2020 ESPLAR Elite Series Season

Logo used for the 2020 ESPLAR Elite Series

The **2020 ESPLAR Elite Series** is the 47th and current season of the top class of the Evanshire Super-Pro League of Auto Racing. It will continue to begin at the Round of Florida at Pensacola Speedway and will end with the Evanshire 700 at Camberwell Raceway in Evanshire.

The series will continue to be hosted by **Lean Campana a.k.a. Lean278.**

## Signed Teams and Drivers

The following teams and drivers are confirmed to compete in the **2020 ESPLAR Elite Series**. Italics denote a rookie. Asterisks indicate a new team.

* ESPLAR Lites teams Andersson Racing, Lopez Racing Development, and the renamed FunnyCar Racing team joined ESPLAR Elite Series this season.
* Well-renowned ETCC team Krebs Engineering left that series to join ESPLAR in 2020. Previously Tim Böll raced in 2019 ETCC with Joacim Lötvall (also with Krebs Engineering), but Lötvall defected to MTEK when that team moved to ESPLAR.
* Mylo-Kerrivan Motorsports driver Steven Thompson left the team to bring his ESPLAR Tier 3 Sky Slicer Motorsports to the series.
* Following controversy regarding Armeniasport's management being too hostile to their Azeri counterpart, Azeri Motorsports, their entire management was let go and were banned from ESPLAR. Both Armeniasport and Azeri Motorsports merged to form Caspian Racing, as a partnership to increase ties between Armenia and Azerbaijan, once fierce rivals on the track.
* Ferrari bought the remains of Turvali-Koralia Racing (TKR) over the 2019 ESPLAR Summer Break. They kept Kailan Tuornin and managed to convince 2016 ESPLAR Elite Series champion Lean Campana to move from Mercedes over to Ferrari. This move ends Campana's 5 year stint with a Mercedes team in either ESPLAR or the IFMC leagues.
* Following his failure to secure a Mercedes drive for 2020 Formula NX, Evan Byrne brought his ETCC team Horizon Autosport to ESPLAR, hoping that he can return to one of the IFRC leagues for 2021.
* Originally, Zorbach Motorsports was going to be a Toyota team, joining the likes of FunnyCar Racing and the Toyota-endorsed Greater Kanto Motorsports team. However, Toyota themselves decided to exclusively support Greater Kanto Motorsports leaving both FunnyCar Racing and Zorbach Motorsports to develop their cars without manufacturer endorsement. To make things worse, their cars suddenly disappeared (or were impounded) while in the United Arab Emirates trying to make their way to the team factory. Left with no options, Zorbach Motorsports became a Mercedes team.

Driver Changes

* Halvan Nazarov decided to drive for Caterham in Formula NX. His replacement is reigning ETCC champion Emiel Drumaek.
* Both Lukas Johansen and Kevin Jackson retired. Their replacements are Colin Kirklin and Samuel Troy, respectively. Both drove in the ESPLAR Lites last season for the same team.
* Enar Selnimarov retired from the series. Nazar Varotian decided not to race this season.
* Yoshihiro Ishikawa moved to Formula Supercar; his replacement is 2019 ESPLAR Lites runner-up Miyoko Uemura.
* Luxis Rothenburg decided to drive for Caterham in Formula NX. His replacement is 2019 ESPLAR Lites driver Kevin Ulrich, Jr.
* Mittyia Hala signed for Force India in 2020 Formula Sigma while Anar Dara went to WEC. Their replacements are Ricky Cooper and Damian Blue, respectively.

## Preseason Changes

* The 2020 ESPLAR Elite Series Season marks the first year of Arktene's AI Navigational Systems that will help reduce the number of mechanical failures as well as help increase the intensity of racing in the series. For 2020 Arktene will manufacture and program all cars' navigational systems but the company will allow all teams to develop their AI systems independently in 2021. The changes were spearheaded by both Greater Kanto Motorsports and Saihara Motorsports in the aftermath of several high-profile attrition-filled races over the past 4 seasons and both teams finally had enough, convincing ESPLAR fans to support the change.
* ESPLAR officially switches to algae biofuel for their cars this season after a trial period in 2019 using super-efficient ethanol. Florida-based Algenol and Altruras-based Misara Energies will partner together for this effort for 2020, with Misara producing most of the biofuel developed by Algenol for use in ESPLAR. This contract between the two companies will last for the entire year before Misara will be left on their own to develop zero-emissions fuel for ESPLAR, including experimental "photobiological solar fuel" that is currently being developed by Misara themselves. Once finished, if before the ESPLAR summer break, Misara will present their findings to ESPLAR fans at the annual Tyleiden Car Show, and if approved by both fans and the ESPLAR management, they will be implemented as early as 2021. Misara has built experimental solar fuel test facilities in Laronia, and once they get the go-ahead (from both US Patent/Trademark Office and Altruras Department of Energy) the company plans to open at least 80 production facilities over the 6 months.
	+ This change will mean ESPLAR will have to exclusively ship over all of its biofuel to all of their racing venues. Fortunately these plans were already in place by the 2020 season.
	+ Normally this change will result in higher costs for teams, but the costs are already covered by ESPLAR fans committed to see a green-energy racing series (since an ESPLAR equivalent of Formula E doesn't exist yet)
* Goodyear will be the tyre supplier for ESPLAR for the final season as Japan-based FALKEN Tire will be the series' tyre supplier starting from 2021. This change is implemented for all ESPLAR-based series. Also for this season Goodyear will 4 classifications of dry tires - ultrasoft, soft, medium, and hard alongside the intermediates, wets and monsoon tyres.

## Season Calendar

ESPLAR Elite Series contests the following rounds in the 2020 season.

(Italics indicate double header due to lack of pit stalls)

There are more night races (Pensacola, Hammerfest, North Carolina, Rockport,Texas, New York, UAE) than last season.

* Middle Georgia Motor Speedway moved to the 2nd race of the season, replacing Carbondale which has been a EES race since 1980.
* Charlotte Motor Speedway takes over the North Carolina spot after Orange County Speedway in the Research Triangle could not fit all cars in the race. It is also the 3rd race of the season.
* Brands Hatch returns for the Round of England after undergoing renovation.
* Dortmund Regional Circuit in North Rhine-Westphalia replaces Eurospeedway Lausitz as a track for the Round of Germany after negotiations failed with it, Hockenheim and Nurburgring to host a race for 2020.
* Round of Norway moves to the Spring.
* Cape Cod takes over from Rhode Island and is renamed the New England Grand Prix.
* Major changes abound for the latter half of the first portion of the season.
* Texas is moved to after Morban.
* The 2 Australian tracks are Mount Panorama and Surfer's Paradise.
* There is a 2nd Japanese race venue in Okayama.
* Philippines returns to the calendar.
* As Decatur undergoes important safety and renovation work Chicago Motor Speedway in Cicero takes its semifinal spot for the time-being.

## Trivia

* Katya Alarcon's #27 draws heavy inspiration from ARCSOA's Reddit-Davis Racing Team, in fact Reddit is Alarcon's main sponsor instead of Target this season after the latter decided to not extend their contract with Greater Kanto Motorsports. It is also mainly Green livery, although that drew some criticism from drivers such as Julius Andersson.
* Since McLaren-Mercedes opted to have Julius Andersson as their test driver in Formula NX, his livery is very similar to last season's with additional Mercedes-backed sponsorship.
* Ethan Keiderman (WEC driver) was not in Lean278's ESPLAR OC list, however since he opted to add any character he can to ESPLAR, Ethan was added in at the last minute, to be Ferrari's EES Test Driver.