Women's GT Junior Cup 2014/2015 - Season over!

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 19 May 2014, 17:32

And speaking of steady pace...

10th Round of the Women's GT Junior Cup

Sunday, February the 1st, 2015

Automotodrom Slovakia Ring, Slovakia

52 Laps / 5,922 km (3.68 mi)

Qualifying

Weather: Warm, dry, sunny

The Women's GT Junior Cup visited the Slovakia Ring a mere week after the big crash at the Automotodrom Brno, and things hadn't cooled down much since then.

It was an astonishingly mild Saturday in Slovakia, with the short and unappealing winter leaving Europe much sooner than anticipated.

Leah Pruett was eager to prove, that she was able to beat her immediate rivals without any form of foul play, but she knew, she was fighting an uphill battle not only against her strong opponents, but also against her harshened penalty. Both Mercedes-Benz were very competitive once again and Leah Pruett took pole-position from Alessandra Neri, beating the Audi driver by four hundredths of a second.

Audi, Ferrari and Dodge had high hopes for this race, and rightfully so. Alison MacLeod, who had risen like a phoenix from the ashes, was in a much better position than at Brno, Tiffany Chittenden even managed to outqualify Hillary Will. Both Ferrari in the Top 6 (a rare sight indeed), closely followed by Elena Myers in the second Audi and both Chevrolet Corvettes in the top ten, leaving both McLarens in the dust.

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01    Alessandra Neri             (Audi)                 2:02.737
02    Alison MacLeod              (Dodge)                2:02.793
03    Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky   (Ferrari)              2:03.003
04    Tiffany Chittenden          (Dodge)                2:03.066
05    Hillary Will                (Mercedes-Benz)        2:03.199
06    Veronica Valverde           (Ferrari)              2:03.449
07    Elena Myers                 (Audi)                 2:03.869
08    Emilee Tominovich           (Chevrolet)            2:03.933
09    Marika Diana                (Chevrolet)            2:04.033
10    Shannon McIntosh            (McLaren)              2:04.040

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11    Leah Pruett                 (Mercedes-Benz)        2:02.692 *
12    Collete Davis               (McLaren)              2:04.139
13    Alexandra Asmasoebrata      (Bugatti)              2:04.342
14    Elena Lana                  (BMW)                  2:04.409
15    Molly Taylor                (BMW)                  2:04.409
16    Leilani Münter              (Lotus)                2:04.477
17    Kazumi Mikami               (Bugatti)              2:04.562
18    Gwendolyn Hertzberger       (Morgan)               2:04.636
19    Vicky Piria                 (Nissan)               2:04.828
20    Amber Anderson              (Toyota)               2:04.855

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21    Natalia Kowalska            (Lotus)                2:04.915
22    Sarah McCune                (Nissan)               2:05.034
23    Ramona Kiss                 (Toyota)               2:05.055
24    Mishael Abbott              (Morgan)               2:05.144
25    Courtney Force              (Jaguar)               2:05.524
26    Carmen Jorda                (Maserati)             2:05.618
27    Gaby Dela Merced            (Maserati)             2:05.668
28    Hiromi Kajikuma             (Jaguar)               2:05.810

105 % = 2:12.826 *

* Leah Pruett was dropped back 10 grid positions due to her penalty from Brno, and since she had pole-position, the 105% mark still refers to her lap time, regardless of where she stands now, because the penalty was applied after the qualifying was over.

Race

Weather: Warm, dry, sunny

There was a lot of tension in the air before the race even began. Would the war between the leading teams escalate on the track? Would any driver risk a collision, despite the warning from the WDA?

Mercedes-Benz had celebrated Leah Pruett's unofficial pole-position like a race win, but they knew very well, that they had a clear disadvantage on this day. At least the start went as planned, with Alessandra Neri shooting into the lead, closely followed by Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky in second and Alison MacLeod in third. But Leah Pruett had the best start of them all, making it to sixth right on the first corner. Mere two laps later, she passed her teammate Hillary Will for fifth and began chasing after the leading ladies.

Alessandra Neri had put her pole-position to good use and was already slowly pulling away from Alison MacLeod in second, who had re-passed Åhlin-Kottulinsky on lap 4. This left Tiffany Chittenden and Leah Pruett battling for fourth on the road.

On lap 15 Pruett overtook Chittenden, but misjudged the following corner and spun, which gave Chittenden the opportunity to re-conquer fourth position. Gaby Dela Merced's right front tyre exploded a lap later and by the time she had driven her Maserati back to the pits, she was already lapped by the front end of the field. She received a set of new tyres and continued her race, but finally retired on lap 19 with severe handling problems.

Alessandra Neri had a spin on lap 27 and dropped behind Alison MacLeod, who went on to lead this race until the 47th lap, when her engine expired. Although Alessandra Neri was faster than the leading Dodge throughout the entire race, she was too busy fending off an even faster Leah Pruett. The Mercedes driver had passed Tiffany Chittenden on lap 35, after having recovered from her spin earlier in the race.

Pruett stayed with Neri for a couple of laps, but as soon as Alison MacLeod retired, Leah's radio came to life and ordered her to attack, which she did. It was obvious, Alessandra Neri was forced to drive faster than she originally wanted in order to defend the lead she now inherited.

With two laps to go, Pruett finally managed to get ahead. An exhausted Alessandra Neri stayed close, but was unable to pass and made it home second. With this outcome, Mercedes-Benz had won the Constructors' Championship. There are only two rounds to go and a total of 180 points to be awarded, so Audi has no chance of striking back, even if both Mercedes drivers should retire on both occasions with the Audi duo winning both rounds.

The Drivers' Championship however has gotten more exciting once again, with Alessandra Neri and Leah Pruett seperated by mere 4 points.

But there was also movement at the other end of the Constructors' Standings, with Chevrolet beating the Scuderia Maserati for 12th and Toyota closing in to 10 points. The Top 5 teams are definitely settled, with BMW having no chance of getting close enough to Lotus in order to battle for positions, but the fight between Ferrari and Dodge is not decided yet. Both teams have the chance to win P3 in the end, and currently Dodge SRT Racing seems to have the upper hand, especially after Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky had crashed her Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 once more.

Two rounds to go. This is going to be a very close and (hopefully) exciting finale!

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01    Leah Pruett                 (Mercedes-Benz)        52 Laps
02    Alessandra Neri             (Audi)                 +  0.929
03    Tiffany Chittenden          (Dodge)                +  4.594
04    Hillary Will                (Mercedes-Benz)        +  9.674
05    Veronica Valverde           (Ferrari)              + 10.943
06    Marika Diana                (Chevrolet)            + 14.742
07    Amber Anderson              (Toyota)               + 17.373
08    Molly Taylor                (BMW)                  + 17.950
09    Courtney Force              (Jaguar)               + 18.430
10    Leilani Münter              (Lotus)                + 20.500

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11    Natalia Kowalska            (Lotus)                + 23.843
12    Kazumi Mikami               (Bugatti)              + 25.060
13    Collete Davis               (McLaren)              + 27.200
14    Vicky Piria                 (Nissan)               + 31.354
15    Gwendolyn Hertzberger       (Morgan)               + 38.240
16    Carmen Jorda                (Maserati)             + 44.776
17    Mishael Abbott              (Morgan)               + 46.817
18    Hiromi Kajikuma             (Jaguar)               + 52.052
19    Alison MacLeod              (Dodge)                47 Laps    Engine
DNF   Ramona Kiss                 (Toyota)               45 Laps    Accident

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DNF   Shannon McIntosh            (McLaren)              39 Laps    Accident
DNF   Sarah McCune                (Nissan)               34 Laps    Accident
DNF   Elena Lana                  (BMW)                  28 Laps    Accident
DNF   Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky   (Ferrari)              26 Laps    Accident
DNF   Elena Myers                 (Audi)                 22 Laps    Accident
DNF   Gaby Dela Merced            (Maserati)             19 Laps    Tyre Damage / Handling
DNF   Emilee Tominovich           (Chevrolet)            10 Laps    Accident
DNF   Alexandra Asmasoebrata      (Bugatti)               8 Laps    Accident

Drivers' Championship

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01    Alessandra Neri             (Audi)                345 Points
02    Leah Pruett                 (Mercedes-Benz)       341 Points
03    Hillary Will                (Mercedes-Benz)       286 Points
04    Tiffany Chittenden          (Dodge)               226 Points
05    Leilani Münter              (Lotus)               188 Points
06    Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky   (Ferrari)             173 Points
07    Veronica Valverde           (Ferrari)             146 Points
08    Elena Myers                 (Audi)                 96 Points
09    Molly Taylor                (BMW)                  95 Points
10    Gwendolyn Hertzberger       (Morgan)               83 Points

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11    Elena Lana                  (BMW)                  68 Points
12    Vicky Piria                 (Nissan)               67 Points
13    Alexandra Asmasoebrata      (Bugatti)              67 Points
14    Marika Diana                (Chevrolet)            57 Points
15    Alison MacLeod              (Dodge)                52 Points
16    Shannon McIntosh            (McLaren)              48 Points
17    Collete Davis               (McLaren)              48 Points
18    Courtney Force              (Jaguar)               47 Points
19    Mishael Abbott              (Morgan)               45 Points
20    Sarah McCune                (Nissan)               42 Points

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21    Hiromi Kajikuma             (Jaguar)               38 Points
22    Natalia Kowalska            (Lotus)                37 Points
23    Amber Anderson              (Toyota)               36 Points
24    Kazumi Mikami               (Bugatti)              31 Points
25    Gaby Dela Merced            (Maserati)             28 Points
26    Carmen Jorda                (Maserati)             26 Points
27    Ramona Kiss                 (Toyota)                8 Points
28    Emilee Tominovich           (Chevrolet)             5 Points

Constructors' Championship

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01    Mercedes-Benz        627 Points
02    Audi                 441 Points
03    Ferrari              319 Points
04    Dodge                278 Points
05    Lotus                225 Points
06    BMW                  163 Points
07    Morgan               128 Points

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08    Nissan               108 Points
09    Bugatti               98 Points
10    McLaren               96 Points
11    Jaguar                85 Points
12    Chevrolet             62 Points
13    Maserati              54 Points
14    Toyota                44 Points

Penalties: None for now, but if Mercedes-Benz likes to protest this result, as they had announced in advance, I'll see what I can do (just kidding).

Next: Round 11 - Italy up on Friday the 23rd (CET)!

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 19 May 2014, 18:03

Turbogirl wrote:
dr-baker wrote:It's your series Turbogirl. If it were canon and running in "canon present-day," it would help if all present-day canon series ran at a similar pace. But yours is not canon, so it's fine. There may be some time over the summer when people go away on holidays, but that can be dealt with easily enough, I reckon.

I was already wondering about that. Is it common for all canon series to run at a similiar pace and would I have to slow down with Formula Female once it's running full-time in order for everyone to keep up with me? Or can I go at my own pace, regardless of all the other series? I can imagine, my pace might be a lot faster than the average series hoster...

May be best if someone who runs one of those other series to answer that one...

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 19 May 2014, 18:30

Turbogirl wrote:
dr-baker wrote:It's your series Turbogirl. If it were canon and running in "canon present-day," it would help if all present-day canon series ran at a similar pace. But yours is not canon, so it's fine. There may be some time over the summer when people go away on holidays, but that can be dealt with easily enough, I reckon.

I was already wondering about that. Is it common for all canon series to run at a similiar pace and would I have to slow down with Formula Female once it's running full-time in order for everyone to keep up with me? Or can I go at my own pace, regardless of all the other series? I can imagine, my pace might be a lot faster than the average series hoster...

We tend to try to be on par, mostly to avoid issues with drivers changing spots etc.. If someone is a week or two ahead or behind, it's generally not a drama though and will only earn you some friendly snarking.

Onxy Wrecked · Post by **Onxy Wrecked** » 19 May 2014, 18:31

Yep, the Chevrolets are much faster now to the point we're no longer hard charging through the rear of the field. Now we TOP TEN in Qually. This team will be scary come next year if the power is improved any.

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 19 May 2014, 18:58

Klon wrote:We tend to try to be on par, mostly to avoid issues with drivers changing spots etc.. If someone is a week or two ahead or behind, it's generally not a drama though and will only earn you some friendly snarking.

That's very helpful, thanks. Since we still have two rounds to go here plus a rules discussion for next season, I might be able to adapt once the 2017 RWRS season begins.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 19 May 2014, 19:48

Oh Glourious! A great burn from the stern! The title is ours. We will not protest, as that would take away from this moment, and besides no doubt Audi and Ferrari will be protesing again, as that's all they can go now. We will celebrate this tonight!

Pruett has shown what she can do and is content now, back to MOD please.

Hermann95 · Post by **Hermann95** » 19 May 2014, 19:58

Nice to see our Amber scoring a top 10 result. We are still last in the constructors championship but maybe we can overtake Maserati, who knows

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 19 May 2014, 21:29

Marc Henri wrote:Monsieur Riccetti, while we will not protest your result, we are deeply offended by your attitude. Your attitude as of late has been nowhere near professional, and your constant bragging about how there is no doubt Audi and Ferrari will protest again is so freaking untrue it's no longer a laughing matter. I suggest that you think about your choice of words, as your stereotypes against our great companies likely offend Audi and offend Ferrari. Just be glad I was sensible enough not to protest against your existence in the paddock as a whole with your comments.

Mikaela crashed again. ARGH. But then again, she was out for glory and red on the car. Oh wait, her car is already red. She's fine, I guess.

Veronica did as best as she could though. A car in the top 5 in this series for us right now is a little surprise.

mike robers · Post by **mike robers** » 19 May 2014, 22:04

Annnd...Shannon crashes out again! 7th time this season. I wonder if having her hang out with Romain Groseain was such a good idea.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 19 May 2014, 22:05

go_Rubens wrote:
Marc Henri wrote:Monsieur Riccetti, while we will not protest your result, we are deeply offended by your attitude. Your attitude as of late has been nowhere near professional, and your constant bragging about how there is no doubt Audi and Ferrari will protest again is so freaking untrue it's no longer a laughing matter. I suggest that you think about your choice of words, as your stereotypes against our great companies likely offend Audi and offend Ferrari. Just be glad I was sensible enough not to protest against your existence in the paddock as a whole with your comments.

Mikaela crashed again. ARGH. But then again, she was out for glory and red on the car. Oh wait, her car is already red. She's fine, I guess.

Veronica did as best as she could though. A car in the top 5 in this series for us right now is a little surprise.

The irony of you calling us unprofessional, after your childish outburst last round is quite humorous. We have been the model of hard work and professionalism this season, being that we are the flagship team in the series. However after the blatant hostility, unprofessionalism and unsportsmanlike (border ing on cheating) behavior of your company (and Audi) after the last race, we took a different approach. Your continued crying is nothing more than sour grapes. You have our pity.

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 20 May 2014, 00:30

Marc Henri wrote:After seeing your latest comments, I have to do nothing but laugh. Protests are by no means cheating or bordering on cheating. People can protest if there is a reasonable case, and there was such an occasion. Audi had a right to think likewise. Hell, even the Americans that are Dodge protested. Dodge are American but for their owners. We are still rather unpleased that your opinion of the Europeans being sour with Americans winning is still the same. Montezuma would like to have a word with you.

Luca di Montezemolo wrote:We revived our North American Racing Team, or NART, to run our operations in the Women's GT World Championship, and they asked for a young driver program to help them with their operation when the Junior Cup was announced. Essentially, you have Europeans working for Americans with this operation they have going.

What does this have anything to do with our little war here? Well, there's A) your assumption of the Europeans not being happy because Americans are winning is not true, as this operation is under monitoring from the NART. If any staff said something of that magnitude, they'd be fired, as the NART is American, and they crushed everyone in the World Championship by the end. Strike 1. And then there's B) your sweeping generalization of Europeans sick of Americans winning doesn't just imply us, it implies all Europeans. I'm certain that is not true. Audi are winning. I'm sure they couldn't care much about you guys winning but for the close rivalry and fight for glory at the top they have going. There are fans who don't mind watching Americans win, am I wrong? Strike 2. We at Ferrari know we can't win all the time, especially if the regulations are fixed like in the Junior Cup. Sure, we'd like to. But even if we aren't, we wouldn't be sick of you guys winning, especially since you're an American team running European cars. So, in the manufacturer's stakes, Europe is winning. I suppose a lot of Europeans like that, don't they? Strike 3.

So therefore, your idiocy is pretty childish as it uses sweeping generalizations with little facts to back it up. I'm out.

Jean-Phillipe Henri wrote:*laughs*

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 20 May 2014, 01:14

What's that? I can't hear you over all these champagne corks popping. I heard the crying, but the rest got drowned out. Anyway, our party has plenty of cheese, would you like some to go with your whine?

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 20 May 2014, 01:28

Oh, we can't hear you either. We're having a grand old time blasting Costa Rican music in our ears when Veronica got 5th a few minutes ago. It's not like the big boss cares. Then he gave his opinion.

Jean-Phillipe Henri wrote:Look, I've had enough. The bickering gets to a point where it just becomes uncivilized and cruel to the people reading. Oh, defiant Marc, when will he shut up? Luca proves a valid point as most of the time, and Mercedes-Benz are having fun thrashing my beta male son around, which is probably for the better of him. But my point is, it gets to the point where bickering and insults just simply go too far. And I've seen enough. Ao, just for once, I'd like some period of time where the Ferrari name and the Mercedes-Benz name aren't a complete and utter mockery in the media thanks to idiots, notably the guy I put in as the runner of the Programma Giovane Pilota della Ferrari. So, I'm going to fire that bastard for his shoddy PR and attitude standards and put myself at the helm, even though I've got enough to worry about already. I'm just trying to do the best in the interests of our companies. Let's be better off than we are now, eh? Let's just be the Pennsylvanian rednecks. Anyone want some beer?

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 20 May 2014, 01:31

Vanina Ickx wrote:We know when we are beaten, congratulations to Mercedes-Benz and Ms Pruett on the fantastic drive - she has proved herself as a complete racer and we can now acknowledge last round's brain-fade was a one-off moment.

While it is disappointing to continually receive personal attacks from Mercedes-Benz on our team, we can only hope they will move on as we have no further quarrel with them. The protest system worked, the revised penalty applied was fair, and Ms Pruett overcame it to win. We can have no complaints with that.

Elena Myers to return to MOD, but Neri is shooting for the championship, and will stay on AGG. Also, please set Neri to number 1 driver until the end of the season.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 20 May 2014, 01:34

Bah, stuff it. We have nothing to lose, so we'll set both out drivers to AGG for funsies and to wreck some title contenders at our leisure

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 20 May 2014, 01:34

Bah, infernal double posts. Too much champagne!,

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 20 May 2014, 01:43

Well, since our attempts at trying to gain peace are failing, we'll try another tactic.

From now to the end of the season, we'll say nothing.

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 20 May 2014, 05:23

AustralianStig wrote:Elena Myers to return to MOD, but Neri is shooting for the championship, and will stay on AGG. Also, please set Neri to number 1 driver until the end of the season.

Actually scratch my plans for Myers, now that the championship has been decided Audi has decided to give exposure to Australian test driver Hayley Swanson, who is taking Myers' seat for the last two races of the season as Number 2 driver.

FMecha · Post by **FMecha** » 20 May 2014, 20:24

Put Asmasoebrata back to MOD.

Nessafox · Post by **Nessafox** » 20 May 2014, 23:37

I declare a backmarker-war, and put my drivers on AGG too.

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 23 May 2014, 11:47

11th Round of the Women's GT Junior Cup

Sunday, February the 15th, 2015

Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Italy

60 Laps / 4,909 km (3,05 mi)

Qualifying

Weather: Warm, dry, sunny

The Scuderia Ferrari is still on the hunt for their very first victory in the short history of the Women's GT Junior Cup. It doesn't help, that this round is literally their home game. It only increases the already enormous pressure on the whole team. The Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari is a circuit with a long and often tragic history. And it saw a lot of drivers win here for Ferrari. Something that could happen again this very weekend.

After the more than mediocre showings in the past rounds of the second half of the Women's GT Junior Cup, Jean-Philippe Henri had taken over control of the Programma Giovane Pilota della Ferrari, hoping to turn things around for the better. And some experts saw the lap times Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky managed to record in qualifying as an improvement already.

You could easily see the surprise on Mikaela's face, when she finally realized, she was indeed closer to the pole-position than in all the previous rounds since her maiden pole in Belgium. Her luck: The stop-and-go circuit Imola is today seems to suit the Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 more than many other cars on the grid. Even the overall dominant Mercedes-Benz duo was not able to show the true potential of the SLS AMG GT3 here.

So for the first time since Belgium, Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky challenged Leah Pruett and Alessandra Neri for pole-position and was only defeated in the final minutes of qualifying, which prompted the Tifosi to celebrate this almost-pole-position like a win. If Mercedes could do it in Slovakia, why the hell shouldn't Ferrari try it here?

Leah Pruett kept cool despite all the boiling emotions on-track and behind the scenes. She pointed out, that the Constructors' Championship was already won and Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky didn't matter in the fight for the Drivers' Trophy. Alessandra Neri was the one to worry about, and the Audi driver had only managed P3, so Leah Pruett was content with the world.

Something that shouldn't stay unmentioned was Carmen Jorda's Imola performance. She spun on her final attempt and thereby ruined her lap time, which could have catapulted her straight into the top ten, judging from the times she recorded in the first two sectors before spinning. There might be a big surprise coming our way...

Code: Select all

01    Leah Pruett                 (Mercedes-Benz)        1:42.500
02    Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky   (Ferrari)              1:42.532
03    Alessandra Neri             (Audi)                 1:42.672
04    Tiffany Chittenden          (Dodge)                1:42.697
05    Hillary Will                (Mercedes-Benz)        1:42.736
06    Veronica Valverde           (Ferrari)              1:42.741
07    Hayley Swanson              (Audi)                 1:42.744
08    Alexandra Asmasoebrata      (Bugatti)              1:42.882
09    Elena Lana                  (BMW)                  1:43.029
10    Molly Taylor                (BMW)                  1:43.246

Code: Select all

11    Alison MacLeod              (Dodge)                1:43.305
12    Kazumi Mikami               (Bugatti)              1:43.331
13    Marika Diana                (Chevrolet)            1:43.442
14    Shannon McIntosh            (McLaren)              1:43.615
15    Emilee Tominovich           (Chevrolet)            1:43.622
16    Vicky Piria                 (Nissan)               1:43.670
17    Sarah McCune                (Nissan)               1:43.693
18    Gwendolyn Hertzberger       (Morgan)               1:43.794
19    Leilani Münter              (Lotus)                1:43.879
20    Collete Davis               (McLaren)              1:43.944

Code: Select all

21    Mishael Abbott              (Morgan)               1:43.974
22    Natalia Kowalska            (Lotus)                1:44.045
23    Carmen Jorda                (Maserati)             1:44.085
24    Gaby Dela Merced            (Maserati)             1:44.099
25    Amber Anderson              (Toyota)               1:44.152
26    Ramona Kiss                 (Toyota)               1:44.180
27    Courtney Force              (Jaguar)               1:44.274
28    Hiromi Kajikuma             (Jaguar)               1:44.746

105 % = 1:49.625

Race

Weather: Warm, dry, sunny

As soon as the lights went out, Leah Pruett shot into the lead, leaving everyone else behind for good. Both Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky as well as Alessandra Neri struggled to stay anywhere close to the once again dominant Mercedes-Benz. After mere 7 laps, Pruett was already 5.4 seconds ahead of Åhlin-Kottulinsky in second and probably might have never been caught by any of her rivals under normal circumstances. But this race soon turned out to be none of the ordinary kind.

Leah Pruett closed the chapter "Mercedes-Benz P1" herself, when she spun at Variante Bassa. One exchange of bodywork with the nearby wall later, the wrecked Mercedes came to a halt right in front of the pit wall. While a dismayed Leah Pruett tried to get a hold of what had just happened, Amanda Stretton, commenting the race for the BBC, already knew the answer: "A driver error. Nothing more, nothing less. Could have happened to anybody here."

Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky inherited the lead, but was already shadowed by Alessandra Neri. The Italian Audi driver saw her chance to get past the slower Ferrari down Traguardo and took the lead on lap 34. While Neri sped up significantly, Åhlin-Kottulinsky seemed to hesitate, maybe fearing another early retirement by chasing after the leading Audi.

And then, on lap 46, something rather unexpected happened: Hiromi Kajikuma was about to be lapped. A rare occurence in the Women's GT itself, but sometimes it still happens. Neri had no problems with the slower Jaguar, but Åhlin-Kottulinsky was still hesitating. Instead of taking the opportunity, she misjudged Kajikuma going wide at Piratella in order to let the Ferrari pass by and spun. Åhlin-Kottulinsky quickly recovered, but she had to wait for Kajikuma to let her pass after Tamburello the next lap, until she could finally chase after Alessandra Neri once again.

By then, Neri had already opened a gap of 20 seconds to the Ferrari and could cruise home, scoring her fourth win this season. Shortly after the presentation ceremony, a lot of Tifosi voiced their disappointment about Alessandra Neri not being part of the Scuderia Ferrari. That would have been the story of the century - an Italian lady winning in an Italian car on an Italian circuit, built by the same man, who's company built said winning Italian car. If only...

But this was also a race of wonders, or at least surprises, if you think that word might be more fitting. Vicky Piria finished 5th, despite coming from 16th on the grid, an achievement only topped by Maserati driver Carmen Jorda, who somehow managed to finish 7th after an up-and-down qualifying. Unlike her teammate Gaby Dela Merced, Jorda had a more than brilliant start and found both the Imola circuit as well as her setup much to her liking. Add to that a very good handling Maserati, and you get results like these.

And with this, the Drivers' Championship had been decided. With only one round left to go and a maximum of 50 points awarded, Leah Pruett has no chance of winning the title anymore. But all over the grid, there is still movement. Lotus can still beat Dodge for fourth in the Constructors' Standings, and outside the top five things are even more unsettled than ever.

The final round of this season, the Master Trophy on the challenging Nürburgring Nordschleife is just around the corner. Who knows, what surprises that race might have in store for us?

Code: Select all

01    Alessandra Neri             (Audi)                 60 Laps
02    Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky   (Ferrari)              +  4.258
03    Veronica Valverde           (Ferrari)              +  7.913
04    Hayley Swanson              (Audi)                 + 16.204
05    Vicky Piria                 (Nissan)               + 17.447
06    Marika Diana                (Chevrolet)            + 27.792
07    Carmen Jorda                (Maserati)             + 38.144
08    Mishael Abbott              (Morgan)               + 39.789
09    Leilani Münter              (Lotus)                + 43.829
10    Alison MacLeod              (Dodge)                + 52.606

Code: Select all

11    Amber Anderson              (Toyota)               + 55.643
12    Emilee Tominovich           (Chevrolet)            + 1:06.416
13    Ramona Kiss                 (Toyota)               + 1:11.590
14    Shannon McIntosh            (McLaren)              + 1:12.873
15    Collete Davis               (McLaren)              + 1:18.709
16    Courtney Force              (Jaguar)               + 1:23.010
17    Gwendolyn Hertzberger       (Morgan)               + 1:28.438
18    Sarah McCune                (Nissan)               + 1:30.945
19    Gaby Dela Merced            (Maserati)             + 1:41.825
20    Hiromi Kajikuma             (Jaguar)               59 Laps

Code: Select all

DNF   Natalia Kowalska            (Lotus)                43 Laps    Throttle
DNF   Kazumi Mikami               (Bugatti)              41 Laps    Accident
DNF   Elena Lana                  (BMW)                  34 Laps    Accident
DNF   Hillary Will                (Mercedes-Benz)        30 Laps    Engine
DNF   Molly Taylor                (BMW)                  29 Laps    Accident
DNF   Tiffany Chittenden          (Dodge)                19 Laps    Accident
DNF   Leah Pruett                 (Mercedes-Benz)        17 Laps    Accident
DNF   Alexandra Asmasoebrata      (Bugatti)              13 Laps    Accident

Drivers' Championship

Code: Select all

01    Alessandra Neri             (Audi)                395 Points
02    Leah Pruett                 (Mercedes-Benz)       341 Points
03    Hillary Will                (Mercedes-Benz)       286 Points
04    Tiffany Chittenden          (Dodge)               226 Points
05    Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky   (Ferrari)             213 Points
06    Leilani Münter              (Lotus)               200 Points
07    Veronica Valverde           (Ferrari)             181 Points
08    Elena Myers                 (Audi)                 96 Points
09    Molly Taylor                (BMW)                  95 Points
10    Vicky Piria                 (Nissan)               93 Points

Code: Select all

11    Gwendolyn Hertzberger       (Morgan)               83 Points
12    Marika Diana                (Chevrolet)            79 Points
13    Elena Lana                  (BMW)                  68 Points
14    Alexandra Asmasoebrata      (Bugatti)              67 Points
15    Alison MacLeod              (Dodge)                61 Points
16    Mishael Abbott              (Morgan)               60 Points
17    Shannon McIntosh            (McLaren)              49 Points
18    Collete Davis               (McLaren)              48 Points
19    Courtney Force              (Jaguar)               47 Points
20    Carmen Jorda                (Maserati)             44 Points

Code: Select all

21    Amber Anderson              (Toyota)               43 Points
22    Sarah McCune                (Nissan)               42 Points
23    Hiromi Kajikuma             (Jaguar)               38 Points
24    Natalia Kowalska            (Lotus)                37 Points
25    Kazumi Mikami               (Bugatti)              31 Points
26    Hayley Swanson              (Audi)                 30 Points
27    Gaby Dela Merced            (Maserati)             28 Points
28    Ramona Kiss                 (Toyota)               11 Points
29    Emilee Tominovich           (Chevrolet)            10 Points

Constructors' Championship

Code: Select all

01    Mercedes-Benz        627 Points
02    Audi                 521 Points
03    Ferrari              394 Points
04    Dodge                287 Points
05    Lotus                237 Points
06    BMW                  163 Points
07    Morgan               143 Points

Code: Select all

08    Nissan               135 Points
09    Bugatti               98 Points
10    McLaren               97 Points
12    Chevrolet             89 Points
11    Jaguar                85 Points
13    Maserati              72 Points
14    Toyota                54 Points

Next: Round 12 - Master Trophy up as soon as I'm back!

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 23 May 2014, 12:55

Victory! The bitter taste of defeat in the constructors has already been forgotten with that performance from Alessandra Neri! What a brilliant season she has had, and she has more than earnt the prize that Audi were offering from the start of the season - a test day with the senior Audi team. However, as we were planning to offer Neri a test anyway, Audi would like to extend the prize to offer 2nd-placed Leah Pruett a full day of testing with the senior Audi team. (Cue Mercedes-Benz whining!)

Audi would also like to congratulate Hayley Swanson on her successful debut - 4th place at Monza is no mean feat.

Audi are determined to win the other German race of the year after missing out at Sachsenring, and as such both Neri and Swanson are set to AGG. As Neri has won the championship, both drivers are on equal status - let's see if Swanson can pull out a surprise result...

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 23 May 2014, 13:37

Ah bathplug, too much champagne. Oh well, the WCC is the only championship of value at this level anyway, and 2nd and 3rd in the WDC is splendid first time out. No complaints here.

As for Audi testing Leah, we will not block it......once she has completed her test in the CLK-GTR of course. We don't mind farming her out to get some Intel on how you guys do things, because we know 100% she''ll be back. We have quite the plans built around her, and she knows it. Plus Mercedes is in this series for the long run, Audi, being part of the fickle VW empire, is beholden to their board, which is quite famous for getting bored and sodding off at a moment's notice.

Onxy Wrecked · Post by **Onxy Wrecked** » 23 May 2014, 16:24

The improvements have been impressive with both drivers in the points today.

V8fan12 · Post by **V8fan12** » 23 May 2014, 23:49

Arrgh! Tiffany retired! Good top ten finish for Alison though.

Please put Tiffany back to MOD.

Nessafox · Post by **Nessafox** » 23 May 2014, 23:54

Ah, a good result from Jorda, she must be on her periods!
(sorry for girls who feel offended, i am aware of the fact that periods are serious business)

Onxy Wrecked · Post by **Onxy Wrecked** » 24 May 2014, 04:06

This wrote:Ah, a good result from Jorda, she must be on her period!
(sorry for girls who feel offended, i am aware of the fact that periods are serious business)

I thought she was just getting out of jail as a period is at the end of every sentence.

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 30 May 2014, 14:09

Well, folks, I'm back (although still a little bit tired). Here is the plan for the near future: The final round, the Master Trophy on the challenging Nürburgring Nordschleife, will be up on Tuesday 3rd (CET). After that we'll have our usual rules discussion, in which I might once again silence each and every single one of you simply by announcing the huge package I've already cooked up for next season (just like last time).

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 03 Jun 2014, 19:55

12th Round of the Women's GT Junior Cup

Sunday, March the 1st, 2015

Nürburgring Nordschleife, Germany (Master Trophy)

18 Laps / 26 km (16,16 mi)

Qualifying

Weather: Cold, overcast, dry

With her victory in Italy, Alessandra Neri had secured the Drivers' Championship. But even though both championship battles had been decided by this point, a huge crowd still came to see the Master Trophy on the demanding Nürburgring Nordschleife. All chairmen from Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz were also present once again, looming over the heads of each mechanic like a dark raincloud on a sunny afternoon.

Audi took a dominant double-pole ahead of both Ferraris and both Mercedes-Benz. Then followed the fourth row, consisting of the BMW duo. Marika Diana had managed to put her Chevrolet in front of both Dodge Vipers, securing 9th place on the grid and having high hopes of turning this good position into an even better race result.

Both Lotuses disappointed, with Leilani Münter in 17th and teammate Natalia Kowalska in 24th position, the worst qualifying performance of Team Lotus this entire season. A rather discouraged Mishael Abbott drew up the rear in her Morgan, struggeling with the Nordschleife during practice and qualifying sessions alike.

The qualifying on Saturday took place under mostly sunny skies, but with cool and stormy episodes foreshadowing the typical Eifel weather we all know and fear around this time of the year.

Code: Select all

01    Alessandra Neri             (Audi)                 8:18.009
02    Hayley Swanson              (Audi)                 8:18.233
03    Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky   (Ferrari)              8:18.238
04    Veronica Valverde           (Ferrari)              8:18.284
05    Leah Pruett                 (Mercedes-Benz)        8:18.370
06    Hillary Will                (Mercedes-Benz)        8:18.534
07    Elena Lana                  (BMW)                  8:18.826
08    Molly Taylor                (BMW)                  8:18.923
09    Marika Diana                (Chevrolet)            8:18.949
10    Tiffany Chittenden          (Dodge)                8:19.096

Code: Select all

11    Alison MacLeod              (Dodge)                8:19.195
12    Emilee Tominovich           (Chevrolet)            8:19.263
13    Gwendolyn Hertzberger       (Morgan)               8:19.416
14    Kazumi Mikami               (Bugatti)              8:19.761
15    Collete Davis               (McLaren)              8:19.907
16    Shannon McIntosh            (McLaren)              8:20.070
17    Leilani Münter              (Lotus)                8:20.505
18    Alexandra Asmasoebrata      (Bugatti)              8:20.670
19    Amber Anderson              (Toyota)               8:20.785
20    Carmen Jorda                (Maserati)             8:20.988

Code: Select all

21    Ramona Kiss                 (Toyota)               8:21.085
22    Sarah McCune                (Nissan)               8:21.354
23    Vicky Piria                 (Nissan)               8:21.548
24    Natalia Kowalska            (Lotus)                8:21.577
25    Courtney Force              (Jaguar)               8:21.712
26    Hiromi Kajikuma             (Jaguar)               8:21.726
27    Gaby Dela Merced            (Maserati)             8:21.870
28    Mishael Abbott              (Morgan)               8:21.932

105 % = 8:58.909

Race

Weather: Cold, overcast, heavy rain

Sunday came with heavy rain showers, which increased as soon as the cars lined up. When the 28 cars faced the starter for the last time this season, it was already raining cats and dogs. Not a single lady risked going out on anything else than wets.

Alessandra Neri made the best start, followed by Hayley Swanson, who was attacked almost immediately by Leah Pruett. Åhlin-Kottulinsky and Valverde came fourth and fifth, having already opened up a small gap to Hillary Will in sixth. Will did her best to fend off the BMW duo of Taylor and Lana, who had switched places right before the first corner.

Elena Lana, however, eliminated herself by crashing at Fuchsröhre. On lap 6 Molly Taylor tried to squeeze her BMW past Hillary Will, but instead collided with the Mercedes at the Hohenrain chicane, which lead to both ladies retiring on the spot. Other collisions between two pairs of rivals happened on lap 12. Collete Davis and Kazumi Mikami were battling for 13th position, when they traded bodywork at Klostertal. The other collision took place in the Mercedes-Arena of the Nürburgring Grand Prix Circuit. Hiromi Kajikuma and Natalia Kowalska found themselves unable to get past one another without a hefty crash, even though they were only fighting over 21st position.

Unlike during qualifying, both Dodge Vipers were extremely competitive in the race itself, with Tiffany Chittenden defending fifth place against a remarkably fast Marika Diana in the phoenix from the ashes formerly known as Chevrolet Corvette. But Alison MacLeod stole the show by scoring another podium and even beating Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky in the process.

Ramona Kiss, who was able to hold on to a solid 14th place was taken out by her own engine on lap 13, which exploded for reasons unknown. Amber Anderson scored points for Toyota once again, but the team remained at the bottom of the Constructors' Standings despite the good effort from both their drivers.

Their arch-rival Chevrolet, on the other hand, even managed to enter the Top 10 in the Constructors' Cup, thanks to another brilliant drive from Marika Diana. With this, Chevrolet beat the likes of McLaren, Bugatti, Jaguar and also Maserati, something Team Haas might have never even dared to dream of given the downwards struggle they fought during the first half of this season.

In the closing laps Alessandra Neri began to struggle as her tyres wore out, but she had already opened up a huge gap to Leah Pruett in the pouring rain, and even though the Mercedes-Benz was almost five tenths of a second faster than the leading Audi during the penultimate lap, Leah Pruett was unable to catch up to Neri, who won her fifth race this season.

Code: Select all

01    Alessandra Neri             (Audi)                 18 Laps
02    Leah Pruett                 (Mercedes-Benz)        +  8.818
03    Alison MacLeod              (Dodge)                + 12.394
04    Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky   (Ferrari)              + 14.189
05    Tiffany Chittenden          (Dodge)                + 15.400
06    Marika Diana                (Chevrolet)            + 15.962
07    Vicky Piria                 (Nissan)               + 25.255
08    Gwendolyn Hertzberger       (Morgan)               + 25.732
09    Courtney Force              (Jaguar)               + 33.755
10    Shannon McIntosh            (McLaren)              + 35.932

Code: Select all

11    Carmen Jorda                (Maserati)             + 41.237
12    Amber Anderson              (Toyota)               + 42.944
13    Alexandra Asmasoebrata      (Bugatti)              + 44.056
14    Mishael Abbott              (Morgan)               + 53.323
DNF   Sarah McCune                (Nissan)               14 Laps    Accident
DNF   Ramona Kiss                 (Toyota)               13 Laps    Engine
DNF   Hiromi Kajikuma             (Jaguar)               12 Laps    Collision
DNF   Natalia Kowalska            (Lotus)                12 Laps    Collision
DNF   Kazumi Mikami               (Bugatti)              12 Laps    Collision
DNF   Collete Davis               (McLaren)              12 Laps    Collision

Code: Select all

DNF   Veronica Valverde           (Ferrari)              11 Laps    Accident
DNF   Leilani Münter              (Lotus)                10 Laps    Brakes
DNF   Emilee Tominovich           (Chevrolet)            10 Laps    Accident
DNF   Hayley Swanson              (Audi)                  9 Laps    Accident
DNF   Gaby Dela Merced            (Maserati)              8 Laps    Accident
DNF   Hillary Will                (Mercedes-Benz)         6 Laps    Collision
DNF   Molly Taylor                (BMW)                   6 Laps    Collision
DNF   Elena Lana                  (BMW)                   3 Laps    Accident

Drivers' Championship

Code: Select all

01    Alessandra Neri             (Audi)                445 Points
02    Leah Pruett                 (Mercedes-Benz)       381 Points
03    Hillary Will                (Mercedes-Benz)       286 Points
04    Tiffany Chittenden          (Dodge)               252 Points
05    Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky   (Ferrari)             243 Points
06    Leilani Münter              (Lotus)               200 Points
07    Veronica Valverde           (Ferrari)             181 Points
08    Vicky Piria                 (Nissan)              111 Points
09    Marika Diana                (Chevrolet)           101 Points
10    Gwendolyn Hertzberger       (Morgan)               98 Points

Code: Select all

11    Alison MacLeod              (Dodge)                96 Points
12    Elena Myers                 (Audi)                 96 Points
13    Molly Taylor                (BMW)                  95 Points
14    Alexandra Asmasoebrata      (Bugatti)              70 Points
15    Elena Lana                  (BMW)                  68 Points
16    Mishael Abbott              (Morgan)               61 Points
17    Courtney Force              (Jaguar)               59 Points
18    Shannon McIntosh            (McLaren)              58 Points
19    Carmen Jorda                (Maserati)             51 Points
20    Collete Davis               (McLaren)              48 Points

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21    Amber Anderson              (Toyota)               48 Points
22    Sarah McCune                (Nissan)               42 Points
23    Hiromi Kajikuma             (Jaguar)               38 Points
24    Natalia Kowalska            (Lotus)                37 Points
25    Kazumi Mikami               (Bugatti)              31 Points
26    Hayley Swanson              (Audi)                 30 Points
27    Gaby Dela Merced            (Maserati)             28 Points
28    Ramona Kiss                 (Toyota)               11 Points
29    Emilee Tominovich           (Chevrolet)            10 Points

Constructors' Championship

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01    Mercedes-Benz        667 Points
02    Audi                 571 Points
03    Ferrari              424 Points
04    Dodge                348 Points
05    Lotus                237 Points
06    BMW                  163 Points

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07    Morgan               159 Points
08    Nissan               153 Points
09    Chevrolet            111 Points
10    McLaren              106 Points
11    Bugatti              101 Points
12    Jaguar                97 Points
13    Maserati              79 Points
14    Toyota                59 Points

As promised, the six best placed ladies of the Junior Cup (Alessandra Neri, Leah Pruett, Hillary Will, Tiffany Chittenden, Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky and Leilani Münter) receive WDA World Championship Licences, which enable them to partake in the 2015 Women's GT World Championship, if a team is willing to sign them.

The same goes for the three best Technical Directors (Adrian Reynard, Aldo Costa and Vanina Ickx, who already owns a licence). Usually the same would apply to the best Race Engineers, but their fate will be decided in the upcoming rules discussion.

Next: Rules discussion (and provisional race calendar for next season) up on Friday the 6th (CET).

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 03 Jun 2014, 20:25

A disappointing end to our season, but unlike my rivals, I understand accidents do occasionally happen, so I won't whinge and protest.

Glad to see Leah and Hillary have big licenses now. They may need them yet......

V8fan12 · Post by **V8fan12** » 03 Jun 2014, 21:11

Great job by both drivers to finish 3rd (McLeod) and 5th (Chittenden). An excellent end to a pretty awesome season!

Chittenden also getting a WDA Championship License is excellent news!

Craig Harris wrote:Great job by all the team this round with both cars in the top 5, no mechanical issues or accidents. I am very pleased with Tiffany and Alison's driving over the year and the fact that Tiffany managed to place 4th in the championship and the team 4th in the team's championship is simply amazing.

Tiffany Chittenden wrote:I'm pretty pleased with 5th place. But more importantly, 4th in the championship!

Alison MacLeod wrote:Very happy with the result today. Another podium finish!

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 03 Jun 2014, 21:24

Lotus are obviously disappointed to have a poor qualifying session and a double-DNF, but the fact that Munter has obtained a SuperLicence is of interest...

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 03 Jun 2014, 21:28

Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky wrote:Well, the season was one to look upon as a learning year. In the end, I felt one pole position and no wins was a little disappointing. Not horrible, just a little disappointed. Let's be better next year.

Veronica Valverde wrote:This was a good season. Shame I didn't get into the top 6, but even if I got the WDA championship license now, it'd be too early for me to realistically enter the WC. Not a bad year though. I had fun!

Jean-Phillipe Henri wrote:The year may not have been that good for us in terms of expectations, we did fine for a learning year. I think the Goodyears were what gave us the disadvantage, but a series like this needs one solid tyre supplier. The 458 just didn't seem to have it on them. The drivers were competent. And despite the controversies, disappointments, rage, idiocy, and hangovers, we survived. Not bad.

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 05 Jun 2014, 04:46

Vanina Ickx wrote:An emphatic end to a successful season. Audi hail the exploits of Alessandra, who finished on the podium in every race she finished. We have no doubt she will be ready to step up to senior competition, although we would of course like her to remain and defend her title if she doesn't secure a full-time drive. Audi look forward to welcoming Alessandra Neri and Leah Pruett to a full day of testing for the 2015 Women's GT World Championship season.

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 06 Jun 2014, 14:42

Rules Discussion

Like for the rules discussion for the Women's GT World Championship, I'm also going to present you a couple of new ideas / rule changes I would like to go with next season, as well as the provisional race calendar for the 2015/2016 Junior Cup season.

1. Race Engineers and Technical Directors

Because a lot of you don't know too much about race engineers in general, it might be best to move along without them. They won't simply be dropped, but instead replaced with something more customizable (see below). Since the RWRS-canon Formula Female World Championship is going to be my very first series without Technical Directors, I can't tell you yet how good this concept will work out, so for the WGTWCS and the Junior Cup, I would like to keep the Technical Directors on board for a while.

I'm also planning on promoting the best (and well-known) race engineers to Technical Directors from next season onwards, because they will be a good addition to the already colorful roster.

2. The upgrade system

As I've mentioned, I want to replace the race engineers with something better: The upgrade system I originally invented for my game a couple of years ago. The basic version is going to be featured in Formula Female, so I can't tell you for sure, how good this will turn out and how much the system needs to be refined after its initial run. But for now, the upgrade system for the Women's GT is supposed to work similarly. This way players can focus better on making their cars faster and don't have to rely on unfamiliar race engineers and their unknown quality anymore.

Currently the upgrade system focusses solely on the cars, but it's also possible to expand it to the tyres, allowing players to actively influence the tyre performance as well. But still, I need to test the basic version in Formula Female first before I can tell you any further details.

3. Fuel and tyre suppliers

Although I've said I wanted to introduce more of them in order to establish a wider variety, I would like to wait with the introduction of even more suppliers until we know how good the upgrade system itself works. Otherwise players might get confused by the sheer mass of new suppliers and will not be able to tell, why exactly their cars still go at snail's pace.

I want to put at least the fuel suppliers on hold, while we can still discuss the introduction of more tyre suppliers, so the Junior Cup resembles the World Championship even more, which would help new players to ease their way into the big league.

4. Provisional race calendar

Because I have the feeling I went a little overboard with the weather conditions and real-life seasons (European races during the wintertime), it might be best to ignore those aspects completely. Meaning: We won't be focussing on real-life dates as I did during the last couple of rounds, and the weather will be determined regardless of actual seasons, because I like the idea of an inter-season European Championship.

So instead of holding the British Round (for example) on December the 12th, thereby being forced to run with the obligatory British weather around that time of the year, I'll continue to run the races without specific dates like I did during the 2014 Women's GT World Championship. That way the in-game weather conditions might be a little bit unrealistic, but at least we can pick all the good and challenging tracks for the Championship we want.

And here is the provisional race calendar for the new Junior Cup season:

Pre-Season Test Session - Spain (Circuit de Catalunya)

Round 01 - Portugal (Circuito da Boavista)
Round 02 - Spain (Circuit de Catalunya)
Round 03 - France (Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours)
Round 04 - Great Britain (Brands Hatch Circuit)

Mid-season Test 1 - Great Britain (Silverstone Circuit)

Round 05 - Netherlands (Circuit Park Zandvoort)
Round 06 - Belgium (Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps)
Round 07 - Germany (Sachsenring)
Round 08 - Austria (Red-Bull-Ring)

Mid-season Test 2 - Austria (Red-Bull-Ring)

Round 09 - Czech Republic (Automotodrom Brno)
Round 10 - Slovakia (Automotodrom Slovakia Ring)
Round 11 - Italy (Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari)
Round 12 - Master Trophy (Nürburgring, Germany)

Yes, it's the same as this season, simply because I don't see any reason to change it. All the circuits in use were very good and once we get the weather "under control", the on-track action will actually be the main focus of each round.

But I'm open to any suggestions, if you would like to see a certain circuit appearing on the calendar for some reason. Because the Junior Cup is supposed to be a European Championship, most of its races should take place on European tracks. Though I don't see any problem, if we'd include one or two rounds outside of Europe.

5. More cars and more drivers

For a young drivers development program, it might be a good idea to allow each team to field more than two cars at a time. Here is my idea in detail:

5.1. Gentlelady drivers
At the beginning of this season, Wizzie pointed me towards the Dunlop Series, the feeder category for V8 Supercars. In this series teams can also sign one gentleman driver, and that could be a nice addition to the Junior Cup as well. Teams can hire one "gentlelady" driver with a WDA World Championship Licence each season to drive for them (teach the young drivers how to handle a GT3 car and how to build a perfect setup). This way Alessandra Neri could defend her Championship title as well, if she gets the well-deserved chance.

5.2. Max 4
Instead of each team fielding a maximum of two cars at a time, why not increase the number to four? go_Rubens and others had obvious problems deciding for the best driver pairing, but with this new rule, you could sign them all. Each team can field up to 4 cars (meaning: 1 to 4), one driven by a lady with a World Championship Licence, if you want to, which still leaves three cars for the young talents.

Why this solution, you might ask? Well, I've tested driver changes during a race while doing the Race of Champions a while ago. In fact, the sole reason for that was testing certain game mechanics for further use. And sadly, driver changes cannot be realistically simulated with my RPG game system. So the only possible solution was allowing each team to field more than two cars.

5.3. A new points structure for the Constructors' Championship
Because Rule 5.2 also allows 1-car-teams as well as 2, 3 and 4-car-operations, we need to adjust the points structure in the Constructors' Cup, so teams with more cars don't have an advantage over teams with fewer cars.

I'd like to adapt the scoring system from GPL and the ADAC GT Masters. There, only the best-placed car of each team is allowed to score points for the Constructors' Championship.

Of course, Rule 5.3 would be dropped in favour of the actual scoring system, if all players agree to field a specific number of cars each season, say 3 or 4. But as long as we may have 1-car-operations as well as 4-car-teams, we have to adapt to the new scoring system in order to keep the game as fair as possible.

Feel free to discuss every point you like, and you can also bring your own ideas to the table. I'm interested in your opinion.

Hermann95 · Post by **Hermann95** » 07 Jun 2014, 10:38

I like your ideas. I still have a few suggestions:
Calender: what about a turkish round at the Istanbul park? I think this track would be a good adition.

Max 4: i like the idea but there may be one problem: the top teams like Ferrari or Mercedes would get the best drivers if they race with 4 cars and the more backmarkerish teams would have to race the drivers which are left. Imo this wouldn't support a closer field and better races.

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 07 Jun 2014, 11:43

Hermann95 wrote:I like your ideas. I still have a few suggestions:
Calender: what about a turkish round at the Istanbul park? I think this track would be a good adition.

Max 4: i like the idea but there may be one problem: the top teams like Ferrari or Mercedes would get the best drivers if they race with 4 cars and the more backmarkerish teams would have to race the drivers which are left. Imo this wouldn't support a closer field and better races.

The upgrade system already counteracts the best-team-best-drivers issue by granting the "backmarkers" more upgrade points to upgrade their cars, thereby evening the score a little bit. Drivers finishing within the Top 10 (places 1 - 10) gain 1 upgrade point, drivers finishing in the Top 20 (places 11 - 20) gain 2 upgrade points. (All below and all DNFs/DNQs/DNPQs gain no upgrade points.) In theory, this should already be enough to guarantee a closer field.

Let's take your team, Toyota, and Mercedes-Benz for comparison: Since both Leah Pruett and Hillary Will finished all their races in the Top 10 (Pruett's 22nd and all DNFs excluded), they would have scored a grand total of 17 upgrade points (Pruett 9, Will 8) for Mercedes-Benz over the course of this season. Just as a reminder: You need 10 upgrade points for a large upgrade on one car.

Your Toyota girls, even though they had a much higher attrition rate, scored 25 upgrade points (Kiss 8, Anderson 17) this season, more than enough to pay for two large upgrades, which would have easily been enough to catapult your drivers into the Top 6, because Toyota isn't that far off the pace as it sometimes seemed. Minimizing the risk of retirements by keeping the drivers set to MOD could then be the key to hold on to your new-found position in the standings.

Another thing is the fact that I don't tell anyone the true stats of the available drivers in order to prevent powerplay. And judging from what happened this very season, a lot of drivers with even better stats than the ones who ultimately played an important role in the Championship weren't even considered by any player. That's the biggest Plus (and also biggest Minus, depending on where you stand) of this huge roster of drivers I've presented you. The chance of signing a good driver is as high for a top team as it is for a backmarker. And since I'm only testing the rule which allows players to "steal" drivers from their rivals in Formula Female, you're pretty safe in the Women's GT for now.

As for the Turkish Round: If more players like the idea, I'm all out for it. But because I want to keep the calendar at a maximum of 12 rounds, which current circuit would you want to replace with Istanbul Park?

Hermann95 · Post by **Hermann95** » 07 Jun 2014, 12:44

Ok the ideas you presented to present top teams from beeing to op are good.
With regards to Istanbul Park: maybe the sachsenring because there is already a german round with the masters Trophy.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 08 Jun 2014, 19:08

I like them all. Max 4 and only top scores especially.

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 08 Jun 2014, 23:41

We don't need to "controll" the weather. Why not go to areas with better winter weather or more average weather throughout the year? We don't need to be completely in Europe. Have a couple rounds in Australia, and the rest of it possibly in Asia? Or possibly even more varied, to give the more inexperienced ladies driving in the Junior Cup a feel for more travelling?