If there’s one thing 3 glorious years of Flag-to-Flag has shown it’s that Rhobium is rarely, if ever, away from the top step of the podium. His infuriating ability to rock up with minimal practice and win while casually eating and talking is bordering on legendary.
That said, the move to Assetto Corsa has brought with it a torrent of new drivers as well as re-invigorating veteran Flag-to-Flag racers. Most would agree that his position as the dominant force has never looked more under threat than it does right now.
I had a chat with Rob to get his assessment of his championship rivals and put to bed a few questions that have been bugging me for a while.
Despite your tender years, you’ve been around the block a bit. What do you think of the state of things with Assetto Corsa compared to the glory days of Codemasters?
To say Codemasters had glory days is quite a stretch in my era! Assetto Corsa is a big step up for me, being the first sim racer I’ve played competitively beyond a few dabbles with ISI games. It still needs some work, but the overall racing experience is on a whole different level to the F1 201x games I cut my teeth in.
My fellow Flag-to-Flag co-founders also deserve a lot of thanks for having faith in my enthusiasm to embark on this Assetto Corsa project. It’s paying dividends so far ;)
In the old days you had little in the way of competition. Mystro gave you a run for your money every now and then – but the likes of Remco and F1dave seem to be easily on your level. Do you think you can beat them consistently enough to win the championship?
It’ll be tough, there’s no doubting it. My raw pace is probably no match for Remco’s, and the likes of F1Dave, include and Airlink are up there too. So I’m relying on race craft and consistency – having fewer incidents and mistakes over the 45 minutes is my aim. It’s going better than I expected so far!
Nevertheless, tougher competition makes the championship more fun for everyone. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
And if metronomic consistency doesn’t work, you can always punt them off in the final corner. Right? ;)
Hey, you’re were supposed to keep that one quiet! Can’t be having any of this ‘push him out’ nonsense in our league :P
Typical #1 driver attitude. Anyway – to put you on the spot; Give me your prediction for the top 5 championship places.
Ooh, tough one. Here goes…
1. Remco Majoor
2. Rhobium
3. Raven
4. include76
5. F1Dave
Alright, Quick fire round
> Spa or Silverstone?
Spa.> Hamilton or Alonso?
I’m not a fan of either, but Alonso.> MinedPolecat34 or Yuckierdragon?
Yuck!> Leslie or death?
Can I abstain?
In true Jerry Springer Style – do you have any final thoughts?
I’ve been more than delighted with how our Assetto Corsa league has gone so far. The enthusiasm and behaviour of our drivers, from new guys to FtF veterans, has been far beyond anything I expected. We owe a lot of our success to every one of our members – you make all our efforts worthwhile, and long may it continue!
Cheers, Rhobium!