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Champion of S3. The interview with Jakub Charkot

02.06.2019

A small chat with our champion, about the season, preparations and few other things.

ROS: First of all, congratulations for not only winning the final race at Bathurst, but also for superb performance across the entire season. Most of all though congratulations for securing your Republic of Simracers Season 3 title with pretty good lead. Tell us, how it went and how to be a champion with such dominant performance?
 
J.Ch.: Thanks. Overall my lead wasn't particularly large. After unlucky Spa I've lost the lead in general standings. My main rival - Kubami did a good job and I knew I had to push hard to finish the races ahead of him.
 
ROS: How about your car? Would you pick it again? Was it causing any problems?
 
J.Ch.: At the beginning of the season I've chosen Mercedes AMG GT3, but after cancelled Silverstone I've switched to Lamborghini at the last moment before car changing window was due to close. I knew it better and it allowed me to extract the most of it without fiddling too much with the setups.
 
ROS: Speaking of setups - we're all interested how do you prepare them? Do you have a race engineer?
 
J.Ch.: Yes, I have engineering team at Feeder Ragnar Simulator which I'm member of. Preparations to next race were starting on Wednesdays, right after finished race. Just kidding - on a serious note I'm setting up my car myself, using my instincts. I'm not using tools like MoTec or apps within Assetto as from my experience often "correct" settings are not the fastest. I have a library of older setups for GT3 cars from previous leagues, I've only updated them with gear ratios, aero settings, tire pressures, cambers and in case of few tracks - ride heights.
 
ROS: What happened at Spa (disconnect and recovery through the field) must have been quite a surprise to you and must have added to the pressure. How did you cope with it and what allows you to maintain such concentration levels during the entire race duration? Was Spa your worst S3 race?
 
J.Ch.: To be honest it wasn't a real blow to me. Things like that can happen and it's out of our hands. After reconnecting to the server I did what I could and despite I've finished at 20th place it was still one of most entertaining races this season. The worst was definitely Brands Hatch, where I've lost the win by ignoring yellow flag. When on a lead, having safe gap to the second I should have taken it easier and give myself more time and space to go around a car standing across the track after a blind corner. Own errors are the worst, especially those simple and unforced. After repairs in pits I took a good fight for a third and I can say that it was one of the most difficult podiums won for a long time.
 
ROS: Simracing is still not quite a mainstream, but it's getting more popular (and we're trying to help it to grow). I've seen your result from first round of SRO E-Sport GT qualifying, which puts you in top 5. Do you feel that such results and taking part in such events are leading you to a proper esport career or even real motor racing?
 
J.Ch.: I'm taking part in such events to try myself against fastest in the world. I'm not sure if it leads me to something new in my life. It definitely helps me spread my name. This is how I'm driving for my current team. With regards to the real racing - that's completely different. Of course, I'd love to test myself behind the wheel of real racing car, but whether I'd feel as comfortable as before computer screen is a complete unknown.
Finally, I wanted to thank all drivers, my rivals and all ROS for this great season.
 
ROS: We're also thanking you and hope to see you in next seasons!
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