Christel VXR

Christel VXR, also known as Christel, is a British GPGSL racing team. It was founded by team owner Chris Copeman. The team entered the GPGSL in Season 6, replacing ItalianEnglish Dynamics. It stayed in the series until Season 8, and after some years of negotiation the team came back in Season 12 replacing one-time champions Martini Paddock Racing.

Season 6
Christel VXR entered the GPGSL in season 6. The team was owned by Captinfranko (Chris Copeman) and used Bridgestone tyres and VXR branded Vauxhall engines. The team pulled out of the league at the end of Season and the majority of the assets were liquidated. The parent company ran a skeleton staff before reforming for an assault on the GPGSL as of seson 12.

Sponsorship and corporate links
The team was heavily linked with other branches of the Christel brand such as Christel Doctor Who and title sponsorship was provided jointly by Apple Computers and Coca-Cola. As a result of signing Juliano Muller for Season 6 the team also featured Petrobras sponsorship on the cars.

Drivers
The Christel VXR team lineup for season 6 featured two race drivers with little race experience. Chris Copeman made it clear from the start that the team was focussed on bringing through young and upcoming talents and signalled this intention with the signing of GPGSL debutant Mirko Vukcevic as a test driver for the teams first season. To aid his development before his first full season as a test driver Vukcevic was loaned out to Snake Motorsports for the remainder of Season 5 of the GPGSL.

Juliano Muller and Jack Elleker would be the teams race drivers for its full season of the GPGSL. The two drivers were no strangers to each other, having worked together previously as test drivers at Alpha racing. Copeman neglected to take the remaining test seat at the team and instead elected to stay on as a test driver at Van Smirren racing for season 6. Van Smirren team boss Rico Van Smirren will move in the other direction and become the teams second test driver.

Below is the teams full driver lineup for season 6...

Race Driver 1 - Jack Elleker

Race Driver 2 - Juliano Muller

Test Driver 1 - Connor Steer

Test Driver 2 - Ricardo van Smirren

Juliano Muller parted company with the team through mutual consent after the Atlantic Grand Prix. Connor Steer filled in as a race driver for the rest of the season. It was at this same grand prix weekend that team boss Chris Copeman announced that Michael Pedersen would be driving for the team in season 7 and would be partnered by Jack Elleker, who had agreed another year extension to his racing contract.

Below is the teams full driver lineup for season 7...

Race Driver 1 - Michael Pedersen

Race Driver 2 - Jack Elleker

Test Driver 1 - Connor Steer

Test Driver 2 - Gary Spencer

Car
Chris Copeman had already confirmed that the teams first car would be powered by VXR branded Vauxhall power-plants and the chassis would be named the CVXR001. The car had an initial shakedown at the hands of Chris Copeman in a private session shortly after it was announced that the team would be entering the GPGSL in season 6.

Season 7
In November of 2011 the team launched its second GPGSL car the CVXR02. The car was designed and built using the Snake Motorsports SMD-ZG02 chassis and featured a radical new "coke-explosion" livery which was widely praised by other members of the GPGSL community. Upon launch of the car Copeman said that he was still in negotiation to sign a second test driver and would have to look at other options if nothing came on his secretive ongoing talks.

Whilst refusing to set a season target for the Christel squad in its first season in the GPGSL Copeman came straight out of the blocks and said that for the second season he wanted to the team to aim high and achieve its first race victory, an aim echoed by Michael Pedersen who also commented that he wanted "race wins" this year.

With a number of strong performances throughout the season by the time the San Marino Grand Prix had been run at Imola Copeman had already confirmed that all four drivers would stay on for season 8 of the series. As of the San Marino round the team sat fifth in the Constructors with three podium finished to its name. Copeman said that the main aim was to win a race.

Season 8


Race Driver 1 - Michael Pedersen

Race Driver 2 - Jack Elleker

Test Driver 1 - Greg O'Brien

Test Driver 2 - Chris Copeman

During the winter break both Gary Spencer and Connor Steer were drafted into race seats at other teams. This meant that Copeman himself took up one of the test seats at the team and signed rookie Greg O'Brien to test in the other seat.

The season did not live up to the heady standards of season 7 and the team finished 10th of 11 teams, matching their season 6 result. Even though the team signed a lucrative engine deal with Audi for season 9 Chris Copeman pulled the sqaud from the league at the end of the season citing a lack of ability to commit to the series and a desire to (re)start his driving career. This led to the team being broken up and Copeman signing the new JHR squad.

Although the team and all of its personell had now been broken up the parent company of what was Christel VXR still operated a skeleton staff from the teams Norfolk base which they have affectionately christened "the Hub." during this downtime rumours often suggested that they may be developing a new power plant to possibly supply to GPGSL teams in the future, although these plans were vermently denied. the only point of note being that paperwork was leaked from the site with a new logo and insignia for something referred to only as "3C Racing".

Copeman himself moved from team to team in testing roles before settling at MAC racing and ending up racing for two seasons alongside former Christel VXR driver Michael Pedersen.

Season 12
With the MPR folding midway through season 11 the team took up the option to reinstate the Christel name to the grid for Season 12. The official announcement was made in March of 2018 and on March 6th Copeman confirmed that talks about bringing the team back to the grid had gotten underway. He spoke of a feeling of ‘unfinished business’ with team management and that that was where his passion truly lay. This announicemeant went hand-in-hand with the confirmation that he hadmkutually terminated his driving contract with MAC Racing.

Complete GrandPrixGames Super League Results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap; underlined races indicate most places gained)