Everyone here from Last Lap Motorsports would like to wish you, our fellow drivers, teams and event organisers a Very Happy Christmas! There would be no racing without you guys here!

2012 Wrap Up

2012 was an interesting year for LLM drivers, the team developed from a back marker more towards a mid field component and we were even seen venturing into the top 5 at times, most recently as GT1 World Series.

Some of the championships which we participated in were the Lithuanian Championship, World TBO Championship, GT2 World Series, GT1 World Series, Live 4 Slicks, Open Wheel Racing League, as well as GT3 Touring Car Cup. We also participated in LFSCart, LFSCart Light, and MiniFBM.

This league was a training ground for us, it was the beginning of an effort to push for more than simply making the grid. This saw the introduction of new driver Mariusz Jachna to share the cockpit with Ray Kingsbury. As the season closed the duo finished the season in 7th position overall, only 57 points out of first place. The best finishing result was 5th place.

These leagues comprised NDR's open wheel schedule. In MiniFBM the LLM cars only participated in 2 rounds due to scheduling conflicts, however an interesting race at the drag strip proved that LLM cars had the ability to keep with the pacier customers.
In LFSCart, Nathan Lamothe took 5th in the overal driver championship with Ray in 11th after missing 3 rounds at the beginning of the season. LLM managed to beat ineX racing to take 2nd in the team championships. In the Rookie Cup, Ray Kingsbury took 3rd, Damian Eikelkamp 5th, Matt Kingsbury 7th, and Remco Majoor took 10th of 37 rookies.
In LFSCart Light, the team only ventured in 2 events. However at Fernbay Ray had found himself in a podium position due to tire strategy before being punted off on the final yellow flag restart.

Our first adventure in a real competitive GT league, in the middle of the season drivers Damian Eikelkamp and Remco Majoor joined our forces from rival team SGP. Highlights of the season included Nathan and Matt's podium run in the amateur class at Blackwood GP Reversed. Another was Pawel's magical stint at South City in which he drove his car to 7th overall only to be involved in carnage after Anton Moroz took the car over. In the end the AM car took 11th overall 1 point from 10th and the PRO car took 15th overall. In the PRO Class, 5th place was achieved and the same occured in the AM class.

WTBOC was a competitive touring car league, the only full time LLM driver to compete was Mindaugas Stankus. The Lithuanian driver claimed 1 podium enroute to a 4th place overall finish in the championship. He also led the team to a 4th place finish in the team championship. The next place for an LLM driver was 24th, and from there the remainder of drivers did a maximum of 2 rounds and left it to Stankus to secure glory.

The first rounds of the new series were busy, however attendance quickly dropped off. Ray did not attend the first 2 races, but rather manned the stream but when it became clear that people were not satisfied with the stream he jumped in a race car. Ray took 3rd in the drivers championship after 3 podium finishes, 2 of which were victories at the last round and 1 of which was a 2nd place finish over Dennis Lind who apologetically returned the spot after contact sent Ray off track. Last Lap Motorsports also took 1st in the team championship with the help of Andrius Sakalas, Cem Dalda, and William Fernandes.

LLM has quite a few Lithuanian drivers, however only one has the caliper to be able to win the LFS Lithuanian Championship. Mindaugas Stankus captured the series title by 3 points over J.Bakšys. Only 15 drivers participated in the series and it was Stankus' consistent driving that put him on the top of the charts.

OWRL seems to be the new found home for Dutch LLM drivers Remco Majoor and Damian Eikelkamp who find the open wheel racing much more appealing. Remco demonstrated his skill in the cars grabbing a couple of 2nd place finishes behind S.Reigler of Genuine Racing. Remco ended up finishing the season in only 10th place, however he looks to improve that next season.

Though only 2 rounds have gone by, LLM has shown pace yet been unable to capitalize on it. Cem Dalda and Mindaugas Stankus battled diversity in round 1 at Blackwood to bring their FXR to 5th place overall, and absolutely pulverizing all other Amateur class cars. However the momentum soon ended as Mindaugas caught a curb and landed on his roof. The same occured at Fernbay. The team's XRR was filled with absolute GT Amateurs and was a back marker at Blackwood, yet somehow managed a mid table finish. The XRR did not make it through prequalifying at Fernbay. The team's Pro car, an FZR piloted by Nathan Lamothe and our 2 Polish men also claimed a mid table finish at Blackwood. It also had good pace at Fernbay but a driver swap mistake cost the team a lot of time and the team was forced to settle for a rear end finish at Fernbay.

Yesterday a multiclass race at FE3 between the FBM and STD class occured. Remco Majoor took 2nd place in the FBM class while Mindaugas Stankus took 5th in the STD class. Other LLM drivers participated in the FBM class but did not have much luck on securing a good position as they found lapping slower traffic too much of a challenge. Damian Eikelkamp secured a solid 5th position however, and Matt Kingsbury a 6th position despite only 8 FBM's finishing.
We look forward to 2013!

New Year, New Signings

Well, not all new. Last Lap Motorsports is proud to announce the arrival of 2 developmental drivers as well as an old friend. These new drivers should add diversity to the LLM roster and hopefully a positive impact on the track.

The first driver that we will welcome is our good friend Elon Berisha. Elon finally stopped eating Mouseman's shorts and decided he would come back to LFS. Elon has purchased himself a Fanatec Forza CSR Elite wheel and he hopes to be back in the saddle as soon as possible. We welcome Elon back to LLM as he returns to LFS. Look forward to seeing the 16 year old Danish driver behind the wheel of the Revolutionary Racing car in GT3 Touring Car Cup, as well as a hopeful appearance in GT1 World Series.

The second driver we will introduce is Gerben Bol. Gerben is a 19 year old Dutch, ex-drifter who has decided to take an endeavor into the racing world. Gerben joins LLM with the hope of cultivating his drifting talents into speed on the race track. In his spare time Gerben enjoys designing websites and he also is one of the masterminds behind the Fanaleds for Fanatec wheels. We look forward to seeing Gerben on track with Elon in GT3.

The final driver we will announce today is Conor Sibley. Conor is a teenager from England who races karts in real life. Conor is new to the sim racing scene but hopes to convert his real life talent into practice in sim racing. Conor used to play the Grand Prix management game, iGP along side Ray and Matt and that is how he became acquainted with the team. Having known Conor for about a year or so, we are confident that his personality will only be beneficial for our team. We hope to see Sibles racing in GT3 with Elon and Gerben.

Last Lap Motorsports Dominates GT1-AM Class

Last Saturday Last Lap Motorsports drivers took to the track in high ambitions. Following Friday's qualifying session we saw Last Lap Motorsports' #57 on the AM Class pole and 8th overall. The #67 FXR and #05 FZR started nearer to the the rear of the grid, but were atleast eligible to participate in the race. Quickly it became clear that not only was a class win on the agenda, but also a good overall performance too.

Remco Majoor piloted the #57 XRR the first hour and navigated his way through the wrecks to maintain his front of the grid position. Nathan Lamothe started for the #05 and pushed through the accidents to gain a few positions, but ultimately was involved in a few incidents. The FXR piloted by Andrius Sakalas made a few mistakes but was recovering wonderfully, battling with our FZR. All of our cars successfuly completed the first stint without any punctures.

The second hour was an interesting one. The #57 put qualifying driver Tuomo Jussila into the car, and though he punctured his tire he managed to open up a pretty solid gap over other competitors. The FZR was plagued throughout the stint by an accident caused by Ray which caused the car to have no left rear tyre grip. The damage was repaired at the next pit stop, however the pace was far enough off that the team was lapped. Apologies are extended to the 69 car of Hellenic Racing team for the incident. The FXR made a nice charge and moved close to the front of the AM class.

The third hour saw Jussila in the car again, however he had not lost much time yet again and was saved by a very late 2nd hour safety car until he punctured again. Again, not much time lost due to the clean race we had been running. Nathan returned to the cockpit of the FZR and managed to gain 1 lap back, but unfortunately he walled the car causing significant damage and forcing Ray into the cockpit a half hour earlier than expected. The FXR charged into the AM class lead at one point, before dropping back down to 2nd in AM class behind our XRR yet again.

Ray would finish the rest of the race for the FZR, but unfortunately he had less than stellar run due to various issues, luckily not interfering with any other competitors and managing a personal best of 1:30.56 on race trim. The FXR saw Elon Berisha in the the car after Mindaugas Rolius ran an almost flawless group of stints. The XRR saw Remco Majoor back in the car, and this time out he was ready for his double stint.

Remco absolutely flew around the course and was able to lap the entire AM class field, and push into 9th place overall. Elon Berisha unfortunately made a minor mistake, however here at Westhill a minor mistake can lead to major consequences. The high speeds carried Elon off track and would eventually cost the FXR 2nd in the AM class, however Elon finished his first competitive league race out with consistency and it was nice to have him back behind the wheel. Remco finished his stint just barely ahead of Niki Dakovic of Ixion Simsports after he overtook Dakovic. Dakovic then tried to battle back but unfortunately was impeded by the rForce FZR which was currently in last place.

Congratulations to Tuomo Jussila and Remco Majoor on their first major victory, though it may only be the amateur class. It is the team's first New Dimension Racing GT victory as well. Congrats to Conquest and Stig Breeding Program who accompanied us on the podium.

We would like to thank everyone for the clean race,
Last Lap Motorsports