Laguna Seca Race TwoV-SportThe midfield can often be a problem for most teams; if they slip up in qualifying then the vast collection of cars in the middle of the pack will generally signal an end to a driver's race. This is largely what happened to V-Sport; Reith spent most of the time leading a train of cars which Frankham was very much part of. Reith did manage to break away in the second half of the race, and dumped Suomanen into said train. Perhaps a race the team would like to forget.
Definitely Maybe RacingAt last, a result for the British team to cheer about! Lappalainen made the most of a good qualifying and leapfrogged both Red Bull cars early on. He settled down nicely in 4th, and although Feldhoffer almost dropped it into the final corner at the end of lap 3, the DMR didn't have the same pace and thus had to cash in on a very encouraging result. The same couldn't be said of Castaneda, who was very much embroiled in the midfield scrap.
Good Call RacingGood Call have never been particularly pacy in the Winter Cups, and again this showed with both drivers very far down the rankings. Quiet races for both Marsden and Connolly, nothing to report here.
Nurminen Racing EngineeringA race that more or less started how it finished. Vosu spent the first half of the race trying to pass Grove and the second half trying to drive away from him. Grunewald, on the other hand, was off-colour all weekend and could only try his hardest not to be the recipient of the wooden spoon. The Finnish squad will certainly expect better.
Écurie PrenoisAimée Gauthier is really doing her best to prove she's got what it takes, and grabbing another podium is a very good result. Although she spent the first few laps in 3rd, Feldhoffer's drop on lap 3 allowed her through to put Barlini under some pressure. She kept this up, finishing less than a second behind the Italian. Suomanen, on the other hand, spent most of his afternoon battling with Reith.
Team EchoftenPatrick Feldhoffer is an incredibly lucky man. Managing the gap to Gauthier behind him, the German braked too late at the final corner and managed to hit the wall. However, his car seemed to continue on unscathed, and still managed to pick up a podium. Mestach was another driver bogged down in the midfield, and never looked like scoring today.
Mecha GP Junior TeamQuiet races from both drivers, however Botha suffered a water leak by lap 8 and cut his afternoon short.
Aeroracing Junior EngineeringNichols had another decent race, sitting just behind the two Rosenforths in the first half just to pick up any pieces. He managed to pick off Grey by lap 11, and did a fine job of holding off the American driver. It was business as usual for Rudd, as he sat around the back end of the field.
Red Bull World Race TeamBoth drivers had a very satisfying afternoon, both getting a good haul of points to finally show that both cars can perform well together. Although the fight between Scrattenheim and Silva was exciting, they did both lose a couple of positions relative to where they qualified.
Rosenforth EngineeringA very exciting battle between both drivers was cut short by the interrupting Phil Nichols. Grey definitely had the faster car, but Fuamatu was wily in his defence of 7th and managed to keep the car there. Grey will be aggrieved not to have finished higher, but decent points for both drivers.
Kingfisher RacingGrove was on course for a point until being dumped out of the top 10 by Vosu, who had the measure of the Australian. Kuznevic had a tentative start to life in the F1RDS, finishing rather a long way down compared to his team-mate. However, he's got Long Beach to prove whether he should get the nod ahead of Riva.
Scuderia AlitaliaBarlini had a great race; stealing past Feldhoffer at the beginning he kept his lead just so to ward off any opposition. He was under pressure from Gauthier by the end, but the Italian driver definitely did enough to claim the top step. Mineiro was in the proverbial no-man's-land, sitting in between the points contenders and the midfield pack.
Octan Young DriversWhen will Octan finally get some luck? Barrett was definitely trying his best to get his car up into the points-scoring region, but he just didn't seem to have the car underneath him to make it count. Nicchi clearly didn't bond with the Laguna Seca circuit, and again had a poor run.
Results:
), but it's obvious that probably Barett is the one that will make the promotion to the F3RWRS team in 2017. But if Nicchi improves, he could get promoted too.
I'm just used to them being on the wiki...