I had a little chat with our "friendly voice" Echart von Glan about the upcoming season. This is what he had to say.

Q: I know you are looking forward to the season as we all do. Anything specific that you will watch for?
Well, Andreas, this being the third season we are doing here, my main interest will be in development: How did we get to where we are? What is it like to be here? And where will we go from here? One instance of this are the teams: Some, like GG or the Black Rebels have been around since the first Blue Cup about a year ago, have participated in the Black Cup and are now back for the second Blue Cup. Other teams joined in the Black Cup, for instance Degen and Flatout, and still others are joining now, like David Lemon's brand new outfit or our Portuguese friends from Sonic Racing. Then again, others have dropped out: remember team No-Brakes and their pink SEATs the first time around? And I see that Degen has dropped out too.

Q: I will of course once again partner you in the booth from time to time but we also have a newcomer in Mark A. Warmington, a teammate of yours. What are your thoughts about him?
I am very happy to have Mark on board, since he is a native speaker and has a lovely British accent. Also, he has the gift of the gab, some of his posts on our forum make you use the wheel on your mouse a couple of times over cause they don't fit on your average screen, so I am indeed looking forward to some lively commentary by him. Personally, I hope to pick up some new words from him and improve my vocabulary. Also, I hope to be able to pause from time to time; I noticed in last season's replays that my voice gets kind of dry and sore after about an hour or so of almost non-stop commentary even though my mineral water bottle is with me all the time.

Q: Are you planning on running some races for BFR now that we have extra personel to cover for you in the commentator booth?
I would indeed love to race once or twice for my team. Part of me loves doing the commentary but part of me is just utterly jealous of the guys having all the fun on the virtual tarmac. I participated in the last test race and had a blast even though I finished where I usually finish: three laps down and second to last player still connected.
Watch out for Dijon, I've set my sights on that one in the GT Sports class.

Q: Now a question that you probably do not want to answer but you have to. Which team has the best skin of the season?
I am bound to say I love 'em all, and it's true, but I must admit I do have favourites: A striking design in the Pro class is the Gumpert run by The Burning Tires and the Rebels. It is a Zebra design and anyone fielding the Gumpert has my fullest support anyway. I also fancy the Black Rebels Audi and the RPM Audi in the Pro Class. In the Sports I really like the Torrent Beemer and the GMT DHR Marcos. The grid I witnessed at Paul Ricard on Thursday looked very stylish and classy, I can promise our viewers some real eye-candy in the broadcasts.

Q: Finally, something you want to add that hasn't been brought up?
Well, cannot wait for the new season to start, a massive big thank you to Xose, David and everybody else involved in this, I think we all appreciate the amount of work that has gone, is currently going and is bound to go into this fantastic sim-series. Gentlemen, start your PCs!
Oh yes, and don't forget: keep it fair and keep it clean.