2019 Superleague season
From GPVWC Wiki
| |
| Competition | Superleague |
|---|---|
| Title Sponsor | |
| Platform Used |  rFactor 2
|
| Rounds | |
| Mod base | GPVWC CL modular |
| Carshape base | F1 based |
| Engine Supplier(s) | Talos, Valiant, Quasar, Reventón 1600cc turbocharged V6 |
| Tyre Supplier(s) | GPVWC brand G |
| Drivers | |
| Teams | 15 |
| Drivers' Champion |  Jannick Bock
|
| Teams' Champion | Evolution Motorsports
|
| Superleague Seasons | |
| 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009 · 2010 · 2011 · 2012 · 2013 · 2014 · 2015 · 2016 · 2017 · 2018 · 2019 · 2020 · 2021 · 2022 · 2023 · 2024 | |
| GPVWC series in 2019 |
|---|
| Career Ladder |
|
Superleague |
| Independent Series |
The 2019 Superleague season will be the 20th GPVWC Superleague season. Alex Siebel enters the season as defending Drivers' Champion, and ACR Zakspeed as the reigning Constructors' Champions.
Contents
Teams and drivers
*Name is speculative pending confirmation
Team changes
- After 17 seasons in the Superleague, Nordsjøen Racing closed its doors at the end of the 2018 season.
- EVAL Simracing Team withdrew from the Superleague after a single year in the competition.
New entries
- Scuderia Basilea was promoted from Supercup following a dominant season in the lower series in 2018.
- YTF1 were also promoted from Supercup, having finished 2nd to Basilea in their maiden Supercup season.
Returning entries
- Green Stripes Racing returned to the Suplerleague after a 1-year abscence, having spent that time competing in Supercup instead.
Mid-season changes
- Defending Champions ACR Zakspeed dropped Zakspeed from their title and renamed their entry to Avid Chronic Racing, shortly after the season commenced. During the summer break, the team then disaffiliated themselves with Avid Chronic Racing but were obligated to continue competing under the ACR name for the remainder of the season: essentially becoming Vod:Bul Racing once again, in all but name.
- MadCape Racing Team particularly struggled to field 2 cars for the whole season - the team missed the Canadian Grand Prix and later only entered 1 car into each of the last three races of the season.
Driver changes
Pre-season
- Double World Champion David Fidock moved from the now-defunct Nordsjoen Racing team to defending champions ACR Zakspeed, replacing Risto Kappet.
- Rait Kilk moved from the now-defunct EVAL Simracing Team to Epic Racing Team, replacing Borja Millan.
- Sergi Heras made his Superleague debut for Flag-to-Flag SimRacing, replacing Mark Hutchinson.
- Daniel Brewer, having made 4 starts for MadCape Racing Team in 2018, was given a full-time drive with the team in 2019, replacing Tobias Olsson. Olsson moved to debutants YTF1.
- Alex Cooper moved from the now-defunct Nordsjoen Racing to the returning Green Stripes Racing for 2019.
- Having driven in 3 races for MadCape in 2018, George Sutton was named as Cooper's teammate at Green Stripes for 2019.
- Daniel Kiss made his Superleague debut for Edge Esports, replacing Jarl Teien.
- Red Archer hired debutant Matthias Muuss to partner Fabio Sikxta, becoming a full-time driver in a seat that was held by a rotating cast of drivers during 2018.
- Storm Racing Team hired two debutants for the 2019 season: Brazilians Vinicious Ranieri and Ricardo Pellegrini
- Stephane Rouault and Maciej Mlynek would both make their full-time debuts for Scuderia Basilea, ensuring that the debutant team retained its 2018 Supercup lineup.
- Michael Haflidason would make his Superleague debut in 2019 for debutants YTF1.
Mid-season
There were a high number of mid-season driver changes during the 2019 season - as such, this list is not exhaustive.
- David Francic stepped down from his seat at Streetfighter Racing Systems and was originally replaced by Ben Hamlet. After a number of on and off-track transgressions, Hamlet was banned from the GPVWC on the eve of the Canadian Grand Prix. Hamlet's seat would be filled by, firstly, Chris Butcher, and then Robin Pansar.
- Ricardo Costa stepped down from his seat at Hawkeye Racing and triggered a number of driver changes. Costa's seat would be filled by David Fidock who prematurely ended his unsuccessful tenure at ACR and returned to the team whom he drove for in 2015. Stephane Rouault moved from Scuderia Basilea to take the seat vacated by Fidock at ACR and Laurent Keersmaekers and Michi Hoyer became the primary replacements for Rouault at Basilea.
- George Sutton and Green Stripes Racing parted ways after the Bahrain Grand Prix. Kieran Shanks was originally nominated as his replacement but, just like Ben Hamlet at Streetfighter Racing Systems, was banned from the GPVWC prior to the Canadian Grand Prix. A rotating cast of drivers would then occupy the seat, before Jernej Simoncic got the seat from the Japanese Grand Prix onwards.
- Geoffrey Fournier recieved a 1-race ban for his misdemeanours at the Monaco Grand Prix - his seat at Epic Racing Team was temporarily taken by Chris Shepherd.
- Petar Brljak was unable to compete for two months during the middle of the season - he was replaced by Christian Pasqual during this time, but reclaimed his seat after the summer break.
- Daniel Kiss and Edge Esports parted ways after the Turkish Grand Prix. Daniel Brewer moved from MadCape Racing Team to replace him. Brewer was replaced at MadCape by Noah Chilla.
- Prior to the Canadian Grand Prix, both Michael Haflidason and Tobias Olsson parted ways with YTF1. The team eventually brought in a rotating cast of drivers for the remainder of the season.
- Wopke Hoekstra stepped down from Measuric Racing piror to the British Grand Prix. Three other drivers would share the seat between them for the remainder of the season.
- Vinicius Ranieri was not seen in the Storm Racing car after the summer break - Matthew Williams and then Danny van der Niet would go on to occupy the seat.
- Michael Eyres stepped down from his seat at Flag-to-Flag SimRacing. Mark Hutchinson - who had driven for the team in 2018 - ended the season for Flag-to-Flag.
- Fabio Sixta was not seen in the Red Archer Virtual Racing Team car after the Singapore Grand Prix. His seat was taken by the team's reserve driver, Ryan Elliott.
- Defending champion Alex Siebel broke his finger prior to the Brazilian Grand Prix, the final race of the season. He was replaced at ACR by the newley-crowned Superleague Lights champion Lukas Schmidt.
Technical changes
- Adjustable fuel mixture settings were introduced to the championship.
- Other changes include revised tyres and aerodynamics, in addition to power unit adjustments.
2019 Calendar
For 2019, the Career Ladder schedule was reduced from 18 to 16 rounds in the season.
Testing
The 2019 testing schedule was as follows:
| Test | Date | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Preseason Test #1 | TBC |  Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City
|
| Preseason Test #2 | TBC |  Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai
|
| Preseason Test #3 | TBC |  Circuito de Jerez, Andalucia
|
| Preseason Test #4 | TBC |  Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island
|
| Young Driver Test | TBC |  Circuit of the Americas, Austin
|
Calendar changes
The 2019 calendar was reduced from 18 down to 16 rounds.
- The Chinese, French, Austrian, Hungarian and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix were removed from the calendar.
- The Malaysian, Bahrain and Turkish Grands Prix made a return after a gap of four (Malaysian) and two (Bahrain, Turkey) seasons absent respectively.
- The Young Driver Test, like the final race of the season, was set to move from Yas Marina Circuit to Autódromo José Carlos Pace. However, concerned about the short length of the Brazilian circut, the teams successfully lobbied for the Young Driver Test to be relocated to the Circuit of the Americas.
Results and Standings
Grands Prix
| Preceded by: 2018 Superleague season |
GPVWC Superleague season 2019 |
Succeeded by: 2020 Superleague season |
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