Alpha Racing Team, also known as Alpha or by its abbreviation ART, is a Dutch former GPGSL racing team. It was founded by team owner Stefan van Renselaar. The team entered the GPGSL in Season 5, after buying out Alpha Motorsports. It stayed in the series until Season 7 and was ready to participate in Season 8 when it folded suddenly.
Racing History
Edit
Season 5Edit
Team owner Stefan van Renselaar bought the structures and spot of Alpha Motorsports at the end of Season 4 following a change of rules in the GPGSL. In Season 5 ART was powered by Ford engines and Bridgestone tyres, a combination that would remain until their exit of the series. Main drivers were former Alpha Motorsports' Alexandre Koemmerer and Van Smirren Motorsports' young driver Charrel Jalving, while rookie Juliano Muller and Alphas' Jack Elleker were the test drivers. The team got two podiums in the season, the first a 3rd place with Koemmerer at the Japanese Grand Prix and later a 2nd place with Jalving at the United Arab Emirates Grand Prix, in the end of the season Elleker switched to Team Shadow and Van Renselaar took over test duties for the last rounds. ART finished the season with a good 6th place in the constructors championship, tied in points with True North Racing.
Season 6Edit
For Season 6 ART suffered with the loss of all their season 5 drivers, Koemmerer retired, Jalving was signed by Martini Paddock Racing while Muller booked a race seat at Christel VXR, with this the team decided to sign Van Smirren Motorsports's former driver John Maverick and Rodrigo Vilela who impressed with ScalaGP in season 5. Van Renselaar returned as one of the test drivers, joined by rookie Carlos Rodríguez. The pace of the car improved when compared to the first year and they scored six podiums through the season, with Maverick winning the German Grand Prix, ART would finish the season with a good 4th place in the championship, while Maverick finished also in 4th place at the drivers championship, and Rodriguez showed some bright moments when testing the car.
Season 7Edit
ART suffered once again with MPR signing another of their drivers, this time Maverick, Rodriguez was promoted to a race seat and would start alongside fellow south american Vilela, Jake Legge joined Van Renselaar as the test drivers, and for the last two rounds rookie Dominic Brunner replaced the team owner as one of the test drives. Vilela scored a podium with the 2nd place at the Gold Coast Grand Prix, but Rodriguez didn't performed very well, and the car lacked pace at the end of the season, the team dropped to 7th place in the constructors championship and had their worst season ever.
Despite being announced as one of the teams for Season 8, Van Renselaar decided to close ART without any warnings, what took the league by surprise.
Complete GrandPrixGames Super League resultsEdit
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap; underlined races indicate most places gained)
| Season | Chassis | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | SMD-ZG01 | Ford | B | AUS | FRA | JPN | BEL | ESP | BRA | GER | NED | EUR | ITA | CAN | UAE | PAC | USA | MON | TUR | GBR | 122 | 6th | |
 Alexandre Koemmerer
| 9 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 14 | Ret | Ret | 4 | 20 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 14 | 21 | ||||||
 Charrel Jalving
| 14 | 17 | 7 | 11 | 15 | 16 | 6 | 11 | 9 | 18 | 20 | 2 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 9 | ||||||
| 6 | SMD-ZG01 | Ford | B | AUS | ITA | CAN | HUN | USA | NED | SMR | GER | JPN | SAM | ATL | AUT | MON | FRA | BEL | BRA | GBR | 154 | 4th | |
 John Maverick
| 10 | Ret | 2 | 2 | Ret | 11 | 8 | 1 | 17 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 4 | Ret | 7 | Ret | 21 | ||||||
 Rodrigo Vilela
| 8 | 9 | 12 | 6 | Ret | 2 | 13 | 17 | 2 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 4 | Ret | 9 | ||||||
| 7 | SMD-ZG02 | Ford | B | AUS | GCO | JPN | CAN | USA | FRA | NED | BEL | SUI | ITA | SMR | BRA | OCE | AUT | HUN | GER | GBR | 91 | 7th | |
 Carlos Rodríguez
| 11 | 8 | 13 | 15 | Ret | 12 | 20 | Ret | 20 | 4 | 18 | 21 | 4 | 20 | 12 | Ret | 14 | ||||||
| Rodrigo Vilela
| 16 | 2 | 6 | 21 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 13 | Ret | 5 | Ret | 11 | 11 | 20 | 12 |
