Pavel Loknovski

**Pavel Loknovski**

Supercup Career
Nationality	Estonian
Active Years	1
Team(s)	Triple-Double Racing
Races	10
Championships	0
Wins	1
Podium finishes	4
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First Race	2011 Australian Grand Prix

Pavel Loknovski is an Estonian sim-racer currently driving for Triple-Double Racing in the Supercup. He is also a test driver for Nordsjoen Racing in the Superleague.

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.

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.

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.