Grand Prix Rejects

Autosport wrote:Couteau delighted with victorious Desai

After Nebula's Victoria Desai won the AR3.5 Middle Eastern Cup, team principal Jacques Couteau has said his signing of the Indian driver was "justified".

Desai joined the team in late 2016 despite overtures from the Falik Arrows and Alitalia young driver squads, and has made an immediate impact on the squad after chalking up her first victory at Losail.

"I think the effort we put into getting her signature is certainly justified" said Couteau. "Prince Falik made a fuss about the move, but our showing in the series last season with Quentin [Reatherson] was great and I think that put the deal in our favour. Vicky's done a great job, she just has to carry on doing these performances in the real season."

Couteau was supportive of his own Astro Racing Stars despite mixed performances, and assured reporters that they would impress in the full AR3.5 series.

"Nino's made the step up and has been quick immediately. I think the Voeckler team can get the best out of him, for certain. Jerry's been good too, he's got a bit of experience so when the series is in full swing he'll be someone to watch out for. Marko has had so many issues in this cup, we're hoping he's got his bad luck out of the way early. We will ensure that he goes to Australia with confidence, and if he can keep it together he'll be just fine."

Bernd Schröder wrote:For us the Middle Eastern Cup has shown much promise for the team, particularly Thomas Butler's strong showing in qualifying at Losail, and in the race at Sakhir. Hopefully Butler and the rest of the team can carry this form into the main series and challenge strongly.

Voeckler GPE Press Release wrote:Kuzmanovic tests F2RWRS machinery with Voeckler

As a reward for his fine form in the AutoRejects 3.5 pre-season Middle Eastern Cup, Voeckler's newest addition to the Talent Troupe™ yesterday got his first taste of F2RWRS machinery in a private test at Teretonga Park in New Zealand.

"The cars were already out in that area of the world there for the Pacific Rim Cup, and so were most of our junior drivers, so we took the opportunity and ran a group test for all the young guys," said Jeremy-Etienne Voeckler, Managing Director of Voeckler Grand Prix Engineering. "The F2RWRS cars have different feel to them than the AR 3.5s, and we find it's good to have the young guys sample as many different types of car as possible to help develop their adaptability."

Along as well as Kuzmanovic setting laps, Nino Barlini, Olafur Ragnar Hannesson, Aimee Gauthier, Mineiro and Tonu Pykalisto were all present at the test.

Watch footage of one of Darko Kuzmanovic's solo runs here!

<Insert shady review site here> wrote:Jason returns to Rejects 3.5 for Blokkmonsta

In a controversial move, Blokkmonsta Motorsport decides to sign Tanner Jason for the 2017 Autorejects 3.5 season. Replacing Malik Zidan after mediocre performances in the Middle Eastern Cup, Jason returns to the series he bowed out of after being involved in the fatal accident of Nobushige Fukuda in 2015.

Blokkmonsta's CEO Andrea Schnass points to Jason's impressive performances in the Toyota Rejects series as reason to seek him for their single seat in AR 3.5. "He has plenty of potential that shouldn't be squandered by a single blight in his career. We had a long talk about it during negotiations and Jason has seemed to have gotten over the incident and is ready to resume his open-wheel career. Plus his skill he gained will be a valuable asset to our team and we hope he can help us develop a good base to build up on."

When asked about his return to this series, Jason claims that the season is more than just to resume where he left off in 2015. "When I left a few years ago, I thought I could let go of my motorsport record. After many sleepless nights I realized that I couldn't put the past behind me. That being said, I'm more motivated than ever to return to Formula 3.5 and I am more than willing to join Blokkmonsta and do more than just use this drive to put some demons to rest."

Nuppiz wrote:

tristan1117 wrote:Tarantino Autosport would like to promote Patrick Feldhoffer from Team Echoften in the AutoReject 2.0 series to the next rung of the ladder. Pending permission from whomever owns him, Feldhoffer will be signed on for the 2017 AutoReject 3.5 season to partner Hobson Tarantino.

And what about the livery? Are you going to reuse the one from last year or have an entirely new one made?

SRMP wrote:AR 3.5 news: revised aero package, Jason's return in doubt

After the conclusion of the pre-season Middle Eastern Cup which, contrary to the claims of the main funders - a group of wealthy sheikhs who called the Cup "an unforeseen driving challenge" - was mainly an extended testing platform for the new technical package, the AR 3.5 Commission has been busy preparing for the regular season that is just a couple of weeks away. SRMP has found out that there are two main issues on the table towards which the commission is paying special attention.

First, most of the changes introduced by the new technical package are to be scrapped. The most significant change for this season besides the new engine rules was a new aero package that allowed for huge reductions in downforce and drag levels, in an effort to increase straightline speeds and overtaking. However, this had the side effect of making the cars very twitchy to drive and prone to go airborne, which undoubtedly was a major factor in that a single race of the MEC (the finale in Bahrain) quite possibly featured more rollovers than the entire 2016 IFRC season. With little time to spare the cars are expected to revert to mostly 2016-spec aerodynamics, with only a few minor tweaks applied.

The second and more controversial issue concerns Blokkmonsta Motorsport's newest recruit Tanner Jason, whom the team has signed as their main driver in the championship after their previous recruit Malik Zidan proved to be too inexperienced during the MEC. Jason is making a return after a quiet year, having participated in the TRRS to regain the attention of the motorsport world. However, the reason behind Jason's "sabbatical" in 2016 is rather grim: his reckless driving was considered to be the main cause behind Nobushige Fukuda's tragic death in 2015, incidentally the event which had the single most effect on the series' transformation into what it is today. In the aftermath of the accident, Tanner Jason was permanently banned from competing in RoLFS, but an ongoing argument between the members of the commission is that whether or not this ban should carry over to AutoReject 3.5 as the category has gone through such massive changes in the meantime. The commission is expected to reach a conclusion in this matter prior to the pre-season tests on March 11th and 12th, and according to our sources a slight majority is leaning towards an extension of this ban.

Biscione wrote:Voeckler GPE requests the services of Darko Kuzmanovic for the second test session from Euromotor, and in exchange we will send Nino Barlini in the other direction, as a means of gathering a larger range of testing data.

Nuppiz wrote:
;tl;dr Tanner Jason may not receive a competition license. You can sway my opinion on this by doing some wiki work, such as adding the AR 3.5 dates on the main calendar.

Also, if you want to run someone else than your regular drivers in the pre-season tests, it's about high time to announce that. There will be only two testing sessions, one on the 11th and one on the 12th March.

Finally, the vote on the location Australian round of the championship has concluded and I'll soon start testing the most popular venues to see which one is the best from both technical and sporting perspective. Be aware that the vote is non-conclusive and thus the round may not end on the most popular venue (Phillip Island) after all.

Nuppiz wrote:...

Tanner Jason may still compete, provided there won't be any massive protests by other team owners against him. However, in any case his license will be provisional only, and he will lose it permanently should he stir up enough crap during the season.

rejectsport.com wrote:Knight: 'Jason return is 'insult to Fukuda's memory'

Following the shocking announcement that Tanner Jason had secured a drive with Blokkmonsta Motorsport, there was predicted to be outrage amongst those in AR 3.5. Luke Knight, CEO of the Plus One Group, has been one of many to protest against the move.

"Tanner Jason was banned from what was Rejects of LFS for his severe misconduct on the track. It is utterly insane to allow him to compete again!" said Knight.

"This move is quite frankly an insult to Nobushige Fukuda's memory. It appears that those in charge have forgotten the meaning of their actions. I don't know what is worse: the fact that everyone's lives have been placed at greater risk, or the implication that the series officials are bending over backwards to allow such a person to race in the first place.

"I call for the rest of the paddock to make their grievances heard."

Read more on RejectSport Extrra - More news, more action, more racing!

Kenan Ardaoglu wrote:Tanner Jason? What about him? Oh, yeah. Well, I don't see any reason why he shouldn't drive. Look, shite happens - accidents can happen and motorsport is risky. If you can't deal with that, go home and let the men do the work. I for one support Tanner and he can always come to me if he needs help with something.

This wrote:Just the regulars.

Vepe wrote:

This wrote:Just the regulars.

Same here

This wrote:

Vepe wrote:

This wrote:Just the regulars.

Same here

You keep your hands of my regulars!

Biscione wrote:

This wrote:

Vepe wrote:Same here

You keep your hands of my regulars!

Actually, as Voeckler's B-Team, we instruct RonDen to relinquish their regulars to Vepe, and instead you will run a test lineup of Benoit Voekcler and Jan Maylander, because we say so and we just feel like it.

We know you don't understand it, but trust us, we know what we are doing. RonDen is not just a subserviant we abuse to make cruel experiments on, we promise!