Grand Prix Rejects

British racing driver Jake Sanson has had a long and incredible racing career in the (virtual) world of motorsports and his achievements make him the Stirling Moss of the modern (virtual) era.

Having had a couple of attempts in a go-kart previously, he was head-hunted by the WRL (World Racing League, my virtual governing body) after watching Jake race at Letton Hall (that ACTUALLY happened, the race not the head-hunting) back in 1999. He had taken a 4th place, first of the junior runners in his first heat, and crashed out of the second whilst fighting for the lead.

For 2000, he was able to compete in the WRL British I.C.A Karting Championship (using Super 1 Karting for PC). An almost dominant clean-sweep of event final victories was matched by precision consistency in the various heats, which resulted in the championship crown at the end of the year.

In 2001, he upgraded to the WRL British TKM Championship (Super 1 Karting again) and this time completely blitzed the field, dominating pretty much everything. He also won the coveted Letton Hall Summer Trophy event, as part of the Williams team (that ACTUALLY happened too).

His performances were enough to attract the attention of the VMaxSR Team in WRL Formula BMW World Series (Race Pro on XBox 360). He signed with them and never looked back. He displayed sheer determination and brilliant preperation, to win the Formula BMW championship at a canter in 2002 at the tender age of only 16.

He was amazed to be offered a drive by ADM Motorsport, one of the top single seater teams, to compete in the WRL Formula 3 Euroseries (Formula Master in Race Pro on XBox 360) in 2003. With amazing race wins in Monza, Pau, Zandvoort and Guia amongst many others made him a dominant champion at just 17. The team were eager to keep him on for a progression to Formula 3000 and Jake was more than happy to remain at the squad. His move to the WRL International Formula 3000 Championship (Race Pro on XBox 360) was just one step away from Formula 1, and Jake was still only a teenager. But his demeanour throughout 2004 was of a man ready to step up to Formula 1. He obliterated the opposition, and in 11 races including the coveted Macau Grand Prix, he never lost a race. Not even a second place finish.

With no driver matching him in F3000, Jake got his first break in F1: a test session in late 2004 with Jordan Ford. (A quick go on my mate's copy of F1 '04 on PS2) He loved the car and confesses he was on the verge of signing for them for the 2005 season. But as soon as he saw the sell-out to Midland, he knew it just wouldn't be the same. He also got a prize test with Williams BMW in F1 about and was level in pace with the team's two regular drivers. But with Jordan no longer in charge, and no other options available he took flight and ran to the USA.....

More on this to follow.

When Jake was offered a test drive in a NASCAR Whelan Modified Series car at Homestead (NASCAR 06: Total Team Control for XBox, works on 360), nobody thought he'd set a time good enough for pole position at the previous year's race. It was impressive enough for Evernham Motorsport to give him a race drive for 2005, and at 18 Jake he felt he really had nothing to lose. After two dominant wins at the start of February, he was then offered a run in a Craftsman Truck Series machine, and amazingly become the youngest man ever to start a Craftsman Truck Series race at Daytona for Bobby Hamilton Racing, which incredibly he won. The team convinced him to compete in both championships simultaneously, with Whelan races on Wednesdays and Craftsman races on Fridays his schedule allowed it to work, so he agreed.

But that wasn't the end of his 2005 adventure in the US. IndyCar Series team PDM Racing had been very impressed with Jake's early adaptation to oval racing, and gave Jake a test drive in their car at Homestead once again (IndyCar Series 2005 for XBox, works on 360). His speed was incredible and immediate, and the team fought for two weeks to get him to leave NASCAR to join them. Jake was not willing to ditch his other two contracts as he felt if would be disloyal to his employers. So a new idea was put to him: all three at a time with all flights and travel covered for him. Against all advice not to take on too much, Jake decided to give it a try. So he took an amazing debut win at Homestead on the Sunday after sealing two wins on Wednesday and Friday. He would suffer his first ever DNF in racing at Phoenix in IndyCar whilst dicing for the lead with Penske's Simon Moore, and he realised his approach would have to change. He finally learnt that you can't win everything, and a crash with four other cars at California hit the point home. But the rebound at the Indy 500 with a magnificent win from pole position at his first attempt set him on a great charge to all three championships.

It was like watching Stirling Moss or Jacky Ickx in their multi-series seasons, and Chip Ganassi Racing wanted a pics of Jake's success. They offered him a two year deal to race for their IndyCar Series team. But Jake liked NASCAR just as much, if not more, and so they also placed him at the RWI Racing squad in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and of course the Chip Ganassi Racing squad in the NASCAR Nextel Cup. His first attempt at the Daytona 500 ended in victory, and he still holds the record as the only teenager ever to win it. When he walked away as champion in all three championships at just 20 years of age, the offers flooded in for his services across the US racing scene. But Jake still had F1 in his sights and he knew that it would be practically impossible to get if he didn't return to Europe.

So he asked Chip Ganassi if he could leave, but they insisted he stay with them til the end of 2007. Jake eventually persuaded them to allow him to race in the World Touring Car Championship (Race Pro on XBox 360) alongside his IndyCar commitment. During 2007, Jake suffered a huge accident in testing for Chip Ganassi at Phoenix once again. He was amazingly unhurt but he vowed that this would be his last ever campaign in IndyCars, sealing the title for a third straight year at the season's end. But thanks to Polestar Racing, Jake was back in Europe as Volvo's sole representative in the WTCC.

More to follow.....

Upon joining Volvo in the WTCC, Jake started talking to F1 teams up and down the grid, but the only serious discussions ended up being with Mclaren, Honda and Super Aguri: McLaren were willing to offer him a test drive "sometime in the future" and Super Aguri actually came close to signing him, but when Japanese yen became the bigger priority Jake's deal faded, and of course the team went bust the next year. Jake had to let his driving do the talking, and he adapted very well to a touring car, drawing on what he'd learnt in F3000 for road courses, and NASCAR for car balance. He obliterated the opposition to become dominant champion.

He then approached Honda again to talk about a race deal, but their two drivers had a deal to see them to the end of 2008, so he was offered a job as the team's test driver which he gladly accepted. The team asked him what his plans were for 2008 as a race driver, but he'd worked so hard on F1 he had no seat for the season, so he looked back to WTCC but the only drives remaining were independents or the all-new LADA operation. When Jake told Honda he'd be joining LADA for 2008, the boss Jonny Walsh told him that if he won the title he'd be guaranteed a race drive for 2009. Amazingly, Jake gave the LADA 110 victory on it's debut, at which point Walsh handed him a 2009 race contract on the spot.

Jake also became a race driver for Prodrive in an Aston Martin in thr GT World Series (Race Pro on XBox 360) and another championship was his, as well as a brilliant GT class win at Le Mans (GRID on XBox 360). He then went on to win a much harder WTCC championship, but two wins at Macau made him the most successful driver ever at Macau, with seven race wins. F1 was finally ready for him.

Then disaster. Honda withdrew from F1. Both drivers were out. Ukyo Okazaki joined Red Bull, and poor Jake had nowhere to go. Whilst he was trying to sort something out with F1, he was approached by the drinks magnate Monster Energy to represent them in the DIRT World Tour (DIRT 2 on XBOX 360) for two seasons, with a guarantee that he could race in Formula 1 alongside it. Jake didn't need asking twice, and immediately took a January win in a rallycross event in the snow, and his appetite for racing soon got it's reward.

When it was announced that the original Honda team would reform, Jake decided that he was still young enough to take the risk of driving for them if it all went wrong. So when Brawn GP showed up in Australia, Jake was finally an F1 driver. His teammate would change several times through the season as a marketing chance to keep the team alive, so it was all down to Jake: the pressure was on.

More to follow...

Inb4 F1 World champion and winning the DTM at the same time

Oh and there's also that pissed off Australian in a BMW who's incredibly annoyed at losing the title in 2008 that you better look out for.