2016 F2RWRS Rolex Monaco Grand PrixRacePositivesGianluigi Pazzini - After an abysmal start to his MRT career, Gigi Pazzini has been the form guy of the last few events, and the steamroller didn't look like stopping at Monaco. In an afternoon punctured by several massive accidents and other various hijinks, Pazzini was in prime position with a cool head to take the lead of the race when Dan Greenlaw lost his. While Greenlaw spent the final 10 laps trying in vain to find a way past, Gigi kept his cool to secure a rather fortunate but still well-deserved first victory in the F2RWRS to put him just 2 points behind championship leader Diego Alvarez Torrente
Jordan Davies - The younger Davies has displayed more than enough pace this year to show that he is a name to look out for, but has had almost no luck in the races up to this point. Ironically, on what was probably his quietest weekend of the year, Davies' luck finally held on for once as he found himself 3rd behind Pazzini and Greenlaw once the final stops were done. With Matthias Valsattis, Torrente and Martin van der Maeyede closing in fast though, it looked like he'd have to fight for his 3rd place. And fight he did, as the superior drivability of the Aston Martin powerplant and tenacious defending secured him his first career podium.
Matthias Valsattis - When the Latvian knocked off his front wing at the chicane on the first lap, many thought it would have been it as far as his afternoon was concerned. However, through a combination of incidents up front, clean but fast driving and clever strategy, he quickly found himself back in the points. Once jean-Vincent Albertini tried to eliminate half the field at around mid-distance, Valsattis found himself in potential podium contention as other people made their stops, and at any other track would have found a way past Davies for 3rd. As it stood though, 4th was still a fine result as he continues to rebuild his career.
Martin van der Maeyede - After a season that's been largely fruitless after Adealide, Maeyede came back with a vengeance at Monaco. Another who managed to keep their head screwed on straight, Maeyede spent virtually the entire race glued to the gearboxes of Marko Jantscher and Torrente, all three of whom were on virtually identical two-stop strategies. While all three of them had their podium chances ruined by spending the better part of 15 laps stuck behind Jason Hamilton, Maeyede managed to sneak in 3rd once the Albertini chaos sorted itself out, vaulting him ahead of the likes of Jantscher, Gregor Pascal and Johannes Rueckert and duly rewarding him with 3 points for 6th place
NegativesDan Greenlaw - By all rights, the American should have romped away with victory here and Monaco, and indeed he only fell 3 tenths short of doing so. However, all he won this weekend was a P45 from the Alitalia team for shoving teammate Marcel Ageymang-Badu straight into the Ste Devote wall at the start. The stewards didn't take too kindly to it either and pinged him for the incident, triggering a one race ban for Greenlaw. From there however, the impatience continued as after his first and only stop, he continually and needlessly harassed Jean-Vincent Albertini when just staying back would have won him the race. Instead, he got alongside at the exit of the Rascasse on lap 35, had the Monegasque driver violent drive straight into the side of him trying to get into the pitlane, and nearly rolled the car while losing his front wing on the landing. Through sheer dumb luck alone, Greenlaw was able to rejoin in 3rd place behind Torrente, and while he set off after Pazzini, he was unable to overhaul the Italian in the dying stages of the race.
Yuka Katayama - After her remarkable consistency at the start of the year, the Falik Arrows driver seems to have lost her way in recent times. Her struggles from qualifying continued into race day, as she made little headway through the field before an electrical problem forced her into the pits. From there, she achieved absolutely nothing on her way to 13th and last place, although she had caught Wouter Lamberigts and Gilles Massinion by race end.
Daniel Melville - With Martyn Rietacher taking out an unsighted Carter Simpson early on in the race, any hope for a good result for the Young Lions squad laid squarely on the shoulders of the returning Melville in the #15. While the Australian was able to run in the points ahead of Jantscher early on, he soon had an embarrassing moment at Ste Devote where he understeered straight into the outside wall, and left the team with more frustrations and another big repair bill to sort out.
Jean-Vincent Albertini - The hometown hero was stranded in PNowhere after qualifying, and looked like making almost no progress in the early going. However, by the time the two-stoppers had made their first stops, Albertini found himself right behind Jordan Davies in what eventually became part of the battle for 3rd place, before he found himself having to defend the on-track lead from Greenlaw just before his stop. Several lovetaps from the American seemed to raise his blood pressure slightly, but even that couldn't explain nearly putting Greenlaw into the wall while trying to make it into pit entry, which nearly caused the Alitalia to roll against the guardrail and had Albertini pointing the wrong way and trying to make a three-point turn into pitlane. He got two points done until he hit reverse and parked it on the racing line... right infront of Bastiaan van Nieuwenhuijzen, who couldn't avoid the parked Gillet, before the rest of the field showed up and nearly took each other out in the process. As a result of his escapades, Albertini was given both a disqualification and a two race ban, which meant his absence from both the F1 and F2 races at Belgium and Mexico, as well as one of the easiest Reject of the Race awards in living memory.
1. G. Pazzini (MRT-BMW): 1h 22m 39.151
2. D. Greenlaw (Alitalia-Abarth): +0.340
3. J. Davies (Aston Martin): +24.333
4. M. Valsattis (Simpson-BMW): +25.532
5. D. Alvarez Torrente (Plus One-Maserati): +25.995
6. M. van der Maeyede (Fusion-Holden): +26.679
7. J. Rueckert (Jones-Ford): +30.407
8. G. Pascal (Gillet-BMW): +36.717
9. M. Jantscher (Falik Arrows-BMW): +37.201
10. A. Cara (Simpson-BMW): +37.671
11. W. Lamberigts (RonDen-Zastava): +50.409
12. G. Massinion (Jones-Ford): +51.191
13. Y. Katayama (Falik Arrows-BMW): +51.787
DNF. J. Hamilton (MRT-BMW): Transmission
DNF. B. van Nieuwenhuijzen (RonDen-Zastava): Collision
DNF. M. Simon (Aston Martin): Puncture
DNF. D. Melville (Young Lions-Holden): Accident
DNF. M. Macklin (Fusion-Holden): Electrical
DNF. M. Rietacher (Plus One-Maserati): Transmission
DNF. C. Simpson (Young Lions-Holden): Collision
DNF. M. Ageymang-Badu (Alitalia-Abarth): Collision
DSQ. J-V. Albertini (Gillet-BMW)
Pole: W. Lamberigts (RonDen-Zastava): 1:19.712
Fastest Lap: A. Cara (Simpson-BMW): 1:20.264
Reject of the Race: Jean Vincent-Albertini - Dumbass move ruins season prospects
Infinite Improbability Drive of the Race: Jordan Davies - Finally turned around the horrific luck and put the Zandvoort demons behind him
Leaders: W. Lamberigts: 1-9 (Total: 9)
D. Greenlaw: 10-30 (Total: 21)
J-V. Albertini: 31-34 (Total: 4)
G. Pazzini: 35-60 (Total: 26)
Standings can be found hereStewards Report
Car #33 (Mitchell Macklin) has received a 20 point penalty for blocking Car #25 (Andrej Kremnicky) in pre-qualifying.
Car #5 (Jean-Vincent Albertini) has received a 30 point penalty for illegally blocking other competitors
Car #4 (Dan Greenlaw) has received a 45 point penalty for causing an avoidable collision with Car #3 (Marcel Ageymang-Badu)
Car #5 (Jean-Vincent Albertini) has received a 45 point penalty for causing an avoidable collision with Car #4 (Dan Greenlaw)
Car #5 (Jean-Vincent Albertini) has received a 45 point penalty for causing an avoidable collision with Car #8 (Bastiaan van Nieuwenhuijzen)
Car #5 (Jean-Vincent Albertini) has received a 150 point penalty and has been excluded from the race results due to the severity of various on-track incidents
Mitchell Macklin and Dan Greenlaw have both triggered their one race bans for reaching the 100 point threshold, and their respective team owners must sign replacements for Belgium. In addition, Jean-Vincent Albertini has been given a two race ban, to be served in Belgium and Mexico. Due to the way such race bans are structured, they also carry over to the F1RWRS, and thus both Gillet and Autodynamics must notify the respective commissioners of his replacements. Finally, Nikov Time has completed his one race ban, and is free to return to active competition from Belgium onwards.