Round of the United States - Race 1The stewards have taken the decision to red flag race 1 of the Round of the United States on lap 10 of the scheduled 14 laps. After the simultaneous retirements of Cars #18 and #14, and the increasingly dangerous wet conditions, in order to ensure the safety of marshalls recovering the cars, a red flag was deemed necessary. It was decided that as too much time was lost, the race was ended, and results were taken from the end of lap 9. Half points were awarded as the race had not reached 75% distance.
That's the in-universe reason. The real reason is that in one race, the entire field pitted twice, on laps 10 and 12, for no apparent reason, but in the other race, no one did at all. To ensure a fair result, I took both results from the end of lap 9.
Anywho, I like the team-by-team review, so I'll stick with that for now.
ProspecNot too much to say, Cameron spent the race stuck in the midfield doing nothing while Greenlaw took forever to pass Melrose, which allowed Jantscher to sneak away. Once he got ahead of the JLD, he didn't stay there for long as Souto Maior passed him.
AeroracingOnce Souto Maior passed Greenlaw, he hunted down Jantscher and took the lead on lap 9, one of many passes at the Corkscrew. Perfect timing for the red flag. As for Batistuta, he was lucky to be 13th, after he drove into the back of Zimmer at the Corkscrew which sent him and Harmsky off the track. Penalty points are definitely heading his way.
JonesWhy Swerts is the one on the chopping block and not Dinella does not make any sense to me. The Belgian got unlucky in that he was stuck behind Melrose all race, and the one time he got past, he overcooked it slightly and let both Melrose and Melville through. He was 7th on lap 9, ahead of Melville but still behind Melrose. He did get lucky though, an altercation with Melville just before the red flag saw him drop way down the order. Dinella on the other hand was just plain crap, not even able to keep pace with the Hydooks.
West CliffSee Prospec, except Davies wasn't quite able to match Greenlaw, and Port was much faster than Cameron.
TakagiTakagi made decent progress from last place, finishing right behind Naufal, who was quite disappointing. The only incident of note was when Takagi got punted by Mondlane at the Corkscrew and ran wide, taking out Horford as well.
OctanNot the greatest of races for either driver, Lamberigts had an embarassing spin on the main straight, simply losing it at the kink. Bainomugisha at least had a clean race.
Porto WineMondlane was in the thick of it today. Lap 2, gets hit by Horford at the hairpin and punts Moreira off as a result. Lap 5, returns serve by tapping Takagi at the Corkscrew, which results in Horford off the track. In all this, Cabral got involved with Horford as well, cutting across her under brakes for the Corkscrew and sending both spinning.
KingfisherVan der Maeyede was very unlucky, or very stupid. On lap 3, he tried to cover Harmsky at the Corkscrew. Problem was, Harmsky was way too far back to even have a look down the inside. Van der Maeyede put a wheel on the gravel and spun off, managing to continue way down. He was later one of the cars that caused the red flag, a water leak putting him out at turn 3. Brooks was at least quiet, if not fast.
ZombieKartWalsh was the other car that brought out the red flag, with a transmission forcing him to park at turn 10. This was about half a lap after he had a lazy spin at turn 5, after hitting a puddle. Richard Hershall managed a top 20 result, not bad in his first real race.
Parma CorseCrescenzi would easily win ROTR here. Lap 5, having aleady been passed by Lucarelli, Crescenzi is doing everything possible to keep the JLD of Brown behind him. As they come to the Corkscrew, Crescenzi goes too far trying to defend the inside line, and puts two wheel into the gravel. Crescenzi spins and crosses the track. This alone would be fine if he hadn't hit another car. That happened to be his teammate. The sad part was the collision with Lucarelli sent Alessandro into the fence and thus the back of the field, while Lorenzo's car was righted as a result and he only lost one spot. It's a good thing Alasdair is in Long Beach...
ZimSportFrom 1-2 at Monaco to half a point at Laguna Seca. Melville couldn't find a way past Swerts or Melrose, while Zimmer got screwed over by the collision with Batistuta and couldn't repass him. Melville will face some strife after a collision with Swerts on lap 10, where he tried to go up the inside at turn 6 but left no room at the exit.
FusionThey will win a race this year. If the flag had come out one lap earlier, Jantscher would have won, but alas, it was not to be. Moreira could also have pulled out a top 20 easy, as he had the pace, but he got punted off at the hairpin on lap 2 and couldn't recover.
Gulf JCWBoth had clean races and stayed well away from trouble. The only noteworthy incident was Davidson getting mugged by Desai on the main straight, crossing the line a mere tenth behind. On what would turn out to be the last lap.
Best in the WorldHorford's antics with the Porto Wine cars ensured that she was the last finisher, while McAllister continued his good form with another solid top 10 finish, staying well away from any trouble.
Good CallA very good race from both drivers, with Piscine coming home just outside the points and Yorke almost taking a top 10.
Linton-SolindahlReatherson scored yet more points, but Travesen lost his chance early when he aquaplaned at turn 5 and spun trying to avoid other cars. Fortunately, he succeeded, and no one else was involved. He just failed to make any forward progress afterwards.
DofascoThe usual, but with less crashing. Both were painfully slow, and lucky not to be last and second last.
Red BullA quiet race, with Taki in the top 15 and Hamilton just outside the top 20. A good race overall
HydookNot particularly impressive, or even noticeable. Finished up line astern, just inside the top 30.
JLDWell... at least Melrose scored pole. He lost positions rapidly to most of the cars behind him, and it was only desperate defending that kept Swerts and Melville behind. Bown, meanwhile, made very good progress, finishing 17th.
KamahaA poor qualifying from Desai saw her have a clean race, but she made minimal progress, and despite a good pass on Davidson, couldn't crack the top 20. Sampson, on the other hand, was still fairly slow.
ShonanHarmsky had a good race, and would have certainly been 13th, maybe even 12th had he not been caught up in Batistuta's mess. Sokolov also had a good day despite a poor qualifying, making it uo to 25th.
Results:Code: Select all
Pos Driver Team Time/Retired Gap
1 Raul Souto Maior Aeroracing 13:58.561 9 LAPS
2 Marko Jantscher Fusion 13:59.228 + 0.667
3 Dan Greenlaw Prospec 14:01.450 + 2.889
4 Jordan Davies West Cliff 14:02.451 + 3.890
5 Quentin Reatherson Linton-Solindahl 14:08.472 + 9.911
6 Joel Melrose JLD 14:08.957 + 10.396
7 Eric Swerts Jones 14:09.499 + 10.938
8 Daniel Melville ZimSport 14:10.446 + 11.885
9 Franc Piscine Good Call 14:14.654 + 16.093
10 Judd McAllister BITWM 14:15.926 + 17.365
11 Thomas Yorke Good Call 14:17.498 + 18.937
Code: Select all
12 Peter Port West Cliff 14:18.317 + 19.756
13 Diego Mauricio Batistuta Aeroracing 14:19.544 + 21.983
14 Ryan Zimmer ZimSport 14:20.682 + 22.121
15 Takuma Taki Red Bull 14:22.567 + 24.006
16 Joe Harmsky Shonan 14:22.698 + 24.137
17 Stephanie Brown JLD 14:25.179 + 26.618
18 Lorenzo Crescenzi Parma Corse 14:29.044 + 30.483
19 Nathanael Cameron Prospec 14:29.351 + 30.790
20 Richard Hershall ZombieKart 14:35.254 + 36.693
21 Victoria Desai Kamaha 14:36.550 + 37.989
22 Roland Davidson Gulf JCW 14:36.697 + 38.136
23 Dale Hamilton Red Bull 14:37.185 + 38.624
24 Calvin Brooks Kingfisher 14:37.722 + 39.161
Code: Select all
25 Yuri Sokolov Shonan 14:38.231 + 39.670
26 Tyler Buckley Gulf JCW 14:38.260 + 39.699
27 Bob Sampson Kamaha 14:39.076 + 40.515
28 Kevin Bainomugisha Octan 14:40.204 + 41.643
29 Branko Ristic Hydook 14:43.863 + 45.302
30 Carsten Jancker Hydook 14:44.340 + 45.779
31 Roberto Dinella Jones 14:47.122 + 48.561
32 Dorien Lamberigts Octan 14:47.559 + 48.998
33 Hendra Naufal Takagi 14:51.574 + 53.013
34 Tetsuya Takagi Takagi 14:53.675 + 55.114
35 Alessandro Lucarelli Parma Corse 14:53.986 + 55.425
36 Samora Mondlane Porto Wine 14:54.030 + 55.569
37 Leandro Moreira Fusion 14:54.748 + 56.187
Code: Select all
38 Paul Travesen Linton-Solindahl 14:55.332 + 56.771
39 Iulian Pitea Dofasco 15:01.321 + 1:02.760
40 Jose Maria Cabral Porto Wine 15:02.307 + 1:03.746
41 Jan Maylander Dofasco 15:05.575 + 1:07.014
42 Anita Horford BITWM 15:11.791 + 1:13.230
43* Shane Walsh ZombieKart Transmission (L9) +1 LAP
44* Martin van der Maeyede Kingfisher Water Leak (L9) +1 LAP
Fastest lap: Raul Souto Maior (1:31.302)
), so:
