With the European portion of the 2012 Superleague season starting to gain speed, once again the calendar comes around to that time of year where the circus moves to the most prestigious of races. The event which is always touted by the drivers as the one they all want to win. A venue that is always marked out as the jewel in the Superleague crown - Monaco.
With races held around the principality since 1929, showcasing some of racing's greatest talents and giving birth to some of motorsport's greatest moments, Monaco is up there with the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Indianapolis 500 in terms of prestige and heritage. All 3 events subsequently make up the holy trifecta of motorsport. Nevertheless, it's a place which a lot of the Superleague drivers love, some more than others. The infamous Monte Carlo street circuit is nothing short of a monumental challenge, in which a split second lapse in concentration can leave you ending up having an intimate moment with the armco barriers that only enhance the claustrophobic nature of this legendary track.
Coming into this race, the big news has undoubtedly been the shock retirement of reigning and double world champion Joe Consiglio from Nordsjoen Racing. The announcement came as a massive surprise to the entire GPVWC paddock and the Maltese driver has received nothing but praise, honours and thanks from his friends, colleagues and fellow Superleague drivers. This now leaves the big question of who will be filling the seat of the now re-badged #0 car. Speculation has been rife, with current reserve drivers Adam Rouse and Ben Warren touted as early favourites, along with names such as current Supercup championship leader Petter Kaasa and Green Stripes Racing "super-sub" Dave Carr Smith also thrown into the rumour mill. With the race only a couple of days away, team boss William Ponissi will be hard pressed to make a decision on who gets to run alongside Pavel Loknovski for the remainder of the season.
Carr-Smith himself will be relishing the chance to race at undoubtedly his favourite circuit. Having won here in 2011 with current runaway championship leaders Midnight Motorsport, the Englishman will hope that he can make it two in a row, but he will be hard pressed to get ahead of the likes of Lukas Euler and Nick Rowland in his former team and the ever-pacey Lee Morris as he bids to continue his impressive form since standing in for Green Stripes team boss Christopher Lichtenstein. Morris himself has gone all out saying that anything less than a win in Monte Carlo will brand 2012 a write-off as far as Draig Racing's championshop chances are concerned. With the team bringing their biggest upgrade to date to this race, it's all rests on whether or not the improvements will be enough to give Morris a much more realistic chance of winning a race this season.
As for the rest of the field, Hawkeye Racing will want to build on a respectable double points finish in Barcelona. Lewis Redshaw and Bart de Vos managed to get both teams cars to the finish for the first time this season and while many considered them to be dark horses in pre-season, it's been a difficult first few races as car development hasn't progressed quickly as the ex-TDR outfit would have liked. Constant have also been a team that have suprised with their points scoring potential, while Woods and especially Synergetic have a lot of catching up to do as both have been unable to transform respectable qualifying performances into potential points-scoring results.
Whatever happens, every single driver will be going into the weekend with one mindset - no matter who their opposition may be, the result will be one and the same: it's Monte Carlo or bust.
