2019 Asian F4- Shanghai Up! Sung-Tae Champion!

[This Could Be You]

Here's the Aspire Formula livery:



UPDATE: Here's the revised K-Apex livery, with sponsorship from Air Busan (a regional airline) and Emart (a supermarket chain):


UPDATE #2: Here's the KMH livery, meaning we're only wiating on Wizzie to supply a Calsonic livery (or livery idea before the series is ready).

[Ciaran]

That is a perfect livery for K-Apex. I couldn't possibly improve on that.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Calsonic United Nippon Team will run a blue, yellow and white livery with sponsorship from Calsonic and Sunoco

[Pinkd56]

Here's the Aspire Formula livery:

[This Could Be You]

Here's the Calsonic livery:


Now I just need to prepare talent files and fix the trackset a bit and the series should be ready to go! and I also need alg2159 to provide the Nakamura livery/ livery idea before I start (forgot about that one)

[alg2159]

Sorry for late...
For my livery I would like a car with approximately 2/3 orange, 1/6 black and 1/6 red.
Thanks !

[This Could Be You]

Sorry for late...
For my livery I would like a car with approximately 2/3 orange, 1/6 black and 1/6 red.
Thanks !

Essentially a '99-02 Arrows with the black and orange flipped then? I'll get right on it.

Also, what kind of sponsors do you want on it, if any?

[alg2159]

Perfect !
For my sponsors I will take Orange and Mitsubishi if possible ! Thanks !

[This Could Be You]

Here's the Nakamura livery (it's not quite an Arrows livery, but sort of a cross between it and the Spyker)


Now I just need to prepare the talent files and fix the trackset a bit and we should be ready to go (this should be done within the next fortnight)

[This Could Be You]

Just in case you're wondering when the first round of this series will be up, I hope to have the first round in exactly a week's time (as I have exams prior to this point), which should be achievable as all the files are now ready.

[This Could Be You]

Here are the results from the opening two rounds of the championship at Okayama Circuit, Japan:

Quali-1:

Code: Select all

1 Presley Martono   1m 21.940s
2 Kwon Sung-Tae         1m 21.941s       
3 Go Gouriki            1m 22.059s                   
4 Ryunnosuke Takashi    1m 22.180s        
5 Kurumi Fujibayashi    1m 22.282s                   
6 Thatan Weerwatnodom   1m 22.296s      
7 Xu Shiqing            1m 22.300s                   
8 Muizzuddin Gafar      1m 22.304s         
9 Danial Nielsen Frost  1m 22.350s                  
10 Zhou Xiaoping        1m 22.359s       
11 Isyraf Danish        1m 22.456s                  
12 Jordan Raharjo       1m 22.481s      
13 Satoshi Murakami     1m 22.558s                  
14 Masahiro Yaname      1m 22.613s    
15 Thi Nhat             1m 22.633s                  
16 Naotsuke Kano        1m 22.753s     
17 Kei Suzuki           1m 22.768s                  
18 Atsushi Koizumi      1m 22.971s      
19 Mutaz Ibrahim        1m 23.017s                  
20 Tony Wei-leuk        1m 23.049s       
21 Rudiartono           1m 23.095s                  
22 Sakura Sekai         1m 23.236s        
23 Kosuke Setou         1m 23.427s                  
24 Choi Seul-Hae        1m 23.479s       
25 Haruhi Tsujimura     1m 23.743s                  
26 Saeed Mizra          1m 23.792s
DNQ:
27 Takuma Toyoda
28 Kazuomi Endo   

Presley Martono took the first pole position of the season with K-Apex's Kwon Sung-Tae joining him on the front row. Takuma Toyoda and Kazuomi Endo failed to qualify for Round 1.

Race 1 (video here)

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 ³  1st  Presley Martono             28m 45.562s    ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³  2nd  Kwon Sung-Tae               +1.478s        ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³              
              ³  3rd  Muizzuddin Gafar            +6.623s        ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³  4th  Ryunnosuke Takashi          +9.572s        ³              
              ³       Team RS                                    ³              
              ³  5th  Kurumi Fujibayashi          +10.035s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³  6th  Zhou Xiaoping               +12.071s       ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³  7th  Xu Shiqing                  +14.852s       ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³  8th  Isyraf Danish               +16.986s       ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³              
              ³  9th  Jordan Raharjo              +18.758s       ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 10th  Thi Nhat                    +20.474s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 11th  Satoshi Murakami            +21.081s       ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³ 12th  Atsushi Koizumi             +21.718s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 13th  Masahiro Yaname             +23.025s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 14th  Naotsuke Kano               +26.763s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 15th  Rudiartono                  +38.210s       ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³ 16th  Sakura Sekai                +39.290s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³ 17th  Kosuke Setou                +40.249s       ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³              
              ³ 18th  Mutaz Ibrahim               +42.160s       ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 19th  Choi Seul-Hae               +43.447s       ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³              
              ³ 20th  Haruhi Tsujimura            +46.889s       ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³ 21st  Saeed Mizra                 +48.759s       ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 22nd  Thatan Weerwatnodom         Didn't Finish  ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³ 23rd  Go Gouriki                  Loose Wheel    ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³ 24th  Danial Nielsen Frost        Didn't Finish  ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³ 25th  Tony Wei-leuk               Didn't Finish  ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 26th  Kei Suzuki                  Loose Wheel    ³              
              ³       Nakamura                                   ³  

Martono kept the lead off the start, and held onto a slender advantage for the first five laps, before being caught and passed by Thatan Weerwatnodom and Go Gouriki and dropping to third. The Thai driver's hold onto the lead didn't last long however, as Gouriki, not helped by a loose wheel, careered into to back of him, taking both off the track and terminally damaging Weerwatnodom's suspension. Danial Nielsen Frost also managed to involve himself in the collision, going out of a point scoring position. This left Martono to cruise to victory, Sung-Tae too far back to challenge despite running very quickly towards the end of the race.

Quali-2:

Code: Select all

1 Zhou Xiaoping      1m 21.950s
2 Go Gouriki      1m 22.041s       
3 Danial Nielsen Frost   1m 22.046s
4 Kurumi Fujibayashi    1m 22.280s       
5 Ryunnosuke Takashi    1m 22.294s
6 Kwon Sung-Tae         1m 22.314s      
7 Jordan Raharjo        1m 22.338s
8 Isyraf Danish         1m 22.361s         
9 Presley Martono       1m 22.361s                  
10 Muizzuddin Gafar     1m 22.370s       
11 Xu Shiqing           1m 22.445s                  
12 Satoshi Murakami     1m 22.472s        
13 Kei Suzuki           1m 22.583s
14 Naotsuke Kano        1m 22.691s       
15 Thatan Weerwatnodom  1m 22.695s                  
16 Masahiro Yaname      1m 22.703s       
17 Rudiartono           1m 22.858s                  
18 Atsushi Koizumi      1m 22.874s      
19 Thi Nhat             1m 22.943s
20 Mutaz Ibrahim        1m 22.945s      
21 Sakura Sekai         1m 23.120s
22 Tony Wei-leuk        1m 23.259s     
23 Haruhi Tsujimura     1m 23.412s
24 Kosuke Setou         1m 23.475s       
25 Kazuomi Endo         1m 23.662s                  
26 Takuma Toyoda        1m 23.747s
DNQ:
27 Saeed Mizra
28 Choi Seul-Hae  

After scoring solid points in Race 1, Zhou Xiouping found his footing in the Red Dragon car to take pole by a tenth of a second from the rapid Go Gouriki. Race 1 polesitter and winner Martono could only manage ninth, while Aspire Formula's Saeed Mizra and K-Apex's Choi Seul-Hae failed to qualify.

Race 2: (video here)

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 ³  1st  Zhou Xiaoping               28m 36.492s    ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³  2nd  Ryunnosuke Takashi          +10.614s       ³              
              ³       Team RS                                    ³              
              ³  3rd  Kurumi Fujibayashi          +14.146s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³  4th  Muizzuddin Gafar            +17.331s       ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³  5th  Kwon Sung-Tae               +17.981s       ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³              
              ³  6th  Jordan Raharjo              +20.892s       ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³  7th  Naotsuke Kano               +28.607s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³  8th  Thatan Weerwatnodom         +31.538s       ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³  9th  Kei Suzuki                  +32.095s       ³              
              ³       Nakamura                                   ³              
              ³ 10th  Masahiro Yaname             +33.724s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 11th  Mutaz Ibrahim               +35.458s       ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 12th  Atsushi Koizumi             +37.729s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 13th  Thi Nhat                    +40.175s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 14th  Sakura Sekai                +48.733s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³ 15th  Tony Wei-leuk               +52.600s       ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 16th  Haruhi Tsujimura            +56.456s       ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³ 17th  Isyraf Danish               +58.548s       ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³              
              ³ 18th  Kazuomi Endo                +1m 03.294s    ³              
              ³       Team RS                                    ³              
              ³ 19th  Rudiartono                  +1m 05.750s    ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³ 20th  Presley Martono             Didn't Finish  ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³ 21st  Kosuke Setou                Didn't Finish  ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³              
              ³ 22nd  Takuma Toyoda               Loose Wheel    ³              
              ³       Nakamura                                   ³              
              ³ 23rd  Satoshi Murakami            Oil Leak       ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³ 24th  Go Gouriki                  Suspension     ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³ 25th  Danial Nielsen Frost        Engine         ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³ 26th  Xu Shiqing                  Didn't Finish  ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                

Xiouping got a decent start and led from lights to flag, showing utter dominance over the rest of the field; this was helped by the heavy attrition during the race, with Go Gouriki (with suspension failure), Presley Martono (due to an unforced off), Danial Nielsen Frost (with engine failure) and Satoshi Murakami (with an oil leak) all retiring from points postions, and Isyraf Danish also forced to pit with electrical issues early on. The winner's Red Dragon teammate, Xu Shiqing made a rather less impressive show of himself during the race, destroying his front wing into turn 1 and then spinning later into the lap, colliding with a queue of cars rejoining and damaging his car in the process.

Drivers Championship After R1-2
1 Xiaoping 22
2 Takashi 20
3 Sung-Tae 18
=3 Gafar 18
5 Martono 17
6 Fujibayashi 16
7 Raharjo 7
8 Shiqing 4
=8 Kano 4
=10 Danish 3
10 Weerwatnodom 3
12 Suzuki 2
13 Nhat 1
14 Yaname 1

With a combination of a Race 1 points and a dominant Race 2 performance, Xiouping takes the early championship lead, though with only a two point advantage over Ryunnosuke Takashi, who quietly scored well amongst the melee of both races, while showing impressive pace. Weewatnodom however will be lamenting what might have been, only having 3 points to show for his not-inconsiderable efforts over the weekend.

Drivers Under Investigation:
Go Gouriki (Causing a collision leading to a retirement, 5 penalty points)
Xu Shiqing (Causing a collision, unsafe rejoining to circuit, 6 penalty points overall)

The next race will be up in a fortnight, but in the meantime, feel free to sack drivers if you feel the need, or otherwise comment.

[DemocalypseNow]

This will be elaborated on soon, (presuming DemocalyseNow allows me access to the penalty system)

Whooooooooops

This has been fixed now. For those if you wishing to see the active penalties, ban status of drivers and the guidelines of how penalties are earned, you can see this at any time at;

http://formularejects.com/f4penalties

[novitopoli]

Shame on me - but Satoshi-kun was much better and faster. I disappointed my family and I apologize to my father and everyone at Tsujimura for my bad performance.

Pace was good, shame for that oil leak. I got the feeling I had bumped upon something just before that issue - but I'm confident I'll get to the points in the next round, and Haruhi-chan will have a better weekend too.

[This Could Be You]

I know I'm a day late, but here are the results from the second weekend of the 2019 Asian F4 from Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia:

Quali-1:

Code: Select all

1 Go Gouriki      1m 48.401s                   
2 Kwon Sung-Tae    1m 48.412s        
3 Presley Martono   1m 48.483s                   
4 Ryunnosuke Takashi    1m 48.714s      
5 Zhou Xiaoping         1m 48.851s
6 Muizzuddin Gafar   1m 48.888s       
7 Thatan Weerwatnodom   1m 49.017s
8 Kurumi Fujibayashi    1m 49.026s       
9 Danial Nielsen Frost  1m 49.052s
10 Xu Shiqing           1m 49.118s      
11 Isyraf Danish        1m 49.419s
12 Jordan Raharjo       1m 49.430s      
13 Masahiro Yaname      1m 49.468s
14 Kei Suzuki           1m 49.508s        
15 Naotsuke Kano        1m 49.585s
16 Thi Nhat             1m 49.622s       
17 Satoshi Murakami     1m 49.628s
18 Atsushi Koizumi      1m 49.895s       
19 Rudiartono           1m 49.905s
20 Mutaz Ibrahim        1m 50.054s       
21 Sakura Sekai         1m 50.216s
22 Tony Wei-leuk        1m 50.217s       
23 Kosuke Setou         1m 50.619s                  
24 Choi Seul-Hae        1m 50.704s        
25 Saeed Mizra          1m 51.056s                  
26 Haruhi Tsujimura     1m 51.147s
DNQ:
27 Kazuomi Endo     
28 Takuma Toyoda      

Go Gouriki took his first points of the year with pole position for Round 3, with Kwon Sung-Tae joining him on the front row. Championship leader Xiouping was 5th and local drivers Gafar and Danish were 6th and 11th respectively. Kazuomi Endo and Takuma Toyoda failed to qualify.

Race 1 (video coming soon)

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              ³  1st  Kwon Sung-Tae               39m 00.357s    ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³              
              ³  2nd  Go Gouriki                  +1.214s        ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³  3rd  Presley Martono             +15.622s       ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³  4th  Isyraf Danish               +26.800s       ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³              
              ³  5th  Ryunnosuke Takashi          +28.716s       ³              
              ³       Team RS                                    ³              
              ³  6th  Jordan Raharjo              +31.491s       ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³  7th  Masahiro Yaname             +34.914s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³  8th  Xu Shiqing                  +36.140s       ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³  9th  Thi Nhat                    +37.553s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 10th  Atsushi Koizumi             +41.784s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 11th  Zhou Xiaoping               +45.565s       ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³ 12th  Satoshi Murakami            +46.131s       ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³ 13th  Rudiartono                  +51.790s       ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³ 14th  Kurumi Fujibayashi          +54.587s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³ 15th  Choi Seul-Hae               +1m 02.106s    ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³              
              ³ 16th  Naotsuke Kano               +1m 04.022s    ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 17th  Sakura Sekai                +1m 05.962s    ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³ 18th  Kosuke Setou                +1m 13.806s    ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³              
              ³ 19th  Saeed Mizra                 +1m 15.424s    ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 20th  Haruhi Tsujimura            +1m 18.115s    ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³ 21st  Tony Wei-leuk               Electrical     ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 22nd  Muizzuddin Gafar            Suspension     ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³ 23rd  Thatan Weerwatnodom         Engine         ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³ 24th  Mutaz Ibrahim               Engine         ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 25th  Kei Suzuki                  Engine         ³              
              ³       Nakamura                                   ³              
              ³ 26th  Danial Nielsen Frost        Throttle       ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³  

Gouriki kept the lead off the star, but was hounded by K-Apex's Kwon Sung-Tae, who had superior race pace, eventually making a successful move on the Japanese driver on Lap 17, taking his first win, with Presley Martono completing the podium with a decent but rather anonymous drive. There were battles throughout the field, with Danish and Takashi's a particularly good scrap. Misfortune befell the then-champioship leader Zhou Xiouping as he spun off halfway into the race out of 5th place, losing vital points, though worse luck befell Thatan Weerwatnodom, who retired with engine failure on the same lap, or Danial Nielsen Frost, who suffered throttle failure after a single lap- his third retirement in three races.

Quali-2:

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1 Danial Nielsen Frost   1m 48.814s                   
2 Go Gouriki            1m 48.938s      
3 Kurumi Fujibayashi    1m 48.963s
4 Presley Martono       1m 48.965s       
5 Kwon Sung-Tae         1m 49.048s                   
6 Ryunnosuke Takashi    1m 49.094s       
7 Kei Suzuki            1m 49.163s                   
8 Satoshi Murakami      1m 49.275s      
9 Isyraf Danish         1m 49.343s                  
10 Zhou Xiaoping        1m 49.351s     
11 Atsushi Koizumi      1m 49.452s                  
12 Sakura Sekai         1m 49.504s        
13 Thatan Weerwatnodom  1m 49.533s                  
14 Masahiro Yaname      1m 49.535s       
15 Muizzuddin Gafar     1m 49.608s
16 Xu Shiqing           1m 49.659s      
17 Rudiartono           1m 49.682s                  
18 Jordan Raharjo       1m 49.738s        
19 Mutaz Ibrahim        1m 49.882s                  
20 Naotsuke Kano        1m 50.042s      
21 Thi Nhat             1m 50.444s                  
22 Kosuke Setou         1m 50.573s     
23 Tony Wei-leuk        1m 50.791s                  
24 Choi Seul-Hae        1m 50.950s       
25 Saeed Mizra          1m 50.964s                  
26 Haruhi Tsujimura     1m 51.051s
DNQ:
27 Kazuomi Endo     
28 Takuma Toyoda    

Nielsen Frost was clearly aiming to rectify his lack of points then with a pole position for race 2 at Sepang, Gouriki alongside him. The Red Dragon drivers struggled in this session, with Xiouping only 10th and Shiqing only 16th. Endo and Toyoda both failed to make the grid for the second race in a row.

Race 2: (video coming soon)

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            ³  1st  Presley Martono             39m 02.290s    ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³  2nd  Danial Nielsen Frost        +12.556s       ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³  3rd  Kurumi Fujibayashi          +16.677s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³  4th  Zhou Xiaoping               +17.742s       ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³  5th  Ryunnosuke Takashi          +20.330s       ³              
              ³       Team RS                                    ³              
              ³  6th  Go Gouriki                  +28.126s       ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³  7th  Satoshi Murakami            +28.230s       ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³  8th  Sakura Sekai                +30.761s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³  9th  Masahiro Yaname             +32.509s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 10th  Atsushi Koizumi             +34.675s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 11th  Thatan Weerwatnodom         +35.064s       ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³ 12th  Isyraf Danish               +35.640s       ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³              
              ³ 13th  Muizzuddin Gafar            +38.077s       ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³ 14th  Xu Shiqing                  +43.747s       ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³ 15th  Rudiartono                  +44.219s       ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³ 16th  Kosuke Setou                +59.295s       ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³              
              ³ 17th  Thi Nhat                    +1m 00.032s    ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 18th  Jordan Raharjo              +1m 04.892s    ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 19th  Naotsuke Kano               +1m 07.027s    ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 20th  Saeed Mizra                 +1m 07.516s    ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 21st  Mutaz Ibrahim               +1m 11.264s    ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 22nd  Haruhi Tsujimura            +1m 13.009s    ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³ 23rd  Choi Seul-Hae               +1m 20.375s    ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³              
              ³ 24th  Tony Wei-leuk               -2 Laps        ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 25th  Kei Suzuki                  Engine         ³              
              ³       Nakamura                                   ³              
              ³ 26th  Kwon Sung-Tae               Engine         ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³  

Presley Martono jumped into the lead from fourth early to lead his teammate home for a safe one-two, becoming the year's first repeat winner as the competition floundered; Gouriki had poor race pace and dropped to sixth early on, while any hopes of Kwon Sung-Tae taking repeat victories was gone by the first lap due to engine failure. Instead, many people's eyes were on the lightning start made by Tsujimura Scuderia's SatoshI Murakami, having got from eighth to third by the first lap, and looking good to keep that position for half the race, though fading badly from then on, dropping to seventh, although managing to get points on the board.

Several drivers, such as Nhat and Raharjo were badly out of position during the race due to several spins into one corner on the course, dropping each right to the back as they clawed their way out of the gravel traps, and leaving them with ill-handling cars from the impact with the outside wall. But for bad luck this weekend, no one can beat Kei Suzuki; an engine failure this weekend put him out less than a lap into the race for a second race this weekend, having only the 9th place from Okayama to show for his efforts so far.

Driver's Championship Standings after Round 4:

1 Martono 42
2 Sung-Tae 33
3 Takashi 32
4 Xiaoping 30
5 Fujibayashi 26
6 Gouriki 19
7 Gafar 18
8 Nielsen Frost 14
9 Raharjo 12
10 Danish 11
11 Shiqing 7
=11 Yaname 7
13 Kano 4
=13 Murakami 4
15 Weerwatnodom 3
=15 Sekai 3
=15 Nhat 3
18 Suzuki 2
=18 Koizomi 2
With two good finishes, Calsonic's Presley Martono now has a substantial nine-point lead over Kwon Sung-Tae, who is only just ahead of the consistent Ryunnosuke Takashi, the only driver to score in all four rounds so far, although taking no wins so far. Go Gouriki, Danial Nielsen Frost, Satoshi Murakami, Sakura Sekai and Atsushi Koizumi now all have points on the board for 2019, while Thatan Weerwatnodom still languishes in 15th despite showing non-insignificant pace, the Thai driver suffering a serious shortage of luck

There were no significant incidents in the races over the weekend, all drivers being relatively clean and hence there are no penalties to be given out. In other news, due to change of allocation of spare time, the race reports will now be published on Sundays/Mondays (due to the lack of time which caused this one to be a day late).

Feel free to comment or sack drivers if you wish before the the Sentul rounds.

[Pinkd56]

Saeed Mizra has been removed from the Aspire program after his woeful performances at the opening two rounds. Aspire will make an offer for Hamda Al Qubaisi (Real life) for this seat.

[This Could Be You]

Saeed Mizra has been removed from the Aspire program after his woeful performances at the opening two rounds. Aspire will make an offer for Hamda Al Qubaisi (Real life) for this seat.

OK, I'll run the RNG to see if she'll accept:

Hamda al Qubaisi:
1-60 Accepts, 61-100 Declines
Result:1, so the promising Emirati driver doesn't hestitate in joining Aspire Formula for the season.

[This Could Be You]

Here are the results from Rounds 5 and 6 of the Asian F4 series from Sentul International Circuit in Indonesia:

Quali 1:

Code: Select all

1 Go Gouriki      1m 17.443s                   
2 Kwon Sung-Tae    1m 17.493s       
3 Presley Martono    1m 17.592s      
4 Ryunnosuke Takashi    1m 17.849s       
5 Muizzuddin Gafar      1m 17.928s                   
6 Kurumi Fujibayashi    1m 17.969s       
7 Thatan Weerwatnodom   1m 18.014s                   
8 Danial Nielsen Frost  1m 18.028s      
9 Zhou Xiaoping         1m 18.075s
10 Isyraf Danish        1m 18.158s      
11 Xu Shiqing           1m 18.160s                  
12 Jordan Raharjo       1m 18.192s       
13 Kei Suzuki           1m 18.242s                  
14 Hamda al Qubaisi     1m 18.260s      
15 Satoshi Murakami     1m 18.269s
16 Thi Nhat             1m 18.301s        
17 Masahiro Yaname      1m 18.322s                 
18 Naotsuke Kano        1m 18.413s       
19 Mutaz Ibrahim        1m 18.654s                  
20 Tony Wei-leuk        1m 18.655s       
21 Atsushi Koizumi      1m 18.701s
22 Rudiartono           1m 18.740s        
23 Sakura Sekai         1m 18.791s                  
24 Choi Seul-Hae        1m 18.928s       
25 Takuma Toyoda        1m 18.995s
26 Kosuke Setou         1m 19.017s      
DNQ:
27 Haruhi Tsujimura
28 Kazuomi Endo      

Go Gouriki took his second race 1 pole in a row ahead of Sepang race 1 winner Kwon Sung-Tae. Championship Presley Martono qualified third for his home race, (the highest of the Indonesians), while series newcomer Hamda al Qubaisi finished the session in a respectable 14th, five places ahead of her teammate. Tsujimura and Endo failed to qualify.

Race 1: (video here

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 ³  1st  Go Gouriki                  27m 07.548s    ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³  2nd  Ryunnosuke Takashi          +4.979s        ³              
              ³       Team RS                                    ³              
              ³  3rd  Presley Martono             +6.795s        ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³  4th  Muizzuddin Gafar            +7.764s        ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³  5th  Thatan Weerwatnodom         +10.679s       ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³  6th  Kwon Sung-Tae               +12.029s       ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³              
              ³  7th  Hamda al Qubaisi            +18.694s       ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³  8th  Isyraf Danish               +19.725s       ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³              
              ³  9th  Kurumi Fujibayashi          +22.313s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³ 10th  Jordan Raharjo              +24.061s       ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 11th  Kei Suzuki                  +24.962s       ³              
              ³       Nakamura                                   ³              
              ³ 12th  Satoshi Murakami            +25.586s       ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³ 13th  Zhou Xiaoping               +25.681s       ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³ 14th  Masahiro Yaname             +26.628s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 15th  Rudiartono                  +31.602s       ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³ 16th  Tony Wei-leuk               +32.143s       ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 17th  Naotsuke Kano               +33.044s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 18th  Mutaz Ibrahim               +33.945s       ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 19th  Thi Nhat                    +35.517s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 20th  Kosuke Setou                +42.854s       ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³              
              ³ 21st  Atsushi Koizumi             +43.130s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 22nd  Danial Nielsen Frost        +44.258s       ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³ 23rd  Sakura Sekai                +46.139s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³ 24th  Choi Seul-Hae               +48.140s       ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³              
              ³ 25th  Takuma Toyoda               +50.693s       ³              
              ³       Nakamura                                   ³              
              ³ 26th  Xu Shiqing                  Engine         ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³

Gouriki dominated the race, leading every lap and setting fastest lap, and scoring his first win this year, after several near misses. 'Mr Consistency' Ryunnosuke Takashi was in a distant second and Martono much further behind in third. Hamda al Qubaisi scored her and Aspire's first points this year with a measured drive to seventh. while the Red Dragon cars struggled; Xiouping got caught up in a battle for 12th with Suzuki, while Shiqing suffered engine failure early on while in a lowly position.

Quali-2:

Code: Select all

1 Kwon Sung-Tae      1m 17.775s                   
2 Zhou Xiaoping         1m 17.814s        
3 Presley Martono       1m 17.850s                   
4 Hamda al Qubaisi      1m 17.939s       
5 Ryunnosuke Takashi    1m 17.947s                   
6 Xu Shiqing            1m 17.980s      
7 Go Gouriki            1m 18.014s                   
8 Kurumi Fujibayashi    1m 18.022s       
9 Danial Nielsen Frost  1m 18.030s                  
10 Thatan Weerwatnodom  1m 18.041s       
11 Muizzuddin Gafar     1m 18.088s                  
12 Jordan Raharjo       1m 18.092s      
13 Kei Suzuki           1m 18.128s                  
14 Mutaz Ibrahim        1m 18.357s        
15 Naotsuke Kano        1m 18.383s                  
16 Satoshi Murakami     1m 18.396s        
17 Masahiro Yaname      1m 18.448s                  
18 Isyraf Danish        1m 18.485s        
19 Thi Nhat             1m 18.518s                  
20 Sakura Sekai         1m 18.550s       
21 Atsushi Koizumi      1m 18.621s                  
22 Rudiartono           1m 18.625s      
23 Tony Wei-leuk        1m 19.028s                  
24 Choi Seul-Hae        1m 19.250s       
25 Kazuomi Endo         1m 19.272s                  
26 Haruhi Tsujimura     1m 19.285s
DNQ:
27 Kosuke Setou
28 Takuma Toyoda 

Sung-Tae, after falling back in race 1, put the effort in to qualify on pole for race 2, with Zhou Xiouping also aiming to make amends for the previous day's performance in second. Local boy Martono was again third, but all eyes were on al Qubaisi's stunning fourth place on the grid in what is the Emirati driver's second race in a single seater. Elsewhere, Kosuke Setou had a poor run and failed to qualify for the first time this year, joining Takuma Toyoda on the sidelines.

Race 2: (video here

Code: Select all

³  1st  Zhou Xiaoping               27m 10.562s    ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³  2nd  Presley Martono             +5.014s        ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³  3rd  Ryunnosuke Takashi          +10.441s       ³              
              ³       Team RS                                    ³              
              ³  4th  Kwon Sung-Tae               +12.154s       ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³              
              ³  5th  Kurumi Fujibayashi          +12.525s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³  6th  Xu Shiqing                  +15.332s       ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³  7th  Kei Suzuki                  +16.482s       ³              
              ³       Nakamura                                   ³              
              ³  8th  Thatan Weerwatnodom         +16.968s       ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³  9th  Muizzuddin Gafar            +17.493s       ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³ 10th  Jordan Raharjo              +17.937s       ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 11th  Danial Nielsen Frost        +18.380s       ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³ 12th  Satoshi Murakami            +21.139s       ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³ 13th  Mutaz Ibrahim               +23.861s       ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 14th  Isyraf Danish               +26.594s       ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³              
              ³ 15th  Atsushi Koizumi             +27.443s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 16th  Naotsuke Kano               +28.665s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 17th  Rudiartono                  +29.612s       ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³ 18th  Masahiro Yaname             +32.697s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 19th  Sakura Sekai                +33.248s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³ 20th  Tony Wei-leuk               +39.993s       ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 21st  Hamda al Qubaisi            +40.057s       ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 22nd  Thi Nhat                    +42.526s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 23rd  Kazuomi Endo                +49.466s       ³              
              ³       Team RS                                    ³              
              ³ 24th  Haruhi Tsujimura            +50.630s       ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³ 25th  Choi Seul-Hae               -1 Lap         ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³              
              ³ 26th  Go Gouriki                  Engine         ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³

Sung-Tae and Xiouping battled for the lead initially, but soon Xiouping saw his chance and pulled away from the pack, taking his second victory and fastest lap of the season. Go Gouriki, on the other hand, suffered the race winner's curse (combined with his usual bad luck) and retired early on with engine failure- as of yet, no race winner has scored points in the next race after. Hamda al Qubaisi initially battled with Martono for fourth, which became third after Sung-Tae dropping back, and got the better of the Calsonic driver to find herself in an unbelievable second place early on. Unfortunately, on Lap 9 the pressure of defending the place got to her and she span off, putting her all the way at the back of the field. Meanwhile, Kei Suzuki finally got to a race finish, scoring points in seventh.

Championship Standings After Round 6:
Drivers Championship After R1-6
1 Martono 64
2 Takashi 54
3 Sung-Tae 48
4 Xiaoping 45
5 Gouriki 36
6 Fujibayashi 34
7 Gafar 28
8 Nielsen Frost 14
=8 Raharjo 14
=8 Danish 14
11 Shiqing 12
=11 Weerwatnodom 12
13 Yaname 7
14 Suzuki 6
15 Kano 4
=15 Murakami 4
=15 al Qubaisi 4
18 Sekai 3
=18 Nhat 3
20 Koizomi 2

Martono's consistency has allowed him to extend his championship lead to ten points, with Takashi up to second for much the same reason, despite not winning a race so far. Gouriki also moves up to fifth, and Weerwatnodom moves up the standings after tripling his points tally over the weekend,

Feel free to comment/ sack drivers before the rounds at Suzuka in about two weeks' time.

[novitopoli]

Haruhi Tsujimura will be replaced from now on by Hinata Miura (JPN), born 19/9/2002. Tsujimura Scuderia thanks Haruhi for her outstanding job.

[John Rafael]

Team Rising Sun is interested in replace Kazuomi Endo for Kayra Clifton (DEC: me). Kayra is a New Zealander and is currently racing for Erebus Motorsport in F5000.

Team Rising Sun is pleased by the Ryunnosuke Takashi performance from now.

[This Could Be You]

Team Rising Sun is interested in replace Kazuomi Endo for Kayra Clifton (DEC: me). Kayra is a New Zealander and is currently racing for Erebus Motorsport in F5000.

Team Rising Sun is pleased by the Ryunnosuke Takashi performance from now.

Clifton will be driving for you from Suzuka onwards, provided she does not compete in F5000 while she is part of this season (however this should be workable as the next round in F5000 after this signing is in December, after the F4 season's over) , otherwise she will have too much experience to compete in F4 fairly (I'm already being a bit lenient now as she's already done 2 races). If this is an issue, you may have to stick with Endo or find another younger and less experienced driver.

[John Rafael]

Clifton will be driving for you from Suzuka onwards, provided she does not compete in F5000 while she is part of this season (however this should be workable as the next round in F5000 after this signing is in December, after the F4 season's over) , otherwise she will have too much experience to compete in F4 fairly (I'm already being a bit lenient now as she's already done 2 races). If this is an issue, you may have to stick with Endo or find another younger and less experienced driver.

Kayra Clifton Was in round 1. But DNF both races. She will appear again in rounds 3 and 4 before May 18.

After these rounds she will have three races in her career. (Mt. Panorama, Adelaide and Melbourne), the same number of races that Kazuomi Endo have from now (Okayama, Sepang and Sentul).

For me, looks like an equivalent exchange.

[DemocalypseNow]

For me, looks like an equivalent exchange.

Yes, but F4 uses a basic spec chassis with L4 engines capped at 160hp. F5000 uses 5.0L V8 engines, which would likely have at least double this figure, mated to ex-Formula Nippon chassis. Big difference.

[John Rafael]

Yes, but F4 uses a basic spec chassis with L4 engines capped at 160hp. F5000 uses 5.0L V8 engines, which would likely have at least double this figure, mated to ex-Formula Nippon chassis. Big difference.

So, it's a no way? If Kayra can't be accepted, I still have other driver up for F4:
Naotsune Kano (Japanese; February 4, 2002)

[Ataxia]

Yes, but F4 uses a basic spec chassis with L4 engines capped at 160hp. F5000 uses 5.0L V8 engines, which would likely have at least double this figure, mated to ex-Formula Nippon chassis. Big difference.

So, it's a no way? If Kayra can't be accepted, I still have other driver up for F4:
Naotsune Kano (Japanese; February 4, 2002)

...who's driving for Dandelion.

[John Rafael]

...who's driving for Dandelion.

Ooh... Weird.

BTW, I noticed Kayra Clifton is already in F4 Wiki page.

[This Could Be You]

BTW, I noticed Kayra Clifton is already in F4 Wiki page.

As I said, this is on the condition that she does no more F5000 races other than the two she's already done, at least until December, when the F4 season's done.

[TomWazzleshaw]

For me, looks like an equivalent exchange.

Yes, but F4 uses a basic spec chassis with L4 engines capped at 160hp. F5000 uses 5.0L V8 engines, which would likely have at least double this figure, mated to ex-Formula Nippon chassis. Big difference.

The F5k giggle-fest uses ex-supercar engines at the better half of 600bhp mated to the first-generation F2RWRS chassis, to be exact

[TomWazzleshaw]

After some consideration, and taking into account the need that I have to progress with the series at some point (Work schedule means I gotta take advantage of whatever free time I have), the F5000 Series organisers will veto any potential move for Clifton to move from F5000 to F4, citing existing contractual obligations.

Calsonic United Nippon Team will also protest any potential move, on the basis that F5000 experience would be considered an unfair advantage in the much more nimble F4 cars.

[This Could Be You]

As the F5000 organisers aren't happy, and as her manager hasn't pulled her out of the F5000 races which I would have needed them to do to make the deal even remotely fair (even then it would be a bit iffy for my liking), I'm afraid that Team RS are either going to have to hang on to Endo or find another replacement (which you will have to name before Saturday if you want them to race at Suzuka). Sorry about that, John Rafael.

[This Could Be You]

Ok, I'll admit this is now really late, but here are the results for the Suzuka Rounds of Asian F4;

Quali-1:

Code: Select all

1 Kwon Sung-Tae                                    
 1m 55.837s                  
2 Go Gouriki                    
1m 56.042s                     
3 Presley Martono                                        
1m 56.148s                                         
4 Muizzuddin Gafar                  
1m 56.232s                      
5 Thatan Weerwatnodom                                    
1m 56.427s                     
6 Zhou Xiaoping                    
1m 56.657s                      
7 Hamda al Qubaisi                                      
1m 56.676s                                           
8 Masahiro Yaname                 
1m 56.682s                    
9 Danial Nielsen Frost                                        
1m 56.694s                                       
10 Xu Shiqing                     
1m 56.756s                     
11 Satoshi Murakami                                          
1m 56.791s                                           
12 Jordan Raharjo                   
1m 56.836s                      
13 Kurumi Fujibayashi                                         
1m 57.065s                    
14 Thi Nhat                      
1m 57.079s                    
15 Naotsuke Kano              
1m 57.219s                       
16 Atsushi Koizumi               
1m 57.286s             
17 Ryunnosuke Takashi                                
1m 57.287s                 
18 Kei Suzuki              
1m 57.299s                   
19 Mutaz Ibrahim                                           
1m 57.455s                       
20 Sakura Sekai                
1m 57.480s                  
21 Hinata Miura                                          
1m 57.502s                       
22 Tony Wei-leuk               
1m 57.744s                   
23 Kosuke Setou                                           
1m 57.851s                                         
24 Rudiartono                   
1m 57.853s                      
25 Choi Seul-Hae                                           
1m 58.085s                       
26 Takuma Toyoda                   
1m 58.462s                      
DNQ:
27 Isyraf Danish
28 Kazuomi Endo  

Kwon Sung-Tae put his car on pole for the second race in a row, with fellow fast qualifier Go Gouriki alongside him. Championship leader Martono put his car third, but his nearest challenger Ryunnosuke Takashi put in an uncharacteristically poor run to line up only 17th, while lower down the field Tsujimura's new recruit Hinata Miura was 21st. Failing to qualify were Isyraf Danish, who made Takashi's off day look like championship form, and less surprisingly Kazuomi Endo, who has become somewhat of a persona non grata with Team RS' management, who have been trying their hardest to replace him (but are yet to find a legal choice) since Sentul.

Race 1 (video coming soon)

Code: Select all

 ³  1st  Presley Martono             52m 42.630s    ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³  2nd  Kwon Sung-Tae               +3.082s        ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³              
              ³  3rd  Muizzuddin Gafar            +9.531s        ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³  4th  Zhou Xiaoping               +12.569s       ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³  5th  Thatan Weerwatnodom         +15.368s       ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³  6th  Go Gouriki                  +17.387s       ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³  7th  Hamda al Qubaisi            +30.382s       ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³  8th  Ryunnosuke Takashi          +31.411s       ³              
              ³       Team RS                                    ³              
              ³  9th  Danial Nielsen Frost        +32.311s       ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³ 10th  Xu Shiqing                  +32.851s       ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³ 11th  Kurumi Fujibayashi          +33.704s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³ 12th  Masahiro Yaname             +35.045s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 13th  Thi Nhat                    +37.830s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 14th  Kei Suzuki                  +41.154s       ³              
              ³       Nakamura                                   ³              
              ³ 15th  Mutaz Ibrahim               +53.525s       ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 16th  Naotsuke Kano               +55.758s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 17th  Tony Wei-leuk               +56.923s       ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 18th  Hinata Miura                +1m 02.204s    ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³ 19th  Kosuke Setou                +1m 10.564s    ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³              
              ³ 20th  Rudiartono                  +1m 11.355s    ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³ 21st  Choi Seul-Hae               +1m 13.707s    ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³              
              ³ 22nd  Takuma Toyoda               +1m 19.148s    ³              
              ³       Nakamura                                   ³              
              ³ 23rd  Atsushi Koizumi             +1m 34.134s    ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 24th  Sakura Sekai                Engine         ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³ 25th  Jordan Raharjo              Didn't Finish  ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 26th  Satoshi Murakami            Didn't Finish  ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³

Initially Muizzuddin Gafar had the best start, and led by around a second from Sung-Tae and Martono, and it seemed for a while that he had the situation under control; perhaps Narita Engineering would get it's first win? Martono however, had other ideas and promptly passed Korean and Malaysian drivers to take the top spot, simply pulling away from all challengers with stunningly consistent laps; his winning margin. Meanwhile, back in the midfield, the Casio Triangle proved too much for a number of drivers; Atsushi Kozuimi swapped ends there every other lap, and ERA's Jordan Raharjo had a more serious spin on lap 11, leaving Satoshi Murakami with nowhere to go but into him, taking both cars out of the points positions. Kwon Sung-Tae, despite his ultimately disappointing race pace, set fastest lap.

Quali-2:

Code: Select all

1 Zhou Xiaoping                                         
1m 55.966s                       
2 Ryunnosuke Takashi                 
1m 56.196s                     
3 Presley Martono                                         
1m 56.262s                        
4 Danial Nielsen Frost                
1m 56.288s                     
5 Xu Shiqing                                             
1m 56.314s                                          
6 Kei Suzuki                      
1m 56.452s                      
7 Kwon Sung-Tae                                          
1m 56.511s                      
8 Satoshi Murakami                   
1m 56.624s                      
9 Isyraf Danish                                            
1m 56.713s                        
10 Jordan Raharjo                   
1m 56.751s                      
11 Atsushi Koizumi                                           
1m 56.795s                     
12 Hamda al Qubaisi                   
1m 56.853s                      
13 Thatan Weerwatnodom                          
1m 56.858s                   
14 Rudiartono                    
1m 57.081s                     
15 Naotsuke Kano                                           
1m 57.099s                    
16 Kurumi Fujibayashi                  
1m 57.127s                     
17 Sakura Sekai                                           
1m 57.186s                     
18 Thi Nhat                      
1m 57.187s                     
19 Hinata Miura                                           
1m 57.202s                        
20 Mutaz Ibrahim                   
1m 57.204s                      
21 Go Gouriki                                             
1m 57.432s                        
22 Masahiro Yaname                   
1m 57.623s                      
23 Muizzuddin Gafar                                           
1m 57.859s                       
24 Tony Wei-leuk                   
1m 58.049s                     
25 Kazuomi Endo                                            
1m 58.052s                        
26 Kosuke Setou                    
1m 58.133s
DNQ:
27 Takuma Toyoda
28 Choi Seul-Hae      

Zhou Xiouping, after a Race 1 performance that was mediocre by his usual standards, more than made up for it with his second pole this year, with Takashi also looking like a threat in second- but lurking behind on row 2 was Presley Martono, looking for another strong showing. Kei Suzuki had his strongest qualifying showing yet in sixth, while Go Gouriki and the two Narita cars were a long way down the grid after impressive Race 1 results. Toyoda and Seul-Hae failed to qualify.

Race 2 (video coming soon)

Code: Select all

³  1st  Presley Martono             52m 44.606s    ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³  2nd  Zhou Xiaoping               +0.439s        ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³  3rd  Ryunnosuke Takashi          +7.444s        ³              
              ³       Team RS                                    ³              
              ³  4th  Xu Shiqing                  +12.872s       ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³  5th  Kei Suzuki                  +15.869s       ³              
              ³       Nakamura                                   ³              
              ³  6th  Satoshi Murakami            +21.597s       ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³  7th  Kwon Sung-Tae               +26.377s       ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³              
              ³  8th  Danial Nielsen Frost        +27.713s       ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³  9th  Isyraf Danish               +29.660s       ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³              
              ³ 10th  Hamda al Qubaisi            +33.156s       ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 11th  Atsushi Koizumi             +35.114s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 12th  Go Gouriki                  +39.415s       ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³ 13th  Naotsuke Kano               +43.913s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 14th  Kurumi Fujibayashi          +46.323s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³ 15th  Sakura Sekai                +47.080s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³ 16th  Muizzuddin Gafar            +52.403s       ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³ 17th  Mutaz Ibrahim               +53.082s       ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 18th  Hinata Miura                +54.512s       ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³ 19th  Thi Nhat                    +55.650s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 20th  Rudiartono                  +57.058s       ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³ 21st  Thatan Weerwatnodom         +58.505s       ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³ 22nd  Masahiro Yaname             +59.341s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 23rd  Tony Wei-leuk               +1m 13.373s    ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 24th  Kazuomi Endo                +1m 15.835s    ³              
              ³       Team RS                                    ³              
              ³ 25th  Jordan Raharjo              Didn't Finish  ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 26th  Kosuke Setou                Water Leak     ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³     

Despite a somewhat familiar, this race was one of the most exciting this year. Ryunnosuke Takashi led for the first time this year thanks to a lightning start, holding this position with a one second margin over the imperious Presley Martono in second and Xiouping who had dropped to third. Sadly Takashi's patience and consistency this year is still yet to be rewarded with a win, as by lap 5, Martono sailed past and off into the distance, with a margin of nearly four seconds by the time Zhou Xiouping overtook the Japanese on Lap 11.

That move, however, brought the race back to life. The Red Dragon driver started to do something no-one had previously managed this year- that is to reign Martono in. With 10 laps to go, the gap had halfed, to 2 seconds. By Lap 21, it was under a second. By setting fastest lap after fastest lap (though ironically not the official fastest lap- that was run by Gouriki, down in 12th), the Chinese driver had a serious chance at winning the race, and in the last couple of laps tried several lunges on the Calsonic driver, to no avail. Eventually, even after a valiant final corner manuouvre, he had to concede: Martono withstood the pressure and won, but the winning margin was just under half a second; and more eyes were on Xiouping than anyone else.

Elsewhere in the field, there were several impressive performances from the likes of Suzuki and Murakami, who both recorded their best finishes this year, and some somewhat less impressive ones- Jordan Raharjo again threw away a points finish after his Race 1 misadventure, with an identical spin in the Casio Triangle mid-race, Kwon Sung-Tae only missing the stricken car (and its loose wheel) by a matter of inches.

Championship Standings after Round 8

Drivers Championship After R1-8
1 Martono 94
2 Takashi 67
3 Xiaoping 67
4 Sung-Tae 66
5 Gouriki 41
6 Gafar 38
7 Fujibayashi 34
8 Shiqing 21
9 Nielsen Frost 19
10 Weerwatnodom 18
11 Danish 16
12 Raharjo 14
13 Suzuki 12
14 Murakami 9
=14 al Qubaisi 9
16 Yaname 7
17 Kano 4
18 Sekai 3
=18 Nhat 3
20 Koizomi 2

Martono's near-perfect score leaves him with a huge 27 point lead over nearest rivals Takashi (who still has a 100% scoring record) and Xiouping, who has climbed a place, with Sung-Tae only a point behind in fourth.

Feel free to sack drivers (if you want to get rid of Endo and replace him with an eligible driver, John Rafael, now is the time) and comment before the Autopolis rounds in (hopefully) two weeks time.

[DemocalypseNow]

Given the success I have had with this individual in non-canon, lets see if he can be similarly successful here.

Joo-Woon Song (PRK) is available to hire as a mid-season replacement. Born 8 January 2003, his fortuitous date of birth has earned him special status to allow him to pursue a racing career outside of his home country - mostly for the propaganda opportunities it will bring.

[John Rafael]

Given the success I have had with this individual in non-canon, lets see if he can be similarly successful here.

Joo-Woon Song (PRK) is available to hire as a mid-season replacement. Born 8 January 2003, his fortuitous date of birth has earned him special status to allow him to pursue a racing career outside of his home country - mostly for the propaganda opportunities it will bring.

Tell me Team RS could have him. Please. I can even place some People's Republic of Korea advertising on the livery. Since Clifton is not coming, I need someone to replace Kazuomi Endo and his awful performance.

[This Could Be You]

Given the success I have had with this individual in non-canon, lets see if he can be similarly successful here.

Joo-Woon Song (PRK) is available to hire as a mid-season replacement. Born 8 January 2003, his fortuitous date of birth has earned him special status to allow him to pursue a racing career outside of his home country - mostly for the propaganda opportunities it will bring.

Tell me Team RS could have him. Please. I can even place some People's Republic of Korea advertising on the livery. Since Clifton is not coming, I need someone to replace Kazuomi Endo and his awful performance.

I assume DemocalyseNow would approve such a move, so Song will be in the #5 Team RS car from Autopolis onwards.

[DemocalypseNow]

Given the success I have had with this individual in non-canon, lets see if he can be similarly successful here.

Joo-Woon Song (PRK) is available to hire as a mid-season replacement. Born 8 January 2003, his fortuitous date of birth has earned him special status to allow him to pursue a racing career outside of his home country - mostly for the propaganda opportunities it will bring.

Tell me Team RS could have him. Please. I can even place some People's Republic of Korea advertising on the livery. Since Clifton is not coming, I need someone to replace Kazuomi Endo and his awful performance.

I assume DemocalyseNow would approve such a move, so Song will be in the #5 Team RS car from Autopolis onwards.

Song accepts the offer with great humility, and gives thanks to Kim Jong-Un for providing this greatest of opportunities.

[Ciaran]

Welp, looks like we need to stock up on spare parts at K-Apex.

[V8fan12]

Thi Nhat is sacked effective immediately. He will be replaced by South Korean Seong-Jin Cho

[This Could Be You]

Sorry that this is so very late (more technical difficulites; Autopolis broke so I had to reinstall GP2 again; no data was lost) but here are the results from Round 5 at Autopolis:

Quali-1;

Code: Select all

1 Zhou Xiaoping                                            
1m 35.872s                       
2 Kwon Sung-Tae                   
1m 35.898s                    
3 Joo-Woon Song                                           
1m 35.919s                        
4 Ryunnosuke Takashi                 
1m 35.922s                      
5 Go Gouriki                                             
1m 36.115s                       
6 Xu Shiqing                      
1m 36.119s                      
7 Seong-Jin Cho                                            
1m 36.230s                       
8 Presley Martono                   
1m 36.247s                      
9 Danial Nielsen Frost                                         
1m 36.316s                       
10 Masahiro Yaname                   
1m 36.394s                      
11 Kurumi Fujibayashi                                          
1m 36.432s                       
12 Satoshi Murakami                   
1m 36.437s                      
13 Muizzuddin Gafar                                           
1m 36.487s                       
14 Hamda al Qubaisi                   
1m 36.518s                      
15 Kei Suzuki                                              
1m 36.550s                      
16 Isyraf Danish                  
1m 36.567s                      
17 Jordan Raharjo                                            
1m 36.755s                      
18 Thatan Weerwatnodom                 
1m 36.796s                      
19 Naotsuke Kano                                            
1m 36.827s                     
20 Hinata Miura                     
1m 37.084s                      
21 Atsushi Koizumi                                           
1m 37.120s                    
22 Rudiartono                      
1m 37.289s                      
23 Sakura Sekai                                             
1m 37.502s                    
24 Mutaz Ibrahim                    
1m 37.531s                      
25 Tony Wei-leuk                                            
1m 37.567s                      
26 Choi Seul-Hae                    
1m 38.108s
DNQ:
27 Kosuke Setou
28 Takuma Toyoda                                                                                
                                                                                

Zhou Xiaoping took pole for race 1 at Autopolis, with K-Apex's Kwon Sung-Tae lining up alongside, but the most attention was on the driver who finished the session third; Joo-Woon Song, the North Korean driver making his debut for Team RS, bewildered the paddock with his stunning effort, even outqualifying his teammate who was one place back in fourth, a nevertheless impressive effort. Fellow debutant Seong-Jin Cho also qualified impressively in seventh, one place ahead of championship leader Presley Martono (who had a somewhat mediocre session) and three ahead of teammate Yaname. Kosuke Setou and Takuma Toyoda failed to make the grid.

Race 1: (video here

Code: Select all

³  1st  Joo-Woon Song               33m 35.507s    ³              
              ³       Team RS                                    ³              
              ³  2nd  Kwon Sung-Tae               +1.947s        ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³              
              ³  3rd  Seong-Jin Cho               +3.094s        ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³  4th  Ryunnosuke Takashi          +5.255s        ³              
              ³       Team RS                                    ³              
              ³  5th  Zhou Xiaoping               +9.452s        ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³  6th  Presley Martono             +10.497s       ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³  7th  Go Gouriki                  +11.353s       ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³  8th  Danial Nielsen Frost        +13.828s       ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³  9th  Masahiro Yaname             +17.646s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 10th  Xu Shiqing                  +21.378s       ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³ 11th  Kurumi Fujibayashi          +21.658s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³ 12th  Satoshi Murakami            +23.235s       ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³ 13th  Thatan Weerwatnodom         +25.401s       ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³ 14th  Isyraf Danish               +25.994s       ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³              
              ³ 15th  Kei Suzuki                  +26.129s       ³              
              ³       Nakamura                                   ³              
              ³ 16th  Hamda al Qubaisi            +28.229s       ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 17th  Muizzuddin Gafar            +29.000s       ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³ 18th  Jordan Raharjo              +30.906s       ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 19th  Naotsuke Kano               +31.820s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 20th  Hinata Miura                +33.856s       ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³ 21st  Atsushi Koizumi             +37.418s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 22nd  Rudiartono                  +41.353s       ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³ 23rd  Mutaz Ibrahim               +43.446s       ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 24th  Sakura Sekai                +45.165s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³ 25th  Tony Wei-leuk               +49.029s       ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 26th  Choi Seul-Hae               +54.992s       ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³ 

Zhou Xiaoping made one of the worst starts of the year off pole, conceding four positions to a group led by Kwon Sung-Tae, Ryunnosuke Takashi and more surprisingly the two Korean debutants, Cho especially impressing with his lightning-fast start. The K-Apex driver led initially, but after just two laps of his racing career, Joo-Woon Song was leading a race! And it would be a lead he wouldn't relinquish, taking a victory first time out despite constant pressure from the two South Korean drivers behind him (making an awkward podium rostrum to say the least...), furiously trying to get past; his lead was never close to even two seconds through it all, while his teammate took a useful but disappointing fourth, on a day when his championship rival Martono was struggling for pace, leaving his points lead vulnerable. Further down the field, Masahiro Yaname added to his points tally with another ninth, while others such as Hamda al Qubaisi struggled to find their feet at the twisty Autopolis complex- though none found this as much as Jordan Raharjo, who came very close to having his third spin in three race, albeit recoving this time. Seong-Jin Cho took fastest lap in a race dominated by Koreans, both North and South.

Quali-2:

Code: Select all

1 Kwon Sung-Tae                                            
1m 35.854s                         
2 Presley Martono                   
1m 36.105s                      
3 Go Gouriki                                              
1m 36.115s                         
4 Ryunnosuke Takashi                  
1m 36.123s                      
5 Kurumi Fujibayashi                                          
1m 36.271s                         
6 Joo-Woon Song                    
1m 36.307s                      
7 Thatan Weerwatnodom                                         
1m 36.321s                         
8 Seong-Jin Cho                  
1m 36.329s                      
9 Zhou Xiaoping                                            
1m 36.362s                      
10 Muizzuddin Gafar                   
1m 36.439s                      
11 Danial Nielsen Frost                                         
1m 36.554s                        
12 Xu Shiqing                      
1m 36.568s                      
13 Kei Suzuki                                              
1m 36.636s                        
14 Jordan Raharjo                    
1m 36.690s                      
15 Satoshi Murakami                                           
1m 36.752s                                           
16 Isyraf Danish                    
1m 36.753s                      
17 Hamda al Qubaisi                                           
1m 36.933s                    
18 Masahiro Yaname                   
1m 36.941s                      
19 Naotsuke Kano                                           
1m 37.011s                       
20 Atsushi Koizumi                  
1m 37.198s                     
21 Sakura Sekai                                             
1m 37.340s                       
22 Mutaz Ibrahim                   
1m 37.405s                     
23 Tony Wei-leuk                                            
1m 37.440s                     
24 Rudiartono                      
1m 37.455s                      
25 Hinata Miura                                             
1m 37.545s                   
26 Kosuke Setou                     
1m 37.789s        
DNQ:
27 Choi Seul-Hae
28 Takuma Toyoda 

Kwon Sung-Tae clearly had a point to prove in the second qualifying session, and so did Presley Martono, the two drivers making up the front row fuelled by disappointment from Race 1. Ryunnosuke Takashi was metronomic is his consistency with another fourth place grid slot, while the more mercurial Go Gouriki looked to be on form in third place in the session. Choi Seul-Hae and the glacially slow Takuma Toyoda failed to qualify

Race 2: (video here)

Code: Select all

³  1st  Kwon Sung-Tae               33m 34.984s    ³              
              ³       K-Apex                                     ³              
              ³  2nd  Presley Martono             +2.350s        ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³  3rd  Go Gouriki                  +5.363s        ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³              
              ³  4th  Ryunnosuke Takashi          +11.015s       ³              
              ³       Team RS                                    ³              
              ³  5th  Thatan Weerwatnodom         +12.328s       ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³  6th  Seong-Jin Cho               +15.548s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³  7th  Kurumi Fujibayashi          +18.503s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³  8th  Danial Nielsen Frost        +19.545s       ³              
              ³       Calsonic                                   ³              
              ³  9th  Joo-Woon Song               +20.206s       ³              
              ³       Team RS                                    ³              
              ³ 10th  Zhou Xiaoping               +22.043s       ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³ 11th  Muizzuddin Gafar            +22.885s       ³              
              ³       Narita                                     ³              
              ³ 12th  Xu Shiqing                  +23.821s       ³              
              ³       Red Dragon                                 ³              
              ³ 13th  Masahiro Yaname             +30.383s       ³              
              ³       KMH                                        ³              
              ³ 14th  Naotsuke Kano               +30.892s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 15th  Jordan Raharjo              +33.477s       ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 16th  Kei Suzuki                  +34.135s       ³              
              ³       Nakamura                                   ³              
              ³ 17th  Atsushi Koizumi             +35.749s       ³              
              ³       Dandelion                                  ³              
              ³ 18th  Sakura Sekai                +41.526s       ³              
              ³       Fujibayashi                                ³              
              ³ 19th  Hinata Miura                +43.845s       ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³ 20th  Mutaz Ibrahim               +44.551s       ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 21st  Tony Wei-leuk               +46.720s       ³              
              ³       E.R.A                                      ³              
              ³ 22nd  Isyraf Danish               +46.859s       ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³              
              ³ 23rd  Hamda al Qubaisi            +47.706s       ³              
              ³       Aspire                                     ³              
              ³ 24th  Kosuke Setou                +57.743s       ³              
              ³       Luxray                                     ³              
              ³ 25th  Satoshi Murakami            +1m 10.749s    ³              
              ³       Tsujimura                                  ³              
              ³ 26th  Rudiartono                  Engine         ³              
              ³       Team Mecha                                 ³ 

The Autopolis Circuit produced yet another great race to watch, with observers treated to a truly epic battle for the lead between Kwon Sung-Tae and Presley Martono, lap after lap. They ran nose-to-tail, seperated by no more than half a second for over half the laps run, the lead changing at least once every lap (or on lap 10, three times!) and the tension ever-rising, with Ryunnosuke and Go Gouriki having their own lesser dogfight behind to see who would pick up the pieces if the two ahead collided (this fizzled out on lap 6, in Gouriki's favour). Eventually the winning move was made by the South Korean driver round the outside of turn one- intially it looked as if he had botched this manoeuvre and lose time, but he managed to switch back on Martono and hold on to advantage which grew to nearly two seconds by the end of the race, the latter driver seemingly fatigued after some truly incredible defensive and aggressive wheel-to-wheel racing, also gaining a fastest lap for his efforts.

Rather less impressive were the wheel-to-wheel antics of Kosuke Setou, who managed to make both an awful start and then run into and over the three cars ahead, terminally damaging Rudiartono's suspension and pushing al Qubaisi into the gravel, ruining her race also and forcing other cars such as the two Dandelions to take evasive action.

Penalty Points:
Kosuke Setou: 5 points, causing an avoidable collision resulting in a retirement; no further action taken

Championship after Five Rounds:

Drivers Championship After R1-10
1 Martono 111
2 Sung-Tae 95
3 Takashi 83
4 Xiaoping 76
5 Gouriki 55
6 Gafar 38
7 Fujibayashi 38
8 Shiqing 22
9 Nielsen Frost 25
10 Weerwatnodom 24
11 Danish 16
=11 Song 16
12 Cho 15
13 Raharjo 14
15 Suzuki 12
16 Murakami 9
=16 al Qubaisi 9
=16 Yaname 9
19 Kano 4
20 Sekai 3
=20 Nhat 3
22 Koizomi 2
Martono retains his championship lead, but Sung-Tae now moves up to second after his second win, reducing the Indonesian's advantage to 16 points from nearly 30. Takashi remains third, though still winless despite his 100% scoring record this year, while Xiaoping drops to fourth after being in "anonymous-mode" all weekend. After their stunning debuts, Song and Cho enter the points table in 11th and 12th respectably, ahead of many who have done the whole season- it is interesting to ponder where they might be in the championship if they had turned up at Okayama in March...

Firstly, apologies for being really, really late with this one (I'll try to get Motegi ran a lot more quickly and efficiently), and secondly, as always feel free to comment or sack drivers before the first of the Motegi rounds, which are the last races before the midseason break; there will be a test session during this period, which will be elaborated on after said races.

[alg2159]

Nakamura Motors release :
Due to a catastrophic start to the season and a lack of progress. Takuma Toyoda is dismissed and will be replaced by an Australian rookie: Harry Sharp (born 1st April 2004).
This change will take effect from the sixth round.

[Ciaran]

We at K-Apex would appreciate it if Joo-Won Song was "randomly" selected for drugs testing.

[DemocalypseNow]

We at K-Apex would appreciate it if Joo-Won Song was "randomly" selected for drugs testing.

Kim Jong-Un has declared K-Apex enemies of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. They will be sentenced to a lifetime of hard labour should they ever set foot in our great nation.