In the first of our series, Ace driver Pashalis Gergis has grabbed the microphone and between practice sessions asked the questions. We have managed to get up close to several top drivers and a team principal.
Jim Parisis (Twister Racing Team)
Starting with the Round two winner, Jim Parisis. Jim managed to get his first win in World Championship after 41 appearances, coming back after a hardware issue that cost him a highly probable win in Australia at Round one!
How does it feel getting this first win after having the disconnect in Melbourne?
- Winning in Malaysia was great. It's a track that I really enjoy driving. The car performed perfectly, the strategy as well and finally nothing unpredictable happened. I'm trying not to think what happened in Melbourne and only looking forward to the championship.
Was it hard to manage the race with Petar Brljak from the same team, and to avoid any incidents?
- Racing with Petar for the whole race distance was fun. He is a driver I know really well as we practice together so I was comfortable to fight with him knowing that nothing unexpected would happen. And for those who are asking, no there are no team orders in the team.
Now as a Greek myself I have to ask, how do you feel about being the first Greek winner and what do you think is to come from you and the rest of the Greek drivers in ACE.
- Being the first Greek winner doesn't really tells me anything. About the rest Greek guys in ACE, I know both of them for some years and I think they have good potential if they work in the right direction.
Who do you think is the primary candidate for the title and who has impressed you so far?
- There are many drivers in a good position for the title so I cannot really tell anything at the moment.
What is your target and expectations for the upcoming race and indeed for the championship?
- My target is to work hard, the results will come!
Your pace has been superb for the start of 2015, what have you been working on? What is the secret of your 2015 approach?
- Nothing special, just doing my homework and keeping my mind clear when it matters.
Kuba Brzezinski (Origin Front Row Racing Team)
Now we are off to speak with one of the most pleasant surprises of this year’s first two races. The Polish driver Kuba Brzezinski managed to get a hard-fought fourth place in the standings after finishing second in the first round and forth in round two. Let’s find out what his thoughts are for his debut in the World Championship.
What are your thoughts about your qualifying/race and the battles with Morgan Morand?
- Qualifying didn't go brilliantly, I messed up the first two corners a bit but I still managed to post a decent lap time so it wasn't that terrible. I knew that Morgan was starting on primes and he got involved in a battle with Blair so I managed to open up a gap. At the beginning I thought I could fight with Muhammed but his pace was too strong. Morgan's half spin (on pit entry) helped me a lot and but I still had to pass him three times because he was on a 3 stopper. I enjoyed fighting with him, just would like to fight with him for the win next time!
What were your targets before the season started? Have there been any surpises? How do you feel after getting the second consecutive solid result?
- I didn't really have any targets before the season as I had never raced with those guys, so I didn't know how competitive I was going to be. I was very satisfied with P2 in Australia, would have been pretty hard to win in a debut. P4 in Malaysia wasn't bad but we were a long way off Jim and Petar so I was disappointed with my pace.
How different is WC compared to PRO division?
- WC isn't much different compared to Pro to be honest. Obviously there are more drivers that can beat you when you don't get everything right and I had to get used to racing with all those big names but in terms of pure racing it's pretty much the same. You drive as hard as you can and the other guys try to beat you.
What are your targets for the upcoming races and what do you feel you should focus on to find improvement?
- We need to generally work on our pace and improve the set-up, especially on the exits and I personally have to get my last year's Q2 performance back. I hope we can be in the Top 3 if everything works out well.
Dian Kostadinov (Eventa Sim Racing)
The next driver we interviewed this week is Dian Kostadinov, the Eventa Racing Team owner had some interesting things to say regarding his performance!
What are your feelings about the Malaysia race and how did it affect you starting with the option tires?
- A whole week I was testing with Option tires for first stint, that was what I was planned. Unfortunately I was spun at T1 and lost several positions. Then I had to change the strategy, I had to undercut the guys with Prime tires infront. I was very careful with the tires to not overheat them and to not have troubles in the end of the stint. After what happened, I got the maximum from this race, I couldn't do more after the problems in 1st lap, from 13th in the beginning and to finish on 6th place, it's a good recovery.
Was there a better result Possible? Did you have any regrets referring to your strategy and or would it have worked if you were better prepared?
- The result could be better, If I would keep the starting position after T1. Then I would stick to my good race pace which I had and honestly I believe, could fight for the podium. My race engineer helped me a lot during the race, if wasn't him, I wouldn't score such a good result.
How do you feel about the Twister domination of the first 2 races and what can other teams do to catch up?
- How I have to feel?
If they are dominating over us, then they understand the mod better, also they have very good drivers line-up, so that's not a surprise for me. After the first two races, we showed great Q and R pace, so we are not to much behind them.How was the battle with the guys in the point zone? Was it kept clean?
- Most of the laps, I was trying to undercut the guys infront and to avoid battles with them. Most of the times that was successfully to break-through the guys which are on different strategy. Before last stops I think we made a mistake with the right time to stop, I stayed on the track 1 lap more than I needed and I came out from the pits behind Patrick and Marco. I thought I hadn't chances to pass them even with newer 1-2 laps compound Option, but luckily for me, I managed to overtake them both in 2-3 laps. That was my best part of the race and the best battle I had during the whole race. We didn't collide, everything went normal.
Since you are the owner of Eventa Racing Team I can’t resist not to ask about your team and personal targets for this season. What do you want to achieve this year and can you give us any insight about your teammate Fransesco Bigazzi?
- I'm one lucky man, that I found Francesco and signed him in Eventa. He is very experienced driver, understand the setups and the most important, he is a very nice guy, who fit perfectly in Eventa's athmosphere. He didn't have luck for first two races, but we both stay motivated and we know that the goodluck will come to us again. I don't have any targets, we showed very good pace after 1st two rounds, if we have more luck next starts, why not to fight for top 3 in constructor championship with Twisters and Netrex.
Team Principal - David Greco (Twister Racing Team)
The last interview belongs to one of the most experienced veterans in WC. David Greco is currently the owner of Twister Racing Team that has impressed so far with many podiums in WC and ACE divisions, he gave us a more general insight of his thoughts about FSR and his team this year, let’s see what he had to say.
What are your feelings after the amazing start of his teams in WC/ACE and your thoughts about your PRO team.
- I honestly hoped we were in a better place with the set up. It might sound strange, but, we are not where we want to be. I don't think there is any driver in the team that is 100% happy with the car. There are many things that we haven't understood yet, and we don't know if it is how just because how the car is, or more can be done with the set-up. As for the results, I am happy, but I think we still miss one key component, which sadly is not in our control, luck! I think with more luck we could get even better results, I think of myself in WC and the Pro team, which I honestly expected a bit more. I know how fast they are, and I hope they can surprise everyone from now on.
Have the current results matched teams expectations?
- I think apart from me and pro drivers, everyone is pretty much happy and satisfied with the results. I think Jim obviously could be celebrating his second win in Malaysia, and not his first, or at least he would have had one more podium and be leading the championship, but other than that, I think things are going well.
Any comments about Parisis' win and how hard it was for them to handle the battle between the two team mates?
- I think they had fun and that is very important for the team and the drivers. I am sure Patel could have been fighting there if he had a bit more luck in the race, and that would have been amazing. There is no clear faster drivers in our team, so I think similar battles will happen frequently throughout the championship.
How would you describe the competition level in WC/ACE divisions and which team has impressed you with their performance and who would you like to see from Ace make the step to WC next year?
- I am happy with the line-ups this year, and is very hard for me to make any changes to it at this point, and honestly I am not thinking about next year. I am, actually, we all are focusing in this year's championship and we want to continue like this for now. Honestly, I think I have said it in public, I am not too happy with the level of competition in WC. You can feel that Precision is not racing, and you do feel big names are missing on track. You might argue that driver seem to be battling very closely, and that Morgan Morand finished 5th last race, but I say that is due to the mod, not the drivers. I have seen in my team, almost no difference between drivers of different classes, and that is because the mod, sadly, is kind of too easy. I am disappointed a bit, not at me, not at FSR, I did help put the mod together, but I think we trusted ISI work a bit too much. I don't know if things are like this because the mod is not complete yet, missing some stuff on the tyre model, or it is wanted, but clearly, you can feel too much grip in the high speed corners. We know for a fact that it is not aerodynamics, telemetry shows the right amount of down-force, so, it must be something related to tyres or/and the flexible chassis. Is sad because I think there are very good improvements from last year, like the tyre wear, degradation and how the tyre works with rubber, green track and marbles.
What are your team/driver targets in all divisions?
- Surely, a team like Twister Racing, wants to win in all divisions, so that is our target.
So thanks David for such an insight into your teams season so far. I don't think other team owners wanted to see that Twister is not yet happy with their set-up!
We will see you all in China.
*Thanks to David O'Reilly for polishing and helping me with the interviews.
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