![]() ![]() He's lucky I waited to decide what to do until the end of the year instead of just outright firing him on the spot. For someone with a reputation for getting along with everyone, he sure was causing a ton of headaches. That naturally put him in an even better mood. He also had a fever, and while he got healthy he was demoted with reserve driver Katie Linares taking over. This only upset Evans even more: he offered up a lame ultimatum, refusing to resign as long as Santa Ana is still a driver here. Next up in Tondela, Santa Ana ran her best race yet to finish 5th once again after penalties were assessed. Drama afterwards included infighting between Santa Ana and mechanic Tom Woodbridge, and me being offered a bribe to influence my vote in the GMA rules committee. Santa Ana was able to ride this early advantage to a stunning eventual 5th-place finish, by far our best-ever result. Most of the field misjudged the weather and had to do some extra early pit stops due to rain. Munich wasn't impressive for us, but in the following race we got our first big break. ![]() Much as I hated to admit it, he had a point. Then Evans started whining about not getting his share of the newer parts on his equal status contract, and some adjustments had to be made there. Fortunately, Munich GP was still three weeks away. Soon afterwards, she got in a bar brawl over some guy, gets a black eye, and -2 to her focus for two weeks. Santa Ana wanted me to promise an investment in the Forecasting Centre, and as much as I wanted to keep her happy, I thought the Staff Centre is a better use of our money. I hate driving for this team, boss." The feeling was quite mutual. ![]() Evans was less thrilled with this result: "I can't stand it anymore. Everybody spent a lot of time repairing that race, but we managed to keep it to a minimum. After the opening laps, Santa Ana went head-to-head with the rest of the field and managed a solid midfield finish of 11th, the first time either driver had done better than 17th. Then came Ardennes, at the midpoint of the season. I had too much integrity(i.e., not enough funding) to do that myself, of course. Only way we were going to finish not-last is if someone crashed or otherwhise wrecked their vehicle, or they were caught cheating. We got better at improving the car setups ahead of each race, but it really didn't matter all that much. Sponsors came and went, new parts were designed, and the schedule kept on coming. Evans responded to these comments by saying in an interview that he was refocusing himself on the sport, getting rid of all distractions. That was an exaggeration, but the point was obvious. Our 'fans' kept commenting on how we needed better drivers, and how Santa Ana even was the worst the sport's seen in decades. A couple races in though, we managed to improve our brake systems to 9th in the ERS. Designer Charlotte Williams came up with some new parts, some of which were worse than what we already had. Chairmun Luff and William Evans didn't particularly care for my honesty in those matters either. Didn't hit it off too well with the media, who kept pressing me about our poor finishes. 18th for Santa and 19th for Evans were bad enough. Dembele retired with mechanical failure, which is the only reason we weren't dead last. We didn't deserve to be here, and had to try to find a way to compete. The only thing that wasn't completely embarassing about the car was fuel efficiency, and that was still bad. The only thing Predator wasn't last at in the ERS was HQ development(8th out of 10). ![]() Developing the in-house talent was considered job #1. In any case, the plan going in was sensible, but at the same time misguided. Top scout Aaron Burgess thought she had the potential to be one of the better ERS drivers though. Evans sucked - it was obvious Santa Ana was better, not that either were all that good. I recall thinking that there aren't enough controlled substances invented yet to make me that dense. The other main driver, William Evans averred that "I'm going to be working my socks off to prove to you that I'm a much better driver". The PRG is a tight-knit group, but they weren't real big of realistic expectations. One of the main drivers, Ines Santa Ana, remarked thusly: "So you're the nobody that's taking over the team? Man, you must have pulled off one HELL of a job interview". There wasn't a whole lot of fanfare when I arrived in Australia to take over as Principal for the Predator Racing Group, an outclassed startup in the European Racing Series. This misadventure began two years ago: 2016 Season Review If he wasn't, I'd get run out of town after the meeting we just had - or maybe nobody else would even take this crap job? Either way, there's a lot of work ahead. It's a good thing Chairman Darren Luff is a patient man. ![]()
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