Motorsport Manager - My short-lived 2027 season

 The off-season between 2026 and 2027 was big in my Motorsport Manager journey. Cindi Stefanowski was obviously not interested in signing for my team again. So I needed a new reserve driver. What shocked me was that Nassor Lorensen, who I had moved up to be a main driver after I demoted Stef late-season, had a patience level of 1. If I didn't offer him a dream deal, he wouldn't talk to me again. And that was my big mistake. I offered him a good amount, but not what he wanted, and so he left. Then I couldn't find a driver for the second car, 2025 champion Nick Chu being my car 1 driver. I was sure that Nassor would stay, and he didn't. So I had no backups and ended up signing a driver just before the first round. I really didn't want to run a pay driver of no talent in the second car next to a series champion. So I luckily found Josh Bourne at the eleventh hour. He was talented and while not huge in potential he would do a solid job for the team. The new face of Archer BMR was found. After that, I only had to find a better reserve driver and make sure that they were happy.

It was a solid start for the new look team. Josh impressed to qualify 10th at Black Sea. Nick was 14th. Now I didn't have huge expectations for Josh. Heck, if he stayed with the team I was happy. Nevertheless, I was excited by his solid stats and hoped that at some stage he would start to deliver points. In the race, which was dry, Nick moved up to 6th, and Josh dropped back to 12th. I think he was held up in the pits, so it might not have been all his fault.Anyway, the old veteran of Nick scored for us like always, and the young charger had an okay start to his career. The reserve driver was a pay driver with no talent, and who I had no interest in using in practice sessions. 

At Munich, Josh showed himself to be something of a qualifying star. He was 5th, ahead of Nick way down in 15th. Both drivers did a great job in the race, and Josh finished 7th, with Nick 10th. Again, Josh's race pace wasn't flash but I was happy that he was showing something from his talents. You can see in the screenshot above that his cornering was shocking, but for a 19 year old his improvement was rapid and so I was more than happy to wait patiently.

Anyway, when at Munich I rocked up with our new reserve driver, who I was extremely excited about! Joelle Mellor was even younger than Josh, but was ultra talented. My driver lineup was now complete. I had the old 29 year old legend Nick Chu (the champion!), with 19 year old cowboy Josh Bourne learning the ropes in car 2, and 5 star protege Joelle Mellor on a big money deal. Even if Nick peaked out and faded away, I'd just drop him into the reserve role and wave goodbye, then launch the new-look sexy Archer BMR team with their young chargers full of enthusiasm and talent!

Milan was nothing to get excited about. Nick qualified 14th, and Josh 16th. Nick was amazing as always, moving up to 5th in the race, and Josh shuffled up to 12th in another solid performance. I forgot to mention or even check, and you can see that the chairman's expectations dropped down after 2026 and now I could enjoy myself so long as we did better than 7th in the teams championship.

Tondela was fun. Qualifying sucked with Nick 16th and Josh 20th. But Josh showed the critics what he's made of in the race and finished 8th, with Nick just behind in 10th. 

Then we went to Ardennes. We lucked out again with half wet qualifying, putting Nick 2nd and Josh 3rd. It was a wet-dry-wet race, and of course Nick smashed them all and won the race. 🏆 Josh did a good job finishing 7th.

I also took a screenshot of the Asia Pacific Cup standings after Espirit GP (my old team) scored a double podium with Johnny Navarro (my old star) leading the way in 2nd.

We returned to Munich, where Josh started 16th and Nick 19th. Nick charged up to 7th, and Josh moved up to 15th. Archer faced critics from all angles, but I think that things were very positive for all involved.

Then we went to Vancouver, where it was all kinds of wet and dry. The half wet qualifying session saw us stick Nick in 2nd and Josh in 3rd again. Then it was a dry race and our pace was solid. Nick finished 4th and Josh 10th. Oh well. Can't say we're surprised. Then Nick got bumped up to 3rd and scored his second trophy of the year when one of the Team Kirov cars was penalised. 🏆

Then we went back to Tondela. Practice was fine, Josh being run on softs and I assume something similar for Nick, and then we went out for qualifying. The pictures shows that Nick Chu is in the car, but then the information on the bottom shows that L Holtz is in BOTH cars. I've never used that guy ever, and it's glitched out. I tried restarting the game, the computer, and I couldn't find anybody else with my problem online. So unfortunately I will have to start over again in Motorsport Manager. At least I think that's what I'll have to do. It has been almost a year since I played, after all.

Nevertheless, the Motorsport Manager experience perhaps puts me in good stead for F1 Manager 2022, which I have pre-ordered and expect to play heaps of when it comes out at the end of August.

Motorsport Manager - My 2026 season

 Okay, after winning the drivers championship in 2025, I was excited to go back to back, but I had to be reasonable. I was unfortunately just lucky to win. It probably wouldn't happen again, but I was of course going to try.

I don't know why we had a rough car, but Nick was 10th in pre-season testing and Stef was 19th. Apparently the engine wasn't delivering full power for her. 

At Black Sea, Nick qualified 8th and Stef 10th. This was a good start, as I feared the worst when I read those pre-season results. Nick squeezed a result out of the car, and Stef bombed with her shocking tyre wear. The 2025 and 2026 seasons made it clear to me that she was going to get replaced with Nassor if she didn't improve somehow. Nick was 9th and Stef 18th.The lowest target I had for teams results was 4th, and that made it a very concerning time.

At Munich, Stef qualified 17th and Nick 14th. It was an intermediate race, and we simply lacked race pace. Nick finished 9th, and Stef 13th. 

At Milan, we got lucky with a half wet qualifying session. Nick was 2nd and Stef 7th. It was a half wet race, and Nick crashed out on lap 6. I did my best and got Stef to finish 9th. 

At Tondela, Nick qualified 15th and Stef 19th. It was a shocking race. So bad that I only have a handful of screenshots. My rule about screenshots is that I only make them when my team or drivers are mentioned, and in this one I didn't bother to screenshot the results. Maybe there were mixed conditions or tyre failures, but Stef finished 16th and Nick 18th. The team chairman's happiness was now at 10%, compared to 32% after the previous race. I was so sure that I was going to lose my job and have to find another team. 

We went to Ardennes, where Nick qualified 5th in the dry. Stef started from 19th. By some GOD DAMNED MIRACLE, Nick won the race!!! 🏆 I have no idea how it happened, but he did it! Stef finished 16th of course... I was so relieved by Nick's win, and how the chairman's happiness was back out of the danger zone, at 32%.

We went back to Munich, and in a half wet qualifying session Nick was 7th and Stef 10th. Then in a dry-wet-dry race, Nick wins again!!! 🏆 You've always got to back yourself in strategy and go with what you know, but we went from heaven to hell and back again in the space of 8 months. Champions to losers to geniuses!!! The team shot from last in the teams championship to 4th in 2 races!!! Nick went from 9th to 3rd in the drivers championship, Stef's 7th place helping the team heaps even though she was now 19th in the championship. 

Stef rewarded our hard work with qualifying 4th at Vancouver. Nick was 17th. Stef's pace was insane and she scored her first podium in ages with 2nd place! 🏆 Nick crashed out on lap 5!

At Tondela 2, Stef led Nick in qualifying and they started 6th and 9th respectively. Then Stef pulled another one out of the hat and finished 3rd, 🏆 with Nick 10th! I must have stuffed up Nick's strategy because he wasn't doing that badly. I just pitted him 4 laps from the end, so maybe that did it. It's crazy how we went from nowhere to podiums every race!!!

I scored in another half wet qualifying session at Milan. Nick was 2nd and Stef 5th. The strategy was really weird in the race. Nick started on softs while most of the field started on inters. Nobody had to pit in the first lap to make up for any error. I pitted Nick and Stef after 3 laps as the track got wetter. I don't know what Stef's tyre strategy was, but Nick switched to inters at his first stop. We dropped a heap of positions after the 2nd lap and so pitted immediately. Then it was luck of the draw and luckily Nick came out 2nd! 🏆 Stef was 15th. Stef's pace gains after her last stop weren't good enough to get her in the top ten. The chairman's happiness was now at 100%.

At Black Sea 2, Nick qualified 11th and Stef 13th. Our advantage had disappeared. Our race pace was gone too. Nick finished 14th and Stef 18th.

Pheonix happened. Nick started 10th and Stef 13th. Somehow our race pace there wasn't bad. Nick finished 7th and Stef 12th. We focused on the medium tyres to aim for long race runs. 

At Doha, Nick started 9th and Stef 19th, and they finished 8th and 13th respectively. The team was now 7th in the standings.

Cape Town was us qualify well in another intermediate session. Nick was 5th and Stef 9th. Nick held position throughout the dry race, while Stef dropped out of the sky like a ton of bricks and finished 16th. Her tyre wear continued to be her biggest downfall, and it could end up being the thing that loses me my job.

So I dropped her to reserve driver and she hated me for it. Nassor was now in her seat, his incredible stats now hopefully going to push the team up to a good position. I ran he and Stef in Sydney practice for the boosts that her stats gave to car setups. Nick qualified 7th in the dry session, and Nassor was unfortunately 12th. They both ended up holding position, Nassor disappointing me a lot with those results. I thought that he was going to mix it with Nick, but apparently not. I even had to switch Nassor to softs from super softs to try and keep him in the hunt.

At Beijing, some clever strategy in another intermediate qualifying session put Nick in Pole Position, with Nassor 4th. I thought for sure Nassor would be mixing with Nick during the race. It was an intermediate race, and maybe there was a bad pit stop or I made a bad pit stop call for Nassor, but when Nick won the race Nassor finished 7th. 🏆 I couldn't believe it. It wasn't the first time that a reserve driver had disappointed me, but this one had won a race from Pole in his last race for my team.

At the final race in Dubai, Nick qualified 10th and Nassor a shocking 19th in dry conditions. Nick ran a strong race and finished 5th, with Nassor 14th. It could be that his Adaptability of 3 was the big issue, but isn't jumping into a car you aren't 100% confident in the ultimate adaptability challenge? He won a one-off race! It's beyond me.

So Nick finished the championship in 3rd, Stef in 14th, and Nassor way down in last place. The team finished in 5th place. Not terrible, but we were supposed to get 4th, so I was worried that it was over for me.

Motorsport Manager - My 2025 season

Nick Chu won the drivers championship in my 2025 season and I'm very proud of it. He did a great job and it didn't come easily. If our rivals were more consistent, they would have won.

Let's look at how it happened.

Pre-season testing went solidly, both cars in the top ten with Nick 5th and Stef 9th with an oil leak.

Round one was at Black Sea. It was a shocking start to the year with Nick 12th and Stef 19th in qualifying. The only change at the end of the race was Nick finished 15th.

We made a spectacular comeback to put Nick on Pole at Munich with Stef 2nd making it a front row lockout. It was a partly wet qualifying, but most of the field did do dry laps! Nearest rival was 3 seconds of Nick though. I started both drivers on medium tyres, Nick had an awful start to the race and dropped to last place. Stef stayed up around the front. Then it started to rain and I pitted them at the right time. Stef won with Nick 4th! 🏆 That put Stef 2nd in the standings, with Nick 8th. The team shot to the lead of the championship! I honestly didn't expect that to happen!

At Milan, Nick led Stef 8th and 9th in qualifying. Then we had really good race pace, and Nick finished 3rd and Stef 5th! 🏆 Nick shot to 2nd behind Stef in the drivers championship! We now led by 14 points in the teams championship! 

At Tondela, we had both cars qualify up the front again with Nick 5th and Stef 7th. They had great race pace, but I guess Stef's tyre wear ruined her race. Nick finished 2nd! 🏆 Stef was 11th. 

In between rounds, something happened to Nick and I was forced to sub Nassor Lorensen in. I was both excited to run Nassor but sad at the thought of risking the championship. Still, I needed Nick in peak physical condition. Ardennes was interesting for sure! Nassor led a front row lockout for the team! It was a partly wet qualifying session, but most people ran dry laps. Then would you freaking believe Nassor won the race!!! 🏆 Stef's tyre wear probably screwed her over as she finished 5th. Still, an amazing weekend for the team!It wasn't even a dry race! Nassor had got himself in the top ten of the championship, but of course it's always easy to do that at the start of the season. Still, 3 drivers in the top ten, and now we led the teams championship by 44 points! Weirdly, on a concerning front, Nassor's morale dropped after his domination as a reserve driver. Perhaps this was because of his status as a substitute and if I didn't sign him for next year or even immediately I was possibly going to lose him before the year was over!

 

Nick was back in the car for Munich 2. Stef was on Pole with Nick 3rd! This was fairly lucky due to clever strategy as half the field did dry laps in a half wet qualifying session. The race was dry and we had great race pace again! Nick led a double podium from 2nd with Stef 3rd! 🏆 We were now 1-2 in the championship with Nick in the lead, and leading the teams championships by 79 points!

At this point I should stress how we were not legitimately beating everyone, they seemed to be tripping over their own feet! At Guildford, Nick started from 13th and Stef 14th. Still, apparently we had insane race pace with Nick finishing 6th, Stef 16th. Nick continued to lead Stef 1-2 in the championship!

We returned to Tondela, Stef leading Nick 12th and 13th in qualifying. It was a tough race, Nick finished 9th and Stef 14th. Stef's tyre wear was really letting her down. Nick dropped to 2nd in the championship, Stef to 5th. Octane took a chunk out of our championship lead and we now led the teams championship by 49 points.

At the return to Milan, we had another half wet qualifying session and Nick got Pole Position with Stef 6th! The game also played it's hilarious social media glitches where it thinks that my reserve driver is going to win and always wins. We didn't have the race pace to win this one, and Nick stuffed up the first lap. Nick finished 7th and Stef 9th. Not a bad run. Nick dropped to 3rd in the championship, Stef now 6th. We retained our 49-point lead in the teams championship.

At Black Sea 2, we qualified 2nd and 3rd in another half wet session, Nick leading Stef. It was a wet to dry race. Stef's tyre wear again let her down as she finished 13th, but Nick finished 5th. Stef dropped to 8th in the drivers championship, Nick remaining in 3rd. Our teams championship lead was now 19 points. 

Pheonix wasn't all bad. Nick qualified 9th, but Stef was 19th. Nick finished 10th in a typically hot race in America, and god knows what happened to Stef but she was way down the order in 18th. Nick dropped to 4th in the championship, Stef still in 8th, and our teams points lead at 12.

At Doha, we didn't meet our sponsor objective to qualify 13th or higher. Nick started 15th and Stef 20th. But then Nick managed to fly up to 6th in the race, Stef 17th. Again it must be Stef's tyre wear versus Nick's consistency. Stef dropped to 11th in the standings, Nick in 4th. We still led the teams championship by 12 points.

Cape Town was another shocking qualifying session. We didn't meet the new sponsor objective of 10th or higher. Nick leading Stef 11th and 12th. Then the race was dry-wet-dry, and I think I screwed up the strategy. The pace was okay. Stef finished 11th, Nick 13th. I pitted Nick bang on time when it started to rain, Stef a lap earlier, and then put her on dries just before it was the right move, so Nick ended up in the lead of the race until a few laps from the end his tyres dropped off and Stef ended up passing him. Tough luck. Zampelli Engineering took the teams championship lead, us down to 2nd by 9 points. Stef's morale, which had dropped a lot over the last few races, shot back up to decent levels. 

Sydney was great. I don't know if I put a bunch of new parts on the cars, but suddenly we were as fast as anyone! Stef led Nick 3rd and 4th in an intermediate qualifying session. The media again thought Nassor was driving! The race started dry, the rain started around lap 2 or 3. At the second wet tyre pit stop, I might have timed it slightly off for Stef, so she ended up 4th while Nick did an amazing job to win the race! 🏆 He got a penalty for some reason. No idea what it would be as I always stay away from risky parts. Nick was now equal with Zampelli's Elisa Kahl in the championship lead. Stef was 11th, and we now led the teams championship by 9 points! Stef's morale was back to 100%.

At Beijing we had a shocking qualifying session. This was getting a little stressful for me when it came to the title fights. Even with a 100% setup on Nick's car, the best he could get was 16th in a dry session. Stef was 18th in qualifying. Stef had a bad time, while Nick was his consistent self and snagged 6th in the race. Stef was dead last. Nick was then bumped up to 5th after Ivanaldo Severo of Octane got a penalty. Nick was now the championship leader, Stef 11th. We led Zampelli by 7 points now! Stef's morale dropped down to 70-odd%. Elisa Kahl had a shocker and scored no points.

At Dubai, we weren't anything to write about in practice, and Nick qualified 9th. Stef was 17th. Our race pace was bad as well, Nick finished 12th and Stef 13th. We didn't get the sponsor objective for the race, and Nick didn't score any points. His 10 point lead was now... 4 POINTS!!! Stef dropped to 13th, but NICK CHU FOR ARCHER BMR WAS NOW THE 2025 EUROPEAN RACING SERIES CHAMPION!!! Zampelli beat us to the teams title by 26 points. 

I still can't believe it, and it was almost a year ago. I forgot how close the fight was. I remember not having full confidence in our competitiveness. Obviously there were great boosts for our team and driver stats, and I was wondering if we would move up to the Asia Pacific Cup, but that was only if we won the teams title. Still, the future looked so exciting! What a year!

Motorsport Manager - My 2024 season

Hey it's been a long time since I wrote about Motorsport Manager, so it's a walk down memory lane now.

Testing went brilliantly for 2024, with Stef in 5th and Nick 6th.

The first race was Black Sea. Nick started 7th and Stef 14th. I guess we didn't have great race pace, and Nick finished 8th with Stef 11th.

We started Munich from 11th with Nick and 16th with Stef. Nick finished 7th and Stef 14th. Looks like there were issues with Stef's strategy. I had to pit her early and maybe to get her back in the mix ran her long in the end. Rough one.

Next was Milan where Nick started 13th and Stef 14th. It was a dry-wet-dry race and we nailed the strategy. Nick was 2nd and Stef 4th! 🏆That put Nick up to 3rd in the championship, Stef in 8th.

Tondela was okay too. I bit of a personal favourite for me next to Milan. Nick started 4th and Stef 11th. They both dropped back slightly, Nick 6th and Stef 13th. I had a reserve driver called Andreana Foddi. Don't remember her, so it must have been a fill-in until I found somebody who I wanted to sign. 

At Ardennes I quickly shot my drivers out on dry tyres in an intermediate qualifying session to put them 4th and 5th led by Nick. We didn't have good race pace, in the dry or wet, and I probably made bad calls to pit lane. They finished 14th and 15th led by Stef.

We bounced back with Pole Position by Nick at Munich 2, with Stef 4th. Again it was a clever intermediate qualifying strategy by me. I stuffed up Nick's race strategy by pitting for dries just as it started to rain. Stef pitted one lap earlier than her rivals on mediums, and due to her sucking at tyre wear ended up behind them. Stef was 10th, Nick 11th.

At Guildford, Nick started from 10th and Stef 12th. We had good race pace and Nick led Stef 8th and 9th.

At Tondela 2, we qualified well with Stef 7th and Nick 8th. It was wet to dry race and we had good race pace. Stef finished 6th and Nick 9th. Nick was now 5th in the championship and Stef 10th. The team was 4th.

At Milan 2, Stef out-qualified Nick 12th and 13th. God knows what happened, but Nick won with the one stop strategy! Stef finished 12th. Nick up to 4th in the championship, Stef 10th and the team 4th still. We also now had a reserve driver in Nassor Lorensen. Boy do I remember that guy. Lots of potential with 4 stars outlined. 🏆

At Black Sea 2, Stef started from 7th after a wet qualifying. Nick was 15th. Stef's tyre wear was terrible, so I had to stop her twice. Soft-medium-soft. Nick ran softs all the way and finished 5th, Stef in 9th. Not a bad race.

I always really struggle at Pheonix. We started 14th and 17th led by Nick, and finished 11th and 19th also led by Nick.

Doha was okay. Stef started 11th and Nick 14th. Got both cars in the top ten with Nick 8th and Stef 10th.

We had really good setups at Cape Town. Stef qualified 3rd and Nick 8th, but the tyres weren't lasting. We ran super softs, when maybe we should have ran ultras to stay with the front runners. I probably thought harder tyres would be the smarter move and have us up the front at the end, but who knows. Stef finished 9th and Nick 11th.

We got another Pole Position at Sydney in a wet qualifying session. Would be nice to get Pole in a dry session. Stef got this one, Nick 2nd to make it a front row lockout for our team. I ran them on inters at the first opportunity and got lucky I guess. The dry was bad. Super softs didn't do it for us. Nick finished 10th and Stef 14th. I think both drivers had terrible starts so it was lucky either of them finished. 

Beijing is always an optimistic race for me. We didn't qualify that well, Stef 10th and Nick 15th. I always focus on race pace in practice, so we ended up doing well. Nick started on the softs, Stef on super softs. Nick finished 4th and Stef 7th. The team remained in 4th place in the championship.

Dubai was rough. Stef started 11th and Nick 14th. Stef finished 7th and Nick 12th. Very much an up and down season. 

I don't know what the end of season standings were, but obviously we didn't win. Funnily enough, Espirit GP (my old team) were going back into the World Championship for 2025.