27 points on the board last time out for GT Radial Eurasia Motorsport wasn’t deemed as a great success, but the squad and its two young Filipino drivers have been busy testing and preparing for the final challenge of the 2020 season. The e-sports series now heads to the Ardennes for round five of the championship.
GT Radial Eurasia Motorsport are currently fifth in the standings with 120 points, just four shy of the Scuderia Stratos squad. Inigo Anton and Joaquin Garrido have both shown great pace, the former having led multiple events already in the E1 Championship.
This week’s race takes place at Spa-Francorchamps, a true drivers circuit, and a track that the GT Radial duo hope to get that elusive breakthrough victory. The format remains the same with a 15-minute Sprint event, followed by a 30-minute feature race which all gets underway Thursday at 22:00 local time, 14:00 GMT.
Q&A with Tan Lip Han, Eurasia Motorsport’s Data Engineer
We’re already at round five of the new championship, how would you summarise the season so far and the performances of both Inigo Anton and Joaquin Garrido?
“Performance-wise, Inigo and Joaquin’s driving was excellent to start with, but they are becoming better and better in terms of both technique and mentality. I can’t divulge what we have been working on unfortunately, but it’s more towards fine-tuning the existing range of skills in general.
“This season has been disappointing so far, as it does not reflect our true potential. We started the season in Sepang well. In Shanghai, we felt the pressure a little bit, but in the following rounds, circumstances beyond our control prevented us from the results we deserved.
“But ultimately, this has also shown the true nature of our two drivers. Not only were they not demotivated by the bad luck, but they were also very positive, very eager and wanting to do more in testing, which I must say, further motivated us all in getting the boys back to podium positions.”
Eurasia are new to sim competition and e-sports, what has been the biggest challenge for the team as a whole?
“The biggest challenge I would say would be the physical distance between me, the team managers and the drivers. We have seen in E1 some teams have their drivers race together in an HQ of sorts with their team managers/engineer right behind them.
“That would be ideal, as communication and discussion can be instantaneous and that’s important, especially in post-race protest etc. We can only do that via communication software but even so there is still a delay, and just makes our communication not as swift and direct as it can be, but nonetheless, we have learned to accept and work around this.”
This week we’re at Spa Francorchamps, a circuit where straight-line speed dominates sectors one and three. How much of a compromise will you expect to make in the much tighter sector two?
“It’s a fact that Spa is a low downforce, high-speed circuit, the middle sector introduces a series of high-speed corners to test the car’s high-speed cornering ability, most people will think the keyword here is ‘downforce’, but it’s not. Instead, the key is something call “CoP”, I think I’ve said too much already…”
In real life, Spa-Francorchamps is a favourite of drivers and fans alike. Would you like to see the upcoming gravel traps at Eau Rouge installed in Race Room?
“I would hate to see that in Race Room, I want to see 5-6 cars all jumbled up fighting up there using all the road without a hint of fear! It’s the little things like this that makes sim racing appeal to the public as you won’t see such a move made in real racing as it’s just too dangerous.”
