More Female Racers by Thrustmaster Rockets is one of The Sim Grid’s most popular series, and that isn’t for no reason. The aim of More Female Racers (MFR) is exactly as the name may suggest – to get more Females into Sim Racing. Therefore, the series focuses on bringing a community of racers together, where Female drivers team up with another, more experienced, driver to hone their skills and catapult them further into the Sim Racing world. In this brand new series, we will follow one of the grid’s many new drivers across the season via interviews to show you exactly what the More Female Racers series can do for a rookie driver.
Who will we be following?
For this series, we will be following Eris Aphelion, a driver new to full-blown competitive Sim Racing that will be joining Yvonne van den Berg in the GTWR Female Racing #5 car. GTWR are one of the biggest and most successful Sim Racing teams that The Sim Grid has seen compete, as they embark on the More Female Racers by Thrustmaster Rockets season with six different teams across the Pro and Silver classes.
Pre-Race Preparation
As we prepared to dive into round one of More Female Racers Season 3 at Zolder, we had a chat with Eris to see how she was preparing to take the fight to her competitors, and what her expectations would be heading into her first race at The Sim Grid. But firstly, we asked her about her past experiences in Sim Racing.
Eris told us that she “started racing on Forza Motorsport 7, and being one of the few people that raced Forza on a wheel, I ended up gravitating towards ACC as I heard it had a fantastic physics engine for wheel users. After having been on ACC for around 2 weeks I signed up for my first league, where I managed to place within the top 10 in the AM class.” Although not having much experience with competitive racing on Assetto Corsa Competizione, Eris is already a proven racer, but preparing for one of the most competitive series that The Sim Grid has to offer does require a whole new level of dedication, especially considering the difficult Lamborghini Super Trofeo.
She said that “it has been interesting prepping for the championship as I’ve never driven the Super Trofeo before now, so having to get used to a new car while also trying to be quick was interesting. GTWR and Yvonne have been a massive help in my prep work for the season, with a lot of pointers on how to improve my driving and helping me learn tracks, and providing setup help as well.” Once again, the proven GTWR squad behind her will certainly be a big help in launching her MFR campaign, which is exactly what the championship is all about.
What can Eris take from Zolder?
As far as debuts go, Eris and her GTWR Female Racing #5 teammate Yvonne van den Berg had a really strong showing. Eris qualified extremely well, lining up fourth in class and just one second from class pole – a gap very well closeable across the season. However, qualifying wasn’t the only positive. Eris showed great determination to carry on from a near race-ending collision which resulted in immense damage. She told us, “The main things I learned were to push less on the opening lap and to also stay focused. One of the biggest things I seem to struggle with is staying focused so it’s going to be one of the first things I aim to work on going forward.”
The difficulties of an MFR debut
Zolder is not the easiest of circuits to start your More Female Racers journey at, however, Eris did a great job after a difficult opening to the race. “After managing to qualify fourth in class, my hopes for the race were high”. However, with expectation comes pressure, as Eris explains, “During pre-race setup and formation my nerves were building massively, my goal quickly shifted from placing no lower than I qualified, to survive turn 1.”
Sadly, lap one didn’t go to plan, as Eris explained. “I caught the grass, managed to get back on track pointing in the right direction and then caught another car which caused a chain reaction of events resulting in 3+ minutes of damage”. But, where such a setback would often send a team into retirement, she and GTWR teammate Yvonne pushed on. “After exiting the pits and handing the car to Yvonne, our combined goal then shifted to don’t finish last”. Eris and Yvonne managed to fulfil their goal, as they came home tenth out of twelve in class – a great comeback after being on the verge of retirement.
How will Monza compare?
Next up on the More Female Racers by Thrustmaster Rockets calendar is the infamous Temple of Speed. It is a less challenging track than Zolder but will still push More Female Racers rookies such as Eris to their limits. As we get further into the series, results will only improve as the field learns and strives forwards.
