The 2nd season of GhostSpeed Racing Team, at the Formula SimRacing World Championship, started with higher hopes for the team than in 2007. Of course that was due to the latest team addition, of none less than Bruno Marques itself. That boosted team’s hopes for the 2008 season, but more team members reinforced the team task in this championship. Some old faces remained, some news faces jumped on board. But regardless of it, at the final, glory was ours. The 2008 World Championship titles are home.
Line up wise, things started at the World Championship with a mix of continuity and experience. Talent wasn’t a problem. From 2007, Stephane Rouault would remain at the team, but would get a new team partner. For the 2008 challenge, a top gun called Bruno Marques would put everyone else eyes on GhostSpeed cars. In the Ace Series, team veteran João Barbosa would be driving again, and would be partnered by late 2007 season rising star, Rickard Hellsten. Later on the season, on a not previously planned participation, GhostSpeed would join the World Series Pro, with a Finn at the wheel. Juhani Ahlman would be the team only driver at the Pro series.
Although only at the World Championship the gold was conquered, at the World Series participations, GhostSpeed Racing Team was a constant presence at the front, and final respectable positions were reached.
The World Championship campaign would start with a blast, and on a not predicted form, Bruno Marques clinched four wins out of four possible races. The Portuguese ace driver showed everyone he wasn’t there just to cruise around. The third World Championship was his goal. Stephane would show that he wasn’t there just to be the 2nd driver, and proved that he could be a key team player on the WC bid. The Dutch driver started the season with a shocking pole position at the opening round, and by the third round, at the Bahrain GP, he was for the first time on a podium of the World Championship.
A dream start, but things soon would change a bit, and the task got harder as the season unfolded. After four wins, the team endured no less than seven races without winning a race, or if one prefers, almost five months without climbing up to the top spot of the podium. With some absences, and lack of personal time, championship leader Bruno Marques had a bad time, and some even believed his 2008 chances were over. At this period, Rouault and sometimes Hellsten would save the team challenge. Rouault would get a podium at the Canadian GP, while Bruno would get one at the British GP. Alongside this, a couple of top 5 positions traveled to the team pocket. A shock after the perfect start, but things would get back on trail for the last part of the season.
At this period, a major change happened at the team line up, as Stephane Rouault would step down of the World Championship, and would be replaced by Rickard Hellsten. The Swedish driver would be doing a major effort, as alongside his new WC fulltime seat, he would remain racing at the World Series Ace.
Things started improving when at the Hungarian GP, the team could have got a 1-2 finish, but got nothing at the end… First Bruno and after Rickard would have had to withdraw from the race, both while leading. It would be already at the European GP, at Valencia, that the final piece was placed, and GhostSpeed boosted of for another breaking win streak. From Valencia to the Japanese Grand Prix, Bruno Marques would win five out of six races, and finally claim his third World Championship. Like stated before, he’s not only in the history of the Championship, but he is himself the history of it. While racing alongside Mr. Alien, Rickard Hellsten would not be sleeping and would be conquering valuable points for the team. Points that where crucial for GhostSpeed, that this way could also be crowned Constructors World Champions. The Swede driver would have his season highlight at the Japanese GP, at the Fuji Speedway, where he got his first ever World Championship podium. On a single season, three different drivers managed to get it!
For Rickard, classed as one of the year favorites, his season would be challenged on the top three positions, but some misfortunes and bad results would put to an halt his hopes. Wins at the Spanish, Canadian and Chinese Grand Pix would be his highlights. He also sealed a new record for the team, with the most wins at the Ace series in one single season. Alongside some poles and regular podiums, he was one of the 2008 stars, and a driver to look in the future at the World Championship. For Joao Barbosa, the Mr. Regularity, top 10 would be his home for the season, as 7 out of 14 races disputed, he finished among the ten best drivers. That doesn’t mean tough he hadn’t his glory moments, as he alongside other drivers, gave the Ace series some of the best racing moments of the year, like at the Italian Grand Prix.
To finish, and very worthy mention to our latest recruit, Juhani Ahlman, who after joining the team at half season, showed with no margins for doubts, that he fully deserved the bet GhostSpeed took on him. Another rising star for the future. The Finn driver joined GhostSpeed at the British GP, and since then placed the team regularly on the top of the standings. Racing under GhostSpeed cars, he got four podiums, but more important than that, he become the 2008 World Series Pro Vice Champion.
With all this results, GhostSpeed Racing Team is now, regardless of its future and results, already at the history of Formula SimRacing, and joins a small elite of teams who managed to do it.
Team Manager and Owner, Pedro Rodrigues ,
“After all the effort and investment we putted in place for this season, it’s really awesome to achieve all the goals we have set for this season and since we entered the FSR World Championship! It was for this we worked for. Our drivers did a great job and I want to congratulate all of them: Bruno, Rickard and Stephane and also our WS drivers that helped too.
Of course, Bruno gave the main contribution to this success and so a special thanks and congratulation to the 3-time FSR World Champion! Incredible performances all these years. Well deserved!
Go! Go! GhostSpeed!"
Bruno Marques,
"We did it! Believe it or not, when I started back in 2005 with GhostSpeed Racing we told each others that someday we would win Formula SimRacing World Championship together, a Portuguese driver with a Portuguese team. At that time it seemed no more than a dream that we could only see far away, now it’s a reality!
My season started very well, having 4 wins in a row at the 4 first races of the season, but then everything started to go all wrong, constant disconnections that played agaisnt me, and not only I started to lose motivation, as any time I tried to bounce back, I would have more problems. Fortunately I got it right from Valencia, managing to win 5 consecutive races until Fuji when I grabbed the title! It couldn’t end better for us all when Ghostspeed Racing also got the Constructors Championship. Not quite as a dream season as I had last season with Diamond but a memorable one as well. Thank you GhostSpeed. A special thanks to Stephane Rouault, this guy here might not have driven all season, might not be the quickest team mate I can get but he’s certainly the nicest of team mates I could get. Also congratulations to our Ace team, Rickard faced an incredible ammount of bad luck all season, but I believe next season he is ready. Also João, the eternal fighter of the midfield, never seen as much motivation in one guy as I found in him. And last .. but not least Pedro and Vitor, both hard workers on the making of GhostSpeed, the guys that made this all happen in the first place, the guys that kept pushing the team when it got in trouble mid season, motivation wise, a huge…Thank you!"
Stephane Rouault,
"The season has been marked with a lot of ups and downs, both in performance and motivation. At the beginning of the season motivation was high, teamwork was great, Bruno won 4 races in a row (collected a podium myself). But after that motivation began to sink. It was probably because of all the other stuff that was going on in my life. I must say that eventhough motivation was sometimes low, the teamwork with Bruno was always nice. He told me he didn’t like practicing online, but later on in the season, that’s all we ever did; practice online. I’ve learned a lot from and about Bruno; this dude has amazing skill, but stays modest all the same. He’s a well deserved 3 times world champion.
The 3 podiums I’ve scored this season, is a better performance than I had hoped for at the beginning of the season.
I’ve had a lot of fun this season, and am very proud to be part (have been part) of this team, and of winning the championship with the constructors!!
About next season; I think Rickard will do really well next season. I hope he will focus on World Championship alone, and tries to rule out all the mechanical failures he has had this season. So go for the championship Rick, YOU CAN DO IT!"
Rickard Hellsten,
"First of all, I whould like to thank Bruno for everything this year! I have learned alot, and without you i had probably not been so compatitive as i have been this season! Thx Mr. 3 Time Word Champion.
My season have been very much up and down. It started with a disaster, first 3 races i had tecnical problems.. With a P5 at Sepang in WC as top! Race 4 at Barcelona was a big relieve, finaly get my first win and the season started from 0 again… But things didn`t work out as planed, engine faliures, brake faliures almost every race.. When i finaly had all those failures sorted out, things started to look pretty good. It was late in the season, but i set new goals that were possible to get.. Then the highlight of the season came in Fuji at the Word Championship with a P3 finish!
Thanks to GhostSpeed for the opportunity to race in this great team!
Thanks to All team members and Pedro Rodrigues for the support during the whole season! Lets hope for a Great 2009!"
João Barbosa,
"Great Season. First of all i want to thanks Bruno. I think me and everyone in the team learned a lot with him, and it is sad that he is going away. But 3 times world champion wow…
The start of the season wasn´t so good for me, i toke some time to understand the mod. The final of the season was better. P7 in the standings was better than i expected, my objective was a P10, so nice one. Had some nice fights and lots of fun. My first complete season in FSR and i enjoy it. Still don´t know if i will do it again next year, we will see. You guys make a great team. I´m proud to be part of this FSR Team.
Congratulations to Bruno for another championship and also the great season for Rick and Juhani…and Step i´m sure you will come back stronger next year."
1. Bruno Marques – 112
…
10. Rickard Hellsten – 27
12. Stephane Rouault – 26
::World Championship Team Standings:
1. GhostSpeed Racing Team – 160
::World Series Ace Driver Standings:
5. Rickard Hellsten – 180
7. Joao Barbosa – 93
::World Series Ace Team Standings:
4. GhostSpeed Racing Team – 273
27. GS Racing – 4
::World Series Pro Driver Standings:
2. Juhani Ahlman – 236
::World Series Pro Team Standings:
8. GhostSpeed Racing Team – 116
2008 Season Statistics:
Races – 53
Started races – 82
Wins – 12
Podiums – 26
Pole Positions – 8
Total laps – 3835
Lead Laps – 634
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