2021 GT World Challenge Drivers Conference #2

September 18, 2021  — 
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RRLeagues Season 52 collaboration with PitStopUK is now coming to an end with only one round left to go. In this blog we catch up with some of the drivers from the 46 that have competed thus far ahead of the season finale.

Q
With five of the six rounds now complete what have you found to be the most challenging factor throughout the series, and what has been your favourite moment so far?

Niko Van Hulk - Independent
I think the most challenging factor for me was probably keeping it clean. I have been involved in a couple of minor incidents and also made a fair amount of my own mistakes. I think I can still improve in that aspect. Some other honourable mentions would be Zandvoort in the rain and the mountain. My favourite moment was probably the Kyalami race. I really enjoy racing that track and had good fun catching up after the spin.

Jussi Kaki - Maniac Refulled
The most challenging factor has been how incredibly close the drivers are pace wise. Especially at Kyalami where it was incredibly close. I have never seen such close times before. This has made me look for pace in quali’ and in the race. My favourite moment was Marcel Wieser’s overtake on me at Kyalami in the pit entry. That was code brown and very funny the same time and I almost spun my car because of that.

Adrian Softic - Independent
Obviously I have only participated in three of the rounds in this series and I’m very happy with the results achieved in all the races. The hardest part must be the challenge having to keep up with Jak and James while still having to pull away from everyone behind which was shown greatly in the Kyalami race. Favourite moment is tough because Kyalami might have been the best race I’ve driven consistency-wise which was very rewarding. Winning in Paul Ricard is obviously a win so that weighs a lot but also Bathurst is the most difficult track and having survived there for ninety minutes with a P2 on track I think that must take it.

Moritz Dutz - Switch It Rubby
It was difficult to race against completely new opponents at the beginning of the season, you don’t know how good the competition is in quali’. The times were always very close to each other in the race, but then the strong drivers crystallised out.

Callum Morgan - PitStopUK
First of all thanks for having me on! My most challenging part of the series has been Bathurst for me personally, difficult circuit but always fun to drive. My favourite part of the series has to be Paul Ricard and getting my first podium in RRLeagues in my 74th event here... and from the back of the grid at the start too.

Cliff Bulcke - Independent
The hardest part was round 2 at Zandvoort in the rain. It was my first race here at RRLeagues so I didn't know what to expect. It was also my first race driving the M6 in the rain. I did my homework, but it is very hard to prepare for a race like that. All these ingredients together makes it extremely difficult. My favourite moment here during my short time with RRLeagues was round 4 at Paul Ricard. The pace was good, I had some nice fights on track and it was also the first time that I could show some of my level. Unfortunately I was involved in an incident which resulted in a lesser result, but the feeling was good after this race.

Antonio De Leva - Independent
The most challenging factor is the field itself at RRL. It's always very competitive with all the veteran drivers of this community. When I joined S52 I knew I had to race with great drivers, which doesn't necessarily only mean fast, but also very experienced as well. This motivated (and still motivates) me to improve, comparing my performances to them, but not leading me to frustration when results are not what I may have expected. Compared to other communities series, at RRL, this didn't lead me to stress because I could count on respectful and fair drivers around the track which made this series more enjoyable and let me focus on improving. Each race had my little favourite moments, but probably seeing the chequered flag after 90 minutes of decent racing at Mount Panorama was the most satisfying moment!

Jak Camoletto - Paradigm Shift
Competing in a large field mixed with raw talent and vast experience will always be a challenge, and this series is proving that with marginal points separating positions in both the driver and teams championships. What I've found the most challenging personally has been practicing productively. I'm not a raw pace guy, I need time to learn the car and track and all of their nuances before I can start to explore the limits. And jumping in and out of the rig it's too easy to get distracted by a sprint race that looks like fun or a cat meme. Favourite moment so far has to be bringing home a one-two for the team at Zandvoort.

Q
Looking ahead to next weeks finale what are your goals for closing out the season, and what can you take from this series moving onward?

Niko Van Hulk - Independent
My goal for closing out the season would be to have a solid final race. Brands Hatch is another one of those tracks where mistakes are heavily punished, luckily not as bad as on the mountain. I will try and keep my nose clean and hope to keep mistakes to a minimum. I enjoy that track, but my pace isn’t the best around there. Going forward, I have definitely gained experience in the Bentley across various tracks. Furthermore, I finally had a decent race around Zandvoort, so that’s off the list too. I also learned, that there is still a lot of lap time left to find.

I would like to thank the organisers and the commentator for their amazing jobs. I enjoyed this series and without them this would not have been possible. Furthermore, I would like to thank the competitors for all the fun we had on track. Finally, I have to thank my teammates for all the fun and sometimes also frustration we had together in the voice chat.

Jussi Kaki - Maniac Refulled
For next week we are doing our hardest as a team to get that P1 finish, of course. Since this series has been so tight I've learned I have to get better at delivering good times in quali’ and stop making small silly mistakes during the race. Race fair and hard in the last race everyone, and most importantly have fun!

Adrian Softic - Independent
I will most likely not attend (the final race of the season) since I do not have time for a 2 hour race which hurts. But if I do magically arrive after all I’m obviously looking for a fourth consecutive podium.

Moritz Dutz - Switch It Rubby
All in all, the races were always fair for me and I got through without any problems. The last race was unfortunately not that good. It was a very difficult race due to several accidents and unsafe driving of some of the competitors, otherwise I always enjoyed measuring myself against others for a wide league. I wish that there will continue to be rain races and generally a weather change will be built in to bring even more excitement into the whole community.

Callum Morgan - PitStopUK
Into the last round i currently sit in 5th place in the overall drivers standings so I’m on track to improve on the 6th place overall I achieved in the last GT3 series of Season 47. Along with my teammate Ryan Leech, we are also in with a chance of a top 5 finish in the teams standings. Moving forwards I hope to improve my pace even further and move up the podium steps. Final words from me; Its been an amazing season in my Aston as always and I’m looking forward to an ultra competitive battle at Brands’.

Cliff Bulcke - Independent
My objective, I actually have none. The only objective I set was to cause as few incidents as possible and to gain a good reputation as a newcomer to this community which has worked well for me so far. I also learned here that the M6 may not be the right car for me after all, with the time I have spent driving it now I thought I would be faster.

Many compliments to the organisation at RRLeagues. I know roughly what it takes to set this all up. The stewards do a good job, the livestream is a joy to watch the next day, and of course there has been racing here at a fairly high level. I’m hooked for next season.

Antonio De Leva - Independent
The season finale race will be another interesting challenge for me, in which I will try to work on strategy and car performance for a 120 minute long stint. The goal will be to manage such a long race by a decent pace. This series has been the very first in which I drove a Lamborghini in ACC and unexpectedly really made me love this car. I could say it's been a good opportunity to test and work on this car, making me want to look forward to next season!

I would like to really thank everyone who works so hard (and mostly for free) to build such a great community for sim racing drivers, making it clean, fair and happy place to enjoy our motorsport passion. Even though I still have big margin for improvement, I've seen that RLL taught me a lot about racing with people. So keep on rocking, guys!

Jak Camoletto - Paradigm Shift
I'm going into the final race with the same mindset that I've had all season; have fun, get comfortable, have fun, race fair, have fun. If Radek and I can drag our Bentley's into scoring some decent points then great. But the main reason is to switch off from the stresses of day to day life and get lost in the simulator. What I continue to learn is that this is a community driven niche interest with people from all over using sim racing as their hobby, their passion, and to express themselves. The more inclusive we become the better.

written by: Martin Hughes