RDGPC Season 6 Gets Green Light Following Successful Qualifier

[Paul Jeffrey]

The RaceDepartment Grand Prix Championship pre-season qualifier is complete, time to introduce the 30 strong grid of competitors confirmed for this exciting new championship.

RDGPC is now in its sixth season of competition in 2017, and over the past few years we have seen a variety of different style open wheel cars, and sims, put to use in our premium open wheel racing series.

Thanks to the continual impressive rate of development and the highly regarded state of the current physics and force feedback, we have decided to use the mighty Automobilista racing simulation from Reiza Studios for RDGPC Season 6, putting our drivers to the test in the low power high grip Formula Three car, a vehicle synonymous for incredibly close on track action whilst delivering a mighty experience behind the wheel.

As always with an online league here at RaceDepartment we take the organisation of this event seriously, so after some considerable testing and tweaking behind the scenes, Saturday was our first opportunity to let our prospective drivers out onto the circuit in advance of the new season. We were delighted with the turnout and quality of the new field, and look forward to what could very possibly be one of the most closely fought series of the year here at RaceDepartment.

So we know which sim will be used, and we know the cars, who are the drivers I heard you ask? Introducing our 2017 RaceDepartment Grand Prix Championship grid for season six of our biggest and best open wheel league here at RD:

The Mighty Forth

#1 Ryan Seltzer (United States)
#6 David Jundt (Switzerland)
#10 Ferdinand Lechner (Germany)
#44 Mark Breslin (United Kingdom)​

Hellenic Racing Association

#3 Johnny Stathoros (Greece)
#12 Manos Papangleou (Greece)​

Push Rod Racing

#11 Aitor Sintes (Spain)​

Banzaaaiii TCC

#16 Tobias Marquardt (Germany)
#26 Tamas Pazsy (Hungary)​

LG Racing

#19 Matt Le Gallez (Guernsey)
#91 Steve Le Gallez (Guernsey)​

White Knockels Simracing

#21 Bart Zweerink (Netherlands)
#65 Frans van der Linden (Netherlands)
#66 Ronny van Rooij (Netherlands)
#88 Tom Lombearts (Belgium) - Reserve​

MK Simsport

#22 Tom Watts (United Kingdom)
#24 Dan Long (United Kingdom)
#90 Matt Beavis (United Kingdom)​

Kinka Racing

#25 Olivier Louis (France)
#28 Jean-Pierre Perre (France)​

STAX Racing

#37 Christian Zoerner (Germany)​

Racers In Pyjamas

#40 Craig Patteson (Guernsey)
#76 Dan Oniell (United Kingdom)​

Tech 3 Racing

#27 Carlos Alba (Spain)
#33 Jeremy Mook (Netherlands)
#51 Theo van den Brink (Netherlands) - Reserve
#99 Antonio Navarro (Spain)​

Ajira Racing

#73 Tero Dahlberg (Finland)​

w3race

#77 Rodrigo Cascaes (Brazil)
#96 Andre Felisberto (Brazil)​

Copenhagen APEX

#80 Allan Roloff Groth (Denmark)​

Independent Drivers:

#31 Ken Verhagen (United States)
#60 Pavel Koshkin (Russia) - Reserve​

CMGARAGE

#7 Matt Cook (United Kingdom) - Reserve​

Gorace.fr

#72 Fabrice Bourguignon (France) - Reserve

​

35 drivers from 17 teams across 15 nations have registered to take part in the new season of RDGPC, some new to the online league racing world here at RaceDepartment and some returning big names and Automobilista experts, all looking to push the boundaries of performance in the quest to deliver big results and take home the coveted RDGPC championship spoils, and with it the recognition of the best open wheel driver on the largest sim racing website in the world.

We expect the new season to be close, hard, fast and fair, and to help facilitate a quality on track product we have hand picked some of the best and most appropriate arena's of speed in which to showcase these wonderful slicks and wings racing cars.

RDGPC Season 6 will be visiting five of the best venues for this small but nimble open wheel race car, taking in some of the best race locations from around the world.

Starting the season proper on November 4th, our field of drivers will be heading out to Germany for 60 adrenaline fuelled laps of the German Grand Prix hosting Hockenheim GP circuit, a track that presents plenty of passing opportunities but can punish those who take an eye off the ball and lose that all important momentum.

Moving away from mainland Europe for round two, our field will be taking on the little known but high quality Goinia circuit in Brazil for 68 laps of activity in the heat and dust of the 2.382 km long circuit. Featuring undulations, difficult sections and 15 corners made up of predominantly left hand turns, something rarely seen in European motorsport, Goinia should prove a suitable test of our drivers ability to perform under pressure and mark out those who look to be seriously in contention for the championship at seasons end.

High speed and open road gets replaced by the very difficult, very quick and exceptionally unforgiving Adelaide Street Circuit for round three, one of the best Australian Grand Prix venues of the past thirty years and a very firm favourite of both fans and drivers alike. Adelaide will be one of the toughest tests of our drivers this season, with 68 gruelling laps leaving absolutely no room for mistakes amongst our packed grid of competitors. Super fast sections mixed up with close proximity concreate barriers and unforgiving curbs, Adelaide could very easily prove to be a major turning point for many of the drivers in our new series.

Round four sees the grid once again return to Brazil for another blast around some incredible default content of Automobilista, the beautiful Brasilia circuit in the capital of Brazil. At a length of 5.476 KM Brasilia is one of the longest venues on the calendar, and with high speeds and seat of the pants sections of corners, Brasilia will all be about speed, consistency and compromises in car setup in a bid to earn the overall race victory. Fast on straights or easy on tyres? That will be a difficult decision for our drivers in the penultimate round of the new series.

For our final race of the season we head to one of the most picturesque and beautiful circuits in the world... Oulton Park in Cheshire, UK. As the season of competition draws to a close, Oulton will be the perfect place to cap off what we fully expect to be a genuinely incredible few months of open wheel racing.

As is the norm with all our racing leagues here at RaceDepartment we will be live streaming on our YouTube and Twitch channels, with professional quality broadcasting and dedicated race control admin staff, RDGPC will be as good on the screen as it is out on the circuit.

We can't wait for the season to start, and we look forward to welcoming you all to what should be a quality few months of open wheel action.

See you all on the 4th November for Round One at Hockenheim!

Looking forward to RDGPC this year? Competitor? What do you think are your chances of scoring good results? Fan? Who will you be supporting this year? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Joseph Wright]

Go Tech 3 Racing!

Not the best start. Two penalties and a driver who didn't qualify, but we aren't letting that get us down. Onwards and upwards as they say.

Good luck to all the teams and drivers for this season. I shall see you all in preseason!

 

[ARG1980]

Copenhagen APEX is about to pack down and going to Brazil for some pre practice and getting use to the climate - its cold here in Denmark.
First stop though - Copacabana, then Interlagos.
See you on the track, and I am looking so much forward to this tournement.

 

[Getu]

I appreciate a lot that you showcased my skin even though it has the wrong font number LOL

 

[Andrew Harper]

I appreciate a lot that you showcased my skin even though it has the wrong font number LOL

You do know that unauthorised fonts are a 135 place grid penalty don't you?