Formula SimRacing
Encyclopedia
Formula SimRacing is a professional international sim racing
league which is arguably the world's most established and largest Formula 1 sim racing
league. It is owned and organised by the International SimRacing Club which was founded in 1999 for the promotion of professional sim racing on the Internet. FSR conducts its championships exclusively with Formula 1 based cars and the racing simulation rFactor
is being used for all events since 2006. In 2010 Formula SimRacing established partnership with the rebranded real formula racing series Auto GP, which will include a test day for the Top-3 finishers of the championship in the Auto GP Lola B05/52.
simulation. Other simulators used include F1 2002 (2002), F1 Challenge '99–'02 (2003-2006) and rFactor (2006-). Since its founding, FSR has evolved into arguably the most competitive sim racing league using Formula 1 cars and has featured in various established sim racing magazines including AutoSimSport.
by Image Space Inc. (ISI). The vehicle currently being used is the officially licenced ISI BMW 2007.
The International SimRacing Club organises three major virtual formula championships each year: the AutoGP FSR World Championship, FSR World Series and FSR World Trophy.
The AutoGP World Championship category is the league's highest category, allowing the world's 26 best sim racers to compete for the highest prizes. In order to compete, interested parties are required to purchase licences from the International SimRacing Club. All Team Owners and Administrators are automatically members of the Club and have democratic rights with regard to the targets, activities and financials. Although many of the world's best simracers are racing in this category, Formula SimRacing had a special highlight in early 2006 when ChampCar driver A. J. Allmendinger
was competing in the World Championship. The league has also been visited by other real-life drivers such as Parker Kligerman
(NASCAR
) and Marco Zipoli
(Indy Lights) and David Martínez
(former Champ Car
and A1GP driver).
The World Series and the World Trophy leagues can be seen as a place for rookies and more advanced sim racers, working as feeder series for the World Championship. Both series allow unlimited sign-ups for teams and drivers, and the entry fees are lower than in the World Championship. The World Series and World Trophy categories consist of two "grids" of racing for the top 52 racers of the respective category, including a promotion and relegation system ensuring best and most equal competition in every race.
All Formula SimRacing series have featured live broadcasting from 2007 onwards and are currently broadcasted by MultiBC.
simulation by Geoff Crammond
. The first official qualification of the World Championship was held at Melbourne, Australia. The first man who got pole-position was Artur Mlodzinski, driving for Famm RIN. The first official points race was won by Italian driver Ernesto de Angelis (related to the Italian racing driver Elio de Angelis
), driving for Virtual-Games and finishing in a time of 1:28:39.385. Heimen Brons finished second and Benjamin Voelkel third.
The winner of the first race took pole position in the second race in Malaysia, Sepang. However, the roles were changed in the race, as the first race pole-sitter Artur Mlodzinski drove to his first victory in the championship. Behind Mlodzinski it was again the Dutch driver Heimen Brons finishing 2nd, the podium was completed by Jari Montonen. The second race saw 14 drivers finishing and a total of 17 different nations participating.
Artur Mlodzinski and Ernesto de Angelis together shared the wins in the first 7 races. In Canada it was Christian Neumann's turn with his first victory of the season and in his career. He would need to wait 4 more years until he took his 2nd victory in Austria 2005. Jari Montonen finished second for Virtual-Games. He would get his first win later in the season at Silverstone. After Silverstone Roy Kolbe began to win many races. The German driver, racing for Virtual-Games, finished with 5 wins in the first season of GP3GL. Max Dell'Orco won the last race of the season in Japan.
The final standings demonstrated an outstandingly close championship. Artur Mlodzinski wrote history of being the first champion in the GP3GL with a total of 154 points. Second place was divided by not 1, not 2, but 3 drivers, scoring all exactly 100 points: Jari Montonen, Heimen Brons and Roy Kolbe. The constructors' championship went to Virtual-Games.com with a total of 255 points, followed by Famm RIN and NetrexGP.
to F1 2001
from Electronic Arts
and switched to F1 2002 later in the year. FSR's second season kicked off on March 3, 2002 in Australia, Melbourne, with 58 laps on the 5.313 km long circuit. Three championship contenders would battle the whole season for the 2002 World Championship trophy: Ernesto de Angelis (ITA, Team Racebase), Roy Kolbe (GER, Virtual Games) and Artur Mlodzinski (POL, Kiwi Racing).
Roy Kolbe dominated the season opener at Melbourne by taking pole position and being first over the chequered flag. The trio de Angelis, Kolbe and Mlodzinski eventually won 9 out of 17 championship races. Other race winners were Max DellOrco (Brazil), Joshua Lyon (Great Britain, Hungary, Japan), Greger Huttu (Germany, Belgium, Italy) and Adriano Calligarich, who won the most glamorous race in the 2002 World Championship schedule, the Monaco Grand Prix.
Roy Kolbe held the point standings lead for 9 consecutive races, but suffered from a disqualification at Montreal, Canada. Ernesto de Angelis took advance of this and took over the championship lead for the rest of the season. Roy Kolbe fell back to third place when Artur Mlodzinski won the last race of the season at Suzuka, Japan.
On the road to his first championship title, Ernesto de Angelis finished every single race and all of them within the points. With only three wins, de Angelis demonstrated great consistency. Dimitry Gerards' Team Racebase won the 2002 Formula SimRacing constructors' championship in dominant fashion. 116 points separated Team Racebase and runner-up finisher Virtual-Games, managed by Rogerio Barroso.
In the wet race of Brazil Huttu showed his extraordinary driving skills and lapped everyone except Domink Binz, who finished half a minute behind. One race later at Imola Huttu was even stronger and won with a lead of 1 minute and 30 seconds, which remained the largest victory gap until Belgium 2005. Huttu's ambition to win the title was more than clear.
In the sixth race in Austria, Huttu was, as well as a few other drivers, disqualified after qualifying and finished only 9th in the race. For the first time in 2003, someone else than Huttu won a race: Joshua Lyon (Kiwi Racing). The next race was to be held at Monaco, where Joshua Lyon put his Kiwi Racing car on pole, outpacing Huttu by four tenths. Lyon also dominated the race, whereas for Huttu it was all over after a crash in lap 23. After the race Huttu retired from FSR. The reason for his retirement was rumoured to be that he had to attend military service in his home country.
However, the show went on, and the road was now free for the second title contender Joshua Lyon. In Canada he finished behind race winner Dominik Binz and Yannick Lapchin. The next two races in Europe and France were dominated by Lyon, who took a comfortable lead in the rankings. Thereafter, Lyon missed the GP of Britain and Binz used his opportunity to win, for the first time when racing with EA's new simulation F1 Challenge '99–'02. In Germany, Lyon was back on P1 and destroyed all ambitions of Binz to win the title, after Binz finished with big problems three laps behind in eighth. The field moved on to Hungary, witnessing a great battle between Binz and Lyon. Binz struck back and finished just six tenths ahead of Lyon.
The circus moved to Monza, Italy and it was Adriano Calligarich who secured his second career victory, this time on his home track. He was followed by championship leader Joshua Lyon and another Italian, Fabrizio Pescali. The last two races went to Joshua Lyon, who secured his first FSR World Championship title in his second season, becoming the youngest ever FSR world champion at the age of 16.
The season started well for the two top runners, qualifying first and second on the grid for the first race of the season at Albert Park. The fairytale was over on Sunday, however, when the two ever so slightly touched on the run to turn 1.
The season would heat up for rounds 10, 11 and 12 at France, Great Britain and Germany. After the French Grand Prix, the top 3 drivers were separated by just 3 points with Joshua Lyon on 83, Yannick Lapchin (Hernj Grand Prix) on 81 and Roy Kolbe on 80 points. Those three drivers went on to take first, third and second respectively at the British Grand Prix the following week, which moved Kolbe up to second in the championship and extended Lyon's lead slightly. From here on, Kolbe never looked back. Yannick Lapchin missed the points at the German GP, whereas Kolbe took the chequered flag. After the race Lyon, who could only manage third place, retired from the World Championship due to private reasons.
Kolbe went on to win 5 of the remaining 6 races to become the world champion of 2004 by an impressive 44 points lead to Yannick Lapchin. Kolbe's team-mate Gareth Clayton (WAL, Virtual-Games) finished a respectable third in the championship, passing Joshua Lyon's points total in the final two races. Virtual-Games.com became the 2004 constructors' champions.
Season 2004 saw the new entry of Twister-Racing in a build-up year to their very successful 2005 season. MayhemF1 and Holland Racing team were to be absent from the grid, replaced by MayenceF1 and Twister-Racing.
There were 10 teams that travelled "down under" to Melbourne, Australia for the season opener. Last year's Formula SimRacing World Champion Roy Kolbe (GER, Virtual Games) was able to win the first event of the 2005 season, although having started from the midfield. Kolbe profited from a drive-through penalty for Hernj Grand Prix driver Christian Neumann (GER) and a brake failure of Dennis Hirrle (GER), who was going to compete in his first full-time World Championship season at Twister-Racing.
Dennis Hirrle won his first ever FSR World Championship GP in Malaysia, closely in front of Roy Kolbe. Kolbe won the Imola race but was beaten in Barcelona by the following world champion Hirrle from Twister-Racing.
The Monaco GP was held on May 29. Pole was clinched by Yannick Lapchin (FRA, Hernj Grand Prix), who set the new track record with a lap of 1:11.665. The race was surprisingly won by Da Silva Racing driver Fausto Pappalardo (ITA). After the race, reigning world champion Roy Kolbe announced his withdrawal from the season.
Dennis Hirrle was the dominant man of the season by winning 11 out of 19 events. The German was able to score a new FSR record by winning 6 consecutive races (Europe, Canada, USA, France, Great Britain, Germany) and by winning most races in a season. Hirrle secured his World Championship title with five races to go at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, where the German was able to lap the entire field in rainy conditions to finish first.
At the last race of the season in Bahrain, Christian Neumann won in dominant fashion in front of Dennis Hirrle. It was his third win of the season and his fourth career victory. With the help of his 10 points, Neumann also prevailed against Fausto Pappalardo in the fight for the runner-up champion position. Martin Gosmann's Twister-Racing team became the Constructors' Champion in the team's second season.
using Jason Tedstone's 'F1Champions' Modification. Before the 2006 season started, reigning world champion Dennis Hirrle (Twister-Racing) announced his retirement after the season due to personal reasons. The season started in perfect fashion for 2004 world champion Roy Kolbe, who switched to the new Coca-Cola sponsored Kiwi Virtual team and won the first three races of the season. Bruno Marques (Diamond Racing Team) missed the first two races due to technical problems, but the Portuguese would prove to be Kolbe's hardest opponent for the rest of the year. At the San Marino GP in Imola, FSR welcomed ChampCar driver A.J. Allmendinger (Roaldo Racing) in the World Championship category. The American qualified 9th, managed a solid race but spun and stalled his engine few laps from the end.
Both championship contenders failed to score at the European GP at the Nurburgring: Marques did an early mistake and was out of the race, Kolbe spun in the very last part of the race under pressure from team-mate David Greco who won his first race in the FSR World Championship. The next race was to be held at the glamorous streets of Monaco where Bruno Marques was able to score his first ever World Championship victory in dominant style, crossing the line long before Dominik Binz (Red Bull Kiwi Virtual) and Dennis Hirrle, in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Roy Kolbe just scored 4 points in this race, but struck back victorious at the British GP in Silverstone. After a third place in Canada, where David Greco celebrated his second season victory, Kolbe didn't score any points in the next 3 races: At the US Grand Prix in Indianapolis, the German was taken out at the start in a mass collision. The next two races Kolbe was forced to miss out due to major technical problems.
In the meantime, Bruno Marques put in a series of 4 victories in a row. Since the Monaco GP, Marques never finished in other positions than either first or second.
For the next GP at the Hungaroring, FSR switched to the new BMW Sauber F1 Modification by ISI
. Roy Kolbe was back racing at Hungary but finished 0.7 seconds behind the Portuguese, which increased Marques' championship lead by another two points. Two weeks later, Formula SimRacing raced for the very first time on the new Istanbul Park track in Turkey. Although Marques started from pole, he lost his lead immediately to Roy Kolbe at the start, who could win the race in front of the Portuguese and Dennis Hirrle.
In Monza and in Shanghai, Marques was again able to cross the line right in front of Kolbe in 2nd, but the German's result was enough to make his team, Coca-Cola Kiwi Virtual, the 2006 FSR World Championship Constructor Champions. Before the next race in Japan, Suzuka, Bruno Marques had a solid 18 points lead over Kolbe and thus only needed to finish in 7th spot in order to win the World Championship on the Asian continent, whereas Roy Kolbe needed to win the race to keep his chances alive for the last race of the season. Marques secured pole position over Kolbe by just 0.012 seconds, but was passed into turn 1 by the German, who eventually won the race, but it wasn't enough: Bruno Marques finished in 2nd, in front of newcomer and team-mate Ondrej Kuncman, and thus won the 2006 FSR Drivers' Championship in the penultimate race. Marques' team, Diamond Racing, had also secured 2nd position in the Constructors Championship in Suzuka.
Ondrej Kuncman won the final season race in Brazil in front of his team-mate and new world champion Bruno Marques. It was the newcomer's first victory in his first season. The podium was completed by Dennis Hirrle, who announced to continue his career as team manager at Twister-Racing.
and latest tire specifications.
For 2007 two new teams had entered the WC category: the Portuguese GhostSpeed Racing and the American Torrent Motorsports. Other participators included the reigning world champion team Kiwi Virtual, Diamond Racing, Twister-Racing and the revised Roaldo Racing, together with the sim racing world’s elite drivers Bruno Marques, David Greco and Roy Kolbe. The season opener was held at Sepang, where Roy Kolbe and Twister-Racing turned out an unbeatable package and left Greco and Marques battling for the lesser prices. The second foreign continent race at Bahrain was won by Ondrej Kuncman, whilst Marques and Kolbe suffered from technical problems. By the time of finishing the fourth race at Barcelona, Roy Kolbe had won three races out of four possible and the odds were high that the German sim racing veteran would grab a second championship. By this time the first big driver switch had also taken place, as Twister-Racing had switched in Sebastian Schmalenbach for the second seat.
A highlight of every season, the Monaco Grand Prix, was won by David Greco in superior style, giving the Italian the championship advantage after an engine stall by Kolbe. Greco continued his high note at Montreal three weeks later, grabbing his fourth win of career after an eventful race. This race was the first one raced on an updated physics package, with more realistic grip and torque levels. By this time the reigning champion Marques was still without a single pole position and victory, and the champion clearly started to show signs of frustration.
The midsummer race held at Indianapolis proved to be Marques’s turning point, where the Portuguese grabbed a pole and a victory. Even more stunning was his performance at Magny-Cours: a full hat-trick. The two back-to-back races pulled Marques back into the hottest championship fight. The tight pattern continued in July, during which Kolbe managed to recover by clinching a home victory at Nürburgring, but it was too late for the unlucky German to catch the championship lead, and shortly afterwards Twister-Racing announced championship defeat. The month also saw the return of another ex FSR-star, Yannick Lapchin, whose comeback to Roaldo Racing put up some new spice in the constructors’ championship battle.
The culmination point in the Greco-Marques battle turned out to be Hungaroring. While Greco couldn’t finish a qualifying lap on the slow track, it meant that the Italian’s podium chances were minimal and the first retirement of the season eventually ended his 10-race-long point streak. An exciting Istanbul race finally yielded a new Formula SimRacing winner, Patrick De Wit from Holland, just in front of the blue diamond cars. The most exciting race of the season was carried out at Monza, where the spectators witnessed countless overtakes performed by the Greco-Kolbe-Marques axis.
The last quarter was dominated by Marques, who managed to win four consecutive races. With thankfully Spa-Francorchamps back in the calendar, the race saw a tight struggle for the last tenths between Marques and Kolbe. The 2001 champion Artur Mlodzinski accounted for an excellent comeback by grabbing second place at Shanghai, whereas similar to last year the Interlagos race was dominated by Diamond Racing – a result that secured Marques his second consecutive championship. The season finale at the new Fuji track accounted for a great final show between Marques and Kolbe, which once again ended in the Portuguese’s victory and completed his perfect season. The final drivers’ top three table was formed by Marques, Greco and Kolbe, and the teams’ by Diamond Racing, Roaldo Racing and Twister-Racing.
platform for another year, and the final mod utilized MMG 2007 car shapes mixed with tailor made physics by the league's elite sim racers. During the winter season a few roster changes were done by the teams. The most notable exchange was the signing of the double FSR WC champion Bruno Marques, who after two championship winning years at Diamond Racing joined his home country team GhostSpeed Racing.
The FSR WC 2008 started out with a bang with Stephane Rouault claming his first career pole, but early problems made him drop back in the race. In contrast his team-mate Bruno Marques took the lead from the very beginning and would dominate and win round one in front of David Greco. Round two was held at Sepang, where Roy Kolbe took pole position but yet again Bruno Marques, starting from P4, would take the win in front of Kolbe. Marques continued his domination at Bahrain, where he finished in a superior victory in front of John-Eric Saxén, who took the first podium in WC for Torrent Motorsports. The fourth round provided no changes in terms of performances: Marques finished in a fourth consecutive victory after overtaking Ondrej Kuncman, who this time made the victory somewhat harder for the Portuguese.
When entering the second quarter of the season, Bruno Marques was holding an impressive 24-point lead over his strongest rivals. Roy Kolbe started his leap towards the top at Istanbul with his 30th career victory - a race which was foremost remembered of disconnected drivers, amongst those Marques and Yannick Lapchin. The Monaco race ended in surprise victory; whilst Marques and Kolbe were struggling, Lapchin finished in an irreproachable victory for Ash Racing. The Montreal race was held in the absence of Marques and Greco, which Roy Kolbe took advantage of and finished victorious. The same trend continued in the next race at Magny-Cours, but with reversed order, as Ondrej Kuncman took his 3rd WC victory in front of Kolbe. The season halfpoint race was held at Silverstone, where Kolbe lost the championship lead back to Marques, who finished second behind a real surprise winner, Stefan Kanitz.
The Hockenheim weekend was dominated by Roy Kolbe, who scored a hat trick and victory on home ground for Twister-Racing in front of team-mate James Andanson and Patrick De Wit, who climbed up on the podium from the back of the grid. The race also turned out to be the last together for Kolbe and Twister-Racing, as the two parties decided to separate after financial disagreement. The season traditionally continued at Hungaroring, where a retirement of Bruno Marques from a superior leading position gave Kolbe the keys to victory, which the German took advantage of by taking the first season win for his new team Diamond Racing. After a 3 weeks' autumn brake the circus moved on towards the newbuilt Valencia track. An incredibly even pole fight was carried out between De Wit, Lapchin and Marques, and the race continued in similar manner; De Wit managed to stay in front for most of the race, but in the closing laps the Dutch suffered from brake problems. This gave the edge to Marques and Lapchin and ended the Portuguese's winningless strike. After the race Kolbe announced his withdrawal from the season, leaving the championship fight to be carried out between Marques and Kuncman.
Spa-Francorchamps hosted one of the most exciting races of the season. After a huge start incident which took out several cars, the victory was to be decided between Marques and De Wit. The Dutch driver had a full spin in the early stages of the race, which gave the advantage to Marques, who was on a 3 stop strategy whereas De Wit's had decided for a 2 stopper. After the last pit stops De Wit managed to marginally pull into the lead, but only for a couple of laps, as Marques managed to perform a stunning overtaking move through the outside line of Les Combes. At Monza the fight between the same drivers continued; this time with similar strategies and fuel loads. An expected even fight once again turned out to be a clear race victory for Marques in the end.
Racing traditionally started April 5 at Albert Park which immediately provided a dramatic spectacle. A spun car on the track saw both Hancock GP drivers Marques and Greco collide in the early race leading into permanent damage. Kolbe took the full advantage and scored a peerless victory for Twister-Racing in a race with only 10 finishers. Sepang continued in Kolbe fashion with Marques finishing second in the middle of the Twister sandwich. In China the roles were changed and it was Hirrle who took his first win since 2005 in front of Kolbe and Marques who dramatically lost engine power in the last laps. The fourth race eventually saw the win of Hancock GP and Marques, who edged Kolbe with a two-stop strategy to close on the German's massive championship lead.
The restart-filled fifth race at Barcelona ended in another copybook win of Kolbe, who had thus scored a record-braking 46 out of 50 possible points. Jaakko Mikkonen finished in an excellent second but the big disappointment was Marques and Hancock GP. Shortly afterwards Marques announced his withdrawal from the season and his move into test driver, with Mikkonen taking over the race seat. The glamorous Monaco GP saw yet another surprise winner, as Lee Morris literally flied into the victory for Ash Racing ahead of Greco and Kolbe. Ash victory line continued at Turkish ground, when Blair Disley stormed past Greco into victory in the closing stages. The race was also remembered by the excellent overtakings and the last lap connection loss of Mikkonen.
Shortly after the Turkish race, Hancock GP announced withdrawal from the season, thus taking another championship contender, David Greco, out of the game. The British GP saw Jaakko Mikkonen take the first ever pole position for his fourth new team of the season, Torrent Motorsports. In the race, however, Roy Kolbe established a dominating lead early on and eventually finished in a supreme victory, assisted by an unusual driving error from the Finn. Kolbe had great chances of increasing his championship lead at his home ground, Nürburgring, but an extra stop-and-go handed the victory to his team-mate, Dennis Hirrle, in a race notoriously remembered by multiple start line incidents, which brought heavy penalties to Lee Morris and Patrick De Wit.
The Hungarian race provided little change in the top, as Roy Kolbe immediately took control of the events and the Twister-Racing team finished in another double victory next to Bono Huis, who arguably became the youngest podium finisher in WC. The race at Spa-Francorchamps brought some extra excitement due to the forced absence of Roy Kolbe. Dennis Hirrle continued on a high note, finishing in a third victory of the season in front of a real surprise second, Laurent Keersmaekers, in a race remembered by multiple engine failures. Valencia street circuit provided an excellent fight between the two Twister drivers and Jaakko Mikkonen. The Finn executed his 3-stop strategy brilliantly and was able to keep ahead of the 4-stopping Twister-Racing cars, scoring his first ever WC victory, this time for Precision Motorsports. The result nevertheless granted Twister-Racing its second FSR constructors' championship with five races to go. The drivers' championship would be decided between Kolbe, Hirrle and Mikkonen.
Status quo continued at Monza, where Mikkonen raced into a second straight victory after successfully defending against Hirrle, whilst Lee Morris returned on the podium after overtaking John-Eric Saxén in the closing stages. At Fuji Kolbe took a strong hold of the championship by crossing the finish line in formation with Hirrle, whereas a somewhat ill Mikkonen had to settle for third. One race later at Suzuka Kolbe secured his second FSR world championship title, which came after a dominating performance in one of the FSR history's tightest races (six cars within 10 seconds). The Canadian GP was dominated by Precision Motorsports, which after juggling between its drivers finished in victory of returning Greco, followed by Mikkonen. The season finale at Interlagos witnessed another exciting show until the last seconds. Mikkonen finished the season with victory, closely followed by Hirrle and Huis.
The final top 3 drivers' standings read Roy Kolbe, Dennis Hirrle and Jaakko Mikkonen, who all finished above the 100-point mark. The teams' corresponding list covered Twister-Racing, Precision Motorsports and Ash Racing. With all of the 17 races broadcasted live and an exciting championship fight provided, FSR had established a solid ground upon which to build for 2010.
After a quiet off season, with a few major teams switching to the newer "GPO World Championship". FSR dropped their connection with AutoGP and began preparations for its 11th season. By the season opener in Bahrain, 10 teams had confirmed their entry, and it was apparent that it was the beginning of a new chapter for Sim Racing's top series.
Bono Huis, continued his dominance from 2010, winning the first 5 rounds, each race being broadcasted by PSRtv.
The list is accurate up to and including the German Grand Prix (August 14, 2011).
This is a complete list of winning teams of Formula SimRacing league races since 2001.
The list is accurate up to and including the German Grand Prix (August 14, 2011).
Sim racing
Sim racing is the collective term for computer software that attempts to simulate accurately auto racing , complete with real-world variables such as fuel usage, damage, tire wear and grip, and suspension settings...
league which is arguably the world's most established and largest Formula 1 sim racing
Sim racing
Sim racing is the collective term for computer software that attempts to simulate accurately auto racing , complete with real-world variables such as fuel usage, damage, tire wear and grip, and suspension settings...
league. It is owned and organised by the International SimRacing Club which was founded in 1999 for the promotion of professional sim racing on the Internet. FSR conducts its championships exclusively with Formula 1 based cars and the racing simulation rFactor
RFactor
rFactor is a computer racing simulator, designed with the ability to run any type of four-wheeled vehicle from street cars to open wheel cars of any era. rFactor aimed to be the most accurate race simulator of its time...
is being used for all events since 2006. In 2010 Formula SimRacing established partnership with the rebranded real formula racing series Auto GP, which will include a test day for the Top-3 finishers of the championship in the Auto GP Lola B05/52.
History
The International SimRacing Club (ISR Club) was founded by Kurt Baumann (Switzerland) in 1999 as a non-profit organization, established in order to build up the world's first and foremost sim racing league. The first season of FSR ran in 2001 using the Grand Prix 3Grand Prix 3
Grand Prix 3 is a computer racing simulator by MicroProse. Released in 2000 by Hasbro Interactive featuring the 1998 Formula One season...
simulation. Other simulators used include F1 2002 (2002), F1 Challenge '99–'02 (2003-2006) and rFactor (2006-). Since its founding, FSR has evolved into arguably the most competitive sim racing league using Formula 1 cars and has featured in various established sim racing magazines including AutoSimSport.
Format
Formula SimRacing (formerly named GP3GL) was built and designed to support realistic racing simulations and to establish simracing as an acknowledged sport in the international press. The league is currently being run under the PC Simulation rFactorRFactor
rFactor is a computer racing simulator, designed with the ability to run any type of four-wheeled vehicle from street cars to open wheel cars of any era. rFactor aimed to be the most accurate race simulator of its time...
by Image Space Inc. (ISI). The vehicle currently being used is the officially licenced ISI BMW 2007.
The International SimRacing Club organises three major virtual formula championships each year: the AutoGP FSR World Championship, FSR World Series and FSR World Trophy.
The AutoGP World Championship category is the league's highest category, allowing the world's 26 best sim racers to compete for the highest prizes. In order to compete, interested parties are required to purchase licences from the International SimRacing Club. All Team Owners and Administrators are automatically members of the Club and have democratic rights with regard to the targets, activities and financials. Although many of the world's best simracers are racing in this category, Formula SimRacing had a special highlight in early 2006 when ChampCar driver A. J. Allmendinger
A. J. Allmendinger
Allmendinger again failed to qualify for the 2008 Daytona 500. After three failures to qualify in 2 attempts , he was replaced by veteran driver Mike Skinner on a temporary basis. Allmendinger returned to the Cup series at Talladega...
was competing in the World Championship. The league has also been visited by other real-life drivers such as Parker Kligerman
Parker Kligerman
Parker L. Kligerman is an American racing driver currently with Penske Racing's driver development program. He currently drives the #29 Dodge Ram for Brad Keselowski Racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series....
(NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
) and Marco Zipoli
Marco Zipoli
Marco Zipoli is an Italian racing driver. He has competed in such series as the Italian Formula Three Championship and was runner-up in 2009. He trialled for the Ferrari Formula One team in 2009.-External links:*...
(Indy Lights) and David Martínez
David Martínez
David Martinez is a Mexican racing driver. He holds the record for the best debut ever by a Mexican driver in a premiere open-wheel series with his 9th place finish at the 2006 Gran Premio de Mexico.-IndyCar 2012:Martinez is currently in negotiations to become the only Mexican driver in the...
(former Champ Car
Champ Car
Champ Car was the name for a class and specification of open wheel cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race...
and A1GP driver).
The World Series and the World Trophy leagues can be seen as a place for rookies and more advanced sim racers, working as feeder series for the World Championship. Both series allow unlimited sign-ups for teams and drivers, and the entry fees are lower than in the World Championship. The World Series and World Trophy categories consist of two "grids" of racing for the top 52 racers of the respective category, including a promotion and relegation system ensuring best and most equal competition in every race.
All Formula SimRacing series have featured live broadcasting from 2007 onwards and are currently broadcasted by MultiBC.
2001
GP3GL (today’s Formula SimRacing, FSR) started out in 2001 using the Grand Prix 3Grand Prix 3
Grand Prix 3 is a computer racing simulator by MicroProse. Released in 2000 by Hasbro Interactive featuring the 1998 Formula One season...
simulation by Geoff Crammond
Geoff Crammond
Geoff Crammond is a computer game designer and programmer who specialises in motor racing games. A former defense industry systems engineer, he claims to have had little interest in motor racing before programming his first racing game back in 1984, but he holds a physics degree, which may explain...
. The first official qualification of the World Championship was held at Melbourne, Australia. The first man who got pole-position was Artur Mlodzinski, driving for Famm RIN. The first official points race was won by Italian driver Ernesto de Angelis (related to the Italian racing driver Elio de Angelis
Elio de Angelis
Elio de Angelis was an Italian racing driver who participated in Formula One between and , racing for the Shadow, Lotus and Brabham teams. He was killed during testing at the Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet in 1986...
), driving for Virtual-Games and finishing in a time of 1:28:39.385. Heimen Brons finished second and Benjamin Voelkel third.
The winner of the first race took pole position in the second race in Malaysia, Sepang. However, the roles were changed in the race, as the first race pole-sitter Artur Mlodzinski drove to his first victory in the championship. Behind Mlodzinski it was again the Dutch driver Heimen Brons finishing 2nd, the podium was completed by Jari Montonen. The second race saw 14 drivers finishing and a total of 17 different nations participating.
Artur Mlodzinski and Ernesto de Angelis together shared the wins in the first 7 races. In Canada it was Christian Neumann's turn with his first victory of the season and in his career. He would need to wait 4 more years until he took his 2nd victory in Austria 2005. Jari Montonen finished second for Virtual-Games. He would get his first win later in the season at Silverstone. After Silverstone Roy Kolbe began to win many races. The German driver, racing for Virtual-Games, finished with 5 wins in the first season of GP3GL. Max Dell'Orco won the last race of the season in Japan.
The final standings demonstrated an outstandingly close championship. Artur Mlodzinski wrote history of being the first champion in the GP3GL with a total of 154 points. Second place was divided by not 1, not 2, but 3 drivers, scoring all exactly 100 points: Jari Montonen, Heimen Brons and Roy Kolbe. The constructors' championship went to Virtual-Games.com with a total of 255 points, followed by Famm RIN and NetrexGP.
2002
In 2002, Formula SimRacing switched games from Grand Prix 3Grand Prix 3
Grand Prix 3 is a computer racing simulator by MicroProse. Released in 2000 by Hasbro Interactive featuring the 1998 Formula One season...
to F1 2001
EA Sports F1 series
The EA Sports F1 Series consists of five racing simulation games based on Formula One motorsport. The games were released annually between 2000 and 2003, stopped selling, then continued in 2006...
from Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
and switched to F1 2002 later in the year. FSR's second season kicked off on March 3, 2002 in Australia, Melbourne, with 58 laps on the 5.313 km long circuit. Three championship contenders would battle the whole season for the 2002 World Championship trophy: Ernesto de Angelis (ITA, Team Racebase), Roy Kolbe (GER, Virtual Games) and Artur Mlodzinski (POL, Kiwi Racing).
Roy Kolbe dominated the season opener at Melbourne by taking pole position and being first over the chequered flag. The trio de Angelis, Kolbe and Mlodzinski eventually won 9 out of 17 championship races. Other race winners were Max DellOrco (Brazil), Joshua Lyon (Great Britain, Hungary, Japan), Greger Huttu (Germany, Belgium, Italy) and Adriano Calligarich, who won the most glamorous race in the 2002 World Championship schedule, the Monaco Grand Prix.
Roy Kolbe held the point standings lead for 9 consecutive races, but suffered from a disqualification at Montreal, Canada. Ernesto de Angelis took advance of this and took over the championship lead for the rest of the season. Roy Kolbe fell back to third place when Artur Mlodzinski won the last race of the season at Suzuka, Japan.
On the road to his first championship title, Ernesto de Angelis finished every single race and all of them within the points. With only three wins, de Angelis demonstrated great consistency. Dimitry Gerards' Team Racebase won the 2002 Formula SimRacing constructors' championship in dominant fashion. 116 points separated Team Racebase and runner-up finisher Virtual-Games, managed by Rogerio Barroso.
2003
The third season of Formula SimRacing saw Roy Kolbe taking a break from racing. The season kicked off with sim racing legend Greger Huttu (NetRex GP) dominantly winning the first five races; an achievement that nobody has yet equalled in FSR. Huttu started his FSR career already in 2002, but he needed half a year to be consistently fighting for victories. Not only did Huttu win the five first races, but he also got five pole positions in the respective qualifyings.In the wet race of Brazil Huttu showed his extraordinary driving skills and lapped everyone except Domink Binz, who finished half a minute behind. One race later at Imola Huttu was even stronger and won with a lead of 1 minute and 30 seconds, which remained the largest victory gap until Belgium 2005. Huttu's ambition to win the title was more than clear.
In the sixth race in Austria, Huttu was, as well as a few other drivers, disqualified after qualifying and finished only 9th in the race. For the first time in 2003, someone else than Huttu won a race: Joshua Lyon (Kiwi Racing). The next race was to be held at Monaco, where Joshua Lyon put his Kiwi Racing car on pole, outpacing Huttu by four tenths. Lyon also dominated the race, whereas for Huttu it was all over after a crash in lap 23. After the race Huttu retired from FSR. The reason for his retirement was rumoured to be that he had to attend military service in his home country.
However, the show went on, and the road was now free for the second title contender Joshua Lyon. In Canada he finished behind race winner Dominik Binz and Yannick Lapchin. The next two races in Europe and France were dominated by Lyon, who took a comfortable lead in the rankings. Thereafter, Lyon missed the GP of Britain and Binz used his opportunity to win, for the first time when racing with EA's new simulation F1 Challenge '99–'02. In Germany, Lyon was back on P1 and destroyed all ambitions of Binz to win the title, after Binz finished with big problems three laps behind in eighth. The field moved on to Hungary, witnessing a great battle between Binz and Lyon. Binz struck back and finished just six tenths ahead of Lyon.
The circus moved to Monza, Italy and it was Adriano Calligarich who secured his second career victory, this time on his home track. He was followed by championship leader Joshua Lyon and another Italian, Fabrizio Pescali. The last two races went to Joshua Lyon, who secured his first FSR World Championship title in his second season, becoming the youngest ever FSR world champion at the age of 16.
2004
The year 2004 was to be the big showdown between reigning 2003 world champion Joshua Lyon of Kiwi Racing and the fast but never successful Roy Kolbe of Virtual-Games.com.The season started well for the two top runners, qualifying first and second on the grid for the first race of the season at Albert Park. The fairytale was over on Sunday, however, when the two ever so slightly touched on the run to turn 1.
The season would heat up for rounds 10, 11 and 12 at France, Great Britain and Germany. After the French Grand Prix, the top 3 drivers were separated by just 3 points with Joshua Lyon on 83, Yannick Lapchin (Hernj Grand Prix) on 81 and Roy Kolbe on 80 points. Those three drivers went on to take first, third and second respectively at the British Grand Prix the following week, which moved Kolbe up to second in the championship and extended Lyon's lead slightly. From here on, Kolbe never looked back. Yannick Lapchin missed the points at the German GP, whereas Kolbe took the chequered flag. After the race Lyon, who could only manage third place, retired from the World Championship due to private reasons.
Kolbe went on to win 5 of the remaining 6 races to become the world champion of 2004 by an impressive 44 points lead to Yannick Lapchin. Kolbe's team-mate Gareth Clayton (WAL, Virtual-Games) finished a respectable third in the championship, passing Joshua Lyon's points total in the final two races. Virtual-Games.com became the 2004 constructors' champions.
Season 2004 saw the new entry of Twister-Racing in a build-up year to their very successful 2005 season. MayhemF1 and Holland Racing team were to be absent from the grid, replaced by MayenceF1 and Twister-Racing.
2005
The 2005 season started with an international press conference on March 19, held by former ISR Club President Steven Holgeth, who announced the Formula SimRacing World Championship driver and team line-ups. The league didn't use the standard simulation F1 Challenge '99–'02 anymore, but converted to Ralph Hummerich's RH2004 modification.There were 10 teams that travelled "down under" to Melbourne, Australia for the season opener. Last year's Formula SimRacing World Champion Roy Kolbe (GER, Virtual Games) was able to win the first event of the 2005 season, although having started from the midfield. Kolbe profited from a drive-through penalty for Hernj Grand Prix driver Christian Neumann (GER) and a brake failure of Dennis Hirrle (GER), who was going to compete in his first full-time World Championship season at Twister-Racing.
Dennis Hirrle won his first ever FSR World Championship GP in Malaysia, closely in front of Roy Kolbe. Kolbe won the Imola race but was beaten in Barcelona by the following world champion Hirrle from Twister-Racing.
The Monaco GP was held on May 29. Pole was clinched by Yannick Lapchin (FRA, Hernj Grand Prix), who set the new track record with a lap of 1:11.665. The race was surprisingly won by Da Silva Racing driver Fausto Pappalardo (ITA). After the race, reigning world champion Roy Kolbe announced his withdrawal from the season.
Dennis Hirrle was the dominant man of the season by winning 11 out of 19 events. The German was able to score a new FSR record by winning 6 consecutive races (Europe, Canada, USA, France, Great Britain, Germany) and by winning most races in a season. Hirrle secured his World Championship title with five races to go at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, where the German was able to lap the entire field in rainy conditions to finish first.
At the last race of the season in Bahrain, Christian Neumann won in dominant fashion in front of Dennis Hirrle. It was his third win of the season and his fourth career victory. With the help of his 10 points, Neumann also prevailed against Fausto Pappalardo in the fight for the runner-up champion position. Martin Gosmann's Twister-Racing team became the Constructors' Champion in the team's second season.
2006
For 2006, Formula SimRacing switched games from F1 Challenge '99–'02 to rFactorRFactor
rFactor is a computer racing simulator, designed with the ability to run any type of four-wheeled vehicle from street cars to open wheel cars of any era. rFactor aimed to be the most accurate race simulator of its time...
using Jason Tedstone's 'F1Champions' Modification. Before the 2006 season started, reigning world champion Dennis Hirrle (Twister-Racing) announced his retirement after the season due to personal reasons. The season started in perfect fashion for 2004 world champion Roy Kolbe, who switched to the new Coca-Cola sponsored Kiwi Virtual team and won the first three races of the season. Bruno Marques (Diamond Racing Team) missed the first two races due to technical problems, but the Portuguese would prove to be Kolbe's hardest opponent for the rest of the year. At the San Marino GP in Imola, FSR welcomed ChampCar driver A.J. Allmendinger (Roaldo Racing) in the World Championship category. The American qualified 9th, managed a solid race but spun and stalled his engine few laps from the end.
Both championship contenders failed to score at the European GP at the Nurburgring: Marques did an early mistake and was out of the race, Kolbe spun in the very last part of the race under pressure from team-mate David Greco who won his first race in the FSR World Championship. The next race was to be held at the glamorous streets of Monaco where Bruno Marques was able to score his first ever World Championship victory in dominant style, crossing the line long before Dominik Binz (Red Bull Kiwi Virtual) and Dennis Hirrle, in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Roy Kolbe just scored 4 points in this race, but struck back victorious at the British GP in Silverstone. After a third place in Canada, where David Greco celebrated his second season victory, Kolbe didn't score any points in the next 3 races: At the US Grand Prix in Indianapolis, the German was taken out at the start in a mass collision. The next two races Kolbe was forced to miss out due to major technical problems.
In the meantime, Bruno Marques put in a series of 4 victories in a row. Since the Monaco GP, Marques never finished in other positions than either first or second.
For the next GP at the Hungaroring, FSR switched to the new BMW Sauber F1 Modification by ISI
ISI
ISI or Isi may refer to:* İsi, a village and municipality in the Masally Rayon of Azerbaijan-Organizations:* Bureau of Indian Standards, previously the Indian Standards Institute, the national Standards Body of India...
. Roy Kolbe was back racing at Hungary but finished 0.7 seconds behind the Portuguese, which increased Marques' championship lead by another two points. Two weeks later, Formula SimRacing raced for the very first time on the new Istanbul Park track in Turkey. Although Marques started from pole, he lost his lead immediately to Roy Kolbe at the start, who could win the race in front of the Portuguese and Dennis Hirrle.
In Monza and in Shanghai, Marques was again able to cross the line right in front of Kolbe in 2nd, but the German's result was enough to make his team, Coca-Cola Kiwi Virtual, the 2006 FSR World Championship Constructor Champions. Before the next race in Japan, Suzuka, Bruno Marques had a solid 18 points lead over Kolbe and thus only needed to finish in 7th spot in order to win the World Championship on the Asian continent, whereas Roy Kolbe needed to win the race to keep his chances alive for the last race of the season. Marques secured pole position over Kolbe by just 0.012 seconds, but was passed into turn 1 by the German, who eventually won the race, but it wasn't enough: Bruno Marques finished in 2nd, in front of newcomer and team-mate Ondrej Kuncman, and thus won the 2006 FSR Drivers' Championship in the penultimate race. Marques' team, Diamond Racing, had also secured 2nd position in the Constructors Championship in Suzuka.
Ondrej Kuncman won the final season race in Brazil in front of his team-mate and new world champion Bruno Marques. It was the newcomer's first victory in his first season. The podium was completed by Dennis Hirrle, who announced to continue his career as team manager at Twister-Racing.
2007
For the 2007 season, Formula SimRacing conducted many changes in order to further broaden the league’s audience and attraction. A specific internet broadcasting concept was negotiated and as result the league could proudly introduce live coverage of WC events for the first time, including expert commentators and real-time driver comments. The thanks go to gamer-FM, MultiBC and ProSimRacing, of which the ProSimRacing will continue to partner Formula SimRacing for the 2008 season. Secondly, a new category, the World Series Ama, was introduced to allow less experienced drivers get a first touch with the league. The award-winning CTDP 2005 mod was chosen as basis for the physics model, bundled with a 2007 V8 engineV8 engine
A V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of four cylinders, in most cases set at a right angle to each other but sometimes at a narrower angle, with all eight pistons driving a common crankshaft....
and latest tire specifications.
For 2007 two new teams had entered the WC category: the Portuguese GhostSpeed Racing and the American Torrent Motorsports. Other participators included the reigning world champion team Kiwi Virtual, Diamond Racing, Twister-Racing and the revised Roaldo Racing, together with the sim racing world’s elite drivers Bruno Marques, David Greco and Roy Kolbe. The season opener was held at Sepang, where Roy Kolbe and Twister-Racing turned out an unbeatable package and left Greco and Marques battling for the lesser prices. The second foreign continent race at Bahrain was won by Ondrej Kuncman, whilst Marques and Kolbe suffered from technical problems. By the time of finishing the fourth race at Barcelona, Roy Kolbe had won three races out of four possible and the odds were high that the German sim racing veteran would grab a second championship. By this time the first big driver switch had also taken place, as Twister-Racing had switched in Sebastian Schmalenbach for the second seat.
A highlight of every season, the Monaco Grand Prix, was won by David Greco in superior style, giving the Italian the championship advantage after an engine stall by Kolbe. Greco continued his high note at Montreal three weeks later, grabbing his fourth win of career after an eventful race. This race was the first one raced on an updated physics package, with more realistic grip and torque levels. By this time the reigning champion Marques was still without a single pole position and victory, and the champion clearly started to show signs of frustration.
The midsummer race held at Indianapolis proved to be Marques’s turning point, where the Portuguese grabbed a pole and a victory. Even more stunning was his performance at Magny-Cours: a full hat-trick. The two back-to-back races pulled Marques back into the hottest championship fight. The tight pattern continued in July, during which Kolbe managed to recover by clinching a home victory at Nürburgring, but it was too late for the unlucky German to catch the championship lead, and shortly afterwards Twister-Racing announced championship defeat. The month also saw the return of another ex FSR-star, Yannick Lapchin, whose comeback to Roaldo Racing put up some new spice in the constructors’ championship battle.
The culmination point in the Greco-Marques battle turned out to be Hungaroring. While Greco couldn’t finish a qualifying lap on the slow track, it meant that the Italian’s podium chances were minimal and the first retirement of the season eventually ended his 10-race-long point streak. An exciting Istanbul race finally yielded a new Formula SimRacing winner, Patrick De Wit from Holland, just in front of the blue diamond cars. The most exciting race of the season was carried out at Monza, where the spectators witnessed countless overtakes performed by the Greco-Kolbe-Marques axis.
The last quarter was dominated by Marques, who managed to win four consecutive races. With thankfully Spa-Francorchamps back in the calendar, the race saw a tight struggle for the last tenths between Marques and Kolbe. The 2001 champion Artur Mlodzinski accounted for an excellent comeback by grabbing second place at Shanghai, whereas similar to last year the Interlagos race was dominated by Diamond Racing – a result that secured Marques his second consecutive championship. The season finale at the new Fuji track accounted for a great final show between Marques and Kolbe, which once again ended in the Portuguese’s victory and completed his perfect season. The final drivers’ top three table was formed by Marques, Greco and Kolbe, and the teams’ by Diamond Racing, Roaldo Racing and Twister-Racing.
2008
The 2008 season of Formula SimRacing started at Melbourne March 30 and the last race was driven November 9 at Interlagos. To deal with the grown interest a new category, Word Series Advanced, was created to provide a further step on the ladder for the average experienced racer. The league also decided to stay with the rFactorRFactor
rFactor is a computer racing simulator, designed with the ability to run any type of four-wheeled vehicle from street cars to open wheel cars of any era. rFactor aimed to be the most accurate race simulator of its time...
platform for another year, and the final mod utilized MMG 2007 car shapes mixed with tailor made physics by the league's elite sim racers. During the winter season a few roster changes were done by the teams. The most notable exchange was the signing of the double FSR WC champion Bruno Marques, who after two championship winning years at Diamond Racing joined his home country team GhostSpeed Racing.
The FSR WC 2008 started out with a bang with Stephane Rouault claming his first career pole, but early problems made him drop back in the race. In contrast his team-mate Bruno Marques took the lead from the very beginning and would dominate and win round one in front of David Greco. Round two was held at Sepang, where Roy Kolbe took pole position but yet again Bruno Marques, starting from P4, would take the win in front of Kolbe. Marques continued his domination at Bahrain, where he finished in a superior victory in front of John-Eric Saxén, who took the first podium in WC for Torrent Motorsports. The fourth round provided no changes in terms of performances: Marques finished in a fourth consecutive victory after overtaking Ondrej Kuncman, who this time made the victory somewhat harder for the Portuguese.
When entering the second quarter of the season, Bruno Marques was holding an impressive 24-point lead over his strongest rivals. Roy Kolbe started his leap towards the top at Istanbul with his 30th career victory - a race which was foremost remembered of disconnected drivers, amongst those Marques and Yannick Lapchin. The Monaco race ended in surprise victory; whilst Marques and Kolbe were struggling, Lapchin finished in an irreproachable victory for Ash Racing. The Montreal race was held in the absence of Marques and Greco, which Roy Kolbe took advantage of and finished victorious. The same trend continued in the next race at Magny-Cours, but with reversed order, as Ondrej Kuncman took his 3rd WC victory in front of Kolbe. The season halfpoint race was held at Silverstone, where Kolbe lost the championship lead back to Marques, who finished second behind a real surprise winner, Stefan Kanitz.
The Hockenheim weekend was dominated by Roy Kolbe, who scored a hat trick and victory on home ground for Twister-Racing in front of team-mate James Andanson and Patrick De Wit, who climbed up on the podium from the back of the grid. The race also turned out to be the last together for Kolbe and Twister-Racing, as the two parties decided to separate after financial disagreement. The season traditionally continued at Hungaroring, where a retirement of Bruno Marques from a superior leading position gave Kolbe the keys to victory, which the German took advantage of by taking the first season win for his new team Diamond Racing. After a 3 weeks' autumn brake the circus moved on towards the newbuilt Valencia track. An incredibly even pole fight was carried out between De Wit, Lapchin and Marques, and the race continued in similar manner; De Wit managed to stay in front for most of the race, but in the closing laps the Dutch suffered from brake problems. This gave the edge to Marques and Lapchin and ended the Portuguese's winningless strike. After the race Kolbe announced his withdrawal from the season, leaving the championship fight to be carried out between Marques and Kuncman.
Spa-Francorchamps hosted one of the most exciting races of the season. After a huge start incident which took out several cars, the victory was to be decided between Marques and De Wit. The Dutch driver had a full spin in the early stages of the race, which gave the advantage to Marques, who was on a 3 stop strategy whereas De Wit's had decided for a 2 stopper. After the last pit stops De Wit managed to marginally pull into the lead, but only for a couple of laps, as Marques managed to perform a stunning overtaking move through the outside line of Les Combes. At Monza the fight between the same drivers continued; this time with similar strategies and fuel loads. An expected even fight once again turned out to be a clear race victory for Marques in the end.
2009
For the 2009 season the league decided to stick with familiar concepts, rFactor and ProSimRacing live broadcasts. This time the league decided to rely fully on 3rd party developed mod physics, and the long-awaited CTDP F1 2006 turned out to be the choice of mod. A new system was brought into the World Series category, requiring a small license fee to be paid from each participating driver and team - this in order to improve the quality of racing and broadcasts. Furthermore, the league hired a 13th WC license which was acquired by Hancock GP just weeks before the start of the season. The other new team to enter 2009 was Formula Racing Organisation with a successful history from other leagues. The driver line-up for 2009 was arguably the most competitive ever, with well-known names from real racing such as Sean Edwards and former FSR champions Bruno Marques, Roy Kolbe, Ernesto De Angelis and Dennis Hirrle back in the cockpit.Racing traditionally started April 5 at Albert Park which immediately provided a dramatic spectacle. A spun car on the track saw both Hancock GP drivers Marques and Greco collide in the early race leading into permanent damage. Kolbe took the full advantage and scored a peerless victory for Twister-Racing in a race with only 10 finishers. Sepang continued in Kolbe fashion with Marques finishing second in the middle of the Twister sandwich. In China the roles were changed and it was Hirrle who took his first win since 2005 in front of Kolbe and Marques who dramatically lost engine power in the last laps. The fourth race eventually saw the win of Hancock GP and Marques, who edged Kolbe with a two-stop strategy to close on the German's massive championship lead.
The restart-filled fifth race at Barcelona ended in another copybook win of Kolbe, who had thus scored a record-braking 46 out of 50 possible points. Jaakko Mikkonen finished in an excellent second but the big disappointment was Marques and Hancock GP. Shortly afterwards Marques announced his withdrawal from the season and his move into test driver, with Mikkonen taking over the race seat. The glamorous Monaco GP saw yet another surprise winner, as Lee Morris literally flied into the victory for Ash Racing ahead of Greco and Kolbe. Ash victory line continued at Turkish ground, when Blair Disley stormed past Greco into victory in the closing stages. The race was also remembered by the excellent overtakings and the last lap connection loss of Mikkonen.
Shortly after the Turkish race, Hancock GP announced withdrawal from the season, thus taking another championship contender, David Greco, out of the game. The British GP saw Jaakko Mikkonen take the first ever pole position for his fourth new team of the season, Torrent Motorsports. In the race, however, Roy Kolbe established a dominating lead early on and eventually finished in a supreme victory, assisted by an unusual driving error from the Finn. Kolbe had great chances of increasing his championship lead at his home ground, Nürburgring, but an extra stop-and-go handed the victory to his team-mate, Dennis Hirrle, in a race notoriously remembered by multiple start line incidents, which brought heavy penalties to Lee Morris and Patrick De Wit.
The Hungarian race provided little change in the top, as Roy Kolbe immediately took control of the events and the Twister-Racing team finished in another double victory next to Bono Huis, who arguably became the youngest podium finisher in WC. The race at Spa-Francorchamps brought some extra excitement due to the forced absence of Roy Kolbe. Dennis Hirrle continued on a high note, finishing in a third victory of the season in front of a real surprise second, Laurent Keersmaekers, in a race remembered by multiple engine failures. Valencia street circuit provided an excellent fight between the two Twister drivers and Jaakko Mikkonen. The Finn executed his 3-stop strategy brilliantly and was able to keep ahead of the 4-stopping Twister-Racing cars, scoring his first ever WC victory, this time for Precision Motorsports. The result nevertheless granted Twister-Racing its second FSR constructors' championship with five races to go. The drivers' championship would be decided between Kolbe, Hirrle and Mikkonen.
Status quo continued at Monza, where Mikkonen raced into a second straight victory after successfully defending against Hirrle, whilst Lee Morris returned on the podium after overtaking John-Eric Saxén in the closing stages. At Fuji Kolbe took a strong hold of the championship by crossing the finish line in formation with Hirrle, whereas a somewhat ill Mikkonen had to settle for third. One race later at Suzuka Kolbe secured his second FSR world championship title, which came after a dominating performance in one of the FSR history's tightest races (six cars within 10 seconds). The Canadian GP was dominated by Precision Motorsports, which after juggling between its drivers finished in victory of returning Greco, followed by Mikkonen. The season finale at Interlagos witnessed another exciting show until the last seconds. Mikkonen finished the season with victory, closely followed by Hirrle and Huis.
The final top 3 drivers' standings read Roy Kolbe, Dennis Hirrle and Jaakko Mikkonen, who all finished above the 100-point mark. The teams' corresponding list covered Twister-Racing, Precision Motorsports and Ash Racing. With all of the 17 races broadcasted live and an exciting championship fight provided, FSR had established a solid ground upon which to build for 2010.
2010-Present
After the 2009 season FSR joined in a partnership with Auto GP, and went through a redesign to become the "AutoGP Formula Sim Racing World Championship". The season would prove to be dominated by the young Bono Huis, as teams struggled to keep up with Precision Motorsports.After a quiet off season, with a few major teams switching to the newer "GPO World Championship". FSR dropped their connection with AutoGP and began preparations for its 11th season. By the season opener in Bahrain, 10 teams had confirmed their entry, and it was apparent that it was the beginning of a new chapter for Sim Racing's top series.
Bono Huis, continued his dominance from 2010, winning the first 5 rounds, each race being broadcasted by PSRtv.
FSR World Champions
| Year | Driver | Team | Constructor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 |  Bono Huis |
 Precision Motorsports |
Precision Motorsports |
| 2010 | Bono Huis |
Precision Motorsports |
Precision Motorsports |
| 2009 | Roy Kolbe |
 Twister-Racing |
Twister-Racing |
| 2008 |  Bruno Marques |
GhostSpeed Racing Team |
GhostSpeed Racing Team |
| 2007 | Bruno Marques |
 Diamond Racing Team |
Diamond Racing Team |
| 2006 | Bruno Marques |
Diamond Racing Team |
 Coca-Cola Kiwi Virtual |
| 2005 | Dennis Hirrle |
Twister-Racing |
Twister-Racing |
| 2004 | Roy Kolbe |
Virtual Games |
Virtual Games |
| 2003 | Joshua Lyon |
 Kiwi Racing |
Kiwi Racing |
| 2002 |  Ernesto de Angelis |
Team Racebase |
Team Racebase |
| 2001 |  Artur Mlodzinski |
Famm | Virtual Games |
FSR Grand Prix winners
This is a complete list of winners of Formula SimRacing league races since 2001.The list is accurate up to and including the German Grand Prix (August 14, 2011).
| Pos | Driver | Race Wins | Active | First Win | Last Win |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roy Kolbe |
40 Wins | 2001–2002, 2004–2009 | 2001 European Grand Prix | 2009 Japanese Grand Prix |
| 2 | Bruno Marques |
26 Wins | 2005–2010 | 2006 Monaco Grand Prix | 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix |
| 3 | Bono Huis |
18 Wins | 2007–present | 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix | 2011 German Grand Prix |
| 4 | Joshua Lyon |
15 Wins | 2001-2004 | 2002 European Grand Prix | 2004 British Grand Prix |
| 5 | Dennis Hirrle |
14 Wins | 2004-2006, 2008-present | 2005 Malaysian Grand Prix | 2009 Belgian Grand Prix |
| 6 | Artur Mlodzinski |
8 Wins | 2001–2002, 2007 | 2001 Malaysian Grand Prix | 2002 British Grand Prix |
 Greger Huttu |
8 Wins | 2002–2003 | 2002 German Grand Prix | 2003 Spanish Grand Prix | |
| 8 | David Greco |
7 Wins | 2003, 2006–present | 2006 European Grand Prix | 2009 Canadian Grand Prix |
| 9 | Ernesto de Angelis |
6 Wins | 2001–2003, 2006-2009 | 2001 Australian Grand Prix | 2002 United States Grand Prix |
| 10 |  Yannick Lapchin |
5 Wins | 2003–2005, 2007–2009 | 2004 Australian Grand Prix | 2008 Monaco Grand Prix |
| Jaakko Mikkonen |
5 Wins | 2008-present | 2009 European Grand Prix | 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix | |
| 12 | Christian Neumann |
4 Wins | 2001–2006 | 2001 Canadian Grand Prix | 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix |
| Dominik Binz |
4 Wins | 2001–2007 | 2003 Canadian Grand Prix | 2004 Italian Grand Prix | |
| 14 |  Ondrej Kuncman |
3 Wins | 2006–2008 | 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix | 2008 French Grand Prix |
| 15 | Massimilliano DellOrco |
2 Wins | 2001–2003 | 2001 Japanese Grand Prix | 2002 Brazilian Grand Prix |
| Adriano Calligarich |
2 Wins | 2001–2004 | 2002 Monaco Grand Prix | 2003 Italian Grand Prix | |
| Blair Disley |
2 Wins | 2006–present | 2008 Chinese Grand Prix | 2009 Turkish Grand Prix | |
 Domagoj Malezic |
2 Wins | 2007, 2010-present | 2010 Australian Grand Prix | 2010 Spanish Grand Prix | |
| Ronny Hähnel |
2 Wins | 2010-present | 2010 Canadian Grand Prix | 2010 German Grand Prix | |
| 20 | Jari Montonen |
1 Win | 2001–2002 | 2001 British Grand Prix | 2001 British Grand Prix |
| Fausto Pappalardo |
1 Win | 2003–2008 | 2005 Monaco Grand Prix | 2005 Monaco Grand Prix | |
| Mark Aalberts |
1 Win | 2004–2007 | 2005 Hungarian Grand Prix | 2005 Hungarian Grand Prix | |
| Richard Dodd | 1 Win | 2005–2006 | 2005 Italian Grand Prix | 2005 Italian Grand Prix | |
| Patrick De Wit |
1 Win | 2006–present | 2007 Turkish Grand Prix | 2007 Turkish Grand Prix | |
| Stefan Kanitz |
1 Win | 2008–2009 | 2008 British Grand Prix | 2008 British Grand Prix | |
| James Andanson |
1 Win | 2008 | 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix | 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix | |
| Lee Morris | 1 Win | 2008-present | 2009 Monaco Grand Prix | 2009 Monaco Grand Prix | |
 Rasmus Tali |
1 Win | 2009-present | 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix | 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix | |
| Netherlands Atze Kerkhof |
1 Win | 2010-present | 2011 British Grand Prix | 2011 British Grand Prix |
This is a complete list of winning teams of Formula SimRacing league races since 2001.
The list is accurate up to and including the German Grand Prix (August 14, 2011).
| Pos | Team | Race Wins |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Twister - Racing |
35 Wins |
| 2 | Kiwi Racing |
26 Wins |
| 3 | Precision Motorsports |
24 Wins |
| 4 | Virtual Games |
23 Wins |
| 5 | Diamond Racing Team |
17 Wins |
| 6 | Team Racebase / NetRexGP |
13 Wins |
| Hernj GP / Roaldo Racing |
13 Wins | |
| 8 | Famm | 10 Wins |
| 9 | GhostSpeed Racing Team |
9 Wins |
| 10 | Ash Racing | 4 Wins |
| 11 | Mak-Corp Precision Motorsports |
3 Wins |
| 12 | DaSilvaRacing |
2 Wins |
| 13 | Hoffman F1 Racing |
1 Win |
| HyperGP |
1 Win | |
 Faster Than Speed |
1 Win | |
| Hancock GP | 1 Win |
External links
- Formula SimRacing Official Website
- rFactor Official Website
- Auto GP
- Cars & Tracks Development Project Official Website
- MultiBC Official Website
- ACT LABS Official Website
- GT Omega Racing
- Allrace World Motorsport News
- Revzalot Motorsports Official Website