With the inaugural season of the DRLxNES GT championship upon us, I sat down and asked Carbon and Zokeo about the merger and what we could expect. Here’s what they had to say...
What brought about the DRL/NES merger?
Carbon: After some deliberating, I felt that it was time to take the next step with DRL and a collaboration with NES, and my good friend Zokeo, was the perfect fit.
Zokeo: Carbon approached me with the idea as a way to help relaunch DRL as the planned series seemed to have been stuck in a delay for a couple of months. I pitched a few concepts to him and it started to take off from there.
What can we expect from this merger as far as GT racing goes?
Carbon: We can expect a lot of brilliant action throughout. The experience both leagues bring and the amazing response from the community really bodes well for the series.
Zokeo: Well, with the merge, we are looking forward to a somewhat fresh start and some good racing to go along with as we’ve seen the GT3 category provide for years in both the real world and virtual world. Our aim is to combine the positives from both sides of the collaboration.
How will it differ, if at all, from the DRL GT and the NES GT events?
Carbon: Apart from the format change, I don’t really think it will differ much. The recent DRL and NES seasons have been successes. Hopefully the form can continue, and who knows, it may lead to more series down the line.
Zokeo: The one thing I’m looking forward to the most is the utilization of our new “Tour” system. The championships are now split between the European rounds and the Americas/Asia rounds, both of which also have a combined championship to create the World Tour standings. It gives the possibility for three different championships all in the span of an eight race season.
I’d like to thank both Carbon and Zokeo for taking the time to answer these questions. Looking forward to racing with you gentlemen this weekend and hopefully I don’t see you coming around to lap me too soon.