GRAND PRIX WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

[jakesanson]

Lap 42:
Pafvelsson's engine dies, ending another frustrating weekend for the FK Systems team, easily the unluckiest in the pitlane.

Lap 45:
Cool spins down to last, swearing at the team in the progress. He's complaining about car problems.

Lap 54:
Snel is out. An electrical failure ends her chance of a decent points finish.

Lap 55:
MacGibbons pits from 6th with a loose wheel.

Lap 61:
Ten laps to go:

1. Mannsperger
2. Rugen
3. Lavaggi
4. Toccacello
5. Ariesta
6. Moreno
7. Sanson
8. Leuenberger

[jakesanson]

Lap 62:
Pretty boring race so far, and it looks plain sailing for the Minaraes. WAIT A MINUTE!! ARIESTA'S OUT!!!

A transmission failure, and that's going to hit hard at Republica. They were on course for fifth place.

Lap 64:
Priet retires from last place.

Lap 67:
OH NO!! THAT'S LAVAGGI!! She's out!!! Oh, that was an almost guaranteed third place!!! That's such cruel luck!!! An engine failure drops her out of the race.

Lap 69:
That's another engine!! It's Nico Weidlinger!!!!

He was only 10th but that's a shame. WAIT A MINUTE!!! THAT'S JORG MANNSPERGER!!!

HE'S OUT!!! HE'S OUT!!!! TRANSMISSION FAILURE!!! HE'S LEAD THE WHOLE RACE!! That's a harsh way to lose a victory. So that means that his German team-mate Mark Rugen will take the lead!!!

[jakesanson]

Lap 71:
MARK RUGEN WINS THE PORTUGESE GRAND PRIX!! Those last 10 laps couldn't have been more crazy!!

Great result for Jaime Moreno in the DRTW, as the team finally gets its first podium finish!!

RACE RESULTS
1. Mark Rugen (Minarae)
2. Gabriele Toccacello (Transition)
3. Jaime Moreno (DRTW)
4. Timothy MacGibbons (LeRon)
5. Leszek Leuenberger (Kraft)
6. Jake Sanson (SME)
7. Timo Laiti (Nextdrive)
8. Bjorn Makki-Ohlson (LeRon)
9. Ryan Miller (FK Junior)
10. Sebastien Bourougsse (Nextdrive)
11. Lewis Cool (SME)

FL: Jorg Mannsperger (Minarae)

[jakesanson]

DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1. Jorg Mannsperger (36 pts)
2. Mark Rugen (29 pts)
3. Ukyo Okazaki (20 pts)
4. Gabriele Toccacello (18 pts)
= Timothy MacGibbons (18 pts)
6. Leszek Leuenberger (17 pts)
= Jaime Moreno (17 pts)
8. Rickard Alingas (14 pts)
9. Jake Sanson (13 pts)
10. Linvoy Nonda (9 pts)
= Sophia Lavaggi (9 pts)
12. Sebastien Bourougsse (8 pts)
= Lewis Cool (8 pts)
= Elio Lahikkanen (8 pts)
15. Bjorn Makki-Ohlson (7 pts)
16. Massimiliano Ariesta (6 pts)
= Giambattista Regazzi (6 pts)
18. Natalia Medina Gonzalez (5 pts)
= Caleb Liu (5 pts)
20. Maarja Snel (4 pts)
= Facundo-Daniel Baru (4 pts)
22. Patrik Pafvelsson (3 pts)
= Yiasoumis Mertakis (3 pts)
24. Alexis Kamannen (2 pts)
= Timo Laiti (2 pts)
26. Ryan Miller (1 pt)
= Kostas Kafatos (1 pt)

CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP
1. Minarae (65 pts)
2. SME (36 pts)
3. Orchis (29 pts)
4. LeRon (25 pts)
5. Transition (20 pts)
6. FK Systems (18 pts)
7. DRTW (16 pts)
8. Nordisch (14 pts)
9. Republica (12 pts)
10. Cyprus (10 pts)
11. Kraft (6 pts)

PRIZE MONEY
Minarae: £1.8m
Republica: £150k
Transition: £1.275m
LeRon: £975k
Cyprus: £150k
SME: £750k
DRTW: £900k
FK Systems: £300k
Orchis: £150k
FK Junior: £225k
Nordisch: £150k
Kraft: £675k
Nagato: £75k

[jakesanson]

BREAKING NEWS!!!

A blazing row after the Portugese Grand Prix has resulted in the termination of Lewis Cool's contract at SME, at the young rookie's request.

After a heated debate in which all his engineers and mechanics, and Jake Sanson himself tried to reason with Lewis, but Trinidad's number one driver certainly lost his "Cool", and asked to leave the team with immediate effect, and wouldn't leave the motorhome until his contract had been physically ripped in two!!!

Lewis Cool is rumoured to be heading to Indycars, in the PacWest seat that Jake had left vacant.

It does however mean that SME is now searching for a new driver, as they have said they won't give Caleb Liu the race drive, as the Malaysian has expressed that he does not feel confident taking the number two seat at the team.

[V12-Power]

FK Racing Systems: The team is already familiar with big disappointments, so everything is okay, business as usual. Although, after investing several millions into the car's reliability now, the team expected it would make some improvements in this part. But it doesn't seem to help. Team boss FK didn't want to comment rumours, that the team will be shut down after the season.

FK Junior Racing: Once again a great race by Ryan Miller, who got 9th. Too bad he didn't get a point, he would have deserved it.

[jakesanson]

Swedish FK Systems driver Rickard Alingas, made his team proud today after being caught by journalists leaving Estoril. When asked if he was thinking of leaving the team, without his managers there to aid him Rickard defended the FK Systems organisation admirably:

"Yes, we've had setbacks but I stick by the FK team. The atmosphere here is only made tense by the car's problems. I love working with this squad and despite these problems, there is a long way to go, and I'm sure we can make use of the time we have left. I have no intention whatsoever of leaving the team."

When asked if the rumours are true about FK quitting after this season:

"I really hope not, they're like family to me already after just a few races. I watched the team through their days with Lamborghini and they enjoyed some great successes. This year, it's just a minor setback. We can win races, we're certainly fast enough as we showed in qualifying. Just give it time, when this car comes good Minarae won't know what hit them!!!"

Rickard Alingas once again showing his amazing charm and wit, and giving his team a much-needed morale boost.

[Hawke]

What a great race for Moreno and the DRTW team, finally a podium.

We have worked hard to get this result and we have to work hard to score again these great results.... so we will invest again in our reliability with 200 points (800.000) and Mercedes will deliver a updated-version of the Viper-engine (5 bhp = 500.000)

[V12-Power]

FK Racing Systems presented it's new Le Mans challenger this morning and had a brief roll-out at the Nürburgring.
The car was announced since the very start of the entry of FK Racing Systems in the GPWC and now was finally unveiled. It's powered by a Honda engine, which is basically a re-badged Acura engine, which is also used in ALMS. The tyres come from Bridgestone. The livery of the car remembers at the GPWC car. The car was rolled-out by swedish-ace Rickard Alingas, while Patrik Pavfelsson will start with some more tests tomorrow. "Our goal is to participate at the 24 hours of Le Mans, with Rickard and Patrik. This will be a very interesting experience and a welcome change from daily routine" team-owner FK stated.

[MaxX]

Minarae:
It`s really a pity we have missed the chance to score our first 1-2 finish and to help Mannsperger in scoring good points for the championship. Nevertheless we ware very happy that we where able to win the race and to have Rugen back on the top once more.
For the Orchis affair we are sure that the GPWC counsil will take adequate steps, we won`t further comment on that allthough this is not good for the sport at all.
We all, especially Rugen, will cross the fingers for Alingas and FK Racing in Le Mans.

Orchis:
After the disgraceful development for the team we surely had hoped for a good results on the track. Such things are always the best answer in times like these. The team makes clear that it fully cooperates with the GPWC counsil in this affair and will accept any punishment without further actions on the green table.

[jakesanson]

SME Racing has announced that will enter the Le Mans 24 Hours race under the Volkswagen racing banner.

Since the release of the FK Systems Le Mans challenger, SME thought the time was right to inform the world of their plans.

"We don't know how many privately entered teams are competing at Le Mans, but we actually feel quite content to know we're not the only team!!

"We have no intention at all of winning the event, as we know already that going up against teams like Aston Martin, Ferrari and Toyota we will almost certainly be out-classed, but that doesn't mean it won't be an adventure for us.

"Just like FK, we'll be entering from this season and we know we only have four or five races to go until the race, so for the 1st car we have signed young British driver Tim Peers to drive alongside a former GPWC favourite, Grischa Zickler. The German female gave a great deal of character to the GPWC, and we believe she'll be a great asset to our Le Mans project. The third driver shall be myself, although it'll be Grischa that qualifies the car.

"We have yet to confirm if we will run 1 car or 2."

[jakesanson]

GPWC COURT OF APPEAL

The GPWC World Council met today to discuss the "overspending" charges of the Orchis Grand Prix team. They released this statement:

"Whilst we recognise that this crime is a severe one under the basic rules of the sport that have been laid down since 1986, we have been made aware that the performance of the car has not really been obvious. This does not however take away from the severity of the irregularity of the rules.

We therefore feel constrained to commit Orchis to the maximum term allowed for these offences. The team will receive a two-race ban suspended for the remainder of the season, and a $500,000 fine.

Orchis will be allowed to continue for the rest of this season, until any rules of the GPWC agreement are transgressed. If such an event occurs, the Orchis team will then be banned for two races."

[jakesanson]

SME Racing are no closer to finding a new driver on the eve of the next Grand Prix in the World Championship, after the resignation of Lewis Cool.

Rumours have been running round the pit lane, with favourites for the drive being Linvoy Nonda, Grischa Zickler, Tim Peers and even Mark Schllinger.

Nonda has a contract with Transition as their test driver, and it's possible he may be stepping in to rest Elio Lahikkanen while the Finn competes in the 1000 Lakes Rally. Zickler is contracted by the VW touring car team, and their sportscar project so is definitely the favourite. But Mark Schllinger won two Grands Prix last year and has reportedly lost none of his speed, whilst 18 year-old Tim Peers has been impressing everyone in the Lola World Series, and has a long-term contract with the SME Junior drivers project.

SME has also reportedly contacted LeRon Sports about the possibility of hiring their American ace Timothy MacGibbons, once their lead driver Harold Fisher returns to the team following his broken hand in February.

The team stated they'd announce their new driver the day before free practice of the next Grand Prix.

[jakesanson]

LOLA WORLD SERIES,
SPAIN, Jerez

PP: Norio Narahasi (Ssangyong)

1. Norio Narahasi (Ssangyong)
2. Tim Peers (Yaesu)
3. Domonik Waijenberg (NP Holland)
4. Rena Hayami (Yaesu)
5. Jaime Lombardo (Comet)
6. Riccardo Alessi (Scicilia)
7. Natalia Medina Gonzalez (Dubai)
8. Oliver Oelschlager (Haddix)

FL: Timo Laiti (Nextdrive)

Congratulations to Norio Narahasi and the Ssangyong-Honda race team. Norio and Masami Toyoma will make their Grand Prix debuts in Jerez.

[MaxX]

Orchis:
The team apologizes for this incident and accepts the penalty, as stated earlier. From now on we will set the focus on possitive headlines again.