Virgin GT NEWS

I was seriously so close to crying with laughter when that happened.

i had that happen once too. nearly wrecked my car that race.

at least i made people laugh lol

that didnt make me laugh so much as the "well tell her to get off the track" comment...i was hard braking into hairpin curve for that

very entertaining lobby, no doubt

I'm so glad you remembered that tho General. I'm still laughing about it now man. It just came out of nowhere.

Mixed fortunes for Virgin GT at Suzuka

A bit of a mixed bag for the two drivers this weekend in Japan.
Y22 had a good qualifying time in his underpowered vauxhall to place him 2nd in B lobby, 10th overall with a time of 2.02.643.
On the other hand Gen3ral had a torrid time, leaving the track on turn one and completely blowing his lap putting him at the back of c lobby, 24th overall with a time of 2.19.370

in the sprint race Y22 got of to a flying start, overtaking mucielagogama before the first corner, putting him in 9th. There he stayed throughout, holding off the challenge murcielagogama to finish a comfortable first in b lobby with a time of 49.107.
'I'm happy with the race result, but i could have gone faster with the lap time' said Y22
'The results solid though, i keep climbing that sprint cup table'
Gen3ral had a more eventful race with a safety car involved on lap 1, space was at a premium to set a lap time for the feature race. He managed 5th in c lobby, 21st overall, and a time of 49.891.
Cofusion reigned though, as during the timings being taken Gen3rals time was falsely recorded as 49.091, putting him at the head of b lobby.
But Gen3ral, being the honest guy he is, corrected the stewards and took his right ful place of 4th in c lobby.
Y22 however managed to be 7th in b lobby.
In the feature Y22 had a race long battle with Richy59 for 5th, until steering problems saw Richy drop off the pace. Also a surprise on the last lap, NickyF1 was struggling with tyre wear after an early pitstop and a few mistakes let Y22 in for 4th in B lobby, 12th overall.
Gen3ral had a schoolboy error in not working out his pit strategy properly, and saw his race chances scuppered when he ran out of fuel on the last corner, meaning he came 8th in c lobby, 24th overall
So lets look at the standings.
In the sprint cup, Y22 is in joint 7th place with AJzero on 123 points, and are hot on the heels of 6th place Slim Stoner on 125. Gen3ral is in 19th respectively.
The main drivers championship sees Y22 in 10th spot with 261 points, closely following AJ on 266. Gen3ral sits in 16th with 207 points, but with a tightly packed midfield, movements are garaunteed next round.
To the teams, and this weekends results see the Virgin GT boys in 7th with 524 points, just keeping the Williams cars behind them in 8th with 521
Next round at Motegi where both drivers feel more confident than this weekend at Suzuka.
See you all Trackside

Thats actually really cool of general to spot that. I didn't know that was the case. Sportsmanship isn't dead after all.

Yeah, I was very thankful for that. Major brownie points for him!

i love brownies haha

pics of lobby C sprint race...

"First corner, TVR braked way earlier than i anticipated, so i had a big off there, but i got the Virgin GT BMW righted and clawed my way back through the NSX's of SMRC and managed to snag second in lobby. Sam and I had a good battle at the end for 1st"

"Feature race, Contact took me out early and I wasnt able to get back into the race. But finished better than 2 weeks ago, and we're VERY happy to be going back to sunny florida with sunset peninsula and sebring, i feel very comfortable on both of those tracks so we're confident to finish well"

Y22 Breaks The Top 8 At Motegi

This weekend saw Y22 and the Virgin GT Team visit Twin Ring Motegi in japan for meeting 5 of the TORA GTC.
Y22 had his equal worst qualifying this season of 14th placedue to an off at the final chicane on his flying lap.
'I was on for easily a low 1.22 lap until the car just lost all grip on exiting the final chicane' said Y22
'I got a couple of wheels in the dirt which cost me 2.5 seconds easily, which is a bit of a bummer because i would have made the top 8 i think'
That qualifying performance put him in 6th in lobby B for the sprint race.
After a blistering start which saw him boost up to 4th place before the first turn, he then picked of murcielagogama inside of turn 1. Then he set about taking on AJZero.
'i was right behind him and i feel i was being slightly held up in the s bend section after turn 1'
Then an incident further down the field saw the safety car deployed for 2 laps.
After pulling in, Selective rogue dropped the hammer straight after the final hairpin, catching AJZero a little by surprise, so Y22 was allover him into turn one. A mistake saw AJ get on the grass on the exit and Y22 seized the oppportunity and went passed.
'I was relieved i got passed, because i was struggling to find a passing spot. Once i did get passed it released me to get some fast laps in'
Y22 then set about catching Rogue, but the Viper was too fast for the Vauxhall.
Y22 finished 9th overall with a hotlap time of 1.22.571 seing him finally break into the top 8 for the feature race
'I was really happy and surprised to see id made it into 8th spot, i was just worried that i was going to be left at the back for the whole race'
This wasn't to be the case, as after another blistering starthe caught and passed DMR Switch in the early part of the race and again set about catching Rogue in 6th. For a couple of laps he looked to be doing just that, but then rogue slowly started pulling more time on Y22 after a few laps,and Y22 was gapping Switch as well.
All was fine through the pits stops until lap 13 when lfcnick retired, and then Adam20692 after 18 laps, boosting Y22 up to fifth.
Then an unforced error saw Y22 spin on lap 19, letting Switch back passed.
Y22 chased Switch down but sadly ran out of laps before he could overtake him, finishing in 6th place overall.
After this meeting then Y22 has moved up the standings into joint 5th in the Sprint Cup, with NickFTM on 155 points. General is in 16th with a close field behind him.
In the Drivers Championship Y22 is in 7th with NickFTM behind him by just a point. General is in 17th chasing down Murcielagogama and TVR Fan

On to Sunset Peninsula, see you in 2 weeks

Some pics of Testing this week at sebring.





we're pushing hard this weekend for a good result so hopefully we can get it together.

Virgin GT announce new driver

Virgin GT today announced they will be taking on new driver Maitreya Buddha.
He joins established members Y22 and Gen3ral in the teams 2nd Vauxhall VX220.
A new driver to TORA. still on a provisional license, Buddha hopes to get some experience within an already competitive team
Team mangaer Y22 said
'I saw him racing the private VX220 at the last round, and thought with or build and tuning help that he might be able to get some results'
'I think I've proved the Vauxhall can compete for points, so hopefully we can put another one up there in the mix'
Buddha will be joining the team for the last 2 meetings at Sebring and Silverstone

Thats good news. I spoke with him after the last round of the GT and he's a top lad. Now that nervous first race is out the way im sure he'll be much more confident and with Y22 also running the VX its a very good opportunity to get some valuable experience.

"had a slow pace at qualifying, which was weird because the quali lap felt fast...so got put in c-lobby for sprint race but fortunately set a fast lap on the club track during the sprint race to pick up pole in b-lobby...i also happened to be helped by a set of strategically placed retirements...had a good feature race, from the start it was all team Deutschland in the first 4 positions...3 bmw's and 1 porsche...through the first few corners i got off the racing line and got caught behind Nightrider for the first half of the race...but he got a phone call during the race and answered it and consequently ran wide and got into the grass one corner. and i was able to get around him and put space on him. got the pit strategy just right and the car felt amazing on the straights.

I tried to catch up to gogama and highcroft, but highcroft is another excellent BMW driver...which i'm glad to see gashi and highcroft and nightrider putting up constructors points in that cup. "

"but mostly i'm impressed by the pace of y22 being able to pick up a large amount of points for the team, definitely have learned alot from him racing with him this season"

"with only one meeting left, it's been a good first season in my debut year with the GTC. i'm looking forward to the 2010 season and am looking forward to the large amounts of upgrades that will come next season."

well i didnt get on the phone but my mom put my on speaker with our friends

Y22 Bagged his first podium this weekend at Sebring.
On a track where power is king, i doubtmany thought that the little VX220 was a threat to any of the major scoring positions, but Y22 managed to get a third place in the sprint race which even surprised him.
'To be honest my qualifying was a little weak, running about a second off my practice times. And i was fortunate to get into the top lobby as there was a few connection issues. But you have to grab each opportunity with both hands as you dont get many.'

Y22 qualified in 9th for the sprint race, but connection issues bumped him up to 7th.
'Secretely i knew if i could just scrape the a lobby for the sprint i could challenge for the win as the club track at Sebring lends itself more to a light and nimble car like mine'
Sure enough, a characteristic start saw him climb a place on the short run down to the first corner
'The club track is really tight, i had the pace to get a couple more before turn one but no track room, so i just bided my time for an opportunity'
Surely enough it came, firstly with King Hill, who led the field from pole, out braking himself and putting his honda into the wall. Then a gutsy overtake on Butcher and Gashi saw him climb to 3rd before the end of the first lap. Y22 then looked to spoil the party of the NJ Carsport boys, high off their 1-2 at Sunset Peninsula.
'I kept up with the 2 Astons quite well for a couple of laps, and looked to make a move on Slim Stoner a couple of times but never quite made it through.'
'Then i out braked myself into the hairpin and bumped Stoner. Me being a gentleman i yielded and let him retake 2nd but this put me back into the clutches of Gashi who was pushing like hell to get past'
3 laps of good defensive driving later saw Y22 cross the line to take the Third step on the podium
'Being up there felt good, plus knowing im now third in the sprint trophy and challenging for the top spot made me feel really good as i knew this car could do well round the short tracks'

On to the Feature where again connection issues bumped Y22 up to 7th on the grid.
'I knew my only real chance of a result was to get a few people off the start and then make them drive around me'
Surely enough, another lightning start saw Y22 boost from 7th right upto 3rd spot, going round the outside of everyone.
'It was a good start but i knew the outside was going to leave me out to dry on the first corner, i got passed and feel i could have maybe held another place but i got bumped sideways by Butcher and it put me right back in 7th again'
There Y22 stayed until 2 mistakes, one by Champion and one by Slim let him pick up 2 places. But it was just a matter of time before they came back passed.
'The VX220's lack of power really showed here and i was outclassed by cars with nearly twice the horsepower as mine, even with the Sebring updates from vauxhall'
Y22 finished a galant 6th though as champion unfortunately had a mechanical retirement

These results now put him up to 6th in the drivers championship, pushing Selective rogue hard for 5th. It also puts the Virgin GT team upto 5th, a comendable position for the rookie team in its first year.

On to silverstone, for the season finale.

I'm properly excited about this final race. I feel like the BMW has alot of pace in it around here, particularly on the short track.

The entry list is massive, and everyone seems to be relatively close on times. It's gonna be a real fight tomorrow.

Close racing today between the two virgin GT cars at silverstone for the last race of the GTC.

"Feel like I could have maybe gone a little bit faster in the sprint race to try to get into A lobby, but overall i'm happy with the result. the guys that finished ahead of me are really quick drivers and I feel like I had a real learning experience this season with Y22"

Who knows what Season 5 will bring with a new format and rules.