Difference between revisions of "James Kirk"

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===2012===
 
===2012===
  
Debuting alongside Liam Jenkins for the second season of the RaceDepartment Open Wheel Championship, Kirk found the experience useful but yearned for lead commentary duties. [[GPVWC]] offered that chance and gave Kirk the helm of two series for the 2013 season. He would helm the first ever broadcast season of [[World GT]] with [[Mike Pitman]] alongside him and would take over from [[Simon Smith]] to lead the [[2013 World Sport Series season]] with [[Bradley Vanian]] as co-commentator. He would also be called upon as a reserve commentator if [[Nick Rowland]] could not make a [[Supercup]] round.  
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Debuting alongside Liam Jenkins for the second season of the RaceDepartment Open Wheel Championship, Kirk found the experience useful but yearned for lead commentary duties. [[GPVWC]] offered that chance and gave Kirk the helm of two series for the 2013 season. He would helm the first ever broadcast season of [[Portal:World GT|World GT]] with [[Mike Pitman]] alongside him and would take over from [[Simon Smith]] to lead the [[2013 World Sport Series season]] with [[Bradley Vanian]] as co-commentator. He would also be called upon as a reserve commentator if [[Nick Rowland]] could not make a [[Supercup]] round.
  
 
===2013===
 
===2013===

Revision as of 00:18, 17 September 2014

England James Kirk
James Kirk helmet2014.png
Nationality England English
Year Joined 2013
First Race 2013 Challenge Turkish Grand Prix
Series Entered Formula Challenge, International Touring Cup
Current Team(s) Wauters Automotive
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podiums 2
Poles 1
Fastest Laps 0


James Kirk is a British simulation racing driver and commentator from England currently racing for Wauters Automotive. He is also the owner of the Enterprise GP outfit and co-founded TheSixthAxis Racing. Though half-Welsh he chooses to race under an English licence as he was both born and bred in the country.

Kirk is one of few drivers to use a DualShock 3 controller to race with. Though many have predicted what great feats the Brit could achieve with a wheel, Kirk stubbornly sticks with his controller citing money, his driving style and "the challenge" as the main reasons why he does not 'upgrade'.

Pre-GPVWC

2012-13

Gentlemen's Racing Club

Kirk began in simracing career at the (now defunct) Gentlemen's Racing Club. Taking part in the final round of the eleventh season of its touring car championship, Kirk's debut at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza with the team he co-founded (TheSixthAxis Racing) showed potential but also rookie errors which led to minor points scores.

Season 12 of the GRCTCC would prove to be a season of initial highs but big lows for Kirk. Taking part in Division 2 of the field, at the season opener at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca he secured Division pole position and took a Division podium and win to boot. However, from there on in a plethora of retirements and incidents marred the season with Kirk even electing to sit out of the crucial triple points round at Bahrain International Circuit. Things went from bad to worse for Kirk as in the aftermath of another disastrous round at Autopolis Circuit, a lengthy ban was imposed on the Brit following abuse against competitor, Ihab Abbas.

Forced to sit out of the seasonal Trophy Race and the first half of the Season 14 pre-season, Kirk returned for a second consecutive season with TheSixthAxis Racing; though this time in Division 1. Kirk's anger problems persisted but overall this season turned out to be much more productive than the previous. Two front row starts proved highlights for the Brit as well as a highest finish of fourth at Barber Motorsports Park. After ending up P10 in the Drivers' championship and helping TheSixthAxis take P4 in the Teams' championship, it was clear that Kirk's relationship with his own team was becoming strenuous though still the running of the team continued. It was around this time that the first suggestions of a new junior team for TheSixthAxis (run by Kirk) were brought up. The tentative name for this outfit; Scuderia L'Asse Sesto.

GPVWC career

2013

GPVWC Beginnings and the Birth of Enterprise GP

In mid-2013, Kirk decided to join only his second ever series by taking part in GPVWC's 2013 Formula Challenge season. Signing for Backmarker Brigade, Kirk enjoyed relative success in the open wheeler category by scoring on his debut. It was also at this time that Scuderia L'Asse Sesto evolved into Enterprise GP, a completely independent outfit. Kirk signed fellow Brits Scott Berrisford and Matthew Allington to his new outfit and entered the two into the 2013 World Sport Series season in which both were on the whole successful.

With the good results of Enterprise came decent results for Kirk himself equaling his highest ever result of fourth at the 2013 Challenge Belgian Grand Prix after letting David Fidock pass on the final lap of Race 2 as a "sorry gesture" for causing the title contender grief in the previous round at Monza. Competing in only six rounds of the eighteen round strong 2013 calender though, Kirk never set his targets championship-wise too high. That said, his unhealthy drive for perfection ended in yet more anger outbursts and he left BRB disgraced after one of the biggest yet during the 2013 Challenge United States Grand Prix.

The End of Gentlemen's Racing Club

Just one day before the infamous round in the USA, Kirk partook in the final ever race to be held at the Gentlemen's Racing Club with the league closing its doors for good and merging with GPVWC to become the International Touring Cup. The Brit endured yet another difficult event at his home circuit finishing mid-table in both races following both mistakes from himself and contact from others. Driving for Playseat® Racing, this would prove to be Kirk's final round for TheSixthAxis contingent. Following the difficult event, Kirk vowed to take a lengthy break from touring car action, despite the ability to take part in the inaugural ITC season.

Leaving TheSixthAxis Racing

On September 20th, Kirk held crisis talks with co-team principal Cameron Brewster about the Brit's future at TheSixthAxis Racing. Though tensions had been simmering following the final season of the GRCTCC, these feelings were brought to the forefront after Kirk had discussed the team's problems in World GT when commentating on the 2013 San Marino Touring Cup. Not content with how the team viewed him, Kirk quit his position as co-team principal to focus fully on the development of Enterprise GP and continued to harbour an apparent resentment for months to come.

Early Return To Action

Though Kirk had planned to break from simracing until the 2014 Formula Challenge season, instead he was roped back into action to try and help Woods Racing to ITC glory. Joining in at the third round at the Botniaring Racing Circuit, Kirk was already ruffled as expected team mate Oscar Hardwick was banned from GPVWC. Instead, he was to partner Oskari Kantonen and though Kirk's qualifying form had not dropped off (qualifying P6 after over a month away from touring car racing), neither had his bad luck; the Brit only scoring four points following contact with numerous drivers and being thrashed by Kantonen who took two podiums. In his final round of 2013 however, Kirk (now partnering Dave Carr-Smith) had a much more positive experience. At his home circuit on the calender at Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit, he took a sixth and his first ever podium in simracing.

2014

Finishing The Job At Woods

The second half of the 2013/14 International Touring Cup season proved to be much more painful than Kirk had hoped. Barring a couple of top fives at Watkins Glen International, he claimed no significant results and failed to score points in all three races at any of the remaining rounds. The identity of his team mate at Woods Racing was also a concern as it constantly changed until Kyle Williams was signed for the final two rounds. Though this didn't affect Kirk's driving itself, it did hurt preparation for most events during the season. The Brit endured a miserable run at the end of the season failing to score in seven consecutive races by getting caught up in accidents, enduring more contact and even a disconnection. Kirk took the run as a sign of him needing change; vowing to work on his anger during races, his driving style and his setup knowledge.

Formula Challenge

Though faced with time constraints at the start and potentially the end of the year, Kirk still managed to sign a contract with Bastvik Grand Prix for the 2014 Formula Challenge season. Making his debut for the Finnish team at Malaysia, Kirk was average at best, struggled to deal with the temperatures and ultimately failed to score. Returning in China, he got on the board with a ninth in Race 2 and continued the trend of inconsistent mid-points scoring finishes until his final event of the year at Circuit of the Americas. Kirk was unable to improve on his highest finish in Formula Challenge (let alone simracing]] with his season best being sixth in Race 1 at Germany. He was however able to best his qualifying record in Formula Challenge securing P6 on the grid in his final round of the season. Following America, Kirk announced his intentions not to return to the Career Ladder full-time indefinitely.

International Touring Cup

Though enduring a difficult end to the 2013/14 season, Kirk was signed for the [2014 International Touring Cup season]] with high-flying outfit Triple Twenty. Set to partner 5th placed in 2013/14 Bart De Vos, Kirk was looking for a solid season of playing wingman to the star of the Croatian outfit. In typical fashion for Kirk however, things did not turn out as planned. Once again, qualifying remained strong with Kirk inheriting his first ever pole position at the 2014 Australian Touring Cup following the exclusion of previous pole sitter Harley Hamnett from all 2014 events. Once again, races proved troublesome though with multiple incidents leaving Kirk both frustrated and with a lack of points. The huge drop off in form of De Vos did nothing to consolidate the Brit and Triple Twenty fell from a top five outfit to a mid-table scrapper. Ultimately, Kirk left the team with destination unknown before the season had even reached half-way; the team's lack of faith in his ability proving to be the breaking point.

For Britain, Kirk secured a last-minute drive with struggling team Wauters Automotive; at this time yet to score a single point in 2014. Though qualifying proved to be a disaster, the round overall was anything but as Kirk secured the second podium of his career and (along with the help of team mate David Jundt) lifted Wauters off the bottom of the table. Following the return to the podium, Kirk inked a deal with Wauters for the rest of the season.

Supercup

Prior to the United States Grand Prix week and in the knowledge of his impending departure from Formula Challenge, Kirk signed yet another deal with Wauters but of a very different kind. Joining the team's Supercup team as Technical Director, his job would be to help the drivers improve their setup; an area which Wauters felt they were severely down on in comparison to other teams. The results of the signing were instant as Jarl Teien not only took pole position but a race win also at the Circuit of the Americas.

Outside GPVWC

2014

SimRacingPro

Leading on from his drive at Wauters Automotive in the GPVWC International Touring Cup, Kirk would also drive for the team in the second season of SimRacingPro's TopStep series. With the category set as Super GT, the Brit looked forward to the new challenge of what would still only be his third different league entered and alongside the talented young Spaniard, Fran Lopez.

Commentary

2012

Debuting alongside Liam Jenkins for the second season of the RaceDepartment Open Wheel Championship, Kirk found the experience useful but yearned for lead commentary duties. GPVWC offered that chance and gave Kirk the helm of two series for the 2013 season. He would helm the first ever broadcast season of World GT with Mike Pitman alongside him and would take over from Simon Smith to lead the 2013 World Sport Series season with Bradley Vanian as co-commentator. He would also be called upon as a reserve commentator if Nick Rowland could not make a Supercup round.

2013

Initial impressions of Kirk's commentary were hugely positive with his excitable style keeping viewers on the edge of their seats. He also would indeed deputise for Rowland in the Supercup at the Spanish and Canadian rounds once again drawing a positive reception. During the 2013 Korean Grand Prix week, Kirk would make his commentary debut on Formula Challenge as well as deputising on Supercup once again. It was during this week however where Kirk was paired for the first time with Lewis McGlade a fresh commentator transferring over from Formula SimRacing. The chemistry was instant and the two would go on to form a hugely successful partnership which would also move over to the World Sport Series.

Following this week, Kirk would make his Endurance Racing commentary debut at the site which gave him his debut; RaceDepartment. Commentating on 10 Hours of America, the Brit didn't feel right with the lack of action on track but nevertheless, after another week on Supercup duty, returned to helm the RaceDepartment 24 Hours of Le Mans for a 4 hour stint. After the following week and Rowland's final commentary of a Supercup round, the 2013 British Supercup Grand Prix, Kirk and McGlade were named as the new permanent commentary duo of the 2013 Supercup season until the end of the season. The two would also appear alongside each other and Simon Smith in GPVWC's final broadcast of the year; the 2013 Race of Champions.

2014

For 2014, Kirk would continue to host the Supercup alongside Lewis McGlade however was set to man the 2014 World Sport Series season alone. With World GT's future unknown, Kirk was forced to sit out on his third commentary role. Come this year, Kirk's style was noticeably more composed though still retained the excitement during action on track which viewers had come to love.

In this year, Kirk made three appearances on GPVWC's inaugural 24 Hours of Le Mans; two as team manager of LYNX Enterprise GP and one as lead commentator. He would also form a new partnership with Ben Hackeson who joined as co-commentator for the World Sport Series from Monaco onward.

Near the end of the year, the Kirk-McGlade combo was broken up to become a more temporary team as a change of circumstances for McGlade proved to be too much to continue commentating on a regular basis. In his place came Sam Jones who also had a one-off stint in place of Hackeson at the 2014 Belgian Sport Series. McGlade did return for one last broadcast in 2014 however and witnessed the madness of the 2014 United States Supercup Grand Prix.