Round of Italy - Race 1ProspecGreenlaw admittedly lucked in to this one, only taking the lead because of Souto Maior's bad luck and Swert's caution. Still, a win's a win, especially when most of his rivals faultered. Cameron spent the day stuck in the midfield.
AeroracingSouto Maior led the first two thirds until his right rear tyre exploded on the main straight, costing him victory. To make matters worse, Gary Pacer was the first DNF of the race, his front suspension collapsing under braking for Della Roggia on lap 3.
JonesSwerts once again close to a victory. When Souto Maior's tyre blew up, Swerts slowed to avoid a collision. This backfired, as Greenlaw simply went past the pair of them at full speed. At least he held second place. Just. Dinella ran well, but was a sitting duck to faster cars.
West CliffJordan Davies got mugged off the start, and on lap 4 his race ended in the wall at the Parabolica. He had been passed into Ascari by the fast starting Reatherson, and tried to go down the inside at Parabolica. He lost it under brakes though, and made contact with the Linton-Solindahl, sending both into the gravel, which spectacularly failed at slowing them down, putting both out of the race. Port, after his poor qualifying, made his usual fight back to 10th, not helped by running wide at Ascari at one point.
TakagiNowhere and nowhere, although at least Takagi made 25th.
OctanPoor old Lamberigts had zero luck today. On lap 3 she was spun by Zimmer at Rettifilo, and later speared off at Parabolica, although this was her fault - she looked to go inside Sokolov, but pulled out, turning hard left. Straight onto the grass. Then hit the brakes. All control lost, she disappeared into the scenery, but managed not to hit a wall. Bainomugisha was much more impressive. 14th doesn't sound like much, but the Geely is easily the weakest engine in the field, and none of the other three Geely cars even made the top 25. This was after he picked up some penalty points for punting off Zimmer at Rettifilo on lap 2.
Porto WineIT'S THE END OF THE WORLD! A PORTO WINE SCORED POINTS ON MERIT! To go with his point for fastest lap at the Norisring, Joao Antonio Soares made
THE greatest start of all time to gain no less than
20 places by the time he got to Della Roggia. From there he did a brilliant job of passing everyone to get to 7th place, and a very much deserved two points.
Oh, and Mondlane was racing, apparently.
KingfisherI have no idea how Davidson struggled to qualify the F2 car, because he's done a very good job in the F3, as evidenced by another run just outside the top 10. Hell, even Calvin Brooks was decent for once, taking his first top 20 of the year.
ZombieKartWalsh's brilliant start backfired when he was caught up in a collision between Melrose and Harmsky on lap 2, that saw him drop down the order, and have to fight just to get back to his starting place. Hershall was on target for a top 20 before he spun at Parabolica on the last lap, defending too hard from Jancker.
Parma CorseHannesson had a very strong race, the only downside a slightly sluggish start. Still, 5th is some very handy points for Parma Corse. Lucarelli, on the other hand, struggled for pace a bit, only gaining a few spots.
ZimSportThe championship leader couldn't quite keep up with Souto Maior, Swerts, Greenlaw and Piscine, but was still much faster than Hannesson and took a fairly safe fourth place. Zimmer retired on lap 4, but still picked up a fairly healthy haul of penalty points, for almost taking out Cameron when rejoining after being hit by Bainomugisha, and then some more for punting off the other Octan of Lamberigts.
FusionOh dear. Marko Jantscher had some work to do to get to the front. That became an impossible task after spinning at Ascari on lap 1. Why? Because a certain teammate of his hung him out to dry. Kuntz did sod all afterwards, while Jantscher had another spin, this time at the Parabolica after running wide at the exit.
Gulf JCWDavidson was just plain slow, losing ground rapidly to everyone including Buckley, who at least managed to get to just outside the top 20.
Best In The WorldVerbeeck very nearly picked up a point, but was denied at almost the last second by Travesen, with a last ditch dive at the Parabolica. McAllister's day was also ruined by a Linton-Solindahl, the wheel from Reatherson's crashed car finding its way onto the track, right in front of McAllister. He hit the wheel, destroying his front wing, and he spun off, bouncing off the outwide wall and onto the track, hitting Nurmester, and losing his rear wing. He pitted, then came back in a few laps later with further damage, but fresh tyres and the most powerful engine on the grid at least gave him a point for fastest lap.
Good CallPiscine made a pretty good start to get ahead of Melville, and stayed ahead in fourth all race, which became a podium after Souto Maior's retirement, and very nearly second place after a poor run out of Parabolica for Swerts on the final lap. Thomas Yorke however also got unlucky in the Davies/Reatherson clash, but indirectly - he hit the remains of McAllister's front wing. For what it's worth though, e did show very good reflexes to not only get into the pits but also to hit the speed limiter in time.
Linton-SolindahlReatherson's race ended in the wall next to Davies, but Travesen's pass on McAllister for 8th left the team with something from the race.
DofascoHoly crap! A Dofasco beat other cars on merit! Cezary Samelko might actually be a half decent driver, beating Ristic, Naufal and Davidson on outright pace. Maylander was much less impressive, spinning at Ascari and pitting with an electrical issue as well.
Red BullTakuma Taki made the pass of the race today. It wasn't a spectactular pass, but the timing was brilliance. Going down the back straight towards Parabolica, Taki drew alongside Stefan Kuntz. Mere metres before passing a marshall waving a yellow flag, he edged in front to take the spot. I actually had to watch in slow motion to see the timing, and it was very close. A well deserved top 15. Hamilton also made the top 20, managing to catch a slide after going off at the Parabolica near the end of the race.
HydookA top 20 for Jancker, a poor result for Ristic, and an anonymous race overall.
JLDBoth drivers spent lap 2 being muppets. Melrose caused a collision with Harmsky at Rettiflo when he went down the inside but never got anywhere near far enough to have the spot, while Fukuda spun not once, but twice, at opposite ends of a straight no less - Ascari and Parabolica. Melrose at least scored some points, while Fukuda got really lucky with his spins, both times he went 360 and lost fewer places than you'd think.
KamahaBoth cars got involved in the Davies/Reatherson smash, with Desai collecting Davies' loose wheel and needing a front wing, while Nurmester hit McAllister, fortunately with minimal damage. Actually, this was probably the first time all year that Nurmester gained places in a race.
ShonanOnce again a good qualifying and start ruined by bad luck, Harmsky was forced to sit and wait for the field when Melrose punted him off, while Sokolov's Geely didn't have the power to make much ground.
ResultsCode: Select all
Pos Driver Team Time/Retired Gap
1 Dan Greenlaw Prospec 14:48.795 9 LAPS
2 Eric Swerts Jones 14:51.516 + 2.721
3 Franc Piscine Good Call 14:51.640 + 2.845
4 Daniel Melville ZimSport 14:54.162 + 5.367
5 Olafur Ragnar Hannesson Parma Corse 15:04.571 + 15.776
6 Joel Melrose JLD 15:07.916 + 19.121
7 Joao Antonio Soares Porto Wine 15:08.143 + 19.348
8 Paul Travesen Linton-Solindahl 15:08.614 + 19.819
9 Jef Verbeeck BITWM 15:09.408 + 20.613
10 Peter Port West Cliff 15:09.970 + 21.175
11 Scott Davidson Kingfisher 15:13.171 + 24.376
Code: Select all
12 Takuma Taki Red Bull 15:15.645 + 26.850
13 Nathanael Cameron Prospec 15:16.627 + 27.832
14 Kevin Bainomugisha Octan 15:17.043 + 28.248
15 Calvin Brooks Kingfisher 15:18.117 + 29.322
16 Roberto Dinella Jones 15:20.208 + 31.413
17 Stefan Kuntz Fusion 15:20.682 + 31.887
18 Nick Nurmester Kamaha 15:22.374 + 33.579
19 Dale Hamilton Red Bull 15:23.747 + 34.962
20 Carsten Jancker Hydook 15:26.398 + 37.603
21 Tyler Buckley Gulf JCW 15:29.640 + 40.845
22 Alessandro Lucarelli Parma Corse 15:31.437 + 42.642
23 Nobushige Fukuda JLD 15:31.443 + 42.648
24 Shane Walsh ZombieKart 15:32.042 + 43.247
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25 Tetsuya Takagi Takagi 15:33.158 + 44.363
26 Yuri Sokolov Shonan 15:33.730 + 44.935
27 Joe Harmsky Shonan 15:34.956 + 46.161
28 Samora Mondlane Porto Wine 15:35.347 + 46.552
29 Cezary Samelko Dofasco 15:37.564 + 48.769
30 Victoria Desai Kamaha 15:39.310 + 50.595
31 Branko Ristic Hydook 15:40.072 + 51.277
32 Hendra Naufal Takagi 15:45.134 + 56.339
33 Roland Davidson Gulf JCW 15:45.803 + 57.008
34 Richard Hershall ZombieKart 15:47.722 + 58.927
35 Dorien Lamberigts Octan 15:48.219 + 59.424
36 Thomas Yorke Good Call 15:51.002 + 1:02.217
37 Marko Jantscher Fusion 15:59.466 + 1:10.671
Code: Select all
38 Judd McAllister BITWM 16:12.891 + 1:24.096
39 Jan Maylander Dofasco 16:38.301 + 1:49.506
DNF Raul Souto Maior Aeroracing Puncture (L7)
DNF Jordan Davies West Cliff Collision (L4)
DNF Quentin Reatherson Linton-Solindahl Collision (L4)
DNF Ryan Zimmer ZimSport Engine (L4)
DNF Gary Pacer Aeroracing Suspension (L3)
Fastest lap: Judd McAllister (1:36.339)