Difference between revisions of "Ben Warren"

Revision as of 05:50, 24 June 2011

Ben Warren

Superleague Career
Nationality	British
Active Years
Team(s)	Constant Racing, ST Racing, Triple-Double Racing, Nijo Racing
Grand Prix	3
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First Grand Prix	Mexico 2010 Superleague
First Win	0
Last Win	0
Last Grand Prix	Monaco Grand Prix 2011 Superleague

Ben Warren is a British sim-racer from Oxfordshire, England, and is founder of the Triple-Double Racing team.

Ben is currently a test/reserve driver for Nijo Racing in the Superleague and previously competed for Constant Racing, ST Racing and Triple-Double Racing.

Beginnings

Warren began his online racing career in 2008, racing in some smaller leagues hosted at [1] using the 'F1 Challenge 99-02' game, along with current and former GPVWC drivers such as Tom Parker, Chris Williamson, David Jundt, Simon Cattell and Scott Bennett. Warren and co. then progressed to rFactor for future seasons, and still race using various different mods today.

Warren was born with a rare disability called Sacral Agenesis, meaning the bottom of Warren's spine did not form properly before birth, leaving him paralysed from the waist down, and is a full-time wheelchair user. Despite his disability, Warren uses a Thrustmaster RGT FFB Wheel, which has 4 paddles on the back of the wheel, 2 of which are progressive paddles which he uses for the throttle and brake, and uses the other 2 paddles for shifting gears. Despite his difficulties, Warren is a proud disabled sim-racer, and prides himself on being able to race his able-bodied counterparts to the best of his abilities.

GPVWC

Megane Winter Series 2009/10

Warren discovered the GPVWC league just before the beginning of their Renault Megane Winter Series in late 2009, and promptly entered a 3 car team called 'Triple Double Engineering', with himself driving alongside Tom Parker and Nikos Evangelidakis. Warren himself competed at Ahvenisto, Mo-I-Rana and Imola, and thoroughly enjoyed competing in the large, competitive fields, and enjoyed some good racing.

Masters Series 2010/11

Warren competed once again for Triple-Double Engineering in the GPVWC Masters Series in 2010 which used the BMW E90 mod, partnered again with Nikos Evangelidakis. Warren was only able to compete in the last 2 events at the A1-Ring, and Silverstone. At Round 10 (Feature race), Warren qualified 13th of the 18 car field, but made a great start, finding himself up to 7th place about halfway round Lap 1. However, he was hit from behind by Gavin Thomas, and dropped a few positions. After some great battles with Pavel Loknovski and Kieran Ryan, Warren found himself defending his 10th place position from David Jundt and Jason Muscat. Muscat found his way through, but he was able to fend off Jundt for a solid 11th place finish in his first Masters race. The Round 11 Sprint race was disastrous for Warren though, and after accidentally jumping the start and earning himself a drive-through penalty, some contact from other cars left his car heavily damaged, he was forced to call it a day.

Moving to the final 2 races of the season at Silverstone, Warren was disappointed with qualifying for the Round 12 Feature race, lining up 16th of the 19 runners, almost a second slower than his free practice time. Warren made a good start, but was forced to slam on the brakes hard to avoid a slow starting Mal McKee, sending Warren down to dead last, before making his way past both Draig Racing cars before the end of Lap 1. Warren had found his pace again during the race, and duly set about chasing down some of the cars ahead of him, making his way past teammate Evangelidakis, Luke McKee, and Adam Smith before the end of the race. However, he just missed out on points, finishing in 13th place, 3 seconds behind Gavin Thomas. Warren started 7th for the reversed grid Sprint race, but made a mediocre start, and found himself passed by a few cars during Lap 1. However, Warren again made his way past a few slower cars, and found himself running in 9th place, in good contention for a solid haul of points. With 2 laps to go, Warren was slowly closing in on Mark Fuller for 8th place, but also had the faster duo of Ojay Clark and Jason Muscat closing in on him. Warren was able to fend off the faster cars behind, and pounced on a second to last corner error from Fuller to take 8th place in the sprint, and his best finish in a GPVWC race to date.

Warren finished 23rd in the Drivers standings after competing in just 2 events, and Triple-Double Engineering finished 11th in the Constructors standings.

Masters Series 2011/12

Warren plans to contest a full programme of GPVWC Masters for the 2011/12 season, and will be competing for Nijo Racing alongside Chris Williamson and Pavel Loknovski.