We chat with Javi Utreras, an avid iRacer, a dedicated VRS user, and one of David Williams‘ recurring students.
Javi, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
“I’m an extremely big fan of racing. I’ve loved racing since I was born, maybe even before that! I now live in Florida, USA, but I have some real life racing experience in my home country Ecuador, where I raced in a Mazda 323 cup.”
How did you start with iRacing?
“When I found out about iRacing, I was really happy. It lets me do what I love, for a fraction of the cost of real life racing. I’m very impressed with what iRacing has done, the feeling of the cars is very lifelike.
I started in November last year, and figured I’d have somewhat of an advantage because of my real life racing experience, but in the beginning it was very tough. I got very serious in January, but got a bit frustrated because I saw no improvement. That was, until I found out about VRS.”
And then what?
“David is coaching me since April. Since then, my top 5 finishes have gone up from 23 to 28%. My incidents per race went down from 13 to 7, and my iRating has gone from 1500 to 3000. The impact was huge.”
How’s David?
“What speaks volumes is that David really wants me to succeed. He’s friendly and very knowledgeable about racing. He knows the up and downs, left and rights. David, and actually his whole team is incredible. I support Coanda Simsport team big time, even though I am thousands of miles away. These guys are just aliens and what they do is incredible.
I’ve played in many competitive sports before, and always had coaches who made me better. David is just like that. Sometimes coaches say things you may not like, but you need to follow through and you’ll be successful. Whatever David asks of me, I’ll do it.”
What are some of your improvements?
“The racing lines I’ve been working on with David are getting a lot better. But the car control and trail braking are probably the biggest improvements for me.”
What’s an area for improvement?
“I need to control my emotions. Sometimes I want to pass very quickly, but I’ve learned that that’s not always the best case. I need to learn to be more patient. David’s teaching me how, and where to pass, and how to trick others into making a mistake.”
Looking long-term, what’s on your mind?
“I have my short term goals and long term goals. I’m a very competitive guy and want to win. I almost see iRacing more as a career than a hobby. Especially long term, my goal is a Pro licence.
Yet I also understand this takes time. Definitely one of the things I need to understand, is that this is a proces. You want to become better, you want results overnight. But that doesn’t work, usually. But so far, I’m very happy. I’m already joking to David I’ll one day beat him.”
