Follow 5Star Motorsport here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/5starmotorsport/ | Twitter: https://twitter.com/5Motorsport
Website: http://5staresport.com
There’s no denying that experiencing something new has to be one of life’s greatest pleasures. Whether it be trying a new dish or even driving on a fresh circuit on iRacing, it’s hard to find a similar fluttering feeling in the stomach that witnessing something brand new in action can give you! Be it in any walk of life, just the sound of something new is enough to make you look forward to something if you are optimistic enough. As I’m pretty sure you, dear reader, will agree, what is the purpose of life without having anything to look forward to?
Personally, I believe that the people make any sport what it truly is. It is their passion, determination and spirit towards the sport that defines the sport on the broader scale. As with any organisation in the world, it isn’t the idea, but rather the people who put the idea to life who are the most important assets. When you club the euphoric feeling of people who you have seen make magic on the track before with the buzz of seeing them in action with a brand new approach and feel, you’ve got quite an exciting combination in hand!
The Formation Of 5Star Motorsport
It is that very special combination that the newly formed 5Star Motorsport possesses which has already left me with a big storyline to look out for in 2021 and beyond! The brainchild of ex-Heuskinkveld ace and Sim Racing veteran Maximilian Fritz, 5Star Motorsport was formed in the fall of 2020 with the intention of creating a fresh new racing environment that broadly revolves around the love for endurance racing and top level competition.
Needing a fresh start and a new environment after 3 great years of growth at Team Heusinkveld, Maximilian Fritz went on to pursue a long time goal of his; starting his own Sim Racing team! A Sim Racing veteran who started out in the year 2003, (the same year in which I was born!) Fritz began his competitive journey with 14 years of casual experience (and a ton of real life, competitive karting experience) in the books and its impact was evident!
3 years of rapid growth with the Heusinkveld squad followed and when I initially stepped into the vast world of Sim Racing in early 2020, I couldn’t hear a bad word about Maxmilian, who has carried his immense hunger for growth and injected the 5Star Team with a fresh new energy.
The 5Star Motorsport Spirit
For some Sim Racing teams, the end result is what matters the most; as long as the bottom line is positive, the boat sails just fine. While not right or wrong, this is one approach that some teams choose to take, with varying degrees of success. At 5Star Motorsport, the approach is somewhat different.
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From the very start, Fritz had identified the kind of atmosphere he wanted at his team; one where the willingness and commitment to grow is shared amongst everyone but without being bound by strict practices or training regimes. Maximilian believes that if the commitment is there, the drivers will be self motivated to improve and help out their teammates. It may be an approach that may or may not reward handsomely in the short run, but this is far from a red herring, should the start be rocky. Their eyes are firmly locked on the long term prize!
Being at a stage where very few, like the Max Benneckes and the Brian Lockwoods of the sim racing world have managed to turn Sim Racing into a full time profession, there is a strong mutual understanding at 5Star Motorsport that runs strongly through the veins of the team – not everyone may have the same amount of time to practice because of real world commitments; naturally, those who can do more should help the others grow. Recognizing this and working towards it is a true mark of a strong organisation.
The people involved and the grand debut!
Being a natural leader, even when not having the official title, Fritz understood the importance of having the right kind of people from a very early stage. Before their debut, the impressive roster already boasts the likes of David Gaspers (9.1k iRating), Jelle Wolters (6.1k), Max Reidmuller (6k), Jason Cooper (6k), Rune Janssens (5.7k), Maximilian Fritz (4.7k), Jörn von Wendt (4.1k), Bobby Thompson (2.5k), Jon Ford (2.4k) and Casper De Kort (4.7k) and Julian Bell (2.7k), the pair who many would recognise as being the masterful administers of the diversified IVRA League, whose races I am privileged to commentate on!
Apart from racing with the same spirit, the entire team shares a special love for the first major endurance racing event on the motorsport calendar, the Daytona 24 hours! That is exactly where the team will be making their major competition debut, with the GT3 squad running the new Huracan GT3 Evo likely to qualify at the top of the second split in the VCO Daytona 24 Hours, if not making it into the first split on debut! An LMP2 squad is also in the mix, but the GT3s remain as the spearheads of the team for now.
The Long Term Aims
After hopefully starting with a bang at the VCO Daytona 24 Hours, Fritz and 5Star Motorsport intend to make their presence felt in top line iRacing Endurance Championships like the IVRA Endurance & Clubsport series, the VCO-NEO 24h eSports Series and the SportsCar Open. With the privilege of commentating on the first two and being an ardent follower of the latter, I will be tracking the growth of the 5Star Motorsport Team throughout 2021 and beyond.
That isn’t it for 5Star Motorsport though; the team recognizes the rate of change in Sim Racing and are keen on participating in newly emerged leagues along with established favourites too! For instance, the BMW Sim Racing GT Cup and the popular dNLS (the sim racing version of the iconic Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie are next on the horizon in the short run. As new championships pop up, you can expect to see the 5Star brand in the thick of it.
While their name may have originated from a designer in Fritz’s home town, it certainly fits the bill on the kind of performances to expect from the team.
Racing with the motto of ‘Keep your head down. Keep out of trouble. Survive the start and attack when the time is right. The race isn’t won at the first corner.’, I am very intrigued to see how the 5Star Motorsport squad performs in their debut season and believe me, if you like to see teams grow and advance from scratch and how people perform under a fresh environment, you should be too!
Follow 5Star Motorsport here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/5starmotorsport/ | Twitter: https://twitter.com/5Motorsport
Website: http://5staresport.com/
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