Motorsport Manager: The Underdog Challenge (Predator Racing Group)

[NoSkillz]

Asia-Pacific Super Cup - 2021 OVERVIEW

We begin our first year in the APSC, which features 11 races at ten unique venues across the globe, with the only repeat visit being in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The prize fund in 2021 is £250,000,000 (double that of the ERS) and the series has an estimated world-wide TV Audience of 100 million (vs. 40 million for the ERS).

Engines are based on spec but everything else is open to improvement in the association.

There are ten teams fighting for the constructors championship in the Asia-Pacific series in 2021. Here's a brief look at our nine opponents:

Kruger Motorsport, Germany, 2.25 stars
- Main Drivers: Rafael Rodrigues, 32, Portgual (50 races, 22 podiums, 9 wins) and Camile Piaget, 32, Switzerland (35 races, 9 podiums, 1 win); Reserve Driver: Jaidee Veerapol, 27, Thailand (0 career races)
- Rodrigues was our top driver for two and a half years before moving onto Ruiz Motorsport for two years and now debuts with Kruger. Joining him is Piaget, who had eight podiums last year with Zampelli in the ERS.

Ruiz Motorsport, Mexico, 2.25 stars
- Main Drivers: Ines Santa Ana, 28, Argentina (18 races, 0 podiums, 0 wins) and Maria Gonzalez, 31, Mexico (86 races, 3 podiums, 0 wins); Reserve Driver: Michelle Cooper, 36, Australia (131 races, 2 podiums, 0 wins)
- Well, lookie here! Santa Ana is a main driver in the Asia Pacific Series?! All 18 of her prior races were with us in our first two years in the ERS and she's spent her last four seasons as a reserve in the Asia Pacific, finally getting her first shot to drive this season. Gonzalez is super skilled but not very prolific while Cooper is a well-travelled journeywoman.

Lucatelli Racing, Italy, 2.0 stars
- Main Drivers: Kareem Shah, 32, United Kingdom (123 races, 17 podiums, 8 wins) and Magnus Krantz, 32, Germany (46 races, 2 podiums, 0 wins); Reserve Driver: Sofia Alcantar, 22, Mexico (0 career races)
- Shah dominated the ERS two years ago, with 10 podium finishes and all 8 of his career wins in those 11 races. Otherwise, he's been just a journeyman, albeit a very skilled one. Krantz and Alcantar don't look that imposing.

Team Kirov, Russia, 2.25 stars
- Main Drivers: Amy McCloud, 24, United Kingdom (39 races, 3 podiums, 0 wins) and Cristiano De Oeste, 25, Argentina (23 races, 1 podium, 0 wins); Reserve Driver: Gabriella Sa, 28, Portugal (0 career races)
- Not a very impressive lineup here either but McCloud and De Oeste are both young and may improve.

MRT Valbuena, Spain, 2.25 stars
- Main Drivers: Samuel Blanc, 37, France (210 races, 16 podiums, 8 wins) and Amanda Cavalcanti, 25, Brazil (31 Races, 4 podiums, 1 win); Reserve Driver: Molly Childs, 21, United Kingdom (0 career races)
- Blanc may be one of the most highly decorated veterans on the circuit and still has incredible skill at his advanced age. Cavalcanti is an accomplished young driver who raced a couple of years against us in the ERS while Childs is an up and comer.

Espirit GP, France, 2.25 stars
- Main Drivers: Shunpei Kubodera, 18, Japan (11 races, 2 podiums, 0 wins) and Artem Mikhailovic, 31, Russia (68 races, 5 podiums, 1 win); Reserve Driver: Simone Santore, 29, Italy (11 races, 2 podiums, 0 wins)
- Kubodera is the youngster with tons of promise while Mikhailovic is the skilled veteran nearing the end of a solid but unspectacular career. Santore raced one year in the ERS but otherwise has been a reserve for her whole career.

Thornton Motorsport, United Kingdom, 2.25 stars
- Main Drivers: Iker Vidal, 30, Spain (138 races, 0 podiums, 0 wins) and Lamberto Palmisano, 19, Italy (0 career races); Reserve Driver: Thierry Leclere, 37, France (25 races, 4 podiums, 1 win)
- Vidal has incredible talent but has never finished on a podium in his long career, something remarkable in itself. Palmisano is a promising rookie while Leclere is a veteran reserve who had a couple of decent seasons in the middle of his career.

Van Dort Racing, United Kingdom, 2.75 stars
- Main Drivers: Wolfgang Schmidt, 33, Germany (159 races, 1 podium, 0 wins) and Rick de Graaf, 23, Holland (80 races, 1 podium, 0 wins); Reserve Driver: Ellie Nightingale, 26, United Kingdom (22 races, 2 podiums, 0 wins)
- Based on driver skill, Van Dort looks to be the best team in this series and just were relegated from the World Motorsport Championship. I simply can't believe that de Graaf and Schmidt haven't dominated in the past, with de Graaf being a four star talent and Schmidt is a 4.75 star talent with almost flawless stats across the board but zero wins for both. Wild. Nightingale has raced against us in the past in the ERS and is one of the best reserves on the circuit. This team looks stacked.

Ozu Motor Team, Japan, 2.00 stars
- Main Drivers: Oli Clarke Smith, 30, United Kingdom (44 races, 7 podiums, 1 win) and Jonas Braunlich, 35, Austria (133 races, 3 podiums, 1 win); Reserve Driver: Jean-Pierre Gerard, 29, France (30 races, 2 podiums, 0 wins)
- Smith and Gerard are now long-time drivers for Ozu who we both faced when they spent time in the ERS. Braunlich is a journeyman and nothing more.

[Brian Swartz]

Excellent breakdown of your new challenge. Some familiar names definitely, and really surprised to see Santa Ana up here. Always saw here stay in the ERS in my game.

[NoSkillz]

2021

I felt we were in a pretty good position as a newcomer to the Asia-Pacific Super Cup, with most of our key measurables in the middle of the pack in the association. However, with a car listed as the worst in the Asia-Pac, we weren't going to be overconfident and I knew I'd have to dedicate as many resources to the vehicles as possible.

We spent almost 10 million pounds more on our car than usual going into the season, as moving up into the larger association gave us access to better and more expensive part manufacturers.

We still went into the season with modest expectations and my only promise to our chairman was that we'd stay afloat in the association this year and therefore, avoid relegation back to the European Racing Series.

It didn't take me long to realize that I perhaps underestimated our team or more specifically, I underestimated the brilliance of one Pascal Becker.

Right off the bat, in pre-season testing, Becker was in the top three, right in between Wolfgang Schmidt and Rick De Graaf, both part of the Van Dort Racing team, while Michela Pizzolato languished near 15th or so.

It would be a VERY trying season for Pizzolato, coming off the heels of a breakthrough 2020 campaign in the ERS, where she won a race and had 5 podium finishes.

She dealt with many off-track issues, including a crash-related neck injury that took two months to heal and then a mid-season divorce from her husband meant her focus wasn't entirely on her job.

The fact that only the top six finishers in each race get points in the Asia-Pacific series didn't help but Pizzolato would finish the season with ZERO podium finishes, only one top ten and ultimately put up a zero point season.

The big goose-egg!

She crashed out of three races (out of 11) and was pretty much a non-factor in all the rest, to the point where I actively started looking for new drivers late in the season when she was going through all this off-track turmoil. Ultimately, I stuck with her for the duration of the season but I'd be keeping my eye on free agents for next year, without question.

Thankfully, as indicated, we had Pascal Becker around...

Becker would finish in second place in his first two races, well behind and I mean WELL-BEHIND race winner Wolfgang Schmidt, who had a breakthrough season himself and simply dominated the circuit all year, winning seven races.

Schmidt's teammate Rick De Graaf won two races himself, giving Van Dort 9 of the 11 titles in 2021 and as such, they rolled to victory in the Constructor's Championship, putting up a ridiculous 176 points in the process.

Becker would maintain that early-season form throughout the entire campaign, finishing in the top three an incredible TEN TIMES and winning two late-season races, especially showing dominance in stormy conditions. He'd finish third in the Driver's Championship, a single point behind second placed De Graaf and 37 points behind winner Schmidt.

Meanwhile, our team held onto second place in the team standings right from week one, earning me "Principal of the Year" honours and our team much respect from everyone in the driving community.

We continued to make improvements to our facilities, beginning construction on a Handling Development Centre and a Brakes R&D facility. We'd also finish the season with a boatload of cash, mostly due to our top level sponsors but also the riches that come with being in the Asia-Pacific Series. This will allow us to keep building better cars and hopefully, winning more races.

Incredibly, after only one year in the Asia-Pacific, I think we're pretty close to making the jump into the World Motorsport Championship! It looks like I may need to look into a better second driver to team alongside Pascal Becker but I'll look into that in the off-season.

2021 was another wildly successful season for Predator and we look forward to continuing that upward trajectory next year!