Mattijanan PokrajnaKuppa: Mattijana's regional WGP3 championship
Welcome to the Mattijanan PokrajnaKuppa! The championship is the highest level of open wheel motor racing within Mattijana and as a result was awarded WGP3 status for this season.
The cup sees representatives of Mattijana's 8 regions compete across 8 races from the world renowned Kopylov InternazionRing to the streets of Revinka and the Mattijanan capital Petrovijanka. WGPC stars Alex Dimitrianov and Jasmin Kranjska both made their names in the tournament and there are many other young hopefuls looking to make it to the big time.
Rules and Regulations:
All cars use the same 2.5L V8 engine produced by Mattijanan manufacturer Dimiceva. Tyres are supplied by WGPC supplier Petrovi and come in 6 compounds: Super-soft, soft, medium, hard, intermediate and wet. The two most appropriate dry compounds are selected for each race weekend and both the option and prime tyre must be used during the race except in the case of rain.
Within technical regulations determining maximum and minimum dimensions and enforcing the use of modern safety features, teams are free to design their cars as they wish and either build their own parts or purchase them from other suppliers. There is however an annual budget cap of 90 million espos that teams must work strictly within. Violations of the cap will result in points deductions or in serious cases, disqualification.
Usual racing rules as in the WGPC apply to the PokrajnaKuppa to make it consistent with international racing series. The points system is however different to reflect there only being 16 cars on the grid:
1st-18 pts
2nd-15 pts
3rd-12 pts
4th-10 pts
5th-8 pts
6th-6 pts
7th-4 pts
8th-2 pts
All cars use the same 2.5L V8 engine produced by Mattijanan manufacturer Dimiceva. Tyres are supplied by WGPC supplier Petrovi and come in 6 compounds: Super-soft, soft, medium, hard, intermediate and wet. The two most appropriate dry compounds are selected for each race weekend and both the option and prime tyre must be used during the race except in the case of rain.
Within technical regulations determining maximum and minimum dimensions and enforcing the use of modern safety features, teams are free to design their cars as they wish and either build their own parts or purchase them from other suppliers. There is however an annual budget cap of 90 million espos that teams must work strictly within. Violations of the cap will result in points deductions or in serious cases, disqualification.
Usual racing rules as in the WGPC apply to the PokrajnaKuppa to make it consistent with international racing series. The points system is however different to reflect there only being 16 cars on the grid:
1st-18 pts
2nd-15 pts
3rd-12 pts
4th-10 pts
5th-8 pts
6th-6 pts
7th-4 pts
8th-2 pts
Drivers and Teams:
Petrovijanka Racing Team:
1-Dominik Vestergaard
2-Jasmin Kranjska
The team that gave rise to former WGPC constructors champions MRT are still in business, albeit without the links to the nationally funded outfit that gave them two seasons of dominance before Mattijana's entry into the WGPC.
Loss of that meant the team - based at the SavaFluss test circuit on the Mattijanan capital's outskirts - slipped down the pile during WGPC 15 and 16, but they found some pace last season, helped by the returning Jasmin Kranjska during the WGPC's off season. Kranjska missing two races on WGPC duty, replaced by test driver Marietta Juvan, meant that it was in fact Dominik Vestergaard who took the title. The 22 year-old northerner moved from his native Danskia team two seasons ago and is now tipped to be the next Mattijanan driver to make a move into the WGPC
Danskia
3-Dominika Hojbjerg
4-Martin Kvarberg
The northernmost team in the PokrajnaKuppe, Danskia take their name from the region they're based in and have a rich motorsport heritage. Motor racing is arguably biggest in Danskia, although grand prix racing is only possible in the summer months due to the bitterly cold weather conditions, meaning the team's practical base is not within the province, but at the more well-known Kopylov InternazionRing in the Juliana region.
The team have a proud record of picking home-grown Dansk drivers, often converts from the ice rallying that keeps the motor racing pulse ticking through the long northern winters. Dominika Hojbjerg is a bright, young and quick talent and although a little older, Martin Kvarberg is an experienced domestic driver and a tough one to get past on Sunday afternoons.
LauerBach-WI
5-Ekatarina Julic
6-Max Zimmerman
The WesterLand partnership between car manufacturer LauerBach and elite engineering firm WestStrand Ingeniuerwesen has proven fruitful in previous years. The team won the championship two seasons ago, but slipped to third last time out as Danskia and the Petrovijanka Racing team found both extra pace and extra consistency.
The recent signing of Ekatarina Julic from Petrovijanka has raised a lot of eyebrows after her fairly dismal showing in the second WGP2 season, but her domestic form has been better and she has a teammate in Max Zimmerman who is looking to become a regular fixture on the podium after a strong, but not spectacular rookie season.
Rekvada-Kopylov
7-Katarina Spirig
8-Jan Kjeldstrom
Making up the last of the top 4 teams is Juliana-based Rekvada-Kopylov. The team are based at the Kopylov InternazionRing, their home circuit, and have a close rivalry with LauerBach who beat them to third spot last season.
Katarina Spirig and Jan Kjeldstrom are both experienced PokrajneKuppe campaigners at the ages of 28 and 31 and should offer consistency and stability, but there are doubts as to whether their base is up to the job and of course the car has to be good enough as well.
RevinkaSpeed
9-Rene Zitnik
10-Dalibor Puklavec
RevinkaSpeed have been at the head of the mid-grid for most people's living memory and for good reason. The IstrijaAntalja team aren't the richest, but have made the most of their limited resources and promising driver lineup. Rene Zitnik had a particularly good season last time out, achieving podiums in Revinka and a wet race at the NordStrandRing in WesterLand.
With more competition from the lower end of the grid becoming a possibility given the increased interest and investment in Mattijanan motorsport, they may find it more of a challenge to hold onto their best of the rest crown this season.
BirjkenLuft-WI
11-Sam Dragovic
12-Danil Jantscher
The team seemingly in pole-position to claim that spot are BirjkenLuft. The outfit are renowned for having one of the best aerodynamics departments on the grid due to doing the majority of their testing at altitude and have recently signed a deal with WI, supplying them with an improved gearbox and brake system.
On the driver's side, BirjkenLuft have one calm, experienced head in Sam Dragovic and one rookie in Danil Jantscher, a potentially fruitful lineup.
Shalkara
13-Vasili Leftansidis
14-Johanna Iordaniou
South-Eastern team Shalkara are one of the two teams expected to prop up the grid this season after a fairly mediocre showing last season in which they only recorded a handful of top 10 finishes. They have retained local veteran Vasili Leftansidis - the 35 year old rumoured to be announcing his retirement sometime during this season.
He's joined by rookie Johanna Iordaniou, who also hails from the Shalkara region. The 21 year old has shown promising pace in more junior formulas and has been tipped by her new teammate for some high finishes. It may take more than raw pace to improve on last season's effort however.
Sava
15-Jelena Brankovic
16-Tamara Ostapenko
Representing the Eastern region of Ljubala, Sava Racing Team had a disappointing year even by the standard of a mid grid outfit, picking up just 4 points across the whole season. That sparked a fairly major overhaul of the team's race directors and driver lineup, with rookies Jelena Brankovic and Tamara Ostapenko coming in.
Whether the radical overhaul will be hugely effective is unlikely, but it can't get much worse for Sava.
Schedule:
Round 1: Shalkara - NasinalVezje Shalkara (Shalkar National Circuit)
Round 2: IstrijaAntalja - UlicaVezje Revinka (Revinka Street Circuit)
Round 3: Ljubala - NasinalVezje DwaSavas (DwaSavas National Circuit)
Round 4: Juliana - Kopylov InternazionRing (Kopylov International Circuit)
Round 5: Danskia - KvaglundsRingge (Kvaglund national circuit)
Mid Season Break
Round 6: Alpija - NasinalVezje ZentraleAlpe (Central Alps National Circuit)
Round 7: WesterLand - NordStrandRing (NordStrand National Circuit)
Round 8: UlicaVezje Petrovijanka (Petrovijanka Street Circuit)