October 22, 2015

 

Ollie Woods gives us a rundown of what to expect from the teams, as we head into the final round of the 2015 season.

The Superleague circus has rolled into Brazil for the last round of the 2015 season. It promises to be a big occasion as, for the first time in recent memory, both the Constructors and Drivers championships are up for grabs. It could also be the last ever Career Ladder race using rFactor as the league seems set to use rFactor 2 as of next season. Let's examine the possibilities for each team going into the final round.


CSG Racing

The defending champions left it until late to stake their claim to the championship. An ominous victory in Australia wasn't followed up with a win until round 6 in Monaco and the team couldn't even make it onto the podium again until the race before in Turkey. Five more wins since Monaco and consistent scoring have led to a last-minute resurgence and the team now sit at the top of the standings. The team have incredible strength in depth and all four drivers that the team have called on - Lewis Redshaw, Lukas Euler, Alex Cooper and Tom Parker - are proven at the highest level, meaning that Euler and Redshaw leaving halfway through the season has not been a problem.

The team are 23 points ahead of Vod:Bul at this point which is a big cushion to have. The team have even gone against the grain and look to have new parts on their car for the final race. With no way of winning the Drivers championship, the team just have to make sure that both cars finish and score good points to win their second consecutive title.


Vod:Bul

The team from Liverpool set tongues wagging when they announced their entry into engine manufacture as well as the signing of Supercup champion Philipp Puschke for 2015. Puschke proved to be the pick of the pack as the season began, finishing on the podium for the first five races including a win at Portugal. An incredible run of form between the British Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix looked to have the Drivers championship sewn up, but disappointing results since then mean that the title is not such a forgone conclusion. Fourteen points separate Puschke and his nearest rival, David Fidock, meaning that Puschke needs to finish fifth or higher if Fidock wins (fifth would mean Puschke gets it on more wins scored), tenth or higher if Fidock comes second, or fourteenth or higher if Fidock comes third. If Fidock doesn't make it to the podium then Puschke is guaranteed the championship.

Vod:Bul also seemed to have a decent lead in the Constructors championship after the European season but now see themselves chasing CSG for the title. Consistency in the second car has been a factor, with Oskari Kantonen struggling at the start of the season and being replaced shortly afterwards by a succession of drivers. Vod:Bul are well known for being able to hire pretty much whoever they want but they haven't managed to find a second driver at Puschke's level to ensure success. 23 points is the deficit that they must make up - even if they get a 1-2, which seems unlikely, CSG would only need their cars to finish fourth and sixth which seems more than manageable. The Drivers Championship seems to be Vod:Bul's best chance of silverware this season.


Nordsjoen

Consistent but unspectacular, Nordsjoen have returned to the top of the tree after a couple of years in the wilderness thanks in part to a lot more finishes than in previous years. Florian Geier has improved immensely over the year, taking a couple of third place finishes towards the end of the season, while Agustin Canapino has impressed when finishing and retired slightly less than last year. David Jundt has been in the car for the end of the season and has done well. The team can't mathematically win either championship now but need to be wary of Hawkeye pinching third from under their noses - it's a big gap of thirty points but it's still mathematically possible.


Hawkeye

David Fidock, the defending Drivers champion, has found a second wind in this championship. Consistently decent results at the start of the year were followed by a blip in Britain and Austria. Since then Fidock has wrecked havoc on the field with a seven race podium streak, putting himself back into contention for a successful defence of his crown. Sadly the team hasn't managed to find him a consistent teammate who could help him and the team go for the Constructors title - indeed, not having someone of a similar ability to block for him could be a problem in the final race. But in this form anything is possible for Fidock.

Ideally he needs to win. The big question will be whether he has the pace to beat the CSGs as they fight their own championship battle - but then again as an ex-CSG driver and Potentia stablemate he might get a little help. If he wins, Puschke has to finish fifth or better which, given where he's been for the last few races, may not be as easy it sounds unless the team have developed the car especially for the occasion. It's definitely not an easy task, but Fidock may just have the pace to do it. Hawkeye will be happy with fourth overall, an improvement on last year (though who knows where they would have been without Hamnett's exclusion), but a Drivers title would be even sweeter.


Red Archer

The Greek team have found themselves a little lower than last year thanks to the resurgence of Vod:Bul and Hawkeye but can have no complaints with fifth overall including a maiden win for Fran Lopez who was pinched from Edonis mid season. The only worry will be that only one car made it to the last couple of races. If they can keep hold of Lopez and find someone decent to accompany him then 2016 should go well.


Midnight

No-one expected Midnight to have this sort of season with two podiums and a slew of driver changes. The team can't realistically move from sixth in the Constructors championship, their lowest ever finish. They could still help out their CSG brethren should Puschke end up behind them, however. After various disagreements there's a real chance we won't see the two-time champions in the league next year which would be a real shame.


Edonis

The new kids on the block have done a tremendous job this season despite losing star driver Fran Lopez early on. The only negative for the team which has scored points consistently is that they've had to use a staggering nine drivers this season. They can't move up from seventh but have to be careful that Torrent don't unleash a Lazarus-like comeback to take seventh from under their noses.


Torrent

After giving up on development midway through last season Torrent were expected to be near the front. Some decent points hauls early on gave way to a raft of retirements through the mid-season and DNSs towards the end of the season. Jordan Weekes popped up last race and scored points - he could be the difference between seventh and eighth for the team. Whether they have the motivation to come back next year remains to be seen.


Target

Having not showed up since Canada it would be a shock to see either car turn up in Brazil. Both cars scored decent points while they were around, giving them their current position; it's doubtful we'll see Target next year.


Woods

Yet more bad luck for Woods saw retirements all over the place and the departure of Jarl Teien mid-season, a real shame given that great things were expected of him. Sven de Vries has done his best to pull back some respectability with a couple of good finishes in the last couple of races - second on the grid in Abu Dhabi was a particular highlight and proved once again that the team had a car that should've done much more than it has this year. The team need twelve points to overhaul Target's position - it seems unlikely given that Woods haven't finished higher than sixth since 2011, but de Vries is certainly capable. The tougher task will be finding a driver to replace him?


Nijo

A miserable year for a team who were challenging for titles not so long ago. They've struggled to hold down drivers since Mikael Tuomaala left and it would take something big to make the top ten this year. Hopefully the team will bounce back in 2016.


Green Stripes

At one point it looked like Christoph Lichtenstein's team would challenge for the wooden spoon this year, not scoring until Monaco. Thankfully for them a streak of three points finishes at the end of the season leaves them within two points of overhauling Nijo for eleventh place.


Kernel

The Cornish team can be pleased that they've managed to last the season unlike in 2014 but it's not been a vintage year for them. Points have only been scored on five occasions which leaves them needing a top four finish to beat Green Stripes - highly unlikely.


Phoenix

Andy Graydon's team haven't done much since returning to Superleague and look to be in the running for relegation at the end of the season. Twelve points are needed to stop them coming last this season and they'd pretty much need a 1-2 to avoid being bottom on the rolling points table for relegation.