Pavel Loknovski
| |
| Nationality |  Estonian
|
|---|---|
| Superleague Career | |
| Active Years | 1 |
| Team(s) | Nordsjoen Racing |
| Grand Prix | 8 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podium finishes | 4 |
| 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 | 19 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 2 |
| Podium finishes | 8 |
| Pole positions | 1 |
| 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 Hawkeye Racing in the Supercup.
Contents
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. He got all the way up to 3rd position after a fierce battle with Ojay Clark and David Jundt. After the first round of pit-stops Loknovski and Jundt had pulled away from rest of the pack and resumed battling for final podium position. Final pit-stop for Loknovski saw him rejoining the track right between his team mate Joe Consiglio and David Jundt. The battle for 2nd position turned out to be shortlived.
Expectations were high after Pavel's impressive debut in Superleague. However, next races proved to be difficult ones for the Estonian rookie. Silly rookie mistakes in qualifying session saw Loknovski lining up in disastrous 11th on the grid in Turkey. Despite terrible qualifying another podium looked realistic. Loknovski had progressed up to 5th before he collected spinning Midnight of Dave Carr-Smith. Loknovski's Nordsjoen got a puncture and lost a front wing, he managed to limp back to the pits but the time loss was enormous. Pavel finished the race in disappointing 10th.
Pavel achieved his best qualification result to date in Mexico where he qualified 4th. A late braking into turn one saw the Estonian driver going up to 2nd place. Loknovski's joy didn't last long though, he was overtaken by Jundt next lap and was in a long battle with Lee Morris and Nick Rowland for 3rd until he spun. Carr-Smith took advantage of it and the duo had a scrap for several laps until recovering Consiglio caught them. Eventually, Consiglio went his own way leaving Carr-Smith and Loknovski fighting for 6th. Pavel held his position and finished 6th.
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 to 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. Loknovski got a great start and saw himself in 2nd after lap one. Loknovski was unable to pull away from battling pack behind him, which allowed Rowland to overtake the Estonian in pits. Pavel took his place back after few laps with Rowland still not giving up the two drivers made contact in turn one causing Rowland to spin. This allowed Loknovski to enjoy the free air until Morris caught him. 6 laps from the chequered flag saw two hot-tempered drivers banging the wheels 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. 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.
For the first time ever in 2011 the front row was all Nordsjoen with Consiglio on pole and Loknovski achieving his first front row start in the Superleague. Pavel had trouble with throttle few hundred meters into the race causing trouble for Jason Muscat. Loknovski maintained his 2nd position after a sloppy start, however, some clumsy driving from the Estonian dropped him to 5th. Loknovski recovered and caught 2nd placed Morris. The Nordsjoen driver eased past Morris ,however, the Draig was stuck to Nordsjoen's gearbox for several laps until the Estonian made another error. With 4 laps to go Loknovski touched Kieran Ryan's car in Lesmo corner which caused Nordsjoen driver to spin. While his team-mate cruised for another win, Loknovski had to settle with rather disappointing 3rd.
Pavel was struck with major lag problems for the rest of the 4 races. Loknovski was forced to miss the round in Barcelona due to game pad malfunction. Tom Parker took his place for the event.
The Estonian driver was back in Nordsjoen seat at Spa. It was yet another all Nordsjoen front row with Loknovski lining up 2nd. Suffering from lag issues Loknovski was up for a tough race. He raced David Jundt for most of the race eventually ending up in 3rd. This proved to be Loknovski's final finish of the season.
Question marks were hanging over Loknovski's participation in Zandvoort due to his lag issues. Pavel decided to go ahead, which proved to be wrong decision from the Estonian. Loknovski started the race in 3rd and made his way to 2nd already before turn one. Serious lag problems were already haunting the Estonian driver on formation lap. It got even worse when cars were suddenly appearing all over in front of the Nordsjoen driver causing him to brake on straights. Pavel still managed to hold on to 2nd but after his first pit stop the inevitable happened and the Estonian struck the wall due to lag which caused the first retirement of his Superleague career.
There was no point for Pavel to take part in season finale in Singapore due to massive lag problems. Original Nordsjoen driver for the 2011 season Jyri Lylykorpi replaced the Estonian for the final round
Loknovski took 6th position with 56 points in final drivers standings with Nordsjoen narrowly missing out on Constructors title.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
In Monza Pavel managed to finally claim his first pole position narrowly edging no-one else than Redshaw and de Vos. Loknovski held his lead after the start but overshot the first corner and was attacked by both Malta Forces in next chicane. Redshaw touched Loknovski's rear wheel and spun, meanwhile de Vos and Clark fought for 2nd position allowing Loknovski to open a gap. Loknovski was comfortably leading until last third of the race. De Vos caught Loknovski and duo had thrilling battle for several laps. Starting the last lap two championship leaders were seperated by nothing ,Bart de Vos launched his final attack at Parabolica and went side-by-side with Loknovski who eventually held on to take his second win of the season by 0.069s.
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.
GPVWC Superleague Results
GPVWC Supercup Results
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