2020 Series One Urth Championship

[Osterlicsh]

Welcome to the Series 1 Urth Championship in 2020! This first post is an information bank for how the Series 1 Championship will function, how results are worked out, and how the roleplay will work. If you have any questions at all, feel free to inbox me here, or on Discord (Will_#0001). Everything in this thread, beyond this post, should be strictly in-character. Any OOC notes can be included, but I ask to keep this thread on track!

What is Series 1?
Series 1 (S1) is the Urthian equivalent of the https://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-championship/season-2020/2020-fia-formula-one-world-championship. While F1 is overseen by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), S1 will be overseen by the Federazione Urthiale del Motorsport (FuM), meaning Urth Motorsport Federation, based in https://tep.wiki/wiki/Petra_Cauda. Teams will have two drivers each, racing their own cars. Throughout the season, teams are competing for two championships, the Constructors (awarded to teams, based on their performance) and the Drivers (awarded to a single driver, based on their performance). The scoring system in Formula 1 can become quite complicated, so I have developed a more simplistic system for Series 1, which I will go onto explain further on.

Series 1 will feature regular weekend events, not visiting the same nation twice during the span of a championship. Each weekend will consist of three stages. Practice, designed to allow drivers to get a feel for the layout of a track on Friday, Qualifying, determines the starting grid for the race based on the fastest lap on Saturday, and the Race, on Sunday. This differs slightly to Formula 1, but is designed to keep things a little more manageable.

Do I need to know anything about Formula 1 or motorsport to take part?
So long as you know what a car is and why it needs fuel, you’re good to go! The idea behind this roleplay is to ensure that it is accessible for all knowledge/skill levels, whilst still giving opportunity for those a little more into the sport to go a bit further. To take part, all you need to do is come up with a team and two drivers. UMF 2020 Series 1 Urth Championship - Google Tabellen

How is each event scored?
Fantastic question! Upon registering a team, you’re asked for a handful of extra information, such as the driving style of each driver, and what the team is best at. This information, combined with information about each circuit (number of corners, DRS zones, straights, weather, etc), along with a handful of percentage modifiers and a small random value to encourage chance, produces a coefficient value. These values are put into an order whereby the highest value wins.

There are three total coefficients produced per weekend, one for practice, one for qualifying, and one for the race. Each stage’s result feeds into the next. For example, a good lead in practice, gives a slight edge when qualifying, and a good qualifying pace results in better chances on race day.

In addition to these determined factors, participants will be asked before each weekend what their balance between practice and qualifying is. For example, a driver may opt for 70% of the combined practice-qualifying time to be put to practice, and 30% on qualifying. This percentage can change and offers different balances of results. More practice time results in a better practice result, which contributes to the qualifying bonus. Whereas more time spent in qualifying may offer a better result overall. A minimum of 20% must be completed in either session. Teams do not have to use the full 100%, but this will likely diminish points. This could be used to roleplay technical issues in the run-up to the race.

Points, which are gained exclusively from the race day (unlike Formula 1), are based on the final result. With 22 cars on the grid, a 1st place finish will gain a driver 22 points. A 2nd place finish will give 21 points, and so on. With the person crossing the line last gaining just 1 point. Team points are calculated simply by combining the results of both drivers.

Now, the result of each stage is not all that is calculated. Throughout the weekend, there is also a calculation to determine whether a driver will DNF (Did Not Finish, usually due to technical issues to do with the car, but could be down to other reasons), or crash. A DNF or a crash will result in no points.

These calculations are all done through a Google Sheets spreadsheet, and so technically I could work out who the winner of the championship is going to be by filling out all of the event pages. But I won’t do that.

This seems a little dumbed down?
I appreciate that this system is a lot more simplistic than Formula 1 and other motorsport leagues. This is mainly to encourage people who are less knowledgeable on the topic into the roleplay. For next season, I will consider changing things up slightly, adding more factors (such as engine choice, privateer/manufacturer bias, etc). But all in good time! Lets get the basics of how this will work before we jump right into it.

What happens at the end of the season?
So, based on the current layout of the calendar, the season finale is expected to be on the 27th September. When the season ends, I am considering creating a secondary league, such as Series 2, or exploring other real-life inspiration (24hrs Le Mans, BTCC, Carrera Cup, etc). But I’ll likely field a poll to all those interested at the time. Who knows, we could have a winter season for S1, anything is on the table.

How does the roleplay work?
Now we get onto the most important part! Now, the driving element of the championship won’t be roleplayed directly. This would result in hundreds of sentence-long replies, so we want to avoid that where possible. However, during the events, participants are more than welcome to post information about how well each driver performs, any crowd interactions, mishaps, character development, etc. That’s what we’re looking for!

In the run up to each driving session, I will be posting a TV-show style interview post. In which I will go over some information about the circuit, what’s been happening behind the scenes during the week, and then I will field some questions to drivers/team leads/etc. At which point, participants are welcome to respond to the questions as though they are on the programme. After each stage, I will post a run down of the results in a similar fashion. The presenters may pass comment, and further field a handful of questions about the result of the event.

Then, after the race has been completed, I will post the results, and include some highlights of the session. This may include some impressive racing (such as difficult overtakes, or out maneuvering another driver), as well as any incidents, or DNFs, etc. Following which, some slightly longer interviews may be fielded (as there will be longer to reply). Interspersed between these posts, I fully endorse any participants contributions. This might be a conversation between the two drivers, or between engineers in the pit lane. Reactions to events happening during the race (like crashes), or even just taste-of-life type roleplay designed to give us a bit of insight into your characters.

During the week, when there is no racing event, please feel free to have your drivers attend invitational events (where drivers are invited to race at other tracks, mostly for fun/reputation - could be classic cars, karting, anything!), or anything you like!

Ultimately, my role is to progress the championship and share results and stimulate questions. Participants roles are more focused on the lives of the drivers and the team members. Although, anyone who isn’t participating, but wants in mid-season, feel free to ask questions as a news outlet, or a fan group!

If you have any questions, please just let me know via Discord <3

[Osterlicsh]

Televisions tuned into various sports channels across Urth fade to black, before playing the following Season Launch trailer.

- The Series One logo looms on the television screen for a few moments before fading into a quiet montage of footage around the Blueacian Street Circuit. Then, as the camera sits at the first corner of the circuit, an almighty roar of a Series One car cuts through the silence of the footage. The production turns into a montage of previous footage from the Blueacia Circuit, including moments of victory, controversy, and pure adrenaline-fueled motorsport action. Once the footage has settled down, the camera fades into three presenters stood in the empty paddock, with the teams yet to arrive ahead of the race weekend. - https://i.gyazo.com/b278b3f67b06ca82defb09faea2d564c.png Right to left: Steve Phones, Susie Dogg, Mark Blabber, David Cooltart - Steve Phones opens the dialogue, speaking directly to camera. "Hello and welcome back to Series One - With a range of regulation changes this year, and some new faces on the block, the 2020 season is set to be the best yet." "That's right Steve," the focus shifts to Mark Blabber, "we've seen a lot of changes in the time we've had off, and its looks like its going to be a pretty dicey season for us. A lot of the teams are on a level footing, so it'll be great to see the drivers and the support from their teams really being the driving force of success!" The dynamic between the group is organic and friendly. All but Steve Phones are well known former Series One drivers, who's knowledge and finesse has been developed over the years of presenting. - Phones continues, the clear lead-presenter of the group, "Regardless of what the season ahead holds for us, we're here at the Blueacia Street Circuit, both famous and infamous for its picturesque career-winning or career-breaking layout. So really, we might as well just crown the victor of this weekend and forget the rest of the season, isn't that right Cooltart?" David Cooltart smiles before responding, "Now, now Steve, lets not get ahead of ourselves. This is going to be a real tight season, and while a win here, on one of the trickiest circuits to master, will certainly set them off in the right direction, there's still going to be plenty of racing to do! There's going to be a real mix of circuits this year, which I think will offset the traditional balance of things." David effortlessly hands the attention back to Phones. "Well, I suppose we'd better consult Susie on this, I understand you've been taking a look into the layout of the track and what we can expect?" "Absolutely Steve, its an incredible circuit here, lets take a look." Susie responds. The team look towards the camera as it crossfades to the next clip of pre-recorded footage. -

- As the camera returns, Susie Dogg is now in another location, a clip of pre-recorded footage from a week ago. "Ahead of the season opener in Blueacia, I've visited the internationally renowned Team Spiiker headquarters to find out more about Aleandro Trentini involvement in this year's championship at age fifty-one." Susie walks off camera and a few clips are shown of her passing through the building, observing various processes and testing. Finally, she arrives in a meeting room with large glass windows looking out over a test track. - (( Joint post with Blueacia )) "Aleandro, hi - Nice to see you again." Susie opens with, the two having met countless times in their respective lines of work. The two exchange pleasantries and settle into the interview. "So then, the question everyone is going to be asking: I'm younger than you and even I've retired. You're racing once again this season?" "Yes Susie," Aleandro begins with a slight smirk, "this will be my second return to the sport. I am not sure how long my return will take though, I have a race-to-race contract. As you know Marlan Kalming took a sabbatical this season and seeing I was still involved in both Spiiker and Marchitelli, Spiiker thought it would be good for me to make a temporary return." Aleandro takes a brief moment to take a sip of water before continuing. "It might take the whole season, it might take longer, or it might not be a complete season for me at all. But I am very excited to be back ones agian, and be the first driver who fights his own son on the track." - The focus returns to Dogg for the next question, "Has this re-entry to the sport been a team decision and something they've welcomed, or is it something you've pushed for on a personal level?" Trentini is quick to confidently respond, "It has been a team decision of course, but I wouldn't have been one of the drivers if I didn't think I could still win races and maybe the championship." - Susie nods a little, checking her cards discretely, "We're seeing plenty of new faces this year, and with a fairly balanced approach to the engineering, is Spiiker in danger this season?" The driver responds with confidence, "I know we improved a lot over the winter-break. We of course can't say for certain where we are on the grid before the first weekend. But Spiiker is almost obliged by his history to at least fight for the top spots." - Susie continues the back and forth, posing a slightly controversial question. "Eager to impress, but with the regulation changes, we've seen the introduction of the Nimbus devices ((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(safety_device)#:~:text=The%20halo%20is%20a%20driver,homologation%20and%20regulation%20from%202018.)). Has this massive change in aerodynamics been a challenge for the team? Should the regulations have remained the way they were?" Aleandro returns the question, "You're asking me if a device that is suppose to save the lives of many people should be on or off the car? I think that answer you can guess... Sure, the thing might not be the most visually attractive, but I choose safety above aesthetics any time. Maybe this also means we could see the cars go faster then ever before since the cars are suppose safer then ever before. Imagine S1 cars going 450 km/h around the Blueacian Street Circuit." - Susie nods and pauses briefly before pushing into the politics of team life, "Now, there's been some big changes in the political landscape. You're racing with a Rufuinan teammate. How is that?" Trentini takes a neutral stance on the matter, "I am (luckily) not involved in politics. But as I understand there were some troubles with the Blueacian government and Spiiker about Pedro Wilson driving for the team. We also have to understand that Pedro was already under contract of Spiiker. He's gonna serve his next year with the team now. And if you were a team manager, would you sign drivers because of their talent or nationality Susie. If you were a factory team not in the need of pay-drivers like some of the back markers." - Dogg smiles at the progress made in the interview, and closes on a broader question, "Overall, how confident are you feeling about the season opener here in your home country?" Aleandro offers some gestures with his speech, seeming more animated, "We all know that the first race of the season is always a battle of attrition. Teams running into troubles they haven't run into before with more cars on the track and up to pace 100%. And seeing the first race is gonna be on probably the most difficult track of the season that might give extra excitement. To be honest with you, I wouldn't be surprised if the number of finishers would be in the sub-ten. But we have to wait and see of course, it's also a possibility that only 2 cars retire from the race and it being the two Spiiker cars" - Susie offers a final smile, "Aleandro, thank you." The camera returns to the paddock, where the four are still stood. The camera begins to focus on Steve Phones. "Well, certainly sounds like Spiiker are looking to make their mark once again. We'll be keeping a close eye on them in practice this Friday." Steve pauses for a moment, glancing to the rest of the team. "We'll be back with more coverage very soon, stay tuned!"

[Osterlicsh]

Television sets tuned into various sports networks across Urth fade out and play the opening titles of the Series 1 coverage show.

Series 1 2020 Season Launch - YouTube

The shot then fades into the four presenters as we know them, all chatting among themselves, stood on the start finish straight. Steve Phones, the lead presenter, turns to face the camera with a smile. “Welcome back to the Blueacian race weekend. Its one day till we see the Free Practice session and the opening of the first race weekend of the season. Oh, I just can’t wait David!” Steve hands off seamlessly to Cooltart, who nods and takes the reigns.
“Absolutely Steve, we’ve had a long enough break, I think I can speak for the lot of us when it comes to the sheer premise this weekend is going to bring!”
“Well we won’t have to wait long,” Mark Blabber interjects, “The teams have arrived today and are in the final stages of unpacking their kit. You might be able to hear some engines beginning to fire up now, as they make sure all the parts are where they should be.” Blabber begins to raise his voice as the Bernitti-Domio team takes advantage of the television coverage and fires up their engine.

There is some laughter within the presenters group as they all look over to the Domio garage, offering a friendly wave. The team return one and cut the noise. Susie Dogg is first to speak, “Well Steve, I hear you’ve been taking a break from presenting the show to speak with Crossland?”
“Indeed Susie,” Phones takes the lead once more, “I’ve had a chance to have a sit down chat with the Rufuinan team boss Anthony Denger, lets see how it went.”

Some B-roll footage of the Crossland team pit bays is shown, along with some footage from last year’s season (when the team raced under the Wolfen Republic). After a narration from Phones regarding some basic information about the team, the footage cuts to an interview conducted in an empty pit bay, a few hours ago. Logistics crew can be seen in the background unloading equipment into the adjacent Crossland bay.
“Anthony, good to see you, welcome back to Bluacia.” Steve opens up with, entering the shot and offering a firm handshake.
“And you Phones, and you.” Denger replies, gripping back in return.

“Now Anthony,” Steve kicks off the questioning, “Crossland is known for their support from Massington Motors, but with a fairly even power units this season, how will the team perform?” Anthony considers the question for a few moments before responding firmly.
“We assure you that Massington’s always gonna out do the competition in terms of engines, they -are- flawless, our drivers are well experienced and well trained, perhaps not as experienced as some of the other drivers such as Autorennen, but we’re destined for greatness this year, I can assure you that.” The clearly-confident team lead offer an affirmatory nod as he concludes his answer.

“Your confidence is clear this season Denger, but we know of Spiiker’s Aleandro returning once again to the sport, will they be a competitor to give you a run for your money?” Steve bounces the questioning straight back.
Denger smirks somewhat, looking right up at Steve, “Well of course they will, Spiiker has been around since the start, they know what they’re doing, they know the sport, they know the tracks, they know what to do, but even veterans fall short at times and it’ll be an honour to have our drivers compete against them.”

Phones nods for a second before shifting to a slightly more tactful tone, “With all the political upheaval regarding your home country, will that impact on your ability to perform? Both in terms of driver performance and the engineering behind the scenes.”
Anthony clears his throat a little, speaking up, “Hardly at all, our drivers and engineer teams are well trained and well focused, to be honest I think it’d be good to set aside the political scene for all of us and just focus on the sport, that’s the outlook we have and it’s the outlook that’s gonna make our team do great.”

Steve pauses for a few moments, giving time for the audience to digest the response, before moving on to the next question, “Are there any secret innovations that we can expect to see when the cars go out for their first practice laps on Friday?”
Anthony lets out another smirk, almost a chuckle, “Well while we can’t disclose any details from our teams at Massington Engines, our innovations are gonna be something that’ll give the crowds and the teams a good shock when we see them on the track for the first time.”

Steve waits little time before pressing onto the next question, “With such a tricky circuit as the season opener, how confident are you of the weekend ahead?”
The Crossland team lead bounces back, matching his pace. “Well our driver Rufus is a brilliant driver even on tracks he’s not particularly experienced, and Peroia can show the most absolute grace under pressure, nothing will crack him.”

“And finally Anthony,” Phones slows the pace back down, opening a broader closing question, “What’s your outlook on the season? It’s set to be an interesting one, no?”
“Well to be honest our main outlook on this is that we’re mostly just excited to be here, we’ve been shown a great welcome by the other teams and by the FuM, I can’t say what the outcome will be but as you said, yes it will be interesting and whatever the result we’re just happy to be here Steve.”
“Anthony Denger, thank you and good luck out there tomorrow.” Phones concludes with, offering another handshake.
“Thank you Steve.”

The program runs a few smaller segments before returning to the presenter team on the finish line. “Well folks,” Susie Dogg opens with and infectious smile, “With around twenty-four hours to go until we see the results of practice begin to trickle in, its set to be a fantastic weekend ahead! Make sure to tune into our highlights tomorrow!”

With that, the presenters go back to chattering, as the camera slowly moves backwards, the theme song of the series playing.

[Osterlicsh]

Team Bernitti-Domio Bay, 23rd July 2020 @ 20:38z
Guido Buratti, Team Principal of the Bernitti-Domio team, wanders through the team pit bays, supervising the initial setup work being completed. The equipment had been unloaded throughout the day and the cars in the middle stages of assembly. The night team had just switched with day shift, and Luigi, espresso in hand, was there to ensure things went smoothly.

He briefly glanced at the monitors, noticing that the Series One coverage was currently live from less than two hundred metres away. “Gino!” He calls out, looking towards the lead engineer for Pablo Saez’s car. The engineer flicks his chin upwards, acknowledging he’s heard. “They are filming. How about we give them some Domio noise?” He says with a smirk, speaking Petrovian.

Gino knew exactly what do to. He leaned in and nodded to the other engineers working on the car. He started the engine’s ignition sequence. The Domio engines had a distinctive start-up sequence, meaning they made an easily identifiable noise, consisting mainly of three revs of increasing intensity. Some of the team members stood by the doorway of the bay looked over to the crew filming, returning a friendly wave as the car’s engine was revved a few times more.

Guido offer a thumbs up to Gino before continuing on his rounds, heading towards the tyre and wing storage to check in with the pit crew’s progress.

[Blue]

Spiiker S1 Team, 23rd july 2020
Team principal and major shareholder in Spiiker Dennis Rondeau walked around the narrow pits checking how everyone was doing with the little room everyone had. Dennis stopped quickly before the box of every team to see what they were doing. He also ofcourse was watching the cars to see if his team overlooked anything, and if they could get an advantage that way. Dennis made a longer stop at the box of Marchetti Falcon a team Spiiker works closely with. Marchetti though isn’t a Spiiker B team they have their own philosophy, they use the engines of Spiiker and that’s why Spiiker negotiated to be able to fill one seat with a driver from the Spiiker driver Academy. This year the seat is filled with Mitch Noxal regarded as the most talentful driver since Aleandro, some say he might even be better but that has to be seen. Dennis has a little talk with team principal, owner and name giver to the Marchetti team Georgio Marchetti. After a few minutes he resumes his walk down the pitlane to make a second long stop at the end of the pitlane at the new team Novia Racing. He started a talk with the team pricipal of Novia welcoming them to the sport and he said he spend his money well,  Dennis paid Novia 2 million Kirib so Concordio Trentini the son of his driver Aleandro Trentini could make his debut. Some say Concordio is to unexperienced to be in the S1 championship seeing he driven only 1 season in the S2 season last year and 2 seasons in the re-named S3 series. When Dennis walked back to Spiiker he saw his newest driver Pedro Wilson and they walked together to the team sharing some words about the upcoming weekend and season. Dennis told Pedro not to risk it all in this race. Dennis said “World Championships aren’t won in the first race, and races aren’t won in the first corner BUT they can be lost there.”\

Marchetti Falcon, 23 july 2020
Georgio Marchetti stood just outside the garage boxes of his team seeing how the cars were taking shapes. He was very proud of his team, they were one of the smallest teams one the grid with one of the lowest budgets and yet they survived another year. Marchetti has been around since the 2001 season, and ever since the 2014 when the V6 Turbo Hybrid engines were introduced they have a partnership with Spiiker. He was giving some instructions to some team members when he got patted on the back, when he turned around he saw Dennis. He gave Dennis a firm hand and they talked a bit about the season. When Dennis walked away Georgio made his way into the pitbox, then upstairs where his drivers were doing last trainings with their personals trainers. Georgio was especially proud of having Katerina Strasse in his team. She’s the first female to have ever driven in the S1 series. And she’s making her debut 2 years after her monumental crash during the S3 GP of Emberwood Coast where she suffered a spinal fracture, and now she’s here. Probably one of the most drivers spoken about in the built-up of the season.

[Osterlicsh]

Viewers watching various sports channels across Urth watches the opening titles to the Series 1 Practice Coverage. Only qualifying and race day coverage is done live, with the practice coverage existing as highlights!

The opening titles cross-fades to the presenter team stood in the marina, with a clear view of the Nouvelle Chicane (turns ten and eleven) in the background. “Welcome back to Blueacia Street Circuit folks,” Steve Phones takes the spotlight, giving his trademark smile. “It has been an interesting opening practice session here with some fantastic action!”
“That’s right Steve,” David Cooltart takes over, “Its a clear indication that Series One is still the adrenaline-fuelled, edge-of-your-seat sport that it has been since it began.”
“Lets not get too ahead of ourselves David,” Susie Dogg interrupts, “This is just a practice session and contributes very little to the actual point scoring of the season. Many of the teams won’t be pushing themselves to the limit, and will likely just be making sure their various upgrades and changes are functioning.”
“You’re absolutely right Susie, but we can certainly start to consider how today’s performances could be scaled up for the rest of the season.” Mark Blabber continues.
“Speaking of, lets see how the session went today!” Phones takes control back, before passing it back to the prepared footage. The footage is narrated by various members of the presenting team.

Team Bernitti-Domio has offered a solid, consistent pace, with Luigi Delucci running the fastest lap of the session. Second driver Pablo Saez offering the fifth fastest time, but both drivers providing a solid performance. In addition to running a strong pace, Team Principal Guido Buratti reports that testing data collected throughout the session has set the team up for a promising weekend.

Tauríllielle Ftomovíler offering a mixed bag of performances, with second driver Sirio Kobayashi offering the second fastest time of the session. But Nákel Intásime, the team’s first driver sitting back in twelfth fastest.

Meanwhile, surprisingly, Spiiker is at the back of the pack at the very back of the grid in terms of timing. The opening section of this weekend has been plagued with technical issues and some driver error. It’ll be interesting to see how Aleandro Trentini will perform over his returning-debut weekend. Hopefully they will have better luck in qualifying tomorrow.

And here’s the results in full…

Position
Driver Name
Lap Time

1
Luigi Dellucci
1:11:250

2
Sirio Kobayashi
+0.050

3
Samlan Philips
+0.105

4
Haaland Rusnák
+0.110

5
Pablo Saez
+0.125

6
Eriksen Touhuisen
+0.130

7
Mitch Noxal
+0.140

8
Rufus Kensington
+0.145

9
Johnathan Washington
+0.190

10
Concordio Trentini
+0.215

11
Julius Quintana
+0.220

12
Nákel Intásime
+0.230

13
Matsuo Kiyoshi
+0.245

14
Matthieu Soyer
+0.305

15
Katerina Strasse
+0.320

16
Karl Peroia
+0.345

17
Hans Hanschmidt
+0.350

18
Hakon Tollefsen
+0.405

19
Karl von Andenheim
+0.430

20
Carsten Mannheimer
+0.455

21
Pedro Wilson
+0.650

22
Aleandro Trentini
+1.150

[Osterlicsh]

The qualifying coverage for the Bluacian weekend fades in from the opening titles. Our four presenters are sat in comfortable chairs in the circuit’s commentary box with a view of the track in the window behind.

The camera focuses in on Steve Phones, who is offering his trademark smile. “Welcome back folks, we’re back here today in Bluacia for the weekend’s qualifying session ahead of the race tomorrow. Now, Susie,” the camera begins to widen, including Susie Dogg in on the shot, “for those of us not following the sport, what is qualifying and how does it work?”
“Well Steve, we use a time trial session to determine what position our drivers will start on the grid in tomorrow’s race session.” Susie begins, various graphics showing on a screen beside them to assist in explaining.

"The qualifying session is split into three sections, Q1, Q2, and Q3. In the first section, Q1, all drivers are able to head out onto track to set a lap time. Driver’s are ranked based on their fastest lap time, and they can do as many laps as they like in the fifteen minute section. At the end of the first section, the fastest fifteen drivers progress to Q2, with the slowest seven out of qualifying. They are no longer able to set any more times.

The Q2 session follows a similar principle, but this time the track is less populated. Drivers still in qualifying are able to continue setting faster and faster times. At the end of Q2, the drivers are cut down to just eight. With the slower seven out. Finally, the Q3 session, with a quiet track, tends to produce lap records and even faster times." Susie pauses for a moment, “This results in a competitive approach to qualifying.”
“That’s right Susie,” David Cooltart takes over with the camera shifting focus to him, “Its not uncommon for the final two laps of the Q3 session to yield absolutely lightening fast lap times!”

“With that cleared up, its time for qualifying! The timer is about to begin and the drivers are queuing up to leave the pit lane!” Steve announces, looking towards the team’s source of footage.
“And look at that spray!” Mark Blabber comments, enthralled. “Its been wet over the last few days here in Bluacia, and things are looking warmer, but the track is clearly still wet!”
“Bang on Mark,” David picks up, “Although temperatures are looking decent, the rain has been and that will certainly be playing favour to those teams who are looking after their tyre strategy!”

The session commences, with the drivers flying onto the track on their out laps. The cars swerve and dive left and right, braking firm and slamming the accelerator, warming the engine and tyres up. Drivers begin to space themselves out, giving some distance between them and the car in front for the best possible spacing. As the first car out of the garage, Carsten Mannheimer of Kulnas Landvik, reaches the final few corners, he picks up the pace, giving him momentum into the first timed lap of the session.

4 Minutes into Q1
“Aleandro Trentini is returning to the pitlane!” Steve Phones calls out in surprise as Trentini takes the exit to the pit lane. “I don’t believe it!”
David Cooltart raises his hands up in disbelief, “Trentini has only been able to set one flying lap and he’s heading back in!”
“Lets tune in on the team radio…” Steve Phones said as a radio feed is connected.
“What is happening with the car?” Trentini asks.
“We are not sure yet - box box box, box this lap please.” Dennis Rondeau, Team Principal, announces firmly to the driver.

“That doesn’t sound good!” Cooltart reacts, “Whatever technical issues they’re facing down at Spiiker, they’d better get them sorted, otherwise they won’t be into Q2.”
“I don’t think Aleandro has really even had chance to get up to pace.” Susie comments, looking over at Blabber.
“I agree with you there Susie, it looked like he was just beginning to warm up!” Mark continues, shaking his head.

End of Q1
“And there we have it folks,” Phones continues his commentary, “teams will return to the pits for a few minutes to refuel and make any adjustments before heading out into Q2.”
“Poor performance from Trentini there, he’s not been out since his first lap, and is nearly a second behind!” Susie Dogg picks up, gesturing to the list of the seven slowest drivers. “With Wilson only two positions ahead of his team mate. That’s not a good start to the season for Team Spiiker.”
“Not at all Susie,” Steve Phones continues, “They had such a promising pre-season testing, but clearly there’s something going on behind the scenes that the team really needs to get on top of!”

“Both Team Spiiker and Autorennen are out in the first session of qualifying, I wonder what the teams will have to see about that.” David Cooltart speaks to camera, before turning to the rest of the team.
“Not a great start from both teams, but its worth considering if this is related to the weather, or something else?” Blabber asks, looking towards the team too.

Eight Minutes into Q2
“Trentini Junior and Rufus Kensington come together!” Cooltart nearly shouts, almost getting out of his seat.
“Look at that!” Phones exclaims, looking towards the footage of the two cars coming together. Trentini Jr had locked his brakes on the approach to a corner, causing Kensington to clip the rear of the car. The rear wing of Trentini Jr is knocked clean off, left on the track, Rufus’ front wing is shattered at the point of contact.
“That’s got to be end of qualifying for these two drivers, Steve!” Mark Blabber calls out, “There’s no way they’ve got chance to return to the pits to get a replacement in time!”
“Well the yellow flag is out,” Phones announces, checking messages from the stewards, “aaaand… Yes, a virtual safety car is out while the marshals remove the debris.”

A Virtual Safety Car (VSC) requires all drivers to maintain a certain delta time, which essentially means they can’t complete a lap time faster than a certain time. This means that cars will drive slower without the need for a safety car to be deployed.

End of Q2
The VSC isn’t lifted until the end of Q2. All the cars return to the pit lane. “Well that certainly was an interesting way for Q2 to go folks!” Phones announces, looking towards his colleagues.
“Absolutely Steve,” Susie continues on, “It certainly put an end to the pace of the session, but it will be nice to perhaps see some of the slower pace cars making it up into Q1.”
“Yeah, I agree with you on that one Susie,” David nods along, “Lets see how Q1 goes!”

End of Q1
The Q1 session results in some serious action. Rusnák, Kobayashi, Dellucci and Saez keep setting faster laps by small margins throughout the session. Rusnák and Kobayashi both set three consecutive track records. “What an incredible session folks!” Steve Phones announces, a beaming smile across his face.
“Some incredible racing out there Steve,” Susie takes off, nodding along, “Really pushing the limits of the circuit.”
“Indeed Susie, there were a few moments in those closing laps from the front three that I wasn’t really sure were really happening!” Blabber says excitedly.

“Well with that folks, lets have a look at the grid for tomorrow’s race!” Steve announces. The results are shown through graphics with Steve commentating on the grid. Once the grid has been announced, a few highlight clips are shown, before the programme comes to an end.

Position
Driver Name
Lap Time

1
Haaland Rusnák
1:11.550

2
Sirio Kobayashi
+0.050

3
Luigi Dellucci
+0.070

4
Pablo Saez
+0.120

5
Johnathan Washington
+0.125

6
Mitch Noxal
+0.130

7
Matsuo Kiyoshi
+0.145

8
Nákel Intásime
+0.200

9
Julius Quintana
+0.230

10
Matthieu Soyer
+0.265

11
Karl Peroia
+0.530

12
Rufus Kensington
+0.585

13
Eriksen Touhuisen
+0.670

14
Concordio Trentini
+0.675

15
Hakon Tollefsen
+0.695

16
Hans Hanschmidt
+0.720

17
Carsten Mannheimer
+0.755

18
Karl von Andenheim
+0.815

19
Pedro Wilson
+0.830

20
Samlan Philips
+0.960

21
Aleandro Trentini
+1.230

22
Katerina Strasse
+1.320

[Blue]

Dennis Rondeau had called the complete Spiiker team together.
“Guys, being 19th and 21st are not the positions we should be on the grid. What has happend that we are?! And before you start saying things I am not looking for spoken answers I need a race from everyone tomorrow. We know Aleandro’s needs changed but we will do the same to Pedro’s engine. I want them back at the factory before the race ends tomorrow. Also, I need the strategists to come up with the best strategy possible, don’t give me excuses about SC and VSC you will react accordingly or you might not be part of the team next race anymore. This is a hard track to overtake, I know we are up for a challenge but we need to try and get to the top 10 at least. You guys will work on the cars all night to fix any problems we ran into during practice and qualifying. And I will be here to make sure everyone does a hell of a good job. You’re all dismissed for now”
And with a sterdy face Dennis made his way to the cars and started speaking to people what needed to be done to get the highest possible positions at the finish of the race.

[Art_Sokala]

Right after the qualifying race

“7th place!” Johnathan “Johnny” Washington says as he high fives Matsuo Kiyoshi “that’s a gigantic leap from 13th eh?”

“As if you’re not 5th place!” Kiyoshi says with a small laugh “The circuit’s really not the same back home”

"Of course Matsuo!"Johnny says while walking beside Kiyoshi “We’re in Blueacia now!”

The two talked while walking to the team trailer, still in their racing suits. When they opened the door, the trailer exploded with applause.

"You boys have done great!’ Jake Borthan, Sokalan Motorsports’ team captain, said as he pulled the two racers into a hug "5th and 7th? We might have a chance against the other racers.

The team celebrated their results by eating and gambling at the famous Blueacian casinos.

[Osterlicsh]

Millions of viewers across Urth tune in for the live coverage of the race. The programme starts two hours before the race itself, providing interviews, historical footage and so on. We join the programme as the cars leave the start-finish line for the formation lap. The vehicles will circle round the circuit at low-speed while the teams clear their equipment from the grid ready for the start.

“Off go the cars on their formation lap. The teams scattering clear of the grid, returning to the pit wall.” Steve Phones continues the ongoing commentary, looking over at David Cooltart who continues. The presenters are not seen, rather providing a voice over narration.
“Many of these drivers, especially towards the back of the pack, are going to be concentrating to the best of their ability now. They might be warming their tyres, but watch how they take these corners. This is their last practice before the first lap of the race.”
“Absolutely David,” Mark Blabber talks along as the footage follows the cars around the track, “Blueacia is a notoriously difficult circuit to overtake on, so this first lap is absolutely critical to establishing a solid race pace.”

The cars begin to arrive on the grid, slotting into their positions from qualifying, ready to go. Once the medical car arrives from the back of the lap, which will follow the cars around for the first lap, marshals all lower their yellow flags to confirm that each car is correctly in place. The start lights begin to light up: one, two, three, four, five…

Lap 1
“Its lights out and away we go at the Blueacia Grand Prix!” Steve Phones announces excitedly, the cars on the grid lurching forwards as fast as possible, gunning for the first corner. “A fantastic start from Luigi Dellucci! He’s down the outside and jumping past the pole-sitter Haaland Rusnák!”
“That’s incredible! He’s really got the edge into that first corner there!” David Cooltart calls out as the drivers reach the first corner, all bounding round as fast as possible.
“Absolutely foot to the floor folks!” Susie watches her monitor, on the edge of the seat. The cars peeling out of the first corner and heading up the first long straight. Already gaps are beginning to emerge between the competitors.

Lap 8
“Oh no, look at that!” Mark Blabber calls out, interrupting the commentary.
“Trentini Senior has run wide and into the barrier!” Steve Phones calls out in surprise, the footage still following some of the mid-field cars. After a few seconds, a live feed of Trentini’s crashed car cuts in.
“That looks like the end of the race for Aleandro’s inaugural weekend!” Susie comments, looking in on the footage.
“What actually happened there?” Mark Blabber comments once more, as a reply footage of the fifty year old’s car is pushed too fast around the corner and running straight into the barrier at a medium pace. The barrier is clear of the track and marshals are waving yellow flags.
“Interesting to see whether we see a safety car here…” David Cooltart comments, “Its too early to see any ducking into the pits - if we do see a safety car that is…”

“And we’re hearing from the race director now…” Phones pauses, listening into his earpiece for a moment. “There will be no safety car. And a yellow flag through those three corners will remain until the car is clear.”
“That’ll certainly throw a curve ball in for the team strategies there,” Cooltart watches the footage of Trentini climbing out of his car, measuring the reaction of the driver, “with the crash reducing the space for overtaking.”
“Well, its certainly in the question about whether Aleandro Trentini is really fit for yet another return to the sport?” Blabber poses the controversial statement, with the team offering mixed criticisms.
“I can see where you’re coming from there Mark, but its a tricky circuit for any driver, and we know Spiiker have had issues with their cars this weekend.” Susie comes back, before passing onto Cooltart.
“This could very easily be an engineering issue, and we won’t really know until we get some answers at the end of the race.”

Lap 14
“Mitch Noxal gaining three positions this lap!” Susie Dogg calls out excitedly, as footage cuts to Noxal turning the last few corners.
“An absolute lightning lap from the Blueacian! Really in his home territory here!” Steve Phones scoffs, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Frankly, regardless of the outcome of this race, Marchitellli should really be proud of the caliber of talent they’re putting out there!” Susie returns, nodding along.

Lap 32
Kobayashi runs off and nearly crashes into team mate Nákel Intásime
“Woah, woah, woah!” Mark reacts to live footage of Sirio Kobayashi, who’s brakes lock-up on the approach to a corner. The car cuts the corner, advancing two positions. “That’s not good!”
“Surely, he’ll give that position back?” David poses, watching as Sirio plants their foot to the floor, taking off from the corner.
A team radio feed is played, with the team principal’s voice tuning in, “Sirio, we need to give the place back. Return to your position. Confirm?”
“I would’ve had him on that corner.” Is Kobayashi’s only response before ceasing communication with the team.
“That is outrageous,” David picks up, not believing what he’s hearing, “It won’t surprise me if he’s given a penalty for not returning the place there.”

Lap 35
“And we’re hearing from the stewards there,” Phones announces, again listening to the feed from the steward’s desk, “Sirio has been assigned a five second penalty for cutting the corner a few laps ago, and given a warning for unsafe rejoining of the track.”
“He had it coming really Steve,” David again picks up, unable to let this go, “That’s a real lack of sportsmanship there.”

Lap 62
“Eriksen Toushuisen taking the outside line!” Susie follows the footage closely, before continuing in her urgent tone, “Switching back to the inside for the next corner… And the outside again!”
“Will he take the Crossland?!” Steve Phones picks up as the two cars switch and weave every corner for the whole of Sector 1. As the cars line up onto the tunnel straight into Sector 2, Toushuisen gets the edge out of the corner and jumps in front of Rufus Kensington, beating him to the chicane with somewhat of a lead.
“He’s taken him! The Vultucan taking the position there from Team Crossland!” Mark Blabber pipes up, watching at the two cars grow gradually further apart.

Lap 76
“We’re entering the penultimate lap here folks, with the race leaders a lap ahead of the rear markers.” Steve Phones comments, preparing himself for the end of the race. “What’s this?!” He suddenly interjects as footage of Katerina Strasse’s car limping its way around the circuit, with a yellow flag showing.
“Looks like Katerina hasn’t got any power there?” Susie looks around at her fellow commentators, trying to make sense of it when Katerina’s voice is fed through the team radio feed.
“I haven’t got any power?!” She calls out, frustrated.
“Box please Katerina, box. We need to retire the car.” The team principal responds, gaining a response of groans from the presenters.
“That is terrible! The car performing two laps short of a decent finish for Marchitelli Falcon, but clearly there’s some discrepancy between the cars in terms of the engineering here!”

“And Haaland Rusnak crosses the line, with Noxal just seconds behind!” Steve Phone announces, calling climax to the event.
“Look at that, what an amazing start to the season!” Mark Blabber laughs, watching as the cars continue to cross the line with little late-minute action.
“Some incredible racing out here today folks, and as the drivers cross the line, lets have a look at the results!”

Result
Driver Name
Position Change

1
Haaland Rusnák
+0

2
Mitch Noxal
+4

4
Pablo Saez
+1

3
Luigi Dellucci
-1

5
Nákel Intásime
+3

6
Concordio Trentini
+8

7
Matsuo Kiyoshi
+0

8
Sirio Kobayashi
-6

9
Eriksen Touhuisen
+4

10
Rufus Kensington
+2

11
Karl Peroia
+0

12
Matthieu Soyer
-2

13
Julius Quintana
-4

14
Johnathan Washington
-9

15
Samlan Philips
-5

16
Karl von Andenheim
+2

17
Carsten Mannheimer
+0

18
Pedro Wilson
-1

19
Hakon Tollefsen
-4

20
Hans Hanschmidt
-4

DNF
Aleandro Trentini

DNF
Katerina Strasse

Questions from the Press
(( In this section, I will field some questions that would be asked to the various drivers/teams/etc. This is instead of writing a joint post with a whole bunch of people. If you’ve been asked a question, feel free to include it in a roleplay post of your own ))
Spiiker

• To Trentini Snr.: A crash from you this race on lap eight. Can you talk us through it? Who’s to blame, driver or the car?

• To the team principal: A really poor start to the season this weekend. What happened out there?

Marchitelli Falcon

• To Katerina Strasse: A race retirement with only two laps to go, that must be tough? What happened with the car?

• To team principal: A second place result from Mitch Noxal, with one hell of a lap on lap fourteen. Is Mitch really Marchitelli material? Or should he be up there with the front runners?

Bernitti-Domio

• To team principal: Perhaps a little behind on overall pace, but with a solid third and fourth place result, you’ve been pushed to the top of the constructors championship. How do you feel?

Vultik

• To Eriksen Touhuisen: Some slightly risky moves there with Kensington, but what a result! How are you feeling about that? Will Rufus be your new rival?

Novia Racing

• To Concordio Trentini: Moving up the grid by an astonishing eight places! Was it luck?

• To team principal: A six place disparity in driver results, what does this mean for the team? Clearly this isn’t an engineering issue?

Tauríllielle Ftomovíler

• To Sirio Kobayashi: The incident in lap thirty-two: What happened? Do you think the penalty was just?

• To team principal: An order was given to Sirio to return the place gained, he refused, and he gained a penalty. Do you have control of your drivers?

[Art_Sokala]

[Osterlicsh]

https://i.gyazo.com/1d81a1aa8998df028ea4399f2c2362dd.png
Television sets across Urth’s sports networks tune into the opening sequence of the 2020 Series 1 season.

Series 1 2020 Season Launch - YouTube

The footage fades into our two of our four championship presenters. Steve Phones and David Cooltart, are in a paddock area with plenty of hustling and bustling of teams and media crews going on in the background. They seem a little distracted from their activities, before their attention is gained by the camera operator. They both straighten up and smile, introducing themselves.

https://cdn-8.latimages.com/images/mgl/lr0Rl/s4/_H7I0917.jpg

“Hello and welcome back to Series One! This weekend we’re in Staynes for the 2020 Staynish Grand Prix.” Steve Phones calls out, taking the attention of the viewers with his beaming trademark smile. The two seem rather comfortable with one another, with Cooltart continuing the introductory segment.
“That’s right folks, we’re back at the Staynes circuit, which is an absolutely fantastic set of curves and straights!”
“We absolutely love this circuit guys,” Phones retakes the focus, “Some real action in the past here, and its promising to be a damp, chilly weekend!”
“Not something we’ve particularly seen before here at Staynes,” David continues the introduction, “so could pose some unexpected challenges for our drivers!”

https://i.gyazo.com/91275d585742b4eb045621df872a23e2.png

“Lets have a look at the practice results.” Cooltart calls out, looking to Phones and then back to camera. A graphic appears on screen, showing a table of results from the practice results. Each row includes a picture of the driver and their team colours. The two comment on the changing landscape of the leaderboard based on the change in circuit and the damp and cold track.

[th]Practice Pos[/th]
[th]Driver Name[/th]
[th]Time Split[/th]

1
Rufus Kensington
1:25.873

2
Nákel Intásime
+0.137

3
Haaland Rusnák
+0.300

4
Concordio Trentini
+0.703

5
Matsuo Kiyoshi
+0.898

6
Johnathan Washington
+0.925

7
Sirio Kobayashi
+0.999

8
Eriksen Touhuisen
+1.173

9
Hans Hanschmidt
+1.203

10
Samlan Philips
+1.285

11
Luigi Dellucci
+1.305

12
Mitch Noxal
+1.378

13
Karl von Andenheim
+1.664

14
Matthieu Soyer
+1.865

15
Karl Peroia
+1.952

16
Julius Quintana
+1.987

17
Katerina Strasse
+2.103

18
Pablo Saez
+2.239

19
Hakon Tollefsen
+2.340

20
Carsten Mannheimer
+2.490

21
Pedro Wilson
+2.734

22
Aleandro Trentini
+2.981

“Some real changes there from last weekend. But one thing that seems to be calling true, is Trentini!” Cooltart continues, shaking his head.
“Its a surprising outlook,” Steve picks up, looking around the paddock area, before refocusing on the camera, “we were really hoping last week’s troubles were just teething problems, but it seems to be a consistent issue.”
“Well Steve,” David returns the comment, “all I can say is that I hope that Team Spiiker are able to get a grip of themselves and start batting back.”

“Its early days yet David, lets not get ahead of ourselves.” Steve warns, “This is only practice after all.”
“Absolutely Steve,” David nods, looking back towards the viewers, “and with that, lets have a look through the qualifying times.” A similar set of graphics show up, this time offering a run down of tomorrow’s grid.

[th]Qualifying Pos[/th]
[th]Driver Name[/th]
[th]Time Split[/th]

1
Matsuo Kiyoshi
1:24.303

2
Concordio Trentini
+0.231

3
Sirio Kobayashi
+0.238

4
Johnathan Washington
+0.408

5
Eriksen Touhuisen
+0.526

6
Haaland Rusnák
+0.582

7
Nákel Intásime
+0.644

8
Mitch Noxal
+0.690

9
Rufus Kensington
+0.712

10
Matthieu Soyer
+0.737

11
Katerina Strasse
+0.751

12
Pablo Saez
+0.908

13
Karl Peroia
+0.965

14
Hans Hanschmidt
+1.112

15
Luigi Dellucci
+1.274

16
Hakon Tollefsen
+1.283

17
Aleandro Trentini
+1.345

18
Samlan Philips
+1.493

19
Julius Quintana
+1.631

20
Carsten Mannheimer
+1.760

21
Karl von Andenheim
+1.863

22
Pedro Wilson
+1.981

The team discuss the results for a while before the programme concludes, passing into the closing credits ahead of tomorrow’s session.

[Art_Sokala]

“How’s that hand?” Matsuo Kiyoshi asks Jonathan Washington

Johnny holds up his arm for Matsuo Kiyoshi to see. “It hurts like heartache,” he says while massaging it “but I’ll be okay”

But Johnathan Washington won’t be okay. After the qualifying races, Johnathan ran for his hotel room. He winced in pain as his right arm continued to hurt. He calls his personal doctor who rushed over from his own hotel room just a floor below his.

A short time later

“Doc will I be able to race for the big race?” Johnny asks as the doctor takes a look at his arm “I mean all I need are just a couple of painkillers right?”

“Johnny, as you doctor, I think you should stop racing,” the doctor says sternly “Unless you want to lose your arm, take the race off. You need surgery”

“That’s not possible,” Johnny says as he stands up, yanking his arm from the doctor “Just give me some painkillers Doc. I’ll handle it, I tell you.”

The doctor reluctantly gave Johnny a bottle of painkillers after which he left. He knew in his heart that was all he could do. But he knew what was going to happen.

[Blue]

“Hello and welcome to Staynes for the second race of the season. I’m Susie Dogg, and I’m here with Mark Blabber. Mark what do you think of today? Will Bernitti-Domio again be the best scoring team and starting to run away, will there be yet another rookie at the podium, and what do you think Aleandro will do?”

“Wow Susie, so many questions right away. And I think realistically you can’t answer most questions yet. Sure Bernitti did really well last race, and who would’ve thought Mitch would get a podium right away. But what to think of the new team Novia from Alksearia, They are 4th in the standings after 1 race. I’m sure the team wants to keep that position. Mark said

“And what do you think about Johnny? He has really trouble with his hand. Some say this might even be his last race, if not his last season” Susie asked Mark

“Well I know Johnny can be quite hard headed in some things. If he wants to drive he’s going to drive, it doesn’t matter how much his hand hurts him”

“Let’s get to the action, I can see the cars are just driving off from their warm-up lap, in the commentary booth are Steve and David.”

“Let’s hope they drivers warmed their tyres and brakes good for the first few corners and laps David.” Steve said laughingly hoping for a crash

“Yeah you wouldn’t want to see a crash early on because of cold tyres and brakes.” David said seriously.

Lap 1:
“Lights are on……. quite a hold… AND they’re off. The GP of Staynish is a fact, Trentini jr is having troubles. He doesn’t get off the line, ah there he goes almost last already before even getting to the first corner.” Steve yelled.
“Starting these cars can be quite a challenge Steve.” David said and only in turn 3 people have to brake, see if everything goes ok there. Yeah it looks like everyone got through safely.”
“Look at Luigi David, we’re not even done with the first lap. and he already gained 4 positions.” Steve said surprised
“That’s when you have warmed your tyres and brakes to the absolute best temperature Steve, then you get quicker off the line and can brake just that bit later that will give you guaranteed positions.

Lap 5:
Yellow flag
“See that David, we have a yellow flag in sector 3.” Steve said to David
“It’s probably not much Steve, the yellow flag is activated when a car gets out of the track limits, if it’s a quick yellow flag a car just had a small off.” David explained.
“But the yellow flag has been out for almost 20 seconds already now….” replay is shown of Hanschmidt crashing into the back of Tollefsen “ah, so it was a crash. I expect the SC to be out any second then.”
Hans Hanschmidt is seen beached in the gravel trap with Tollefsen driving away with a damaged nose and without a frontwing

Lap 9:
Safety Car in this lap
“We’re going racing again Steve.” David said excited.
“It does look like that David, 42 laps left in the race.” said Steve. “When do you expect the pit stops to be David? We’ve only seen Tollefsen in and that was because of his front wing change.”
“The tyre supplier said between laps 15-18 the guys on soft tyres are supposed to come in, and the guys on the medium 21-25. Both switching to the hard tyres. But It also depends on how the tyres will hold and what tyres the drivers have left.”

Lap 18:
“Look David, cars are making their way to the pits. They’re a bit later than expected, but the pit stop cycle is starting.”

Lap 26:
team radio: “Hakon, we need to retire the car. The damage is too severe. Box this lap, box this lap. We need to retire the car”
“Guess that’s because of the earlier crash David?” Steve asks David
“I guess so Steve, we haven’t seen anything else where he could’ve picked up damage during the race have we?”

Lap 38:
Intásime finally makes his one and only pit stop. He drops from 1st to 3rd just behind his teammate Kobayashi.
“Would you use team orders David? And let Intásime pass Kobayashi because of his newer tyres.” Steve asked David
“I wouldn’t do it right away if I were the team boss Steve. Intásime’s tyres aren’t up to the right temperature yet. Maybe if he starts being held up by Kobayashi you could switch positions.” David said to Steve

Lap 42:
Yellow flag
Safety car deployed
“Hey look David a late yellow flag, and the safety car. Do you expect guys to come in for fresh tyres and we get a sprint to the flag of maybe 5 laps?” Steve asked David
“I’m not sure Steve, it depends on which tyres you’ve got left and what they others will do. If no one comes in you shouldn’t do it as well, cause that will only make you lose positions.
The camera pans to turn 9, where a car of Sokalan Motorsports is just next to the tyre barrier with the car completely destroyed and the tyre barrier having sustained some damage as well

Lap 43:
Medical deployed to turn 9
Red Flag - Cars to line up behind SC in the pits
The camera shows a replay of Johnny Washington crash at high speed into the tyre barrier with the car flipping multiple times.
David is audibly shocked “Ow dear. That was quite a hard crash. I hope Johnny is ok. That’s one of the fastest parts of the track, and he just didn’t make the turn. You would almost think his hand just gave out. And seeing the footage it looks like that as well, or a part of the suspension braking of the car.”

Medical support is seen rushing to the crash to attend Johnny. Normally a driver would raise his thumbs to signal everything is ok with the driver, but Johnny is seen not moving at all.
After a few minutes an ambulance is seen to make its way to the scene, and screens are being placed around the crash. The helicopter shows the medical staff lifting Johnny out of his car.
“I think this is really really serious Steve, we have not seen this in a very long time. I think we won’t see Johnny back in the car for the next race at least.” David said, still being shocked.
Just when he finished that sentence in screen the message is shown:
Race will not be resumed, results of lap 42 are the results of the race

“Well Steve this confirms even more that this is a very serious accident. Maybe we can go to Mark or Susie? See if they know something more.”
“I don’t know much more about Johnny at this stage. I only know his team tried to contact him after the crash via team radio, and he hasn’t answered anything. That’s the reason the medical car made its way to the crash.” Mark said to Steve and David. Before they could ask another question Susie also had some new info.
“I just learned that there will be a podium ceremony, but the teams, drivers and UMF have decided that there won’t be celebrations after the anthems.”
“Thank you for the info Mark and Susie.” Steve said with a serious voice. “Let’s see if we can get anymore footage of the crash site atm.”
A trackside camera just shows a helicopter landing at the site as well.
The podium ceremony is calm and quiet. When it’s finished the sound of a flying helicopter is heard as the medical helicopter carrying Johnny is making its way to the hospital.

During the interviews after the race rumours started to spread Johnny was declared DoA (dead on arrival) when he reached the hospital. Within 30 minutes the UMF and Sokalan Motorsport held a press-conference officially announcing that Jonathan Washington was dead and that an official investigation was to find out the cause of his crash and death. Everyone in the paddock was shocked about this news. This was the first death in the S1 for some time.

Result
Driver name
Position change

1
Matsuo Kiyoshi

2
Sirio Kobayashi
+1

3
Nákel Intásime
+4

4
Haaland Rusnák
+2

5
Josephina Constantine
+6

6
Matthieu Soyer
+4

7
Mitch Noxal
+1

8
Rufus Kensington
+1

9
Luigi Dellucci
+6

10
Karl Peroia
+3

11
Pablo Saez
+1

12
Samlan Philips
+6

13
Karl von Andenheim
+8

14
Eriksen Touhuisen
-9

15
Concordio Trentini
-13

16
Julius Paolo Quintana
-13

17
Carsten Mannheimer
+3

18
Pedro Wilson
+4

19
Aleandro Trentini
-2

Died
Jonathan Washington

DNF
Hakon Tollefsen

DNF
Hans Hanschmidt

[Art_Sokala]

Matsuo didn’t know whether or not Johnny was alive. He had finished first but didn’t know about Johnny’s crash until after he finished the race. He, along with his team, rushed towards the hospital. When the team arrived, Matsuo rushed towards the emergency room. As he opened the double doors, there he saw medical staff trying desperately to revive the Sokalan legend. No, not like this Matsuo thought It’s too soon. It’s not supposed to be this way.
 
 
[hr]

Dozens of cameras were lined up, surrounding a small podium outside the hospital. Lights were pouring light unto the podium as a clearly disturbed Jake Borthan steps behind the podium. Borthan takes a moment to take a deep breathe before speaking.
“At 4:32 pm today, my dear friend Johnathan ‘Johnny’ Washington died of his injuries.”  Jake Borthan said, filling the room with silence and a couple of shutter clicks “He was Sokala’s pioneer F1 drivers, establishing Sokala’s first racing school and race track. He was not only a teacher but also a leader, guiding the new generation of racers for the future. He will be remembered, not only as Sokala’s greats, but as one of Urth’s greats.”
 
He pauses, trying not to tear up. “We would like to thank our fellow racers and our fans for sending out pouring support during this tragedy and we would like to request that, during these trying times, the media respect our privacy.” He continues “We will be releasing a statement later regarding the replacement driver for this season. Good night.” Borthan stepped of the podium as reporters scrambled to ask some questions. He headed inside the hospital, drying tears that had begun to drop.
 
[hr]

Sokalan Motorsports
Official Press Release
 
[justify]We regret to announce the death of our veteran racer Johnathan ‘Johnny’ Washington. He was one of Sokalan Motorsports’ greatest teachers and was one Sokala’s top racing instructors. We would like to give our condolences to the Washington family.
 
In light of this news, Jefrrey ‘Jepoy’ Dizon will be replacing Johnny and would be representing Sokala along with Matsuo Kiyoshi.
 
Padayon, Sokala.[/justify]

[Blue]

“Hello, and welcome to the New Leganés GP.
As you all know last race we sadly lost on off the drivers, Jonathan Washington. Before we go to the practice let’s first show you a compilation of what good of a driver he was on and off the track.” Steve said with a shaky voice
A clip start playing with the high points of Washington’s career

“I also wanna say that the S1 community came together with ideas to honor him in this race Steve. We’ll explain them more in detail before the race. But one of the ideas is that number 6 has been taken off the roster and will never be able to be picked again.” David explained
Steve almost broke in “And Sokalan Motorsports has taken a new driver, one being taught by Johnny himself. Jeffrey ‘Jepoy’ Dizon will take over the seat for probably the rest of the season”

Let’s take a look at the results for the practice:

Position
Driver’s Name
Difference

1
Haaland Rusnák
1:17.222

2
Hans “Hands” Hanschmidt
+0.151

3
Carsten Mannheimer
+0.515

4
Concordio Trentini
+0.824

5
Matthieu Soyer
+0.874

6
Hakon Tollefsen
+0.917

7
Eriksen Touhuisen
+0.971

8
Karl von Andenheim
+0.989

9
Luigi Dellucci
+1.087

10
Nákel Intásime
+1.149

11
Josephina Constantine
+1.162

12
Mitch Noxal
+1.380

13
Matsuo Kiyoshi
+1.453

14
Pablo Saez
+1.485

15
Julius Paolo Quintana
+1.488

16
Rufus Kensington
+1.499

17
Jeffrey ‘Jepoy’ Dizon
+1.581

18
Karl Peroia
+1.630

19
Sirio Kobayashi
+1.718

20
Aleandro Trentini
+1.953

21
Samlan Philips
+2.075

22
Pedro Wilson
+2.542

“Well David what are your thoughts about the practice?” Steve asks
“Steve I am kinda surprised. Jeffrey was a positive surprise. He was up to speed straight out of the blocks. Sure he had the possibility of testing a bit before the race. But I am surprised Steve.” David said with a happy face.
“And do you have a negative surprise as well then David”
“That of course has to be Spiiker again. They should know what they are doing and yet they are 20th and 22nd. Sure they could be testing more for the race and let the qualification be for what it is. But this low…… I heard in the paddock this might be the last race we see this car. Next race they might come with a B-spec of the car hoping that will give them a welcome break.”
“Let’s hope that for them David. Now shall we go to the qualifications? here are the results”

Position
Driver name
Time

1
Matthieu Soyer
1:15.584

2
Concordio Trentini
1:15.643

3
Carsten Mannheimer
1:16.292

4
Haaland Rusnák
1:16.482

5
Eriksen Touhuisen
1:16.589

6
Hans “Hands” Hanschmidt
1:17.027

7
Hakon Tollefsen
1:17.029

8
Karl von Andenheim
1:17.044

9
Nákel Intásime
1:17.084

10
Karl Peroia
1:17.087

11
Luigi Dellucci
1:17.136

12
Rufus Kensington
1:17.168

13
Sirio Kobayashi
1:17.192

14
Mitch Noxal
1:17.198

15
Samlan Philips
1:17.386

16
Josephina Constantine
1:17.567

17
Aleandro Trentini
1:17.908

18
Matsuo Kiyoshi
1:18.089

19
Pedro Wilson
1:18.099

20
Julius Paolo Quintana
1:18.532

21
Jeffrey ‘Jepoy’ Dizon
1:19.002

22
Pablo Saez

“Shame Pablo’s gearbox failed on his outlap David. He was in the very tight middle field and with one good lap he could’ve been up there.” Steve said
“Yep Steve, also some might say that Jeffrey was quite slow during qualifying. But let’s be honest, everyone drove some GP’s already this season and he is a complete rookie. I am impressed with the new team from Sokala locking out the front row. I am not quite sure from the top of my head, but this might be the first time that has ever happened. And seeing that passing on this track is relatively difficult I am certain they are up for a good result. If no crashes or things start going wrong during the pit stops.”

We hope to see you back tomorrow for the race

[Blue]

“Hello to the GP of New Leganés, the third round of the S1 Championship 2020. As you all know, in the last race we lost Johnny Washington. Today this race will be in remembrance of him, as we told you yesterday number 6 has been taken out of the running to remember him. Today before the race there will be a minute silence, the fans came up with an idea to clap in lap 6. And Sokalan Motorsports will be driving with a black nose on the car. David, what are your thoughts about this?” Steve asked David
“Well Steve I think those are all good things, even the fans came up with something. Let’s hope for everyone’s sake that nothing bad will happen this race.” David said.
“Anything you know about the pitstop strategy David?”
“As far as I can find out, this should be a 2 stop race. the first being between 16-22 and the second stop between 40-50. This is of course depending on which tyre people will start and switch too after every pitstop.”
“Pitstops are quite important here aren’t they David?”
“Yes Steve. Just like the Blueacian circuit where we started the season overtaking is quite hard on this circuit. There have been more races won from pole than on the Blueacian circuit.”
“So Soyer has a real shot at winning this GP then. Now for the people who missed it, here is a summary how the practice and qualifying went”
A clip is started with the highlights
That was a big surprise that Novia Racing locked out the front row, being the newest team to join the grid. We have an interview with the teamboss of Novia Racing:

Welcome Mossé, and thank you for agreeing to this interview. How Is everything going?
Today is going alright. We just finished another round of practice and qualifying
You are the newest team on the grid. After 2 rounds, are things going as planned? Seeing as you are 5th in the constructor championship after 2 races.
Currently, things are going slightly better than expected. The goal for this season was to have a strong performance, and a strong presence on the table. We are on track to hit our mark, and the chairman is happy and the drivers are excited.
Talking about the drivers, you’ve chosen for 2 rookies, why not 2 more experienced drivers?
Rookies are a way of investing in the future of the team. Both Concordio and Matthieu have shown great potential and are doing well against the veterans. They are also adaptable to the needs of the team, and where the team is heading.
With Concordio driving for your team, and you using Spiiker engines. Am I right in assuming some deal was made?
Correct. We made a deal with Spiiker before the start of the season, however, re-negotiations are already underway for next season. Spiiker seems less interested in selling us engines for next season, so i hope the chairman and the board are able to negotiate terms for next season.
What’s the most difficult part of starting a new team?
It was a large surprise. We didn’t expect to get first row on the grid. I am very proud of Matthieu and the work that he put into practice. And I’m also proud of Concordio having a strong performance in practice. I hope that we see this same performance in the race.
What’s your take on the deadly crash that happened last race in Staynes?
We are heartbroken at the loss of Johnathan. He was a good racer, and a friendly athlete. I looked forward to having more races against him. My condolences are with his family, and with Sokalan Motorsport
And what do you think the S1 organization chose to withdraw Johnathan’s number 6?
It is the belief of Novia Racing that it is the proper move to make to honor his memory, and to preserve the legacy he had in S1.
My last question, when will you be satisfied at the end of the season?
To be honest, I feel satisfied now. The team has shown a strong showing in the last couple races, and we did very well at practice. Personally, I will be more satisfied at the end of the season when the results are finalized. Things can still change, and we hope the Novia Racing pulls up a couple more positions.

Enough jibber jabber, Let’s go to the race. In the booth are Mark Blabber and Susie Dogg.
“Hello and welcome for this GP. We are about to start the race, but first the drivers make their way to the front for a minute of silence for Johnny.” Susie said
after the minute
“Mark what are your predictions for the podium?” Suzie asked
“I think Soyer and Trentini jr. won’t win the race, they start 1 and 2 but it’s a new team and something probably will go wrong. They haven’t experienced this before. I think Mannheimer is gonna win, He’s been quick all weekend. Behind him probably Rusnák having the leader luck and third either Soyer or Trentini jr. Novia Racing will get 1 car on the podium.” Mark said thinking hard

Lap 1:

“And they’re off for the New Leganés GP. Everyone had a clean getaway. Not much hybrid power in place yet, and DRS is only available after 2 laps of course.” Mark says quite excited

Lap 6:
“As you can see for yourself at home, this circuit is exciting but difficult to overtake on. We are now 6 laps in and have seen only 3 overtakes with DRS activated.” Mark says audibly bored
“Come on Mark, something might happen rather soon and spice up the whole GP. We’re only 6 laps in, pit stops have to come yet and I think people might pass others as a consequence” Susie says more excitedly.
Lap 10-13:
“Ow wait, look at this. Concordio is trying to pass his teammate for the lead. He’s been behind him all time until now and wants to get by, he probably feels like he’s quicker.” Susie says
“He would be smart to try and get Soyer into a mistake into the last chicane so he can pass him on the front straight with the DRS open.” Mark explains
Team radio to Soyer: Ok, so, Concordio is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?
Team radio to Trentini jr.: He’s been told to let you by, he should do it next lap op the front straight
Mark starts angry yelling: “REALLY?! THEY WANT TO WIN THE RACE WITH TEAMORDERS?! THAT’S LOW ON SO MANY LEVELS, I HOPE SOYER WON’T LISTEN TO THIS BULLSH*T”
“Mark calm down, if this a way to make sure they get a win as a new team you would’ve done the same I believe.” Susie says calmly
(Soyer is shown moving over and slowing on the front straight and letting Trentini pass the next lap)
“Man I hate team orders, they take every bit of excitement away from the sport if you ask me.” Mark said still angry
Lap 23:
“Concordio is coming in for his pits, if everything goes as planned, he should come out first again……… That’s a long hold……… He’s still not gone. Finally he goes. A 8.7 seconds stop. normally that would be around 6 seconds faster.” Susie yells
“This shows the inexperience of Novia Racing, they sure can make quick stops and they have done it before. But it normally doesn’t come with the pressure of leading the race. Concordio returns as 7th back on track.” Mark notices
Lap 45:

“Yellow, yellow, yellow. Sectors 2 and 3. That’s at the end of the second DRS straight.……. Kobayashi crashed at the end of the straight. But he’s already out of the car. He should be fine. I think a safety car will be called though, they have to tow the car away from that.”
Safety Car Deployed
“And it’s at the brink of the 2nd pitstop fase Mark, would you come in as a driver.”
“Of course Susie, you won’t get an opportunity like this again I think.”
Lap 60:
team radio: “Guys i’m getting tired, is the race almost over?”
“Yes, Dizon 6 more laps. Try you could find some more pace Aleandro is caching you quickly”
Lap 65:
“Look Susie, Aleandro made the pass on Dizon. He almost opened the door for him as it looked to me. He at least didn’t defend hard.
“Maybe he’s too exhausted or might be scared he is gonna be looked on funny if he crashes off with Aleandro. but he at least should get points and finish his first ever race.
Lap 66:
“Mannheimer crosses the line finishing first. Mark may I remind you that you predicted this result?”
“Thanks Susie, I think I’ll go to the casino when everything is done and try my luck there.”
“2nd is for Hans Hanschmidt and 3rd is for Matthieu Soyer,”Susie said. “This means both the Hausbergian and Asendavian anthem for the driver and the team.”

Result
Driver name
Position Change

1
Carsten Mannheimer
+2

2
Hans “Hands” Hanschmidt
+4

3
Matthieu Soyer
-2

4
Hakon Tollefsen
+3

5
Haaland Rusnák
-1

6
Karl von Andenheim
+2

7
Concordio Trentini
-5

8
Eriksen Touhuisen
-3

9
Luigi Dellucci
+2

10
Josephina Constantine
+6

11
Karl Peroia
-1

12
Nákel Intásime
-3

13
Rufus Kensington
-1

14
Samlan Philips
-1

15
Aleandro Trentini
+2

16
Jeffrey ‘Jepoy’ Dizon
+5

17
Matsuo Kiyoshi
+1

18
Mitch Noxal
-4

19
Pablo Saez
+3

20
Pedro Wilson
+1

21
Julius Paolo Quintana
-1

22
Sirio Kobayashi
DNF

[Blue]

(OOC: yeah it was time for me to revisit this again. And this time hopefully I will be able to keep this going… first of al we gonna quickly finish the 2020 season. everything is simulated and the season can be quite short. But it deserves more, so I will continue this season with news flashes/highlights for every race, and the eventual champion in both the WDC and the WCC. After the 2020 season is over, there will be a “2021 season review” with just the highlights of that season. And then hopefully soon we can start the 2022 with new fire.)

After 3 races this is the top 3 in the WDC:

Haaland Rusnák (Vultuca) - 59 points

Nákel Intásime (New Leganés) - 49 points

Luigi Dellucci (Petra Cauda) - 48 Points

And leading the standings in the WCC is Vultik from Vultuca with 97 points.

[Blue]

Now time for round 4:
2020 Burgendyk Peregrinese Grand Prix
Here is the track map:

Qualifying results are as followed for the top 10:

1. Hans “Hands” Hanschmidt
2. Haaland Rusnák
3. Carsten Mannheimer
4. Hakon Tollefsen
5. Karl von Andenheim
6. Eriksen Touhuisen
7. Matthieu Soyer
8. Concordio Trentini
9. Sirio Kobayashi
10. Julius Paolo Quintana

Top 10 results for the race:

1. Haaland Rusnák (+1)
2. Karl von Andenheim (+3)
3. Matthieu Soyer (+4)
4. Carsten Mannheimer (-1)
5. Hans “Hands” Hanschmidt (-4)
6. Concordio Trentini (+2)
7. Eriksen Touhuisen (-1)
8. Julius Paolo Quintana (+2)
9. Rufus Kensington (+3)
10. Matsuo Kiyoshi (+4)

There were 2 crashes in this race, both Karl Peroia and Hakon Tollefsen crashed out of the race.

Haaland Rusnák is still leading the WDC with 61 points. 11 more then the second placed driver Sirio Kobayashi.
Vultik was passed in the WCC by Tauríllielle Ftomovíler. they have 94 points. And are closely followed by Novia Racing who have 92 points.

[Blue]

Round 5:
2020 Burgendyk Tuvalti Grand Prix
The track:

This was the top 10 after the qualifying for this race:

1. Hans “Hands” Hanschmidt
2. Karl von Andenheim
3. Hakon Tollefsen
4. Haaland Rusnák
5. Carsten Mannheimer
6. Pablo Saez
7. Jeffrey ‘Jepoy’ Dizon
8. Concordio Trentini
9. Pedro Wilson
10. Matsuo Kiyoshi

Here are the results of the top 10 of the race:

1. Karl von Andenheim (+1)
2. Carsten Mannheimer (+4)
3. Hans “Hands” Hanschmidt (-2)
4. Haaland Rusnák (=)
5. Matsuo Kiyoshi (+5)
6. Aleandro Trentini (+7)
7. Pablo Saez (-1)
8. Matthieu Soyer (+4)
9. Pedro Wilson (=)
10. Jeffrey ‘Jepoy’ Dizon (-3)

3 drivers didn’t make it too the end: Nákel Intásime and Hakon Tollefsen both suffered technical issues. While the only female in the field Josephina Constantine crashed out of the race.

Haaland Rusnák increased his lead again now on 80 points, 15 more then the guy in second place being Matthieu Soyer.
The WCC is more ever so close though. With the first 3 teams being seperated by just 5 points. Novia Racing is on 118, Bernitti-Domio is on 116 and Vultik being third with 113.