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Topic: Elite Press |
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Quote ( Roland Postle @ January 29th 2019,12:23:07 ) looking forward to see what else you can achieve with that driver as he matures.
i am proud of him and his development :) when i found he was just a little go-cart driver. He left me when i take him out for Burger King instead of McDonalds. those old days... we were poor and he was hungry :))
Welldone Mihail...
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@Alexei: If English speaking ppl can understand it, that's all that is important here (cuz then everyone else can, too ;-) ). If anything, it adds to the aura of mystery to the hero of the day :)
Mihail - fantastic race (and excellent reading, above).
Brad... has anyone already contacted you about publishing rights for your interviews? :-D Hats off!
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Quote ( Brad Marshall @ January 29th 2019,11:17:55 )
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Quote ( Onur Guardian @ January 29th 2019,13:27:41 ) @Alexei: If English speaking ppl can understand it, that's all that is important here (cuz then everyone else can, too ;-) ). If anything, it adds to the aura of mystery to the hero of the day :) okay :(
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I think you did a great job on the translation, Alexei :)
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Alexei, This quote must be from Piotr. Right??? :))
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Thanks Max :)
but I prefer to talk about what Mihail wrote than about my translation. But tbh this part above could make me gone madQuote ( Brad Marshall @ January 29th 2019,11:18:01 ) If we consider this global problem from the point of view of typical erudition, then each clearly expressed individual of critical, metaphysical abstraction can't ignore the critique of sentimentalism built on the basis of utopian subjectivism . it's great that you don't know how it looks in Russian :)
And I don't know if you could understand "look at the root" phrase. There were a lot of such kind of phrases, I think Mihail trolled me perfectly :) Quote ( Onur Guardian @ January 29th 2019,15:14:15 ) Alexei, This quote must be from Piotr. Right??? :))
it's a well-known forum bug
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Quote ( Alexei Malkin @ January 29th 2019,15:14:41 ) I think Mihail trolled me perfectly :) I thought you did not want to translate this. )
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Nice one, guys! Very happy to see some russians to be ahead of the filed in research. Bring more russians on to Elite, baby! :)
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Wow! Excellent read! With this information I might even be able to retain in Pro someday!
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Quote ( Maxim Kotov @ January 29th 2019,16:01:19 ) Nice one, guys! Very happy to see some russians to be ahead of the filed in research. Bring more russians on to Elite, baby! :) We are coming...just a little slowly. But as we already know, it's not so hard to make 3 promotions in a row and save enough of resources to be competitive in Elite :)
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At what point will it be documented Mihail has a lvl 3 Engine and level 4 Gearbox?
Great result in Elite Mihail, Really well done. You've really given the OBP managers something to think about if they can put the plan into action?
It was truly the best performance I've ever seen in the game. I'm jealous so fair play.
Good luck for the rest of the season with them car parts. Like you say the races are H kind but will the cost be too much?
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#1484 posted Jan 29th 2019, 20:59:38 (last edited Jan 29th 2019, 21:00:06 by Jon Day)
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Quote (Mihail Morozov @ January 29th 2019,11:18:01 ) I have two wonderful daughters. I only had to read that part to know "This is guy is a good guy" :-)
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These interviews are really good. They actually give people highlights of what's happening
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Elite press should be mandatory reading. Well done, Brad.
Great interview Mihail and congratulations on showing people they can win with less than ideal equipment. Good luck for the rest of the season.
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Quote ( Roy Mitchell @ February 1st 2019,18:31:02 ) Elite press should be mandatory reading. Well done, Brad.
Great interview Mihail and congratulations on showing people they can win with less than ideal equipment. Good luck for the rest of the season.
Thanks
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Bonjour mes amis!
This week we speak to French Kiss leader Thomas Bertolino who talks about discovering the challenges of Elite, the heartbreak of S64, and how the team plans to move forward after recent roster changes.
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Thomas Bertolino
Career start: S15
Elite since: Inaugural season
Current standing: 27th
Last season: 1st with 106 points (Master-5)
French Kiss
Established: S25
Championships: 1 (S67); Runner-up: S64, 66
Top ten finishes: 9 (S40, 42-43, 50, 52, 61, 64, 66-67)
Current Standing: 129
As a team, French Kiss seemed to have the right idea: flood Elite with as many managers as possible to grab those elusive sponsors and complement each other on track. But as R15 approaches you and your three Elite teammates all face the red danger zone of relegation. Could you talk about the challenges the team has faced trying to adapt to the big league?
Initially, our plan wasn't planned at all for the Elite level. So we didn't put a team strategy in place for the sponsors. A big mistake because it was our only chance to compete with specialists and hope to grab some. It will be a good idea for next time. In fact, we haven't done anything special to adapt to the big league because it is for us, a bonus season, not part of our plan. We are here to learn and see the level required to exist at this level. We knew that the level is raised but we really realized the gap between the top 10 and the rest. Our positions aren't a surprise. The idea isn't to stay in Elite for a long time.
So are you are content to relegate back to Master or do you still have hopes of a Morozov style push?
I can't wait to return to Master and then Pro and especially Amateur to fill my bank account. No, I don't have too much hope of doing a performance like Mihail to maintain because my driver is really at the end of the race. Untrained, too old, unmotivated and declining. My car is weak, having done very little testing last season and even less this season. My finances just allowed me to stand out on the choicest of tires and hope to do one or two big races to have fun. It was almost the case at the GP3 (Adelaide) where I found myself for a moment 4th of the race but 9 driver mistakes relegated me to the 10th place finish even while I shot regularly among the top 5 every lap. To score my first points in Elite would have been a good reward. It was my only goal this season, without it changing my decision to go down directly to Masters with a negative balance.
It's clear that Morozov's feat pushes to dig in this direction, but the Elite seasons for second-in-command knives like me are very frustrating.
You developed a project driver for Elite but his performance so far has been underwhelming. If you could retain, do you think your driver would continue to develop and establish himself in the group?
This driver has been programmed to be good in Pro and Masters. And again, it wasn't optimized at best and I still had a lot of margin. As I explain in the previous question, he is at the end of his life and completely overwhelmed. I even thought a moment to come down [to Master] with him next season but his OA cannot get down to 160. I think he will retire very soon.
Were you ever tempted to take a stab at the driver market?
The Elite pilot market hasn't been very busy this season and I have left my teammates on this issue when there have been some openings. Financially, I couldn't afford it. I scrutinize the Masters market to try to get off with a good driver. Anyway, as I'm not aiming to retain, I had no reason to take an Elite driver.
Are the excellent team standings finishes of recent seasons the result of a coordinated “team first” effort or the happy accident of simultaneous success among your teammates?
Our title and our good places in the past seasons are the result of a long cycle set up a dozen seasons ago. The idea was to start on the same timing to aim for the title in S64 with 10 FK pros playing for the title in their group. Our record that season was excellent:
8 Pros champions out of 10 => 80%
1334 points out of 1700 => 78,5%
82 wins out of 170 => 48,2%
139 podiums out of 170 => 81.8%
86 poles position out of 170 => 50,6%
75 fastest laps out of 170 => 44.1%
41 hattricks out of 170 => 24,1%
4558 laps on top of 10710 => 42.6%
8 Cups out of 10 => 80%
But insufficient to beat Storm’s (70 wins) stratospheric season. In S66, the Polish Racing Team were untouchable while only two of us were really pushing. In S67, we had the chance to come across a fairly quiet season with minimal competition. Good because only Julien Prado in Elite could bring us points.
French Kiss can finally call themselves champions after many successful seasons near the top. I imagine S67 to be a tremendous sigh of relief after the near misses of S64 and 66. How did the team celebrate?
The double of last season has brought us a lot of joy but since the title was quickly played and this long cycle was used, I found that we had been rather sober in our satisfaction. Oddly, the atmosphere had been better in other seasons. It is clear that the S64 has left traces. Fortunately, there was the fight for the Team Cup with PSC Green Cobra to put a little suspense.
Season 64 must have been an especially difficult pill to swallow. Scoring just a tick under 960 points (currently 5th highest all-time), the team would have been crowned champion in practically any season yet it would not be enough as STORM Drivers set the single-season points record. How did this affect the team morale?
The initial goal of our long plan was to win season 64. We knew that with 10 Pros at the top, we had potential points that made us potential team champions. The only unknown was whether we would fall on a hollow year or on big competition ...
Unfortunately for us we came across Storms at the bottom and on top. They had the advantage of having several Masters and we made a full spa season while we continued to push but being as reasonable as possible on energy so we can continue our climb. Even if we had forced it, we couldn't compete. We still achieved a big score that deserved better. It is clear that this disillusionment weighed on our morale but I had already thought about it after thinking that we could really take up the challenge in the following seasons.
The division by Masters group was going to give us an indication of what could be achieved. Then, we were confronted with the different timings, the financial problems, the difference of level according to the groups, etc. Two of us played for promotion in Elite in 2 seasons while most stayed for 3 seasons. But 3 seasons in Masters were right for some financially, while others decided to go down to Pro.
The difficulty for us in the future will be to be able to find a good collective timing to get other titles.
French Kiss have replaced two prominent members this season right at the peak of success. How does the team plan to compete in the future with this setback?
For Patrice (Etcheverry), his failure at Masters level with uncontrolled finances has impacted his morale and motivation. He had already been behind for two seasons and had embarked on a new but long cycle without certainty. He decided to withdraw from himself. Lauren (Quinet) was exhausted.
So to overcome these two departures, we are fortunate to welcome two of the best French managers. Our stability has been our strength but it also has disadvantages because we remain on our achievements and our certainties. The arrival of new elements makes it possible to progress and to question our knowledge. Without doing offense to our former teammates, I think that today the French Kiss have a greater potential than before. And as we aren't going to plan [to be competitive] for a few seasons, the fact that they do not bring 100% is not a problem.
So we will be discreet for long seasons but count on us to come back even stronger than the last time ;)
Merci beaucoup to Thomas for this interview.
For Elite Press, je suis Brad Marshall wishing you a happy Ahvenisto GP.
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Nice to see How FRA KISS works from inside.......
Great Interview Mr. Bertolino and Mr. Marshall
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Good interview, nice to read these
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Quote ( Brad Marshall @ February 8th 2019,09:23:00 )
Lauren (Quinet) was exhausted.
I was tired of Tom's autocracy. ^^
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Our last interview of S68 gives me the ability to say I raced with an Elite. Like ships passing in the night, I was getting my first sniff of Amateur while Nev was doing his best Scrooge McDuck impersonation, hauling a huge stack of cash on the fast track to the top group.
Introducing Elite freshman Nevzat Kasapoglou …
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Nevzat Kasapoglu
Career start: S40
Elite since: Inaugural season
Current standing: 23rd with 6 points
Last season: 1st with 106 points (Master-1)
Gulf Porsche Racing
Established: S12
Highest finish: 3rd (S59)
Cup titles: 1 (S62)
Top ten finishes: 13 (S24, 34, 53-60, 62-63, 67)
Current Standing: 19th
Last season: 8th
First, big congratulations to you for promoting to Elite. How does it feel racing in the top group? Has it changed your GPRO experience at all?
Racing in elite is way more different and very exciting. Each case in a race can effects your situation. And there's an exciting competition in both top and mid and low tiers of the group. In top, winner becomes the champion, so it's always exciting -except this season:)-. In low tier, there's a high competition of retain. Even the races which I'm going to be 25th or 30th were very exciting just to see my rivals could pass me and push me again under the retain line :) And also for mid-tier, each case in the race effects your race score, so your income which is directly effecting your destiny in the group. Indeed it's valid for every part of the group. Ultimately, playing elite is exciting and enjoying, besides more difficult and more stressing. Sometimes I'm missing my relax days of ammy :)
Has it changed my GPRO experience? Yes it has changed my experience a lot; but it's not fully about being the top group. I think, each level (ammy-pro-master-elite) has it's own dynamics in GPRO, thus it's own craftsmanship. Improving your knowledge and experience for that level is very important for having 'efficient' seasons, so your success... As in movies: somebody ends up in prison first time. So he's very inexperienced there and the experienced old-timers welcoming him :) Yeah, that's the case for me in elite, I felt the exact same when I was leaving driver market with empty hands :)
Additionally, elite is the most different one among ammy-pro-master. After promoting to master from pro, adapting to the dynamics of master was not difficult to me, and also after ammy to pro... But because of the difference of elite, it was not that much easy for me to adapt. All these are causing inefficiencies and some mistakes which are leading to bleed. For example, when I was going back to ammy, I did a plan for 8-10 seasons of my elite way. I've found that document a few days ago and saw that my past estimations are very accurate. Still, it's a piece of cake for me to estimate my scores in ammy-pro-master trio before the races or before the season. I can easily say how much income will return back with how much additional investment in these groups. So I was capable of tuning and optimizing my seasons. Imho, besides of fueling the car or choosing the race strategy, the ability on these kind of forecasts are key in this game. Because, if you can estimate the outcome of your investments, then you can tune your investments to the optimum area. It's very important for planning an efficient season and setting up your long term plans. Although I appraise estimating ROI as one of the most important skills in this game; yet it's not the case for me for Elite, honestly. I'm very rookie here and I'm experiencing & learning a lot each day about the dynamics of elite.
How did you arrive at the decision to select BadYears?
This was majorly caused by the scandalous night I had in the driver market. Although I have done insane offers, I come up empty to the HQ—which is majorly caused by my inexperience of Elite as I've mentioned above. Then I decided to go with a youngster -lacking skills but have prospect-, instead of the old drivers whom weren't preferred by anybody in the first EOS market.
My aim for picking BY was, increasing the contrast with others. Hands down, my package would be weak for the most of the season. If I would pick Conti, I was sure in Conti races I would easily lost the retain spots to other Conti-ers. It's almost the same for all the brands which are selected by many managers. So besides maximizing the contrast, I was in need of becoming distinct as most as possible. In the perfect weather for Michi or Conti or any other brand, you can’t have tyres advantage against others as you have in the perfect weather of BY. So, the first and major reason of my BY selection is, trying to solve my severe problem of the weak newcomer package which is crowned with a youngster.
After a blistering start at Ahvenisto that earned you fastest lap, you fell back from a podium position to settle for 5th place and four more points in the championship. Was the loss of energy with some 20 laps to go planned all along or did it come as a surprise?
It was a hard, very hard season to me; so getting the retention there made me very happy. Beginning with the epic fail in the driver market, many managers thought my chances are very low. Besides, the weather didn’t favor me, we didn’t have any cold & rainy race. Okay hot & rainy races can do the job also, but they came in the wrong times and wrong tracks. To crown it all, lady luck was also cruel to me in these races -especially Grobnik was epic- and I couldn’t score in rainy races. Although I've bled more money than my initial plans -before EOS market- , I'm very pleased. Because, meanwhile completing many investments, I've achieved to overcome of these multiple problems which are severe - even in solely. I do not mind a lot about the 'unexpectedly' more part of the lost money because of 2 reasons: 1) after the cruelness of lady luck, the most expensive retain should be mine. 2) Simply, I have the self-confidence on my financial skills and I hope I'll meet the deficit.
I have climbed the most steep part of the hill. Still I need to climb more but this time I'm gonna start to swim in a more familiar sea, which makes it more promising to me. I am proud and so pleased to stay alive and continuing to walk in my way after such a hard season.
About the race strategy, I think it's better not to reveal much, so I'm skipping that part with all due respect.
Your climb to Elite included nine patient seasons in Amateur where you built a mountain of cash exceeding $300 million. Previously, one could simultaneously negotiate with up to 10 sponsors until S62 (your Ama promo season) when the rules were changed to limit the number of ongoing negotiations based on your commercial facility level. Do you think it could have been possible to build such a large budget had the new rule been in effect all along?
Indeed, the number of seasons I aimed to gain money in ammy is about 4-5... At S55-56-57 I was about to give up the game. My account was in holiday mode in more than half of these seasons. If you check my account, you'll see there's no progress in this time period. Even my driver was hired after a whatsapp conversation like " a driver like yours:)". My aim was, having a break to decide leaving the game or not, meanwhile generating data for the team. And 2 of the last 3 seasons, I postponed promo for leaving ammy with splendid statistics but it couldnt happen. I made money these seasons but I would surely do way more if I had allocated these seasons for making money instead of postponing promotions.
I was enjoying ammy, I could postpone once more but the changed sponsor rule cramped me to postpone again. My hobby was optimizing/perfecting each season, in ammy. And I was having too tough rivals: in the beginning I was benchmarking my seasons with Mikko Suhonen who is my dear teammate and a very close friend of me in this game. He has a very high experience of gpro, a perfect view about game which is combined with top tier intelligence and planning and optimization skills. Comparing the efficiency of our seasons was a lot of fun to us, also quite improving and instructive. After his leave from ammy, I got a bit schizo and start to compete against his ghost and my ghost of past seasons :) Then I found myself I'm holding a moneybag and wearing a baby seal fur which is painted by a strange caviar spray. I'm innocent, I was just trying to beat my and Mikko's ghosts in optimization :)
Did the change of sponsor rule help? Hell no! I've wounded a lot and was very frustrated with that sudden rule change. Why? Because, due to the sudden decrease in negotiation slots, I got banned from negotiations. If you have 10 sponsors, you can't talk with any sponsor even in master. To get rid of this 'ban', you are activating some of your sponsors earlier than needed. Deciding the number of these sponsors which should be activated is also a kind of an optimization problem. But reminding, it's a problem of minimizing the loss :) You are gaining the rights to negotiate with sponsors earlier if you activate more; but you are paying more taxes if you activate more than needed. Well, I've decreased this sponsor ban to about 15 races. And 4-5 sponsors are activated way more earlier than needed.
Being banned for 15 races is almost equal to losing 2 sponsors. So, although I did strict optimizations, 2 of my sponsors are already deleted by the ban. Plus... Early activated sponsors are causing tax of their income. We cant know how much early I have activated them, but if would I activate them this season, meanly in elite1, they are activated 5-6 seasons earlier than needed. Due to the tax cut, 5*0.75^6 = 0.9 sponsor left to me from 5 sponsors by paying their tax 6 times. So, could anybody tell me where's my advantage of having 10 sponsors instead of 5, by the rule change? Ultimately, in the long term I'm losing 4-5 of the sponsors. Meanly, the limitage is also applied to me and I have had a huge sponsor cut.
Additionally, in that period there were too many managers around who have activated sponsors earlier and it had lead a money abundance, which is also caused me to lose 10-15M more per season -due to the loss of race scores and more expensive promotions-.
As a summary, the change of the sponsor rule hit me bad, very very bad. I lost enormous money in just 1 day, because of the ban + tax of early activations + loss of income due to the money abundance. If it werent, I would definitely reach elite better. My visible budget might be a bit lower but my total budget would surely be way better.
ps: here I can kindly do a request to admins. This is a game which we are doing strict calculations and long term plans, if the new features can start in a ghost mode or announced 1-2 seasons before activated, maybe we can decide doing more flexible plans to possible related parts or do our decisions according to it. Regards...
Is building a large budget the best way to reach Elite?
It mostly depends on your goals. I think you dont need any budget if your aim is just stepping Elite. If you are planning to hit elite to get promo sponsor and then relegating with a master driver to rock master; then again no budget needed.
And I think, instead of reaching elite, budget is majorly needed for elite itself. I have also neither used any budget for reaching elite, nor pushed extra money than my rivals to pass them. All the loss of me from ammy to elite is the amount of tax which I couldnt overcome.
Indeed, talking about budget is not a right approach. Because budget is something convertible to any investments on your package. Rather, it's better to talk about the total assets you have. Your budget plus your active or backup sponsors plus your investments on your package is your total asset... Imho, before reaching elite, it's best to maximize your assets, or doing your best in maximizing it as you can do.
The least essential is, you should have the total assets which is sufficient to retain in elite and fulfill your establishment for upcoming seasons. My preference was, not converting the whole money to other assets and keeping it as money -although it's taxable- till reaching elite. It doesnt mean it's the best way, it all depends on your optimization. For example, as I guess, Max Watson was in the opposite side of the bar with me. He has almost maximized his non-budget assets, pushed it till the limits of master. Meanwhile, I preferred postponing some of my investments to elite, which was a part of my optimization in my macro plans. Those investments were all debts in my book. Not only those, also the upcoming missed income sourcing from the lack of those investments are also my debts. Considering these all, in the day zero of elite, I was having a huge budget, but not richer than Max. -of course here I'm ignoring the sponsor backups because I dont know his-. Since we were in the opposite poles, it's also amazing to share this journey with Max in the same time, and a very interesting watch to me. Max has done an amazing job in master. He re-built his package there and prepared to elite and promoted in a perfect shape. Just rebuilding in master, or even retaining in master for long seasons was thought as impossible for most of the managers. He has shown us: even promoting in perfect shape is possible. I got the S67 oscar for best manager out of elite, but honestly speaking, Max has deserved it more than me. I hope you can do an interview with him, which would probably be a great reading.
Many managers believe in the sanctity of testing, that it should be done as much as possible. In contrast, you exceeded a thousand testing laps in just two seasons in your run to Elite, usually finishing a season with less than 300 laps, until your last season in Master. Could you describe your testing philosophy?
I majorly play the economy side of this game. In my decisions, economy is always one of the first criteria. And I'm evaluating testing as an investment. According to my setup of optimizations, that much testing was ideal to me. Surely, there are other components it's related with. That much low number of testing might not work well for everybody, in either financial or success manner. Again reminding, non converted money to investments are about to tax, and taxman is so cheeky. It's all about your optimization setup and your plans.
Gulf Porsche Racing is the only team you have known, having joined in the middle of your third GPRO season. How were you accepted to such an excellent team so young in your career?
Well, it's better to ask it to the guys whom have voted to me. According to Edwin, they have tried a contemporary method in that recruitment. It didnt work well and so they couldnt filter me out :)
Yeah, as you see, even a broken watch is right twice a day. :)
GPR features a superb lineup. What is the team dynamic is like? Should we expect to see the team top the standings in the near future?
Well, I'm pleased to see you are rating our line up as superb. I guess, majority of our managers are known as only a 'manager', not as a person. Because we are having too much fun in team forum and most of us dont need to go to the global forum. That's why I guess majority of our managers are known with just their racing skills and their competitive side, but they are primarily very funny and very intelligent. For example, Carlos, aka Taco... You might only know his name from the upside of the standings table. But he is also one of the most funny guy you may ever see. I dont know how many times he made me laugh loudly to the screen of the laptop when I was reading team forum. Or for example Ania... Afaik she's not that much far from global forum as Taco, so some may know her non-manager side. Honestly I wasn't, till reading her application. Well, now, I'm definitely admiring her acute mind and ingenuity. Not only Ania and Taco, they are just examples for telling about the invisible part of the iceberg. Our roster is full of funny and intelligent people. It's guaranteed that each case under discussion will have several strong thoughts from several angles. Not only having too much fun in team forum, we also have too many serious -brain burner- discussions about the game:) That's why, so few of our managers hang out in global forum and I guess the real reason of the 'superbness' of our roster is not known from outside. And besides of our current roster, Gulf Porsche Racing was the home of many special names of GPRO who are retired currently, like the royal beardy leader Sir Alan Tansley and Christoph Seifriedsberger aka Dr Love... I dont know their spirit is still with us or not, but their writings in the past are still with us :)
About the team dynamics... These are the first words coming my mind: fun, relax, collaboration, discussion, improvement, research and harmony...
We are a relax team and our primary aim is to get the most fun out of this game. We also care about the success, but it's not more prior than the happiness or satisfaction of any individual. That's why, there's no team order in our team. Instead, collaboration and discussion are in the highest level in our team. Whenever you need help, you can get several of it immediately in our team forum or whatsapp. Such as my tyre brand and driver decisions this season, we have discussed it about 1-2 hours in whatsapp. Also about the changes and dynamics of the game, there are too many deep and brain burning discussions, mathematical formulas and statistical models are flying in the sky in these kind of topics. We decently collect data and we have many skilled researchers in the team.
And about the harmony, we are together for long years... Although Ania and Mark are relatively new, anyone who doesnt know cant guess who is the new one :) We are sharing the same living room for years, so we have a different harmony. Besides, East meets with West and North meets with South in this team.(Achievement! One more cliche is completed!) We are nicely spread to the world and having naturally different characters; there are vivacious and emotional Mediterraneans & Latino's meeting with the opposite Nordics here:) So there's an interesting mix, wealthy synergy and harmony of this cultural mosaic (yay one more achievement!).
Do we see GPR in top standings? Well we were there and we are in an advert break right now :)
We were in top20 till S48. 11 times in top 10 and 6 times in top5 in the last 15 seasons. Won the teams cup once.
Between S64-66, Chris was away from game. Since he was a very nice friend of us and precious member of our team, we expected him to be back -as once he did-. And we preferred to sacrifice team points for any chance to continue this journey with him. Then Mark joined us and he has points penalty due to his master status. Although we were 9-ish managers, our worst is 15th in this period which is a very nice score imo. And this season, we are 3 guys in elite and we have spent the whole season by settling into elite, so we have contributed lower than our usual this season. Ignoring these specific cases, our natural place is in top5 -or top10 according to the number of OBP teams- and we'll go there again.
As it is written in our team page, "Our long and short term goals are to have fun and steadily improve each season." We have improved a lot and continue improving.
Best is yet to come...
Big thanks to Nev for his thoughtful and complete answers.
For Elite Press, I’m Brad Marshall hoping Lady Luck is always on your side.
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That concludes Elite Press in this 68th season of GPRO. After the break we’ll be back with more interviews from the game’s best beginning with S68 champion Róbert László.
But before we go, I must acknowledge those who help make Elite Press go round.
First, a big thank you to all of my interviewees. I can honestly say I am pleased with how each interview turned out but I must especially recognize Ioannis Dimitroglou who accepted, without hesitation, a request to be the first interview with an unknown host. In doing so, Ioannis provided this latest iteration of EP a legitimacy that would have been difficult to achieve otherwise. I am forever grateful for his gesture.
I must thank the OG, Rimantas Sigatas, for giving me his blessing to undertake this project.
Alexei Malkin, for translating Mihail’s interview—a fact I learned with everyone else on the forum or he would have been acknowledged sooner. :)
Jasper Coosemans, for his help providing important context and question suggestions.
My Versant teammates for tolerating my divided attention.
And finally, the incomparable Florencia “La Chica de Humo” Caro, who was so profoundly bored with her life censoring forum expletives she told a complete n00b with no business whatsoever hosting Elite Press he could do exactly that … just so she could make fun of him (even more than before). Seriously, I couldn’t have done it without her.
Until next time, I’m Brad Marshall wishing you a happy S69.
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I got logged out while reading.
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Congratz for the initiative Brad. It was quite fun to follow the elite press during the whole season and i hope you carry on the good work mate.
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This has been a very insightful topic forum. Great effort Brad and thoroughly enjoyable articles throughout. Looking forward to more next season :)
Ive never voted in the end of season awards before but will make an exception in this case. Best topic of the season by a long shot...
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Róbert László
Career start: S36
Elite since: S59 (previous stint S48)
Championships: 2 (S62 and 68)
Current standing: 4th with 8 points
Hungarian Crown 6
Established: S34
Highest finish: 31st (S66)
Last season: 116
Congratulations on winning your second championship in S68, a feat which joins you with 19 other managers who have won multiple titles. For this championship, were you surprised by the relative lack of competition, particularly after Alpo appeared to drop out of the race?
Thank you so much, the feeling indeed very nice, does not matter how many you have already! Competition-wise it seems an “easy one” (although winning the title is never an easy one), but I think it is coming from two things: first, I really managed to put everything together, and second, the competition really living in the game. I mean, after I got my favorable streak of weather, and managed to build a comfortable lead, managers with competitive package begin to save, and think to next season. I think Alpo [Kaakinen] just lacked money to compete till the end – all the other elements in his package seemed comparable to mine.
How has your involvement with the HCT alliance helped you become a two-time champion?
My team is in the strong alliance of the HCT teams, and we are operating as sister teams. In the time of my first title, there were multiple managers from the HCT alliance who supported me – not to mention to share insights for being successful at the top. Last season I was really lone in the group, but I still enjoyed the HCT full support, with many managers whose participated, and competed in high level in the Elite struggle. I owe them big thanks even when they were wrong,like when they advised to not stay in Elite to rebuild. HCT teams are excellent teams to be in, we care and help each other. This game is really about teamwork I think, you can develop faster, and I believe further, if you are in a good team. Therefore, I believe it not just helped me, but made possible to fight for the titles. So, thank you guys! :)
The Contimental tyre has become quite popular in Elite and you in particular seem to have mastered using Contis both as a means of retaining with a lesser package and as a legitimate moneymaker. Is this tyre underpriced from the standpoint of an Elite manager?
I don’t think so. I rather think the other tires are overpriced. With the modified effect of the PHA statistics, tires become less relevant in my opinion, and you would need more money, since you are forced further away for planning to the optimal costs.
We have learned that S70 will begin a new era in how championship bonuses are paid out. No longer can one avoid paying a driver’s or technical director’s bonus by simply dumping him at the end of the season. How do you think this will affect the Elite markets going forward? Will this only influence those aiming for the championship or will it have a deeper effect?
It is pretty much going to make it harder to get decent TD, and driver to compete for the title, which means non-title contender managers can have decent TD, and driver easier. I expect a major impact for the title contender contractual behavior.
Do you have any thoughts or predictions to offer for the S69 championship?
I think this one will be a hard fight for the title. We have a couple of very strong packages, and so far, a very hectic weather. As more and more managers on top understands, and try to capitalize the effects of the changed PHA statistics, I think we can observe more and more “Morozov-like” results. It might also affect the fight for the title. So far, I think we have seen not too much, and I definitely expect that Christos, Ioannis, and Roland will catch up the pace, as well as Jens will prepare some surprises for the competition. And I also try to go for it again – so it will be fun either way. Come and watch us! :)
Indeed we are all watching Robert and his friends play the racing game wondering who will be the next champion.
For Elite Press, I’m Brad Marshall wishing you a happy Kaunas GP.
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Another nice read. Keep up the good work!
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