Grand Prix Rejects

Union Saver Developments would like to offer Akira Yamamura the oportunity of payback, with the 2nd seat for the ARWS operation, alongside Naoki Shinjo.

1st Round Draft Results

Drivers will be drafted in the order they finished in the competition, from the winner down. RNG ranges are averaged over the choices made by 2-3 impartial judges (depending on the driver, some judges had to recuse themselves for having a personal take in the result of certain drivers).

Laurindo Coelho
Tournament winner has a single offer from BITW for career management.
1-67 Signs with BITW
68-100 Wants to see if someone will offer him a concrete racing deal
70. He wants an offer of a racing seat in something, despite being very tempted by the BITW deal.

Evgeny Restov
The runner-up can either commit his future to CWG stateside, let Kjellerup find a seat for him, or wait and see if anything else interesting is out there.
1-63 Stays in Indy with CWG for the forseeable future
64-73 Kjellerup Management Deal
74-100 Wants to see if any other offers come along
39. He commits himself to the Commonwealth Group for the long term.

Diego Pereira
The 3rd placed man only has a single offer, from the Lotto Group that lobbied so hard for his services. A full programme in both American and Japan is on the table, a good step up from AR 2.0, but not too large a step up.
1-95 Accepts
96-100 Wants to stay in Europe and waits for a 3.5 or F2 offer
92. Will look to put any thoughts of homesickness to bed and go abroad for the next stage of his career.

Andrej Kremnicky
Disappointed so little interest has been shown in him, he can either sign with management newcomers Valerian to try and bag him a seat with Revolution in ARWS, or wait for a more secure offer.
1-80 Valerian Management
81-100 Wait for a solid contract offer
45. He entrusts Valerian to secure him a contract extension with Revolution's ARWS team.

Lasse Tilkesson
The Swede has two offers from the B Class of IPC he raced in last year, one full time and one part time. Should be a straightforward choice.
1-95 Full-time with Definitely Maybe Racing
96-100 Part-time with Blokkmonsta
99! To the surprise of all onlookers, Tilkesson prefers the part-time Blokkmonsta seat to the DMR drive. Perhaps he thinks he can get himself a promotion to Blokkmonsta's works team?

Judd McAllister
His career stalling, he suddenly has two offers. BITW want him back, but don't have a drive to offer him, just a reserve position. RonDen meanwhile are offering a lucrative 2 year deal for Formula 2. A tiny part of him is curious what else might be out there.
1-87 RonDen F2
88-97 BITW Management
98-100 Waits
61. RonDen has their first driver for Formula 2.

Lee Brockhurst
Lee has a single offer. But he's the backup to the backup! Still, that full-time ride with DMR seems his best bet to stay in pro motorsport, so he'll only take slight offence to being a public third choice for the role.
1-90 Waits to see the outcome of DMR's bid for James Turner.
91-100 Snubs DMR out of principle, demanding why as the only Class A regular in their shortlist he wasn't above at least Turner and also Tilkesson
58. He waits nervously on the outcome of Turner's decision.

John Magnus
Former GT driver has a lone offer from the factory Aston Martin squad, he accepts without thinking twice about it.

Alexey Buyvolov
Buyvolov has plenty of interest. Dacia, Jones and Commonwealth all want him for their ARWS teams. Jones are a top team, but don't have space until 2019. He may not feel like waiting. Dacia made a huge leap last season, and between his and Schiller's money, could bankroll a huge development push to send them all the way to the front. The Commonwealth deal offers security, but is a long term project and won't bring success immediately.
1-52 Signs with Dacia for next year.
53-85 Looks to the future with Commonwealth, having seen the turnaround in Caterham's fortunes in F1 under their stewardship.
86-100 Takes the Jones offer and expects them to find him a drive elsewhere for next season.
9. Buyvolov believes Dacia are going to make the next step to the front and signs with them.

Nicolas Steele
Steele has been inundated with requests, but none really of the standard he had hoped. A handful of works GT offers, one last roll of the dice in ARWS with a brand new team and an F5000 team wanting his services. He gives little thought to joining the F5K series, but has a more serious decision to make between keeping his ARWS career alive or settling for a cushty GT contract - and if so, which. He takes comfort that his potential ARWS team-mate is not a rookie, and can drag them out of PreQ if the situation arises.
1-38 2 year deal with Blokkmonsta in ARWS.
39-64 Heads to GT with Maserati
65-82 Heads to GT with Aston Martin
83-86 Takes the F5000 offer from Turismo Algarve
87-98 Waits for a better quality ARWS offer
99-100 Packs it in and retires
38. He thinks long and hard about whether to prolong his top flight open wheel career or settle down into a new career path in GTs, but in the end thinks he still has a point to prove in ARWS.

Alexander Obolensky
His lone offer from RUSSIAN TIME to race in F2 is the best he could possibly have hoped for. It's a perfect fit and he doesn't think twice about signing.

Danilo di Longo
Renzo want to make him a senior management figure, but still with the possibility of substituting in the cockpit from time to time. Retirement is a serious consideration for him.
1-80 Joins Renzo
81-100 Retires.
8. Wants to stay in motorsport and takes the offer.

Jari Kekkonen
Jari was one of the drivers in Blokkmonsta's ARWS shortlist, but with Steele beating him to the drive, his only choices left are to take a works Maserati GT drive, or wait for something different.
1-71 Maserati GT
72-100 Wants to stay in top flight single seaters
88. Doesn't want tin-tops. Expects a faster car!

Jackie Gardner
Has a single offer to do the the truck series he was champion of previously, and some IPC races, but is the backup choice to former team-mate Jochen Marko for it.
1-50 Waits to see if Marko accepts or not
51-100 Miffed to be chosen behind the driver he defeated, he says no straight away and waits.
62. An unhappy Gardner wants to see what other options there are.

Alessandro Marchesi
Two offers for him to choose from. He can either take an AR 3.5 ride with perennial backmarkers TRE to try and save his dying career, or admit defeat and head to Australia for the F5000 series with Turismo Algarve. Or he can wait to see if a better 3.5 / F2 team comes asking for him,
1-90 Signs for TRE in 3.5
91-98 Heads down under for F5000
99-100 Waits
98! A seemingly demoralised Marchesi no longer sees a point to continuing his declining junior career, and heads to Australia for a paycheck and faster racing.

Jack Maddock
Jack has a spot of bother. Aeroracing have folded, and he is currently without management. But the contract he signed with Volvo is still valid, and with news emerging on the day of the race that the Swedish manufacturer had intervened to save its works IPC effort, Maddock is left unable to accept the offer from Aston Martin. He stays put for 2018, and will return to Race of Rejects again next year.

Raul Souto Maior
Souto Maior has a single offer, from Precision-MRT to do Formula 2. With the rumour will eerily quiet in relation to his prospects, he can either take the money or give up racing altogether.
1-95 Precision
96-100 Retires
94. He takes the deal - but is his heart really in it?

Akira Yamamura
Lots and lots of choice for Akira, but none nearly as good as the ARWS contract with Aeroracing he lost due to the team folding.
1-30 Heads to ARWS with Tassie
31-58 Heads to ARWS with USD
59-74 Stays in 3.5 with Prenois while also securing an ARWS reserve role with Kjellerup
75-83 Switches to Formula 2 with RonDen
84-91 Puts her future in the hands of Valerian Management
92-100 Likes none of these and wants a better offer.
17! Her future is decided, ARWS with Tassie Racing alongside compatriot Tomo Kazama beckons.

Renaldo Jimenez
He previously had an offer for ARWS with Tassie, but as Yamamura just beat him to it, he has to decide whether to wait for another offer or just retire from the sport he so loathes.
1-50 Bides his time, seeing if another offer will appear so he can keep getting that tasty free money from the Tropican government.
51-100 Realises he'd rather do something more enjoyable than take the grant cash and retires.
43. Will wait to see if another offer comes in, given his experience compared to many of the other unhired drivers.

Naas Botha
Botha, despite his error strewn performance in AR 2.0 Europe last year, has an offer to switch continents and go stateside with Valerian. It's that or nothing from the looks of it, so he takes it seriously - a promotion is a promotion after all.
1-90 Goes to the USA with Valerian
91-100 Waits for something else, preferably closer to Europe.
90. Much like Diego Pereira before him, he is very hesitant about leaving the land he has made his home for several years behind, but acknowledges that this is still his best chance to continue his quest to become a pro racing driver.

Daniel Moreno
Off the back of a horrendous season with Gillet in ARWS, the Canadian driver has just hit the big 5-0, and has a decision to make. Stay immersed in motor racing, albeit in a new discipline, head for semi-retirement with the occasional apperance, or hang up the helmet for good?
1-37 Takes the most intense schedule of all with Rick Miller Racing's Truck & IPC offer
38-65 Takes the semi-retirement option with Infiniti
66-100 Says a final goodbye to racing and hangs up his helmet
48. He isn't ready to say farewell to motorsport, but needs some time to recharge his batteries after the stressful experience of the Gillet madhouse.

Brucie Kibbutz
Without offers for his services forthcoming, and it being over a year since he last raced, he realises he may never have an offer to race again. He's 50/50 on whether to try and keep his dream alive or find a new career in something else.
1-50 Waits
51-100 Retires
77. Kibbutz realises with his F1RWRS stint behind him, his time as a pro driver has come to an end.

Lance Vance
Feels he has more to give, having been a solid Top 10 runner at Indy for some time. 1-80 Waits, 81-100 Retires. 24.

Jochen Marko
A lone offer to race trucks and make some appearances in IPC. It's not ideal but it's that or wait for something else.
1-85 Takes the Trueba truck & IPC offer
86-100 Wants a programme that seems him race full-time in the main season.
20. Marko joins Trueba.

Miko Fakkinen
Fakkinen's only offer was from Blokkmonsta, which is now gone. However, despite the management firm in charge of his career collapsing, the contract he signed with RLR turns out to still be valid, and so he stays put for now. Like Maddock, he will return for Race of Rejects again in 2019.

James Turner
Two Class B IPC teams battle for this young hotshot's signature. Belso Bilsport and DMR both want the highly rated youngster, but Turner edges towards Belso thanks to them putting faith in his ability - he was only second choice for DMR, but first for Belso.
1-82 Belso Bilsport
83-100 DMR
35. Turner rewards Belso's faith in his ability by becoming their first driver. This means that Lee Brockhurst is confirmed as DMR's second driver, having been waiting patiently for Turner's decision to be made.

Chacko Palaniappan
Palaniappan has a strange situation to deal with. He has an offer, but it's in a discipline he has no experience of, and one that's extremely difficult for a rookie to succeed in without years of similar single seater experience behind them. Still, it's that or nothing, so it's a tempting hail mary.
1-42 Goes for broke with TRE in 3.5
43-100 Thinks better of it and bides his time for a GT offer.
32! Seemingly with nothing to lose, Palaniappan accepts the TRE offer and will make his open wheel debut in 2018.

Li Qi
The Chinese ex-F1 racer has some relevant experience in the higher echelons of motorsport. With no offers, Qi is unsure whether to wait and see what happens, or pursue a more traditional career path.
1-60 Waits
61-100 Retires
2. Qi is determined to make this racing career amount to something.

Ernesto Raya
This Mexican driver was formerly employed by Rojo as a truck specialist. New team Carrera Granada want him back for exactly this role. It's his only offer, and it plays to his strengths, though it doesn't give him anything to do during the main season.
1-60 Takes the offer as is
61-95 Likes the offer but wants something extra added in for after the truck season is over
96-100 Retires
94. Raya is still interested in driving for the team in trucks, but wants extra assurances about his career options beyond the truck season, which ends early in March.

Ernest Bruno & Aurelio Bandini
Both are in their second free agency draft, and neither have a first round offer this time either. Bandini had some half-hearted offers mid-way through 2017 which he declined, so both look almost certain to give up and find a new career.
1-80 Retirement
81-100 Stay waiting by the phone
Bruno 3, Bandini 70. End of the road for both.

Maven O'Connor
O'Connor was a surprise returnee to Race of Rejects, given how long he has been out of professional motorsport. But it looks to have been worth it in the end - the FIA want him to be the official Safety Car driver of F1, and BITW offer him a role to go with it.
1-95 FIA / BITW
96-100 Saw himself racing in the pack, not leading it in a safety vehicle. Retires.
44. Formula 1 has a new frontrunner...when the race is neutralised, at least.

Waisale Serevi
Has one offer. Was probably lucky to get one at all after his poor form in 2017. It's for "either F2 or 3.5", which while ambiguous, is with a proven top flight team in ZimSport, so he'll take it, no question asked.

Matteo Rossi
Somehow got himself a works Aston Martin GT offer despite his poor performance in this tournament. With nothing else forthcoming, doesn't have to think twice, and accepts, given he was looking for a way back into GT racing.

Khaled Al-Dizi
IPC have offered him a chance to be a series reserve. Given Pitea and Lee-Wang got track time last year through this method, he is hopeful it will lead to something worthwhile.
1-80 Accepts
81-100 Retires
29. He joins the IPC reserves ranks.

Jimmy Hopkins
Hopkins has been offered a diverse role with the FIA. He will test for Ferrari the new spec transmission, be on hand every weekend to step into an empty F1 car at a moment's notice, but also will get to continue to dabble in active motor racing, with a part-time campaign in IPC with Renzo team in North America. It's this, or give up racing for good.
1-80 Accepts offer
81-100 Calls time on his racing career.
39. Hopkins becomes an FIA sanctioned test driver and gets to race for Renzo on a part-time basis.


And from this moment on, I declare free bidding to be open! Any unclaimed driver will have a 72 hour decision countdown started from the moment of the first bid for their services from here on in. The exceptions to these are Jack Maddock and Miko Fakkinen, who are locked in for 2018 and will be returning to the ROR for 2019.

Globex Scorpio Racing would like to offer Jackie Gardner a 2-year contract to be one-half of our lead driver pairing in the 2018 GTR-WC, alongside 2-time RTCC champ Paul Jenkins. We will also make way for him to compete in RSTS in 2017-18, to shake some of the rust off.

As consequence of his legendary victory at the Race of Rejects, the Best In The World Support Group would like to offer Laurendo Coelho a place. We believe his story is one worth telling, we would arrange for a movie production telling the world of his triumph, obviously giving him an adequate part of the income thereof. Thanks to the cooperation by Skoda, IPC management and Sandra Yoo, we can now offer him a specific contract as second driver of the IPC Skoda works outfit. He would work next to the Best In The World at everything he ever did, which is sure to help Coelho reach a level he now cannot even imagine. We hope he is appreciating our effort and will sign with us now.

Union Saver Development offers the 2nd ARWS seat to Jari Kekkonen and Miko Fakkinen for the upcoming season

We would like to offer Simon Garfunkel a reserve driver offer at IPC, so if any driver dissapoints he will be appointed as the immediate replace.

I suppose ARWS is the successor to indycar? Well, in that case i offer Jari Kekkonen a contract. Does he think he has what it takes to follow in the footsteps of Talent Chilton? One year with a performance-based option for a second year.
If he declines, i offer Rinaldo Jimenez the same contractual terms.

This wrote:I suppose ARWS is the successor to indycar? Well, in that case i offer Jari Kekkonen a contract. Does he think he has what it takes to follow in the footsteps of Talent Chilton? One year with a performance-based option for a second year.
If he declines, i offer Rinaldo Jimenez the same contractual terms.

No, it's the successor to F1RWRS or rather the renamed F1RWRS.

pi314159 wrote:

This wrote:I suppose ARWS is the successor to indycar? Well, in that case i offer Jari Kekkonen a contract. Does he think he has what it takes to follow in the footsteps of Talent Chilton? One year with a performance-based option for a second year.
If he declines, i offer Rinaldo Jimenez the same contractual terms.

No, it's the successor to F1RWRS or rather the renamed F1RWRS.

Okay, well, then i offer them an Indycar-successor-championship seat, against knowing better.

Carrera Granada are now on the brink of signing a deal with Ernesto Raya to race for the Reject SuperTruck Series but the deal will not be confirmed until plans have been finalised. Based on Raya's interest, he is still looking for a main season ride after her season ends in March and opportunities are now being looked at, with a small Possibility of Formula 5000 with the same team after Carrera Granada announced their bid to a part-time ride there.

SeedStriker wrote:Union Saver Development offers the 2nd ARWS seat to Jari Kekkonen and Miko Fakkinen for the upcoming season

Miko Fakkinen is ineligible for selection.

The Factory Chevrolet team in the Rolex GT Super Series, Carson SpeedWorks, would like to sign the following drivers to head its maiden campaign in the series in their pair of Chevrolet Corvette C6.Rs:

Li Qi
Joey Alliot
Jacques Malenfant
Oliver Jones

And for appeasament's sake: Aero Kings Racing would like to continue having Ernest Bruno be their lead driver for their part-time appeances in the North American rounds of the IPC and for their potetial full-time venture into the SuperTruck series.

As Takagi Racing Enterprises (AR 3.5) were unable to get a drive for Marchesi, we'll try Simon Garfunkel.

As the assets of Aeroracing Engineering's F1RWRS team has now been bought out by the Peak Motorsport Group we offer the following drivers a 1-year ARWS contract with the team with a potential one-year performance-based extension:

Renaldo Jimenez (as driver #2)
Jari Kekkonen (as test driver)

Under these terms, the said driver(s) would also become part of the Peak Driver Talent program.

OFFERS UPDATED

Rick Miller Racing would like to sign Lance Vance to join its Reject SuperTruck series team

More RNGs!

Jackie Gardner
1-99 Accepts Globex Scorpio's GT/Trucks combined offer
100 Would rather be doing IPC
71. Gardner heads for Scorpio.

Laurindo Coelho
1-99 The tournament winner finally realises his lifelong dream of being professional racing driver, signing with Skoda's factory IPC effort
100 Is getting super picky and would rather be racing in GTs
25. The miracle has reached a conclusion. Coelho has in one week gone from extremely obscure amateur to high profile professional.

Jari Kekkonen
Loads of choice for this lad. An ARWS comeback is on the cards. Or he can stay in America.
1-70 Makes his ARWS return with debutants Union Saver Developments
70-80 Takes the reserve drive in ARWS with the more experienced Peak Aeroracing team
81-100 Doesn't miss Europe and signs with RonDen in Velocity Masters
27. He returns after a year away with USD.

Simon Garfunkel
1-98 Takagi Racing Enterprises AR 3.5
99-100 Valerian IPC reserve
1. Well that was unequivocal. He joins Palaniappan at TRE.

Renaldo Jimenez
A similar choice to Kekkonen, especially as he's offered the seat in America that the Finn declined.
1-60 Returns to ARWS as a race driver with Peak Aeroracing
61-75 Goes to America with RonDen
76-100 Takes a career break to focus on freeing his family from a Tropican internment camp
17. He doesn't have the stones to fight the governement oppression that forces him to race, and so he picks Peak Aeroracing, given they were frontrunners in last year's championship.

Ernesto Raya
1-90 Happy with extra programme, signs contract
91-100 Not comfortable with single seaters, will sign contract for closed-wheel series only
97. Wants IPC or GT-R, but not F5000.

Li Qi
1-90 Signs for Carson SpeedWorks
91-100 Would rather focus on keeping his single seater career alive
65. First driver for Carson.

Joey Alliot
1-99 Takes Carson GT offer
100 Wants a factory GT ride
8. Carson it is.

Jacques Malenfant
1-99 Takes Carson GT offer
100 Wants a factory GT ride
84. Three out of four for Carson.

Oliver Jones
1-99 Takes Carson GT offer
100 Wants a factory GT ride
62. It's a full house for the GT newcomers.

Ernest Bruno
1-90 Regrets his snap judgement to retire after a poor ROR and returns to GTs.
91-100 Has lost his desire to continue after a dismal showing when his career was on the line.
3. He jumps at the chance to get back in the cockpit.

Whoops, forgot someone.

Lance Vance
Vance has been a solid upper midfielder at Indy for some time. While he isn't against running trucks, he doesn't want to shelve his single seater dreams either.
1-10 Takes offer as is
11-80 Will accept trucks offer but wants guarantee that Rick Miller will secure him a drive in American open wheel at an appropriate time.
81-100 Declines, just wants to race open wheel
51. He is fine doing trucks, but will turn his back on Rick Miller if he doesn't get a ride in an Indy-sanctioned series for 2018.

The SEAT Leon Supercopa series will offer a contract to Gabriela Scopelli to run for at least half the 2018 Supercopa season. We may extend this offer to one or two more former Lupo Cup / AR GTi drivers.
The idea is : Put two cars on the grid for former drivers in a last attempt to let them showcase their talent in the series again.
Leon de Teodoro is also on my list for the same contract, but I'll wait a few days before posting an offer, just in case someone decides to take him.

Gabriela Scopelli
Has final lifeline offer from SEAT to drive a 'last chance saloon' car.
1-95 Accepts
96-100 Is too proud to accept charity
92. She felt uneasy about taking a ride designed specifically for those unable to get one anywhere else, but in the end acknowledges it's this or bust.

The SEAT Leon Supercopa series will offer the same contract (as Gabriela Scopelli) to Leon de Teodoro.

Rated wrote:The SEAT Leon Supercopa series will offer the same contract (as Gabriela Scopelli) to Leon de Teodoro.

I ran the RNG for Leon de Teodoro a day early of the deadline, he accepted the offer then, I then forgot about it the following day when it was actually supposed to occur, and all days subsequently! I don't remember the roll number but I remember he accepted, and nobody else has interest in him, so to Rated his DEC goes.

MK Scuderia would like to offer Henry Paul (GBR) the opportunity to drive the rest of the season in the Group B Rallycross Championship.

Race of Rejects: Last Chance Saloon

Here we go again. Last year, TRRS had a "last chance saloon" for those who couldn't make an impact first time of asking. It's back, mostly because attempts to trawl through the unemployed drivers of canon wasn't comprehensive enough on the first pass. Quite a few drivers will join those who remained on the sidelines after the main event.

Additions to the free agency field for the Last Chance Saloon;
T.K. Wolf (AUT) - AR 2.0 North America
J.C. Wolf (AUT) - F1RDS, GT-R
Salvador da Santa Maria (MEX) - AR 2.0 North America
Emilio Boni (ITA) - Formula 5000
Satoshi Fukuzawa (JPN) - Formula 5000
Kamil Pijanowski (POL) - Formula 5000
Rhys Jackson (AUS) - Formula 5000
Dan Budd (GBR) - Formula 5000
Christer Malmström (FIN) - RRC
Mika Litmanen (FIN) - RRC
Haruhi Suzumiya (JPN) - RRC
Erick Murer (BRA) - RRC
Michal Syrowatka (POL) - RRC
Marijo Kovacevic (CRO) - RRC
Tomas Ondrejka (SVK) - RRC
Nikolay Djurov (BUL) - RRC
Grant Fox (NZL) - RRC
Chris Bowman (GBR) - RRC
Richard Young (GBR) - RRC
Niklas Svanberg (DEN) - FRENCH, GT-R

The race will be run at some point next week. Feel free to submit names you think are eligible to participate (drivers whose DEC holders have been absent from the forum for at least six months).

I believe Rhys Jackson from F5000 had the same DEC holder as Dan Budd.

Can I reclaim Tetsuya's DEC?

FMecha wrote:Can I reclaim Tetsuya's DEC?

Whoooops, didn't realise he was a TRE product. Removed from the list.

Can I claim Hans Einhrin for a possible test spot on Tassie Racing in ARWS.

Based on his stellar 2017 AR2.0 NA season, Peak Motorsport Group offers T.K. Wolf a AR3.5 drive (provided that I receive an entry as tristan has been absent for a while).

Offer withdrawn

Henry Paul
Previously a single-seater staple, Paul's career looked as dead as the dodo. He's never rallycrossed before, but given a choice between that or nothing at all, he's receptive towards the proposed career change.
1-95 Takes offer from MK Scuderia
96-100 Wants single seaters
16. Paul embarks on a career shift into offroad.

Hans Einhrin
After a half-decent stint with the works Nissan team in F5000, Einhrin was perhaps hoping for a full-time ride in something open cockpit. Tassie's offer gives him no promise of substantial running time, but with nothing else on the table, he'll consider it.
1-40 Accepts the offer
41-80 Accepts the offer as long as he's guaranteed a spot in the ARWS Young Driver Test with the team
81-100 Holds out for an offer which gives him guaranteed racing miles
52. Einhrin accepts the Tassie offer, but on the condition he is guaranteed a slot in the ARWS YDT.

Okay, here we go! The ROR Last Chance Saloon is upon us.

Format change for this event - instead of the duel format of the main event, this will be much like AR 3.5 - two heats, with the Top 12 from each heat progressing to a Final to decide the winner.

After the final is complete, all drivers will be listening to offers and will make their second round draft decisions by Sun 23rd Aug at 2359 GMT.

Race of Rejects: Last Chance Saloon
HEAT A

The Race of Rejects moves westward, from the inland city of Milano to the coastal town of Montpellier, with 42 drivers looking to revive their careers here at the Circuit Jérémy-Étienne Voeckler.

Heat A has several known quantities - the highest profile is former F1RWRS racer Brucie Kibbutz, and the most hotly contested signature in the LCS draft, Austria's T.K. Wolf, is also in Heat A. Dark horses to watch out for in this heat include former Dacia works touring car driver Garry Jones, F5000 race winner Kamil Pijanowski, and rallycross ace Mika Litmanen.

QUALIFYING

Code: Select all

 1 T.K. Wolf             1:46.516
 2 Mika Litmanen         1:46.765
 3 Garry Jones           1:46.821
 4 Brucie Kibbutz        1:47.095
 5 Rhys Jackson          1:47.178
 6 Andrei Kolodin        1:47.221
 7 Kamil Pijanowski      1:47.428
 8 Grant Fox             1:47.449
 9 Olivier Gardin        1:47.525
10 Alex Geinhart         1:47.677
11 Niklas Svanberg       1:47.721
12 Erick Murer           1:47.938
13 Charles Jericho       1:47.945
14 Abdel Genazzi         1:47.966
15 Marijo Kovacevic      1:48.033
16 David Graham          1:48.172
17 Johnny Boudermann     1:48.207
18 Janne Kagström        1:48.224
19 J.C. Wolf             1:48.473
20 Tomas Ondrejka        1:49.882
21 Carlo Waladi          1:50.039

The qualifying order is mostly as expected. AR 2.0 hotshot T.K. Wolf takes pole ahead of his more experience cohorts, while Ondrejka and Waladi surprise no-one by being miles off the pace. T.K.'s older brother, J.C., similarly failed to impress.

RACE RESULT

Code: Select all

 1 Brucie Kibbutz            27:29.998
 2 T.K. Wolf                 27:33.331
 3 Garry Jones               27:33.751
 4 Andrei Kolodin            27:41.814
 5 Kamil Pijanowski          27:43.657
 6 Olivier Gardin            27:48.944
 7 Mika Litmanen             27:50.920
 8 Alex Geinhart             27:53.992
 9 Abdel Genazzi             27:54.059
10 David Graham              27:54.540
11 Charles Jericho           27:55.273
12 Janne Kagström            27:55.768
-------------------- QUALIFICATION LINE --------------------
13 Grant Fox                 27:59.733
14 Johnny Boudermann         28:02.302
15 Niklas Svanberg           28:06.345
16 Erick Murer               28:08.221
17 Marijo Kovacevic          28:09.448
18 Rhys Jackson              28:11.057
 — Carlo Waladi             DNF lap 13
   Tomas Ondrejka           DNF lap 10
   J.C. Wolf                 DNF lap 6

Experience paid off greatly for Brucie Kibbutz. With more experience than his rivals, he methodically worked his way up from fourth to first, edging out a 4 second gap to T.K. Wolf by the race's end.

Rhys Jackson meanwhile wasted his excellent qualifying with a nervy and error-strewn performance, which cost him a golden ticket to the Last Chance Saloon Finale. Plummeting all the way to the back, he lost so much time he ended up last of the remaining runners, despite catching Kovacevic relatively quickly towards the end.

Speaking of ignomy, the rear end had plenty of it. While his younger brother was fighting for the lead, J.C. Wolf span off into the gravel, and both Ondrejka and Waladi found the Turn 5 wall a few laps apart, ending their races early.

Union Saver Developments wishes to extend contracts to Christer Malmström and Haruhi Suzumiya to run our mains Metro 6R4 in the GBRC. Also, to Mika Littmanen to alternate with the Special Guest in car #423

Valerian Management will make the following offers:

Giving his talent in AR2.0NA, TK Wolf will be offered a seat for IA in 2018, should he perform well enough, a seat at the ARWS YDT, and again, if he performs well enough, a seat at one of our top-tier teams. He will given extra racing in the form of RSTC, starting from R3, should he want it.

Being one of the surprises in F5000, we will offer Kamil Pijanowski a place. While still unknown what he is going to do, we are looking at the chances.

Lastly, JC Wolf is the last driver to be offered here. Like Pijanowski its unknown, but we are looking at the chances.

Race of Rejects: Last Chance Saloon
FINAL

24 drivers have progressed to the last ditch showcase event, trying to convince team managers they still have what it takes to compete professionally. A couple of drivers have had interest shown in them, and will be looking to follow through with a good performance. Others have had no interest, and will be looking for a Coelho-esque shock result to grab the spotlight and perhaps a reprieve to their racing career ending.

All eyes will be on T.K. Wolf. The young Austrian driver, who came 2nd overall in AR 2.0 North America, has been the centre of attention and will be looking to impress his various suitors today.

QUALIFYING

Code: Select all

 1 Claude Speed          1:46.520
 2 Brucie Kibbutz        1:46.550
 3 Mika Litmanen         1:46.682
 4 T.K. Wolf             1:46.818
 5 Garry Jones           1:46.834
 6 Christer Malmström    1:46.964
 7 Emilio Boni           1:47.005
 8 Kamil Pijanowski      1:47.225
 9 Haruhi Suzumiya       1:47.231
10 Andrei Kolodin        1:47.323
11 Terry Stein           1:47.372
12 Abdel Genazzi         1:47.589
13 Olivier Gardin        1:47.671
14 Alex Geinhart         1:47.691
15 Satoshi Fukuzawa      1:47.752
16 Michal Syrowatka      1:47.756
17 Dimitri Dzagoev       1:47.812
18 Charles Jericho       1:47.843
19 Andoni Garrido        1:47.999
20 David Graham          1:48.162
21 Roy Mellows           1:48.197
22 Wim-Bert Horrie       1:48.213
23 Grant Fox             1:48.350
24 Janne Kagström        1:48.826

Claude Speed, probably a bit miffed his former team-mate Vance got a contract and not him, goes pole and has a point to prove. Litmanen exceeds expectations by qualifying third, alongside the hotly tipped T.K. Wolf. Given he won Heat B, Italian youngster Emilio Boni will be disappointed with 7th.

RACE RESULT

Code: Select all

 1 Christer Malmström        27:28.927
 2 Emilio Boni               27:31.992
 3 Claude Speed              27:40.381
 4 Terry Stein               27:43.233
 5 Andoni Garrido            27:44.763
 6 Michal Syrowatka          27:45.356
 7 Haruhi Suzumiya           27:47.828
 8 Janne Kagström            27:51.005
 9 Kamil Pijanowski          27:51.914
10 Dimitri Dzagoev           27:55.063
11 Mika Litmanen             27:55.138
12 Brucie Kibbutz            27:55.153
13 Satoshi Fukuzawa          27:56.488
14 Wim-Bert Horrie           27:58.993
15 T.K. Wolf                 28:03.134
16 Garry Jones               28:05.404
17 Olivier Gardin            28:06.123
18 Grant Fox                 28:10.608
19 Andrei Kolodin            28:11.029
20 Alex Geinhart             28:11.440
21 David Graham              28:17.645
22 Abdel Genazzi             28:18.535
 — Charles Jericho           DNF lap 2
   Roy Mellows               DNF lap 1

The tension was palpable. Nerves were fraying. All 24 drivers knew they had to pull out the drive of their life to grab attention and revive their dying careers. It showed in some of the driving.

It all went so very wrong at Turn 2 on the opening lap. Jockeying for position behind Claude Speed- who had made an excellent start - Kibbutz, Litmanen, Wolf and Jones headed into the sharp right hand bend four abreast. When the car furthest inside locked up, it caused a cascading effect and the quartet all ended up off the road and ploughing through the gravel. A disaster for a large swathe of the potential race winners in the field.

This moved Malmström and Boni up to 2nd and 3rd respectively, and with the aforementioned quartet having to work their way back through the field from the rear.

Later in the lap, Roy Mellows and Charles Jericho collided, forcing Mellows out on the spot with broken suspension. Jericho crawled his car back to pit lane, where he was forced to retire with a broken radiator.

After the first lap chaos calmed down, Speed failed to live up to his name. His race pace had deserted him, with Malmström and Boni breezing by without much hassle.

In the end, Malmström was able to keep Boni at arms length for the duration of the race, coming home as the surprise winner of the Last Chance Saloon. Further down the order, none of the first lap catastrophe quartet were able to climb back into the top 10 - they were able to quickly dispatch the tailenders like Graham and Genazzi, but tin-top youngster Dimitri Dzagoev seemed to have by far the widest car on track, with Litmanen and Kibbutz both frustratedly trying and failing to pass for half the race. Further down the order were Wolf and Jones, who had taken the harder impacts of the incident and nursed their ailing cars to the finish.

Once again Janne Kagström surprised onlookers, as despite being far off the pace in qualifying, he calmly and methodically sliced his way through the field to finish 8th, having started all the way down in 24th.

The revised deadine for Round 2 Offers is Thursday 27 Aug at 2359 GMT.

Christer Malmström & Haruhi Suzumiya
Both have offers to join the MG works team in rallycross, a perfect fit for their skillset. The works MG team has struggled so far this year, but having seen the turn of speed Jordan McKenna demonstrated in the guest car in the opening round, they are confident the car is capable of results when in the right hands and are eager to get stuck in.

1-95 Accepts offer
96-100 Isn't convinced the MG is good enough

Malmström 83
Suzumiya 98

Christer Malmström joins the works MG squad, but to everyone's surprise, Haruhi Suzumiya snubs their offer!


Mika Litmanen
Litmanen has a guest drive offer from MG. However, having been a match for both Malmström and Suzumiya in the past, is a little miffed he was not offered a chance of a permanent drive. Still, like Malmström, he can see the potential in the 6R4 demonstrated by McKenna.

1-20 Accepts guest drive
21-95 Will join MG only if offered a full-time position in the team
96-100 Takes offence to being handed inferior offers to Malmström and Suzumiya

96. Incensed by receiving a far weaker offer than his former RRC rivals, Litmanen shuns MG in anger.


T.K. Wolf
Wolf, for a split second, appeared to have interest from an AR 3.5 team. Disappointed the offer vanished, he is left with the choice of accepting a shaky position potentially doing Indy Academy with a team that already has one contracted driver (Botha), in a series that hasn't confirmed whether it will allow second cars yet.

1-50 Accepts the Valerian offer in the hope things pan out
51-100 Waits to see if he can get a ride in Europe

96. Wolf wants to wait and see if he can bag a more secure ride somewhere else.


Kamil Pijanowski & J.C. Wolf
Valerian Driver Management are offering their services to both Pijanowski and J.C. Wolf, but have nothing concrete to offer them thus far.

1-50 Accepts offer and hopes VDM can assist in finding a ride this year
51-100 Would rather keep his options open

Pijanowski 29
J.C. Wolf 73

Kamil Pijanowski puts trust in Valerian to find him some action this season, but Wolf declines the offer.

Union Saver Developments wishes to extend T.K. Wolf the position of 3rd driver (tester/reserve) for it's ARWS team

T.K. Wolf

Wolf has only one offer to consider. Fellow Austrians USD want him as a young development driver for their ARWS team, but the position only realistically offers him an appearance at the Young Drivers' Test at Paul Ricard and assorted testing days for the rest of the season. Coming off the back of a very good year in AR 2.0, he wants more than anything else to continue honing his racing skill in a competitive environment, but at the same time acknowledges it could be beneficial to get some running in an ARWS car, even if USD are newcomers to the sport.

1-65 Accepts position, on the condition that USD find him a drive in Formula 2 for 2018 and is free to leave if they cannot
66-75 Accepts offered position as is
76-100 Waits for a direct offer from Formula 2

92. T.K. Wolf prioritises making the step up to the second tier of racing over everything else. He wants an F2 drive.


Trueba Racing Team offers Mika Litmanen a full time drive from Round 3 onwards of the Group B RX series, at the wheel of the #3 Lancia Delta S4.

Precision Motorsport would like to sign T. K. Wolf to their young driver program. He will be placed in the MRT F2 team for the 2018 season with Precision backing, and will be given a guaranteed Simulator Driver contract with Precision Motorsport for the 2019 season. He'll also be given a drive with the MRT ARWS team for the 2018 young driver test.

Trueba Junior Team wishes to sign Emilio Boni to their new Formula 2 outfit for 2018. Boni would be joining a well established racing team with close links to the FIAT Group. If he greatly impresses during his F2 stint, there could even be scope for testing with the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team.

KitKat Warriors, the junior team for DGNgineering in F2, would like to offer a guaranteed two-year contract to T.K. Wolf. He will also be granted test opportunities with the DGNgineering F1 team. Should he finish in the top 3 in the F2 championship, he will either be promoted to the DGNgineering F1 team, or we will negotiate with another team to secure his debut. The contract also contains a clause after the first year which allows T.K. Wolf to pursue a F1 or ARWS race seat should one be offered to him.