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Over at Predator Racing Group HQ, we were invited to meet their new No. 1 Driver Rafael Rodrigues and Race Mechanic Thomas Dole. Rodrigues is known for his cornering speeds and focus and will join Ines Santa Ana/Tom Woodbridge.
“Ines and Tom have a good thing going on, we want to keep that here at Predator,” said Brown when pressed about retaining the pair.
The acquistition of Rodrigues was reported to be a costly one, £486,000 per race insiders say. Predator's Brown better have a plan to balance the books.
Mechanic Dole has ties with Windsor and Brown, he apparently arranged the simulation at Windsor, a leaving present for him and his new employers. The guys at Windsor were delighted to see Brown again and more than happy to help their former trainee make a good impression with Predator.
Apparently Dole was well respected at Windsor and had an insane knack for getting things working in the worst condition possible, quite a skill indeed. Predator Bossman Brown undoubtedly knows what he's got in Dole.
Ines Santa Ana Rafael Rodrigues
Braking: 10 10
Cornering: 5 18
Smoothness: 7 16
Overtaking: 10 16
Consistency: 10 14
Adaptability: 6 6
Fitness: 9 8
Feedback: 8 13
Focus: 9 17
Wage: £44,000 £486,000
Status: Equal No. 1
Tom Woodbridge Thomas Dole
Concentration 4 7
Part Fixes 3 11
Pit Stops 10 12
Reliability 2 5
Chemistry 12 19
Performance 4 8
Skills Engine Expert Lightfooted SS
Nurse Push It To The Limit
Right, here goes. I've kept Santa Ana and her Mechanic for reliabilty, Her lack of driving skill against Rodrigues could be bridged by Ana running in higher engine modes for longer for the same wear as Rodrigues' engine. When Nurse is unlocked, reliability is even less of concern as it lessens part wear.
The unique combo of Doles chemistry and Push It skill, Rodrigues will eventually have a car without red bars on its parts. This should allow much more flexibility with staff at the start of seasons, not to mention the actual race reliability. We won't see the benefit straight away but it will help in the next few seasons.
Overall solid improvement, not insanely costly either. There's a reason for that!
My plan is to upgrade as follows:
1) Upgrade Factory during Season 2 – we need the extra staff and further unlocks
2) Build a Test Track between Seasons 3-5
I want to focus the team to have a strong Engine in future seasons. The Test Track will also develop Driver overtaking and cornering. I prioritise these because overtaking is key and since many championships can have spec wings, improving Driver cornering will help make a difference sooner.
That's my plan in terms of team development so far, money dependant of course!
Predator unveiled Rodrigues' Car for the upcoming season:
Brakes 2(35)
Engine 5(17)
Gearbox 14(41)
Suspension 19(34)
Point to note: Spec Front and Rear Wings for ERS Season 1
Santa Ana's Car will most likely not have the same performance as the number one, even if her contract states equal status. That will be for the team to sort out come race day.
Decent Practice season as the new Drivers found their way around the new cars.
Setup Balance
Santa Ana 95%
Rodrigues 85%
Mixed results for the two Drivers, Rodrigues wasn't happy with his handling and speed.
A wet Race saw both Predator's Cars finish the race.
Rodrigues 11th
Santa Ana 17th
A decent points haul sees Predator Racing Group sit 7th in the ERS Team Championship standings.
Santa Ana lost her rear wing on lap 2 after Valdes of ZRT crashed into her. A solid recovery drive, opting for a long middle stint to try make up for the early pit stop.
Rodrigues stormed to a beast of a start and held on to 5th at the end of lap 2.
Lead Designer Ruby Smith joins Predator Racing Group on the long term contract, no doubt her engine expertise is what drove Brown to hire her.
Engine 18
Brakes 2
Gearbox 8
Front Wing 9
Rear Wing 17
Suspension 10
Good, Great and Epic components
That completes the team after Brown revealed there will be no further personnel changes.
Predator have yet to reveal their full financials, but we can take a look into their current agreements and speculate.
Driver Spend £697,000 per race
Race Sponsor income £750,000 per race
It looks as though the team are going to be struggling financially as there are still developmental costs, Staff and various other expenses. If Rodrigues can keep up the good performances then maybe more lucrative sponsors will come knocking. Only time will tell.
Snother solid Practice season as the team look to build on their Season opener.
Setup Balance
Santa Ana 95%
Rodrigues 90%
Better setups this time round Rodrigues still not quite happy with his handling .
This was an eventful race, a pit stop blunder after a late call to pit during safety car effectly ruined Santa Ana's race
Rodrigues 10th
Santa Ana 17th
A decent points tally again but Predator Racing Group fall to 9th in the ERS Team Championship standings.
Santa Ana has every right to be angry at her team after a real rookie mistake. Pitting lap 16 for fuela nd a tyre change, only she left the pits minus the tyres. To make matters worse the safety car was coming in imminently leaving her well back in 19th and last place.
Rodrigues solid as ever, pitting 3 laps before the safety car madness that hindered Ana so much, he rode the storm of the restart and keep the tyres at good temperature. He was sitting 9th on the last lap but came in 10th after running out of fuel just at the home stretch of the last lap.
If it weren't for the pit stop mistake, it could have been so much better for the underdogs. Next stop,, Milan.
Holy ****,, we totally messed up with the Santa Ana pit stop too busy worried about strategy as the safety car was already coming in, the fuelling rig seized causing panic and early release without changing tyres. **yes I forgot to give the order to change them**
She didn't finish last though and Rodrigues went one better this time out. Another good race considering what could have been. These engines are coming, I'm keeping everything crossed.
It makes it more fun for me playing and hopefully more fun for the readers too. I just hope I've picked the right story to tell if I ever get to the WMC!
The team over at Predator HQ have released their latest Engines for both Cars. Certainly not great by any stretch – The Average and Good parts are a definite improvement and will be available for Milan.
Average Engine 23(27)
Good Engine 23(47)
The team have paid attention to the reliability , ensuring there should be no issues during the next race.
Arguaby the best Practice session so far, the Drivers are feeling confident in their setups. Combine that with the new Engines, this could be Predator's best weekend yet!
“You can feel the extra power!” an excited Rodrigues proclaimed.
Setup Balance
Santa Ana 92%
Rodrigues 95%
This was a tough race in an Italian storm. The track did dry up for a stint then the rain fell once again. The team seemed to struggle for fuel strategy once again as changes in track temps quickly ruined tyres. Still a solid result from the Predator Pair:
Rodrigues 12th
Santa Ana 17th
Will Santa Ana break her 17th place duck and go better next time?
Our car doesn't seem to like the rain or the intermediates. We were running both drivers will too much fuel at stages but we will get there. There is a clear divide between Ana and Rodrigues, she doesn't seem to affect by her lower performance car.
I'm getting the team to design a new Gearbox for our No 1 Car for the next race. We can't afford to stand still in our development this season. However, our could be in vein, there is rumour that the next Voting session will decent whether we run stock Engines next year or not.
This could spell trouble for our plans.
A new Gearbox as been fitted to Rodrigues' Car reports suggests, however no details have been released.
The Practice session went as normal, both Driver reasonably happy with their setups.
Setup Balance
Santa Ana 93%
Rodrigues 95%
A dry race on Super Softs, the first race to make use of the quickest compound. Predator's tyre wear problems were exposed here, the team looked to have made a mistake by refusing the run on the soft compound.
Rodrigues 14th
Santa Ana 16th
Rodrigues lost his Rear wing at the start of lap 2, so his 14th placing isn't too bad considering. Santa Ana hardly put a foot wrong and finished in her best placing so far. It should have been a better result, the team again struggling with strategy, Ana's car running out of fuel on her in lap for her second stop.
How much longer can she put up with the mistakes?
She's calmed down, I explained to her our problems and how she drove brilliantly considering. We will do better for her, she has to just so her frustration on the track and drive like I know she can.
The team is still rooted to the bottom of the Championship Standings, we are only 5 points off the pace. A strong result and it will all change.
I've just put a request into the guys at HQ for a new Braking system in time for the next race, I told you we wouldn't be standing still.
With a focus on Low Speed Corners in Belgium, The usual back markers will see this is an opportunity to how what they can do, ERS run with Spec wings so it's a level playing field in terms of low speed cornering ability. New brakes for Rodrigues we have heard.
Setup Balance
Santa Ana 93%
Rodrigues 95%
Oh my! What a race! The team at Predator will be delighted with their first race win!!! Who would've expected it? We certainly didn't!
Rodrigues WINNER
Santa Ana 4th (<1sec from podium)
We thought the back marker would be stronger, but not this strong! The teams strategy was perfect today. The first round of pits, both driver stacked on the same lap, with no delays, it was perfect. Just the right gap between the two drivers to pull it off. But it's the refuelling at this first stop that pulled off the miracle.
Santa was fuelled for a shorter second stint, Rodrigues a longer one. This meant when the second stops came, they pitted a lap apart and Rodrigues gained the position over Ana and chased on for the lead.
The team stopped once less than the field due to excellent tyre care and fuel management, the team reported on the radio every few second instructing the Drivers. A real team strategy masterclass!
Rodrigues might feel lucky, Jha ran out of fuel with 3 laps to go, allowing Rodrigues the race win. Jha was lucky enough to come out of the pits in 3rd place in front of Ana and just held her off until the end,
The team fire up the table to 6th in the Championship Standings.
I've been quietly confident we could pull a shock or two this season, but not this soon and certainly not a race WIN!
Rodrigues is on cloud nine, Santa Ana is also beeming! She now has complete faith in the team from the struggles earlier in the season.
Rodrigues wouldn't let anyone take the shine off his win, “ They ran out of fuel because I was pushing them so hard, I had to be there to take advantage of the mistake in the first place.” He also went on to say something about how great it was that we almost scored a double podium finish.
I've had to cut the celebrations short though, Germany next, we can't get carried away, we need to work hard. Belgium was kind to us, we won't have that fortune every race.
As the Team Principles cast their votes yesterday over Spec Engines for next season, let's look at what this could mean for the team next season.
Obviously team with stronger engines, will be against it, with lesser powered teams favouring. One team however will be very interested on the outcome.
Having publicly revealed his plans, Predator's Brown will be stuck on this one. He hired an engine expert to develop a stronger package for seasons to come, This vote could ruin that plan. However the team may have a plan B up their sleeve.
Brown had this say, “Looking at this one, I just knew it would be passed, chatter from the other team suggested so. So I abstained, either way I keep my vote for next time. If the ruling changes we will deal with it.”
And the rule did pass, meaning 2017 season will run Spec engines at the reduced cost for all teams. The development race next season will be an interesting one as the engines can't be touched.
Ana is reported to be happy at the prospect of such a powerful engine. However Rodrigues is concerned about the teams lack of design knowledge on the other parts.
Maybe Brown's plans will start to unravel, we fully expect the Designer to go and a new face brought in. It's sad but the team won't require an engine designer with this ruling in place. A real shame.
Long sessions, 12 minute practice at the moment