Difference between revisions of "Wopke Hoekstra"

Revision as of 13:47, 22 May 2013

**Wopke Hoekstra**

Nationality	Dutch
Year Joined	2011
First Race	2011 Supercup Austrian Grand Prix
Series Entered	Supercup, Formula Challenge
Current Team(s)	Optimum SimRacing
Championships	{{{Championships}}}
Wins	{{{Wins}}}
Podiums	{{{Podiums}}}
Poles	{{{Poles}}}
Fastest Laps	{{{Fastest Laps}}}



Supercup Career (up to December 2012)
Debut Year	2011
Associated Teams	Kernow Sport, Innervision
Races	22
Championships	0
Race Wins	0
Podium Finishes	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First Race	2011 Austrian Grand Prix



Formula Challenge Career (up to April 2013)
Debut Year	2012
Associated Teams	Velocity Racing, Optimum SimRacing
Races	19
Championships	0
Race Wins	1
Podium Finishes	2
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First Race	2012 Challenge British Grand Prix

Wopke Hoekstra is a Dutch sim-racer who currently drives for Optimum SimRacing in the Formula Challenge. He previously drove as a guest driver in the 2010 Masters Series season, as well as in the 2011 & 2012 Supercup seasons and the 2012 Formula Challenge Season

With around 25% of the 2011 Supercup season gone, Wopke joined GPVWC for a second time, after driving in the Masters Series before. Not many people knew what to expect, but according to a few GPROC drivers, he had a good pace. Therefore it didn't take him long to find a seat at Kernow Sport. The first race on his schedule was the Austrian Grand Prix. The race was a horrible experience for him, as he qualified way off the pace, and had to drive half the race with a FPS rate of 4-6. Because of that reason, he decides to skip the French Grand Prix, but in Monaco he returned with a much better video card, though still finding himself at the back. As the season progressed there was a clear progress in Wopke's results too, despite him retiring from most races. Eventually the progress resulted in two 6th places in the final two races of the season.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Driver	Car No.	AUS	UAE	JPN	CHN	RSA	AUT	FRA	MON	GBR	BHR	SAN	TUR	MEX	CAN	BRA	ITA	ESP	BEL	NED	SIN	Driver Points
Wopke Hoekstra	29	-	-	-	-	-	Ret	-	Ret	-	17	Ret	Ret	-	Ret	-	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	6	10 (26th)

Supercup 2012

Early into the season break, it was announced that Wopke had extended his contract at Kernow Sport. Even though there were some payment issues, everything was fine in the end, and thus he appeared at the starting grid for the Australian Grand Prix. As much as he hated the mod, he was extremely excited. This excitement didn't last long when a massive start accident caused him to retire after just one lap. Due to lack of time, he only raced 11/18 races, of which two races were for the Innervision team, after Wopke broke the contract with Kernow Sport due to a lack of time, which in the end wasn't a right decision. During the season he manages to grab two 10th places and thus 2 points.

After the 2012 season was completed, Wopke announced that he would step back from racing at least until the summer. He didn't keep this promise and got himself a seat in the Formula Challenge just less than a week ahead of the first race.

Driver	Car No.	AUS	CHN	UAE	HUN	ESP	MON	CAN	KOR	TUR	GBR	ITA	BEL	NED	GER	USA	BRA	JPN	SIN	Driver Points
Wopke Hoekstra	6	Ret	14	-	Ret	10	-	Ret	10	Ret	-	-	-	Ret	Ret	-	-	13	Ret	2 (29th)

^† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they completed over 75% of the race distance.

Formula Challenge 2012

With new regulations for the 2012 season stating that a driver can't be racing as a main driver in 2 leagues of the Career Ladder, Wopke had to search for a reserve seat, besides already having a main driver seat in the Supercup. He found one in the Formula Challenge tier, as he decided to drive for Velocity Racing. Having a main driver not showing up for most of the races, Hoekstra got a lot of opportunities to drive, driving the maximum allowed races as a reserve driver.

The season started in England, at the Brands Hatch Circuit. Showing some good pace in the practice sessions, Wopke was hoping to score some points at his Formula Challenge debut. Things went wrong when he made a stupid mistake and had to retire from the feature race. Returning for the sprint race though, he managed to drive a solid race and bring the Velocity Racing car home in 11th position. After the opening rounds, they moved on to the Netherlands, where Wopke would drive his home Grand Prix. He was very keen to do well here, and managed to score a 14th position after a tough 1st race. The sprint race had the usual Top 15 reserved, and thus Wopke could start from 2nd position. He managed to keep up pretty well with people just behind the leaders, but a mistake cost him some time. He finished 7th in the end and was still very pleased with the result. As the season progressed, Wopke managed to gather some more points, with a best position of 5th at the Irish Grand Prix.

Driver	Car No.	GBR		NED		ITA		SLV		MAL		JAP		AUS		BRA		MEX		USA		RSA		ROI		FRA		ESP		Driver Points
Wopke Hoekstra	16	Ret	11	14	7	-	-	8	Ret	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	15^†	Ret	7	5	17^†	-	-	-	58 (26th)

Formula Challenge 2013

Just before the season started, Wopke came back early from his 'retirement' as he loved the racing too much, and couldn't miss it for another few months. After putting a topic in the forums, he received a quick reply from Optimum SimRacing, and signed a deal with them. Wopke was very glad with the opportunity to drive for this great team, especially since he was afraid that most of the seat would be filled and he would be left behind with a "rubbish team".

Onto the opening rounds at the Australian Grand Prix, Wopke suffered some very difficult practice, as the game was crashing everytime. In the hope it would disappear, he would still compete in the race. After only setting 1 hotlap, which including an off-track excursion, he finished the qualifying session in 38th position. He did a great job in race 1, working his way through the field into 10th. Just like last season, the Top 15 would be reserved again, therefore allowing Wopke to start from 6th place. After some excellent passes Wopke found himself in 3rd, just behind his team mate. Sovik didn't make it too difficult for Wopke to pass him, and Wopke started to hunt down Tveit. Showing some good pace and putting Tveit under pressure was enough to force Tveit into a mistake and thus Wopke was handed the lead. Behind him, Nieminen and Gilmore were fighting over 2nd position, rather than catching up with him first. This allowed the gap to stay pretty much the same, although it was slowly shrinking. After 15 laps though, it was Wopke Hoekstra who finished the line in first position, scoring his maiden victory and also the maiden victory for Optimum SimRacing in GPVWC!

After missing the Malaysian Grand Prix, Wopke returned at the Red Bull Ring, but his race 1 ended after just a few meters. Race 2 he played safe and managed to bring the car home in 13th. At the Hungaroring, he was back upto the pace he had in Australia. He made a personal best in Qualifying, starting 19th. In the race is was going even faster and while most of the leaders pitted, Wopke continued. This meant he could bring the car home in 7th. In the 2nd race things got even better and for a short moment Wopke had victory in sight, but a mistake dropped him from 1 second to 6 seconds behind the leader with 2 laps to go, he didn't make another mistake and scored his second podium of the season. Later he was demoted to 4th because he went outside the track limits too often, something he apologizes for.

Hoekstra continued driving as well as he did before and scored some more good points finishes. Unluckily for him, he has to start from near the back or in the middle of the pack most of the time as his game crashes during qualifying very often. This also meant that he got caught up in some of the chaos at the start, losing front wings or being forced into retirement.

Driver	Car No.	AUS		MAL		AUT		HUN		ESP		MON		CAN		KOR		TUR		GBR		ITA		BEL		FRA		GER		USA		UAE		JPN		BRA		Driver Points
Wopke Hoekstra	9	9	1	-	-	Ret	13	7	4	4	19	Ret	6	13	5																							94 (4th)

Difference between revisions of "Wopke Hoekstra"

Revision as of 13:47, 22 May 2013

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@@ Line 234: / Line 234: @@
 Behind him, Nieminen and Gilmore were fighting over 2nd position, rather than catching up with him first. This allowed the gap to stay pretty much the same, although it was slowly shrinking. After 15 laps though, it was Wopke Hoekstra who finished the line in first position, scoring his maiden victory and also the maiden victory for Optimum SimRacing in GPVWC!
-After missing the Malaysian Grand Prix, Wopke returned at the Red Bull Ring, but his race 1 ended after just a few meters. Race 2 he played safe and managed to bring the car home in 13th. At the Hungaroring, he was back upto the pace he had in Australia. He made a personal best in Qualifying, starting 19th. In the race is was going even faster and while most of the leaders pitted, Wopke continued. This meant he could bring the car home in 7th. In the 2nd race things got even better and for a short moment Wopke had victory in sight, but a mistake dropped him from 1 second to 6 seconds behind the leader with 2 laps to go, he didn't make another mistake and scored his second podium of the season.
+After missing the Malaysian Grand Prix, Wopke returned at the Red Bull Ring, but his race 1 ended after just a few meters. Race 2 he played safe and managed to bring the car home in 13th. At the Hungaroring, he was back upto the pace he had in Australia. He made a personal best in Qualifying, starting 19th. In the race is was going even faster and while most of the leaders pitted, Wopke continued. This meant he could bring the car home in 7th. In the 2nd race things got even better and for a short moment Wopke had victory in sight, but a mistake dropped him from 1 second to 6 seconds behind the leader with 2 laps to go, he didn't make another mistake and scored his second podium of the season. Later he was demoted to 4th because he went outside the track limits too often, something he apologizes for.
+Hoekstra continued driving as well as he did before and scored some more good points finishes. Unluckily for him, he has to start from near the back or in the middle of the pack most of the time as his game crashes during qualifying very often. This also meant that he got caught up in some of the chaos at the start, losing front wings or being forced into retirement.
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