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January 03, 2016
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As we are mere hours away from the start of the 2016 season, Thomas Hinss gives his thoughts on the field that will be taking part in this year's Masters Series.
The beginning of another season is almost upon us, with all the pre-season preparations complete and the waving of the green flag on the 2016 season mere hours away. This year marks the return of the Masters Series after an ultimately shorten 2014 season where David Jundt was crowned the champion. After missing the 2015 roster the series returns in the form of the Audi TT Cup cars, vehicles which I think have a quite menacing look about them, with their huge grills and piercing headlights. With the return of the series I thought it would fitting to take a look at the teams and drivers who will be taking part in the 2016 edition, giving my (no doubt off the mark) views and thoughts of what to expect from them. For part one of two for this series preview, we will take a look at the rookie teams who will be debuting in this year's Masters.
TR Motorsports
We begin our look through the rookie teams in this year's Masters with Mexican outfit TR Motorsports. Being teams competing for the first time in the GPVWC there is no past seasons here to look back at, so the focus will be on the drivers which make up these teams.
Team Owner Michael Teichmann fills the first seat of the team, a driver who is one of the newest here at the league out of the drivers in this year's Masters field. With this in mind he is one I can not really place, so he will be a driver I will be watching closely to see how he fairs in his first series in the league.
German Maurice Brackhahn will take the team's second car, a driver who is no stranger to sim racing competition having started league racing in 2011 (first appearing in the GPVWC in 2013). Last year however saw very little racing for him within the GPVWC, only competing in three races in the Atlantic Series. Despite this he did manage to grab a second place in one of those three races, showing the potential pace he has. For me it is hard to place Brackhahn in the pecking order for this series, but if I had to have a guess I would say consistent points results could be on the cards, something I suspect TR Motorsports would be very happy to start off their GPVWC career with.
EJ Engineering
EJ Engineering will be aiming to be in the fight for the points throughout the season in their debut GPVWC series. Whether this will happen remains to be seen, as the team have very stiff competition to go up against here.
Australian Jarrod Vanderweide will be driving the first of the team's cars, having started racing here in 2015. Being a relative newcomer to the league he has much experience still to gain in 2016, however with plenty of racing over at other sim racing leagues his pace and consistency has been on the up in recent months. Points will be the goal for the young Aussie, as the team will have to try and compete with some very experienced driver lineups around them.
In the second of the team's cars is Portuguese driver Joel Pereira, another driver to begin racing here in 2015. As with Vanderweide, he has much experience that could be gained in this very competitive field, trying to get himself into the points will probably be the goal for him. What EJ Engineering lack in experience they certainly make up for in determination however, as both drivers are very dedicated sim racers who have much that could be brought to the table in the future.
Bosphorus Racing Team
The Turkish team make their debut in the GPVWC here at the 2016 Masters, hoping to take as many points as they can to start of their GPVWC career.
Dutchman Tjeerd Feddema will drive the first of the team's cars, a new face in the league with much of his career so far being based in other leagues in the sim racing world. Again being a relatively new face here at the league I am not too sure on where to place him in the pecking order. Going off his few races last year here I would guess points will be his aim for this series.
At the time of writing a second driver is yet to confirmed for the rookie team, so I will be watching closely to see who is drafted in to complete the teams lineup.
SportsCar Driving Evolution
Third of the rookie teams for this Masters season, Sportscar Driving Evolution enter this series with a lineup that could be one to watch to bring some solid results to the table.
Driving their first car will be Indian Niranjan Kumar, a relative newcomer to the GPVWC. He does have sim racing experience elsewhere and having seen him competing in a league which had no shortage of talented drivers throughout the field, I think Kumar could well be a bit of a surprise performer by being up among drivers with a lot more experience within the GPVWC than himself. I would not be surprised to see him being a top ten regular, possibly even going so far as to say he may not be too far off the top five.
Filling the second seat for the team is Romanian Adrian Brezeanu, another of the very new faces here at the league. Akin to Michael Teichmann for TR Motorsports, Brezeanu is another driver I can not really place in the field being such an unknown quantity. I would expect aiming for points would be best to begin his career in the GPVWC, another fresh talent to watch throughout the season.
RPM Racing
The last of the rookie teams to GPVWC racing here, the English owned team sports an all English line-up, as they aim for points results in their first series in the league.
Driving the first car for the team will be Joshua Anderson, a well-known figure here at the GPVWC. Though his pace has not been a particular strength of his throughout his career at the league thus far, results elsewhere in recent times in Touring car series' shows a potential surge in form in the new sim of rFactor 2. With this in mind I think Anderson may well have a shot at challenging for points, and with the talent present in the field I think that will be his aim for the series.
In the second car for the first round at least will be team owner Rob Mason, (with relative GPVWC newcomer Matias Canapino planned to take over the seat after the first round) who has raced quite frequently at the league since his first appearance in 2014. Though his pace may not be quite there to be a sure bet of regular points finishes throughout this series, I do think with his steady driving style that he could benefit greatly in races that turn into a battle of attrition. I would be expecting him to be battling around the edge of the points, hopefully getting his team off to a good start in the league with their Masters campaign.
TR Motorsports
We begin our look through the rookie teams in this year's Masters with Mexican outfit TR Motorsports. Being teams competing for the first time in the GPVWC there is no past seasons here to look back at, so the focus will be on the drivers which make up these teams.
Team Owner Michael Teichmann fills the first seat of the team, a driver who is one of the newest here at the league out of the drivers in this year's Masters field. With this in mind he is one I can not really place, so he will be a driver I will be watching closely to see how he fairs in his first series in the league.
German Maurice Brackhahn will take the team's second car, a driver who is no stranger to sim racing competition having started league racing in 2011 (first appearing in the GPVWC in 2013). Last year however saw very little racing for him within the GPVWC, only competing in three races in the Atlantic Series. Despite this he did manage to grab a second place in one of those three races, showing the potential pace he has. For me it is hard to place Brackhahn in the pecking order for this series, but if I had to have a guess I would say consistent points results could be on the cards, something I suspect TR Motorsports would be very happy to start off their GPVWC career with.
EJ Engineering
EJ Engineering will be aiming to be in the fight for the points throughout the season in their debut GPVWC series. Whether this will happen remains to be seen, as the team have very stiff competition to go up against here.
Australian Jarrod Vanderweide will be driving the first of the team's cars, having started racing here in 2015. Being a relative newcomer to the league he has much experience still to gain in 2016, however with plenty of racing over at other sim racing leagues his pace and consistency has been on the up in recent months. Points will be the goal for the young Aussie, as the team will have to try and compete with some very experienced driver lineups around them.
In the second of the team's cars is Portuguese driver Joel Pereira, another driver to begin racing here in 2015. As with Vanderweide, he has much experience that could be gained in this very competitive field, trying to get himself into the points will probably be the goal for him. What EJ Engineering lack in experience they certainly make up for in determination however, as both drivers are very dedicated sim racers who have much that could be brought to the table in the future.
Bosphorus Racing Team
The Turkish team make their debut in the GPVWC here at the 2016 Masters, hoping to take as many points as they can to start of their GPVWC career.
Dutchman Tjeerd Feddema will drive the first of the team's cars, a new face in the league with much of his career so far being based in other leagues in the sim racing world. Again being a relatively new face here at the league I am not too sure on where to place him in the pecking order. Going off his few races last year here I would guess points will be his aim for this series.
At the time of writing a second driver is yet to confirmed for the rookie team, so I will be watching closely to see who is drafted in to complete the teams lineup.
SportsCar Driving Evolution
Third of the rookie teams for this Masters season, Sportscar Driving Evolution enter this series with a lineup that could be one to watch to bring some solid results to the table.
Driving their first car will be Indian Niranjan Kumar, a relative newcomer to the GPVWC. He does have sim racing experience elsewhere and having seen him competing in a league which had no shortage of talented drivers throughout the field, I think Kumar could well be a bit of a surprise performer by being up among drivers with a lot more experience within the GPVWC than himself. I would not be surprised to see him being a top ten regular, possibly even going so far as to say he may not be too far off the top five.
Filling the second seat for the team is Romanian Adrian Brezeanu, another of the very new faces here at the league. Akin to Michael Teichmann for TR Motorsports, Brezeanu is another driver I can not really place in the field being such an unknown quantity. I would expect aiming for points would be best to begin his career in the GPVWC, another fresh talent to watch throughout the season.
RPM Racing
The last of the rookie teams to GPVWC racing here, the English owned team sports an all English line-up, as they aim for points results in their first series in the league.
Driving the first car for the team will be Joshua Anderson, a well-known figure here at the GPVWC. Though his pace has not been a particular strength of his throughout his career at the league thus far, results elsewhere in recent times in Touring car series' shows a potential surge in form in the new sim of rFactor 2. With this in mind I think Anderson may well have a shot at challenging for points, and with the talent present in the field I think that will be his aim for the series.
In the second car for the first round at least will be team owner Rob Mason, (with relative GPVWC newcomer Matias Canapino planned to take over the seat after the first round) who has raced quite frequently at the league since his first appearance in 2014. Though his pace may not be quite there to be a sure bet of regular points finishes throughout this series, I do think with his steady driving style that he could benefit greatly in races that turn into a battle of attrition. I would be expecting him to be battling around the edge of the points, hopefully getting his team off to a good start in the league with their Masters campaign.
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