_ Racedepartment - VWSR Clio Cup Season 4 - Championship View attachment 16423 Suit up and strap in for a thrilling Renault Clio Cup Championship, as the Virtual World Series by Renault returns for another season with rFactor 2. The fourth iteration of the eagerly awaited VWSR Clio Cup is almost upon us. A precedent was set from the off in Season 3, and a fierce battle ensued which went right to the last; we hope that upcoming season brings us the same level of excitement, and more! This league has been and continues to be incredibly popular, since its inception in 2012, owing to the tough competition, close racing, and uniqueness of a sim-based FWD championship, not to forget the fun factor. Typically perceived as a "boy-racer's" fantasy, the Clio used in this league is a stripped down racing car for men (and women) with the characteristics of a terrier - cute from the exterior with a small and seemingly innocent bark, but a lot of bite and excitability behind the wheel. This charm, along with the car's nippy handling and acceleration, make the headline act, the ISI Renault Clio 197, perfect for a challenging, hard-fought championship. However, the real stars are the drivers. Last season's winner, Christian Michel (CDR Motorsports), shall be back again to defend his title. And second placed Jimi Hughes (MadCape Racing) will also be returning to attempt to regain the top-stop after winning Season 2 back in 2013, almost two years to the day before the start of this season. However, with the prospect of many other highly talented drivers joining these two gentlemen on the grid you could say it's anyone's game. Live Broadcast Each event has a Super-Pole shakedown, and two races (the second of which features a reversed grid for the top 10 finishers in race one), with the full season comprising six rounds. Events are held each week on Fridays streamed live with professional commentary for a large Youtube audience. For more detailed information about the fourth season of the VWSR Clio Cup make sure to click here. Sign up Today The first round of the VWSR Clio Cup commences at 18:00 GMT on Friday 24th April 2015. The application process is open until Monday 20th April; if you are interested in participating then you can sign-up here. To get you in the mood, here is the trailer from Season 3 of this coveted championship.
Publication of the final drivers list: 20th April 2015 Only 5 spots left. Hurry up if you want to join.
Round 1 The Virtual World Series by Renault is back this week at RaceDepartment, with season four of the Clio Cup. Round one will be set in the heart of England; hosted by Croft Circuit, on Friday 24th April 2015 and streamed live over the web. The format will be two back-to-back races. Race one will be a sprint for a maximum of 15 minutes, whilst race two will last slightly longer - up to 25 minutes - and feature a reversed grid for the top ten finishers from the first race. Who are the favorites? The series is poised to be a belter. Season 3 champion, Christian Michel, shall be returning with MC Racing to defend his title, and MadCape Racing's Jimi Hughes will be doing the best he can to be reacquainted with the trophy having lost the opportunity to retain it last year. However, it's not going to be an easy or straightforward fight, with a number of other hopefuls trying to spoil the party and get the top spot! Watch the VWSR live stream Friday 24th April at 19:00GMT! We shall be bringing you full, live coverage of both races, with commentary courtesy of Xavier de Carvalho and James Sadler, from 7pm GMT onwards. You will be able to watch the event live and join in with the conversation live on our live stream page with the popular chatbox. Also, as a viewer, you will be in contention for a prize by correctly answering the competition question that shall be asked during the race show; the winner will be awarded a one month Premium Membership*! Don't forget to check out the the full entry list of teams and drivers, as well as further details about the upcoming race. *The prize is transferable to another member, or can be claimed at a later date.
Round 2 The Virtual World Series by Renault returns this week for Round 2 of the Clio Cup. The meeting will take place on Friday 1st May 2015 at Tor Poznań, with a live web stream for viewers. After an action packed first round at Croft Circuit in England, this time we travel to Poland in the hope that this event will contain as much excitement at the first. The format, as ever, will be the same - one night, two back-to-back races, and a lot of entertainment! Christian & Christmann Take Croft Round 1 of the VWSR Clio Cup presented us with a real treat, with different winners in each of the two races, and battles throughout the field. MC Racing came away the better of the teams after a fairly dominant performance; Simon Christmann scraped a win by half a second in Race 1, but Christian Michel fought back in Race 2 finishing almost ten seconds ahead of his team-mate in second. Jimi Hughes managed to secure 4th and 3rd, but TriRed Racing was left to pick up the spoils after MadCape Racing fielded only a single driver. RD Racing, another of this season's new teams, also got in on the act, currently placing them 3rd in the team championship in spite of having only one driver. MadCape are a couple of points behind in 4th, whilst TriRed Racing occupy 2nd after the first round of racing. Meanwhile, Tapio Rinneaho was the happiest of the independent drivers, finishing 3rd and 6th in races one and two, respectively; not bad going given that this is his first season in the league. This puts him 5th in the overall driver's championship. He is closely followed by fellow independent driver Joao Fernandes - currently 5 points shy of Tapio - who finished 7th and 5th. For more information you can see the full results and standings for Round 1. Watch the VWSR live stream on Friday! We shall be bringing you full, live coverage of both races, with commentary courtesy of Xavier de Carvalho and James Sadler, from 7pm GMT onwards. You will be able to watch the event live, and also join in with the conversation, on our live stream page featuring the popular chat-box. Also, as a viewer, you will be in contention for a prize by correctly answering the competition question that shall be asked during the race show; the winner will be awarded a one month Premium Membership*! Don't forget to check out the the full entry list of teams and drivers, as well as further details about the upcoming race.
Round 3 This week in the Virtual World Series by Renault we head to the Hockenheimring, for Round 3 of the Clio Cup. The event will be on Friday 8th May 2015, and as always there will be a live web stream for viewers across the world. So far in the Clio Cup we've been witness to some fascinating and awe-inspiring racing. Croft was exciting, but Poznan took this to the next level. And we hope that the drivers will deliver again, this time in Germany, in what we expect to be another action packed evening and two races! Dominant Michel Looks In Astonishment at the Sky Round 2 of the VWSR Clio Cup had a lot to live up to following the first event, but it certainly delivered. There were battles galore all the way from the front to the back of the pack. MC Racing were once again triumphant, with Christian Michel leading the way. Two race wins at Poznan puts him ever closer to retaining his title. However, two events into the season, it's still early days; team mate Simon Christmann, who finished 4th in both races, is still hot on the heels of Christian. And there's no winning without a fight; TriRed Racing's Sky Willis demonstrated this in the second race, by making it very difficult for Christian. Sky lead for the majority of the race, but was pipped to the post right at the last, resulting in the reigning champion taking the race win by a mere two tenths of a second. It was a thrilling encounter, and one that will be very tough to beat! Sky's team mate, April Dillon, finished 12th and 7th; the points total moves TriRed Racing up to second in the team championship, 65 points behind MC Racing who are currently looking formidable and unstoppable. Meanwhile, championship hopeful Jimi Hughes could only manage 5th, and 9th after an incident early on in the second race. Fellow competitor Frederic Schornstein, of RD Racing, fared better by finishing 2nd and 3rd, with Free Racing's Teddy Buch also trying to stake a claim for the championship - he is currently in 6th place overall after finishing 3rd and 6th at Poznan. And as of Germany, Frederic will be joined by team mate Gijs van Elderen in an attempt to make a dent in MC Racing's lead. Manuel Caratozzolo (9th and 8th) and Phil Shillitoe (7th and 10th) were the best of the independent drivers, after they both finished with an equal 21 points. This puts Manuel 7th overall in the driver's championship, the highest placed independent driver. Tapio Rinneaho, who is 10th overall, but 2nd in the independent driver's championship, was unable to partake in this race but shall return in Germany. Meanwhile, Steven Andrew finished 8th and 12th, whilst Joao Fernandes had a horrid evening finishing 14th in the first race and forced out of the second with damage to his car's suspension. In spite of the great racing, there were several incidents that left a lot to be desired. Most notably Stefan Woudenberg, of Doreamon Racing, walked away from both races the unhappiest of the bunch after contact caused him to go off into the Arnco on multiple occasions and sustain damage. After finishing the first race 2 laps down, Stefan started the second race as a man on a mission - he managed to make his way up to 6th, but soon found himself in the wars. A real shame, but let's hope he's back to show his mettle at the Hockenheimring. For more information you can see the full results and standings for Round 2. Watch the VWSR live stream on Friday! We shall be bringing you full, live coverage of both races, with commentary courtesy of Xavier de Carvalho and James Sadler, from 6:30pm GMT onwards. You will be able to watch the event live, and also join in with the conversation, on our live stream page featuring the popular chat-box. Also, as a viewer, you will be in contention for a prize by correctly answering the competition question that shall be asked during the race show; the winner will be awarded a one month Premium Membership*! Don't forget to check out the the full entry list of teams and drivers, as well as further details about the upcoming race.
Round 5 The penultimate event of the Clio Cup is set in the heart of France, at the infamous Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours. Round 5 of the Virtual World Series by Renault will be on Friday 22nd May 2015, and as always there will be a live web stream for viewers across the world. The season is almost already over, quicker than it began! It has been truly immense, with fantastic racing and battles throughout the season and the field. Hopefully the final two rounds will intrigue and entertain us as much at the first four. All indicators suggest it will be another exciting evening with two more action packed races! Season Review... so far! There has been so much going on in series, the 4th season of the VWSR: Clio Cup, that to summarise it will be a challenge and worthy of the championship itself! The race to the top spot is still very much on, however, given the form in which Christian Michel has been thus far it's almost inevitable that he shall be able to retain the title. Several drivers are still in with a potential chance of winning the championship - Frederic Schornstein, Simon Christmann, Teddy Buch, and Sky Willis - each with a varying number of points to gain and places to make up before being in contention to nab the trophy from under the nose of Christian. The reigning champion has won all but two of the races so far; he was pipped to post in the first race of the season by his own team mate, Simon Christmann, and by Dutch veteran Franklin Stegink in the second race at Hockenheim. It's safe to say his performance has been top class - that of a champion - but it hasn't always been easy, beating Sky Willis by merely 0.3s at Poznan and Frederic Schornstein by 0.5s in the first race at Hockenheim. You could say that he's a safe bet, but anything could happen! With two races to spare, MC Racing have already secured the Teams Championship, which goes to show the quality and consistency of their two drivers - Christian and Simon. However, the battle for second place is still very much on, with RD Racing, TriRed Racing and Free Racing all in the mix, and separated by a mere 10 points. Doreamon Racing follow, and are slightly further behind, but could still be in with a chance of securing at least third results permitting; strong performances in the final two rounds will certainly give them a boost in the standings. MadCape Racing are next up, and with only a single driver in Jimi Hughes as well as a bout of bad luck they have struggled to make the impression expected of them this season; no doubt they'll be back again with a vengeance. Below them are RedShift Racing, who currently have the worst points per races ratio but have displayed admirable determination throughout the season. Bringing up the rear are Shillitoe Racing, Dutch Veteran Racing, Andrew Racing and ARHAN. Meanwhile, Joao Fernandes leads the individual driver's championship. However, this is still very much open, with Phil Shillitoe, Manuel Caratozzolo, Steven Andrew, Conrad Venter and Pedro Gomes all behind but following very closely, and waiting for their moment to pounce. Tapio Rinneaho and John Broadmeadow are also in with an outside chance of taking the individual driver's championship, but have a lot of ground to make up and must rely on results being in their favour. For more information you can see the full results and standings, up to and including Round 4. Watch the VWSR live stream on Friday! We will be bringing you full, live coverage of both races, with commentary courtesy of Xavier de Carvalho and Daiman Patel, from 6:30pm GMT onwards. You will be able to watch the event live, and also join in with the conversation, on our live stream page featuring the popular chat-box. Also, as a viewer, you will be in contention for a prize by correctly answering the competition question that shall be asked during the race show; the winner will be awarded a one month Premium Membership*! Don't forget to check out the the full entry list of teams and drivers, as well as further details about the upcoming race. *The prize is transferable to another member, or can be claimed at a later date.
Round 6 The final Montréal, Canada, to conclude what has thus far been a fabulous competition. The event will be on Friday 29th May 2015, and as always there will be a live web stream for viewers across the world. Season 4 has been a blast! The quality of the driving throughout the field has been near impeccable and incredibly entertaining. There simply hasn't been a dull moment in a single one of the past 5 rounds, and so we wait for the climactic end for which we are all hoping. Only two races remain for the drivers; who will be able to improve their championship position, and where will the coveted trophy go? There's not long before we find out! So Close, Yet So Far! To say that the last race, at Magny-Cours, was the scrappiest we've seen so far is an indicator of how good the driving has been this season. It has still seen its fair share of incidents, but on the whole it has been nothing short of gentlemanly. However, unlike previous rounds luck eluded MC Racing in France. Christian Michel put himself on pole position for the first race, which came as no surprise, but in the race itself he was under threat from the off by independent driver Pedro Gomes, who took the lead half way through by giving Christian the squeeze. Pedro went on to take the chequered flag in first place, followed by Free Racing's Teddy Buch. Christian still managed to make the podium owing to the gap that the front runners built up during the opening laps. Unfortunately in race two the luck ran out for all of these drivers; both Pedro and Teddy got caught up in incidents that forced them to retire, whilst Christian found himself in the middle of a battle between his team mate, Simon Christmann (5th & DNF), and fellow German Frederic Schornstein (7th & DNF), which caused him to lose time and drop down the order to manage only a 6th place finish. This all allowed Christian to extend his lead at the top of the Driver's Championship to 44 points from Frederic, with only a possible 45 points still up for grabs. It's still a two horse race, but only just - Frederic has a tough job ahead of him, and is relying on a bit of good fortune, whilst Christian only requires a pole position to guarantee himself the title for a second season! Meanwhile, James Maskell also put in a strong performance at Magny-Cours, managing 6th and 3rd after battling hard with the likes of Frederic, Andreas Oehrlich (9th & 4th), and Conrad Venter (10th & 5th). It was also a decent evening for Phil Shillitoe (13th & 7th). However, there were a couple of drivers missing from the line-up: Yuri Kasdorp experienced technical issues (and is likely to miss the final round for similar reasons), and team mate Rui Martins was unable to attend, as was Jimi Hughes, whilst Sky Willis tended to an arm injury. And to add insult to injury, Sky's team mate April Dillion also had a torrid time last week, as she set no qualifying time thus forcing her to start from last, and was able to manage only 16th in the first race, before improving in the second race for a 8th place finish. Joao Fernandes managed 10th in the second race after a DNF in the first, which still leaves him top of the Independent Driver's Championship with 77 points, 8 points ahead of Phil Shillitoe, and 13 points ahead of Tapio Rinneaho who took 8th in race one but went on to win race two after the other potentials failed to seize the opportunity. Conrad Venter is only a point shy of equally Tapio's current total, whilst Pedro Gomes and Manuel Caratozzolo (11th & 16th) are on 56 and 49 points, respectively. Finally, new driver Niranjan Kumar put on an impressive show, with a 4th place finish in race one and almost a repeat performance in race two were it not for the technical issues that destroyed his chances in the final moments. For more information you can see the full results and standings for Round 5. Watch the VWSR live stream on Friday! We will be bringing you full, live coverage of both races, with commentary courtesy of Xavier de Carvalho and James Sadler, from 6:30pm GMT onwards. You will be able to watch the event live, and also join in with the conversation, on our live stream page featuring the popular chat-box. Also, as a viewer, you will be in contention for a prize by correctly answering the competition question that shall be asked during the race show; the winner will be awarded a one month Premium Membership*! Don't forget to check out the the full entry list of teams and drivers, as well as further details about the upcoming races.
