rFR Grand Prix Series Season 10 Preview

All systems go for rFR Grand Prix Series Season 10! The league didn't open any slots for custom teams but I am not disappointed because I got the Minardi seat. Woohoo! I feel like I'm coming home, driving for the Faenza team again after all these years.

The Teams

Marlboro Ferrari 2000
#27 / #1 - Antonio Hreljanovic
#11 - Gustavo Montenegro



Jaguar Racing 2000
#63 - Ariff Roslan
#78 - Kimmo Savolainen



Benson & Hedges Jordan 1999
#36 - Massimiliano Ribolli
#40 - Jakub Rostkowski



JPS Lotus 1985
#2 - Joe McLaggen
#50 - Srdjan Marjanovic



McLaren Honda 2015
#7 - Sven Dirks
#16 - Tom McKay



Rothmans Williams Renault 1994/96/97
#14 - Denis Belarus
#43 - Igor G.



West McLaren Mercedes 1999
#66 - Alex Hill
#12 - Juan Caires



Mercedes AMG Petronas 2015
#0 - Riaan Oberholzer
#21 - Sajdi Xhumari



Telefonica Minardi 2000
#19 - Arek Kulak
#42 - Andre Lagunzad



Orange Arrows 2000
#74 - Steven Mitchell
#37 - Rodix



Mild Seven Renault 2006
#38 - Marcel Garcia Crespo
#55 - Quentin L.



Red Bull Racing 2012
#81 - Jake Smith
#33 - Dario Azevedo



Yes, it is a full grid, 12 teams and 24 drivers, and I expect the first few races to be jampacked. But I feel confident in the car, and with the generous point scoring scheme I think I can score in all the races, just like I did during my rookie season in this league. My teammate, Arek, is a frontrunner and proven race winner so I hope to contribute to his championship bid as well.

Antonio Hreljanovic is the defending champion and he has a capable teammate in Gustavo Montenegro AKA Sexy Brigadeiro. They will be running the coveted red cars of Ferrari. However, the strongest team seems to be Mclaren Honda with Tom McKay and Sven Dirks, who both showed ominous form in pre-season testing. Also, look out for Mild Seven Renault with Marcel Garcia Crespo and Quentin Lag. Expect them to be at the sharp end of the points standings as the season rolls on. Alex Hill, runner-up in the Driver's Championship last season, will pair up with veteran Juan Caires at West Mclaren, and they will also present a challenge. JPS Lotus with Joe McLaggen (who would have won the Driver's Trophy last season if not for an unfortunate disconnection) and Srdjan Marjanovic are this season's dark horse team.

The Calendar

As you can see, the calendar is incomplete, with the weather conditions still to be decided for rounds 6-17. In last season's wet race at Suzuka I finished 8th out of 18 runners, gaining many positions as some front runners got caught up in the changing conditions, so I am looking forward to more events with dynamic weather. I'm no wet weather expert, but the practice laps I put in for that event really paid off.

Round 7 and 8 will feature Detroit and Sochi, which are tracks I'm not familiar with. Otherwise, it is a good mix of classic tracks with some Tilke-dromes thrown in. It is going to be a long season and it is important to get some good points in the early rounds when the grid will be full. I expect it to thin out by the time we return to Suzuka, and if I'm in a good position by then, I think another top ten finish in the standings is possible.

less lessons more morons

There is this thing called earworm, where you keep hearing a song or a part of a song over and over inside your head. I get this condition a lot, but it is just one noise in the cacophony of my mind. Apart from the earworm and what my ears actually pickup from the physical world, I also hear various monologues or points of view.  One of the most dominant of these speeches that I give attention to is a voice of opposition and negation. I call this elocution The Contrarian.

The Contrarian verbalizes all the doubt and uncertainty that has infested my character. It incessantly belittles whatever I think, or feel, or do. There is no escape, except maybe when I am able to focus on a simple, quantifiable task. So I fire up my sim racing car and I do some laps. Then there is no confusion and I find my peace running around in circles.

your focus determines your reality

rFR Grand Prix Series - Season 9 - Review

Congratulations to Antonio Hreljanovic, rFR Grand Prix Series Season 9 Drivers Champion! Congratulations to Joe McLaggen and Arek, rFR Grand Prix Series Season 9 Teams Champions! I only ran in the last five rounds so I only got a 21st place in the standings out of 36 participants. But I did score points in every race I was in. Based on that performance, I think I would have finished 15th or better if I had contested the whole season. 

Onto Season 10, where we will use the same FSOne 2009 cars. I hope the admins open up the car setup menu, though. They limited the configurable options this season and I had some trouble setting up the car. I also hope to be able to enter a custom team next season, with my own helment and car livery. Thankfully, the league will return to the classic single race event, instead of this Season 9's complicated and gimmicky Sprint and Feature race format.