Michigan 25 June 2009
Today it was announced that the legendary simracing team Roaring Pipes Maniacs and Unicef will team up for the 2009 edition of the RD Oval Series that will be held later this year.

Jarrod Crossley (Chief Mechanic of RPM) said: “I am really happy that our team can drive the legendary blue colors of Unicef and we are proud to support them where we can.

Bram Hengeveld (Driver of RPM) said: It’s an honour to test here at Michigan Superspeedway in a car perfectly trimmed by our Chief Mechanic. I am very happy to defend the blue colors on this great non-profit organisation that helps children all over the world, although my heart will always be RPM-orange when i am on the track i will give maximum attack during the series and try to put the blue car on the highest possible position.

The upcoming days the team hopes to announce several other drivers to compete in the series at RaceDepartment.
During the secret test we managed to shoot some pictures of the RPM-Unicef car on track.

With the Championship dwindling down to the last round at Mo I Rana (Artic Raceway) RPM has held firm in the challenge from the GMT DHR team.  Both teams have suffered technical problems at Donington GP GMTs home race, but it all came out reasonably even all things considered.

Donington GP GT Pro/Sport

     This track brought out some fierce battles and some brave performances.  The GT sport crown was taken by STC regular Tim Hogendoorn in the BVM Spyker, with a dominant performance.  This is were the RPM team had suffered an unexpected disconnection on Rami Kaukola’s car, thus leaving Kevin Ascher to take the car home.  He did so in fine form placing the RPM Sunred in a solid 8th place finish.  GMT DHR would also suffer a mechanical failure on Jack Keithely’s car, a blown engine saw the Marcos limp to a stop.  With this race GMT took a narrow lead in the Champioship going into the GT Pro race next week.

     For the GT Pro race we saw relative newcomer Marcin Skrzypczak, A1 Ring GT Sport debut, and first time STC participant Niklas Vesterinen.  Marcin would produce a pole worthy qualifying lap and Niklas would place a very respectable 5th place on his first time out.  From the start Marcin kept the lead safe and would go on to secure his first win of the STC in 2 starts.  More importantly Niklas would come from behind and bring the second RPM Koenigsegg in 3rd place.  This would see the RPM team take the lead back in the Championship from GMT DHRacing going into the penultimate round at Team GG’s Dijon Prenois GP.

Dijon Prenois GP GT Pro/Sport

      Here we saw teams taking a more serious approach to the Championship as it dwindled down to just a handful of races.  There were more calculated risks being taken, that is to say the top runners would run very clinical races and no quarter was given.  We start with GT Sport where GMT DHR would show just how serious they are by locking out the first row with their Marcos.  The RPM drivers were not to be out done, Rami Kaukola and Jari Vinari would place 5th and 6th respectively.  Seeing as how the qualification session wasn’t a complete success the RPM drivers set out to improve their positions in the race.

      Rami would benefit early on from problems in the front running pack with Mike Simian succumbing to technical problems yet again.  Then would finish up a tremendous race effort with a thrilling battle with David Garcia in the TBR Corvette which ended with the TBR driver finally giving in to the pressure of Rami and thus a 2nd place finish for the RPMer.  Jari Vinari would follow suit in what would be a solid drive to 5th position.  Jari fared tremendously well in the opening stages of the race with mounting pressure from David’s Corvette which seemed to be on a rampage the whole race.

     The GT Pro race would bring the worst weather of the season with the cars having to race in heavy rain conditions.  The Dijon GP would be a very tough venue for these sort of conditions as the track would prove very slick and oily.  However despite the conditions the RPM cars of Rami Kaukola and Cristian Haba would lock out the front row for the third time this season.  The Koenigsegg’s were the only cars able to dip into the 1:21sec lap times.

     After a tentative start by the nr2 car of Cristian Haba saw the RPMers finish lap 1 in 1st and 4th position.  Things would get worse for Cristian and he would drop position to 6th.  The pace setting nr1 car of Rami Kaukola would remain in front of hard charging BVM pilot Tim Hogendoorn and V-WTCC Champion Roland Ehnstrom and manage to create a gap.  GMT DHR driver Vincent Staal would prove that his pace in the week’s previous race was not coincidental, would take the lead from Rami just before the pit stop window.  By this time Roland had made his pit stop with only changing tires, as his C6R started with a belly full of fuel.  This would catapult him into first position leapfrogging Vincent in the meantime.  However a rare altercation with a back marker had Roland make an unexpected stop to repair damage to his car, he would continue the race and set the fastest lap by a few thousands of a second from Vincent.  Rami had an uneventful pitstop which once again is totally the opposite from Cristian.  Cristian Haba’s Koenigsegg would receive a drive through penalty for a malfunction with the pit speed limiter thus pushing him further down the field.

Over all a hard race for all companies involved considering the conditions, but a solid result from the RPM team which would see them gain a point on the GMT DHRacing team.  At the finish Rami placed 2nd and Cristian 4th.  An unlucky day considering the pace of the cars prior to the race, but such is racing.

Next race is at Mo I Rana GP in Italy with the possibility of a totally new driver line up for this season, stay tuned.

After a very unlucky start of the season in the American F3000 GP Championship, where he faced numerous of technical issues causing him to drop out more then he finished, the luck for Quick Nik is changing.
The last three rounds of the championship where pure dominated by Niklas, overclassing the entire field even with +25kg penalty weight on his car with wins in Dijon-Prenois, Monaco and Barcelona

Click here to watch the current standings in the AF3kGPC

Vallelunga GT Pro

Having overcome the hurdle in the previous GT Sport race with the torrential rain the RPM team looked for a more enticing and more involved GT Pro race which would see the cars take to a dry track.  The change in weather came as a welcome change to the repertoire and it would ease the pressure on the drivers.  The previous rain race with the GT Sport cars was a bit of a nightmare with drivers having to stay 100% focused in order to produce results.  The preparation for this race was much easier on the uptake, and as well the Koenigsegg CCGT is a much more tame racing car when compared to the Sunred.  The drivers taking to the track were Kevin Ascher and Christopher Aponte, both having done numerous laps in preparation for a tough race with much more competition than the GT Sport race.

Having qualified 5th and 6th respectively, the RPM drivers set about to bring home a high points earnings from a tough race.  The competing GMT-DHR Team having placed slightly higher in the qualification posed the most threat (qualified with P1 and P3).  Both drivers stuck to the job and had relatively quiet races and brought home 4th and 6th for the team.  A very good outing for the drivers and good points to keep the team at the top of the points standings above rival GMT-DHR with the season coming to the half way margin.

A1 Ring GT Sport

Originally this race was supposed to be held much earlier in the season, but due to technical problems this was not possible and thus we come to April 30th for the ‘re-run’.  Again the weather for the race would prove to cooperate and make things easier for all people involved including providing a better spectacle for the viewers as well.  The drivers involved here were Cristian Haba and Marcin Skrzypczak who stormed to the front of the pack in fine fashion.  With the front row locked down the job seemed easier do as it no doubt is from such a strong position.  The race started off well with both drivers not conceeding positions and Cristian was able to move out and create a sizeable gap up at the front (20sec @ the pit stop).  This gap would only increase to 30 plus seconds before the race would end as no one could surmount an attack on P1.  Marcin would have a tougher time on his first outing in the STC Championship.  In the beginning of the race he was under tremendous pressure from the flat out driver of Mike Simian and Teo Bubicic.  A couple of scuffles here and there saw the RPM driver drop a few places.  After that Marcin got a good handle on proceedings and brought the car home to a solid 7th place finish to take good points from the venue and his first time out in RPM colors for the STC.

With a P1 and P7 finish RPM remains in the lead for the STC Blue Cup with GMT-DHR only 9 points behind with half the season already gone.  This seems to be a battle of consistency and perseverance up until now, and the RPM team has put in a sizable effort even more so then last season.  There are not many changes as we begin the second half of the season and there’s no let off in spirit or in determination.  Next we ferry over to Donnington Park for the GMT-DHR team’s home GP where the racing has always been phenomenal, let’s hope this year is no different.

    For the third round of the STC Blue Cup ‘09 the team took to Vallelunga GP in Italy.  The track is a very challenging one from the point of view of the car and the driver.  It’s a track that took many years to take its current shape.  In short, for a driver there’s very little time to rest as there are relatively short straights and very slow to mid and high speed turns that leave little time for taking a breath.  The car has to have lots of mechanical grip in the slow hairpins and as well a good foot print for the mid to high speed turns.  Add to this equation some good ol’fashioned Italian rain and you have a very challenging combination indeed, on man and machine.

    The RPM team this round consisted of Rami Kaukola and Cristian Haba, who took to the track with confidence having prepared extensively for this outing.  The result of which took the pole and second place on the grid leaving the rest of the teams playing catch up.

Front Row Locked Down

Leading into turn 3

    With nearly identical qualifying lap times (1:40.4 and 1:40.6) Cristian and Rami set out to bring the cars home for a possible one two finish, the first ever for the RPM team in this championship series.  Things started out very well, all things considered.  The RPM drivers knew they had to distance themselves from the competing GMT-DHR drivers and also be weary of TBR driver David Greco who put on some sizzling lap times in the warm up but due to technical difficulties he did not take part in the qualification.  

    The dram starter towards the end of the race.  Until then Rami and Cristian had little work to do but to keep the cars on track and have their pit teams on song.  This was all well and under control until late pressure from a hard charging David Greco put the squeeze on the RPM hit men and after leading the race for so long this was quite a wake up call.  Rami showed his true colors when dealing with the pressure from David in the only way he knows how, true fair and fast, giving the TBR ace only one opportunity which he took to take second place.  With the hard work done by Rami in order to secure 1st place Cristian was already some 7sec away from the duo when an unusual lock up at Campari set the leader into the sandbox.

Beach that way, Track the other way

    The gap between Greco and Haba had now dropped to just under 2sec and the mind games would now begin.  The didn’t give much confidence to Cristian, the SR21 struggles heavily under braking but having regained some of the concentration lost Cristian kept David honest about his intentions and proceeded to keep the gap at the same interval and finish the race, albeit a very hard one indeed.  In the end the team took some very deserved points with a 1st and 3rd finish from Cristian and Rami and distanced themselves from the other teams with this result for some much needed breathing room.  Congratulations to the drivers and the team for a superb performance.  Special thanks to Rami for being a pure class driver.

For the second round of the STC ‘09 Championship the team took to the rain soaked A1 Ring of Hungary, the venue chosen by Team Flatout as their home circuit.  The general populous were expecting a fiery race with lots of action everywhere on the field and that’s exactly how it panned out.

The two RPM drivers having put considerable time into the setup for the car for this dificult second leg of the STC Cup were expecting heavy rain and heavy competition coming from the GMT-DHR racers, the favourites of the season, Team Flatout looking to have a good showing at their home GP and newcomers Black Visor Racing who take over from BRT (Burning Tire Rebels) with driving ace Tim Hogendoorn in the line up.  Things got off to a good start for the RPM drivers and team, with Cristian Haba keeping his 100% pole record with a blistering 1:29.359 and Christopher Aponte with a respectable 1:31.483 good enough for a 3rd row start.

A1 Ring Testing

On this Wednesday we find ourselves on the eve of the much awaited STC GT Pro race at the Austrian A1 Ring, Team Flatout’s GP. Race direction informed the participants of the troublesome rainy weather that awaited. This brings a whole new element to the 90 min race. However team RPM has put in numerous testing sessions with the Koenigsegg CCGT race car to extract the maximum out of every nut and bolt. The progress has been great and as always it continues into the wee hours of the night and early morning on Thursday, raceday.  Here are some shots of the drivers putting the car through its paces.

Seeing as how the testing has so far gone well, final preparations are under way here at RPM.  Tire pressures are checked and then checked again as they say.  The team is in high spirits and we expect to have a good result from this race seeing as how it suits the character of the Koenigsegg.  The usual suspects are set to line up on race day, that is Cristian Haba and Christopher Aponte, bar any last minute chages.

Round One of the RDTCC was at Knutstorp in Sweden. RPM drivers Bram Hengeveld and Yoeri Gijsen both got on the podium. Here is what they had to say about it:
　
Before saturday, what where your realistic goals for the event?
Yoeri: My goal was to drive top 5. I had been a long time since I last focussed on FWD racing and so I found it hard to estimate my position in the field. Some guys are just very fast in FWD while not being altogether hard to beat in RWD. I was counting on Patrick, Bram and Ries in the top, but apart from that it was a guess for me, though the Ninecraft boys would porbably have proved a challenge as well, if they would ahve been present this race. So top 5 seemed something worth going for.
Bram: After two weeks of getting back in to FWD training my only goal for this weekend was: win!
The car and the setup felt extremely good for a dry surface race on Knutstorp.
　
How long did you prepare and set-up for Saturday?
Yoeri: I’ve spent a lot of time on getting the Honda set up, but I did most of that on Mantorp. I had a few quick sessions on Knutstorp in the dry and I think approximately 30 minutes in the wet. I always prepare for a wet race as well. I feel more comfortable knowing I have something to rely on when the rains starts falling and it certainly paid off this time as both the Qualy and the Race were held in wet conditions.
Bram: I havent really dont anything special on Knutstorp. More time i have spent on different WTCC tracks getting used to a frontwheeldrive train again.
Did some daily races in the Racing Club and on the ranking server of RD.

What do you think of the Honda Accord STCC car?
Yoeri: I love it. It’s a genuine touring car and it feels solid. It’s a car you can trust, even when you push it, but it can still be made a bit twitchy to squeeze out a few more tenths. Most of all it a good weapon in battle. The fights were really nice.
Bram: Originally i´ve vote for the Seat Leon but i am very happy with the overall performance of the Honda: its stable and with right setup and in the right hands it can be extremely quick.
　
Were you happy it rained for qually and the race?
Yoeri: Yes. I like rain in a races as it proves a nice challenge. What also counts is that I usually put more time in preparing for raining conditions that most guys do, which gives me a bit of an advantage when I get confronted with the water.
Bram: Nooooo!! I never actually considered rain an option on Knutstorp. I took a wild guess not to practice in the rain at all, so when it happened that both the qualy and the race were wet i heard Yoeri already shouting from joy. His prayer was heard!
　
Early on, yourself and your teammate (Yoeri and Bram) had a great scrap for the lead, were you more careful not to be agressive and take him off or more determined to pass him as he is your fellow teammate?
Yoeri: Well, I don’t want to push my teammate off in any case, but what mattered more here was that I had no interest in pushing it already so soon. I decided to stay near and challenge him a bit, nut never too much. If he’d leave some space I would pass, but I would not force it on him too much. It was in our both interest to move away from the rest and that was what I was trying to do.
It ended up being a cat and mouse game anyway. After all racing guys is great, but racing teammates is even better. We could suffer to do this as were were simply goign faster than the rest. It was fun.
Bram: No Although we did some training together in this league he is a competitor just like anybody else. He is my teambuddy when he is driving behind me, but when he is in front he needs to be overtaken as quickly as possible
　
After the pitsops you had a great fight between yourself and Patrick, did you think you could win the race?
Yoeri: Not really. I had at first, but as soon as I felt that switching for slicks was a bad manouvre it was mainly a matter of staying on track and delay the inevitable as long as possible. Patrick was clearly on better tyres and coudl easily challenge me. The fight between us was good. Knutstorp is a relatively easy track to defend you position on, even wihtout grip, and thus I could make Patricks life miserable for somewhere around 10 - 15 minutes. At some point he just ahd to pass me. I think he was roughly 2 - 3 seconds faster per lap than I could manage, so it was just a matter of time.
　
After the pitsops you soon had to pit again, why was that?
Bram: Halfway the first stint in the rain i had the brilliant idea to change tires and outsmart the rest of the field. You are all dumb and i am smart i thought when i changed to slicks. The temperatures in the raintyre were getting higher and higher. Although the surface was wet, there was no physical rain coming down so i assumed the track condition had changed to damp, hence my slick tire choice.
It was the failure of the day, i was driving as being on ice with slicks and a still wet surface and lost 2 seconds per lap on the rest of the leaders.
Decided to push max and go for a second stop and change back to wets.
With wets on i was the fastest man on the track and my overtaking race had started. Back to the front positions!
　
Are you happy with 2nd in the end?
Yoeri: Second is good, but first is better. If I had not mistakenly assumed the track would dry up in the absence of rain and had thus not equiped slicks but wet tyres, I think I would have been able to keep Patrick off, just like I could in the first stint, however ‘ifs’ don’t count and finishing second is still a good way to start the championship with, so I’m happy after all

Are you happy with 3rd in the end?
Bram: Yes for it being a good result, but overal a big no cause after poleposition and the fastest lap in the race i should have won the race! Also i have a history of winning seasons openers and then fail throughout the rest of the season, haha
　
Stay tuned for more interviews in STC and in RDTCC

How does it feel to get STC underway with a win?

It feels great honestly, I have been practicing quite a while to get the car right mainly for the race. So after all the effort to see such a great result is really uplifting especially given the fact that I made a few mistakes and it was certainly not easy to come through with the win. There’s also the added bonus of being the first winner from across the pond as you would say lol.

Are you considering doing more STC races?

Yes in fact I am. Currently I am signed up for the A1 GT Pro race in the rain and I am also unsure if I will get to participate in the GT Sport A1 race as well. I haven’t yet tested how my graphics will be with the rain on but I have tested the Sunred at A1 in the dry and things are going very well to be honest.

I would say I’m looking forward to the challenging tracks which should be Donnington, Vallelunga and perhaps Mo I Rana. This is in regard to GT Pro.

How does the Koeinegsegg feel compared to last years Corvette or the Audi?

Well I haven’t raced last season at all but I can give some feedback based on my experience with the cars in general. Compared to the Corvette the Koenigsegg feels a bit more stable even when you’re out of control. With the Vette having a very large amount of torque second to the Viper I think it can be very easy to light up the rears and get into trouble very quicklly. It can be the same with the K’segg but because it’s so planted there’s an element of control that I feel is harder to achieve in the Corvette. In terms of straight line speed I think the Vette might have the slight edge but only slightly.

Now to the Audi. It was obviously during the race that the Audi simply had no answer for the straight line pace of the Koenigsegg. The Audi engine just lacks the monster torque the K’segg posses and on an uphill straight you are going to find yourself in a lot of heat if your car does not have enough punch. However we will have to watch out of the Audi later on in the season when we reach tracks like Mo I Rana and Vallelunga since that’s where it shines. The Audi is perhaps the greatest handling car of the bunch.

What did you make of the incident between yourself and Tim?

Well this seems to be the question on everyone’s minds and I dont blame them. It was a bit of being over eagerness and under estimating the car in the last corner. I seem to carry a lot of speed through the last two corners, more so than everyone else and it was just a matter of getting a bit too close. The other side of it is that Tim is a mighty fast racer, you only have to look at his achievement in the RDGT Sport league to see that. So you have to respect that fact because for a racer of his caliber if you give an inch he’ll take a mile, and I didn’t want that to happen either especially after my poor start.

I knew that I had a fast car capable of much lower lap times that I was doing behind Tim, which is normal in a fight, and I wanted to get loose and go chase the leaders.

Do you think RPM have a good chance to win STC?

Well that’s an easy question to answer. You only have to look at the current standings. We are second by a single point to the DHR-GMT racing team. We are the past champions yes, but the only thing that means is that we have everything to lose. So its up to the team to keep the spirit high during good and bad times and drive through to then end in true RPM fashion, leaving everything on the track.

In short yes, we have a great chance. We have a great roster of the usual suspects (Christopher Aponte, Jari Vinari, Kevin Ascher, Yoeri Gijsen, Bram Hengeveld) and great new up and commers eager to show their skill (Nikals, Ross etc). So we are not short on talent, it’s just a matter of being at the right place at the right time which is so often the case in motor racing. Oh and a bit of luck never hurt either .

If not who will?

Well we saw at Watkins what everyone is capable of. GMT-DHR and Flat Out will certainly take wins this season, they are very talented racers capable of good results. So we have to make sure that we measure up to the challenge each time we take to the track so as not to make things to easy for them.

Thank you Ross for this interview it was nice to share with our fellow simracers and my team of course what this first season opener has brought us.

I want to thank my team mates for putting in such solid performances, thanks Kevin, Yoeri and Christopher which put us in such a great position in the championship. Thank you.