Honorary Members

TrackMania World Championships

On the 30th of October 2018, we will once again crown a world champion in Trackmania. This will be the 11th time a world champion is crowned in the game. 16 players from around the world will travel to Paris, France, to battle it out for the title and $5000. The organization with the most amount of players represented at the Trackmania World Championship is Team Sampi. We’ll send four players to the event. These players are as follows; Marek ‘’tween’’ Pacher, Benjamin ‘’Kronos’’ Suzenne, Rick ‘’Dutchy’’ Jaspers and Martin ‘’Kappa’’ Krompolc.

The road to Paris Games Week
Season 3 of Trackmania ProLeague gathered 24 of the best players in the game. The goal was simple; Paris Games Week. After battling it out in the group stages, 14 players qualified to the playoffs, that will take place in Paris 29th and 30th of October in. Of these 14 players, 3 were from Team Sampi. Dutchy, Kronos and tween all made it through the group stages. But the Trackmania World Championship would feature 16 players, and not 14. This resulting in two slots being filled after open qualifiers. Team Sampi’s last two players; Kappa and MathiCs, participated in the qualifiers that took place 7th and 14th of October. Many considered the two Sampi players to be the biggest favorites, although Kappa didn’t participate in the group stage, and therefore had shorter time to practice the maps. In the first qualifier, neither of them were able to qualify. But in the last qualifier Kappa dominated from start to finish, and took the last spot in the Trackmania World Championship.

The players: tween
Team Sampi has one of the most decorated and most accomplished players in Marek ‘’tween’’ Pacher. Together with CarlJr, tween is the player who has qualified into the most amount of grand finals (5). ESWC 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and Maniaplanet World Cup 2016. And each time, tween has been able to finish on the podium. But he is still missing the 1st place and the world championship. And for some time tween has been made known as the guy who is in the grand final, but who isn’t able to win it. However, at Giant Cup 2018, in September, tween got his first major title since TheNest in 2015. So it might look as if tween is as good as he has ever been, if not even better.

Statement from Marek ‘’tween’’ Pacher:
“I’ve said that my goal was to qualify to PGW, because when I’m there, I am confident that I can go far. Feeling the momentum from my recent Giant Cup win, however, I can say that playing the grand final is a goal that feels both realistic and satisfying. In training, I’m happy with my speed now and I’ve been trying to get a feel for the tracks in rounds mode, which is usually the final phase of my practice.”

 tween after winning Giant Cup

The players: Kronos
Another player from Team Sampi who has had success at the world championship is Benjamin ‘’Kronos’’ Suzenne. He has yet to make it into the grand final, but has proven his skills worthy. His best result came at ESWC 2015, were he was just short of making it into the grand final, and finished 5th. At Maniaplanet World Cup 2016 he finished 7-8th place. This doesn’t mean that the french player has been unsuccessful at offline events. In 2015 he won what is viewed as the 2nd biggest event in Trackmania; Gamers Assembly. Surely Kronos hopes to once again lift up a trophy in front of the french crowd.

Statement from Benjamin ‘’Kronos’’ Suzenne:
“Hey boys! I’m in the last 16 standing mens to participate in World Cup which will took place at Paris next monday and tuesday.
My goal is to take the matches one by one hoping to show my best face and skills. At Giant Cup, my result wasn’t up to my expectations even though I’m proud that the title has returned to tween and the Sampi team as well. I intend to do better this time by training again and again if necessary and i would like to get the taste of a final back. We don’t know what will happen then… I can apparently win bowling without making one single strike so maybe it will be MY day. See you there. Kronos”

The players: Dutchy
Rick ‘’Dutchy’’ Jaspers seems to be improving for every event he attends. Even though he didn’t get the result he hoped for at Giant Cup 2018, he still proved that he had the pace and skills to battle it out with the best players. He has already been in one Trackmania grand final so far in 2018, at Gaming WinterFest, and hopes that Trackmania World Championship will be the second one. Even though the sunday at Giant Cup 2018 wasn’t like he hoped it would be, it might end up giving him more motivation for this event, and ending up with a better result at the most important tournament of the year.

Statement from Rick ‘’Dutchy’’ Jaspers:
“The goal is very simple. I want to become world champion. I know it will be a super hard task beating players that achieved way more than me, but when you train your ass off like I am doing right now then there can only be one goal. 1st. And Team Sampi won’t accept anything less. I am bot training 5 hours a day to get top 4 or top 8. Till now training goes alright. I am having the pace on most maps and I am training this last week 5 hours a day to get the regularity up and make sure I get into the no mistake and finish fast mode. If I played good and I didnt win then I can be ok with the result. If I lose because I played bad then I will be very disappointed. If they were better and I played good in the consolidation at Giant Cup 2018 then I was ok with it. But I totally ruined it for myself. If I had the pace like I did in all my matches before then I would have reached the grand final.”

The players: Kappa
The last player from Team Sampi we will see attending to Trackmania World Championship at Paris Games Week is Martin ‘’Kappa’’ Krompolc. Even though he was the last player to make it into the playoffs, and being the only player who didn’t play the group stages, you can never count Kappa out. After Kappa reached the grand final of Gamers Assembly 2018, he decided to take a break. Most people thought we had seen the last of him in Trackmania. But they were wrong. He made his return at Giant Cup 2018; motivated and prepared. But in the end he didn’t end up with the result he hoped for, and left Paris with a feeling of something being unfinished. Therefore the champion from Gamers Assembly 2017 and Gaming WinterFest 2017 is hoping to get another tournament under his belt, being the world championship. Even though Kappa has yet to make the last step at the biggest stage in the game. He has proven himself at the previous two world championships. At ESWC 2015 he was just short of making it into the grand final, and finished 6th. At Maniaplanet World Cup 2016 he finished 5th. So we’re looking at a player who has unfinished business in Paris, France, and hopes to change that at the TMWC 2018.

Statement from Martin ‘’Kappa’’ Krompolc:
“TrackMania has got its World Cup back and I am happy to state I won’t be missing there. I have finally found my former shape since my qualification struggle and I’m ready to show everyone that I’m not someone to count out!”

Kappa after winning Gamers Assembly

And by all this it’s safe to say that all of our players goes to Paris, France with the goal of bringing home the title to Team Sampi. Even though it will be a hard task, I’m sure that if it is the right day, it’s possible. Stay up to date with TMWC 2018 by following Team Sampi on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube!

Written by Eirik Holdal