit and get what we can out of this A4 car. Im looking forward to the next round, see what i can bring to the table.

Wilson

Star Racing, now has two young star drivers. Myself an Hoff (thats what we call him) [Hofmann, ED] raced when we were young at karts. He is good, fast in the right equipment and Star Racing has that. We are under some presure as the top teams like Polar, MC and Orange all have awesome developed cars, they are 100% done for the season and ill bet are working hard at next years. Thats ok, we have our own tasks and path for our development. Im just glad to be in a championship winning team and bring on my first round.

The iGP Race Experience (T.i.R.E.)     
RD 12 – Belgium iGP Pro Tier
 
Pre-Race:
Arrow were able to secure a new agreement with Murk after running Tifosi engines last race. While the exact details are not known it is believe that they are paying a lot more per engine then they were originally offered. Tifosi are not publicly saying anything but are believed to be furious after they made a massive commitment last round and expanded facilities back at their headquarters. Umbrella and Orange Lizards seemed confident they would be running KERS providing Friday testing went ok. This would give us the first race of the season with all teams running KERS. There was some very late breaking news as D Zukas walked away from his seat at Arrow and was replaced by C Quinn. We are sure to hear more of the details post-race.     
 
Qualifying:
Polar Motorsports have really found something on Saturdays as they locked out the front row for the 3rd straight race with R Graca just ahead of A Muller. MC Racing had good long run pace but could not get the most out of their tires over 1 lap but were still able to hold onto the second row with S McNamara & V Kettunen. A Williams starts 5th for Orange Lizards with teammate J Torres again struggling and starting 8th. Arrow has had many a good qualifying session this year only for it to turn sour on Sunday.  So despite a season best result for the team with C Quinn 6th & A Wiz 7th there was almost no celebrations at all going on down in the Arrow garage as they understand points are only pad on Sunday. Star Racing again elected to qualify on hards and started 9th & 10th with Aso ahead of F Hoff. Umbrella also qualified on the hard compound but has not been able to keep up with the pace of development of those teams around them and with the departure of DPG find themselves as the last team on the grid in 11th & 12Th.   
 

Race Results:
The race turned out to be one of if not the most exciting race of the year and many records fell. Despite once again having the same top 4 finish in their normal positions it was a very very close race indeed. We normally see 5th place finish some 60sec+ behind the leader however today the top 10 was covered by less than 35sec. For the first time this season we seen 3 different race leaders and not only that but they were from 3 different teams. Race winner R Graca for Polar, F Hoff led for Star Racing on lap 10 before he pitted while C Quinn led on lap 14 & 15 then again on lap 23 & 24 for Arrow. This was the first time Arrow has lead a race all season and not only did they lead but they ran 1-2 at one stage. There were six different drivers who ran in the top 2 spots and amazingly every team had at least 1 driver in the top four at some point in the race (9/12 drivers ran top 4). C Quinn for Arrow was the first non-race winner to take the fastest lap this season. It was also the first race of the season we had every driver finish on the lead lap.

The decision to run a 2 stopper or 3 stopper did not seem to make too much difference with both Arrow drivers, A Williams (Orange) & R Aso (Star) running a 3 stopper on softs while everyone else ran a 2 stopper. Of the 2 stoppers Polar, MC & Orange ran S-H-H while Star ran H-H-S and Umbrella went H-H-H post-race calculations show there was only 1-2 sec difference between strategies with H-H-H or S-S-S-S giving the most consistent lap times depending on traffic.  However with just 2 sec covering the top 3 and 2 sec again covering 7-8-9th teams really need to ensure they execute the right strategy depending on their track position and perfect pit stops if they are to pick up those valuable championship points for the remainder of the season.

Behind the top 4 in R Graca (Polar), S McNamara (MC), A Muller (Polar), V Kettunen (MC). Arrow finally converted a good Saturday into solid points and picked up almost just as many points this round as they had all season by finishing 5th with C Quinn on debut and A Wiz in 6th. Orange Lizards continued to drop a little further back for the 3rd straight race and were lucky to finish in 7th & 8th with A Williams and J Torres respectively. F Hoff for Star was held up in his first stint and it ended costing him 2 positions as he finished 9th but continues to outshine his much more established teammate in R Aso who just wanted to get out of the car and immediately left the track after finishing 10th. Umbrella Racing will need to bring some major updates or maybe look at hiring some new drivers if they want to hold onto 5th in the championship. Umbrella failed to score any points for only the second time this season as D Gerario & P Klein were 11th & 12th over 10 sec back of the car ahead. More concerning is that they have only scored 1 point in the last 2 rounds compared to Arrow who have picked up 20 points and now only sit 17points behind with 5 races to go.  

Full race results can be found here: http://igpmanager.com/play/?url=race-result/172619#race