Season Review
-Apex
A deserved title for the Monacan team in the end, but the lack of driver title to accompany it is the real story. The team had massive qualifying pace at season start, yet failed to properly grip onto the series until well after halfway through the season. Rautavaara was by far the fastest driver at season end, for him the close battle must hurt. We'll want to see what Apex offer in S4, this is the second time they've had a good qualifying engine, they can't afford to disappoint with a third.
-Razor
From joining midway through S2, to losing their star driver, to seeing a rookie win 4 of the first 6 races and podium the other two, to miraculously losing the constructors title, you can say that Razor have seen some highs and relative lows in their short time in the competition. Had the #14 car had a capable driver, I fancy that this paragraph would have been higher on the review list. But we must congratulate the team on a car that was just so good, as well as their decision to take a risk on a rookie Australian.
-N-Tech
The defending champions had a harsh return to reality after their own highs in S2. The car seemed there, the drivers did (almost) all the right things, but somehow the results didn't come. There is no doubt that a second title for the team and/or Cocks was possible, in the 12 races that he made the line he wasn't out of the points once. Bohner had a few magical appearances, but for whatever reason, the Canadian team didn't get the points. They'll now look to regroup around Bohner, we're looking forward to how that goes.
-RD
Out of nowhere came the German team this season. After finishing as the 12th best, yes 12th best team in S2, the team probably wasn't given half a chance after being one of 3 teams with the less than great Ferrari engine and two rookies. Yet we saw quite the transformation, as Costello took his stark white car to two podiums at season start, while Reed followed up with his own in round 3. By round 5 the car had colour and a sponsor (!), and by round 9 the unthinkable, a win in their home race. But with all that positiveness, we have no idea what will happen with one driver leaving and one that didn't seem interested.
-JHR
A late inclusion to the grid, the team of former champion Jack Hunsley were expected to do well, maybe grab a few top 10s and just generally exist. Yet with two rookies, the JHR cars started to look more and more similar to what we expected from Hunsley himself, blistering drives, a take no prisoners approach. It all made for enthralling viewing. 4 podiums and both drivers in the top 10, we're expecting a step up from the British squad for sure.
-DTK
After going close in S2, DTK had to completely reset after both drivers left during the off season. Grabbing an emerging talent alongside a F1 legend, DTK were expected to perform well. And they did. For a bit. 3 top 5 finishes in the first 4 rounds for Kederer. Then that fell apart, the German eventually packing up and leaving the team. Harvey saved some face with 3 podiums over the season, and replacement Noack scoring 5th in the final round was a nice distraction from the title battle.
-Ravenwest
A case of what could have been for the team that was born from Speedy Racing. Not being either here nor there at season start, soon the team started hitting it's straps, showing some race winning pace without actually winning a race. The biggest turning point for their season was at the Hockenheimring, where mistakes eventually cost the team a maiden win when it looked rather in the bag. It's felt that the team has all the makings to succeed, we'll see what happens to them.
-Falcon
Falcon continued the recent curse of teams who win the first round before relatively falling on their face. Winning in Melbourne with new recruit Rinneaho, pole position in South Africa, it was a good start. But the problems were already growing by then, and the two podium places for the Finn in Europe and France probably did more harm than good, giving a false impression that the car was in top shape. Sharp had some good finishes mid season, but S4 needs to be about finding out their problems and fixing them before it's too late.
-2KF1
The enigma of the season perhaps, how can a team simultaneously have it's most and least successful season? 13 pole positions gives way to ninth in the standings and a radical shake up in the governance of the team, with Jamie Cocks moving into run the Australian squad. Whether the team can find a way to return to the front that it briefly occupied on occasion in the past is unknown, since the first race of the entire series it's just gone downhill for them..
-Jawz
Ultimately falling 2 points short of 2KF1, Jawz end their first season in the competition somewhat well, but the big talking point is, and probably always will be, that last minute change to Ferrari and away from the dominant BMW. A podium for Brugman early offset the disappointment of 4 straight retirements from Graham, results that severely impacted the Brit's season. The Dutch team will have to up their game a little bit next season, starting with making the right choice with engines...
-Driftslide
The final team to get drafted in at season start and their results showed. That being said, a tally of 41 points for 11th place is a great effort for a team with two rookies and a Ferrari engine that just didn't give anything back. 3 top 5 finishes were a fine effort and something to build on, the team now will have a solid footing into next season. We've seen some herculean efforts to go up the pecking order, but unless a holy engine appears at their front door, we think this team can hope for around the mid field.
With that, the season is done (finally). I'm going to give about 1-2 weeks of silence on FFG, after that I'll open the S4 thread and we'll go from there. Unofficially, I fancy the season to begin with the pre season test around the 6th of May.
A whopping $6200 of tax was collected from drivers and teams going full dragon and hoarding their gold. This money will find a good home
in this dragon's pocket in a fund devoted to track improvements.
Well done again to Nathan Cornes and Apex Racing Team on their championships, well done to everyone who took part and we'll see you soon!