ITCHOV BECOMES A CO-OWNER OF THE LEAGUE
Hristo Itchov has successfully acquired 50% of the ownership for the Bulgarian Racing League and starting from today is officially with a status co-owner of the league. The other 50% remain in the hands of Dimitar Dulichki, so now both of them are going to play the role of main administrators of the league, with equal rights.
All of that is done with the aim to help BRL prosper and to establish the league on the world simracing map. For that to happen, more efforts and reforms are necessary, which would have been difficult to accomplish by a single administrator.
With the assignment of Hristo to his new post, a couple of new projects have been given the green light, more information about which would be revealed in the near future.
We managed to take a short, but comprehensive interview from Itchov, related to those topics. Here is what he said in front of out reporters:
Hristo, your "career" in the Bulgarian Racing League began at the start of season 2012, when you decided to join in. Back then your intentions were to drive just a couple of races. Today, a year and a half later, you are a co-owner of the league and the only person, who hasn't missed a single start since your first race. What made you become so dedicated to the league?
- In 2012 it could be said that I "revealed" the existence of the Bulgarian simracing community, because prior to that, for one reason or another, I haven't stumbled upon native leagues. I decided to to try out BRL after a few people recommended it to me, under the presumption that the rF mod is good and that the people in it have a friendly disposition. The thing which eventually kept me going though, was the dedication of the league management, who were producing active materials around each race, which just proved to me the level of seriousness which BRL has, and which gave more meaning to taking the time and effort from myself in preparation for each race. Of course, the other main reason was the participation of people who I got to know better and who I got along with well, and also the interesting battles in the actual races.
In season 2012, because of your late arrival in the league (editor's note: the 6th round out of 15), you couldn't challenge more seriously for the title. Even so, the races you took part in were very competitive and, in my opinion, gave you a lot of experience. Do you think that season 2012 was sort of a preparation for even better results this season?
- Despite my late start in the 2012 championship, after a few wins I started to think about the title battle as well, but then 3 consecutive races with worse results, especially my retirement in GP of Germany and Belgium, put an end to my chances. Apart from that, I managed to accumulate useful experience related with the approach to racing with modern F1 cars, an experience which I lacked prior to that as far as rFactor is concerned, so that definitely helped me have a better start for this season.
Everyone define you as the absolute favorite for the title now, which is logical, considering you managed to win almost all races until this moment. If you manage to grab the title several races before the end of the season, are we going to see you take it easy in the remaining races or would it motivate you even more? In fact, do you consider yourself the 2013 champion even now? If you win the championship earlier, is beating league records going to be your main motivation until the rest of the season?
- As I've said before, I normally always drive with the same mindset, regardless of my chances in the championship. The thing that interests me the most, is maintaining a good level in each separate start, while points and my championship position are just a consequence of that.
This season, despite my strong start, turned out to be very competitive and my two main rivals - Mladenov and Pashov, managed to reach a very high level relatively quickly, which I guess is down to them getting to know and used to the mod. That brought them some dominant victories, and in some races they rather gifted me the win because of choosing a worse strategy or due to their own driving mistakes, even if they were actually quicker than me. I think it's too early to think about the title, considering there are many starts remaining and lots of points to be won or lost. My main motivation has never been beating records or even the title itself, so even if I win the title earlier in the season, I wouldn't change the way I drive, but perhaps the pressure on me would go down a bit and that would make it easier in the remaining starts.
The question which all our readers are asking is "what would Hristo Itchov bring to the league by joining the administration". What is your promise to them (editor's note: let's hope it's not a promise like the ones our politicians make :D ) ?
- I can't and I won't make promises, because there are always things that are out of our control, but as far as it depends on me personally, and which I think I've shown already, when I take on something I do it seriously and with dedication.
That, which I personally would like for the league, is for the necessary steps to be taken, so the manual labor by the administration is reduced to a minimum and as many things get automated, so we can all focus mainly on that which has brought us together here - the online racing itself. Another aim would be the expansion of the league outside the Bulgarian simracing arena, so we can increase the number of drivers who participate. As far as the mod is concerned, even though I'm satisfied with this year's, there is more that can be done to it in terms of realism, and also the possibility to add things like rainy weather, KERS and so on, so for 2014-a I hope to make serious improvements in that direction, as long as I have the time and opportunity.
Has it been discussed between yourself and Dulichki, to include more people who could help with the development of the league? If such candidates are to be considered, what would be the demands from them in order to be accepted?
- We're always open to new recruits in the organization and administration of the league, but for that we need people who we can count on, people who find their own motivation and desire to get involved, instead of always being pushed by others. At the present time, we haven't found such people yet and nobody has volunteered to join in, but we have a few individuals in mind for 2014, though it's too early to say whether they'll join in the administration or not. One of the positions which is always vacant and which always benefits from having more people is the Race Control group, which is responsible for reviewing races, managing submitted incident reports and applying the rulebook in the case of infractions, so if there are any candidates for that position, they can contact me or Dulichki at any time to discuss their eventual role in the RC.
Dimitar Dulichki also took a few moments to say something:
- It's not a coincidence that Hristo Itchov managed to achieve serious results in such short time, both on track and in the league management. I've always known that I can count on him for things that his knowledge, resources and spare time allow. We've discussed with him his eventual inclusion in the management back at the beginning of the season, when it became apparent that it's going to be difficult to deal with everything alone and that I would need additional help.
The merits for the league on his account are many. It's enough to mention that he provides the hosting of the website and forums, even though I can't aid him financially at the moment.
With Hristo Itchov in the "team" I think that the best days of the league are yet to come. I don't see any competition for us in Bulgaria and our aims go beyond our borders. We will try to bring the league up to a decent multinational level.
We accept people who can help develop the league at any time. We have some delays with the video and image materials, so some help in that respect would be welcome. My appeal is that if anyone plans to offer their help, please consider that carefully before joining in, because any casual and short-term desire would only interfere with the long-term stability in the league management.
07/09/2013 16:39
All of that is done with the aim to help BRL prosper and to establish the league on the world simracing map. For that to happen, more efforts and reforms are necessary, which would have been difficult to accomplish by a single administrator.
With the assignment of Hristo to his new post, a couple of new projects have been given the green light, more information about which would be revealed in the near future.
We managed to take a short, but comprehensive interview from Itchov, related to those topics. Here is what he said in front of out reporters:
Hristo, your "career" in the Bulgarian Racing League began at the start of season 2012, when you decided to join in. Back then your intentions were to drive just a couple of races. Today, a year and a half later, you are a co-owner of the league and the only person, who hasn't missed a single start since your first race. What made you become so dedicated to the league?
- In 2012 it could be said that I "revealed" the existence of the Bulgarian simracing community, because prior to that, for one reason or another, I haven't stumbled upon native leagues. I decided to to try out BRL after a few people recommended it to me, under the presumption that the rF mod is good and that the people in it have a friendly disposition. The thing which eventually kept me going though, was the dedication of the league management, who were producing active materials around each race, which just proved to me the level of seriousness which BRL has, and which gave more meaning to taking the time and effort from myself in preparation for each race. Of course, the other main reason was the participation of people who I got to know better and who I got along with well, and also the interesting battles in the actual races.
In season 2012, because of your late arrival in the league (editor's note: the 6th round out of 15), you couldn't challenge more seriously for the title. Even so, the races you took part in were very competitive and, in my opinion, gave you a lot of experience. Do you think that season 2012 was sort of a preparation for even better results this season?
- Despite my late start in the 2012 championship, after a few wins I started to think about the title battle as well, but then 3 consecutive races with worse results, especially my retirement in GP of Germany and Belgium, put an end to my chances. Apart from that, I managed to accumulate useful experience related with the approach to racing with modern F1 cars, an experience which I lacked prior to that as far as rFactor is concerned, so that definitely helped me have a better start for this season.
Everyone define you as the absolute favorite for the title now, which is logical, considering you managed to win almost all races until this moment. If you manage to grab the title several races before the end of the season, are we going to see you take it easy in the remaining races or would it motivate you even more? In fact, do you consider yourself the 2013 champion even now? If you win the championship earlier, is beating league records going to be your main motivation until the rest of the season?
- As I've said before, I normally always drive with the same mindset, regardless of my chances in the championship. The thing that interests me the most, is maintaining a good level in each separate start, while points and my championship position are just a consequence of that.
This season, despite my strong start, turned out to be very competitive and my two main rivals - Mladenov and Pashov, managed to reach a very high level relatively quickly, which I guess is down to them getting to know and used to the mod. That brought them some dominant victories, and in some races they rather gifted me the win because of choosing a worse strategy or due to their own driving mistakes, even if they were actually quicker than me. I think it's too early to think about the title, considering there are many starts remaining and lots of points to be won or lost. My main motivation has never been beating records or even the title itself, so even if I win the title earlier in the season, I wouldn't change the way I drive, but perhaps the pressure on me would go down a bit and that would make it easier in the remaining starts.
The question which all our readers are asking is "what would Hristo Itchov bring to the league by joining the administration". What is your promise to them (editor's note: let's hope it's not a promise like the ones our politicians make :D ) ?
- I can't and I won't make promises, because there are always things that are out of our control, but as far as it depends on me personally, and which I think I've shown already, when I take on something I do it seriously and with dedication.
That, which I personally would like for the league, is for the necessary steps to be taken, so the manual labor by the administration is reduced to a minimum and as many things get automated, so we can all focus mainly on that which has brought us together here - the online racing itself. Another aim would be the expansion of the league outside the Bulgarian simracing arena, so we can increase the number of drivers who participate. As far as the mod is concerned, even though I'm satisfied with this year's, there is more that can be done to it in terms of realism, and also the possibility to add things like rainy weather, KERS and so on, so for 2014-a I hope to make serious improvements in that direction, as long as I have the time and opportunity.
Has it been discussed between yourself and Dulichki, to include more people who could help with the development of the league? If such candidates are to be considered, what would be the demands from them in order to be accepted?
- We're always open to new recruits in the organization and administration of the league, but for that we need people who we can count on, people who find their own motivation and desire to get involved, instead of always being pushed by others. At the present time, we haven't found such people yet and nobody has volunteered to join in, but we have a few individuals in mind for 2014, though it's too early to say whether they'll join in the administration or not. One of the positions which is always vacant and which always benefits from having more people is the Race Control group, which is responsible for reviewing races, managing submitted incident reports and applying the rulebook in the case of infractions, so if there are any candidates for that position, they can contact me or Dulichki at any time to discuss their eventual role in the RC.
Dimitar Dulichki also took a few moments to say something:
- It's not a coincidence that Hristo Itchov managed to achieve serious results in such short time, both on track and in the league management. I've always known that I can count on him for things that his knowledge, resources and spare time allow. We've discussed with him his eventual inclusion in the management back at the beginning of the season, when it became apparent that it's going to be difficult to deal with everything alone and that I would need additional help.
The merits for the league on his account are many. It's enough to mention that he provides the hosting of the website and forums, even though I can't aid him financially at the moment.
With Hristo Itchov in the "team" I think that the best days of the league are yet to come. I don't see any competition for us in Bulgaria and our aims go beyond our borders. We will try to bring the league up to a decent multinational level.
We accept people who can help develop the league at any time. We have some delays with the video and image materials, so some help in that respect would be welcome. My appeal is that if anyone plans to offer their help, please consider that carefully before joining in, because any casual and short-term desire would only interfere with the long-term stability in the league management.
07/09/2013 16:39