Team presentation - Simspark Racing

The only British team in the VFC presents itself in a mix of black, neon yellow and light blue

The third of the four new teams is the Brits from Simspark Racing. Under the leadership of team boss James Hayter, the team is now entering its first season in the VFC, with a clear goal in mind quite early on.

Simspark Racing was founded in 2020 during the Covid lockdown with the goal of success. The Brits have already been able to prove themselves with FSR and an iRacing endurance team. With the additional commitment to the VFC, the team is facing a new challenge.

In a conversation with James Hayter, we were able to take a quick look at the team:

"Hello James, first of all, thank you for letting us be here at your Team HQ. A new team is always an exciting thing, so I can imagine how you must be feeling at the moment.

I would like to know what your goal is for your rookie year?"

"Hi, thank you for being here, the whole team is very excited about the 2025 VFC season, I think we will have a good first year. The goal for our rookie season is to learn as much as possible. Fighting for the title of the best rookie team would be incredible. That should be our goal!"

"Ambitious, but with the right drivers it's definitely a realistic goal. Let's talk about the line-up: What do you think about your line-up? What was decisive for the driver selection?"

"I think our line-up for our debut season is good and strong. Roy Seifert helped me with his knowledge of the series, which helped us select our drivers for this season."

"My last question to you is what was your focus for the car development? What was important to you for the car?"

"The focus of car development will be to improve the car as much as possible, with driver feedback being crucial. As we are a brand new team in the series, it might take a while to understand how to develop the car, but we will learn and figure it out"

"All right, thanks James for your time! See you on the track!"

The driver pairing for Simspark will be Benjamin Reinhardt and Junio ​​Lopes.

Reinhardt is already known from the last VFC season and is moving from Scuderia Ottimale to Simspark. The Hungarian was a consistent driver in his 5 races last year and finished all races in the points. So he could become an important factor for the team.

On the other hand, we have Junio ​​Lopes. The Portuguese will make his debut in the VFC in Australia. He is extremely motivated and talented, now it's all about bringing his performances to the track. His talent has already been evident in the GPVWC in recent years, and we are excited to see how this translates to the VFC cars.

So we have a new and the only British team in the VFC this year, welcome to Simspark Racing!