glad you finally found a team, i wanted you, they got you 
good luck fellah
good luck fellah
Congrats Tom!
Don't forget to stop by with commentary on the next GT3 TCC race.
Don't forget to stop by with commentary on the next GT3 TCC race.
News of the last 2 months:
The annual 2010-11 seasons of Grand Touring Amateur League(GTAL), Masters of Endurance(MoE) and LFS Endurance Series(LFSES) came to an end recently.
TEM got 8th in 2011 GTAL, after going not so far from the title in a mega close season. 7th in class in the prestigious Masters of Endurance, with a maiden podium as a bonus. A double crown(drivers champ’ and GT500 teams’ championship) in LFSES, a league that unfortunately suffered massively from interrest drops.
Last website update on GTAL came after round 5(out of 7), in which Oskari Rinne and Yann Laprevotte took a well deserved podium. Round 6, the 6 Hours of Kyoto GP Long was set to be a much harder round, due to its very FXR-unfriendly nature. Especially since the one-off Earthdreams-Leucat livery didn’t give luck to the Osku-Yann duo in qualifying, with a very poor 24th place due to a roll in the second session. No fear, however. Osku and Yann managed to pull a classic charge through the field, greatly helped by a spot-on-strategy. The TEM car eventually climbed from 24th to 4th, and finished only a few seconds from the mpower-DRUNK Team group fighting for 2nd. Some disappointment for the squad however, as second place was clearly possible without a pop-up occuring in the 5th stint. Still, this was probably TEM’s best ever GTAL performance at this date. You can read a detailed review of that race in Osku’s and Yann’s posts on LFS Forum.
Tiger Express came to the final round(12 Hours of Blackwood GP) 7th at the championship, with a mathematical – but very tiny – title chance. However, the main aim was to get a championship top 5. This time, the Yann-Oskari duet was completed by new recruits Chris Vourliotis(doing his first ever endurance race) and David Jundt. All was looking good during the first two stint, with Chris holding a bottom top 10 position, until the Greek’s PC crashed just before the two hours mark. TEM lost 3 laps in the incident, and rejoined near last position. A great shame, as the team had pace, which is what Yann proved right afterwards, following the leaders’ pack and unlapping himself for a few laps in his first stints. The team still managed to climbed to 12th, greatly helped by the huge amount of incidents occuring in that race. Not enough to satisfy the team however, as a position between 6th and 8th was possible without the PC crash.
Tommy Ostgaard’s Team Identity took the championship with a very small margin on DRUNK Team, Sonicrealms Racing, The Danish Racing Team and GraVT Racing, in an extremely close season(7 different winners in 7 races). The Tigers eventually finished 8th at the championship. Still very disappointing, as without round 3, 6 and 7’s technical problems, the team would have been extremely close to the top, maybe even champions. But of course, it is stupid to pretend that as almost every single team top 10 team could have the same talk, considering how close and incident filled this season has been. Moreover, TEM has often been been outpaced by most of their championship rivals. Looking at the bright side, however, the team has managed to pull a fantastic recovery after two awful opening round: from 20th to 8th at the championship, even making up 5 points on the lead position within the last 5 rounds(!). For the record, TEM has also been the only team scoring three top 5 in a row this season, with Team Inferno.
A big thanks to the administration and the other teams for making this season as much thrilling and fun. It has probably been the most enjoyable endurance season TEM has ever taken part so far.
Standings
The team was also involved in the prestigious Masters of Endurance league in the meantime. TEM came stronger from its difficult maiden 24 hours race in round 3, with a surprise podium in round 4(6 Hours of South City). This was mainly thanks to ringer Chris Ford, who pulled a great qualifying performance(4th), and two great opening stints, settling in 3rd behind championship contenders ineX and spdo. Timo Höfer and Yann Laprevotte then only had to control CoRe Racing’s return to take 3rd, and TEM’s first ever MoE podium.
Round 5(6 Hours of Fern Bay Black) saw Masters of Endurance first ever visit to the Jamaican roller-coaster style track. Though it wasn’t very suiting TEM’s XRR, Chris Vourliotis, Yann Laprevotte, Lims Chebbi and Karl Raudsepp took a decent 6th out of 10th. The latter even got the squad’s best lap-time in the penultimate lap, for his official endurance debults. Meanwhile, Liane Solfrank finished 8th and last finisher with the one-round entry Epic Reunion.
The final round(6 Hours of Kyoto National) was set to be a good race for the XRR. The team didn’t capitalise on that during qualifying, with the last time. However, Karl and Yann pulled a great climb early in the race, passing Hellenic Racing and Coquest on track, and holding 5th place before half way point. Unfortuantely the second half was harder for David Jundt and Tom Parker: 2 punctures and a spin made the team drop to 8th.
Overall, it has been quite a difficult season for TEM. The 7th place gained at the GT2 standings isn’t very representative of the team’s season, as it was mainly due to the disappointing turn-up rate than everything else. But still, Tiger Express managed to finish all 6 races(for a total of 60 hours of racing!), which was the squad’s main aim before the season start. For the record, the championship was taken by ineX Racing in GT1, and spdo Racing in GT2.
Rounds 4 and 5 Gallery(by Michael Booth)
Small mention to the LFS Endurance Series. Yann did 4th out of 8 in round 5(3 Hours of Fern Bay Black), though he had the pace for the podium, if he wasn’t taken out at turn 1. Then, the Chris-Yann duet took 3rd/5 in round 6(3 Hours of Aston North). With the last round being cancelled due to the poor attendance, TEM took the GT500 crown, and its lead driver Yann Laprevotte the overall drivers’ championship. No real joy however, considering how the championship ended.
Standings
TEM will be back to business in endurance racing on June 18th, as the 5th annual season of the International GT Championship will kick off at Kyoto International(KY31). Tiger Express will take part in its mighty Earthdreams bus, and hopes to improve its overall 12th place gained in the 2010 season.
The annual 2010-11 seasons of Grand Touring Amateur League(GTAL), Masters of Endurance(MoE) and LFS Endurance Series(LFSES) came to an end recently.
TEM got 8th in 2011 GTAL, after going not so far from the title in a mega close season. 7th in class in the prestigious Masters of Endurance, with a maiden podium as a bonus. A double crown(drivers champ’ and GT500 teams’ championship) in LFSES, a league that unfortunately suffered massively from interrest drops.
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Grand Touring Amateur League – Rounds 6 and 7
Last website update on GTAL came after round 5(out of 7), in which Oskari Rinne and Yann Laprevotte took a well deserved podium. Round 6, the 6 Hours of Kyoto GP Long was set to be a much harder round, due to its very FXR-unfriendly nature. Especially since the one-off Earthdreams-Leucat livery didn’t give luck to the Osku-Yann duo in qualifying, with a very poor 24th place due to a roll in the second session. No fear, however. Osku and Yann managed to pull a classic charge through the field, greatly helped by a spot-on-strategy. The TEM car eventually climbed from 24th to 4th, and finished only a few seconds from the mpower-DRUNK Team group fighting for 2nd. Some disappointment for the squad however, as second place was clearly possible without a pop-up occuring in the 5th stint. Still, this was probably TEM’s best ever GTAL performance at this date. You can read a detailed review of that race in Osku’s and Yann’s posts on LFS Forum.
Tiger Express came to the final round(12 Hours of Blackwood GP) 7th at the championship, with a mathematical – but very tiny – title chance. However, the main aim was to get a championship top 5. This time, the Yann-Oskari duet was completed by new recruits Chris Vourliotis(doing his first ever endurance race) and David Jundt. All was looking good during the first two stint, with Chris holding a bottom top 10 position, until the Greek’s PC crashed just before the two hours mark. TEM lost 3 laps in the incident, and rejoined near last position. A great shame, as the team had pace, which is what Yann proved right afterwards, following the leaders’ pack and unlapping himself for a few laps in his first stints. The team still managed to climbed to 12th, greatly helped by the huge amount of incidents occuring in that race. Not enough to satisfy the team however, as a position between 6th and 8th was possible without the PC crash.
Tommy Ostgaard’s Team Identity took the championship with a very small margin on DRUNK Team, Sonicrealms Racing, The Danish Racing Team and GraVT Racing, in an extremely close season(7 different winners in 7 races). The Tigers eventually finished 8th at the championship. Still very disappointing, as without round 3, 6 and 7’s technical problems, the team would have been extremely close to the top, maybe even champions. But of course, it is stupid to pretend that as almost every single team top 10 team could have the same talk, considering how close and incident filled this season has been. Moreover, TEM has often been been outpaced by most of their championship rivals. Looking at the bright side, however, the team has managed to pull a fantastic recovery after two awful opening round: from 20th to 8th at the championship, even making up 5 points on the lead position within the last 5 rounds(!). For the record, TEM has also been the only team scoring three top 5 in a row this season, with Team Inferno.
A big thanks to the administration and the other teams for making this season as much thrilling and fun. It has probably been the most enjoyable endurance season TEM has ever taken part so far.
Standings
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Masters of Endurance – Rounds 4 to 6
The team was also involved in the prestigious Masters of Endurance league in the meantime. TEM came stronger from its difficult maiden 24 hours race in round 3, with a surprise podium in round 4(6 Hours of South City). This was mainly thanks to ringer Chris Ford, who pulled a great qualifying performance(4th), and two great opening stints, settling in 3rd behind championship contenders ineX and spdo. Timo Höfer and Yann Laprevotte then only had to control CoRe Racing’s return to take 3rd, and TEM’s first ever MoE podium.
Round 5(6 Hours of Fern Bay Black) saw Masters of Endurance first ever visit to the Jamaican roller-coaster style track. Though it wasn’t very suiting TEM’s XRR, Chris Vourliotis, Yann Laprevotte, Lims Chebbi and Karl Raudsepp took a decent 6th out of 10th. The latter even got the squad’s best lap-time in the penultimate lap, for his official endurance debults. Meanwhile, Liane Solfrank finished 8th and last finisher with the one-round entry Epic Reunion.
The final round(6 Hours of Kyoto National) was set to be a good race for the XRR. The team didn’t capitalise on that during qualifying, with the last time. However, Karl and Yann pulled a great climb early in the race, passing Hellenic Racing and Coquest on track, and holding 5th place before half way point. Unfortuantely the second half was harder for David Jundt and Tom Parker: 2 punctures and a spin made the team drop to 8th.
Overall, it has been quite a difficult season for TEM. The 7th place gained at the GT2 standings isn’t very representative of the team’s season, as it was mainly due to the disappointing turn-up rate than everything else. But still, Tiger Express managed to finish all 6 races(for a total of 60 hours of racing!), which was the squad’s main aim before the season start. For the record, the championship was taken by ineX Racing in GT1, and spdo Racing in GT2.
Rounds 4 and 5 Gallery(by Michael Booth)
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LFS Endurance Series Season 5 – Rounds 5 and 6
Small mention to the LFS Endurance Series. Yann did 4th out of 8 in round 5(3 Hours of Fern Bay Black), though he had the pace for the podium, if he wasn’t taken out at turn 1. Then, the Chris-Yann duet took 3rd/5 in round 6(3 Hours of Aston North). With the last round being cancelled due to the poor attendance, TEM took the GT500 crown, and its lead driver Yann Laprevotte the overall drivers’ championship. No real joy however, considering how the championship ended.
Standings
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TEM will be back to business in endurance racing on June 18th, as the 5th annual season of the International GT Championship will kick off at Kyoto International(KY31). Tiger Express will take part in its mighty Earthdreams bus, and hopes to improve its overall 12th place gained in the 2010 season.
The GTR championship of the 2011 Ligue FR – LFS France’s official championship – has taken place recently. It saw a massive domination from Tiger Express, taking 11 wins and 22 podiums in 12 races. The team managed to get a full podium sweep at the drivers’ championship, with Yann Laprevotte taking the title, in front of Karl Raudsepp and Liane Solfrank. The trio beat known figures of the French speaking community such as spdo Racing’s Morgan Trollé, Team Vires‘ Pierre Peron, Crazy Drivers‘ Pantera or 2F2F’s Oliv.
Coming back from a so-so road car part(4th overall), Yann Laprevotte never looked to be worried this time. Despite taking zero pole, Yann used all his experience of sprint races to beat his opponents at each race 1(Morgan Trollé in round 1 and 3, TLP’s Bruno in round 2), and then stay up front in the following races. Results speak for themselves: 7 wins and 11 podiums. Yann even managed to smash Jean-François “Worm” Sebire’s record of 3 Ligue FR victories in a row, with 6 consecutive wins. Though, standards have of course faded out since the championship creation back in 2008.
In second place comes Karl Raudsepp, making a superb come back to league racing. The start of the season was not so great: 6th, 7th and a retirement in round 1. However, the Estonian managed to get a great performance in round 2, taking two 5th and a second place, despite getting a weak 14th in qualifying. Karl came close to the podium in an incident filled round 3(6th, 8th, 4th), before taking two final podiums in the final round. In the end, a well deserved second place at the championship.
The podium is being rounded up by the only female driver of the league, Liane Solfrank. The German started the season on an high with two third places in round 1. Then three top 5 in round 2, including another podium. Aswell as Karl, she had a bit of “all or nothing” round 3 at South City with lots of incidents, but also a brilliant 2nd place in race 2, from 11th on the grid. Sadly she missed the final round of the season, otherwise she probably would have been in front of Karl at the championship. She still manages to get a great 3rd place overall.
Also, mention to Chris Vourliotis. The Greek did only 6 races out of 12, but managed to get 4 victories. 3 of them were in the final round on Fern Bay Gold with NGT, a combo he knows very well for holding the World Recond on XFR a while ago.
Unsurprisingly, the TEM-FSR alliance takes the teams’ championship aswell, with TEM taking all points but 1. The lead FSR driver Alexis “Kova.” Georg takes 6th at the championship.
Full Championship Results
Touring car racing was back at its best as the 3rd annual season of the iCON Touring Car Championship kicked off in January 2011. The championship this time had a slightly lighter schedule than in 2009 and 2010, with “only” 15 races splited in 5 events – one on each LFS venue but Westhill.
Tiger Express Motorsports managed to field 2 to 3 cars in each round. If the 2010 campaign was bitterly disappointing with only 1 point and the 32nd place overall, things went much better in 2011: Yann Laprevotte, Oskari Rinne, Vince Verstreken and David Jundt managed to get 97 points overall, which promoted the team in 4th at the teams’ championship, just behind the big names – ineX Racing, Sonicrealms Racing and My3id Gaming.
Here is a round by round season resume:
Round 1 – Fern Bay Gold – 23rd January
The season started with TEM fielding 3 cars, for Vince Verstreken, Oskari Rinne and Yann Laprevotte. All 3 managed to get one of the 30 race slots after successfully going through the 70 drivers pre-qualifying session.
Vince started the season brilliantly with a 13th time in qualifying, and managed to stay a the top of mid-field for the whole event. Results, a 10th place in race 1 and 2, and a 9th place in race 3. 4 points in total.
On the other hand Yann and Oskari didn’t manage to score in the opening round. Yann compromised his chances after a poor qualifying session(29th). He climbed back to 17th in race 1 nevertheless. He then came very close to the points in race 2, finishing the race on Vince’s bumper, in 11th. The Frenchman looked to be able to launch the point counter in race 3, but he got taken out at turn 1, tried to climb in midfield again, but eventually ended up in 11th once more. Meanwhile, Oskari had an event to forget, after being involved in several incidents, and getting a 16th place as a best result.
On the other hand Yann and Oskari didn’t manage to score in the opening round. Yann compromised his chances after a poor qualifying session(29th). He climbed back to 17th in race 1 nevertheless. He then came very close to the points in race 2, finishing the race on Vince’s bumper, in 11th. The Frenchman looked to be able to launch the point counter in race 3, but he got taken out at turn 1, tried to climb in midfield again, but eventually ended up in 11th once more. Meanwhile, Oskari had an event to forget, after being involved in several incidents, and getting a 16th place as a best result.
Round 2 - Kyoto National - 6th February
2 cars only this time, with Oskari Rinne starting a 2 rounds absence.
Vince and Yann ended up in 18th and 24th in qualifying, 0,32 and 0,41 second behind poleman Nick Catsburg. A tribute to the great standards in this league.
Vince and Yann ended up in 18th and 24th in qualifying, 0,32 and 0,41 second behind poleman Nick Catsburg. A tribute to the great standards in this league.
Both TEM cars bumpdrafted through the field in race 1, thanks to the long oval section. There was a small opportunity for points if things went perfectly. And they did. Yann managed to snatch 10th and got his first point of the season, 7 hundredths of a second in front of Vince.
With success ballast given to the top 6, race 2 gave an opportunity for them to get closer to the front. Yann and Vince unfortunately got separated early in the race and couldn’t make their bumpdrafting techniques paid off, but they nevertheless managed to gain a few more places, and finished in 6th and 9th place.
Yann on pole for race 3, thanks to a top 6 reversed grid. He managed to get a good start and led after lap 1. Sadly the Frenchman got bumpdraft-passed by Joe Holmes and Simon Cattell after a quick Safety Car period. He was set to defend his 3rd place against championship leader Jarno Lehikoinen, but lost it in the very last corner. 4th place, still an excellent result. Vince Verstreken was set for some big points aswell, but a lag hit from Phil Diaz ruined his chances.
Round 3 - Aston Cadet – 20th February
Round 3 would see the absence of Vince Verstreken. The Belgian driver sadly had to pull out of the championship aswell as taking an LFS break, for personal reasons. Nevertheless TEM would still have 2 cars on track, with new recruit David Jundt getting alongside Yann Laprevotte.
Yann made a career best in qualifying, after taking 6th on the grid. He would keep that place in race 1 after a lonely race. Race 2 would be more eventful, and Yann would finish it in 8th place after a tough fight with ineX’s Diaz and Cattell and Conquest’s Daszkiewicz. Reversed grid would put him in 3rd for race 3. Sadly he wouldn’t capitalise on this good starting position: an incident with Isaac Price and a trip in the grass would send him back to midfield after a few laps. He would climb back to 8th, before taking too much kerb at the last corner, rolling and ending on the roof at 3 laps to go, causing the race to end under Safety Car.
Meanwhile, David Jundt qualified 21st, timed out from race 1 and 2 and finished 13th in race 3.
Meanwhile, David Jundt qualified 21st, timed out from race 1 and 2 and finished 13th in race 3.
Round 4 - South City Long - 13th March
The South City round would see a come back from Oskari Rinne, who missed rounds 2 and 3. Thanks to a fantastic performance, the Finnish youngster would line-up on race 1’s grid on front row, alongside another returner, Driver of the Year 2008 and 2010 Rudy van Buren. Osku would get passed by Isaac Price at the start and Jurvansuu at lap 3, but would still finish in 4th, scoring his first points of the season. He would finish in 13th only in race 2 after being taken out by Joe Holmes. But this wasn’t enough for Osku to give up, and the young driver would achieve a magnificent climb from 13th to 4th in race 3, pulling a couple of interresting passes, including one in which he overtook both Isaac Price and teammate Yann Laprevotte at turn 1(see picture).
Yann Laprevotte, who would carry on with his nice series of points. 10th in race 1, 7th in race 2(missing the reversed grid by one place), and 7th again in race 3. Meanwhile, David Jundt struggled in midfield again, taking two 15th places and a 14th place.
Round 5 - Blackwood GP - 3rd April
The season ended on good old Blackwood GP, sadly with the poorest turn-up of the iTCC history(16 cars only). Osku didn’t turn up despite his great round 4, leaving Yann and David alone at TEM.
Yann qualified 12th. He gained some ground in the first few laps, but dropped to 10th due to overheated rear tyres. He then got up to 6th in race 2. He started 3rd in race 3 thanks to the reversed grid. He passed Koskinen after a few laps to take 2nd. Then at 5 laps to go, Yann passed leader Isaac Price on the backstraight. Sadly Isaac tried to dive at the next corner, tanging with Yann, sending him in the gravel and causing him to lose 5 places. Yann eventually finished 5th, and got 4th after a post race penalty for Phil Diaz. The Frenchman therefore equaled his career best, but this certainly didn’t make up the loss of a potential podium or win. A rather frustrating way to end a season.
Meanwhile, David Jundt qualified 12th, finished 11th in race 1, and got his third point of the season after snatching 10th in race 2. Sadly the Swiss driver ended his season on the roof, after being taken out from 10th by Oscar Hardwick.
In conclusion…
Tiger Express Motorsports finished the season in 4th at the teams’ championship with 97 points. Only ineX Racing, Sonicrealms Racing and My3id Gaming managed to get more than this.
TEM’s top driver at the drivers’ championship is Yann Laprevotte. The Frenchman finished 9th with 46 points. A huge step forward comparing to 2009 and 2010 seasons, in which he scored 1 point.
Oskari Rinne finished 18th with 16 points. Not bad considering that he made only 2 rounds, and scored in only 1 of them.
In 24th comes Vince Verstreken, with 6 points. A nice come back to Live For Speed for the Belgian who sadly had to pull out again from the sim after round 2, for personnal reasons.
David Jundt comes in 26th with 3 points. This is two more than in 2010, but the Swiss driver sadly missed some top 10 opportunities at the end of the season.
Nice reports Yann!
But....
Shoudl be Alexis "Kova." Georg
But....
Shoudl be Alexis "Kova." Georg
Great report mate.
Go, go TEM!
Go, go TEM!
An eleventh member has joined TEM’s ranks recently, in the person of Andris “andro.” Pavars, from Latvia.
Andris, 18, has been around for quite a while in the LFS community. He is the former founder and manager of international Latvia-based 4 Stroke Racing, which collapsed in early 2010. He has a rather big experience in league racing, including races in top-level competitions such as LFS Pro Series, GT Series, Apex Cup, iTCC, or IGTC. He is also the manager of the Baltic Cup, and the LFS Photomode Competition, in which he is also showing his pic editing skills – which you can have a small overview with this article’s picture. Also, for the record, Andris is one of the very few(and perhaps the only one at this moment) keyboard racers holding an LFS World Record.
This new recruit makes two Baltic racers in TEM’s roster, after long time Estonian member Karl “TypeRacing” Raudsepp.
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Tiger Express is involved in this Summer’s main LFS endurance league, the International GT Championship. For its fifth season, the league managed to attract a very appealing field, with former champions CoRe Racing, spdo Racing and Conquest Racing coming back, and defending against some of simracing’s finest teams(such as My3id Gaming, ineX Racing, Sonicrealms Racing or RaceStar ConverTTable), trying to gain their first crown. This season will be the shortest of the IGTC history, with 4 races of 4 hour each, all on open configuration tracks.
TEM has had a decent first season half. Round 1 at Kyoto International Reversed saw David Jundt and Yann Laprevotte finish in 13th out of 30 in their FXR. Round 2 was even better, with Karl Raudsepp and Yann making it to the top 10(9th/25) in the 4 wheel drive friendly Fern bay Classic(FE25), despite some heavy suspension damage in the third stint.
Also note the usage of special skins: a slightly tweaked Earthdreams based livery at round 1, which became quite an habit for the team in endurance Kyoto races, in tribute of their GTAL debuts back in late 2009. Round 2 saw a much darker livery, with Leucats on the sides of the car.
At the standings, TEM lies in 10th, and hope to stay in the top 10 until the end of the season, something the team has come so close to last year. Favorites ineX Racing tops the chart, after a win at round 1(despite a rather controversial last lap clash with My3id), and a second place behind ineX Racing 2 at round 2. Surprising FXR squad Sonicrealms Racing #2 is second, with My3id Gaming in third.
Standings | Round 1 and Round 2 pictures by Andris Pavars
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In other news, TEM will organise a special event in order to celebrate its second birthday. It will consist of 3 "fun" 15 minutes races, all held on Monday 22nd August. You can read more about it and register here.
Welcome to the team Andris! 
gratz Andris 
Gratz Andro, and Keep up the nice work guys
Grats on both
Gratz again andRo!
Great signing!
Thanks guys!
I'm glad I joined this team, I'm really enjoying my being in the team so far and not regretting one bit.
And nice write up, as usually, Yann!
I'm glad I joined this team, I'm really enjoying my being in the team so far and not regretting one bit.
And nice write up, as usually, Yann!
gratz my friend Andris!
Grats!
Gratz lads!
grats Andro
Tiger Express Motorsports
(194 posts, started )
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