Simon Smith has been about in Sim Racing for a couple of years but in a shock of form, has been doing rather well in GPO. Nick Oldenhuis sat the BackMarker Brigade team boss down and asked a few questions:

Tell us a little bit about the man behind Simon Smith the username we see on the forums.

Ickle me? Well I’m 26 going on 7, live in the UK and have a penchant for getting involved in sit-com style situations! I spread my time over sim racing, commentating, being a fledgling singer/songwriter, playing games and running a few niche websites. I like to keep busy and get far too excited over all my hobbies but then I feel if I didn’t I’d be a little bit dead inside! I can’t be having any of that, so onwards I shall plough!

And how about your racing career, when did this all started?

One of the first memories I have of gaming was playing Nigel Mansell’s Grand Prix on the ZX Spectrum 3 trying to beat a man called “Ivan De Fasteste”. Coupled with growing up watching F1 on a Sunday, I used to create havoc when my dad changed the channel and so he’d change it back and let me sit glued to the screen and I’d have a plastic Tomy wheel, or a sit on plastic pull cart and pretend I was in the race. Even then I’d dream I qualified last! (Is that an Omen?) I would buy all kinds of racing games going up the consoles and eventually when my family got its first PC.

When online gaming really came about I stuck with arcade games such as TrackMania and MiniRacingOnline, or offline timetrial racing such as GeneRally. Then Grand Prix 3 and 4 hotlapping etc would kick in and I’d be plodding around with keyboard controls being laughably last everywhere. Not much has changed in the last 10 years!

After doing shockingly well in some of the arcade stuff, I found rfactor and eventually after several leagues and clan type affairs, I settled in Formula Sim Racing towards the end of 2008. I fell in love with the whole concept, the broadcast, the comradery, the failing to qualify! I think it took 3 DNQ’d before I finally got into a race, still driving with A for accelerate, Z for brake with < and > for steering. I nearly died of shock when I scored two points on my first race for 13th. I burned the race to DVD and played it to my then partner on the TV. I even bought snacks and beer. Alas only one of us enjoyed it! From there I’ve spread out into all different leagues and spent just as much time on the mic as in the cockpit (arguably to better effect!) but its a disease I fully hope there’s no cure for.

When and why did you create the BackMarkerBrigade racing team?

BackMarker Brigade was initially born way back in 2006 but under a different name but it really took form in 2008 entering Formula Sim Racing. There were a few reasons why the team was born. Initially I just assumed I was too rubbish for anyone to want me in the their own team. Then I realised that meant I could make crazy liveries, invent a mascot and really invest in why I come racing, for the pure love of it. My team, like myself, will probably never be destined for great things in the world, but all of the drivers share a passion for getting involved and doing what they love to do, tearing it up! Speed and pace matters not a jot to me. It’s all down to passion and commitment – although if you can help me with my setups you get bonus points!

What are the goals for this season?

For the team, its to create what will be a long standing base for BackMarker Brigade here. I’ve personally invested a lot of time and effort with Grand Prix Online and I love the go-racing regardless ethos it has. I envisage GPO being a true home league for the team.

For myself, I didn’t expect to have such a great run of results. My personal aim is to maintain a 100% finishing rate for the season. I will never retire from a race so long as the car will still go forward so I really want to see that translate to finishes. It’s be fantastic if I can maintain my 100% scoring rate too, but to be realistic, I’m not fast and more people join the league all the time so I will probably slip out that lucky ten scorers soon enough.

BackMarkerBrigade is ever growing in numbers, driverwise. Did you expect such an enthusiasm for your team?

It’s really taken me by surprise, and its all been in the last 12 months. BackMarker Brigade was a one man band until the British GP of 2009. As of now, in 2010 I’ve had 32 drivers race under the team’s name across various leagues. It’s been hard to keep up with and the team website gets about 15-20 hits a day. It’s been a great privilege to have all these great people get involved and I’ve actually been quite humbled by it all. I’m not planning to expand the team much more for the foreseeable future to be honest as for one man, its difficult to know what everyone’s up to but I have some nifty plans for later on in the year and 2011.

I’d like to thank everyone actually for their support, hard work and friendliness during the time the teams been about in full force. We’re colourful, fun loving racers who don’t take things completely seriously, and while that may upset some of the utter purists, I think we remind everyone why we came racing in the first place, to enjoy ourselves!!! That’s one essence and I think that’s what everyone else picks up on

Tell the readers something about the podcast you make, I am pretty sure most of them are aware that it exists, but for the non-knowing viewers, would you care to elaborate about that?

CrashCast FM is a bi-weekly podcast featuring fellow teammate Maurice Zondag and myself reflecting on the latest sim racing news, views and abuse! We usually have a sim racing or admin along for an interview, catch up with our affliated leagues and discuss games gone by. Maurice does some fantastic work with the audio production and deserves a lot of the credit, I really just pop in and chat away and make rude comments.

Any famous last words?

Apart from yes I do know what a blue flag looked like? I am looking into possibly starting an F1 podcast so if anyone would like to get involved please contact me. Apart from that keep on enjoying GPO. It’s my favourite place to be lapped!

Original post from Grand Prix Online Sim-Racing League

The Eagle soars as practice begins…

Christian Weibel solidly threw down the gauntlet to his rivals as the first free practice session got underway at the 7th round of the 2010 GPO championships at the Istanbul Speed Park in Turkey.

Weible set a 1:26.095 to go a clear 7 10ths of a second from his nearest competitor Jan-Moritz Kammann of Millenium racing.

Attendence was encouraging for the first GPO live broadcast practice session as drivers fought for the spotlight and the extra coverage their sponsors could get. 10 teams took to the track and gave the Istanbul fans something to cheer about.

The leading pair of drivers from the GPO challenge series stole the show but the field is highly competitive behind with the next 7 drivers all within a second of each other. An impressive feat given the track was filled by both Challenge and Sprint drivers with both divisions mixing it up. The sprint guys staying on pace with the challenge drivers and giving them cause to keep an eye on their mirrors.

Full times are listed below and make sure you join us for the live coverage of free practice 2 only on www.grandprix-online.com. Look for the broadcasts tab on the website.

Saturday 22-5-2010

10:00 GMT – 12:00 GMT
13:00 GMT – 15:00 GMT

-Free Practice Report by Stuart Fields-

Original post from Grand Prix Online Sim-Racing League

GPO’s Sprint category has been going from strength to strength as more and more contenders are stepping up to the mark to put themselves in contention for top 5 results, as seen at Spain and Monaco with two new Sprint race winners in Michael Folcher and Dave Carr-Smith.

The grid turned up at Barcelona with a record 19 strong field and a GRIDline lock out of the top 5 grid slots. Sven Hesse took the pole from Stuart Fields, Folcher 3rd ahead of Michael Pieneman and Nick Oldenhuis. Alex Cooper, BackMarker Brigade’s latest charge lined up an impressive 6th ahead of title leader Malcolm Rice down in a worst ever 7th ahead of Maurice Zondag, the ever improving Kai-Uwe Borgstadt and Craig Johnston rounding out the ten. It also great to see Ken Hunter back on the grid after an injury in 16th and a debut from Ryan Walker for Millennium Racing in 18th.

At the lights however it was a shock to see Alex Cooper blast from 6th to 1st in a monumental get away to lead the first lap for BackMarker Brigade! Hesse slotted in behind with Folcher, Oldenhuis, Zondag, Rice, Pieneman, a troubled Fields down from 2nd to 8th, Simon Smith and Borgstadt rounding off the order.

Cooper clung onto the lead for the opening two laps but a mistake on lap 3 dropped him down to 7th letting the lead gaggle of cars passed. Hesse now was busy under pressure from Folcher as the pair moved away from the titantic scrap from 3rd down to 9th with Stuart Fields busy disposing of cars left, right and centre – including several three wide moments providing fantastic racing for the fans. By lap 5 Stuart Fields had risen to 3rd much to Maurice Zondag’s annoyance as he made a mistake and slipped to the back of the gaggle.

However all eyes were up front as the Sven Hesse vs Michael Folcher battle commenced as Folcher tried every which way but loose to find a way pass, eventually slipping through on lap 8 initially only to find Hesse would not take it laying down and blast back passed again on lap 11. He’d stay there until the pitstops were Hesse would pit first, letting Folcher have an extra three laps in clear air before he pitted on lap 18 emerging just ahead of Sven. Stuart Fields and Michael Pieneman would lead one lap each before their pitstops would place them back down the order and Folcher would gain the lead he’d hold all the way until the chequered flag – chase like a rabbit on a dog track by Sven Hesse.

It was a fantastic race from lights to flag and a well deserved first win for Michael Folcher. Sven Hesse would be looking for revenge at Monaco just two seconds behind the winner. Stuart Fields was just eight seconds further back in third and had he not have been caught up in the start drama he had, he’d have been a prominent figure in the lead battle. Still it was more points moving him up the order!

All had worked out well for Malcolm Rice too for 4th place at the flag minimising damage to his championship lead. He had been in a battle all race with the GRIDline’s of Michael Pieneman and Nick Oldenhuis until with 11 laps to go, the two teammates collected eachother and both retired from the race which was a great shame for the duo. However what that had done is promote Alex Cooper into an eventful 5th on his debut just a few seconds shy of Rice. Kai Uwe Borgstadt came home a personal best 6th only a minute off the leaders after his best race to date. He had passed Smith with ease early on and then ran a lonely race from there.

It was also another best ever for Patrick Wier for the sixth GRIDline car coming home 7th after bolting on hard tyres and not taking a pitstop! This unusual strategy had worked perfectly as he was able to avoid all the early trouble, keep up with the one stoppers and net the positions as everyone else pitted. One lap down but pleased was James Scanlan who had been busy battling with Craig Johnston all race. The battle was unresolved until lap 24 when Johnston made a mistake and dropped behind the Australian who drove his most convincingly professional race of the season by far and continues to move forward by leaps and bounds. Craig Johnston grabbed another couple of points for 9th after a busy race while Simon Smith came home 10th for the final point scoring position after losing his 7th when he sped in the pitlane and had to come straight back into the pits for a stop/go penalty.

Myles Dixon finally finished his first grand prix in 11th 2 laps adrift and so progress was on the cards for the Brit while Ken Hunter came in 12th and last, 3 laps adrift as he got back into his racing rhythm again and having to pit three times, with only one being scheduled!

The retirements were unfortunate. With the GRIDline pair of Pieneman and Oldenhuis taking eachother out, it was a cluster of separate accidents that wiped out most of the rest of the drivers. BMB drivers Maurice Zondag and Maurice Willems both had the same accident at the same corner but 12 laps apart. Willems had not felt comfortable all weekend but was on for 11th when he piled into the barriers, while Zondag had once again been a shoe in for a top 6 when he lost it just before the new chicane. Ryan Walker had done well on his debut but crashing out on lap 12 ended his race early while Lee Massey didn’t even get round lap 1 before he binned his Pacific Williamson Dynamics car. The only technical retirement was Rich Tranter who had qualified and ran last before his DNF on lap 5 but at least he was keeping it on the black stuff!

The circus then turned to Monte-Carlo and the glorious streets of terror and danger at every split second. BackMarker Brigade had bought along their Monaco specialist Dave Carr-Smith for a one off performance who came in and dutifully took pole position by half a second! While the rest of the field gulped, they were all in very close proximity to each other behind him. Sven Hesse grabbed 2nd on the grid ahead of Barcelona winner Folcher, Jack Nicholls making his sprint debut in 4th ahead of teammate Stuart Fields with leader Malcolm Rice in 6th ahead of Pieneman, Zondag, Cooper and Borgstadt rounding off the top 10 in qualifying. Debutant Dan Hemmings started 15th of the 17 starters.

At the lights it was very Noah’s Ark as the field kept their positions into St. Devote except Fields overcooked it and dropped from 5th to 8th and then exiting Casino Square Alex Cooper spun a 360 causing trouble behind him as everyone took avoiding action. Everyone had made it round lap 1 however with the exception of Patrick Wier whom had a bizarre problem getting stuck in the pits and being unable to join the track! Ken Hunter too would be gone on lap 2 with technical gremlins.

As the field divided into clumps of drivers in bottleneck groups, Carr Smith began to edge out into a comfortable lead for the BackMarker Brigade team, leading in a grand prix for the second race in a row and hardly able to believe their luck! Behind the battles were raging. Hesse had Folcher all over the back of him in a repeat of Spain but this time there was no where for Folcher to get passed as the two battled furiously. Behind them Jack Nicholls, Michael Pieneman, Maurice Zondag and Stuart Fields were in a train until Maurice Zondag’s bad luck struck when he lost connection thus ending another very promising drive from the Dutchman.

Then disaster struck Jack Nicholls. As he came round to lap Dan Hemmings, Hemmings had span exiting Casino and Nicholls collected the errant Hemmings. Hemmings had already been in trouble with the heavily damaged James Scanlan who stopped on that same lap as his car was undriveable after playing ping pong with the barriers.  With three cars out on the spot and debris everywhere it left the order as Carr-Smith, Hesse, Folcher, Pieneman, Rice, Fields, Borgstadt, Cooper, Smith and Johnston rounding out the point scorers. Kai Uwe-Borgstadt would be the next retirement with a crash on lap 16 promoting Myles Dixon the last remaining runner into the points.

The battle over 2nd now was at boiling point and somehow Folcher had found a gap on lap 17 to pass Sven Hesse! That made Sven see red and so began the imfamous wheel bashing and dramas that eventually led to Michael Folcher being bashed out the way by Hesse and then Folcher just driving straight into Hesse ending both of their races. With emotions boiling over, it would be hot topic and heated debate as both drivers fell foul of GPO’s gentleman’s racing rules. What it did do was place Dave Carr Smith into a massive lead with Michael Pieneman moving into second and Malcolm Rice in third having placed one of only a few overtakes in the race on Stuart Fields at the same time the Folcher/Hesse clash took place. It had became apparent that those who had pit for tyres (Carr-Smith, Rice and Cooper) had a couple of seconds advantage over those trying to cling on with their single set (Pieneman, Fields and Smith). As a result Rice dived passed Fields and Alex Cooper then also dived passed Simon Smith to take 5th after Cooper had to make a second stop for a new front wing.

Dave Carr Smith it was then who took a memorable first win for himself and for BackMarker Brigade. Michael Pieneman grabs an excellent second by the skin of his rear wing as Malcolm Rice returns to the podium again in third after a spirited drive and thus extends his championship lead to 20 points over Stuart Fields who came in a lapped fourth. Alex Cooper despite two spins and a nose cone change came in for another 5th placed finish ahead of Simon Smith who maintains his 100% finish/scoring record which only Malcolm Rice, Stuart Fields (including challenge) and Drazen Cokor (challenge also) can say they have maintained with only one bizarre spin at Rassecasse causing concern. Seventh was a pleased by lonely Craig Johnston who pitted twice and despite having good one lap pace, was unable to reel in Smith for a battle. The final finisher was Myles Dixon some 4 laps down but in triumph over scoring his first GPO points in what is probably the toughest race of the season.

So now to Turkey… who will take the win with all the trimmings?

Don’t forget to tune into our Xfire broadcast of GPO’s first official practice session or if you fancy getting in on the action yourself, head on over to the forums where you can meet the community!

Original post from Grand Prix Online Sim-Racing League

As the challenge drivers pulled onto the grid for round 4 of the GPO Challenge league, Jan Moritz Kammann must have been saying sweet prayers that once again rivals capable of putting up a major challenge to his current title lead had yet again not materialised the next round. The driver merry-go-round had bought pole to the all new Eagle Motorsport team with Dirk Baldung taking the honours from teammate Hennings Cordes, Kammann was third with his arch rival from Sepang Michael Folcher alongside. It was the closest qualifying to date with the field seperated by less than three seconds, showing much improvement in particular from Ben Ross and Rizwan Sarwar.

However at the lights neither Eagle Motorsports car could keep the lead as Kammann pulled some amazing moves to take the lead. Cordes had jumped Baldung for second while Folcher kept a watching brief in fourth. Behind Sarwar made an excellent start to end lap 1 a GPO best 5th, ahead of the similarly great starting Drazen Cokor, Heniz Vanderhoydonck, Mihaljo Vincentijevic, Benajmin Chong, Brian Oates, Keith Doherty, a slow starting Ari Kesseli and Ben Ross.

However with the close laps times we finally had an almighty scrap for the lead of a race. For the first four laps Kammann defended heavily before Cordes dived passed for a single lap before Kammann forced his way back through again! In forcing himself through, Dirk Baldung snuck through into second and then attacked Jan for the lead, which he superbly took on lap 10. He wasn’t getting away though, as teammate Henning Cordes found his way passed Kammann two laps later and then set upon his teammate rival sliding passed on lap 15 as the pitstops commenced. This then allowed Michael Folcher, who’d sat watching the trio ahead going at it like hammers and tongs and was quite prepared to take advantage.

What the pitstops had done was keep Baldung in the lead, but moved Jan Moritz Kammann into second ahead of Cordes, Folcher and Drazen Cokor who’d negociated several drivers to find himself an ever increasingly distant fifth. Cordes hadn’t given up, just a few seconds shy of the leader and set about Kammann. He passed him after a great battle, as they’d been doing all race, on lap 22. Four laps later he performed another stunning move on his teammate Baldung for the lead. Cordes had gone from third to first to third to first again, like a yo-yo!

By the time we reached the second round of stops there were a couple of seconds between the trio and so they all came in and left in the same order, although they momentarily handed the lead back to Michael Folcher who had kept the trio in his sights all race but had not been close enough to get stuck in with the nitty gritty. The attention then focused to what was going on behind. That’s the order they would finish in too.

Henning Cordes took his first win of GPO in what was a dogged and amazingly composed drive under so much pressure from other drivers. Dirk Baldung will no doubt be delighted with second, although one senses he’ll be looking for revenge in Spain! Jan Moritz Kammann notches up another podium after a drive of fireworks and fun – one he’d not been so involved with since the season opener, and he capitalises on his points advantage. Michael Folcher’s fourth tells of a man that could seriously be a real championship threat. While he lacked the ultimate pace at Shanghai to challenge the top three, his race was mistake free and in sim racing, consistancy is key.

Drazen Cokor had a lonely 5th pretty much under control but Ari Kesseli had been busy disposing of the Rothmans duo of Doherty and Oates to take a well deserved 6th for the final stint, the Rothmans duo then giving themselves a tete-a-tete over the remaining positions, eventually winning out in Keith Doherty’s favour, however it was the closest Brian Oates had been to his teammate so far in 2010 and he showed real fighting spirit. Heniz Vanderhoydonck was two laps adfrift on his way to collect two points for ninth after slipping to last after recieveing damage. A lengthy battle with Ben Ross for the first 20 laps would ensue but Heniz would emerge on top. Ben Ross would however continue on his constant improvement to come home a delighted 10th and claim another world championship point for OrangeTech.

The retirements were few and far between. Mihaljo Vincentijevic retired after various bumps and knocks while Benajmin Chong and Rizwan Sarwar retired with technical issues, particularly sobering for Rizwan who had the pace for a top 6 finish.

And so the Pacific tour comes to a close… here comes the European leg – who do you fancy?

Original post from Grand Prix Online Sim-Racing League

So after much upset at the previous round in Melbourne we arrived at Sepang with an 17 strong field and lots of emotions running high. Absent was previous race winner and runner up David Dominguez and Muhammed Patel and in their place were several other drivers. Rowland GP had entered into fray with namesake lead driver Nick Rowland, Nocture e-Sports had entered the series with Tom Eley and GRIDline’s continous driver merry-go-round brought Frenchman Michael Folcher to the table.

In qualifying it was quickly established that the race for the chequered flag would contain four main protagonists. Eley had taken pole by a small margin over Folcher with championship leader Jan-Mortiz Kammann sitting pretty in third ahead of Rowland. Lauren Vaisman was the only other driver within a second of pole, such was the pace. Behind there was an almighty scrap over the rest of the points places however. Benjamin Chong had managed a GPO best 6th ahead of Drazen Cokor, a career best for Rizwan Sarwar, Keith Doherty, Ari Kesseli, Mihaljo Vincentijevic, Brian Oates, Heinz vanderhoydonk and Jordan Norwood, all covered by just three quarters of a second. Ben Ross and Scot Beck were equal at the back a further half second off with newcomer Brandon Warren rounding off the grid.

At the lights however Tom Eley got a great getaway to take charge of the lead while Nick Rowland popped into second from Folcher. Kammann had a poor start dropping behind another lightening start from Cokor and a superb opening lap from Keith Doherty who found himself fourth after lap 1! Nick Rowland was in fiesty mood however and snatched the lead from Eley on lap 2, only for Eley to serve just desserts and retake it back the following lap. Much to Rowland’s annoyance, Michael Folcher and a recovering Jan-Moritz Kammann, already disposed of Doherty and Cokor, were now hot on his tail. Folcher was through on lap 8 and then Rowland had to make an unscheduled stop a few laps later dropping him out of contension.

This however had released Folcher free and he attemped to reel in Eley who had tyre wear issues. It was a great battle of cat and mouse that eventually Eley would win with a strategic wing angle change at the first stop. Tom Eley had a fastest lap over four tenths faster than the rest and with that new wing angle, he was able to drive comfortably and keep the car out of trouble for an impressive win on debut for Nocture e-Sports. Folcher however would not be out of the woods as Kammann began eating into the Frenchmans lead like a tubby guy on an all you can eat dinner and the question would be could Folcher hold second. Michael did, although it was by a much slimmer advantage than he’d have liked. Jan-Moritz Kammann was back on the podium in third with a much more together outting than in Melbourne and gave himself the best damage limitation possible after a slow start. He made up his positions on the track and that’s the sign of a potential champion.

Fourth and once again unlapped was a delighted Drazen Cokor. He benefitted from Rowlands problems and after a lengthy 16 lap battle passed Keith Doherty to hold the position. Cokor has been notching up the points and is looking very much like a man on a quest for a top 5 in the championship at this rate at the very worst! Keith Doherty had impressed greatly to claim 5th. A man known for bad luck and bad connections, his race was composed, thoughtful and precise. His start to 4th from 9th was amazing and he is putting a strong case forward for future races. Laurent Vaisman came home 6th after a valiant effort. He’d dropped to 9th at the start and passed guys on the track, and through early pitstops on his first stint to claim the place.

Benjamin Chong’s 7th came as something of a relief that a race had somewhat to plan. The speedy American had a batism of fire in the opening rounds but came through to claim a haul of points and get his 2010 season off the ground. Mihaljo Vincentijevic had not had the race pace he’d shown in previous rounds and had to be content with 8th after spending most of the race battling with Brian Oates and sliding passed Ari Kesseli in the dying moments of the race. Ari Kesseli was only 9th due to pitting for a front wing when he went off all by himself. No doubt kicking himself, two points are stil welcome for the popular Finnish driver. Rounding off the point scorers was an under the weather Brian Oates who’d combatted a heavy cold to come home 10th for the final point admitting he’d made too many mistakes and lost time where he shouldn’t have. It did however keep his 100% point scoring running very much alive and that is an impressive stat.

Scott Beck was 11th and two laps adrift. His race pace had not been the quickest but he’d kept it on the black stuff and been more consistant than Ben Ross who once again made it home for OrangeTech. Both drivers had fought hard, with Beck running in the points for the first half of the race. The retirements were few and far between although no less upsetting. Rizwan Sarwar, plagued with connection issues was in with a sniff of 10th until he disconnected with 8 laps to go marking three retirements in three starts. Nick Rowland crashed out at half distance while trying to make back places after his early pitstop and thus ended a promising debut. Jordon Norwood had his longest race to date in 2010 before he also binned his Deletraz BMB 12 laps in. Brendan Warren and Heniz Vanderhoydonck were out early on with technical issues.

Jan Kammann then had showed he was certainly no one race wonder, but once again we had challengers coming to face him. Just who would have the last laugh in the final race of our Pacific rim trilogy? Find out tomorrow…

Original post from Grand Prix Online Sim-Racing League

After Jan-Moritz Kammann took a very persuasive win at GPO’s inaugral race at Bahrain, he placed himself up on a pedestal as the man to beat. The rest of the field have obviously taken it to heart because they’ve being pulling every trick out of the book to make sure they do just that.

At Melbourne, Australia, many teams bought new drivers to try to knock Jan off the top spot. GridLINE bought along David Dominguez and Jack Nicholls, Scirocco unveiled Muhammed Patel, Williamson Dynamics were up to speed with Camilo Nino and of course, the rest of the field were now one race in and better prepared for a circuit they all knew.

In qualifying the form book was immediately upset with three of those new names taking the top slots, Nicholls ahead of Dominguez and Nino third pushing Kammann back to 4th. Laurent Vaisman another newcomer was 5th for Rothmans ahead of Fields, Drazen Cokor, Patel, Keith Doherty and Mihaljo Vicentijevic rounding out the top 10.

When the flag dropped however it was David Dominguez that jumped into the lead and blasted away from the pack. Nicholls slid to second before a fast starting Cokor demoted him to third, Patel and Kammann then got passed the Englishman too. Soon Nino and Fields were well in the action too, all of this to the delight of Dominguez who was getting away ahead.

However it was all to fall apart for several drivers. Jack Nicholls was to crash out 15 laps in, Nino suffered connection issues at half distance and Vaisman didn’t get passed lap 3. He would join a collection of drivers out at the start including BMB drivers Jordan Norwood and Gary Gray, Ari Kesseli’s Rice Racing car, Fredrick Arbegard for Redspeed and Sven Hesse for Millenium due to various maladies. Brian Cowley would crash out on lap 6, Graham Dickinson have technical issues on lap 11 with teammate Erick Davies DNF 5 laps later. The Williamson Dynamics group were going well until the second half of the race when Rizwan Sarwat retired with accident damage and Camilo Nino and Benjamin Chong retired on the same lap! That left 11 until Scott Beck too crashed his Rothmans out with 20 to go.

That left just 10 runners from the biggest GPO grid to date and they all scampered home to collect points.

David Dominguez had a relatively straight forward win on his first time out and caused a real paddock stir with his general demenour all race meeting. He obviously had the good to challenge for the title. Muhammed Patel’s second signalled a driver that was able to work his way up the field should he not have qualified well and had some good overtaking chops. Third went to Drazen Cokor who continues to show that he has some great talent that is being tapped into more and more each race. Championship leader and season opener winner Kammann managed only fourth, almost an entire lap down. Most certainly the battle axes had been drawn!

Just behind was Stuart Fields after a race of dueling with cars around him ahead of a delighted Vincentijevic who stayed out of trouble for an impressive 6th. A Rothmans duo of Keith Doherty and Brian Oates gave their team something to cheer for with 7th and 8th ahead of Heinz Vanderhoydonck who spent the weekend getting used to the car and drove well to grab 9th, 2 laps adrift. The final point went to Ben Ross who’d driven a careful but detirmined race to grab 10th, 3 laps down.

So Jan the Man was licking his wounds after what had been a hectic battle for the lower podium slots early on and coming out second best. New rivals had risen… what Sepang hold a new Shebang for our GPO Challengers? Malaysia comes tomorrow…

Original post from Grand Prix Online Sim-Racing League

The sprint series arrived at Melbourne briming with nineteen eager drivers waiting for their second bite of the season. It was immediately clear that Malcolm Rice would not have it his own way as Robin Van Brenk took pole from Michael Pieneman by a staggering 0.002 of a second with Nick Oldenhuis just 0.025 off the pole time. Rice would be fourth ahead of series debutants Darren Stringer and Maurice Zondag with Bahrain battlers Smith and Venhorst just behind with another debutant Gary Cooper and Maurice Willems rounding out the top 10.

It was a manic start as Pieneman got the jump of Brenk to lead as Van Brenk made an early mistake slipping to fourth by the end of the opening lap. Pieneman’s lead was short lived as Nick Oldenhuis soon took it from the Dutchman on the second lap, only to then lose it himself to Malcolm Rice on lap 3! However something was in the Dutchies water as Robin Van Brenk was busy making a surge passing Pieneman (who’d gone off) and Oldenhuis before diving passed Rice on lap 6 to retake the lead once again.

Further behind action was coming think and fast. Jermaine Venhorst had made a cracking start but did not have the pace to stay 5th behind Maurice Zondag and was disposed by Simon Smith, Darren Stringer and the recovering Pieneman who then all began their own scrap. Maurice Willems would also pass the Redspeed driver too. Pieneman would eventually pass Smith and Stringer, the latter pair battling until the pitstops where Stringer would pit and have to play catch up all race.

Up front however Robin Van Brenk controlled the race to win comfortably while Nick Oldenhuis overtook Malcolm Rice on the last lap to snatch second from his grasp. It was a fantastic display from the top three. Michael Pieneman recovered to an excellent fourth but will have been left wondering where he could have been while Maurice Zondag was delighted with 5th on his debut. Darren Stringer too performed a last lap move on new tyres passing Smith’s worn out BackMarker Brigade to take a determined 6th on debut. Maurice Willems was the last unlapped driver with a quiet race to 8th ahead of a lapped Jermaine Venhorst who managed to overtake Gary Cooper in the closing stages to take 9th and 10th, Cooper another scorer on debut.

Craig Johnston came home a few seconds behind in 11th to a consistant 11th ahead of James Scanlan showing improved form over Bahrain in 12th and Patrick Wier who sustained early damage and done well to limp home a dogged 13th. Of the retirements, Kye Barker was the most upsetting as he was on for points early on until he lost his front wing and then later binned it, along with Emmanuel Baako – another driver showing improvement too. Debutant Rich Tranter also crashed out early on lap 3 and lamented on what was a character building weekend while Daniel Hamm was a lap one casualty and had too much damage once pitting to continue. Myles Dixon and Lee Massey were disqualifed.

With just one week to sort themselves out, the traveling band made their way to Sepang, Malaysia with Rice leading the championship. However the world of Grand Prix Online does not sit still and more threats to plough into Rice’s points lead.

Due to timing changes, Stuart Fields had joined the Sprint series after impressing in the Challenge league for GridLine racing to join teammate Oldenhuis, while Sven Hesse had joined the league for Millenium Racing and promtly told everyone exactly what his intentions were by placing his car on pole position in qualifying. Malcolm Rice had upped his game to start alongside him, with Feilds and Van Brenk on row two. Gregg Lawson joining the league for OrangeTech started an impressive 5th ahead of Stringer, Pieneman, newcomer Peter Hummer, Smith and an on form Myles Dixon 10th.

At the lights there was all kinds of pandemonium and Patrick Wier’s unlucky streak continued as he was out on the opening lap, with James Scanlan failing to actually take the start! However up front it had all kicked off with Hesse not quite taking the tarmac route into turn oneand dropping down to ninth! Quickly disposing of Smith, he then made light work of Pieneman and Lawson to chase down the leaders.

The leaders were being led by Robin Van Brenk at the end of the opening lap, with a fantastic start from fourth to first with Rice, Fields and Darren Stringer all well in the mix. However what was to follow for the entire race was some of the finest sim racing we’re seen in years. Van Brenk, Rice, Fields, Stringer – all quickly joined by Hesse swapping positions corner on corner in a magical display of driving prowess. First Rice would lead, then  Van Brenk and then Fields for a good few laps, but in all their bickering and argy-bargy Hesse was busy picking them off one by one and rose into the lead on lap 17 of 28.

However, not to be pertubed by losing, Stuart Fields buckeled down and passed Robin on lap 21 and eventually made it round Sven on lap 26 can clung on for dear life to snatch the victory from the jaws of defeat in Malaysia and gave us our third winner in as many races. Sven Hesse was just 1.7 seconds behind in second after what had been a storming drive. Similarly Michael Pieneman, who hadn’t featured in qualifying and got himself stuck in the mix in the second half of the race to take the third spot on the podium taking Malcolm and Robin on lap 25. Malcolm would come in 4th, Robin a hard fought 5th despite leading at the beginning.

Gregg Lawson had kept a watching brief on the action in 6th after fending off Peter Hummer in the early laps and not needing to pit for tyres, something most drivers did. Hummer himself came in a delighted 7th ahead of a lonely Simon Smith in 8th, thus losing his 5th overall in the championship, a feat which had caused much amusement in the paddock! Jermaine Venhorst was a lapped 9th after a pass on Daniel Hamm on lap 14 secured the place while Hamm took his first point of 2010 and GPO with a much improved drive to 10th. Also far improved was Lee Massey for the first time in 2010 not looking like an accident waiting to happen, and the final finisher was Rich Tranter whom stayed a lap down and out of trouble to show a marked improvement during the race.

So that all left Malcolm Rice still leading the championship but by just 10 fragile points from Michael Pieneman whose consistancy has shone through in 2010. Nick Oldenhuis and Robin Van Brenk complete the Dutch trio in the hunt for the 2010 championship with New Zealand resident Stuart Fields and German Sven Hesse looking set to ascend the order, thus demoting the sandwiched Simon Smith in the hands of another trio of Dutchies – Willems, Zondag and Venhorst.

Shanghai’s up next – who will tame the Golden Dragon?

Original post from Grand Prix Online Sim-Racing League

With the teams now preparing for the tough streets of Melbourne, GPO hits round two of its inaugral sim racing season. With both Challenge and Sprint series’ seeing dominant wins, everyone will be eager to show that no one will be having it all their own way in 2010. You can catch the GPO Challenge qualifying and race live on PSRTV this saturday from 19:45 GMT (race kicks off 20:30). Bring you drinks and snacks and be prepared to cheer on your favourite driver!

Albert Park is the place for the race, GPO is the race in your own place!

Original post from Grand Prix Online Sim-Racing League

Jan-Moritz Kammann took a dominant win in GPO’s inaugral Bahrain GP in the main challenge event on Saturday. Kammann won by 30 seconds from Drazon Cokor and Stuart Fields snuck home in third.

The stage was set for a dramatic opener around the newly redesigned Bahraini circuit and with Kammann on pole with Camilo Nino alongside it was looking set for an almight duel. The midfield looked particularly tight with 5th Jody Fannin to Brian Oates 14th seperated by just 0.7 of a second.

However on the off it was all to come crashing down for Nino. Who touched who didn’t matter but Nino’s hopes of victory were out the window and onto the dirt track, along with Rothmans duo Graham Dickinson and the perennially unlucky Keith Doherty, who were both caught up in the melee and was out. Also joining them on the sidelines would be Rizwan Sarwar & Sven Smits for European F1 and Jordon Norwood for Deletraz BMB. 5 down, 17 remaining.

Next to go would be Heniz Vanderhoydonck from accident damage and then Erik Brodan for Redspeed Sweeden would follow suit, although he had looked uncomfortable all weekend. He would quickly be joined in the sand traps by his teammate Fredrick Arbegard with an uncharacteristic DNF.

However as they went off two by two, Jan-Moritz Kammann was going from strength to strength and was busy dragging teammate Mikael Folcher along for the ride as the two battled hard for the lead for Millenium Racing. Third was a delighted Mihajlo Vicentijevic however he too would over do it and crash out – the new section proving extra tricky for the drivers. This allowed Drazon Cokor into third with Ari Kesseli and Stuart Fields having a ding-dong battle over fourth and fifth.

Furtherback more action was unfolding as Benjamin Chong recovered from earlier drama’s to overtake first Erick Davis, then Brian Oates and finally Jody Fannin to find himself back in the points. He shouldn’t have worried however…

Ben Ross had retired with technical difficulties for OrangeTech before teammate Brian Cowley, new to this type of racing found  himself a working experiment that tarmac is better than gravel! With both OrangeTech’s out, it was a bad day for Williamson Dynamic related teams with Camilo Nino finally ending what had been a miserable day in the wall too. He had been suffering from food poisoning and one had hoped he’d not done a Mark Webber…

Up front however Kammann remained unfazed even with Michael Folcher refusing to let up. The pair had opened a massive gap over the battling Kesseli and Fields and it was heading for a great show down. Folcher was one stopping and Kammann was two. Kammann came in for his second but had not pulled out enough of a gap and Folcher retook the lead. It was going to have to be decided on the track… that was until Michael Folcher suffered terrible luck and retired due to technical difficulties! What rotten luck.

Jan breathed a sigh of relief and then gave us the fastest lap for good measure before crossing the line to win the Bahrain GP. Drazen Cokor stayed out of trouble to claim an impressive second while in the last few laps Fields dived passed Kesseli taking third away from the Finn and giving GRIDLine a third podium slot in the weekend.

Jamie Rush had been quiet most of the race but came home a well deserved fifth ahead of Benjamin Chong who recovered to sixth despite many problems early on. Jody Fannin came home seventh meaning R&S Motorsports were the only team to get a double finish and points for both. Brian Oates gave his usual steady and dependable performance to claim eighth and some valuable points early on while the final finisher was Erick Davis after three stops and being lapped four times.

So Jan has laid the gauntlet down for everyone at Melbourne and it will be interesting to see how everyone, especially teammate Folcher, will react. As a great lyric once said “Kammann if you think you’re hard enough!”

Original post from Grand Prix Online Sim-Racing League

Malcolm Rice took the win in the inaugral GPO Sprint Bahrain Grand Prix. Nick Oldenhuis came home a fighting second with Michael Pieneman rounding off the podium finishers in third.

The newly created Sprint series, which takes place on Sunday mornings (GMT), saw 15 eager drivers on the grid ready to impress and Rice, in his own car, coverted his pole position to the lead down into turn 1 while behind, Oldenhuis battled for second with Rothmans Racing’s Ed Williams, the pair swapping positions constantly. This allowed Malcolm Rice to pull out a small lead, until Ed Williams crashed out on lap 9 of the race trying to keep up with Oldenhuis’ new GRIDline Racing car. This allowed Pieneman into the final podium slot.

Behind the lead three, an almight battle over the rest of points finishers was keeping everyones attention. Jermaine Venhorst had avoided some turn 1 jockeying to take fourth and was holding up Craig Johnston, Simon Smith, Maurice Willems and Ken Hunter. Hunter would lose control of his Rothmans on lap 3 taking himself out of the equasion, which then allowed Willems in his his BackMarker Brigade DNQ to attack his sister car stablemate Simon Smith, however an ill planned move lost Willems his front wing in the final corner and so he was in for an early pitstop. This then proved to be a blessing in disguise for Maurice as after dispatching Emmanuel Baako and Patrick Wier, he ran in clear air for the rest of the race, gaining time on the position swapping fest that was Venhorst, Johnston and Smith.

By the time everyone had pitted, Rice had opened up a good 15 seconds over Oldenhuis and over fourty seconds on a lonely Pieneman in the second GRIDline. The battles behind had not quite finished however as Smith, who’d lost out in the stops dispatched Venhorst for fifth and closed down Willems quickly only to have a costly spin in the closing laps and hault his charge. Further back we’d lost Flavio Nobrega from a points scoring position and also Emmanuel Baako who’d worked his way to 9th when he retired his Deletraz in the barriers. The other retirement was Myles Dixon who suffered a screen freeze and by the time the game returned, he was already missing some vital pieces of his car!

Malcolm Rice took a comanding win with a lights to flag victory and fastest lap for good measure – a fantastic achievement for Rice Racing and a race that will go down in history as the first ever GPO Sprint event. Oldenhuis and Pieneman make sure GRIDline take the constructors lead with second and third overall and team boss Stuart Fields will be delighted with that.

Behind Willems takes a delighted fourth ahead of a stunned Simon Smith grabbing one of best finishes in his sim racing career to date. Patrick Wier took sixth after a determined drive and playing catch up after a cautious start, however his end lap times were on pace with those in front. Jermaine Venhorst was demoted to seventh after two drive throughs in the closing stages for ignoring blue flags, marring what was a stiring drive for RedSpeed. Craig Johnston came home ninth after a lengthy pitstop to repair damage following an off whilst James Scanlan improved his pace over the course of the race to claim ninth and Lee Massey grabbed the final point with a dogged drive to 10th depsite being significantly down on pace.

Original post from Grand Prix Online Sim-Racing League