Bitten Heroes Grand Prix Engineering
| Full Name | Bitten Heroes Grand Prix Engineering |
|---|---|
| Base | Brax, Lisander |
| Team Principal | Juliano Lemos |
| Technical Director | Carolina Lasseps |
| Founder | Natassia Maud |
| Current Lineup | Darius Castellamare (WGPC) Anneliese Devereux (WGPC) Athan Lille (WGP2) Mor Holstein (WSRC) Lukas Horsch (IOWCC) Lianna Rasianoara (IOWCC) |
| Former Drivers | Juliano Lemos (WGPC) Lourdina Westgrens (WGPC) |
Bitten Heroes Grand Prix Engineering, often shortened to Bitten Heroes GPE or Bitten Heroes, is a racing team based on the outskirts of Brax, Lisander. It was founded before WGPC 15 by Maud Racing team owner, Natássia Maud, but today is headed up by Juliano Lemos and Carolina Lasseps, at sporting and technical divisions respectively. Bitten Heroes have a long-standing and close relationship with Lisander Autosports Board and Motorsport Lisander, being the sole WGPO license holder until WGPC 25.
On the verge of bankruptcy due to the involvement of its sponsors in a corruption scandal, Bitten Heroes GPE was sold by Mrs Maud to the then team driver, Juliano Lemos, at the end of WGPC season 16. Since then, the team has gone on to lease its WGPO licenses, as well as licensing the naming rights of the team to some teams in other series. After two years developing an academy and leasing the Bitten Heroes WGPO license, L3 Partners bought X-PRO, formerly a joint-venture between car manufacturers Camden and Cygnus (later Dunneot). With this purchase, Bitten Heroes GPE expanded its operations beyond its own cars, becoming responsible for the building of single-seaters for Lisanderian teams in minor categories, like IOWCC and IBA World Cup of Motorsport.
Leasing and constructing ended up being the biggest sources of income for the team, before the sale of almost half of it to HRMN Capital, a private investment firm that owns companies in technology, transports and materials. Bitten Heroes GPE is currently co-owned by L3 Partners srl (50.4%) and HRMN Capital (49.6%). Further transference of shareholder control is expected to take place, and it is expected that Lemos will stop accumulating the position of President as well, remaining perhaps as a minority owner, or even as owner only through HRMN Capital.
Currently, Bitten Heroes GPE is entering a Team Azhaar Pro Racing motorsports team in the International Open Wheel Car Championship.
History
WGPC 15: First Season and the Timorian Revolt
Bitten Heroes GPE was founded by Natassia Maud, owner of Maud Racing, then a Lisanderian Formula 3 team (at the time, there was no WGP2), with the support of Seigen Mikado and Andrea Lanza. The team decided to go small as a privateer, selecting Juliano Lemos as the second driver and scouting a pay-driver for the first spot. After the first test, Maud discovered Seigen had all probable drivers dismissed and was trying to bring Hodoran driver Sayono Souzare, whose style was similar to the driving style of his daughter, Shizuko. Seigen was fired and Maud signed up a last-minute contract with WET Motors, from West-East Timor. WET brought enough money to cover the remaining season costs and Mick Schramm as the first driver.
However, did not take long to Maud to notice Mick Schramm was a level below her own driver. The timorian was worse than Lemos in the first half, and then surfaced rumours that WET Motors engineers had stolen Bitten Heroes technology for a future WET Motors WGPC16 challenger. At that moment, a clear split appeared in the team. WET Motors, represented by Maximilian Garnold, Schramm's head engineer pushed the fact of Bitten Heroes wouldn't have money to finish the season if they hadn't joined, while Maud countered with the fact that WET had promised the best driver of their nation, and probably, that was not Schramm. Amid this crisis, Juliano Lemos had a win, two pole-positions, some emotional and familiar issues and finished the season in 4th place. Schramm recovered a little and finished in the Top 10.
The future was quite promising. Bitten Heroes had secured a nice number of possibilities for the following months. Lemos would join Arada team in Formula Hodori for a season. His bride, Ludwika Wiel, would helm the team in e-GP and Bitten Heroes would provide support for Team Ignis, a WGP2 Team.
WGPC 16: Collapse
A strange and ominous silence fell over Bitten Heroes in the start of WGPC Season 16. The Lisanderian team cancelled the tests soon before the event. The team never presented the second driver in the preseason. The first race in Eastfield Lodge, no second driver appeared and the car was incredibly pale. Media couldn't understand what's happening before an elaborate and kind of macabre ceremony happened days after. Due to the discovery of a corruption scheme involving the main sponsor of the team, Andrew Westgrens, the team had no money to fund a full team. Most of their money had was confiscated, their sponsors had fled, their assets were inaccessible and what they still had was in pawn after Eastfield Lodge Grand Prix. The team had been thrown into the eye of the hurricane of one of the largest police investigations into corruption in Lisander's history. It seemed that Lisander government opened bids for the construction of public buildings and monuments. These bids were not advertised, and so the company indicated by a political was always the winner, offering the contract for a price up to 70% higher than estimated for the construction. This surplus was then divided as a bribe between the secretary's businesses and the indicated company. Westgrens Builders, one of these companies, used this bribe money to sponsor Bitten Heroes, thus launder money.
What remained after Bitten Heroes collapse was only made available to drivers after getting princely lenience, yet, Bitten Heroes still had to deal with a passive corruption lawsuit. With the finances in tatters, Bitten Heroes only got a new contract right before the Grand Prix de Lisander, a value that barely made to finish the season, but with the team stripped of anything that wasn't deemed essential. The forced savings made team results plummet. From the team that scored points in all but two rounds of WGPC 15, almost nothing remained, it was a 180º, and Bitten Heroes only scored in two races.
The worst was the effect in the drivers. Both Juliano Lemos and Lourdina Westgrens had been diagnosed with depression. In the end, no one had the minimum condition to keep the team running, but Lemos made an effort, buying the team in partnership with his bride Ludwika Wiel and Lourdina Westgrens. He set up a limited liability company named L3 Partners and bought Bitten Heroes GPE for a symbolic price of 5 Lis. Later that year, possibly due to public commotion generated, Bitten Heroes GPE was acquitted of all accusations of passive corruption and all assets were returned.
WGP2 II: Superia Juniors
Bitten Heroes were back to square one again. Unable to field and fund a WGPC team, and with its own mental health being an issue, Lemos decided to give one last try at racing before retiring properly.It would also allow them to buffer a little money for the future. Bitten Heroes Academy was created, fielding two teams in lower categories. For WGP2, the team took the place that Maud had leased for Team Ignis in the previous season, with a respectable financial payment by Camden. In exchange for the support, Lemos leased the WGPC license for Camden for one season. Obviously, after the traumatic WGPC 16 season, Lemos quality wasn't the same anymore, so through the season, he went from first to second driver, giving space for the rise of Darius Castellammare, a Camden-contracted driver in preparation for the following WGPC.
Formula Endurance: HEROES Academy
Lourdina Westgrens made a different way, going to Hodori's based Formula Endurance. Athen Lille, a young driver from Maud Racing, was selected as her partner. The duo had some good results and Lille himself amassed two wins and three pole-positions. Apart from those results, the team wasn't good enough to keep a consistent pace and Lille had three DNFs in the last three races.
WGP2 III: Bitten Heroes Academy
Complete WGPC Results
WIP. Results in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap
| Season | Chassis | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WGPC 15 | KB 01 | X-PRO 001 | Ajator | AEL | EFL | SJG | LIS | HDR | MTJ | NEK | ALH | TUR | ABL | KRY | VIL | AUD | 138 | 4th | ||||||
| 8 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | DNF | 8 | 1 | DNF | 9 | DNF | 2 | |||||||||||||
| West-East Timor Mick Schramm | 23 | 8 | DNF | 2 | 13 | DNF | DNF | 5 | DNF | 3 | 13 | DNF | ||||||||||||
| WGPC 16 | KB02 | X-PRO 002 | Ajator | TAE | SAV | HDR | ANM | EFL | NIM | VIL | VLK | ABL | LIS | NEK | VAN | MTJ | TKI | ESM | WET | TUR | AUD | 12 | 13th | |
| 9 | 14 | 14 | DNF | 15 | DNF | 21 | DNF | 17 | 7 | 21 | DNF | 11 | 14 | 20 | 17 | 15 | 19 | |||||||
| 20 | 19 | 9 | 11 | 6 | DNF | 14 | 18 | 17 | 19 | DNF | DNF | 15 | ||||||||||||
| WGPC 17 (licensed to Camden Racing) |
Camden N01 | Camden W1 | Stellenbosch | ESM | MTJ | TUR | HDR | LEN | MYT | SVJ | LIS | JNI | NEK | FID | DRA | ABL | VNG | NIM | VLT | FLC | AUD | 46 | 9th | |
| 13 | 17/21/12 | 18 | 17 | DNF | 14 | 21 | 14 | 14 | 21 | 20 | 23 | 21 | 18 | 10 | 13 | 2 | 11 | |||||||
| */16/23 | 8 | 5 | DNF | 6 | 24 | 4 | DNF | DNF | 11 | 28 | 14 | 15 | 8 | 18 | DNF | 22 | ||||||||
| WGPC 18 (licensed to TAS Alliance Racing) |
TAS N01 | Harlean W1B-V6 | Solymok | XAN | SVJ | ESM | TUR | HDR | NIM | AUR | ABLf | ABLs | TWI | TWI¹ | ISJ | NEK | FID | HAP | LEN | MTJ | 26 | 11th | ||
| 10/1 | 12/6 | 6/18 | 7 | 17 | 21 | 21 | 15 | 20 | 21 | 8 | 13 | 11 | 16 | 7 | 20 | 16 | ||||||||
| 13/14 | 4/11 | 4/14 | 19 | 19 | DNF | 19 | 22 | 14 | 20 | 4 | 15 | 18 | 21 | DNF | 2 | 23 |
* WGPC 17 Tests in Kopylov Internazionring, Mattijana were held for three days. Tabita Novax did not participate the first day.
¹: Twicetagria held a double round, with a testing day then a Race Weekend.
Bitten Heroes Academy WGP2 Results
WIP. Results in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap
| Season | Chassis | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WGP2 II (as Superia Juniors Team) |
KS 02 | Camden | Petrovi | EFL | SVJ | V&T | AEL | TKI | LIS | DRE | NIM | ESM | NEK | VNG | MTJ | 138 | 4th | |||||||||
| 13 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 15 | 15 | 17 | DNF | DNF | 2 | 4 | |||||||||||||||
| 13 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 22 | 8 | DNF | 1 | 7 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| WGP2 III | KS 03 | Camden | Stellenbosch | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 68 | 7th | |
| WGP2 IV (as Bitten Heroes-MW Academy) | KS 04 | Harlean | Stellenbosch | V&T 1 | V&T 2 | CBP 1 | CBP 2 | ABL 1 | ABL 2 | HUA 1 | HUA 2 | HAP 1 | HAP 2 | DCS 1 | DCS 2 | NIM 1 | NIM 2 | HDR 1 | HDR 2 | NEK 1 | NEK 2 | LEN 1 | LEN 2 | 12 | 14th | |
| 5 | 10 | 13 | 14 | 7 | 22 | 12 | 7 | 18 | 26 | 19 | DNF | DNF | 25 | 4 | 16 | 16 | 25 | |||||||||
| 27 | DNF | DNF | DNF | 20 | DNF | DNF | 20 | 26 | 24 | DNF | 18 | |||||||||||||||
| 25 | 27 | DNF | 26 | 27 | DNF |
HEROES Academy Formula Hodori Results
| Season | Chassis | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formula Touring 174 | FH170T | Arada | Stellenbosch | CHI | KIZ | SOU | YAK | SOE | SEO | DAS | TAR | 61 | 4th | |
| 18 | 18 | 5 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 17 | 18 | |||||||
| 17 | 19 | 1 | 20 | 1 | DNF | DNF | DNF |