Pavel Loknovski

**Pavel Loknovski**

Nationality	Estonian
Superleague Career
Active Years	1
Team(s)	Nordsjoen Racing
Grand Prix	5
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	2
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First Grand Prix	2011 San Marino Grand Prix
Supercup Career
Active Years	1
Team(s)	Triple-Double Racing
Grand Prix	15
Championships	0
Wins	1
Podium finishes	7
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First Grand Prix	2011 Supercup Australian Grand Prix

Pavel Loknovski is an Estonian sim-racer currently driving for Nordsjoen Racing in the Superleague and for Triple-Double Racing in the Supercup.

Early Days

He competed in his first sim-race in 2009 ,when he joined a little league called GPROC which had started its third season. Pavel raced along with many of his future GPVWC competitors. He was a frequent podium finisher, also managing to win few races on his debut season. He then took part in many other similar leagues until late 2010 when he got interested in GPVWC. He has also taken part in some Race Department racing club races. Loknovski has been using PlayStation 3 gamepad throughout his sim-racing career.

Superleague 2011

Pavel joined Nordsjoen Racing before the A1 Ring GP in Austria replacing Samuli Leinonen. He made his first appereance as a test driver at the same Grand Prix.

He debuted in Nordsjoen overalls at the 2011 San Marino Grand Prix replacing Jyri Lylykorpi. Pavel qualified in solid 5th for his debut race. Loknovski had a decent start and got up to 4th. Few laps into the race he was overtaken by Ojay Clark in spectacular fashion. Clark then went on to challenge David Jundt for 3rd position. The duo went side by side in Rivazza corner with Ojay running wide ,which allowed the Estonian debutant back to his 4th position. With Jundt in his sights, Loknovski wasted no time and overtook the Red Archer at turn one. He pulled away from the chasing pack and got a secure gap before his first pitstop. Pavel drove the longest first stint of all front runners and even tasted some glory when he led for one lap. He came out of the pits just behind his teammate Joe Consiglio and few seconds ahead of Jundt who had halved his gap to Loknovski. However, he struggled to get up to pace throughout the whole second stint ,which allowed the Swiss driver through. Loknovski pitted final time and rejoined the track just in between Consiglio and Jundt, latter one overtook Pavel at turn one. The trio were close together and when they approached the Piratella corner Jundt and Loknovski were side by side ,with Jundt braking very late and running wide ,which allowed Loknovski back to 3rd. Jundt then dropped back from the Nordsjoen pair. The duo continued to race with safe 1 second gap until Pavel had realised that he was short on fuel. That error made the Estonian driver to short shift ,which cost him dearly in laptimes. Loknovski's podium place looked still safe ,until he had an accident with the lapped car of Mark Fuller. Pavel ran into the back of Mark at the Villeneuve chicane ,Nordsjoen driver escaped with all wings attached to his car ,however, the ST Racing car was'nt so lucky. With Jundt now within threatening distance the duo continued their fight until the very last corner with Loknovski still coming over the line in 3rd postion on his debut.

Loknovski gaining a position after Millar blows his engine

Loknovski was abruptly brought back down to earth in Turkey, where things just didn't want to go his way. He had trouble with tyres and fuel in both qualifying sessions. Starting from miserable 11th position, Loknovski kept his head cool at the start. His Nordsjoen suffered some damage to the sidepod when Ben Morgan surprised Loknovski by trying a move inside of the penultimate corner. This didn't seem to hamper Pavel, instead he went on and overtook Ryan Walker in next corner. The Nordsjoen driver was on a mission to bring home as many points as possible , he proved it by overtaking Ojay who had spun and Jundt with whom he had battled for several laps until the Estonian made his move stick. A little mistake from Millar saw his Ferrari engine blowing up into pieces. Loknovski got briefly ahead of Carr-Smith but couldn't make his move stick ,instead Pavel followed Dave too closely in the final corner and spun. His first pit-stop took longer than usual due to the pit crew trying to fix his car's damage from the opening lap. Pavel rejoined the track behind David Jundt who had leapfrogged the Estonian driver. Loknovski started a furious chase and closed gap on Swiss driver lap after lap. However, he collided with Carr-Smith who had previously spun which allowed Jundt through and then spun again at Turn One into Loknovski's path. As a result, frustrated Nordsjoen driver lost a front wring ,got a puncture and a damaged suspension. Loknovski was set to start fightback from poor position once again.

Loknovski, Carr-Smith and Consiglio fighting for position.

He started well ,overtook Morgan without wasting any time and started to close in on drivers who were ahead of him. Pavel had his last pitstop some 10 laps before the end. His last push for the points had begun ,he started with overtaking Mark Wicks which secured him 10th position. Christoph Lichtenstein was his next target. The duo fought for 9th with just few laps until the finish. The German driver fend off Estonian's attacks and brought home his Synergetic car in 9th. After driving on a podium on his debut ,Loknovski had to settle with a disappointing 10th.

Pavel learned his lesson after a disastrous Istanbul Park qualifying and it was confirmed by his qualifying performace in Mexico where he qualified 4th. A late braking into turn one saw the Estonian driver going up to 2nd place. Next lap he was overtaken by Jundt with Morris and Rowland right on his tail. The trio battled for 3rd position for numerous laps until Loknovski spun between turn 4 & 5. Perkins and Carr-Smith managed to take advantage of it and got ahead of Loknovski. Three drivers had a fierce battle until the first round of pit-stops. Carr-Smith and Loknovski went in on same lap and came out in same order. The duo became trio ,when recovering Consiglio joined the battle. The Nordsjoen duo were unable to overtake Midnight car for several laps until Consiglio overtook Carr-Smith at turn 4. Loknovski followed his team-mate next lap when he got ahead of Carr-Smith at turn one. However , two drivers made contact at turn two but mirculously both escaped with no damage. Pavel held his position and finished 6th.

A controversial incident between Pavel Loknovski and Lee Morris

Nordsjoen had massive upgrades for Montreal and strong result from both of the drivers was expected. Joe Consiglio dominated qualficiation taking the pole, with Loknovski only managing 8th slot on the grid. Poor start from Loknovski dropped him to 10th and on lap 3 things got worse. Loknovski spun, Mark Wicks and Mark Stanton who were very closely following Nordsjoen, couldn't avoid sliding Pavel and collected the Estonian with Stanton taking also Nordsjoen's front wing with him. A disastrous start to the race dropped Loknovski all the way down 21st. Montreal proved to be a high attrition race with many drivers retiring due to accidents, brake failures or technical issues. Loknovski took advantage of it and finished 4th.

Heading to Interlagos Pavel took his best qualification result so far, posting 3rd fastest time of the session. It was bittersweet session for the Estonian who managed to crash in the pitlane zeroing his fuel burning efforts. Loknovski maintained 3rd position after the start and took 2nd in turn 4 by overtaking Dave Carr-Smith. With his team-mate Consiglio in the lead ,Nordsjoen 1-2 looked very realistic for the first time of the season. Loknovski suffered with the pace all race long, being unable to pull away from battling pack behind him. Pitstops proved to be Pavel's Achilles' heel, a confusion about the speed limiter line lost him some valuable time. Nick Rowland made the most of Loknovski's error and promoted himself to 2nd. Pavel took his position back and the duo fought for several laps until a contact in turn one saw Rowland going sideways. Loknovski had now free air to increase the gap with chasing Jundt and Morris. Once again Pavel lost major time in pits and allowed gap with Morris decrease to a 1 second. A fiery battle then evolved with Lee Morris desperate to minimize his damage in championships standings and Loknovski adamant to secure 1-2 for the Nordsjoen team and revive team's championship hopes. Loknovski had a clear top speed advantage while Morris braked later than the Estonian driver. However, 6 laps from the chequered flag saw two hot-tempered drivers making a contact in turn 4. Loknovski left no room for Morris who was trying to overtake the Estonian inside of the corner. Morris went sideways and dropped to 4th after some wheel-banging with Loknovski. Pavel went on to finish 2nd, a minute behind his team-mate Consiglio securing 1-2 finish for Nordsjoen and his best result to date.

Supercup 2011

Pavel's first full GPVWC season began at the 2011 Supercup Australian Grand Prix. He achieved 5th place in his debut qualifying. Loknovski got a perfect start and overtook Leinonen and Jundt off the line to claim 3rd position before Turn 1. He then pursued de Vos and Millar who had a hectic battle for the lead. The pair managed to pull away from the Estonian driver and the standings remained unchanged until Millar lost control of his Williamson Dynamics and spun into wall losing his front wing. That incident promoted Pavel up to 2nd and he would keep this position until the finish line.

Pavel Loknovski locking up rear tyres and spinning.

Supercup then moved on to Abu Dhabi where Pavel bettered his qualifying position to 4th. After another great start he overtook Jundt and started to chase yet again Bart de Vos and Sam Millar. He wasted no time and overtook Millar on the long straight ,nearly passing de Vos as well before he locked rear tyres and spun, costing him several places. He then started to move up the grid ,meanwhile de Vos and Millar crashed into each other which moved Loknovski up by 2 places which meant he was back fighting for the lead. However, on lap 4 in turn one Pavel double down-shifted which was too much for the engine to handle forcing Estonian into retirement from 3rd position.

In Suzuka Pavel took his familiar 4th spot on the grid. Having a decent start he kept his starting position and would race in 4th until the pitstops. After speeding in the pitlane Loknovski got a 10s Stop/Go penalty which meant he rejoined the track somewhere in midfield. He then overtook Jundt which was just a warmup before a spectacular move on Liam Hatchell in 130R corner. He finished in a lonely 5th position.

Supercup cars then landed in China where the TDR driver secured his best ever qualifying result so far into season - 2nd. Pavel maintained his 2nd place after the start and took a brief lead after de Vos ran wide in Turn 6 ,however, Loknovski got demoted to 3rd after de Vos and Cattell overtook him shortly after he gained the lead. The trio would battle on for several laps until the Triple-Double Racing driver got wiped out by a lapping car of Nikos Evangelidakis. Loknovski escaped with minor damage and was on a tail of de Vos and Simon Cattell right after they've suffered from similar accident. The trio once again battled for several laps until Pavel made a good use of Cattell's poor corner exit and overtook him ,however, he used too much throttle too early in the next corner ,which resulted in spin. That mistake dropped him down to midfield. Pavel then managed to recover and overtake his competitors to get back into podium race. With de Vos suffering from technical issues and Cattell crashing, Loknovski got up to 2nd place battling with Lewis Redshaw for the win. The Estonian driver lacked some concentration in crucial part of the race and ran wide in 3 corners on 1 lap. That meant Redshaw had pulled away from Loknovski and secured win on his debut race, while Pavel accepted eventful 2nd. Loknovski and de Vos were leading the Championship standings both having scored 30 points before coming to South Africa.

After rather satisfying start to the season ,bit more darker races followed. Achieving already third 4th qualifying spot of the season at Kyalami it looked like another great opportunity to get a podium finish. Pavel made a perfect start ,climbing up to 2nd after the first 3 corners. He then had an uneventful race until Redshaw catched him and two of them collided. TDR car was a write-off after the crash and had no chance of continuing the race. Crash was deemed as a racing incident as Redshaw went for a gap that was closing.

De Vos and Loknovski fighting for the 2nd place.

Season then moved on to A1 Ring in Austria ,where Pavel made his GPVWC debut in the Masters series in 2010. Pavel qualified 5th for this race and got yet another great start moving up to 3rd. He was challenged by David Jundt who was fighting the Estonian driver for several laps before he spun exiting Turn 1. Loknovski then got promoted to 2nd after de Vos crashed in Turn 1. He then had an uneventful 20 laps before de Vos catched him and the two had a fierce battle. A few minor contacts were involved before Pavel properly smacked Malta Force car from behind forcing both cars to spin, however,both cars miraculously escaped with no serious damage ,although, Loknovski had now fallen 3s behind de Vos and that's how the two finished.

Loknovski crashing into de Vos.

Having suffered from crashes for 2 consequent races, the trend continued for Pavel in Magny Cours. Qualified in his worst position so far (6th) ,Loknovski moved up one spot thanks to the incident involving pole sitter Jundt. He kept his place after the start and got up to 4th after Bart de Vos ran wide in the hairpin. He then battled with Jason Muscat for 3rd with de Vos catching both of them in 5th. De Vos found a way past Loknovski and the duo were following Muscat. Approaching Imola chicane, de Vos attempted an overtaking manouvre on Muscat but pulled back into racing line in last second with Loknovski too close to react, 2 driver's championship leaders collided with de Vos losing his Malta Force's rear wing and Loknovski TDR's front wing. Both pitted ,however, de Vos retired shortly after his pitstop. Pavel kept going and finished 7th to score 4 championship points.

Muscat surprises Loknovski by overtaking him around the outside at St. Devote.

Last race without any drama from Pavel Loknovski was the season opener Australian GP. Things changed in Monaco though ,where he repeated his best ever qualifying result ending up 2nd on the grid. As the drivers were awaiting formation lap ,de Vos suffered technical issues and was unable to take part in race. That promoted Pavel to 1st and it was the first time when he started ahead of everyone in GPVWC. Estonian driver kept his cool at the start and maintained his lead. At the start of a lap 2 Muscat found a way around Loknovski in Saint Devote corner. The duo kept on fighting for the win for many laps before Muscat suffered minor techical issue which promoted Loknovski back to first. He maintained his lead after the pitstops with Muscat keeping close to Estonian. First win only a laps away Pavel was under pressure by Maltese driver ,with couple of minor mistakes Muscat had closed down on Loknovski before Jason himself made a small error at Rascasse which allowed Pavel to take comfortable lead for final laps. Loknovski made no errors on final lap and won his first GPVWC's Supercup race in Monaco. With de Vos retiring and Loknovski getting maximum points, Pavel took the lead in Supercup Championship standings.

Everything looked great for the Estonian driver. However, things changed at British GP. Having missed out qualifying Loknovski had to start from the back of the grid. Pavel had trouble understanding where he is and what is he doing due to fact that he was simply too drunk to understand anything. An unimpressive start to the race saw him having trouble to cope with the track and keeping up with the backmarkers. Somehow he managed to make his way up to 10th or something ,without crashing into anyone. However, his pathetic run came to an end when he double down-shifted in the Becketts corner and his engine or gearbox collapsed. That was the second time he retired due to this sort of error this season.

After losing his Championship lead ,Pavel was eager to improve at Bahrain. He qualified 5th for the race and after a decent start got up to 4th. As the field approached Turn 8, team mates de Vos and Redshaw made a light contact with Loknovski taking evasive action to avoid Malta Force drivers. He went wide after exiting Turn 8 losing position to Supercup debutant Ryan Walker. Pavel tried to overtake Ryan for laps until he slightly tapped Walker's rear which caused him to spin. TDR driver then waited for the newest Nordsjoen signing to give back his position which demoted him to 10th. Pavel gained 2 places when Tom Parker and Phil Perkins collided ,Parker however managed to take his place back from Loknovski almost immediately, while the latter dropped back into the clutches of Perkins. The duo battled against each other for laps until Loknovski made few minor errors which saw him dropping back from Perkins. After the pitstops Loknovski started to close the gap on Ryan Walker and Alex Cooper. Pavel overtook Alex and started to hunt down Ryan with whom he already was familiar with from the early stages of the race. Approaching Turn 8 Walker was closely followed by Loknovski with Cooper not far behind. Cooper however,lost control of his Red 5 Racing car and slid into Loknovski who lost his TDR's rear wing. Cooper was able to continue the race without pitting while Pavel had to come in for a lenghty pitstop. After standing for almost 40s in his pit box he exited the pitlane with the car still suffering heavy suspension damage which made the TDR to pull left. Loknovski eventually finished the race in 13th which is his worst result so far in the season.

Season continued at Imola ,where Pavel took 3rd position on the grid ,narrowly missing out front row spot. He got a good start and overtook de Vos off the line and came down to turn one side by side with Redshaw. Estonian settled down in 2nd between two Malta Force GP's. However, he soon had to give up his position to Bart de Vos at Rivazza corner. He then

Loknovski overtaking Redshaw at turn 3

started a very lonely journey to the finish with few off track excursions de Vos disappeared from his sights. Loknovski was set to take an easy and dull final spot on the podium until the very last lap where in Piratella corner his TDR's front left brake failed which sent the Estonian driver into the barriers. He kept his engine going after a high speed accident and limped back to the finish without a rear wing.

Loknovski had some serious trouble setting up his car for Istanbul Park circuit. However ,last minute changes were effective as Loknovski was closer than ever to his first pole position. He lost 0.022s to Lewis Redshaw and started from 2nd position. Loknovski got a good start and was once again between the two Malta Forces. De Vos overtook Loknovski already on lap 1 ,from there on Pavel followed Malta Force cars from safe distance. De Vos got ahead of Redshaw and with Loknovski close on their tail. TDR driver got really close to Redshaw and pulled of a nice move around the outside at turn 3. Malta Force driver quickly repassed the Estonian driver and the duo kept a safe 2s distance until the pitstops. Top 3 was spread out and podium seemed to be clear until de Vos suffered from techical issue in closing stages of the race. That promoted Loknovski to 2nd where he also finished behind Lewis Redshaw.

13th round of Supercup saw teams heading to Mexico. Pavel qualified 4th at the track he's never been huge fan of. His good start saw him landing in 2nd position before turn one. He fell back to fourth when Phil Perkins and Ryan Walker overtook him. His race was cut short when his game failed which forced Loknovski to stop on the racing line before turn 5. His stand-in team-mate Kenney Lybeer couldnt avoid the stopped car and two TDRs crashed. Loknovski lost his rear wing and got serious suspension damage ,while his team-mate lost front wing and a front wheel. Both slowed down to pits but the cars were too seriously damaged which forced TDR drivers to retire.

In Montreal Pavel qualified 4th but after Redshaw's technical problems on formation lap ,Loknovski was promoted to 3rd. He converted 3rd into 2nd after the start and haunted leader Bart de Vos for couple of laps until de Vos ran away from Pavel. Race proved to be once again uneventul for the Estonian driver he took his 7th podium of the season finishing 2nd.

Brief 1 week break and Supercup cars were once again in action at the Interlagos circuit. Ojay Clark dominated qualfication while Pavel was best of the rest in qualficiation grabbing another front row spot. Supreme start saw Pavel taking the lead well early before braking into turn one. With Jason Muscat and Clark on his tail the trio would battle on for several laps until Loknovski completely misjudged brake distance in turn 4 and ran into the sidepod of Clark's Synergetic. Loknovski himself was the biggest loser of that accident spinning the car and falling to 7th positon ,few corners later he once again spun this time he made a contact with Ric Scott. Terrible lap saw Loknovski losing some 30 seconds to leaders and starting his fightback outside of top 10. A strong comeback - including a thrilling battle between Tom Parker and Ryan Walker - from the Estonian saw him climbing all the way up to 3rd with few laps before the end of the race. However ,with last podium almost guaranteed Loknovski still pushed until the very end, which in retrospect was bad decision from the Estonian driver. He managed to spin on last lap in the final corner, that silly error saw him dropping to 4th.

Masters Series

2010

Pavel debuted in GPVWC in the 2010 Masters Series season where he raced at A1 Ring. He qualified 7th for his first ever GPVWC race. He finished accident filled Feature race in 9th position. In Sprint race he managed to finish 6th with yet again action and accident filled race. Loknovski raced in a guest car.

2011

Pavel will be driving in the 2011 Masters Series season for Nijo Racing alongside with Chris Williamson and Ben Warren.