Difference between revisions of "Mark Stanton"

Revision as of 10:38, 25 March 2012

Mark Stanton

Nationality	British
Superleague Career
Active Years	2009-2012
Team(s)	Constant Racing R4 Engineering Evans Blue Racing
Grand Prix	50
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	2
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	1
First Grand Prix	2009 Australian Grand Prix
Supercup Career
Active Years	2010-2011
Team(s)	Red 5 Racing Constant Racing
Grand Prix	10
Championships	0
Wins	1
Podium finishes	3
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First Grand Prix	2010 Supercup Chinese Grand Prix

Mark Stanton (born 6 July 1989) is an English sim-racing driver. Stanton has competed in the GPVWC since 2009 and is Co-owner and Lead driver for Constant Racing. Stanton has competed in the GPVWC Superleague achieving two podium finishes and one fastest lap, the Supercup series, and both sub series the Megane Trophy and Masters Series.

Starting Out

Stanton had an interest in motorsports from a young age and began pc based sim racing on the Codemasters BTCC game TOCA Touring Cars with his older brother David Stanton. Stanton would drive using the keyboard until in 1997 when he began to race using the Microsoft ForceFeedback wheel on the highly realistic, critically acclaimed Grand Prix Legends, a simulator based on the 1967 Formula 1 season.

Over the years he moved onto console based simulators such as Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsports, the former of which he played upon first meeting his friend and fellow Constant Racing Co-owner Joe Consiglio in 2006. Stanton lost the races.

Some of Stanton's first experiences of online, pc based sim racing was on the independantly developed Live For Speed, where he focused more on drifting intead of circuit racing.

GPVWC Superleague

2009

Stanton driving the CL-SL09 during Constant Racing debut at the 2009 French Grand Prix.

In late 2008, Stanton was introduced to GPVWC and rFactor by Consiglio, this lead to Stanton starting his online sim racing career. After a preseason test shortly before the start of the 2009 Superleague season, Stanton acquired a test driver position at Evans Blue Racing, standing in for Jyri Lylykorpi.

At his first race in the 2009 Australian Grand Prix Stanton showed a promising start, working his way up to 6th place, before a heavy crash at turns 10 and 11. At the following race however, he redeemed himself with a podium finish, taking 3rd place behind Joe Consiglio (Winner) and Mark Wicks (2nd). For the third race in Suzuka, Japan, Lylykorpi had returned and Stanton was left without his seat, but with a desire to race. He spoke to league Administrator William Ponissi and it was agreed that Stanton could race in the clearly abscent R4 Engineering car.

Following Suzuka, the R4 Engineering team was withdrawn from the series, which opened the doors for Stanton and Consiglio to create Constant Racing, an idea they had discussed months earlier. The new team acquired R4's Renault engines, Stanton designed the striking red and white livery and, joined by American Ryan McConkey, they debuted at the French Grand Prix in Charade.

Stanton competed in 9 races for his new team in the 2009, handing his seat to Italian driver William Ponissi at the Canadian Grand Prix.

2010

Official CR-SL10 Release image.

Stanton returned in the 2010 season with the new CR-SL10, retaining the Renault engine for a second year. After a rough start to the season, filled with Accidents, Disconnections and computer issues, Stanton went on to achieve 10th in the final Drivers standings. Stanton was joined for the entire season by team-mate and league administrator William Ponissi and the pair competed for points throughout the season, with Ponissi finishing only a handful of points behind Stanton. During the 2010 season, Stanton invested in a Logitech G25 steering wheel, which he has set to an unusually high 720 degrees of rotation.

Leading up to the season start, Stanton spent a lot of time designing the new livery. The final design was adapted through a number of changes before all 3 members of the team (Stanton, Ponissi and Consiglio) agreed that it was finished. Stanton has also designed liveries, logo's and helmets for a many teams and drivers in the league, most notably Red Archer, whose car Stanton has designed both years since they were founded in 2010.

The 2010 season also saw Stanton drive a few select races in the Supercup series, as well as the Masters touring car series in which he regularly fought for podium positions along side his brother in the second Constant Racing BMW 320i

2011

Official CR-SL11 Release image.

The 2011 Superleague season was a tough year for Stanton due to increased pace from the competition, lacking development work, unstable line up and general bad luck. Early season results showed promise after Stanton missed out on pole position at the Chinese Grand Prix by just 0.039 seconds to Jason Muscat. Stanton eventually finished fifth in the race, which stood as his best qualifying and race result of the season, while also achieving his first Grand Prix Fastest Lap.

After a steady string of points, Stanton began to suffer from disconnections and accidents, and in the second half of the year he was plagued by 5 retirements in 6 races in a mix of disconnects, accidents and a gearbox failure. These retirements included Canada and Italy, where Stanton has had good results in races and tests in the past (3rd place in 2010 Canadian Grand Prix, Top 5 in 2 Monza test sessions).

Stanton scored some valuable points in the last quarter of the season, bringing his final points position to 12th with 32 points. Although this is his worst points finishing position, he equaled his most points in a season.

Master Series

2009

During the summer break in 2009, the Masters Series was introduced. This side series featured BMW 320i touring cars and proved popular among drivers for it's close racing and mixed results due to it's 2 race, reversed starting grid format. Stanton Entered Constant Racing into the series and was joined by Bayes and co-owner Consiglio, who at the time was unsure about racing touring cars. Bayes stayed with the team until Round 5, when he left the series. He was replaced by Stanton's brother David. The team ultimately finished 2nd in the Constructors championship behind the dominant MMC Racing. Stanton finished 5th in the drivers championship and was the only driver to compete in all 18 races.

Stanton is the only driver to have competed in every Masters race.

Racing Career Results

Superleague

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they completed over 75% of the race distance.

Supercup

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they completed over 75% of the race distance.