[NoSkillz]

European Racing Series - 2017 OVERVIEW

We begin our second year in the ERS, which features 10 races at six unique European venues, with repeat visits featuring a different track configuration. The prize fund in 2017 is once again £125,000,000 and the series has an estimated world-wide TV Audience of 40 million.

Set car specifications include a 1.6 litre V6 engine, a car weight of 630 kgs, a top speed of 181mph, a max 0-60mph speed of 3.1 seconds and finally, as indicated previously, all cars in the series used Spec front and rear wings to bring down costs.

There are ten teams fighting for the constructors championship in the ERS in 2017. Here's a brief look at our nine opponents:

ZRT Motorsport, United States, 1.25 stars
- Main Drivers: Sergio Valdes, 21, Spain (10 races, 0 podiums, 0 wins) and Sergio Arbeloa, 25, Spain (40 races, 6 podiums, 1 win); Reserve Driver: Aurelie Dembele, 33, France (100 races, 4 podiums, 0 wins)
- Hotshot Valdes returns, as does Dembele but she's dropped to the reserves, as ZRT is able to bring Arbeloa over from Eastwood Motorsport, a nice coup.

Archer BMR, United Kingdom, 1.25 stars
- Main Drivers: Mustafa El Sadat, 23, Egypt (20 races, 2 podiums, 1 win) and Alex Rogers, 35, United Kingdom (120 races, 0 podiums, 0 wins); Reserve Driver: Peter Young, 32, United Kingdom (0 career races)
- No changes at Archer, who will lean heavily on El Sadat, who has some nice skills and won an ERS race last year.

Dragon Race Team China, China, 1.5 stars
- Main Drivers: Guillermo Almeida, 33, Columbia (132 races, 3 podiums, 2 wins) and Lisandro Cruz, 24, Venezuela (0 career races); Reserve Driver: Nick Chu, 19, Thailand (10 races, 0 podiums, 0 wins)
- Chu was one of the main drivers but is dropped to the reserves, as Dragon goes with two new drivers in Almeida, who has been a journeyman in the Asia-Pacific Super Cup and hot free agent Cruz, who hasn't raced professionally yet but looks to be very promising.

Octane Racing, Canada, 1.5 stars
- Main Drivers: Merja Vaananen, 30, Finland (60 races, 0 podiums, 0 wins) and Claudia Dreyfuss, 18, Germany (10 races, 2 podiums, 0 wins); Reserve Driver: Adrian Earle, 29, United Kingdom (0 career races)
- Dreyfuss and Earle return but Merja Vaananen joins Octane from Vexala Motorsport but hasn't been on a podium in 60 career races.

Vexala Motorsport, Finland, 1.25 stars
- Main Drivers: Sergey Antonov, 32, Russia (120 races, 20 podiums, 4 wins) and Riem Czyborra, 21, Germany (0 Career Races); Reserve Driver: Simone Santore, 25, Italy (0 career races)
- Antonov and reserve Santore return but Czyborra is new to the team, taking over from Merja Vaananen, who now is with Octane Racing.

Silva Racing, Brazil, 1.5 stars
- Main Drivers: Eduardo Melo, 23, Brazil (40 races, 0 podiums, 0 wins) and Amanda Cavalcanti, 21, Brazil (10 races, 2 podiums, 1 win); Reserve Driver: Bruno Cabral, 18, Portugal (0 career races)
- Silva make no driver changes in 2017 and got a win last year with Cavalcanti.

Firebird MRT, Russia, 1.75 stars
- Main Drivers: Alejandro Moreno, 31, Venequela (128 races, 0 podiums, 0 wins) and Oscar Diaz, 32, Columbia (0 career races); Reserve Driver: Luigi Marchetta, 32, Italy (130 races, 17 podiums, 1 win)
- Moreno has raced in the World Motorsport Championship for eight years, most recently with Thornton Motorsport but they were relegated to the Asia-Pacific Super Cup this year and Thornton let him go. He's the definition of a journeyman, with no podium finishes in his career. Diaz is a rookie while new reserve Marchetta raced for Octane Racing last year, finishing on the podium twice.

Eastwood Motorsport, United Kingdom, 1.75 stars
- Main Drivers: Sofi Sevilla, 30, Spain (0 career races) and Edda Jonsdottir, 21, Iceland (10 races, 2 podiums, 0 wins); Reserve Driver: Andre Sabado, 31, Brazil (79 races, 2 podiums, 0 wins)
- Sevilla is in her first year with Eastwood while Jonsdottir is the reigning Driver of the Year in the ERS despite not winning a race. Sabado raced with Firebird MRT last year and joins the powerful Eastwood team as a reserve.

Ozu Motor Team, Japan, 1.75 stars
- Main Drivers: Oli Clarke Smith, 26, United Kingdom (0 career races) and Ebony Tyler, 18, United Kingdom (0 Career Races); Reserve Driver: Jean-Pierre Gerard, 25, France (30 races, 2 podiums, 0 wins)
- Ozu were relegated from the Asia-Pacific Cup and obviously lost all of their drivers in the offseason. Gerard raced for Firebird MRT last year and now is a reserve with Ozu.