2023 ESPLAR Elite Series Season

The 2023 ESPLAR Elite Series Season is the 50th season of the top class of the Evanshire Super Pro League of Auto Racing. Unlike previous seasons, the 2023 ESPLAR Elite Series season will begin at the 2023 Round of Ishmira and end with the 2023 Evanshire 700. Kazumi Furukawa is the defending driver's champion and Greater Kanto Motorsports are the defending teams champions.

As it is the 50th season of the Evanshire Super Pro League of Auto Racing, many classic tracks have signed contracts with ESPLAR to host events for the 50th anniversary of ESPLAR competition.

It is planned to be hosted by Lean Campana (Lean278) beginning around 2022, skipping the 2021 and 2022 ESPLAR Elite Series seasons.

Background
The BNV20 pandemic which ravaged the world between late 2020 and mid 2022 was the worst disease outbreak in history, with over 800 million infected and 70 million deaths across the globe, probably even more. Some countries were affected worse than others. While the mainland United States was hit hard by BNV20 with over a million deaths (mostly in the south and northeast but a significant number in the midwest also), Altruras shut down completely with ESPLAR teams scrambling to return to the Altruras Archipelago to at least make it to the ESPLAR races that could be scheduled. In the end, Altruras had less than 2,500 cases of BNV20 with 190 deaths.

In 2021, ESPLAR was on the verge of traveling to Europe when the series gave the call to return to Altruras effective immediately. All races between England and Texas were canned as the league shifted to virtual racing, a sight never seen in its entire history.

ESPLAR returned to racing in August with a truncated calendar calling for 16 more races, all in Altruras. Laura Kerrivan eventually broke the legacy of failure and won the title, albeit with an asterisk due to how lopsided the schedule was, and Kerrivan was up against a weaker Greater Kanto Motorsports with newcomers Kazumi Furukawa and Natsumi Aoyagi being rookies and Saihara Motorsports continuing to fumble during the autumn. Kerrivan eventually retired and Greater Kanto quickly adapted to the new environment in 2022 to take an early lead in the championship.

During 2022, ESPLAR planned to travel to the relatively safe Pacific Rim to race internationally for the first time since late 2020. However, the BNV20 pandemic accelerated rapidly due to a failed vaccine during the summer which forced ESPLAR to return to Altruras early, with September marking the restart of races. Despite the changes, Greater Kanto continued to win races despite Saihara mounting a big challenge to the title. With Altruras' vaccine for BNV20 proving extremely successful, the pandemic began to wind down before that year's Evanshire 700. Despite failing to finish, Saihara Motorsports failed to win the title again thanks to a late big one which was caused by Hayato Kitanami trying 5 wide on former Ferrari superstars Florian Volker and Aoto Miyazami (the latter qualifying as a third Saihara car now driving for Nissan). This caused the three of them to slide onto Emil Fayzullin and Matt Croft, taking 14 cars out including both Saihara cars. Because Saihara failed to score points, Kazumi Furukawa and Greater Kanto Motorsports won the title by default, though it was Nate Crawford of Team Maxima who eventually won the Evanshire 700.

During this period a massive tyre war developed between 7 manufacturers aiming to be the best tyre brand in the circuit. After Goodyear dropped out in 2020, FALKEN tires took over but many teams were left unsatisfied by the lack of choices for tyre suppliers. 6 other manufacturers joined in hoping to have theirs represent a chunk of the ESPLAR field: Hoosier, Pirelli, Cooper, Michelin, Yokohama and Windforce joined, but all 7 were subject to regulations that determined the type of tyres produced. This hoped to make sure that tyres wear at similar rates but largely each manufacturer was left to determine other factors such as compatibility. By 2023, however, Cooper emerged victorious as they earned the support of prominent teams like Saihara Motorsports in 2022 after their disastrous 2021 season and Greater Kanto Motorsports switched to Coopers in the middle of 2021 after catastrophic tyre failures at Arcadia meant that Yokohama pulled out of ESPLAR altogether. Cooper slowly gained support over 2022 with Mylo-Kerrivan joining them. Hennivan Racing and Team Maxima remained staunch Hoosier loyalists to the very end until Hoosier themselves pulled out after the 2022 season. Windforce pulled out in 2022 after teams did not support the tyre brand following the near-fatal accident of Irish hopeful Sianna Kirby in Formula Beta at Suzuka, despite already clinching the title at Singapore. This left Cooper the last tyre manufacturer standing for the 2023 season.

Signed Teams and Drivers
The following teams and drivers are confirmed to compete in the 2023 ESPLAR Elite Series. Italics denote a rookie. Asterisks indicate a new team. For the 2023 season, 34 teams will compete full time. (WIP)

Team Changes

 * Podkarpackie Racing makes their first full time season since 2019, bringing young wonderkids Alaina Swinska and Kailu Wieczorek into the series from IFRC's Formula Europa. Many pundits within the series don't expect Wieczorek to go very far in the series despite promoting from Formula Europa.

Driver Changes

 * Miyoko Uemura swapped seats with Yumiko Anjou over in the European Touring Car Series (ETCC) after Yumiko won the title and Miyoko lost in heartbreaking fashion to archrival Greater Kanto Motorsports.
 * Hayato Kitanami moved to Formula Sigma to represent Nissan. Alio Kyugare moved up to replace him.
 * Saihara Motorsports added Hawaiian-born Kaylani Tatsunami to their driver academy; she drives for them in ESPLAR Lites and became their designated test driver in ESPLAR Elite Series.

Other Changes

 * Following a series of tyre misfortunes, Windforce pulled out at the end of 2022. Hoosier pulled out due to financial problems despite the loyalty of Hennivan and Team Maxima. This meant that Cooper would become ESPLAR's sole tyre manufacturer.
 * ESPLAR will introduce a new short track package that essentially stabilizes the cars after 2022 saw a number of races such as Carbondale and Chile where cars were drifting due to being too loose. The previous package emphasized faster speeds but made cars unstable in the corners.
 * Algenol is no longer ESPLAR's fuel supplier as their contract expired in 2022. ESPLAR hired Altruras-based Lainlax, specializing in solar fuels, as their fuel supplier.
 * A change occurred in the title sponsors for this season. LOT Polish Airlines and Lufthansa pulled out in the aftermath of BNV20, and Bushiroad pulled its title sponsorship to focus on Saihara Motorsports. Sunrise and Reddit extended their title sponsorship for another season after successful negotiations. AT&T, Arktene, Cooper, Mecachrone, Acer, Microsoft, Sony, and BKV Zrt remained unchanged. BKV Zrt is a title sponsor in order to ensure renewed Hungarian interest in ESPLAR despite no drivers of Hungarian nationality in 2022. miHoYo, following a last-minute sponsorship change that saw Valve pull out and be replaced by Blender, became a title sponsor in addition to being the sole sponsor of Kailu Wieczorek.
 * Depending on the number of entries, ESPLAR could implement a twin-race format. After Round 1, cars that finished on the top half would advance to Race 1 of the next round while the bottom half advance to Race 2 of the next round. This system is largely based on the one that used to be used by FARC (Falkner Auto Racing Championship) in the TM canon from 2010-2014.
 * Also this season, drivers would be classified into two classes depending on how much better chances they have at certain tracks. Class A teams/drivers are ones who specialize in road courses while Class B teams/drivers are ones who specialize in the ovals.
 * After only being limited to Evanshire since 1997, special races made their return to the ESPLAR Elite Series. Entry depends on which series a driver drives for and which class they are in (Class A go for Class A special events). Except for the Evanshire 700 (in which championship contenders are locked into the race), no driver is locked into special events.
 * Special races will also be open to reserve drivers of teams for the very first time, depending on what class they choose to be in.
 * For Class A special events like Bremen and Philippines, international drivers, Class A ESPLAR drivers and Formula Sigma/NX drivers are allowed to compete.
 * For Class B special events like Darlington and Pikes Peak, Class B ESPLAR drivers and US-based drivers are allowed to compete.

Schedule
ESPLAR Elite Series will contest the following races in the 2023 season.

Notes:


 * The 2023 Lantern Rite, traditionally held on the 2nd Saturday night after Lunar New Year, will take place on February 4 2023 at Ishmira International Raceway, during pre-race festivities. It has become a global phenomenon since ESPLAR first held its first edition in 2021 sponsored by mihoyo.

Greater Kanto Motorsports
Greater Kanto Motorsports enter the 2023 ESPLAR Elite Series season as the defending drivers and teams champions for the first time since 2020. Kazumi Furukawa, Japanese-Altruran driver, seeks to defend her crown against an increasingly competitive field that includes her teammate Natsumi Aoyagi as well as other top teams like the resurgent Saihara Motorsports, hoping to seek revenge for their 2022 defeat, Team Maxima and the rebounding Kiruvenik Motorsports.

Greater Kanto have remained the premier Toyota team since 2019 and it is looking like it will remain the case. The team also have top-tier AI navigational systems courtesy of Furukawa herself which can help GKM in the really tough road courses which they have been struggling at last season, especially Lehesterdeich-Volker International Raceway in Bremen. Although the team are stronger at short ovals and 1.5 miler ovals as demonstrated in past seasons, Furukawa and Aoyagi hope to rekindle Julia Truong's incredible road course dominance in 2020 to have a chance at repeating as champions. Thanks to Saihara switching to Bushiroad sponsorship this season, Greater Kanto have signed on with Sunrise and Namco-Bandai as sponsors, furthering the rivalry between the two teams.

Saihara Motorsports
Hayato Kitanami's chance at a second Morson-Austin Trophy ended in the fence in the big one at Evanshire. Hayato moved to Formula Sigma hoping to win championships there instead. A similar fate fell Miyoko Uemura where she went to European Touring Car Championships. Saihara Motorsports now faced a dilemma: how would they try to return to championship contention? Their answer: two drivers who had been waiting to race in the top class of ESPLAR for some time: young wonderkids Alio Kyugare and Yumiko Anjou, the former who had dominated the ESPLAR Lites championship last season effectively turning the rest of the field into "ESPLAR Premier Lites," and the latter completely annihilating the competition in ETCC. Both were Saihara academy drivers, and along with a new addition in half-Hawaiian-Japanese driver Kaylani Tatsunami, it is expected that Saihara will have no difficulty in returning to the top once again. Nissan remain very loyal to Saihara themselves but outdated cars cost Saihara early in the season when they are usually the strongest.

Despite Saihara abandoning Sunrise sponsorship in favor of Bushiroad sponsorship, they are nonetheless a team to watch carefully this season.

Hennivan Racing
Although Hennivan still fought hard to maintain their status as Altruras' premier team in 2020, the next season confirmed that they lost the title to Mylo-Kerrivan Motorsports with Laura Kerrivan's final season and title. 2022 would continue to prove a difficult year as ESPLAR Lites promotee Kenny Pilkin struggled in the Altruras rounds. Matt Croft still finished in the top 10 in points but Hennivan were a far cry from their typical performance they achieved from 2010-2017.

Hennivan look to recapture this performance, however they will have to go through teams like Mylo-Kerrivan, and more importantly, Team Maxima with 2 of Altruras' most popular drivers who have already won once in their relatively young careers so far.

Team Maxima
Team Maxima enters the 2023 season as one of the most popular teams in the series after Nate Crawford captured the 2022 Evanshire 700 win marking the completion of a brutal rebuild of the team following its collapse in performance in 2020. Maxima remains a "purely North American team" therefore both drivers are in class B. They will have competition in both Kainan Izherov and Matt Croft who are both oval specialists.

While Nate Crawford has been excelling at the ovals, Hailey Lordregan has been struggling a bit on these tracks, especially the short ovals where brake timing is critical. Lordregan almost won her first race in 2021 at Carbondale only to lose it to teammate Crawford after going wide on turn 2. Even though Team Maxima ultimately fell short that season to Laura Kerrivan, it was Crawford who took home rookie of the year in 2021.

The 2022 season saw Team Maxima's Hoosier weaknesses come to light as their tyres wore slightly more than the Coopers. This led to a tyre blowout at Road America where Hailey Lordregan once again failed to win her first race. It would not be until the semifinal at Haida Gwaii Raceway where Lordregan would take her very first win in the ESPLAR Elite Series.

The 2023 season is expected to be a interesting one as Team Maxima are among the top teams, but fare slightly worse than the resurging Saihara and Greater Kanto teams. They are slightly better than Mylo-Kerrivan, Mitteldeutschland and Kiruvenik so at least they may have something to show for their pace. Since the entire team is in Class B, the only competition they could potentially face are Hennivan and possibly Mylo-Kerrivan's Sianna Callahan who replaced a first year driver who went to Formula Sigma.

Team Nitra
Team Nitra face a brutal rebuild, similar to Team Maxima, after collapsing in performance in 2020. Though they did fare slightly better than Maxima that season, they were slow to recover as the team had to rely on complete rookies who ended up racing elsewhere in Europe the next season. Finally, at the end of 2022, the team helped bring back one of their all-time veteran greats in Slovakia's Mittyia Hala who was not in action during 2021 and 2022 due to maternity leave.

2023 is expected to be a rebuild year as Mittyia Hala is expected to be a teacher/mentor figure to Finnish-Altruran Lyari Pihlaja who as opted for Class B instead of Class A, and Hala decided to follow him to Class B. Lyari has noted that he is a fan of Hala's while she was on her brief spell in Formula Sigma in 2020. The BMW that Team Nitra has may not be as strong on the ovals as other teams, but Hala's experience could work wonders to help Pihlaja up the grid. Hala has stated that she will mentor for Pihlaja until he reaches a level where he can compete for wins on a regular basis.

Mylo-Kerrivan Motorsports
Mylo-Kerrivan emerged as the frontrunners for the 2021 championship and ultimately won with Laura Kerrivan signing out of the series following the season. She then took over Ben Kerrivan's role as team owner after he died of BNV20 in the renewed outbreak in Altruras in 2022. That season, Mongolian driver Narantsetseg Chiyarai joined the team but did not win a race because of the domination of Greater Kanto that year.

2023 will be a season that will determine if Mylo-Kerrivan can keep their pace together. They will have intense competition with Team Maxima for the top team in Altruras.

Caspian Racing
4 seasons ago, the ESPLAR elements representing both Armenia and Azerbaijan formed one of the most unusual partnerships in the world, given their historic rivalry between each other, but given ESPLAR's tendency to form friendships between historic rivals, Armenia and Azerbaijan settled their historic rivalries not in war, but on the race track.

Today, this unusual alliance has now extended throughout the Caucasus Mountains.

Mitteldeutschland Racing (MDR)
(WIP)

Kiruvenik Racing
After being reborn from the clutches of Ferrari control in 2023 following Ethan Keiderman's promotion to Formula Sigma, Kiruvenik are sure to make a drastic statement in terms of regularly competing for wins. They have a very strong lineup in one of the youngest Altruran born racers, Kainan Izherov, and Slovakian rookie Julius Kostra. The Audi that the team is bringing also looks to be very strong as well.

However, the team's greatest weakness is to its isolation from each other during the split segments of the season. Kai is more of an oval specialist while Kostra is a road course veteran which meant both chose differing classes. This could result in poor team communication during race events.

Another issue for the team is reliability. During preseason the Audis kept having cooler problems after Kai's car overheated during the first day in Estlenhar and had to be retired from the session. His problems were solved after Day 2 in Ishmira while Kostra blew up in Day 3 at Arcadia. If the team wants to win, they need to balance performance with reliability to make the gruelingly long distances ESPLAR requires of their drivers.

Podkarpackie Racing
Last competing in 2019, the Polish EES team from Tarnow relocated to Gdansk to train the next generation of Polish drivers, namely anime voice actor turned racing driver Kailu Wieczorek, and former Formula Beta wonderkid Alaina Gwinska. They had some success in the World Endurance Championship but never won a championship. Following BNV20, the team hope to become the surprise of the season, especially with Kailu showing a lot of skill both in the team's test track in Gdynia and during pre-season testing. The Dodge that Podkarpackie is bringing may pale in comparison to other cars, but it can easily match up to the other manufacturers, especially since they are one of only a few teams receiving funding from Dodge themselves for the cars.

Sponsorship dramas erupted during the offseason as the team expunged contracts from Nexon, and later KOG, that were signed earlier thanks to vocal opposition from Korea and in Altruras regarding Nexon's monetisation policies. They later settled on miHoYo, which are from China. Since Gwinska settled on local sponsorship and Kailu being a voice actor, it left limited options for the #11 car.

Trivia
(WIP)