CVRT Team Manager Chris Connolly persuaded Dan Lawrence to take some time out of his hectic GPVWC schedule to conduct a first time exclusive interview.
Chris: What influenced you to start up the GPVWC?
Dan: I had applied to participate in another championship (driving), but soon found out that they did not plan on using GP3 until 2001. I was bored and disillusioned with the prospect of having to play the less impressive GP2 for 9 months before we were allowed to compete with GP3...so decided to withdraw my entry and set up my own GP3 competition which allowed racing to start straight away.
Chris: How many years does this league have? Will it last forever?
Dan: This league will continue for as long as the interest is out there. If that is forever - so be it :) The intention is to base the league on every Microprose/crammond release in the future (gp3/gp4/gp5), but if a new title comes along that proves superior...then there will be no question of changing over.
Chris: There have been some critiques that you took an unnecessary break from the GPVWC not long ago. Did you need that time off?
Dan: I did take time off a few weeks ago, and not by choice at all. I was going through a very rough period in my life in which i could not have run the championship. The most positive thing to come out of my time off is my re-charged motivation. Things were getting far to hectic on the admin side and to be truthful I was losing the motivation to run the league becase of this..But things are definately back on track now.
Chris: Do you think the introduction of different performances for each team has been successful?
Dan: I think that introducing performances was the only way to go, Team managers needed more input in 2001, and they are getting it. The drivers in regular F1 all have to work under the same conditions (performance wise) so why should the GPVWC be any different.
Chris: How do you think Michelin will perform this year compared with Bridgestone?
Dan: I think Michelin will struggle all season, because they only supply 2 of our 11 teams, and both of these teams are struggling themselves. So things do not look good. 2002 will be different however, we may see many people switch to Michelin and the shoe will then be on the other foot. Bridgestone are definately the tyre to be on at this stage in the season however.
Chris: There was a time early on when you tried your luck as a driver within the GPVWC. Why did you give up that position?
Dan: Running the league leaves virtually no spare time and I defiantely struggled with the Sparshot car because of this. It was nice to be competitive though, but the future of the championship depended on me being as comitted as possible, driving just had to be puit on hold. This does not mean that I will not drive again however
Chris: Is there a chance that traction control will become compulsory in the near future within the Championship?
Dan: There are no immediate plans to introduce traction control as compulsory.
Chris: How do you think the 2001 Rookie Drivers are performing against the experienced drivers from the 2000 season? Dan: They are performing fantasticly! Experience pays dividends, but the rookies are turning a few faces red so far!
DL Racing would have been several places higher in Malaysia if Neumann and Hoek had not competed for example! At the end of the day though, it is great for the GPVWC, and it shows that these new guys CAN come straight in and win (as neumann has done).
Chris: With DL Racing, what's you main goal for this season?
Dan: The main goal for DL Racing this season....to win..at least once. I think this is definately possible. More realisticly, we have a consistent enough package to win the constructors championship this year, as both Scott and Jason are hugely committed and are not likely to let us down without could cause.
Chris: Do you feel that DL Racing made the correct decision by going with BMW engines this year?
Dan: We definately made a great decision on signing with BMW this season. There are more powerful motors on the grid, but only Ferrari and BMW have won so far, so why should I be disatisfied? The momentum is building for both us and BMW, and we will (with CVRT) work hard to make BMW the best engine in F1.
Chris: Do u think sharing the engines with CVRT will cause any bias towards one team?
Dan: No, not at all, because once testing begins we will each go off on seperate testing programmes. We have the same engine at the moment, but by the end of the season it is quite possible that we will have each developed our own versions.
Chris: Do you think your team drivers (DL Racing) have a chance for the Drivers Championship?
Dan: I think DL racing have an outside chance of winning the drivers title, Jason is no slouch and is our greatest prospect of doing this. Scott is a great driver - but even he would admit that he is not on terms with the fastest 4 drivers at the moment...but who knows what the future holds?
Chris: What do you consider your greatest achievement in the GPVWC so far?
Dan: I think our pole at Australia was a great achievement. And we can definately do that again at least. Also coming from also rans in 2000 to finish 4th in the championship was hugely satisying. Finding consistent and committed drivers in the GPVWC is hard, and we have done this, so to acheive great results is very satisfying.
Chris: Finally, who is your pick for the GPVWC World Champion this year?
