GPVWC Superleague 2014

Thursday 27th February 2014: Australia - Melbourne

 The first race of the new season. This time I am talking about the GPVWC Superleague championship. Yet another racing season finds Jim driving for Torrent Motorsports. The first race in the land down under, Australia. As it was last season, the cars have different capabilities so it is hard to make an predictions. Jim was not sure about the outcome of the race however, as always he would do his best. 
 The qualifying started and Jim managed to start 7th due to some connectivity issues he had to deal with, causing him to do only one flying lap. The race started and Jim found himself in 17th position, as he was forced to go over the grass to avoid any contact with the other drivers. He wasn't discouraged, though, and gave us some nice battles. Having dropped 17th, Jim managed to climb up and finish 4th, gaining valuable points for his team.
 As far as his own words: " Looking back at the Australian GP, the only thing I cared about is damage limitation". 

Have a nice 2014 racing season with many exciting battles!

The editor

Welcome back racing season!

"Welcome back racing season"... The title of this post is just the beginning of the season that has started and as it seems it is very promising. Jim Parisis is again my field and I must admit he started with flying colours. The reason is the FSR Winter Series - 5 races, a small championship - in which Jim took part in. So after the end of the Series I had the chance to interview Jim and learn about the series and his intentions for this year as well. Lets get started!!

Day 1 - The first race 

The first race was a plunge into the deep. He did not know what was going to happen, however the drivers that were on the grid, made him want to do his best and that was what actually happened. Jim was behind the first driver during the whole race trying to overtake him, but the lack of clean air made the overtaking impossible, leaving him finish 2nd in his first race. 

-Not bad for the first time, if you ask me!

Day 2 - The second race

The second race was on and Jim once again behind the first driver. The lack of clean air prevented him from winning once again. However, he was the driver that had the best tyre management in the race.

Day 3 - The third - wanna be forgotten - race

This was a race Jim doesn't want to remember. On the first lap he had a contact with the lead driver. The result was that both drivers were now the last on the race. However, Jim, as we all know, is no quitter. He made his comeback, finishing 4th.

Day 4 - The fourth - troubling - race

Probably the most irritating race for Jim. He had problems with his brake pedal, which cost him a good race. He managed, though, to finish 6th, feeling frustrated as the Series were almost over.

-A comment written by one of his viewers, which finds me in absolute agreement was: "Even The best drivers have a bad day. It was about time you had one"

Day 5 - The fifth - victorious- race

This race made up for the last two races. Jim made the fastest lap during his practise, however he started second as during the Qualifying session he lost the pole by 0,005sec. He started his race and after 5 laps the leader made a mistake. It was then that Jim had decided that it was his chance to overtake him. The leader made it hard to Jim, however he managed to overtake him and slowly opening the gap between them. Jim won the race leaving the second 12 sec. It was Jim's first win and with that he won the championship.

Jim Parisis takes Winter Series Title -> An article writen by FSR 

http://www.formula-simracing.net/news/35-wc/756-parisis-takes-winter-series-title

Now, don't tell me that this isn't a perfect start for the racing season? I asked him one last question and that was about his thoughts about the racing season that is starting. Note that Jim will be taking part in 2 championships, GPVWC and FSR.

His answer:

"About GPVWC; it is going to be a tough season due to lack of money in the team, which might prevent us for fighting all the way through for the title. However, my goal is to give my best in every single race. 

About FSR; Running in rFactor 2 I don't really know what to expect to tell you the truth. One thing is for sure, and that is that we are going to work hard."

Good luck and looking forward to my next post and your next race Jim!

The editor

GPVWC Superleague 2013

Thursday 24th October 2013: Brazil - Interlagos

The final race for this season with something very special for Torrent Motorsports. A new livery, a tribute to Sean's Edwards death. The colours were the ones that decorated Sean's car. 
 Now to the racing action. Jim's final race with great perspectives, he started second only 0.020sec behind his teammate - Petter Kaasa, a 1-2 start for TMo. He made a considerably bad start - for his standards - losing one position, as did his teammate Petter. After a few laps his teammate made his move, leading the race with Jim following his lead after one lap. So once again TMo was 1-2. After his first pit stop Jim overtook his teammate, a defining factor for the rest of the race. At this point he came to realise that his main opponent was Ruud Heesterbeek. Jim was on 3 pit stop strategy while Ruud was on 2. So he knew that he had to cover the distance of that extra stop, in the circuit with fast laps. As he did. He was 1 second behind Ruud after his last stop, having in mind to make his final move and take the win. Unfortunately Petter's engine failed, making Jim more careful for his own car, completing his race in 2nd position. As the racing season ended Jim managed to do a lot better than he thought he would. His objective at the start of the season was to finish in the top 5. He managed though to climb up to 3rd in the final standings.

Congratulations Jim, now rest as we expect more from you for next season..and who knows maybe you will be the next GPVWC Superleague Champion.
Wish you the best
The editor

GPWVC Superleague 2013

Thursday 26th September 2013: Abu Dhabi - Yas Marina

Yet another race took place with Jim finishing with very satisfying results. The qualification session went pretty good having Jim starting second on prime tyres, whilst the first started on options. He made a perfect start, taking the lead but after a couple of turns the lack of grip of prime tyres made him "give up" the lead. The rest of the race was pretty normal with some battles in which he did not engange at his fullests as he doesn't like the circuit, thus wanting to finish his race as soon as possible with the best outcome Jim could get - in one piece. Finally, he brought his car back in 2nd position losing the win only by 1.3 seconds, a pretty good result given Jim's mood for this circuit. 


Thursday 10th October 2013: Japan - Suzuka

One of Jim's favourite circuit. During the qualification session Jim was the only one on the grid wearing prime tyres. He started 2nd losing pole position by 0.025 seconds. The fact that he lost the pole just for a margin was outstanding leaving us with the expectation for a win. However, he clipped our wings, making an AWFUL start, falling in 10th place. His target to win was now harder to get, but he started overtaking other drivers one by one, finding himself leading the race half way the race. However, his strategy did not quite work out and finished 3rd getting another podium.

Well done Jim, expecting more..like a win..!
The edittor

GPVWC Superleague 2013

Thursday 12th September 2013: United States GP - Indianapolis 

The racing day started with a lot of anxiety for Jim as he was experiencing some technical issues with his pc. His rFactor kept crashing. Up until Qualifying he was not able to solve the problem so when the race was to start he just wished to finish his race. The Q session was not very good as he was not able to make a clean lap, so he started 3rd. His start was not as expected as he lost 2 positions and one more after the first lap. However, he was able to gain his 3rd position back, before his first pit stop, even though the other drivers had more top speed.  After his pit stop he managed to gain the second position, having now his teammate in front of him by 6 seconds. Jim was trying to gather the lost seconds. However, what "benefited" him was the fact that both Jim and Petter, his teammate, had to deal with the backmakers, as a result the gap dropped down to 2 seconds.  After that Jim and Petter had to do their last pit stop changing to primes. That offered Jim the pace he wanted and needed to win. The final 8 laps was when the battle between the 2 TMo cars started. In the final lap Jim overtook his teammate and WON (again) the race.

Third time in a row? Well, well, well... You are indeed on fire!!

The editor.

Below is the highlight's video of Jim's race   

GPVWC Superleague 2013

Thursday 29th August 2013: Germany - Nurburgring

Seems like that after Jim's pole in Magny-Cours , another was waiting to be captured. Two consecutive poles in France and in Germany. The outstanding thing about this race in Germany is that Torrent Motorsports (TMo) managed to start 1-2! Jim the poleman and his teammate second. Five lights out and Jim, yet another time, makes a good start having to deal with his teammate already from the first turn. Side by side the two TMo drivers, no contact made, and Jim still leads the race. Their strategy's plan was that Jim was the one to pit first. As a result Jim had to cover the time lost in that extra lap his teammate, Petter, had in the circuit. As he did. The race was all about Jim and his teammate as the other drivers were 30 second behing TMo. An interesting race without many battles, but with the best result a team could want. They finished just as they started. Jim once again the winner of the race with his teammate second. 

As the commentators said in France's broadcast: " Once you win your first race, then there is another consecutive win waiting in the corner! ".

Are you on fire Jim?? I hope you continue like this!!

Best of luck!

The editor 

Enjoy the highlights!!

(composed by Tom vd Voort)

GPVWC Superleague 2013 - On board with Jim

As you might have noticed there was a huge window promising for Live Broadcast!!
Since there were some technical problems Jim was able to broadcast his first race on the 15th of August in GPVWC circuit of France - Magny-Cours! 

Enjoy the onboard video of the final agonising lap!!

GPVWC Superleage 2013

Wednesday 15th August 2013: France - Magny Cours

The race day started with very good perspectives. Jim's car was definitely faster than it was in his previous race, however he was not sure that it was fast enough to win the race. Jim was able to take the pole and that was the omen he and his team wanted. He made an exceptional race start and was the leader half way through the race with a gap of 3seconds. Unfortunately though, during his second pit stop he lost his place as he had slower crew in his pit stop. After that, and for the second half of the race, Jim was trying to get his position back. Finally on the last 3 laps he managed to close the gap between them and made his effords to win the first place back. On the final lap he made his move and managed to take back his first place. With only two turns remaining it was definite that Jim had won the race. In the second turn before the end of the race the other driver made a desperate move to overtake Jim pushing him off the track costing him his win. In his broadcast - which I was also watching - when he realised what happened almost smashed his gas pedal. Jim along with his team made an appeal to the judges and one week later the judges come down to the result that Jim was the WINNER!!!

Well done Jim!!! It was an exceptional race with nice battle in the end!
Hopefully more wins are to come!!

The editor

Bellow is the battle in the final two laps!! Enjoy!
(source: GPVWC Live Broadcast -> SimRace.TV)

GPVWC Superleague 2013 Belgium foot camera video

Not totally synchronised I know, but it worths the try!

GPVWC Superleague 2013

Belgium GP - Thursday 7th of August 2013

Sadly another bad race result for Jim.
After a very good performance in Qualifying, he got 2nd position, outperforming his car!
Everything looked good for his first serious fight for a win here at Spa but when the lights went out a surprise was waiting for Jim. T1 and the brakes are locking, he made contact with another car, causing Jim to spin 180 degrees and stood still looking the wrong way of the circuit. Sadly some cars didn't avoid him so he lost his front wing, and got heavily damaged in both his front suspenions. Staying calm, he returned into the pits to fix his car. His car lost the ability of the good turn in, he had in practise, and lost 6-8kpm of top speed. Car was 1 second slower per lap than in practise. He was now in 24th and 1 and a half minutes behind the leaders after lap 1 but he decided to continue and take as much points possible. After a nice comeback drive, he managed to take 8th place and saved the day from being a complete failure.

GPVWC Superleague 2013

Two more races in the SL series : British GP and Italian GP. Two races that Jim does not want to remember. Let us read why.

British GP - Thursday 4th of July 2013

Silverstone is Jim's most favourite circuit. However, his car was not powerful enough to give him any chance to win. He started 7th, but his start was amazing gaining two positions, to find himself in a train situation of five cars, separating the first car to fifth ( Jim) by only two seconds. However, on the 4th lap he had a problem with his pc causing him to crash and loose his front wing and damaging badly his front left suspension. That left Jim last, with the "mission" to get back into a point scoring position. The car did not help him and he only managed to finish 11th. What would you expect from your most favourite circuit.... 

Italian GP - Thursday 18th of July 2013

This race can be described in two words. No Comments.
Even though Jim did an excellent qualifying starting 3rd, a silly penalty threw him back in 8th. As a result, Jim had to involve in battles that in a circuit like Monza can ruin your race completely. That was what happened to Jim. Battle after battle an uncharacteristic move from another driver, left him with damage in the front left suspension. Frustrated by this outcome, Jim lost his temper and DNF the car. 

Lets hope that your next race is not like these two. Best of luck!!

The editor

GPVWC Superleague 2013

New updates in the blog and new things to say. It has been a month or so, and the SL series continue their races with Jim never missing a race. In this post I will inform you about two of his races. The first one is Korean GP and the second one is the Turkish GP. Fasten your seat belts and let's get going.

Korean GP - Thursday 6th of June 2013

The qualifying session found Jim in the 12 position, with prime tires, when everyone else qualified with option tires. His Q was just as he was planning it to be, since the practise he did was merely enough to prepare him for the race. Five lights are out and Jim makes a decent start. During the race, Jim is the only one in a different strategy, with one less pit stop. If we take into account that Korea is not his favourite circuit, in fact among his worst, Jim managed to finish 7th, having a not so interesting race, scoring, however, valuable points.

Turkish GP - Thursday 20th of June 2013

 After his pole in the Malaysian GP, this was his second best Q. Jim started in the front row, in the 2nd position. This was a pretty good race, having a nice pace, and with the perspective of a podium podium finish. However, in the midst of the race, he had an unlucky incident with a backmaker not responding well on the blue flags, forcing Jim to spin, in order to avoid collision and DNF. Other than that he found his pace again managing to gain 3rd position back. On the last lap of the race though, a malfunction of the car's gearbox on the braking - a downshift from 3rd gear to 1st gear- cost him his podium finish, leaving Jim sad in the 4th position.

My apologies for my absence.

The editor.

GPVWC Superleague 2013

The race took place last Thursday 23rd of May in Canada. Jim had an exceptional race starting third. Throughout the race, especially the first 30 laps Jim was the centre o attention, as had to deal with many agonising, for the viewers, battles and achieve many breath-taking overtakes. He managed to finish 6th. He said it was a very nice race with many battles. 

Below is a video with his highlights in Canada.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMOXWrtUksE

Best Regards, 

The editor

VRT.gr

Every winner deserves a trophy and Jim got one for his win in VRT Formula in the circuit of China.
He was also interviewed by Panos Seitanidis! 

Here is Jim's interview :

And here is the winner's trophy :

Let's make it to the final now!!!

The editor.

VRT.gr

What happened ten days later...

Jim, went back to Athens to compete against 12 drivers in the circuit of China. The drill was :

Step 1 : There were 12 drivers and they were divided in two groups of 6 drivers.
Step 2 : The first group of drivers had to race a 20 minute race, from which 3 drivers would pass.
Step 3 : The second group of drivers had to race a 20 minute race, from which 3 drivers would pass.
Step 4 : All 6 drivers, three from the first group and the three from the second, had to race again for another 20 minute race so as to have a winner.

Jim was in the first group of the drivers and made an amazing race leaving the second driver 30seconds behind him. He managed to do the best time and be consistent to that time as well! Then all he had to do is wait for the other six drivers to complete their race and get ready for the final race. He was once more the pole man with approximately 6 tenths of a second gap form the second one. The race was pretty easy for him as well, as he never lost his concentration. He WON leaving the second driver 19seconds behind him. Everyone congratulated him and were asking him for tips amazed by his talent. 

After the race was over, Panos Seitanidis (a Greek reporter-commentator on F1 ) questioned him about his experience in VRT formula and his sim racing career and then Stamatis Katsimis ( a Greek racing driver in many categories of Formula) gave him his trophy!

Now Jim has passed to the semi-finals and to my humble opinion to the final round as well!!

Here are the edited videos made by VRT formula for the circuit of China :

The very best luck for you Jim,
The editor

VRT.gr

 It has been a while since I last updated the blog and the news are mounting. I will not write about Jim's races, I will write about Jim's new achievement. 

Jim decided to take part in an organisation held in Athens called VRT (Virtual Racing Talent) which in cooperation with Virage Racing Academy ( http://www.virage.ws/ ), are in search of racing talents. The event started a few weeks ago and it is composed of two categories. The first category concerns those whose age is from 16 to 25 and the second category is for those from 26 and over. For more information you can visit VRT's site www.vrtformula.gr . Last week Jim went to Athens to test his abilities against other drivers, who were either sim racers or real drivers in karts and F3. 
As soon as he set foot in Vrt's faculties he turned into a legend. The reason why? He managed to achieve the best time without really trying. He had one test for free and one more, which he paid, that would be timed and saved(and he had to do better than 1.38.8) . His first free test which was timed but not registered was 1.37.5, then he did his try, the one which paid for and was the one which was going to be registerd an managed to do 1.37.1. Even from the first day he had he best time anyone there ever achieved. He had booked to participation so he had one more try to improve his time. He managed to decrease his one time to 1.37.0 which was th one which gave him the pass to the next face. One of the promoters there was so impressed by Jim's talent that told him to try on more time but his time would not be registered. Jim gladdly accepted and managed to do 1.36.5!! When he took of his headphones people were clapping and were asking him how he did such a thing amazed by his time! He met many people there and many of his sim racing friend and had a great time. He said that it was one of kind experience and was excited about the feedback he had by the promoters. After he left the competion continued for another week but no one was able to beat Jim's time. Everyone there were talking about him and his talent. He is first in his category and now he is getting ready to excel one more time on th 20th of the month.

What i forgot to tell you is that the big trophy which Virage offers for Jim's category is a week in Spain to practise in Formula renault. It is like a scolarship which means that everything is paid and the winner only has to bring its best!

Bellow there is a video with Jim's winning lap :

I wish you the very best Jim..I am sure you will be the winner!!
Good luck
The editor

GPVWC Superleague 2013

Well done!!! I think that is what fits to today's post! On Thursday 14th March 2013 Jim was racing against other drivers of GPVWC superleague in Sepang. The weather forecast was nothing but rain, however during the Q the track was dry so Jim's set up fitted the track. Jim, against all odds, took the pole leaving 0.007 the second behind. As soon as they started for their formation lap the weather turned against him. He had a car, which set up was for dry track and he had to compete against the other drivers' wet set up. He made a good start loosing only one place and had an outstanding racing trying to hold on all fast turns. He finished 3rd quite an accomplishment for Jim and his team, Torrent Motorsports, as their car is new in the league without many upgrades. The only thing that Jim told me when I asked him how he felt about the race he told me " I really enjoyed the pole and the race".

Good Job Jim..!!
The editor

F1Axion.gr

Monday 4th of  March, circuit: Hungaroring, pole: Jim Parisis! The impressive thing was that Jim contrary to others took the pole wearing Medium compound, while others were wearing Soft compound! Jim was the leader for most of the race when he did something praiseworthy! He decided to give the win to his teamate, Jordan, as a thank you for his hard work on setting up the car. The outcome of the race was an incredible 1-2 scoring maximum point for the team. Jim, also took the fastest lap of the race. His night was a success from every aspect! He may not have won the race but he enjoyed working with his teamate fot the team's best interest! Below are his statements:

" Even though I didn't win, I consider this race as one of the most successful I have ever done. Pole position with the Medium compound and a race which brought the team its first 1-2 with Jordan (teamate) winnig the race. Well done to everybody in the team and once more to our pit manager! "

I'll take this race as if you won ;)
The editor

GPVWC SuperLeague 2013

A new championship started yesterday for Jim. This year Jim and his team - Torrent Motosports - were "promoted" to GPVWC's superleague. Jim's car was the second worst, since his team is new. Thursday 28th February 2013 and the superleague championship started in Melbourne. His Q position was 9th. He managed to climb up to 7th place and finish his race in 6th place. His hardest moment was when a driver, wearing the option compound, tried to overtake Jim, who was on primes, which lead the other driver to spin and cost Jim 6 seconds luckily without any damage. Other than that it was a pretty intersting race and the unexpected happened! It didn't rain! Hereby is his tweet : " Very nice result for me and my teammate Petter! Gread job! Feels greats to drive for Torrent Motosports"

Enjoy your season..!

The editor

F1Axion.gr

Hockenheim, Monday 25th February 2013 pole for Jim once more! During his practise, he was uncertain whether or not he could get the pole, fortunately he managed to get it! He had a pretty slow start but he manage to get his place back a few seconds later. It was a good race without many battles and with nice strategies. Jim once again won the race!

Here is what he said :

" Another successful GP gor me with pole possition and victory. It wasn't easy though, since Katelas was extremely fast in both Q and race. "

Well done Jim!!
The editor