The third division will race on Thursday this season and has an interesting mix of quick and experienced young drivers combined with up and coming talent. Let’s have a look at who’s on the grid:
Alfa Romeo:
ByGerjo and EvanM. Spanish driver ByGerjo was a decent midfielder in Class B last season, with some good races where he was fighting for podiums. It means this man has the speed to compete with the best in this tier and could do very well in the championship. His teammate EvanM from Ireland was one of the better Class D drivers last season and showed that by even getting a podium in Zandvoort in a Class C race. He does need to show more consistency to be able to fight for good points finishes each race.
AlphaTauri:
Two young Finnish drivers will represent the Italian based team. Winter-_-Travis and Pyryvaltteri do not have a lot of races on their name yet. In fact the first only did a few races at the end of last season in Class D, where he showed the pace was good, but can be a bit wild on track. Has some improvement to do in his awareness and wheel-to-wheel racing. His teammate will make his debut at DTR this season, but was impressive during his rookie race and could be the leading driver for this team soon.
Alpine:
The French squad has quite a line up. British Dan “Big mouth” Gleballs and Headless__King. The first had the idea he was going to fight for the championship in this series and was keen to let everyone know about it. During preseason it seemed like he may have overestimated himself while his French teammate has been summoned by the stewards to read the rulebook again given his abysmal performance on track. Rumours are that his name will be changed into Headless_Chicken if he doesn’t improve quickly.
Aston Martin:
The Silverstone squad has 2 English drivers who are also family. They’re each other’s brothers-in-law. Let’s hope for them the results are fine early on in the season otherwise Christmas dinner could become very awkward if they blame each other for not getting results. On pure pace these guys will probably be midfielders, but their teamboss hope they can do better than that.
Ferrari:
This is quite a line up. Perhaps even the strongest there is in Division 3. XaviRD9 was a top 10 driver in last season’s Class A, while his team mate was maybe not into the top 10 of the Class A standings, he did score a lot of points in the last few races of the season. In other words, they have speed, they have experience and know how to fight quick drivers. A firm contender for constructors and Xavi is definitely one of the contenders for the drivers title.
Haas:
The American squad has a driver combination that could surprise many. German driver Rosettenrambo has shown in the rookie races and preseason he could be someone to look out for. His pace seems to be among the better drivers and might be scoring a few podium finishes this season. His teammate from South Africa may have a hard time keeping up with his team mate, who clearly seems the number one driver within the team. Hey may be named TheBigMan, but so far it’s all just a name and he will need to step it up a notch to not be demolished by Rambo.
McLaren:
Never a boring moment with a line up of Its_Billy and Stuart. Both are very quick and could even be fighting for the top spots. They showed that already last season where Billy won Class C and together they won the constructors title. If Stuart was a little less wild and more of a team player they even would have had much more points in the bag. This sure is a team to put some money on. They will surely score podiums, probably win races too and may even win it all. It is however up to them to be smart and sensible enough. If they can be, McLaren could bring some trophies.
Mercedes:
With Foxblue the English/German team probably has one of the best drivers in this Division. On raw pace, he’s probably the quickest. But it takes more than just that to win races or a championship. You need to be consistent, scoring good finishes every week. When he manages to do that, we may have the winner here. His team mate is not someone to overlook. Askeilos is probably less quick, especially over one lap, but always manages to get the best out of the car and race situations. Has a brilliant feeling for choosing the right strategy under all circumstances. He showed that in Class D where he managed to finish in third in the driver standings, but also was a podium finisher in the Champions race in a much tougher field. This certainly is a team that will score big.
Red Bull:
Tyres-thurso was one of last season’s most improved drivers. A young Scottish driver who went from being stuck in rookie land, to being disqualified in races for too many time penalties to decent midfielder to race winner to championship contender. That steep progression got him a seat in Division 3 and if he keeps improving like he has he may soon be scoring big points for the Bulls. His team mate is French driver The-Racer–21. A phenomenal name for a driver, but is still very much unproven. It will be his first season and may struggle early on in this field. Needs to learn to keep out of trouble and to be more careful in his overtake attempts. If he manages to do so he could start scoring some points for the team.
Williams:
Husssrc and RPM_Spritzy will be representing the blue colours of WIlliams. Two drivers who have quite a lot of experience and have improved very much over the last year and a half while racing in sim competitions. It will be tough for them to fight for the wins, but expect them to score regular top six finishes and possibly even some podiums here and there. They will bring Williams a good mid table finish at least.
Last but not least, as the latest addition to the grid, it’s Layjake who made quite an impression in his rookie race and did fairly well in preseason as well. He may be starting as a reserve for now, but everyone in the paddock is convinced he will be snatched up by one of the bigger teams very soon if he can keep performing like he did so far.
Title candidates:
XaviSRD9
Foxblue1884
Its_Billy_
ByGerjo
Right behind them:
D_Stavroulis, Stuart, Askeilos, Husssrc, Layjake, Rosettenrambo
Constructors favorites:
Ferrari
McLarenMercedes
