🗞️ LA GACELA DEL DEPORTE · S40 SPECIAL
This Gacela del Deporte is sponsored by the Spanish Racing Series Academy, a new project aimed at expanding good competition within the game's community.
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Seven different winners in 22 races, a sunken ocean liner with a full safe, and a cup decided in the final gap in the best season of the Spanish Racing Series.
🏁 I. THE DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
Sergio Ruiz Furious, champion (808 pts). Eight wins, eleven podiums, four poles, and an outrageous lead over second place. It's his second title after his heroic fight against the paladins in S36. He no longer chases the crown; he has it rented out like a summer beach house, since he won't be around to defend it.
Fab Man, runner-up (729 pts). Five wins, twelve podiums, and the Qualy championship with 146 points. He was the king of Saturday and the runner-up on Sunday. There are races won with a stopwatch and titles lost with a calendar.
Bruno Rodríguez, bronze (673 pts). Four wins, ten podiums, and 147 positions gained. He starts from the back with a
blockbuster calling, and at the end of the year, he takes the cup. A promising start for the recent Intercontinental three-time champion.
The great distribution. There were seven different winners: Ruiz, Fab Man, Bruno, Vasvo Lao (2), Romus Toras, Andrey (Юрий Клинских), and André Prov (1 each).
Lorena Portillo (4th, 561 pts) finished without a win, but with four podiums—being the second woman after Giacomina Leclerc to step on the podium—and an undisputed seat at the grown-ups' table.
Andrey (6th) was the biggest climber of the year, with 168 positions gained and an adaptation to the league that has surprised everyone.
Vasvo Lao was 3rd in Qualy (91 pts) and 10th in the championship: Saturday loves him more than Sunday, but Saturdays wanted the team crown.
The midfield pack. Calvo (11th), Nykiba (12th), Rui (13th), and Iceman (14th) led the middle class. The heir to Álvaro Molinelli's empire (Rui), the rebellious Sabassi, and Dionysis Kalamakis share the lead for fastest laps with three each. All three prove that the stopwatch doesn't look at the standings.
The substitutes and the absentees:
- Molinelli, S39 champion, appeared in four races (two without a setup) and left with 0 points. The shortest reign in history.
- Cesar García Roco (2 races), Marco Rodriguez (retiring from iGP), Di Meglio (Mr. Fines), and Greniuk (after writing The Holy Bible) left their cars mid-season.
- Nacho Peska, Dionysis Kalamakis, Ramonet Triki Trake, Tony Crowther, and Liandro Fernández joined mid-year. Dionysis and Ramonet stayed until the checkered flag, and Liandro signed a debut without a setup. Arriving late is still arriving.
- Aimar Pedreira and Lara Williams closed with 0 points, but they closed with dignity, which is why they have the Editorial Staff's respect.
🏭 II. THE WAR OF THE CONSTRUCTORS
Constructor points = overall + Qualy.
🥇 Williams Racing, 1937 pts: Champion (their first title in history)
- The Plot: The "Fab Four" from Grove traded their impact wrenches for electric guitars. With €105.11M of their €110.77M spent in the market, they put together a superband that never let go of the number one spot.
- The Verdict: Fab Man (875), Alan Campos (535), and Vasvo Lao (527) gave a masterclass in depth. Aimar remained on the drums, without tuning a single note. They won by 504 points.
- 🚩 The Emperor of OCD: Analytical, obsessive, with no possible improvisation. Result: 1937 points and not a single borrowed note.
🥈 CRT Competition, 1433 pts
- The Plot: A Cold War thriller featuring the debt collector. Lorena (617) and Andrey (548) are the elite agents, with Iceman (265) as the eternal captain.
- The Verdict: Runner-up with military consistency. Di Meglio left 3 points and €2.4M in fines for not changing the logo or color. He left the league, but the bill stayed in the garage. Despite having to rebuild the team and the fines, CRT continues to prove it's one of the best iGP schools in the entire world.
- 🚩 The HR Nightmare: To them, FIA warnings are mere suggestions. Their file already weighs more than a pack of cigarettes.
🥉 Ferrari, 1326 pts
- The Plot: A monastic order of a single prophet. Ruiz contributed a huge chunk of the team's points. Rui Acacio, Guevara, and Sabassi took a vow of silence (well, maybe not Sabassi).
- The Verdict: The best driver in the league and only the third-best team. And they closed with €22.42M unspent, the second-largest reserve in the championship. Rui has a very big hole to fill after inheriting one of the most iconic teams in iGP Manager, but his deep pockets will help.
- 🚩 The White-Collar Drama: Order and hierarchy, as long as one person is in charge. Ruiz gives the orders and the points obey.
4º Kimoa Racing F1 Team, 1239 pts
- The Plot: The gentlemen's Sunday domino club. Without making a fuss, with André Prov (569) and Valdi CT (458) taking care of the rubber like porcelain.
- The Verdict: Midway through the year, they were a breath away from bronze. In the end, they fell short because Chema (193) and Headley (19) couldn't complete the assault. Too many hares in The Turtle's team.
- 🚩 The Silent Ticking Time Bomb: They go unnoticed until things hit the fan. This time, the fuse was long.
5º SegoHispania Racing Team, 963 pts
- The Plot: The flash sale of the century. Marco Rodriguez sold to Titán Investment Agency and turned off his phone. The Persian rugs arrived, but the downforce didn't.
- The Verdict: Bruno carried almost the entire weight of the team and brought it up from 7th to 5th place since mid-season. A lone Titan with views of the sultanate captained by Aimar.
- 🚩 The Human Hologram: "A timely retreat is a victory." Marco must have thought something along those lines as he slipped out the back door...
6º Masía iGP Racing Team, 841 pts
- The Plot: FC Barcelona-style financial engineering. They mortgaged rights and took out loans to sweep the auction. Greniuk cost €45.13M and left halfway through the term with 158 points.
- The Verdict: Romus (645) led, but the 5th place from mid-year vanished. They closed with €128.74M spent, €1.41M left over, and €1.3M in sanctions. Goldman Sachs was right, but Antonio Pinillos' courage in his first 2D season earned him Red Bull's endorsement.
- 🚩 The Broke Optimist: Buys rounds of drinks to look rich and eats plain white rice all week.
7º Foxtrot GP, 698 pts
- The Plot: Moneyball with the lowest starting budget of the established teams. An ensemble cast between Nykiba (305), Calvo (310), Juan García (90), and Maidana.
- The Verdict: No one shone too brightly, no one fell off, and the grid respected them. Let's hope next season they focus more on the KERS than on YouTube.
- 🚩 The Psychological Terrorist: They eat popcorn while the chat burns, but they spent the season with the engine running.
8º Campos Racing F1, 486 pts
- The Plot: The most successful team in history (seven titles) finishes S40 like a sunken ocean liner with a full safe and a single podium. Cesar García, signed for €25M, got mad, held his breath, and is no longer inviting you to his birthday.
- The Verdict: €29.54M unspent, the biggest reserve on the grid, and dead last. Ezpeleta (185), Bongain (108), and Ortiz (95) bailed water. They need a revolution to climb the standings.
- 🚩 The Digital Retiree: Excel is the most stable relationship in their life, and this time it did them no good.
🏆 III. THE NANO CUP, FIRST EDITION
Bruno Rodríguez, first champion. After taking bronze in the World Championship, he gets his revenge in a head-to-head where comebacks finally count.
The league. Ruiz finished as the leader with 84 points and 11 wins.
Bruno (79) and
Romus (77) completed the podium.
Andrey (73) was 4th and the tournament's biggest climber with 11 positions.
Lorena also scored 73 points and 10 wins, finishing 5th.
The man who owes Ruiz one. Ruiz's only defeat in the league was against
Fab Man (matchday 2, Australia). He beat him again in the semifinals. Fab Man arrived 7th in the standings and took out Romus and Ruiz.
The playoffs. Lorena and André Prov passed without a scare.
Fab Man eliminated Rui.
Nykiba, 9th, knocked out Valdi CT, and bowed out in the quarterfinals against Andrey.
Quarterfinals and semifinals. Ruiz advanced past Lorena, Bruno past André, and in the semifinals, Bruno swept Andrey. The final was the historic
Bruno vs. Fab Man.
For the memory. Valdi CT (12 FLs) and
Rui (10) were the absolute kings of the stopwatch.
Fab Man achieved 11 best qualys. Greniuk, Di Meglio, Marco, and Molinelli left before the end, and Molinelli closed with 0 wins in the entire tournament.
🚩 EDITORIAL
At the start of the year, the teams received a psychological diagnosis. At the end of it, the standings confirm that almost everyone was right. Williams is the Emperor of OCD, Campos the Digital Retiree, and Masía the Broke Optimist. As for the Zetta Racing that didn't race, only the usual remains: they disappear from WhatsApp for months and return when they are needed, just like La Gacela Del Deporte.