Grand Prix Rejects

Britek will offer Matt Neal 50K and Yvan Muller 75K for the enduros.

Brad Jones will pair up with his nephew, Andrew in the #12 for the enduros.

Edited my offers on the previous page after doing a slight brain fade.

There is no way at all Skaife would even remotely consider driving for FPR in any capacity ever

eurobrun wrote:There is no way at all Skaife would even remotely consider driving for FPR in any capacity ever

Just like there's no way in hell Peter Brock would ever have driven for Ford...oh wait...

Nothing is impossible. Merely unlikely.

Stramala wrote:

eurobrun wrote:There is no way at all Skaife would even remotely consider driving for FPR in any capacity ever

Just like there's no way in hell Peter Brock would ever have driven for Ford...oh wait...

Nothing is impossible. Merely unlikely.

Very, very unlikely

In other news, in order to allow Zanardi to drive in the V8 Supercars, V8SCA are in the process of developing an all-new gearbox and transmission package to allow Zanardi to use his WTCC hand-control system to drive the car.

Firstly, I apologise for being so slack with the organisation of this. Schoolwork tends to do that sort of stuff. Secondly, before I continue, Russell Ingall and Ralph Firman have been signed for Paul Morris, putting Jonathon Webb back on the market. And now, let us continue:

JONATHON WEBB (13):

1-60: Go to PWR for free
61-100: Try to get a full-time drive elsewhere

ALEX ZANARDI (88):
1-55: Drive the enduros only for Tasman (75k)
56-100: Drive the enduros only for FPR (50k)

JORG BERGMEISTER (24):
1-65: Go to FPR (550k)
66-100: Drive the enduros only for FPR (90k)

JASON PLATO (46):
1-15: Go to FPR (400k)
16-30: Drive the enduros only for FPR (40k)
31-100: Stay in the BTCC with RML

STEVEN RICHARDS (50):
1-100: Go to FPR (350k)

BEN COLLINS (54):
1-45: Go to FPR (300k)
46-100: Drive the enduros only for FPR (60k)

DEAN CANTO (N/A):
1-100: Go to FPR (250k)

JONNY REID (N/A):
1-35: Go to FPR (200k)
36-70: Drive the enduros only for FPR (30k)
71-100: Stay in America to try and get an Indy Lights drive

CRAIG BAIRD (29):
1-75: Drive the enduros only for DJR (35k)
76-100: Try to get a full-time drive elsewhere

GLENN SETON (N/A):
1-100: Drive the enduros only for DJR (35k)

MATT NEAL (58):
1-100: Drive the enduros only for Britek (50k)

YVAN MULLER (29):
1-100: Drive the enduros only for Britek (75k)

Teams still without full-time drivers now have until Monday, May 27th at 2100GMT to get their offers together. Otherwise, I'll start allocating drivers at my leisure, and it won't be pretty

For free? I'm going to offer him 75k.

pi314159 wrote:For free? I'm going to offer him 75k.

Well, after being denied by so many teams, the guy was starting to get desperate for a V8 drive somewhere. But if you really want to, I can deduct the 75k from your accounts.

GRM will offer Taz Douglas 50K and Warren Luff 75K to do the enduros.

Wizzie wrote:

pi314159 wrote:For free? I'm going to offer him 75k.

Well, after being denied by so many teams, the guy was starting to get desperate for a V8 drive somewhere. But if you really want to, I can deduct the 75k from your accounts.

No, he can drive for free if that's acceptable for him.

Since the deadline's come and gone, Rod Nash Racing will get Tony D'Alberto while Ford Rising Stars will have to make do with Michael Patrizi.

In other news, pre-season testing will begin this weekend with a one day test at Queensland Raceway for the entire field. In addition, teams will have the option to have up to six testing days throughout the year, which will cost $5k per car per day.

Finally, I've figured out how to make individual car and engine files, which means I'll be able to introduce upgrades very soon. For now, it'll probably be just for reliability, engine power, fuel efficiency and car weight but a full framework of how it'll be implemented will probably be ready after the first round in Adelaide.

I'm considering a pay driver for the Enduros to pay for a few days of testing so I am seeking pay drivers willing to pay in increments of 12K per Enduro race for the second enduro seat.

After several hours of testing and devising band-aid solutions to hardwired problems in the game, here's the results of the test day at Queensland Raceway:

Morning Session
1. C. Lowndes (Triple 8 Race Engineering): 1:10.588 - 42 laps
2. J. Whincup (Triple 8 Race Engineering): +0.027 - 29 laps
3. G. Tander (Holden Racing Team): +0.114 - 57 laps
4. A. Davison (Stone Brothers Racing): +0.135 - 34 laps
5. J. Bergmeister (Ford Performance Racing): +0.147 - 45 laps
6. S. Richards (Ford Performance Racing): +0.169 - 59 laps
7. R. Kelly (Kelly Racing): +0.236 - 37 laps
8. D. Reynolds (Britek Motorsport): +0.240 - 33 laps
9. J. Courtney (Dick Johnson Racing): +0.276 - 33 laps
10. S. Johnson (Dick Johnson Racing): +0.279 - 49 laps
11. S. Van Gisbergen (Walkinshaw Performance): +0.296 - 33 laps
12. J. Richards (Brad Jones Racing): +0.325 - 46 laps
13. J. Bargwanna (Tasman Motorsport): +0.377 - 37 laps
14. G. Murphy (Tasman Motorsport): +0.434 - 27 laps
15. M. Winterbottom (Perkins Motorsport): +0.523 - 32 laps
16. W. Davison (Holden Racing Team): +0.524 - 27 laps
17. M. Skaife (HSV Racing): +0.554 - 47 laps
18. T. Kelly (Kelly Racing): +0.610 - 33 laps
19. M. Caruso (Garry Rogers Motorsport): +0.618 - 39 laps
20. F. Coulthard (Stone Brothers Racing): +0.670 - 35 laps
21. L. Holdsworth (Garry Rogers Motorsport): +0.687 - 54 laps
22. K. Scott (Paul Cruickshank Racing): +0.707 - 41 laps
23. R. Ingall (Paul Morris Motorsport): +0.719 - 47 laps
24. D. Fiore (Triple F Racing): +0.729 - 61 laps
25. J. Bright (Britek Motorsport): +0.753 - 44 laps
26. M. Patrizi (Ford Rising Stars): +0.771 - 34 laps
27. P. Dumbrell (Greg Murphy Racing): +0.786 - 28 laps
28. J. Thompson (Walkinshaw Performance): +0.794 - 29 laps
29. J. Webb (Paul Weel Racing): +0.845 - 41 laps
30. J. Perkins (Perkins Motorsport): +0.845 - 25 laps
31. T. D'Alberto (Rod Nash Racing): +0.939 - 53 laps
32. T. Slade (Brad Jones Racing): +1.181 - 42 laps
33. R. Firman (Paul Morris Motorsport): +1.264 - 29 laps
34. D. Thexton (Thexton Motor Sport): +3.255 - 53 laps

Afternoon Session
1. J. Bergmeister (Ford Performance Racing): 1:10.471 - 43 laps
2. M. Skaife (HSV Racing): +0.017 - 30 laps
3. C. Lowndes (Triple 8 Race Engineering): +0.070 - 44 laps
4. A. Davison (Stone Brothers Racing): +0.102 - 53 laps
5. J. Courtney (Dick Johnson Racing): +0.104 - 47 laps
6. J. Whincup (Triple 8 Race Engineering): +0.139 - 39 laps
7. M. Winterbottom (Perkins Motorsport): +0.166 - 55 laps
8. J. Webb (Paul Weel Racing): +0.187 - 41 laps
9. S. Van Gisbergen (Walkinshaw Performance): +0.194 - 28 laps
10. R. Kelly (Kelly Racing): +0.221 - 44 laps
11. G. Murphy (Tasman Motorsport): +0.236 - 50 laps
12. F. Coulthard (Stone Brothers Racing): +0.267 - 58 laps
13. L. Holdsworth (Garry Rogers Motorsport): +0.283 - 51 laps
14. D. Reynolds (Britek Motorsport): +0.303 - 32 laps
15. G. Tander (Holden Racing Team): +0.304 - 37 laps
16. T. Kelly (Kelly Racing): +0.319 - 51 laps
17. M. Caruso (Garry Rogers Motorsport): +0.333 - 37 laps
18. S. Richards (Ford Performance Racing): +0.339 - 35 laps
19. R. Ingall (Paul Morris Motorsport): +0.406 - 33 laps
20. R. Firman (Paul Morris Motorsport): +0.406 - 64 laps
21. J. Richards (Brad Jones Racing): +0.413 - 50 laps
22. W. Davison (Holden Racing Team): +0.421 - 21 laps
23. K. Scott (Paul Cruickshank Racing): +0.445 - 34 laps
24. J. Bargwanna (Tasman Motorsport): +0.467 - 45 laps
25. J. Bright (Britek Motorsport): +0.469 - 34 laps
26. S. Johnson (Dick Johnson Racing): +0.497 - 45 laps
27. P. Dumbrell (Greg Murphy Racing): +0.650 - 59 laps
28. T. D'Alberto (Rod Nash Racing): +0.699 - 25 laps
29. T. Slade (Brad Jones Racing): +0.731 - 36 laps
30. D. Fiore (Triple F Racing): +0.780 - 47 laps
31. J. Perkins (Perkins Motorsport): +0.874 - 43 laps
32. M. Patrizi (Ford Rising Stars): +0.954 - 29 laps
33. J. Thompson (Walkinshaw Performance): +1.130 - 48 laps
34. D. Thexton (Thexton Motor Sport): +3.705 - 27 laps

It was as interesting as a test day at one of Australia's most boring tracks could be, with several drivers running out of fuel over the course of the day as others went beyond the limits of the track and their new cars. Greg Murphy Racing were forced to replace an engine on the #14 between sessions, while V8 Supercars Australiasia may be preparing a motion to have Thexton Motor Sport nominate a new driver for the 88 car, as it has become clear the years haven't made Thexton any better. The hot tip is Luke Youlden may end up getting the satellite Triple 8 car should the motion go ahead, in preparation of a potential enduro drive with the works squad later this year.

On a slightly related note, I did some test races at Adelaide, Bathurst and Queensland Raceway over the course of the past few days. While the sprint races generally went the way the form guides predicted, we could be in for some weird and wonderful results in the longer events as it turns out the AI can't keep it on the road for the longer events if their lives depended on it. (I had a Dumbrell/Coulthard/T. Kelly podium in an Adelaide race, while James Thompson came within half a second of winning the test Bathurst 1000).

Finally, I started coming across an issue in some tracks where some cars aren't setting qualifying laps at all. While I've tried several changes to try and fix the problem, it hasn't fixed it completely, and with the way GTR2 works, I need all cars to set a laptime to properly set the grids. Now, I have found a workaround to preserve qualifying results should the situation arise, but it'll mean that some drivers will be penalised heavily by the bug. Teams that are affected will get financial compensation, but I'm yet to decide whether it'll be a fixed rate, or dependent on championship position.

Maybe the second Walkinshaw Performance car was so slow because the WRONG THOMPSON WAS DRIVING???

Tell that slow as hell idiot Andrew to GTFO of the car and let the far superior James Thompson in instead!!

Stramala wrote:Maybe the second Walkinshaw Performance car was so slow because the WRONG THOMPSON WAS DRIVING???

Tell that slow as hell idiot Andrew to GTFO of the car and let the far superior James Thompson in instead!!

Idiot Melrose strikes again. Must have gotten the two mixed up while typing the results on here

Wizzie wrote:

Stramala wrote:Maybe the second Walkinshaw Performance car was so slow because the WRONG THOMPSON WAS DRIVING???

Tell that slow as hell idiot Andrew to GTFO of the car and let the far superior James Thompson in instead!!

Idiot Melrose strikes again. Must have gotten the two mixed up while typing the results on here

Anyway, how can James Thompson be so slow when Jorg Bergmeister is so fast? Thommo is still driving what is essentially a HRT...

Stramala wrote:

Wizzie wrote:

Stramala wrote:Maybe the second Walkinshaw Performance car was so slow because the WRONG THOMPSON WAS DRIVING???

Tell that slow as hell idiot Andrew to GTFO of the car and let the far superior James Thompson in instead!!

Idiot Melrose strikes again. Must have gotten the two mixed up while typing the results on here

Anyway, how can James Thompson be so slow when Jorg Bergmeister is so fast? Thommo is still driving what is essentially a HRT...

That I couldn't quite figure out either, considering Bergmeister, Thompson and Firman all got similar stats, and all the cars are virtually the same spec for the time being. It only got more confusing when I did the Bathurst test and Thompson started kicking both their arses into the middle of next week.

Wow, we have one vehicle and we've already destroyed an engine.

Nice going GMR boys...

Stramala wrote:

Wizzie wrote:

Stramala wrote:Maybe the second Walkinshaw Performance car was so slow because the WRONG THOMPSON WAS DRIVING???

Tell that slow as hell idiot Andrew to GTFO of the car and let the far superior James Thompson in instead!!

Idiot Melrose strikes again. Must have gotten the two mixed up while typing the results on here

Anyway, how can James Thompson be so slow when Jorg Bergmeister is so fast? Thommo is still driving what is essentially a HRT...

The 2009-2010 Walkinshaw Performance cars were nowhere near HRT level spec iirc.

Couple of real surprises as the Davison brothers appear to have swapped cars and FPR are fast despit having a poor driver lineup with the past his prime Steve Richards and the total rookie Bergmiester

eurobrun wrote:

Stramala wrote:

Wizzie wrote:
Idiot Melrose strikes again. Must have gotten the two mixed up while typing the results on here

Anyway, how can James Thompson be so slow when Jorg Bergmeister is so fast? Thommo is still driving what is essentially a HRT...

The 2009-2010 Walkinshaw Performance cars were nowhere near HRT level spec iirc.

Mad Uncle Tom may be renowned for giving his customer teams the dodgy cars, but I don't think the Walkinshaw B-Team cars were THAT bad in 2009. After all, it's not as if a Dumbrell/Reynolds lineup was gonna be a world-beater anytime soon...

I'll give you 2010 though, because we all know Coulthard is far better than what he showed at Walkinshaw.

I do think they were not anywhere near the main cars as Dumbrell seemed to temporatily become decent pace wise when he got a main HRT car for the enduros. And their was a fair bit of Brain Drain with people going to either HRT or Kelly Racing in the 2008-2009 off season

eurobrun wrote:The 2009-2010 Walkinshaw Performance cars were nowhere near HRT level spec iirc.

Well, this is nonsense.

They were manufactured by the same compay at the same factory for a team run by the same company. Deliberately making a car worse, going out of the way to create non-spec parts, is beyond bizarre and totally illogical. Walkinshaw Racing was a constructor and not a customer.

Walkinshaw Racing sucked because they had awful drivers at the helm exactly half of the time during that period. Those cars were funded by drivers who could bring in money themselves, rather than using Holden money to pay for top-rate drivers like at HRT.

In 2009, they had Dumbrell and Reynolds. Dumbrell is a terrible driver without question. Reynolds was in his first full senior series season. The lineup was not one that could extract the most from the cars. As for 2010, they clearly had the same car as HRT, because both teams were blighted with similar car performance problems. Coulthard was a decent driver and basically matched Davison in the second HRT. Thompson was nowhere, because, he's Andrew Thompson, he's rubbish no matter who he drives for. It doesn't matter what car you give Tander, he's Garth f***ing Tander, he'll extract a miracle from whatever he's given one way or another. The HRT was terrible that year, and thus so were the WR cars.

As for "brain drain", totally irrelevant to the spec of the cars they are driving as you seemed to suggest. People moving to HRT would only have hurt them if said staff were in operations and not manufacturing & design.

I never said that anyone delibrately sabotaged Walkinshaw Racing, I am not that stupid. But there is no way that the care were exactly equal. It is only logical that the parent company would give HRT all the best parts and equipment as it is in their best interest. The satellite team were mostly using hand me down parts from HRT and the cars were old HRT/HSVDT cars. The inferior nature of the drivers was far from the only factor in the performance gap. As I said earlier Dumbrell proved he would have been faster if WP had HRT level equipment, his enduro pace proves it.

eurobrun wrote:...The satellite team were mostly using hand me down parts from HRT and the cars were old HRT/HSVDT cars...

It's worse than hand-me-downs; the #24 car was the same one that ended the career of Paul Radisich. And the same one that Karl Reidler was driving when Steve Owen decided to try writing it off at Barbagallo a few years later. If that's not dodgy Walkinshaw dealings, I don't know what is

Wizzie wrote:

eurobrun wrote:...The satellite team were mostly using hand me down parts from HRT and the cars were old HRT/HSVDT cars...

It's worse than hand-me-downs; the #24 car was the same one that ended the career of Paul Radisich. And the same one that Karl Reidler was driving when Steve Owen decided to try writing it off at Barbagallo a few years later. If that's not dodgy Walkinshaw dealings, I don't know what is

Hence that practically proves my point. But it also makes me wonder what sort of deal Donlop series teams end up getting

So I've got one driver in and around the top half of the field, and one driver around the bottom end. Meh, that'll do...

Ataxia wrote:So I've got one driver in and around the top half of the field, and one driver around the bottom end. Meh, that'll do...

Better than mine as both are mid-table at best. I'm actually happy seeing that Ralph Firman was able to match Ingall's times though and might be able to outperform Russell in the future.

From 29th in the first session to 8th in the seconds one. I could be anywhere between backmarker and upper midfield.

GRM are going to enter a third car (#35) at the enduros only, and offer Max Wilson and Nathan Pretty $10K each to drive it.

I am seeking the services of Marcus Zukanovic as a pay driver asking for 36K for the season in pay as an enduro driver moving him up from the Dunlop Tire Series.

Onxy Wrecked wrote:I am seeking the services of Marcus Zukanovic as a pay driver asking for 36K for the season in pay as an enduro driver moving him up from the Dunlop Tire Series.

Consider it done.

Anyway, since it's a long weekend this weekend, I decided to get Clipsal out of the way. Here are the qualifying results for races 1 and 2

Race 1 Grid
1. J. Courtney (Dick Johnson Racing): 1:22.532
2. A. Davison (Stone Brothers Racing): +0.143
3. C. Lowndes (Triple 8 Race Engineering): +0.143
4. J. Whincup (Triple 8 Race Engineering): +0.164
5. R. Kelly (Kelly Racing): +0.190
6. R. Ingall (Paul Morris Motorsport): +0.195
7. J. Bergmeister (Ford Performance Racing): +0.197
8. W. Davison (Holden Racing Team): +0.244
9. J. Richards (Brad Jones Racing): +0.250
10. S. Johnson (Dick Johnson Racing): +0.352
11. D. Reynolds (Britek Motorsport): +0.361
12. T. Kelly (Kelly Racing): +0.410
13. G. Murphy (Tasman Motorsport): +0.411
14. M. Caruso (Garry Rogers Motorsport): +0.434
15. M. Winterbottom (Perkins Motorsport): +0.446
16. J. Thompson (Walkinshaw Performance): +0.454
17. S. Van Gisbergen (Walkinshaw Performance): +0.455
18. J. Bargwanna (Tasman Motorsport): +0.474
19. J. Webb (Paul Weel Racing): +0.498
20. J. Perkins (Perkins Motorsport): +0.509
21. G. Tander (Holden Racing Team): +0.544
22. D. Fiore (Triple F Racing): +0.553
23. F. Coulthard (Stone Brothers Racing): +0.556
24. L. Holdsworth (Garry Rogers Motorsport): +0.568
25. T. D'Alberto (Rod Nash Racing): +0.573
26. M. Patrizi (Ford Rising Stars): +0.583
27. R. Firman (Paul Morris Motorsport): +0.601
28. S. Richards (Ford Performance Racing): +0.601
29. M. Skaife (HSV Racing): +0.609
30. J. Bright (Britek Motorsport): +0.678
31. T. Slade (Brad Jones Racing): +0.682
32. P. Dumbrell (Greg Murphy Racing): +0.829
33. K. Scott (Paul Cruickshank Racing): +0.897
34. D. Thexton (Thexton Motor Sport): +3.689

Race 2 Grid
1. J. Courtney (Dick Johnson Racing): 1:22.670
2. S. Richards (Ford Performance Racing): +0.009
3. W. Davison (Holden Racing Team): +0.095
4. R. Ingall (Paul Morris Motorsport): +0.099
5. G. Murphy (Tasman Motorsport): +0.109
6. M. Winterbottom (Perkins Motorsport): +0.112
7. L. Holdsworth (Garry Rogers Motorsport): +0.144
8. J. Bargwanna (Tasman Motorsport): +0.170
9. M. Caruso (Garry Rogers Motorsport): +0.179
10. F. Coulthard (Stone Brothers Racing): +0.184
11. T. Kelly (Kelly Racing): +0.341
12. J. Perkins (Perkins Motorsport): +0.348
13. J. Bergmeister (Ford Performance Racing): +0.352
14. P. Dumbrell (Greg Murphy Racing): +0.362
15. J. Bright (Britek Motorsport): +0.381
16. S. Johnson (Dick Johnson Racing): +0.404
17. R. Kelly (Kelly Racing): +0.432
18. J. Thompson (Walkinshaw Performance): +0.461
19. D. Fiore (Triple F Racing): +0.482
20. A. Davison (Stone Brothers Racing): +0.484
21. S. Van Gisbergen (Walkinshaw Performance): +0.606
22. J. Whincup (Triple 8 Race Engineering): +0.615
23. K. Scott (Paul Cruickshank Racing): +0.620
24. J. Webb (Paul Weel Racing): +0.640
25. R. Firman (Paul Morris Motorsport): +0.660
26. M. Skaife (HSV Racing): +0.664
27. D. Reynolds (Britek Motorsport): +0.680
28. J. Richards (Brad Jones Racing): +0.722
29. G. Tander (Holden Racing Team): +0.747
30. M. Patrizi (Ford Rising Stars): +0.750
31. T. Slade (Brad Jones Racing): +0.804
32. T. D'Alberto (Rod Nash Racing): +0.828
33. C. Lowndes (Triple 8 Race Engineering): +1.152
DNQ. D. Thexton (Thexton Motor Sport): +4.150 (Fell short of 105% time)

Wizzie wrote:22. J. Whincup (Triple 8 Race Engineering): +0.615
33. C. Lowndes (Triple 8 Race Engineering): +1.152
DNQ. D. Thexton (Thexton Motor Sport): +4.150 (Fell short of 105% time)

And what are Triple Eight doing?

the Masked Lapwing wrote:

Wizzie wrote:22. J. Whincup (Triple 8 Race Engineering): +0.615
33. C. Lowndes (Triple 8 Race Engineering): +1.152
DNQ. D. Thexton (Thexton Motor Sport): +4.150 (Fell short of 105% time)

And what are Triple Eight doing?

Bathplugging beats me

Anyway, here how Race 1 at Clipsal went down:

2009 Clipsal 500 - Race 1

James Courtney easily retained the lead off the start, in what turned out to be a fairly sedate first segment of the race as the 33 drivers (minus Paul Dumbrell who ended up planting the car against the pit entry barrier early on) tried to get a feel for what they had underneath them. And then, the safety car came out on lap 28 to clean up debris after David Thexton got spun around at the Senna Chicane whilst being lapped by the tail of the field. Not only did it bunch the field up, it seemed to wake everybody up, and suddenly all hell broke lose. While Alex Davison took the lead from Courtney at the restart, James Thompson had marched his way through the field to be in 8th place by the time the pitstop window opened on lap 45.

Rick Kelly brought out the second safety car when he was collected at pit exit, which jumbled up the field right in the middle of all the pitstops. Suddenly, Jonathon Webb and Tim Slade had both lost a lap, Steven Richards had moved up from nowhere into 11th, and Jamie Whincup found himself in the effective lead of the race with only Kayne Scott left to pit. The restart brought out a third safety car almost immediately as Webb was spun around at turn 9 whilst being lapped, but not before Jason Bright had a scary accident trying to avoid the Safety Car. On the next restart, Slade proceeded to be an absolute nuisance to the leaders, allowing Will Davison to snare the lead. A few laps later, Todd Kelly's patience ran out with Slade as the Jack Daniels driver punted him off the road at turn 9, bringing out yet another full course caution and bringing the likes of Whincup, Alex Davison, Thompson and Steven Johnson right up to the back of the leading HRT.

Davison held onto the lead at the next restart, and all the way up until lap 70 when the leaders came across Michael Patrizi, who was limping home with a damaged car and was several seconds off the pace. While Thexton was at least able to keep out of the field's way, Patrizi was in no mood for it, as he held up the leaders to the tune of over 5 seconds a lap. Patrizi's antics led to Davison ended up losing the lead to Johnson the field bunched up behind, eventually leading to the chaos which ended Whincup's afternoon and created an almost race-ending blockage at turn 5.

The safety car was brought out yet again while the marshalls and race control sorted out the mess, while Patrizi's afternoon came to an early end in a carbon copy of the Bright incident. In the meanwhile, Davison had gotten the lead back from Johnson, Thompson had fallen from 5th to outside the top 10, and both Steven and Jason Richards had fallen from safely inside the top 15 to limping home at the tail of the field with considerable damage on both their cars.

The final restart of the day with three laps to go proved to be a chaotic one as while Will Davison skipped away to the win, the two Dick Johnson cars of Johnson in second and polesitter Courtney in 6th were falling down the field, and fast. Alex Davison and Kelly made their way around Johnson to finish on the podium, while Courtney ended up falling outside the top 10 altogether. Having seen a potential top 5 result go up in smoke, James Thompson was in no mood to take crap from anybody, as he steamrolled through teammate Shane van Gisbergen, Jorg Bergmesiter, Courtney and David Reynolds to finish an eventual 8th as the field fought for vital championship points and prize money in the closing laps. Behind the top 3, Craig Lowndes and Russell Ingall also rounded up Johnson to take 4th and 5th, while Michael Caruso finished just behind Steven in 7th. Jorg Bergmeister put in a solid debut effort to finish 9th for FPR, and Jack Perkins took full advantage for the late safety cars to work his way into the top 10 right at the death.

1. W. Davison (Holden Racing Team): 2h 08m 42.673
2. A. Davison (Stone Brothers Racing): +4.010
3. T. Kelly (Kelly Racing): +4.980
4. C. Lowndes (Triple 8 Race Engineering): +5.684
5. R. Ingall (Paul Morris Motorsport): +17.738
6. S. Johnson (Dick Johnson Racing): +19.668
7. M. Caruso (Garry Rogers Motorsport): +20.260
8. J. Thompson (Walkinshaw Performance): +20.807
9. J. Bergmeister (Ford Performance Racing): +21.564
10. J. Perkins (Perkins Motorsport): +22.466
11. S. Van Gisbergen (Walkinshaw Performance): +23.166
12. J. Courtney (Dick Johnson Racing): +24.719
13. D. Reynolds (Britek Motorsport): +25.103
14. M. Winterbottom (Perkins Motorsport): +25.385
15. K. Scott (Paul Cruickshank Racing): +25.939
16. L. Holdsworth (Garry Rogers Motorsport): +26.525
17. G. Tander (Holden Racing Team): +27.138
18. F. Coulthard (Stone Brothers Racing): +27.863
19. T. D'Alberto (Rod Nash Racing): +30.798
20. R. Firman (Paul Morris Motorsport): +33.938
21. M. Skaife (HSV Racing): +34.522
22. D. Fiore (Triple F Racing): +35.522
23. G. Murphy (Tasman Motorsport): +36.508
24. J. Richards (Brad Jones Racing): +41.866
25. J. Bargwanna (Tasman Motorsport): +45.530
26. S. Richards (Ford Performance Racing): +53.447
27. T. Slade (Brad Jones Racing): +1 LAP
28. J. Webb (Paul Weel Racing): +1 LAP
29. D. Thexton (Thexton Motor Sport): +2 LAPS
DNF. J. Whincup (Triple 8 Race Engineering): 71 LAPS (Accident)
DNF. M. Patrizi (Ford Rising Stars): 71 LAPS (Accident)
DNF. J. Bright (Britek Motorsport): 50 LAPS (Accident)
DNF. R. Kelly (Kelly Racing): 48 LAPS (Collision)
DNF. P. Dumbrell (Greg Murphy Racing): 1 LAP (Accident)

Pole: J. Courtney (Dick Johnson Racing): 1:22.532
Fastest Lap: W. Davison (Holden Racing Team): 1:24.506
Reject of the Race: Michael Patrizi - For an Five Star Performance in how to be a disgraceful backmarker
Infinite Improbability Drive of the Race: James Thompson - Could have scored a podium had luck gone his way
Leaders: J. Courtney: 1-33, 48-49 (Total: 35)
A. Davison: 34-47 (Total: 14)
K. Scott: 50 (Total: 1)
J. Whincup: 51-53 (Total: 3)
W. Davison: 54-69, 71-78 (Total: 24)
S. Johnson: 70 (Total: 1)

Before we continue to race two, the stewards have decided that Michael Patrizi will receive a 25 point penalty for his antics in race 1, while Mad Uncle Tom Walkinshaw will be barred from the paddock for the rest of the weekend after the post-race brawl.

I've run Race 2 and I'll put the report up either later today or tomorrow, but before I do, I'll give you guys some information on upgrades and in-season testing:

Upgrades

Thanks to GTR2's variable codes being relatively easy to understand, there are a number of parameters that can be changed in relation to car performance. For the purposes of this exercise, the following parameters will be upgradable throughout the year (I'd recommend saving the list on something like a spreadsheet for future reference):

Engine Power: $20k per BHP (630bhp base value, 650bhp max value)
Engine Torque: $20k per NM (625nm base value, 650nm max value)
Engine Reliability - Engine Lifespan: $1k per 10 points (8000 base value, 12000 max value)
Engine Reliability - Failure Chance: $1k per 5 points (2750 base value, 2000 max value)
Fuel Consumption: $5k per 0.01 L/Radian (5.5E-5 base, 5E-5 max value)
Car Mass: $10k per kg per car (1450kg base value, 1400kg max value)
Body Drag: $100k per 0.01 point per car (0.3 base value, 0.25 max value)

Base values are the values that all cars start with at the beginning of the year, while maximum values are the values that teams can progressively upgrade parameters to. At any given event, each two-car team will be able to spend $225k on upgrades, each single-car team will be able to spend $150k on upgrades, and three-car teams such as Triple 8 and HRT can spend $300k on upgrades. Due to transport constrains for the teams in preparation for the NZ races, and to give an opportunity for you guys to digest this, upgrades will not be allowed until after Christchurch.

In-Season Testing

In addition to upgrades, teams will be able to spend money on test days throughout the year. Each team has an allocation of 6 testing days which they can use throughout the year, and come with a flat cost of $20k per car per day, to pay for track hire, marshaling and medical staff. During test sessions, teams can run comparison tests between different spec cars, try out prospective drivers, and for an extra $10k per car, conduct driver development programs with their main drivers. In the latter, team owners can decide which driver stat to focus on during the test (Either qualifying pace, race pace, wet weather pace, fast cornering ability, or slow cornering ability) and I'll start running RNGs to determine how successful the development programs are. As per the regulations, Queensland-based teams (Triple 8, Stone Brothers, BriTek, Triple F, Dick Johnson, Paul Morris, Paul Cruickshank, and Paul Weel) have the choice to test at either Queensland Raceway or Lakeside, while the Victorian-based teams (HRT, Walkinshaw, Perkins, Tasman, Kelly, FPR, Ford Rising Stars, BJR, GRM, D'Alberto and GMR) have the choice of either Sandown, Winton or Phillip Island. As with upgrades, in-season testing will only be allowed after Christchurch

I've just posted those additional rules in the V8s discussion page on the wiki