November 06, 2015

 

Another fantastic season of Supercup has flown by and, though many now look to what the future holds, James Kirk looks back at how the teams fared and, perhaps more importantly, if any of his predictions at the start of the year were actually right!


Walk Racing (Predicted P2)


With the only event featuring no Walk Racing car scoring being the first round of Australia, the Romanian Formula Challenge Teams' champions of 2014 took the championship by the horns and completely dominated throughout the year. Despite only two seasons being run in the two-race era, it is already difficult to imagine anyone surpassing the 967 points that have been accumulated between Drivers' champion, Ruud Heesterbeek and his team mate, Risto Kappet.

Though Heesterbeek's success was called by many, particular praise must be given to Kappet for acclimatising to his new surroundings of a single seater so quickly and really promoting himself as one of the top drivers of 2015. The team truly was the best on the grid securing an unbeatable 1-2.

59% of possible pole positions and 41% of possible race wins taken home, surely even the most well-established of Superleague teams will be looking over their shoulders to see how these upstarts of the past two years will compare come the turn of the year.


Satellite Racing (Predicted P4)


2015 will ultimately go down as Satellite Racing's most successful year so far with the American outfit besting their previous highest position of 5th in a Teams' Championship with a 2nd. Though many will argue that even if their two regular drivers, the ever reliable Sven de Vries and Menno Klont, had driven the most perfect of seasons Walk still would have beaten them - the fact that things could have gone better will no doubt eat away at them. De Vries actually scored less points this year than he did last with less races attended on the board whilst Klont's qualifying slump throughout the year posed more problems than the Dutchman would have perhaps expected.

That said, positives will surely outweigh the negatives with both drivers scoring wins and Klont's mastery of wet conditions perhaps something to watch out for in the future. Will we see the team make the jump up to Superleague? I certainly think they wouldn't be out of place!


Wauters Automotive (Predicted P8)


Wauters, by all accounts, have had an outstanding season. David Francic, in particular, has been one of the stars simply going about his business quietly but pumping in ruthlessly consistent results. Keeping him honest along the way was Formula Challenge's runner-up last year, David Jundt, who put in a very good account of himself following four years out of the series and of course Jarl Teien who's talent was on full display once again with two wins in his three appearances. It was no less than the Belgian outfit deserved.

No team impressed more and perhaps a spot in Superleague is finally within reach.


SimCraft Racing (Predicted P1)


SimCraft looked a real force early season with Tom Parker securing the first pole position of the year and Tom van der Voort taking three wins for himself and the team. Alas, when luck goes against you it REALLY goes against you and both drivers were poached by Superleague outfits CSG Racing and Midnight Motorsport respectively leaving the American team incredibly fortunate to lure Pedro Melim to their side but failing to lock down as good a second driver. Sandeep Chodha signing full time brought stability but ultimately the campaign had lost all momentum and terrible misfortune in the final round led to a top three place slipping away to Wauters who capitalised well.

Where SimCraft go from here is anybody's guess but perhaps with the off-season giving team owner Alex Cooper time to think, a renewed Supercup charge could be on the cards for 2016.


Storm Racing Team (Predicted P6)


Though Storm have only gained two places over last year's Team position of 7th, in truth the two drivers who have remained with the team through their three years together on the Career Ladder (Emanuel Gaczella and Adrian McNaughton) have come on leaps and bounds this year. Gaczella looked a completely different prospect to 2014 and impressed most in qualifying with two pole positions to his name. McNaughton should also be proud after breaking his podium duck and the team will no doubt be over the moon with guest driver Lars Brugman taking their first win in Supercup at Singapore.

It wouldn't be surprising to see the dynamic duo back for another year but just how they will fit in the picture with rFactor 2 on the horizon remains to be seen.


Malta Force GP (Predicted P9)


I was very harsh on Malta Force at the beginning of the year and Jason Muscat showed me up big time actually matching his amount of race wins in 2014 in what was conclusively a much tougher field. That said, the team found themselves once again in the wilderness of mid-table as Terence Grech was unable to convert a successful year in Formula Challenge last year to a consistent point scoring campaign in Supercup this year. Having a Supercup Teams' championship to their name doesn't help in this situation but it does give them something to aim for an if Jason decides to race for his own outfit again in 2016, you can be sure that they will have a good crack at it once again.


Enterprise GP (Predicted P7)


It had to be my own team which I ended up predicting correctly didn't it?

Life in Supercup seemed to be moving along quite swimmingly for the lowest placed of the 2014 Formula Challenge graduates as Jonathan Holmes showed great promise in the early races almost hitting a podium. Unfortunately, mid-season brought a massive U-turn - Holmes' form dropped dramatically and the lack of a scoring second driver didn't help seeing the English outfit plummet to outside of the top ten.

A radical overhaul of the team though, starting with the signing of Rait Tuulikas, changed fortunes once again and the guest appearances of experienced driver Mikko Suokas not only gave Enterprise the boost they needed but also led to their first podium in the series by Austin. Ideally, the team would do well to keep a hold of Tuulikas with the switch to rFactor 2 giving them a chance to look further ahead next year.


Measuric Racing (Predicted P5)


8th in the Teams' Championship will be looked on in wider context as a solid improvement for Measuric this year but there is no doubting that their campaign was compromised massively by their original driver line-up jumping ship (Pedro Melim ultimately heading to SimCraft and Christof Schgor leaving the series all together). Things looked to be on the up again when Wopke Hoekstra was lured up from Formula Challenge and the impressive looking Daniel Brewer were signed as permanent replacements however Brewer quickly turning his back on the series meant that points struggled to come in from both sides of the garage.

Keeping Hoekstra will surely be a priority for next year alongside finding a new driver who may not be swayed elsewhere.


Streetfighter Racing Systems (Predicted 13th)


SRS did not start well at all and were well on course for my prediction. That was until Douwe Tapper finally arrived on the scene. A patchy first half of the season was forgotten in the memory by a truly outstanding second half which saw the Dutchman not only take his and the team's first podium in Supercup but their first win (albeit thanks to a timely red flag in Austin Race 1). Ultimately it was their lack of a consistent point scoring second driver which really hampered the Australian outfit but, nightmare season avoided, perhaps 2016 will see things look up.


Smile Power Racing (Predicted 12th)


A handy first time in Supercup for Smile as uncertainty about the English team's lineup was replaced by the very stable German pairing of Dennis Jordan and Marcel Rautter. Though Rautter caught the eye initially with the outfit's first top five in Supercup, it was Jordan who impressed the most with great consistency and was thoroughly deserving of his top fifteen finish in the Drivers' championship. It is unknown whether the team will return for next year but if they don't then neither Jordan or Rautter should have issues finding drives.


Positive SimRacing (Predicted 3rd)


The wheels fell off this Spanish wagon and in spectacular fashion too. It was all going so well with Kevin Siggy scoring a win and showing a real progress in maturity following a sketchy 2014 campaign whilst new prospect Luis Mesa looked the part in pre-season testing and an impressive showing in Australia. First Mesa left though. Then more surprisingly Siggy followed after Monaco looking to focus on his tin top efforts in the International Touring Cup and World Sport Series. The struggle for replacements ended in Italy with Spanish duo Eduard Batalla and Gerarhd Batlle stepping up to the plate but the damage was done already. Battered and bruised it would be nice to see Positive back in 2016 but surely a proper successor to Siggy must be acquired for the heights of the podium to be attained again.


PB Racing (Predicted 10th)


Another team with the loss of both their drivers really affecting them. Philip Cullen and Maurice Brackhahn on paper sounding like a very solid lineup but you could just tell it would be one of those seasons when Brackhahn, who had shown so much improvement throughout 2014, was forced to pull out prior to Melbourne. Cullen's season showed real promise however but he too was forced to step away from the car leaving the team going to different drivers almost every round. A bright period could be attributed to the efforts of Lewis McGlade and Lars Brugman, the latter of which scored the team's only podium of the year, but finishing outside the top ten will definitely hurt for Supercup's oldest team on the grid who finished 3rd last year.

A regrouping is in order it seems.


Fox Racing (Predicted 14th)


Another below average showing from Fox Racing meaning that they have failed to finish outside of the bottom three in the Teams' Championship for all three years they have been present. A surprise coup in snatching David Jundt away from Wauters means that they actually have a podium to their name in 2015 but it all seems a bit false given that the Belgian outfit did not even break 100 points.

Relegation might be on the cards.


TSA Racing (Predicted 11th)


The first team since 2006 to withdraw from a Supercup season with a sizable chunk still to play, TSA never got going unfortunately. Matt Richards failed to build on promising results from 2014 and Sven Schubert, though he tried his best, was never looking like he could match his best finishes in Supercup of an 8th position from back in 2013. If they had completed the season they may very well have ended up ahead of Fox but that is all up to debate. I doubt we will see them next year.


ST Racing (Predicted 15th)

Credit where credit is due, ST scored more points than I expected them to this year. That said, all but two of them came from guest driver Bence Zsupanek. It truly has been a thoroughly underwhelming campaign by the demoted Superleague squad from 2014; made even worse by the fact that they didn't even overtake a team that left by Round 11 of 17.

If any team is to drop to Formula Challenge next year it would be this one. Unfortunately they just weren't good enough.