2014 F1RWRS Budweiser World 800 - Race 1The first few laps of race 1 of the World 800 were hotly contested, as all four MRTs, three of the Joneses and the two ArrowTechs fought for the lead. It wasn't until lap 8 that Nicolas started to get away and the other three MRTs of Davies, Macklin and Simon held the next three spots.
Deiter Hallenstien became the first DNF as his car stops with a suspension failure on lap 6, stopping at the entry to turn 3, a proven danger spot. The bad position caught out John Zimmer, who got held wide the next lap by Peter Senerson and had nowhere to go, becoming the third DNF. Renaldo Jimenez caught some debris and pitted for a front wing. The second DNF? Fredo Mestolio, who picked up a puncture on the back straight on lap 6 and was forced to stop inside turn 4.
Gio van Dycke retired early with engine dramas, already a few laps down, and stopping his car at the entry to turn 3 was a bad idea, as McFry hits him and van Nieuwenhuijzen finds some debris, both needing new front wings.
The next retirement surprised no one, as Phillippe Nicolas coasted to a halt with a failed suspension, from the lead, handing it over to Macklin. A wheel worked itself on James Davies' car, causing him to pit, while Pazzini made a nuisance of himself when Martins came to lap him. Seron went out on lap 20 with a water leak.
Daniel Martins became the next retirement, from a strong position too, as a loose wheel put him out, and he couldn't get back to the pits. In fact, he stopped smack bang in the middle of the back straight, and it wasn't until the marshalls started to move the car that someone hit him - Miko Fakkinen, who was being lapped and paid the price for being a gracious backmarker, fortunately only needing a front wing. The next lap, De Bock went out, as wheel to wheel contact with Melrose put him into the turn 3 fence.
Up front, Rhys Davies had caught Macklin, and they fought for the lead, although Macklin had a habit of leading down the main straight while Davies led on the back. Valsattis and Melrose both pitted, Valsattis for a loose wheel, Melrose for a brake problem. Fakkinen came in next lap for a front wing change. Koczo got hung out to dry at turn 3 the next lap by Schiller, and predictably, his race was over. Valsattis got unluckier as he hit some debris and had to pit for the second time in three laps.
Lap 27 saw three more incidents as Whitechapel picked up a puncture but managed to get back to the pits, while Jesus Plaza pulled up with a suspension problem at turn 1. The third incident was a big one - Gianluigi Pazzini had a massive accident at turn 3. Eric Swerts came up behind to lap him, and Pazzini initially gave him room. However, he started to move back down the track mid corner, and his front left wheel collided with Swerts' rear right, and it launched him into the air. He hit the catch fencing hard, and landed just as heavily. Swerts was spun around, but managed to keep it out of the fence.
Aurelien Moll had started the first round of scheduled stops on lap 26, with the Manns pitting on laps 28 (Douglas) and 29 (Pippa), with Swerts on lap 31. Then the flood gates opened, as Jones and Macklin came in on 33, and followed by Davies, Schiller, Bosevic and Nash on 34. Lap 35 saw Jung, Neuberg, Kremnicky, Hawkin, Senerson, Fleet and Passonen all come in, although Hawkin had to fix an electrical issue. Martin McFry also stopped with a transmission failure. Mackintosh, Zimmer and Tajner stopped on 36, Lei and Groves on 37 and Mignolet on 38. Zimmer, shortly after his stop, retired with a transmission failure as well.
Jack Christopherson had inherited the lead, after the MRTs had stopped, and was looking good on a one-stopper when a wheel worked itself loose. Fortunately it was going through turn 4, so he didn't lose much time, but he was always going to lose his spot. Since this was lap 39, he was still within the window to switch to two stops, but the Jones crew filled him up to the end - 60 laps of fuel. It was a strange decision, but one that could pay off if the MRT reliability kicked in.
Which is precisely what happened the very next lap as Marie Simon parked her car with yet another transmission issue. Tristan Jung only lasted two more laps before his car came to a smoking halt. By this time Macklin had dropped Davies, and was leading by a healthy margin. In fact, Davies was struggling to break away from Bosevic. Renaldo Jimenez pitted from nowhere in particular on lap 44. Aurelien Moll retired next lap with a suspension problem, stopping at turn 1.
This caused a big problem behind, as Sammy Jones was forced to slow behind him. This caught Sebastian Groves unawares, and the two collided, forcing both to complete a slow lap and pit, a new rear wing for Jones and a front wing for Groves. While this was going on, Mika Passonen retired at the back of the circuit, completely unnoticed, surprising since his engine had caught fire.
Mignolet was the next to go, although no one cared, as he already 8 laps down and not even at half distance yet. Pippa Mann was the next front running DNF, with a suspension failure ruining what was becoming a brilliant battle with Melrose for 5th.
On lap 52 the next pit cycle started, with Douglas Mann, Eric Swerts and Poppy Whitechapel all stopping for the second time. Tomislaw Tajner and Peter Senerson were the next to go, with electrical issues and an oil leak respectively. Miko Fakkinen very nearly joined them with a throttle problem, but he managed to pit and fix it.
Mackintosh, Melrose and James Davies all came in for the final stops on laps 61-62, very early for two stoppers, and it wasn't until laps 67-78 that the others came in, including the two remaining MRTs, Hawkin, Bosevic (who had led a lap thanks to the stops), Kremnicky, Nash, Schiller, Lei, Neuberg, Groves, Jones and Jimenez. Ben Fleet joined his girlfriend on the sidelines with yet another engine fire, on lap 67.
The three-stoppers came in for their final stops around lap 80, and that lap saw MRT lose their third car, with Rhys Davies parking with transmission problems, leaving Macklin in the lead, Bosevic second and the only other car on the lead lap, with the four Jones cars fighting for the final podium spot. Mackintosh retired with an oil leak, a lap short of being classified, but the big action didn't come until lap 97.
MRT basically had Macklin home, with three laps to run and almost a lap ahead of second, when at turn 3 a wheel almost came off the wagon. Macklin survived a scary moment to get the car to the pits, but he had lost enough speed that while he led the lap, Bosevic caught him while he was stationary, and took the lead with two to go. He managed to hold it off to take victory, and while he wasn't the fastest car on track, it was still well deserved.
The final lap saw the scariest moment of the race. Douglas Mann and Poppy Whitechapel were fighting over 10th position, 3 laps down on the leaders. At turn 2, Whitechapel got a run on Mann but had to take to the outside down the back stretch. As they went into turn 3, Whitechapel had a nose ahead as they hit the banking. The HRT started to move up to get a better run out of the corner, and Mann also moved high. However, he went too high, and they touched wheels. Whitechapel was immediately launched high up into the catch fencing, and lands back on the track hard, eventually sliding down onto the infield, almost flipping as she does. Mann manages to keep control and drives off to take 10th place. However, he won't be likely to start there, as it was very dangerous to move up that high with a car easily visible on the outside at turn 3, and he'll likely get a grid penalty for the second leg.
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Pos Driver Team Time/Retired Gap Pts
1 Mirko Bosevic ArrowTech 1:18:16.737 150
2 Mitchell Macklin MRT 1:18:34.532 +17.795 138
3 Jack Christopherson Jones 1:18:53.047 +36.310 129
4 Terry Hawkin Jones +1 LAP 120
5 Daniel Melrose Jones +1 LAP 111
6 Sammy Jones Jones +1 LAP 102
7 Eric Swerts Gillet ENB +2 LAPS 96
8 Tommy Nash HRT +2 LAPS 90
9 Andrej Kremnicky Alitalia +3 LAPS 84
10 Douglas Mann Foxdale +3 LAPS 78
11* Poppy Whitechapel HRT Collision +4 LAPS 72
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12 Bastiaan van Nieuwenhuijzen Alitalia +4 LAPS 69
13 Jean-Luc Schiller Prospec +4 LAPS 66
14 Du Lei Prospec +5 LAPS 63
15 David Neuberg Mitie +7 LAPS 60
16 James Davies Mecha +7 LAPS 57
17 Sebastian Groves Dofasco +7 LAPS 54
18 Matthias Valsattis Mitie +8 LAPS 51
19 Miko Fakkinen Tropico +10 LAPS 48
DNF Stephen Mackintosh Mecha Oil Leak L89 45
DNF Rhys Davies MRT Transmission L79 42
DNF Renaldo Jimenez Tropico Transmission L72 39
DNF Ben Fleet Foxdale Oil Leak L66 36
DNF Peter Senerson ARC Oil Leak L54 33
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DNF Tomislaw Tajner Dofasco Electrical L52 30
DNF Pippa Mann Foxdale Suspension L50 27
DNF Aurelien Moll Gillet ENB Suspension L45 24
DNF Mika Passonen Red Bull Oil Leak L43 21
DNF Tristan Jung ARC Engine L42 18
DNF Ron Mignolet Donkervoort Water Leak L41 15
DNF Marie Simon MRT Transmission L40 14
DNF Frank Zimmer HRT Transmission L38 13
DNF Martin McFry Foxdale Transmission L34 12
DNF Jesus Plaza ARC Suspension L27 11
DNF Gianluigi Pazzini Alitalia Collision L26 10
DNF David Koczo Alitalia Accident L26 9
DNF Thomas De Bock Gillet ENB Accident L23 8
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DNF Daniel Martins ArrowTech Loose Wheel L22 7
DNF Laurent Seron Gillet ENB Water Leak L20 6
DNF Phillippe Nicolas MRT Suspension L16 5
DNF Gio van Dycke Donkervoort Engine L9 4
DNF John Zimmer HRT Collision L7 3
DNF Fredo Mestolio ARC Puncture L6 2
DNF Deiter Hallenstien Red Bull Suspension L6 1
Fastest lap: Rhys Davies - 0:45.507
Lap Leaders:
D. Melrose - 1 (1)
R. Davies - 2, 5-7, 24, 27, 33-34, 46 (9)
P. Nicolas - 3-4, 8-14 (9)
M. Macklin - 15-23, 25-26, 28-32, 39-45, 47-67, 69-97 (73)
J. Christopherson - 35-38 (4)
M. Bosevic - 68, 98-99 (3)
R.I.P.
GM HOLDEN
1948-2017
Personally, I want to remove you from the entry list. And since this is non-championship, I'm NOT COUNTING IT. 
