September 04, 2009
Published on tags: Superleague
September is the month when the world returns from the craze and the excesses of summer: the schools open their doors, sunburnt employees go back to their offices and previously deserted cities populate again.

The same is valid for the GPVWC Superleague, which returned from the two-month summer break with the exciting Canadian Grand Prix, where Joe Consiglio, Janne Tanskanen and many others once more showed their class.

The return to action was the perfect occasion for GPVWC Media to walk the pitlane and gather some of the teams' expectations for the rest of the 2009 season. Pit reporter Mike Phillis braved danger and, defying security guards and various bouncers, managed to meet some of the most reclusive Team Managers in the paddock for a rare Q&A session.

Walking up from the bottom end of the pits, the first to come up are Constant boss Mark Stanton, who recently chose to take a back seat and relinquish his #22 car to William Ponissi, and Fusion owner Phil Perkins. Both teams joined halfway through the season, and both had various degrees of success. But what are their aims for the remainder of their first Championship?

"Our aim is still the same, from when I first took over at FUSION, and that's to score the best results possible with the equipment we have" is Perkins's comment, while Mark Stanton has somehow clearer objectives: "For the second half of the season we're hoping to work our way up the constructors table, hopefully to p6 at least. We've had a reasonable first half considering it's our debut season, but there's no reason why we can't be higher up."

The St.Helens-based outfit is now looking forward to the following races, where they believe they can score points: "During the summer period we have been working in the Masters Series. On a similar note, myself and Joe have been discussing the 2010 season and how the team will be controlled. Though further details on that will be released during the winter - now it is time for letting the track speak. Having tested Montreal in the BMW, I'm a little concerned about the damage to the track surface. I'm sure we can deal with it though, especially with some good circuits such as Monza and Brazil coming up."

Few meters up the pitlane, work is feverish at D.O.R., which recently announced the signing of Leontin Nemet for the rest of the year. The arrival of the Romanian brought optimism to a team that really punched above its weight so far: "After the signing of Leo Nemet for the remaining races, the team is rising expectations to score points and finish in the first 10 cars at each race" was the verdict of team caretaker and lead driver Nikos Evangelidakis. "This is the first year of the team in the league and both Daniel (owner) and I had set the goal to finish the races. With the experience gathered in the first part of the season, we can plan 2010 better, so the second half of 2009 will be a preparation for next season."

Moods are not so bright at Synergetic, instead. Mal McKee's absence has coincided with a dip of form that saw the team collect far more DNF's than it deserved, and the outfit now needs a strong result to restart its season. "The team showed a lot of potential in the first ten races of the season. For one reason and another, we have never been at the point where we took advantage of that potential. We are due a bit of luck in the final eight races of the season" says Philip Cullen. "Our goals are simple. We have targeted fourth place in the constructors. It is well within our grasp and if myself and Ryan start converting our qualifying form to the race, we should have no problem with that."

Finally, GPVWC Media met the owner of the youngest team on the grid, Maximum Racing. A new set of drivers unveiled for Montreal seems to be what the team needs to finish the season in style. "The main goal had always been to find and sign two reliable and talented drivers. You know in the first half of the season we were really struggling with drivers. We had no fewer than 4 drivers. The only one who I was happy with was Steve Bridge, who quit the league before Bahrain. So consistency is the keyword I? looking for. At the moment the future seems to be bright with our new signings Mike Phillis and Lee Iden. To give you some concrete numbers: I? like to score at least 10 points in the second half of 2009 and take part in every race with two cars."

As per the prospects for the next few races, owner Anthony Meier replied "I don? have an idea how strong we will be in Montreal and the following events. Regarding the fact that the Mercedes engine is one of the strongest in the league, we should be ok in Montreal with the long straight. Testing so far has revealed a few handling problems with the car, but you know I have 100% faith in my drivers and I think they?l look good."