April 24, 2012
Published on tags: World Sport Series
Hydraulix Motorsports made its plans available to the public earlier this week, inviting the media to a small gathering to the team base located near Mondello Park before heading making arrangements to leave for Hungary.

The Irish outfit was one the first teams granted entry to theinauguralWorld Sport Series and quickly put together a programme that will see two entries in the series. Making his first proper foray into team management, Philip Cullen held open casting to fill the seats with a preference to giving out of contract drivers an opportunity to find seat team. Ultimately though, Hydraulix found two GPVWC regulars to compete in itsdébutseason. Ben Warren and Mark Wicks will both turn out for the team in the upcoming series.Cullen was candid when asked why he settled on the driver pair. "I spoke to a lot of guys after getting accepted to take part in the (World) Sport Series. Yeah, I did want to go with new guys. There was a few I was definitely interested in signing but they chose to sign elsewhere. That is the way it goes sometimes. In Ben and Mark, I have two experienced hands who I know are going to be committed, race fairly and bring the car home. That to me is are the most important foundations to a new team.Even in the short space of time, we have had great communication between both the drivers and the team. It's a fantastic start off even before we hit the track."When asked about season expectations, the team boss responded by saying he was playing the 'wait and see' card. "Look, I'll be honest, I'd love for the lads to go out and tear it out. But we are facing some quality opposition out there. This is our first time and while the lads know how to wheel a car, we as a team are in the infancy. You are going to hear the word 'foundation' a lot from me during this series but it's the truth. We are putting in place the groundwork that long term is going to help this team flourish.Both drivers showed ampleenthusiasm despite the challenges ahead. Ben Warren admitted a keen desire to drive the series after it was announced, despite still recovering from surgery at the time. "As soon as I became aware of the World Sport Series and had a desire to race in it, I began discussions with the team, and it quickly became apparent that despite being a new team, they have a high level of professionalism, and as a driver, give me a great feeling that the whole team will work hard and make me as comfortable as possible, and give me the best possible chance to be as competitive as I can be."New partner Wicks confirmed his partners desire to get straight down to work. "I'm pretty happy to be running in this new series for Hydraulix Motorsport. Porsches are something different to the usual open-wheelers I spend all year running in, so it should be a fun break from the norm to run these things. Currently I have no idea what to expect from myself performance or results-wise, as my time in the cockpit so far has not exactly been long and I have virtually no idea who else will be on the grid."Mark would go on to take a playful jibe at his new boss. The pair now enjoy a unique situation, as Philip is a development driver for Cornish native's Superleague outfit. "The tough part of this series though will be having Phillie as a boss. I've managed to go seven years here at GPVWC avoiding working under his directorship but I think it's only fitting I repay his loyalty in this fashion by letting him boss me around at least a few Thursday's this year now that he's joined the ranks of driver-turned-team owner with Hydraulix (are names allowed in Scrabble? If so that's a beaut I bet). And if he takes advantage of his position he'll be back to sweeping up the Kernow garages again, just like after this one time when he...(there's a fumbling and Wicks' microphone goes silent)."The team is aiming to take advantage of the available social media to promote the team. Hydraulix will use it's Facebook page as its primary website and can also be found on Twitter via @HydraulixRacing . "As a former media student, it's great to have a number of easy and free ways to build an audience for a team. You don't need to have a fancy arse website to promote a team. In having our Facebook and Twitter online, I hope to use them tomaximumover the coming season to keep everyone apprised of what the team is up to. I invite everyone to follow us and hopefully we will have a great season to talk about!"