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January 05, 2013
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The winter silly season is an occasion for great speculation among the GPVWC teams, and negotiations about the personnel sign-ups didn't escape this tradition.
The first round of bids allowing teams to snatch up key members of staff such as Chief Designers, Commercial Managers and Lead Mechanics, ended earlier this morning and teams are now left pondering their next steps in the lights of the results.
Among the most notable ones, Constructors Champions Midnight Motorsport retained French aerodynamics guru Philippe Charbonneau - the 61-year-old having propelled the team to a double title with an impressive research & development effort at the start of the season. Midnight's strategy to retain their key designer seemed to be shared across the league - no doubt due to the advantage to team chemistry a long-term relationship can build: Nordsjoen Racing chose to retain Tjalle van Beveren despite a few strategic blunders earlier in 2012, while Woods and Green Stripes also renewed contracts to Jonathan Sinclair and Jonas Achen.
With Synergetic Motorsport folding at the end of the 2012 season, a furious auction opened to clinch the services of Designer Nathan Hellman: despite offers from heavyweights such as Red Archer and Nijo, the American opted - perhaps patriotically? - to sign with Ohio-based Torrent Motorsport.
Romain Francoeur was a high-profile team switcher, abandoning Red Archer in favour of Hawkeye, while Logan Doyne and Jedrzej Piotrowski extended their existing contracts with ST Racing and Kernow Sport. As for the remaining new teams, Halcyon stuck to local talent by hiring a newcomer to the Superleague, Adrian Ryan, whereas Phoenix F1 enlisted Japanese designer Shinji Nomo.
Phoenix completed a hat-trick of "green" personnel choices by signing two more individuals with no previous Superleague experience, Commercial Manager Oliver Smith and Chief Mechanic Robin Hupp - a fresh start indeed for the Championship returnees.
As the marketing department goes, no one was fought over more than Spain's Nestor Santana, who worked for now-defunct Red 5 Racing in 2012. Midnight Motorsport were finally able to snatch him, but not without putting hand to their wallet in what must be a calculated, if hefty, investment for the English team, which also confirmed Kosovar Xhabir Ahmeraj as chief mechanic.
Steinthor Gustavsson left Nordsjoen - despite the known attempts of the Italian team to retain him - and landed at Constant to head their pit team, with Florian Beich also choosing a more lucrative deal at Torrent instead of his current role at Kernow Sport; the final of the "ship jumpers" is Martin Naumann, who leaves Green Stripes for Red Archer.
According to rumours in the paddock, several teams are still in the hunt for personnel, while Woods Racing, Phoenix F1, Hawkeye, ST Racing and Midnight are believed to have all the staff in place.
The first round of bids allowing teams to snatch up key members of staff such as Chief Designers, Commercial Managers and Lead Mechanics, ended earlier this morning and teams are now left pondering their next steps in the lights of the results.
Among the most notable ones, Constructors Champions Midnight Motorsport retained French aerodynamics guru Philippe Charbonneau - the 61-year-old having propelled the team to a double title with an impressive research & development effort at the start of the season. Midnight's strategy to retain their key designer seemed to be shared across the league - no doubt due to the advantage to team chemistry a long-term relationship can build: Nordsjoen Racing chose to retain Tjalle van Beveren despite a few strategic blunders earlier in 2012, while Woods and Green Stripes also renewed contracts to Jonathan Sinclair and Jonas Achen.
With Synergetic Motorsport folding at the end of the 2012 season, a furious auction opened to clinch the services of Designer Nathan Hellman: despite offers from heavyweights such as Red Archer and Nijo, the American opted - perhaps patriotically? - to sign with Ohio-based Torrent Motorsport.
Romain Francoeur was a high-profile team switcher, abandoning Red Archer in favour of Hawkeye, while Logan Doyne and Jedrzej Piotrowski extended their existing contracts with ST Racing and Kernow Sport. As for the remaining new teams, Halcyon stuck to local talent by hiring a newcomer to the Superleague, Adrian Ryan, whereas Phoenix F1 enlisted Japanese designer Shinji Nomo.
Phoenix completed a hat-trick of "green" personnel choices by signing two more individuals with no previous Superleague experience, Commercial Manager Oliver Smith and Chief Mechanic Robin Hupp - a fresh start indeed for the Championship returnees.
As the marketing department goes, no one was fought over more than Spain's Nestor Santana, who worked for now-defunct Red 5 Racing in 2012. Midnight Motorsport were finally able to snatch him, but not without putting hand to their wallet in what must be a calculated, if hefty, investment for the English team, which also confirmed Kosovar Xhabir Ahmeraj as chief mechanic.
Steinthor Gustavsson left Nordsjoen - despite the known attempts of the Italian team to retain him - and landed at Constant to head their pit team, with Florian Beich also choosing a more lucrative deal at Torrent instead of his current role at Kernow Sport; the final of the "ship jumpers" is Martin Naumann, who leaves Green Stripes for Red Archer.
According to rumours in the paddock, several teams are still in the hunt for personnel, while Woods Racing, Phoenix F1, Hawkeye, ST Racing and Midnight are believed to have all the staff in place.
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