BTCC14 Final - Brands Hatch GP

Maybe Im there to watch the races but definitely will not race. I still try but cant like this actual cars. Sorry, really would like to race   

Well that was an interesting and disappointing way to end a long season.

Any chances of staying in the second place championship fight were ended by Jan in race two hitting me off at high speed into retirement.

Kevin,
Our race 3 contact at Druids. I apologise for the move which took a cut from the corner. I'll let the stewards review that and deal with as they see fit. I wont apologise for making an aggressive move, I had every intention of doing that as I've been on the receiving end enough times however the cut of the corner was miss-judged on my part though and not intended. Had my wheels been on track then it would have been ok. Normal WSVR expectation and rules are to hand the place back for unfair position gain, sadly you gave me no opportunity to allow that to happen as you didn't take Graham hill bend corner with the intention of taking me out. sadly for you my friend you missed and your impact with the wall was everything you deserved. This is not why we race here and your actions are totally unacceptable.

I have slept on what to say but the feedback from all the WSVR members who were present on the teamspeak channel in last nights event and the last few has increased to the point where the league risks loosing members due the the way some guys continue to conduct themselves, warning and penalties have been given, last night suggests they don't seem to mean much to some guys.

I genuinely congratulate Kevin and RA on the championship wins, although many challengers dropped out and could not complete the full season, Kevin was the fastest most consistent driver. Its sad however that with recent conduct I feel I cant recognise the results with respect that perhaps we'd all prefer. Yes its touring car racing, yes a little nudging is to be expected but 90% of our members can race clean and fair and do self correct errors, hand place back, apologise etc. Not including the final, 46 incidents have attracted penalties this season, exactly 50% of them awarded to Jan and Kevin combined, 12 for Jan and 9 for Kevin. all other members total 21, There has always existed a right to appeal, which has never been taken up which suggests they know what they are doing wrong.

I thank the RA guys for being part of WSVR, would have preferred you to have ended the season in the same fair driving manner as you started 2014A. Its clear you sit in your own TS channel and discuss race tactics, who's doing what, complain about others but whilst you're there you don't here the succession of complaints and comments about the aggressive nature that you conduct yourselves from the majority members. You guys have been part of the picture here for a long time and your welcome here if you race clean and fair and interact in the community, get involved during the races on TS and be part of the fun. I don't suppose however after three seasons you wish to change that and if you felt the end of season frustration on track and in the chat box during last nights events, then that's nothing compared to what was going on in the WSVR TS channel, the ban word was being used a lot. I don't run this league to hear that week in week out.

Perhaps its time for WSVR and RA to mutually and respectfully agree to go their own ways, remember the good times and forget the bad.

It's incredibly frustrating because RA guys CAN race well, but more often than not their aggression goes way over the top as to what's acceptable. Every time I'm near any of them I'm wondering how quickly I'll be pushed onto the grass - I drive differently around them, but for good reason due to past experiences, and usually I'm justified!

I guess it can be summed up in a 20 second section in race 1 last night.

I got a great run on Kevin coming out of the Indy circuit onto the GP loop, passed him around the outside of the first right hander - he gave me plenty of space, I was expecting to be pushed wide, but wasn't. I then made a tiny mistake into the next right hander and Kevin got back alongside me. We were side-by-side going up to Shene Curve (the "jump"), I had every intention of letting Kevin go as I knew I was faster than him and could pass elsewhere. But before I even got the chance to he pushed me onto the grass, It looked intentional to let Jan through so he could go on to win the race to get more points. 2 corners of good racing and 1 braking zone of frustration.

Race 2 into turn 1 Kevin pulled across on me and spun himself out - I had an overlap, he knew this. Watch the onboard cameras and watch our steering wheels, I'm trying to turn away from him knowing he was going to close the door, he's turning even further right to cut across on me and takes himself off.

As always with incidents I'm involved in I'm completely detached from the situation when it comes to steward involvement and any decision will not be influenced by me at all.

As for track cutting (watched both Jan and Kevin when they were driving alone) and some of the cuts were unbelievable and completely intentional. Race 3, lap 5, Jan on the GP loop being the best example, I couldn't believe what I was seeing!

For next season I'm proposing to the admin team that using WSVR teamspeak is a mandatory requirement - maybe instances like this can be avoided if it's more a "community race environment" rather than having various groups of various different teamspeak channels. For those who don't like the mid-race chatter we'll request that it's cut down, or you can bind a key to mute TS during the races, although recently it's been fairly quiet during racing (unless something bad has happened).

For next season it will be very different for most drivers because atm it looks that i dont race BUT:
To 99% we have again a german live Broadcast with markus broch and me, and of course i will react as admin and live Steward to actions that are clear and happen during the races. Situations that arent clear we discuss of course here in the stewards forum after the races.

Maybe that will help that some things dont go that far. Were all here to have fun, and most times we have it