Formula SimRacing

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Formula SimRacing (FSR) is an international sim racing league. It is owned and organised by the International SimRacing Club which was founded in 1999. The first season of the league was in 2001. Currently, the racing simulation game rFactor is being used for all events. FSR conducts its championships exclusively with Formula cars.

Contents

[edit] History

The International SimRacing Club (ISR Club) was founded by Kurt Baumann (Switzerland) in 1999 in order to build up the world's first and foremost Simracing league. FSR's first season ran in 2001. FSR is by now arguably the world's highest simracing league using Formula cars.

[edit] Format

Formula SimRacing (formerly named GP3GL) was built and designed to support realistic racing simulations and to establish simracing as an acknowledged sport in the international press. FSR is divided into two categories: The World Championship category and the World Series category, whereas the World Series itself consists of currently two sub-categories (World Series Ace, World Series Pro).

The World Championship category is the league's highest category. In order to compete, interested parties are required to purchase licences from the International SimRacing Club. All Team Owners and Administrators are automatically members of the Club and have democratic rights with regard to the targets, activities and financials. Although many of the world's best simracers are racing in this category, Formula SimRacing had a special highlight in early 2006 when ChampCar driver A. J. Allmendinger was competing in the World Championship.

The World Series league can be seen as a place for rookies and advanced simracers. Participation in the World Series for teams and drivers is free, the number of teams and drivers is unlimited. The main target of the World Series category is to prepare rookie drivers for participating in the World Championship category.

[edit] World Championship history

[edit] 2001

GP3GL (today’s Formula SimRacing, FSR) started out in 2001 with using the Grand Prix 3 simulation by Geoff Crammond. The first official qualification of the World Championship was held at Melbourne, Australia. The first man who got pole-position was Artur Mlodzinski, driving for Famm RIN. The first official points race was won by Italian driver Ernesto de Angelis for Virtual-Games in a time of 1h 28:39.385s. Second came Heimen Brons with a time of 1h 29:02.968s and third was Benjamin Voelkel in a time of 1h 29:34.191s.

The winner of the first race took pole-position in the second race in Malaysia, Sepang. However the roles were changed in the race, as the first pole-sitter Artur Mlodzinski drove to his first victory in the championship. Behind Mlodzinski it was again the Dutch driver Heimen Brons finishing 2nd, the podium was completed by Jari Montonen. The second race saw 14 drivers finishing and a total of 17 different nations participating.

After the first two races it was Artur Mlodzinski and Ernesto de Angelis together that won the first 7 races. In Canada it was Christian Neumann with his first victory of the season and his career. He would need to wait 4 more years until he took his 2nd victory in Austria 2005. Jari Montonen finished second with his Virtual-Games car, showing a good pace. He would get his first win later in the season. After Melbourne it was Roy Kolbe who began to win many races. The German driver for Virtual-Games took 5 wins in the first season of GP3GL. It was Max Dell’Orco who won the last race of the season in Japan.

The final standing saw some outstanding results. Artur Mlodzinski wrote history of being the first champion in the GP3GL with a total of 154 points. The second place was divided by not 1, not 2, but 3 drivers! Scoring all exactly 100 points: Jari Montonen, Heimen Brons and Roy Kolbe. The constructor champion was Virtual-Games.com with a total of 255 points, followed by Famm RIN and NetrexGP.

[edit] 2002

For 2002, Formula SimRacing switched games from Grand Prix 3 to 'F1 2001' from Electronic Arts and switched to 'F1 2002' later in the year. FSR's second season kicked off on March 3, 2002 in Australia, Melbourne. 58 laps on the 5,313km long circuit lead into a total distance of 308km. There were 3 championship contenders who would battle the whole season long for the 2002 Formula SimRacing World Championship trophy: Ernesto de Angelis (ITA, Team Racebase), Roy Kolbe (GER, Virtual Games) and Artur Mlodzinski (POL, Kiwi Racing).

It was Roy Kolbe who dominated the season opener at Melbourne by taking the pole position and chequered flag. The so called "hot trio" of 2002 won 9 out of 17 championship races. Other race winners were Max DellOrco (Brazil), Joshua Lyon (Great Britain, Hungary, Japan), Greger Huttu (Germany, Belgium, Italy) and Adriano Calligarich, who won the most glamorous race in the 2002 Formula SimRacing World Championship schedule, the Monaco Grand Prix.

Roy Kolbe was leading the point standings for 9 consecutive races but suffered from a disqualification in Montreal, Canada. It was Ernesto de Angelis who took advance of this and took over the point standings for good. Roy Kolbe was even falling back to third when Artur Mlodzinski won the last race of the season in Suzuka, Japan.

On the way to a well deserved championship, Ernesto de Angelis finished every single race and all of them within the points. With only 3 wins, de Angelis showed the world’s elite what consistency means.

Dimity Gerades' Team Racebase won the 2002 Formula SimRacing constructors’ championship in dominant fashion. There were 116 points that separated Team Racebase and runner-up finisher Virtual-Games, managed by Rogerio Barroso.

[edit] 2003

The third season of Formula SimRacing saw Roy Kolbe taking a brake from racing and kicked off with simracing legend Greger Huttu (NetRex GP) dominantly winning the first five races. Huttu started his FSR career in 2002 already, but also he needed half a year to be every time competitive. Now he sorted out all his problems and started with NetrexGP into season 2003 in a style nobody expected. Not only did he win those five races, he also got five pole positions in the respective qualifyings.

In the wet race of Brazil Huttu showed his extraordinary driving skills and lapped everyone except Domink Binz, who finished half a minute behind. One race later in Imola he was even stronger and won with an incredible lead of 1m30sec. It was the biggest gap ever we saw in FSR history until 2003. Huttu’s ambition to win the title was more than clear.

But in the sixth GP in Austria, Huttu was, as well as a few other drivers, disqualified after Qualifying and finished only 9th in the race. For the first time in 2003, someone else than Huttu won a GP: Joshua Lyon (Kiwi Racing).

The next race was to be held at Monaco, where Joshua Lyon put his Kiwi Racing car on Pole, outpacing Huttu by four tenths. Lyon also dominated the race, whereas for Huttu it was all over after a crash in lap 23. After this race Huttu retired from FSR for unknown reasons, which was of course a big surprise.

However, the show went on, and so the road was now free for the other title contender Joshua Lyon. In Canada he finished behind race winner Dominik Binz and Yannick Lapchin. The next two races though in Europe and France Lyon dominated and took a comfortable lead in the rankings. Thereafter, he missed the GP of Britain and it was Binz who took his chance and got the victory when for the first time EA's new game F1 Challenge '99-'02 was used. In Germany, Lyon was back on P1 and destroyed all ambitions of Binz to win the title, after Binz finished with big problems three laps behind in eighth. The field moved on to Hungary, seeing a great battle between Binz and Lyon. Indeed Binz struck back and finished just six tenths ahead of Lyon. The circus moved to Monza in Italy and it was Adriano Calligarich who secured his second career victory, this time on his home track. He was followed by championship leader Joshua Lyon and another Italian, Fabrizio Pescali. The last two races went to Joshua Lyon, who secured his first FSR World Championship title in his second season.

[edit] 2004

The year 2004 was to be the big showdown between reigning 2003 World Champion Joshua Lyon of Kiwi Racing and fast but never successful Roy Kolbe of Virtual-Games.com.

The season started well for the two top chances, qualifying 1st and 2nd on the grid for the first race of the season at Albert Park. The fairytale was soon over on Sunday however when the two ever so slightly touched on the run to turn 1.

The middle of the season would heat up for rounds 10, 11 and 12 at France, Great Britain and Germany. After the French Grand Prix, the top 3 drivers were separated by just 3 points with Joshua Lyon 83, Yannick Lapchin (Hernj Grand Prix) 81 and Roy Kolbe 80. Those three drivers went on to take 1st, 3rd and 2nd respectively at the British Grand Prix the following week to move Kolbe up to 2nd and extend Lyon’s lead slightly. From here on Kolbe never looked back. Yannick Lapchin missed the points at the German GP, Kolbe took the chequered flag and after the race Lyon, who could manage only 3rd place, retired from the Formula SimRacing World Championship due to private problems.

Kolbe went on to win 5 of the remaining 6 races to become the Formula SimRacing World Champion of 2004 by a huge 44 points lead to Yannick Lapchin. Kolbe’s teammate Gareth Clayton (WAL, Virtual-Games) finished a very respectable 3rd in the championship, passing Joshua Lyon’s points total in the final two races. Virtual-Games.com became the 2004 constructors’ champions.

Season 2004 saw the new entry of Twister-Racing in a build up year to their very successful 2005. MayhemF1 and Holland Racing team were to be absent from the grid, replaced by MayenceF1 and Twister-Racing.

[edit] 2005

The 2005 season started with the international press conference on March 19, held by former ISR Club President Steven Holgeth to announce the Formula SimRacing World Championship driver- and team lineup. The league didn't use the standard game anymore but Ralph Hummerich's RH2004 Modification.

There were 10 teams that travelled "down under" to Melbourne, Australia for the season opener. Last year’s Formula SimRacing World Champion Roy Kolbe (GER, Virtual Games) was able to win the first event of the 2005 season, although having started from the midfield. Kolbe profited from a drive through penalty for Hernj Grand Prix driver Christian Neumann (GER) for crossing the pit exit merge line and a brake failure of Dennis Hirrle (GER), who was going to compete in his first full-time Formula SimRacing World Championship season at Twister-Racing.

Dennis Hirrle won his first ever FSR World Championship GP in Malaysia closely in front of Roy Kolbe. Kolbe won the Imola GP but was yet again beaten in Barcelona by the later world champion from Twister-Racing.

The Monaco GP was held on May 29. Pole setter was Yannick Lapchin (FRA, Hernj Grand Prix). He set the new track record with a lap of 1:11.665m. The race was won by Da Silva Racing driver Fausto Pappalardo (ITA). Soon after, reigning world champion Roy Kolbe announced his withdrawal from the season.

Dennis Hirrle was the dominant man of the season by winning 11 out of 19 events. The German was able to put in a new FSR record of winning 6 consecutive races (Europe, Canada, USA, France, Great Britain, Germany) and to win the most races in a season. Hirrle secured his World Championship title at the Belgium GP in Spa-Francorchamps, 5 races from the end of the season, where the German was able to lap the entire field in rainy conditions to finish first.

At the last Grand Prix of the season in Bahrain, Christian Neumann won in dominant fashion in front of Dennis Hirrle. It was his third win of the season and his fourth career victory. Scoring 10 points, Neumann also prevailed against Fausto Pappalardo in the fight for the runner-up point standings position.

Martin Gosmann's Twister-Racing Team became the Formula SimRacing Constructors' Champion in its second season.

[edit] 2006

For 2006, Formula SimRacing switched games from F1 Challenge '99-'02 to rFactor using Jason Tedstone's 'F1Champions' Modification. Before the 2006 season started, reigning world champion Dennis problems.

In the meantime, Bruno Marques put in a series of 4 victories in a row. Since the Monaco GP, Marques never finished in other positions than either first or second. For the next GP at the Hungaroring, FSR switched to the new BMW Sauber F1 Modification by ISI. Roy Kolbe was back racing at Hungary but finished 0,7s behind the Portuguese which increased Marques’ championship lead by another two points. Two weeks later, Formula SimRacing raced for the very first time on the new Istanbul Park track in Turkey. Although Marques started from Pole, he lost his lead immediately to Roy Kolbe at the start who could win the race in front of the Portuguese and Dennis Hirrle.

In Monza and in Shanghai, Marques was again able to cross the line right in front of Kolbe in 2nd, but the German's result was enough to make his team, Coca-Cola Kiwi Virtual, the 2006 FSR World Championship Constructor Champions. Before the next race in Japan, Suzuka, Bruno Marques had a solid 18 points lead over Kolbe and thus only needed to finish in 7th spot in order to win the World Championship on the Asian continent, whereas Roy Kolbe needed to win the race to keep his chances alive for the last race of the season. Marques secured Pole Position over Kolbe by just 0,012s but was passed into Turn 1 by the German who eventually won the race, but it wasn't enough: Bruno Marques finished in 2nd, in front of newcomer and teammate Ondrej Kuncman, and thus won the 2006 FSR World Championship Drivers Championship in the penultimate race. Marques' team, Diamond Racing, has also secured 2nd position in the Constructors Championship in Suzuka.

Ondrej Kuncman won the final season race in Brazil in front of his team mate and new world champion Bruno Marques. It was the newcomer's first victory in his first season. The podium was completed by Dennis Hirrle who announced to continue his career as Team Manager at Twister-Racing.

[edit] World Championship Winners

Drivers' Championship

2001: Artur Mlodzinski (POL)
2002: Ernesto de Angelis (ITA)
2003: Joshua Lyon (USA)
2004: Roy Kolbe (GER)
2005: Dennis Hirrle (GER)
2006: Bruno Marques (POR)

Constructors' Championship

2001: Virtual-G.com
2002: Racebase
2003: Kiwi Racing
2004: Virtual-Games.com
2005: Twister-Racing
2006: Coca-Cola Kiwi Virtual

[edit] World Championship Records

Most Victories (Top-10):
1. Roy Kolbe (25)
2. Joshua Lyon (15)
3. Dennis Hirrle (11)
4. Greger Huttu (8)
4. Artur Mlodzinski (8)
6. Bruno Marques (7)
7. Ernesto de Angelis (6)
8. Yannick Lapchin (4)
8. Dominik Binz (4)
8. Christian Neumann (4)

Most Pole-Positions (Top-10):
1. Roy Kolbe (23)
2. Artur Mlodzinski (15)
3. Joshua Lyon (9)
3. Greger Huttu (9)
5. Bruno Marques (8)
6. Dennis Hirrle (7)
7. Christian Neumann (6)
8. Dominik Binz (5)
8. Yannick Lapchin (5)
10. Massimiliano DellOrco (3)
10. Ernesto de Angelis (3)

[edit] External links

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