Welcome to the Press Conference for Round 8 of the Formula Sim-Racing World Trophy Championship.

Winning for Precision Motorsports, Ajibola Lawal; with teammate Pedro Melim ending up second, rounding the podium was DHR Simcraft’s Ivan Kaloyanov.

Q: Ajibola, can you explain to us how the move went from your perspective?
Ajibola Lawal: Well he had a bad exit so I passed on the next corner. The Wall of Champions turn that is.

Q: And the remaining few laps, when you were under pressure from Melim, did you think he could get back past?
AL: Well…I was pushing hard and hoping for the best really.

Q: You maintained the lead at the start, what were you thinking when Melim lead for those nine laps?
AL: The only thing I was thinking of was just pushing hard, and regaining 1st place.

Q: Pedro, how was your race?
Pedro Melim: We can say it was good, this track was difficult to me and finishing in 2nd is really good for me and the team since we got the much wanted one-two with Aji in front.
Fight with Aji a couple of times but had to save engine in the end so it was really difficult for me to pass him in the end, but I’m glad with the result.

Q: Another podium, must be brilliant for you. And to see Precision have a long gap to DHR and Ivan.
PM: Yep, according to team expectations all went according to plan, increase the gap to DHR, we are happy with it and we will keep doing the same thing over and over again if everything goes to plan in the remaining races.

Q: Do you think you could, or should have won here today?
PM: We can say I could have won it, but should, not really. Aji was about the same pace as me but he had a bit of damage. I was still hoping to do same as last year but this isn’t really my track so finishing in 2nd it’s a great result.

Q: Ivan, there were some rumours in the paddock that you had an issue in Qualifying. Is this true?
Ivan Kaloyanov: Yes, I had an issue in qualifying. For some reason, I started qualifying with traction control and anti-lock brakes both on high. I did not realize this until I had done my first flying lap, which was obviously spoiled because of the weight penalties. It is a shame because I had no cars around me, so it would have been a traffic-free lap. My next two attempts were spoiled by traffic, and on one try someone even exited the pits right in front of me. I think people should try to be more aware of others who are on hot laps. I was basically able to get my first real lap in with only 3 minutes to go, and I only had one more opportunity to improve upon that time. In the end, I wasn't satisfied with my qualifying as I had pace to put the car on the front row of the grid.


Q: How was your race?
IK: My race was relatively simple and straightforward. At the start, I knew that I had to get past Andreas Nilsson and then try to hold the pace of the Precision pair. I was able to get past him and that was pretty much all the action I experienced all grand prix. After that, I was able to hold the pace of Melim and Lawal for 2 or 3 laps, but when they started pushing, I had no chance. Seeing as they were quicker than me, I knew there was no point in pushing so much as I still wouldn’t be able to match their pace. As a result, I backed off and just started managing the gap to the cars behind me. The pit stops went well as we had no problems. In the end I finished 30 seconds behind the Precision pair, but I could have easily made that into 10 or 15 seconds if I had been pushing all grand prix as they have. In the end, a third place is a third place regardless how far off the lead you finish.


Q: Nearly 200 points deficit to Pedro Melim. This is a huge gap to close down.
IK: Yes, a 200 point deficit is quite a considerable amount, but under no circumstances will we give up. We are not even up to the halfway point of the season yet, so anything can still happen. We will try as hard as possible to close the deficit to Melim, and hopefully luck can be on our side. We have a new improvement for the car coming in Valencia, so we hope this will put us on par or make us quicker than Precision.
 

Welcome to the Press Conference for Round 7 of the Formula Sim-Racing World Trophy Turkish Grand Prix, Istanbul.

Q: Congratulations on your fifth win of the season, how was your race?
Pedro Melim: Thank you, the race was good. Had a good pace and even being 4th after start I knew I could win the race. I passed the guys in front of me quite easily until I reached Patel, from that moment I knew that passing him could be difficult [...]

Welcome to the Press Conference for Round 6 of the FSR World Trophy, The Monaco Grand Prix.
Muhammed Patel won for the first time this season for DHR SimCraft, with Eduard Mallorquí finishing in his best position of the season in second, and with Pedro Melim rounding out the podium in third position.

Q: Congratulations Muhammed Patel for the win, how did your race go?
Muhammed Patel: From the moment go the race went very good. Had a fantastic start and Henri got passed the Precision's which allowed me to pull away like half a second a lap. With the Precisions having there dramas at the end of the first stint I was around 19 seconds in front of Mallorquí. Exiting the pits I had Melim behind, but knowing he would have to pit again I just paced myself to the pace I did in the first stint. Could have gone a bit faster but controlled the pace.
Q: Do you think DHR GP can put up a fight to Precision Motorsports for the remainder of the season?
MP: Well, it will be very tough. Spain and Monaco have a different type of layout to the majority of the other circuits. However it is clear that the team have closed the gap to Precision recently and we hope to continue this good form.
Q: The beginning of the 2010 season wasn't perfect for you, did you have issues with the balance of the car?
MP: Yep, I struggled with the balance and grip of the car in the early stages of the season. It improved at China but clearly it wasn't enough. Really, here, at Monaco was the first time I was happy and comfortable with the balance of the car. I hope this will continue.
Q: What do you expect at Istanbul?
MP: I think Precision will be the main challengers for the win. It will be hard to beat them but it is not impossible as we have seen today. Mallorqui should be there again, and also Ivan should be back on form. Also, maybe we could see Faster than Speed or Torrent Motorsports coming closer and putting up a fight to DHR and Precision. We will see...

Q: Congratulations on second Eduard, how did your race go?
Eduard Mallorquí: My race in Monaco was calm, also I was a bit conservative, I had enough race pace to follow the cars in front of me saving tires and engine for the end of the race. Anyway my result was determined by a couple of DNF, I was lucky to have a clean race without problems, and then I get the second step of the podium, the best result for Racing Factory in this category.
Q: It's your first season in FSR. How has it been for you so far?
EM: The season is going very well, I am taking a lot of fun in all races, a bit surprised with my pace, because I am very close to the best guys of the WT, and it was unexpected for me. I need to give thanks to Racing Factory to contact me for racing in the WT championship, I am very lucky to race for them.
Q: Come the end of the season, what do you hope for?
EM: For this season I hope to learn much more and improve my skills as simracing driver. I want to reach more good results like Monaco, and take my first win in FSR. I know that it will be hard because there are so many good drivers, of course, but I will fight for that!

Q: Pedro, how was your race?
Pedro Melim: Well, excluding the fact that I lost my front wing, it was quite good, it was extremely difficult to pass people even having a good pace like I had, but you know, its Monaco…even finishing the race around here its a positive result, and taking into consideration that the Front Wing lost and some battle throughout the race, finishing in 3rd place its a awesome result for both me and the team.
Q: We saw you loosing your front wing, come close to hitting the barrier on a few occasions and also hitting it. How was the car to drive today?
PM: That FW lost had nothing to do with the car, Allar took too much curb and I just couldn’t avoid him. The car overall was really good even with the damage which I suffered, all the race I could push the car to the limit but as I said I couldn’t overtake people around here, too narrow.
Q: DHR have stepped forward. Do you think they will be your main competition now?
PM: A lot of races are to come but this particular weekend was really weird for all the team, we had so much bad luck with me losing my Front Wing, Aji not scoring any point with a huge crash into Elia Costa and Allar with some bad luck as well. They might have stepped forward but you can’t really compare teams development and pace in Monaco cause its always a gamble on who is going to win around this track as we have seen through the weekend.
I am sure that DHR won’t give up on the championship but its still too early to say who is going be the main competition on the championship but they are certainly in the good way to be it.
 

By Muhammed Patel

Welcome to the Press Conference for Round 5, The Spanish Grand Prix.

Third, for DHR Simcraft; Muhammed Patel, Second, for DHR Simcraft; Ivan Kalyanov, and first, for Precision Motorsports; Allar Foht.

Q: Congratulations Allar for the win, how did your race go?
A: Thank you, race was superb, first win this year, I am very happy with the result. Hopefully this race opened the winning strike for me. Also I want to thank all the team members, management for the hard work they have done, to make these results possible.

Q: Over the winter did you have to change your driving style to suit the new regulations?
A: Well, not really. At the beginning I was a bit afraid about the new car, no refuelling and so on, but mostly there haven't been any big problems for me.

Q: We still have a long season remaining. What are your aims coming to the end of the season?
A: Mainly to win championship of course. So far my team mate Pedro has definitely done a fantastic job and it will be a hard task to beat him and also other teams which are coming up strongly.
But really the season is long and we will have to wait and see, anything is possible.

Q: Ivan, How did your race go?
A: My race was pretty normal this time round. The only real action that happened was at the start and the first couple of laps. At the start, I was able to hold my position in second place behind my teammate. Allar Foht was quite a bit quicker on that first lap and had amazing straight line speed. As a result, he was able to pass me heading into turn 1 on lap 2. After that, I pretty much just had to watch the battle between Foht and my teammate unfold. Pretty soon, Foht got passed Patel and started to pull away quite quickly. I knew that if I wanted any shot at the win, I had to pass my teammate now and try to catch up to Foht. Around lap 14, my teammate made a slight error on the exit of Campsa which allowed me to get past, but it was too little, too late, as Foht already
had a 6 second gap on me. He pitted one lap before me in the pits and I lost more time in the pit stops, meaning the gap had increased to about 8 seconds. After that, I tried as much as possible to try and whittle that gap down, but he was still about a tenth a lap quicker than me. When there were 10 laps to go and the gap was 9 seconds, I
decided that at this point I should bring it home, and that is exactly what I did. I finished second today, which I am very happy about. My teammate finished right behind me in third, so there are celebrations to go around for
the whole team. We knew we had to start chipping away at Precision's point lead, and this is the beginning of the DHR SimCraft resurgence!

Q: DHR GP surely have made a step forward in Spain. Do you think you and the team have what it takes to match the Precisions at Monte-Carlo?
A: I think we have certainly improved the car further, but I think so have other teams as well. I think we are finally back to where we were at the start of the season, where we can match Precision's pace. I think this advantage will carry over to Monaco where the goal will be to win the race and bring the cars home in a 1-2 finish for maximum points.

Q: 5 rounds have already flew by, being 106 points behind the leader do you think you think you could close it down come the end of the season?
A: It has only been 5 rounds, so that means that there are 13 still to go. I think that it is still very possible to close up that 106 point lead by the end of the season. It is a long season, and there are still many things that could happen. We are just going to have to do the best job that we can in the next couple of rounds and see where that gets us.

Q: Muhammed, how did your race go?
A: Taking my first pole of the season was great, and the start was good. From the start it was noticeable Foht was faster than me, and I wasn't able to hold him off. While he pulled away I tried to hold off Ivan and the following pack. But a mistake at the Campsa corner dropped me to third. From then on it was about keeping Lawal and Melim behind me, having some issues with a few back-markers losing me like 2 seconds in the final stint made my job harder. Luckily Lawal didn't have the straight line speed Foht had and I held on for third.

Q: Are you disappointed with third?
A: It could have been fourth, it could have been fifth. But to be honest on the Circuit de Catalunya, a place I have a bad record at and a place I don't like driving on, third was the best I could have done. And second and third was fantastic for the team to close the gap to the Precisions.

What will the Streets of Monaco bring us? A surprise winner? Or will it be Precision dominated?
Tune into the multibc broadcast by going to www.formula-simracing.net/live-broadcast at 11:40GMT on 05.02.2010 for the FSR World Trophy Monaco Grand Prix.