The fourth division of DTR races on Wednesday just like Division 2. And while this may be the fourth division in name, this one may be even harder to win than the third one. Yes, sure there is some talent in D3 that may be just a little faster than the top drivers here, but this group is so stacked it’s going to be very very tough to be a consistent podium finisher week in and week out. There’s at least ten drivers that can win races and they have all done so in the past. So let’s go have a look at the grid:
Now that you know who’s racing, let’s go through them per team.
Alfa Romeo:
Two fairly unknown drivers from Romania. Both Alexanderch01 and Suciuuuuuu24 did however show during their rookie races and preseason that their pace is good enough to compete with this group. As they’re fairly new they’ll probably need some time before they are able to score consistent points every race, but don’t be surprised to see a Romanian flag waving at the podium this season.
AlphaTauri:
With Ralphalbers this team has a very experienced and quick driver. His previous season is something he probably won’t like to talk about much. The pace he showed was good, good enough for top five finishes, but the amount of times we’ve seen Ralph involved in incidents has been uncountable. Very much needed to say is that in most cases he was not the one to blame for it. Therefore Ralph’s main goal must be stay out of trouble, if he manages to do so, he’ll be the high scoring driver AlphaTauri has now with Pierre Gasly. His teammate is Saudi driver Laith919. He is quick and talented, but to be able to score points in this field you probably need more than that. You need to be very aware and have patience. Probably a learning season for him, where if he manages to progress his skills he could score points very often.
Alpine:
Lil__mikey and Wazza. Two British drivers from Manchester. Red that is, if you wondered. These guys have been sim racing and team mates for nearly two years now and when they started Mikey was clearly the better and quicker driver hoping his teammates may score a point during the season. Well things have changed quite a bit since those days. Mikey is still quick and could fight for podiums in this group on a good day, or possibly even win, but it seems like the speed is not there on every track, plus staying out of trouble is key for scoring big points. His teammate is quite something. Wazza on raw pace is perhaps the quickest driver of this division, but also perhaps the most reckless one. No one in the history of sim racing will probably have a poorer record of losing positions compared to his qualifying positions. However, Wazza has improved on his off track antics. Very much actually. But to set that final step towards fighting for a championship he needs to cut out the usual errors even more. If he can do that we may finally see him winning a title. That is only if his teammate hasn’t strangled him before the end of the season because of frustration.
Aston Martin:
Anieduard is the third Romanian driver on the grid. And this one may be the quickest of all three. The raw speed he showed during rookie races impressed many team bosses, but some didn’t dare to sign him given his many mistakes he made during races on track. Aston Martin hopes he can cut that down and be a surprise for them. His teammate is Brazilian driver MarcosACF05 who did fairly well in last season’s Class D. He’s quick, but will need to step it up to do well in this division.
Ferrari:
Saley71 from Slovenia is a real fast driver who already has multiple podium finishes and even a win on his name. One of the better Class D drivers of last season has made the step up to this division and will show everyone how talented he is. Will be a regular point finisher and podium candidate. His Russian teammate Sme7anka is nearly as quick and sometimes even quicker, but much more foul prone than his team mate. Collects more time penalties than he or his team wishes. Reminds some people of a young Wazza. If he develops a more calm approach during races he’ll be scoring regularly.
Haas:
The American team will be led by Scotsman Jordan. A complete driver as in quick, aware, smart, adaptive and experienced. He’s good enough on pace to be a consistent top five finisher and will also grab a regular podium. Will it end there? No, be ready to listen to the Scottish national anthem at least once this season. Withouta string of bad luck this is one of the title candidates. His teammate was thought to be of a much lesser caliber, but proved the world different in preseason. RacingRyan has developed from rookie to back of the grid Class D to a podium candidate in this group of drivers. That instantly makes Haas a candidate for the constructors title.
McLaren:
Brandonn and Dopeyman
Despite being fairly equal in pace with his teammate somehow Brandonn always manages to be the one fighting for a championship. He has a skill not many have, the ability to make the most of every situation and overcome bad situations. He’s the Hamilton of simracing, even though you may beat him a few races, he’s still right behind you and there to strike back as soon as he can to take the crown once again. Maybe not the fastest on raw pace, but definitely the number one favorite to win the title. Why? Because of all mentioned above, his consistent high scoring always puts him in the fight. His teammate Dopeyman, as said before, is not really slower and will surely be fighting for podiums and possible wins. Surely not a pushover like Bottas can be, but didn’t have his greatest season of all. Together they are a firm candidate for winning the constructors title.
Mercedes:
Another duo that’s been around for a few years. The English drivers Ennz and Nellboy are finally teaming up together and maybe that’s exactly what both needed. Both are good enough to win races and on pure speed Ennz is a standout. He and Wazza are probably the quickest drivers there are in this division, but Ennz also knows like no other how to throw away a good result. Sometimes because he couldn’t find the right button on his wheel, sometimes because Junior was screaming too loud, or because you know… he got Wazza’d. His second half of last season was promising, with less errors and some podium finishes. If he can keep that up, he could finally do what many expected him to do after making quite an impression in his first ever league races. And that’s nothing less than winning titles. His teammate Nellboy is nearly as quick, although maybe a little bit good in qualifying, but on race pace this veteran can beat any driver in here. After a phenomenal start of last season bad luck was found on his path race after race. In the end even lost out on a certain looking constructors title. This season the goal is clear, he and his teammate are going to fight together to win it all.
Red Bull:
Another duo of English drivers, this time it’s Himz2K7 and Jalapeno__pepper. You can certainly expect Himz to be fighting for top positions. Was a title contender in Class D last season and would’ve been easily into the top 3 without missing a few races. The quick Britt will most certainly be doing well here and on the podium a few times. His younger teammate Jalapeno is spicy and talented and showed he can be quick in Class D last season, but this surely is a step up for him. If he can develop even more than he did already he could become an asset for the Red Bulls.
Williams:
Last but not least, the German duo of FrischGezapftes and ReapzzJG. Both had quite a hard learning season where they both had more DNF’s than points halfway through. But after a rough start they fought back and showed everyone they are no pushovers. In the final race of season 1 Frisch even managed to finish in fourth place, where he scored more points than he did the rest of the season combined. Reapz nearly did the same one week earlier in Brazil, where he managed to finish in sixth. If these two young drivers keep developing as they did last season they will at least double their points this year.
Manor:
First reserve is going to be Goontje. And that is going to be someone they will all fear. Most of these veterans have all raced each other before and Goontje has beaten them all. In fact he and Brandonn had a tough title fight together about 1,5 year ago which was won by the Dutchman. He has been away from the grid for a while, but with renewed energy he is ready to challenge this grid once again.
The title candidates:
Brandonn
Ennz
Wazza
Jordan
Outsiders (regular podium finishers or race winners)
Dopeyman, Nellboy, Goontje, Mikey, Himz, Saley, RacingRyan
Constructors title candidates:
McLaren
Haas
Mercedes
Alpine
Agree or disagree? Felt I left someone out? Let me know in the comments.
