Grand Prix Rejects

Posted: **05 Feb 2013, 09:16**

Dead last in the constructors championship :lol:

Posted: **05 Feb 2013, 12:05**

So close yet so far, Alice... And still at risk of falling to third in the Constructors'...

Posted: **24 Feb 2013, 16:46**

Real life just stopped intervening. You know what that means... we're back. Two races to go, both titles a foregone conclusion, but stick with it!

Posted: **24 Feb 2013, 16:53**

dinizintheoven wrote:Real life just stopped intervening. You know what that means... we're back. Two races to go, both titles a foregone conclusion, but stick with it!

A foregone conclusion? Are you suggesting the final two races are fixed? Is this how Sir Bernard Sheikhslike has so much money? By fixing all the races? That half Italian bastard.

Posted: **24 Feb 2013, 17:22**

dinizintheoven wrote:And so we go into the last two rounds. The Teams' Championship is a foregone conclusion; there's still a glimmer of hope that the Drivers' isn't, and there's a dark horse in the Clausura with an H on her forehead. Watch this space; we're not done yet.

All right, maybe not. This is what happens when life intervenes for three weeks...

If West Cliff get a 1-2 in both the remaining races, though, I will eat my entire house. Brick by brick. And also all the soil in my garden.

Posted: **24 Feb 2013, 19:53**

Round 11: Estoril, Portugal
Friday, 9 October 2015

QUALIFYING

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1 –    7  A. Powell         West Cliff            1'26.590
2 –    2  M. Mouton         Alitaliana            1'27.063
3 –    87 K. Ihara          Super Reppu!          1'28.766
4 –    16 S. Schmitz        Shell JLD             1'29.166
5 –    1  V. Ickx           Alitaliana            1'29.202
6 –    5  D. Patrick        Restov                1'29.214
7 –    4  S. de Silvestro   Autodynamics          1'29.242
8 –    6  N. Lindgren       Restov                1'29.611
9 –    88 M. Bumgarner      Super Reppu!          1'30.056
10 –   54 R. Frey           Filles sur Roues      1'30.084
11 –   24 G. Amati          Minardivas            1'30.206
12 –   40 D. Galica         SonicSport            1'30.407
13 –   15 An. Cope          Cope-ersucar          1'30.582

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14 –   77 K. Legge          Foster's Good Women   1'30.850
15 –   78 K. Mikami         Foster's Good Women   1'30.977
16 –   10 E. Kimiläinen     Rosenforth            1'31.104
17 –   55 V. Piria          Filles sur Roues      1'31.221
18 –   39 S. Wolff          SonicSport            1'31.251
19 –   14 Am. Cope          Cope-ersucar          1'31.859
20 –   23 L. Lombardi (H)   Minardivas            1'32.218
21 –   3  A. Beatriz        Autodynamics          1'32.312
22 –   90 L. Tander         Team Australia        1'32.632
23 –   91 S. Reid           Team Australia        1'32.945
24 –   17 J. Mihara         Shell JLD             1'33.788
25 –   8  P. Cow            West Cliff            1'34.235
26 –   97 P. Mann           Psycho Soldiers       1'35.930

Code: Select all

DID NOT QUALIFY
---------------
DNQ –  98 C. Allemann       Psycho Soldiers       1'37.982
DNQ –  11 K. Andrews        Rosenforth            1'38.898

There's a race for the championship at stake here, and would you believe it, two of the main protagonists are on the front row. Alice Powell, in pole position in the championship and at match point, took pole here for the race... by almost half a second. That's going to hurt down in the Alitalia camp, but they know that they only have to ensure the misfiring Pippa Cow doesn't get up to second and the Bertha Benz Cup will be theirs. Michèle Mouton, though, will need an excellent start and hope that others behind will be able to help her out. Keiko Ihara, who took third, will be out to prove her win earlier in the season was no fluke; everyone knows Sabine Schmitz could win, but she has still done so only once and will want to change that. Vanina Ickx is also in title contention but has it all to do from fifth, whereas Danica Patrick, who chased her as far as was possible last year, is in sixth and will want to beat the Belgian again. Simona de Silvestro managed to split the Restov drivers, with Nettan Lindgren the last to beat the 1'30 barrier; Michele Bumgarner didn't, neither did Rahel Frey, but then, neither of them were expected to and row five is a fine achievement by both. Elsewhere in the 1'30s, Giovanna Amati unexpectedly beat Divina Galica in the battle of two former F1 drivers, Amati unusually being the faster driver for Scuderia Minardivas. Angela Cope again proved to be the better of the twins, and was about to be kept in good company by both of the two Foster's Good Women who took 14th and 15th, Katherine Legge edging out Kazumi Mikami by just over a tenth.

Into the 1'31s, and Emma Kimiläinen's Rosenforth-run Minardi continues to hurtle towards breathing its last with the sheer amount of abuse she is having to give it to drag it up into 16th place where it really does not deserve to be, and alarm bells should be sounding at SonicSport is Susie Wolff can be outqualified by both Kimiläinen and Vicky Piria in an equally uncooperative Stefan. Hardly the Friday morning the Scot wanted, but there were further tales of woe for Amber Cope, Lella Lombardi – who had a frightening encounter with a glitching light-bee – and Ana Beatriz, who's not looked like much of an improvement on Jutta Kleinschmidt's methods. Right back at the blunt end, Leanne Tander and Samantha Reid lined up alongside each other, neither being able to make much impression on the timesheets, and from there the gaps widened to chasms between each driver; Junko Mihara, looking ready for retirement already, was eight tenths further back, with a half-second gap to Pippa Cow, and then – Psycho Soldiers having been unable to sort out their self-inflicted car woes – Pippa Mann was 1.7 seconds adrift. But at least she made it into the race, unlike Cyndie Allemann... because Karen Nadrews was back to her old ways again, waywardly throwing her dead-on-its-legs Minardi around like a complete amateur. Still... there's only one more qualifying session to be endured now.

RACE

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1 –    7  A. Powell         West Cliff            71   1h 48'42.641
2 –    2  M. Mouton         Alitaliana            71   1h 49'39.559
3 –    1  V. Ickx           Alitaliana            70   + 1 lap                                                     
4 –    87 K. Ihara          Super Reppu!          70   + 1 lap                                                     
5 –    5  D. Patrick        Restov                69   + 2 laps                                                    
6 –    6  N. Lindgren       Restov                69   + 2 laps                                                    
7 –    4  S. de Silvestro   Autodynamics          69   + 2 laps                                                    
8 –    88 M. Bumgarner      Super Reppu!          69   + 2 laps                                                    
9 –    16 S. Schmitz        Shell JLD             69   + 2 laps                                                    
10 –   54 R. Frey           Filles sur Roues      69   + 2 laps                                                    
11 –   24 G. Amati          Minardivas            68   + 3 laps                                                    
12 –   40 D. Galica         SonicSport            68   + 3 laps                                                    
13 –   15 An. Cope          Cope-ersucar          68   + 3 laps

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14 –   39 S. Wolff          SonicSport            68   + 3 laps                                                    
15 –   77 K. Legge          Foster's Good Women   68   + 3 laps                                                    
16 –   78 K. Mikami         Foster's Good Women   68   + 3 laps                                                    
17 –   55 V. Piria          Filles sur Roues      68   + 3 laps                                                    
18 –   10 E. Kimiläinen     Rosenforth            68   + 3 laps                                                    
19 –   23 L. Lombardi (H)   Minardivas            67   + 4 laps                                                    
20 –   3  A. Beatriz        Autodynamics          67   + 4 laps                                                    
21 –   17 J. Mihara         Shell JLD             66   + 5 laps                                                    
22 –   91 S. Reid           Team Australia        66   + 5 laps                                                    
23 –   90 L. Tander         Team Australia        65   + 6 laps                                                    
24 –   8  P. Cow            West Cliff            58   engine                                                      
25 –   97 P. Mann           Psycho Soldiers       15   electrical                                                  
26 –   14 Am. Cope          Cope-ersucar          9    crash

That was, in no uncertain terms, the drive of a champion. I'd like to say Alice Powell led the race from start to finish, for the most massive Grand Slam of them all, but it wasn't quite to be; Michèle Mouton made the better start, and led the race for a lap and a half. The wily not-so-old Powell stayed in contact with France's finest, stalked her down the home straight, saw her opportunity at Parabolica Interior, grabbed it with both hands and pulled away into the distance like a pro. Despite a lighter fuel load that meant she had to stop five laps earlier than Mouton, such was her pace that the gap between them increased by an almost unbelieveable ten seconds while Mouton was supposed to be scything her way forwards. That, as they say, was that. The rest of the race only delayed the inevitable, in that as long as she kept going in seventh place or higher, the championship would be decided in her favour. But, as ever, all champions like to win the race on the day, and Alice Powell is no exception. As she held up both the race winner's trophy and the Maria Teresa de Filippis Cup, you've never seen anyone so happy.

Her nearest two title rivals, somewhat fittingly, shared the podium with her. Vanina Ickx was the nearest challenger in points, and even remains in second place in the points, if not by much. However, lap 58 was where the Bertha Benz Cup finally fell into Scuderia Alitaliana's hands, which softened Vanina's blow of having to hand over her title to the youngster in the fetching blue overalls on the top step of the podium. Michèle Mouton, second on the road and blown away by almost a minute – Ickx was lapped – at least has not just second in the championship to fight for, but also the Clausura and the Qualifying Cup, both of which are still up for grabs, with the only contender being... guess who? I don't need to tell you. There were mixed reactions amongst the mechanics, mind, those contracted to Il Barone Rampante celebrating a job well done, those from Viking Racing utterly indifferent and still fuming about the IBR boss' comments earlier in the season, while the Viking management carefully prepared a slot in the Rudskogen museum for the now twice-victorious 03s – especially seeing as the 04 may not be a title-winner.

Keiko Ihara so desperately wanted to hang onto third for a second podium of the season to go with her win in Germany, but it was not to be; Ickx had been too fast for her, though she held off the Belgian's efforts valiantly in a vastly slower car until lap 48; considering Dome are heading rapidly down the toilet in the Main Series, this have been their last moment of glory as the misfiring Do15 will be ineligible for next year's WEC. Fifth and sixth, line astern, were Japan's number one cars, two Super Aguris, run by a Russian and driven by Danica Patrick and Nettan Lindgren; the Swede had a torrid start, losing a whole six places, but fought hard to claw them all back plus one more, as Simona de Silvestro had held sixth for so long. So she finished seventh, with Michele Bumgarner eighth, a result that in conjunction with Ihara's fine performance has jacked Super Reppu! up to fifth in the Teams' Championship. Sabine Schmitz had a miserable day, nothing going her way either with a poor start nor an uncompetitive showing to end up ninth, and in danger of having that position also taken by Rahel Frey in the snail-slow Stefan. The fluffy-haired Swiss couldn't quite get the speed out of the car, though, and she had to settle with tenth.

Frey's final points-paying position wasn't threatened by any of the others; Giovanna Amati, in 11th, was a further lap down and way back in the distance, holding up a queue – relatively speaking, for the end of the race – that consisted of Divina Galica, Angela Cope, Susie Wolff (who'd been steadily climbing the field, but a bit too steadily to make any impression), and the two Foster's cars. Vicky Piria and Emma Kimiläinen were further back, scrapping over 17th and almost, but not quite, four laps down. Lella Lombardi and Ana Beatriz were four adrift, inexplicably as slow in the race as they had been in qualifying, while Junko Mihara and Samantha Reid haemorrhaged five laps on the leader by the chequered flag. Reject Of The Race goes to the final finisher: that's Leanne Tander, who found herself passed by Alice Powell six times, and spent 57 entire laps battling with – and completely failing to pass – Pippa Cow, once described as "phenomenally slow" and further kneecapped by her uncaring team. Tander had a woeful start, then spent the entire race staring at Cow's udders... I mean, gearbox... making only the occasional quarter-arsed stab at a pass, none of which were ever likely to be successful. In the end, Cow's engine blew on lap 58, belched thick diesel smoke into the air and Tander nearly crashed out from following the oily cloud too closely. In the end there were only two further retirements, Amber Cope's early crash being entirely self-inflicted, and Pippa Mann followed not too long afterwards with electrical failure. Whether it was just gremlins in the car or whether something more sinister had been nibbling on the wires, nobody was too bothered to find out.

So Alice Powell is the Drivers' Champion, Scuderia Alitaliana are the Teams' Champions, but don't go thinking Spain will be a dead rubber. Those two minor trophies that are still up for grabs carry some bragging rights.

DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
for the Maria Teresa de Filippis Cup

It's all been decided here in Portugal.

~ indicates a driver who has switched teams – only the latest team is shown
* indicates a driver still in contention for the championship

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1 –    7  * A. Powell         West Cliff            185 - CHAMPION
2 –    1    V. Ickx           Alitaliana            139
3 –    2    M. Mouton         Alitaliana            138
4 –    5    D. Patrick        Restov                107
5 –    16   S. Schmitz        Shell JLD             62
6 –    6    N. Lindgren       Restov                58
7 –    87   K. Ihara          Super Reppu!          55
8 =    4    S. de Silvestro   Autodynamics          52
8 =    23   L. Lombardi (H)   Minardivas            52
10 –   40   D. Galica         SonicSport            49
11 –   39   S. Wolff          SonicSport            48
12 –   15   An. Cope          Cope-ersucar          38

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13 =   24   G. Amati          Minardivas            24
13 =   88   M. Bumgarner      Super Reppu!          24
15 –   14   Am. Cope          Cope-ersucar          21
16 –  ~77   K. Legge          Foster's Good Women   15
17 =   10   E. Kimiläinen     Rosenforth            10
17 =   54   R. Frey           Filles sur Roues      10
19 –   97   P. Mann           Psycho Soldiers       8
20 =   90   L. Tander         Team Australia        7
20 =  ~98   C. Allemann       Psycho Soldiers       7
22 =        J. Kleinschmidt   Autodynamics          1
22 =   78   K. Mikami         Foster's Good Women   1

TEAMS' CHAMPIONSHIP
for the Bertha Benz Cup

It's all been decided here in Portugal.

* indicates a team still in contention for the championship

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1 –  * Scuderia Alitaliana / Viking               277 - CHAMPIONS
2 –    West Cliff Racing / SPAM                   185
3 –    Restov Racing / Super Aguri                165
4 –    SonicSport / ATS Rial                      97
5 –    Super Reppu! / Dome                        79
6 –    Scuderia Minardivas / Forti                76
7 –    Shell JLD Motorsport / F1RM                62

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8 –    Cope-ersucar / Spyker                      59
9 –    Autodynamics Simtek Grand Prix / Simtek    53
10 –   Psycho Soldiers / David Price              16
11 –   Foster's Good Women with Plus One / SAC    15
12 =   Rosenforth Engineering / Minardi           10
12 =   Filles sur Roues / Stefan                  10
14 –   Team Australia / Monteverdi                7

CLAUSURA: SEMI FINALS

(1) Powell (1st) v (12) Lombardi (19th)
(2) Ickx (3rd) v (3) Mouton (2nd)

Alice Powell versus Michèle Mouton in the final. As it also is in the Qualifying Cup. Stay tuned.

Posted: **24 Feb 2013, 20:06**

Sophie Fabron wrote:Looks like our girls are putting the Stefan to places where it shouldn't be. Nothing like what I did with AGS, though...

Posted: **24 Feb 2013, 21:51**

Is it possible to replace Amati with Shirley Van Der Lof, granddaughter of the famous Dries.

Posted: **24 Feb 2013, 22:24**

For one race?

Posted: **24 Feb 2013, 22:30**

dinizintheoven wrote:For one race?

Sure, have forgotten to look how many races there are left. But it can be used as an 'evaluation drive'. I wanted to replace Amati for a long time, but didn't know with who. The 1952 thread reminded me of Dries Van Der Lof, and his racing granddaughter, so voila. A racer with some true reject heritage!

Posted: **24 Feb 2013, 23:09**

Whoop whoop! Foxdale/West Cliff have a Driver's title to add to Pippa Mann's F1RWRS title of 2012! And Jordan Davies still has a chance of adding to that in F3RWRS... Just a shame that it's Foxdale's subsidiary team getting the successes and not the main team, but a title's a title!

Posted: **05 Mar 2013, 22:06**

Round 12: Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
Friday, 16 October 2015

QUALIFYING

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1 –    2  M. Mouton         Alitaliana            1'31.219
2 –    88 M. Bumgarner      Super Reppu!          1'31.328
3 –    7  A. Powell         West Cliff            1'31.439
4 –    5  D. Patrick        Restov                1'31.906
5 –    40 D. Galica         SonicSport            1'31.980
6 –    6  N. Lindgren       Restov                1'31.995
7 –    39 S. Wolff          SonicSport            1'31.061
8 –    1  V. Ickx           Alitaliana            1'32.106
9 –    3  A. Beatriz        Autodynamics          1'32.153
10 –   87 K. Ihara          Super Reppu!          1'32.182
11 –   16 S. Schmitz        Shell JLD             1'32.248
12 –   23 L. Lombardi (H)   Minardivas            1'32.331
13 –   14 Am. Cope          Cope-ersucar          1'33.183

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14 –   10 E. Kimiläinen     Rosenforth            1'33.415
15 –   55 V. Piria          Filles sur Roues      1'33.998
16 –   4  S. de Silvestro   Autodynamics          1'34.198
17 –   77 K. Legge          Foster's Good Women   1'34.414
18 –   91 S. Reid           Team Australia        1'34.420
19 –   54 R. Frey           Filles sur Roues      1'34.463
20 –   17 J. Mihara         Shell JLD             1'34.774
21 –   15 An. Cope          Cope-ersucar          1'34.885
22 –   78 K. Mikami         Foster's Good Women   1'35.202
23 –   90 L. Tander         Team Australia        1'35.316
24 –   24 S. van der Lof    Minardivas            1'35.973
25 –   8  P. Cow            West Cliff            1'36.363
26 –   98 C. Allemann       Psycho Soldiers       1'37.402

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DID NOT QUALIFY
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DNQ –  97 P. Mann           Psycho Soldiers       1'40.571
DNQ –  11 K. Andrews        Rosenforth            1'42.047

As the sun blazed over Jerez, even in the middle of October, that sun would soon set on the 2015 WEC season, but at least made excellent conditions for the last qualifying session. Some say Michèle Mouton was never troubled on her quest for pole, but she was, and it came from an unlikely source – Michele Bumgarner, the mid-season replacement at Super Reppu!, who had somehow found herself right in the zone and was on course to take the pole herself until right at the end of the session. Bear in mind this is someone who slid to a DNQ last year when the 107% rule applied, that's one hell of a performance. As it was, you'd have to say, from Alice Powell. Third, I hear you ask? That's poor for her, right? Let's just say that, with the Maria Teresa de Filippis Cup already safely stashed in her trophy cabinet, she decided to have a laugh at the last race, and climbed out of her car after setting her lap to reveal that she had done so wearing five-inch stilettos. It lost her the Qualifying Cup – that will be going to Michèle Mouton – but she'd decided to prove a point, that she's capable of driving with an equivalent to one hand tied behind her back (and I wouldn't rule out her doing that in the race). In the next four positions, those who have been the nearly-teams all season – Restov and SonicSport – parked up one behind the other, Danica Patrick ahead of Nettan Lindgren on the left, Divina Galica ahead of Howlin' Wolff on the right. For the 71-year-old former skier, some suspect it will be her last race before retiring to a life of knitting and jam making, but given some of the things she's said after good results this year, don't count on it just yet...

Eighth, and in a rather subdued end to her season, was Vanina Ickx – her time with the coveted trophy is gone, but there's always the enticing prospect of the Bathurst Enduro to prove herself again. Ana Beatriz and Keiko Ihara – the fastest Japanese driver but not the fastest in her team – rounded out the top ten, with Sabine Schmitz looking almost as jaded as Ickx after a long season of not being where she's used to, and Lella Lombardi in twelfth looking like she was facing the hangman's noose – which, given that the kill switch is about to be hit on her hologram (again), isn't too far away from the truth, and she will require selection for the Bathurst Enduro to save her from the big switch off. Amber Cope was, unusually, the faster of the twins, and just managed to beat Emma Kimiläinen; the Finn has done a stunning job season-long in a car that was fit for the scrapheap even when Rosenforth first took delivery of their two chassis. Vicky Piria took 15th, quite high by her standards, and won the battle of the Filles sur Roues team-mates for once, and was the last to beat the 1'34 barrier. Simona de Silvestro didn't cover herself in glory in 16th, while row nine was duked out between Katherine Legge and Samantha Reid, Legge winning by six thousandths in the end. Rahel Frey, Junko Mihara and Angela Cope filled the next three places down to 21st, and into the 1'35s the times started to widen as they usually do towards the wrong end of the grid. Kazumi Mikami and Leanne Tander recorded times in the 1'35s, as did Shirley van der Lof – no hard feelings at Scuderia Minardivas, mind, as she'd been dropped in the car, utterly unprepared, at the last minute, and was way off the pace. Pippa Cow shared the last row with Cyndie Allemann, who was – like the Rosenforths – driving a car now utterly wrecked beyond recognition, and so both Rosenforth and Psycho Soldiers recorded a DNQ each. Pippa Mann was the driver for The Team Nobody Likes™ to have to drop out, having suffered some unexplained mechanical failure that put her a massive three seconds behind Allemann, and last of all – finishing as we always knew she would, Karen Andrews, a further second and a half back, whose record for this season reads eleven DNQs, one race finish in 22nd place. Strangely, given that she wasn't expected to make the grid at all, that one finish may save her from being Reject Of The Year.

RACE

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1 –    7  A. Powell         West Cliff            69   1h 49'11.136
2 –    2  M. Mouton         Alitaliana            69   1h 50'28.334
3 –    88 M. Bumgarner      Super Reppu!          68   + 1 lap                                                     
4 –    39 S. Wolff          SonicSport            68   + 1 lap                                                     
5 –    87 K. Ihara          Super Reppu!          68   + 1 lap                                                     
6 –    6  N. Lindgren       Restov                68   + 1 lap                                                     
7 –    3  A. Beatriz        Autodynamics          68   + 1 lap                                                     
8 –    40 D. Galica         SonicSport            68   + 1 lap                                                     
9 –    23 L. Lombardi (H)   Minardivas            68   + 1 lap                                                     
10 –   1  V. Ickx           Alitaliana            67   + 2 laps                                                    
11 –   77 K. Legge          Foster's Good Women   66   + 3 laps                                                    
12 –   55 V. Piria          Filles sur Roues      66   + 3 laps                                                    
13 –   10 E. Kimiläinen     Rosenforth            66   + 3 laps

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14 –   78 K. Mikami         Foster's Good Women   65   + 4 laps                                                    
15 –   17 J. Mihara         Shell JLD             65   + 4 laps                                                    
16 –   54 R. Frey           Filles sur Roues      65   + 4 laps                                                    
17 –   90 L. Tander         Team Australia        65   + 4 laps                                                    
18 –   24 S. van der Lof    Minardivas            65   + 4 laps                                                    
19 –   8  P. Cow            West Cliff            65   + 4 laps                                                    
20 –   98 C. Allemann       Psycho Soldiers       64   + 5 laps                                                    
21 –   15 An. Cope          Cope-ersucar          42   transmission                                                
22 –   5  D. Patrick        Restov                33   transmission                                                
23 –   4  S. de Silvestro   Autodynamics          26   overheating                                                 
24 –   91 S. Reid           Team Australia        18   transmission                                                
25 –   16 S. Schmitz        Shell JLD             9    oil leak                                                    
26 –   14 Am. Cope          Cope-ersucar          7    engine

And so, the season ended very much as it began, with Alice Powell looking exceptionally pleased with herself, and well she might.

Firmly back in her racing boots, her sixth win out of a total of twelve races this year had not started according to plan, being burnt off from the line by a determined Susie Wolff; ditto Michèle Mouton, who'd fluffed her start slightly and the Super Reppu! pit went utterly berserk as the sight of Michele Bumgarner leading into the first corner treated them to a sight they never thought they'd see if Yuri Mitsui had stayed there. Admittedly, both poor starts were soon resolved as the two Micheles swapped places and Alice Powell blasted past The Wolf before the first lap was up. And, as if to assert her authority on these last two races as she had done on the entire season, barring a couple of scrapes, the spearhead of the younger generation found herself under the gearbox of the old guard – there's a 42-year age gap between them (or, alternatively, think Michael Schumacher in 2011 racing against a newborn baby, and no jokes about Jaime Alguersuari if you don't mind...) before the end of lap two. Mouton, though, was having none of it and used every trick in the circuit racing book she'd acquired within the last two years (because such tactics are never needed in rallying...) to hold the youngster at bay. She succeeded... for ten laps, and then, Powell made her move... and boom, off into the distance like a scorched whippet. All Mouton could hope for in the race for the Clausura now was for her rival to retire, or for West Cliff to screw up the fuel strategy. Unfortunately, the only real screw-up that happened was at Scuderia Alitaliana, in Vanina Ickx's hands. She made a mesmerisingly awful start and dropped back to 13th, where she spent several laps scrapping with Simona de Silvestro – and also Shirley van der Lof, who'd decided this one-off race was an opportunity not to be missed, terrible qualifying be damned, and her overtakes were going to be more rash than a dermatitis ward. She improved as far as seventh, slightly aided by backmarkers who saw the golden Viking and obligingly leapt out the way, thinking she was at the sharp end... but it was to no avail. Powell's pace was enough to take a mere three laps after her first pit stop to catch Mouton again; after the second round, she was in the lead, and was able to stop for tyres, fuel, file her nails, wash her hair and still get out without having lost that first place. And then... she nearly lost it.

The TV cameras cut to a shot of a blue SPAM that obviously wasn't Pippa Cow ploughing through the gravel trap. No, Alice, surely you couldn't have lost it that easily, maybe not paying due attention? Not a bit of it. She was paying attention, but the backmarker she was lapping wasn't, and punted her right off the track with the automotive equivalent of a right hook. That backmarker was... Vanina Ickx. Some observers, possibly Manchester United supporters, say she was gallantly sacrificing herself in trying to take out the only driver who could stop her team-mate winning the Clausura, the last trophy up for grabs, similar to Ole Gunnar Solskjær and that tackle on Robert Lee. (Norwegian footballer, Norwegian car, hmmmm.) Others, possibly Newcastle United fans, said it was a spiteful and petulant move by the outgoing champion on the one who had taken her crown. Either way, it was a deliberate and crass move on Ickx's part; she was running seventh at the time but would finally finish a lowly tenth, and nobody was surprised to find that this netted her a well deserved Reject Of The Race. Not a dignified way to finish a title defence, that.

Ordinarily, Ickx would have ended up third, such has been the way of this season, but her rejectful loss was Michele Bumgarner's gain. She'd driven for a team called American Rejects in 2014, hadn't even remotely covered herself in glory, and wasn't even selected for this season – at least until Super Reppu! dumped Yuri Mitsui (again) and needed a replacement driver who could sort-of-pass as Japanese. Her performances may have been a little up and down this year, but the signs were all there she was coming good – being a helpful support on Keiko Ihara's day to remember – and now she'd claimed some spoils for herself in the form of an appearance on the podium, a trophy for herself and another for the team, and the first time the flag of the Philippines has ever been flown over the podium in any F1 Rejects competition, resulting in wild celebrations around the whole country. With the race finishing around midnight in the Philippines, legend has it that the bars stayed open practically nationwide until much later so the people could watch their new star at work and celebrate in fine style. No doubt the next time Michele arrives in Manila, there'll be a red carpet out for her.

So what of the rest? Susie Wolff came fourth, a fine result after her season had started so well and then threatened to disappear into oblivion. Keiko Ihara this time played the supporting role at Super Reppu! - unfortunately for them, due to SonicSport's double-score, this final haul of 25 points couldn't haul them up to fourth in the Teams' Championship, but consider that after four races they were on zero and Yuri Mitsui was the first driver to be given the boot. I'd say it's worked well for them overall. Nettan Lindgren finished sixth, and as she was a lap down and not threatening to chase the leaders at any stage, once Danica Patrick retired on lap 34 that utterly put paid to Restov Racing securing second in the Teams' Championship – an honour which has ultimately gone to West Cliff, not far short of being a one-car team. Seventh was Ana Beatriz, picking up her first points of the season at the last race, although she'd sat out so much of it that this was hardly surprising. Jutta Kleinschmidt, of course, probably wouldn't have scored these points. Six of the remaining seven points went to "the grannies" – eighth was Divina Galica, aged 71, and ninth was Lella Lombardi, now permanently stuck at 48 but who would otherwise have been 74 by now. And then, the Queen Of Misdemeanours for the day trundled in an apologetic tenth for a point she didn't really deserve; it would have been far more fitting if Katherine Legge had taken it, but she was a further lap down on Ickx. Vicky Piria was 12th, her best result of the year by a long way but if 12th is your best then that's a Caterham-esque performance if ever there was one; Emma Kimiläinen, on the other hand, was 13th in a very slow car, more like the equivalent of an HRT in this series, but she has driven the wheels off it – and only retired once when it was supposed to be more fragile than a porcelain vase. 15Th and 16th, four laps down, were the Japanese duo of Kazumi Mikami and Junko Mihara, followed by Rahel Frey, Leanne tander and Shirley van der Lof – who slid back from as high up as 11th at one point, but at least finished in her only race of the year. Pippa Cow also brought her car home, and nobody at her team noticed, and last of all – five laps down – Cyndie Allemann, in Psycho Soldiers' terminally wrecked David Price DPR-1 which has now, thankfully, turned its last wheel in anger and can be confined to the shed of eternal rejectdom.

The season ended on a downer, and in a cloud of smoke, for six drivers. Both Cope twins would not see the chequered flag; Amber, the better performer in qualifying, completed only seven laps before her engine went bang, whereas Angela managed 42 laps before her transmission broke. Sabine Schmitz hadn't intended for her challenge for the title to end in sheets of flame with oil spewing onto all the hot parts of her engine; the non-result, not that she was on course for one in the race, demoted her from fifth to seventh in the Drivers' Championship. Das ist nicht gut. Samantha Reid's snapped driveshaft half-ensured that Team Australia were going to finish bottom of the pile, Leanne Tander's limp to 17th being the other half of the equation, and Danica Patrick's box of neutrals on lap 34 cost Restov their slim chance of second.

So it's all over for another year. Now the girls can sit back and watch the rest of the Main Series and see how that unfolds... and some of them can wait for the call-up for the Bathurst Enduro. Scuderia Alitaliana are the first non-wildcard team to book themselves a guaranteed place there if they want it; they'll need a third driver, though, and what chance will there be that Vanina Ickx will be on her bike after this end-of-season carelessness? And how will next year's championship pan out, when there has to be two years' worth of turbo cars to race, some of which have an intergalactic mileage on the clock already? What tactics will Alice Powell use to defend her title – or will she be rewarded with a Main Series drive, when rumours abound that many of the Main Series teams are looking to move on their older drivers?

There's only one way to find out... tune in again next spring.

DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP: FINAL TABLE
for the Maria Teresa de Filippis Cup

~ indicates a driver who has switched teams – only the latest team is shown

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1 –    7  * A. Powell         West Cliff            210 - CHAMPION
2 –    2    M. Mouton         Alitaliana            156
3 –    1    V. Ickx           Alitaliana            140
4 –    5    D. Patrick        Restov                107
5 –    6    N. Lindgren       Restov                66
6 –    87   K. Ihara          Super Reppu!          65
7 –    16   S. Schmitz        Shell JLD             62
8 –    39   S. Wolff          SonicSport            60
9 –    23   L. Lombardi (H)   Minardivas            54
10 –   40   D. Galica         SonicSport            53
11 –   4    S. de Silvestro   Autodynamics          52
12 –   88   M. Bumgarner      Super Reppu!          39

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13 –   15   An. Cope          Cope-ersucar          38
14 –   24   G. Amati          Minardivas            24
15 –   14   Am. Cope          Cope-ersucar          21
16 –  ~77   K. Legge          Foster's Good Women   15
17 –   10   E. Kimiläinen     Rosenforth            10 (0 × DNQ, best result 7th)
18 –   54   R. Frey           Filles sur Roues      10 (0 × DNQ, best result 8th)
19 –   97   P. Mann           Psycho Soldiers       8
20 –   90   L. Tander         Team Australia        7  (0 × DNQ)
21 –  ~98   C. Allemann       Psycho Soldiers       7  (2 × DNQ)
22 –   3    A. Beatriz        Autodynamics          6
23 –        J. Kleinschmidt   Autodynamics          1  (0 × DNQ)
24 –   78   K. Mikami         Foster's Good Women   1  (1 × DNQ)

TEAMS' CHAMPIONSHIP: FINAL TABLE
for the Bertha Benz Cup

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1 –  * Scuderia Alitaliana / Viking               296 - CHAMPIONS
2 –    West Cliff Racing / SPAM                   210
3 –    Restov Racing / Super Aguri                173
4 –    SonicSport / ATS Rial                      113
5 –    Super Reppu! / Dome                        104
6 –    Scuderia Minardivas / Forti                78
7 –    Shell JLD Motorsport / F1RM                62

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8 –    Cope-ersucar / Spyker                      59  (0 × DNQ, best result 3rd)
9 –    Autodynamics Simtek Grand Prix / Simtek    59  (0 × DNQ, best result 4th)
10 –   Psycho Soldiers / David Price              16
11 –   Foster's Good Women with Plus One / SAC    15
12 –   Filles sur Roues / Stefan                  10  (1 × DNQ)
13 –   Rosenforth Engineering / Minardi           10  (11 × DNQ)
14 –   Team Australia / Monteverdi                7

CLAUSURA: FINAL

(1) Powell (1st) v (3) Mouton (2nd)

...and as those two occupied the first two places, you can't say fairer than that.

All the stats, in graphic form, will be updated soon, including the Qualifying Cup table, and the wiki. Brace yourselves!

And of course... don't forget to nominate REJECT OF THE YEAR!

Posted: **06 Mar 2013, 00:12**

dinizintheoven wrote:Scuderia Alitaliana are the first non-wildcard team to book themselves a guaranteed place there if they want it; they'll need a third driver, though, and what chance will there be that Vanina Ickx will be on her bike after this end-of-season carelessness?

Does this place imply that all three drivers must still be female? Or could we have a perfectly balanced trio of Mouton, a male driver TBA and Gio/Gia Van Dycke?

Posted: **06 Mar 2013, 03:33**

That's the idea, at least. Last year's WEC winners went with their current drivers and added Michèle Mouton to make a trio; you'll have to see what the other teams say about that Van Dycke. Remember what got stirred up in Formula Woman for the same reason...

Posted: **06 Mar 2013, 05:14**

dinizintheoven wrote:That's the idea, at least. Last year's WEC winners went with their current drivers and added Michèle Mouton to make a trio; you'll have to see what the other teams say about that Van Dycke. Remember what got stirred up in Formula Woman for the same reason...

Not sure what you mean there

Posted: **06 Mar 2013, 13:05**

dinizintheoven wrote:That's the idea, at least. Last year's WEC winners went with their current drivers and added Michèle Mouton to make a trio; you'll have to see what the other teams say about that Van Dycke. Remember what got stirred up in Formula Woman for the same reason...

In which case, our first choice would definitely be Lella, but I wonder if Miss Rimmer might try and decompile Alasdair Lindsay's molecular structure and then reintegrate it with a donkey's head.

Posted: **06 Mar 2013, 13:53**

eurobrun wrote:
dinizintheoven wrote:That's the idea, at least. Last year's WEC winners went with their current drivers and added Michèle Mouton to make a trio; you'll have to see what the other teams say about that Van Dycke. Remember what got stirred up in Formula Woman for the same reason...

Not sure what you mean there

Formula Woman was always seen as a bit of a farce, especially as it seemed to be more reality show than racing series and concentrated far too much on them all being extremely catty to each other, but the papayas really hit the fan when something they'd all suspected turned out to be true: Lauren Blighton, one of the more successful drivers in the series (if far away from being the champion), had been born a bloke, which was seen as throwing the "women competing against women and maybe, then, will take on the men in a bigger championship" into utter chaos. Even if the playing field was far from level ability-wise (they had Karen Andrews in there...) and was designed from the ground up to be as un-equal as possible from a mental standpoint (i.e. those who were catty would rise to the top and those who were reduced to tears on a regular basis would fail), the organisers did at least think there'd be nobody with a particular physical advantage. And then, into the mix comes someone who's genotypically male to send that idea into the weeds.

That debate might be allowed to rage for next year's WEC, but the Enduro (bar the "official WEC team") has no other restrictions. But... make sure it's completely canon on the timelines as to whether Van Dycke is Gio or Gia in December 2015. Gia, I suspect, but let's not get it wrong - to have someone who constantly has viciously invasive surgery on an almost daily basis is something that's not likely to happen anywhere. Except in the Cambridge goth scene, but let's not go there.

Stramala [kostas22] wrote:In which case, our first choice would definitely be Lella, but I wonder if Miss Rimmer might try and decompile Alasdair Lindsay's molecular structure and then reintegrate it with a donkey's head.

The not-so-good Doctor will most likely have her work cut out at the Enduro anyway, as last year there were two holograms in the race and I don't see that being any different this time round. Lella will, of course, be delighted to be spared the chop, but will have to be switched off at least temporarily when the Main Series champion is crowned so that Carel Godin de Beaufort can present the trophy.

Posted: **06 Mar 2013, 16:01**

So, here are the tables in graphical form, before they get Wikified:

DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP - MARIA TERESA DE FILIPPIS CUP

TEAMS' CHAMPIONSHIP - BERTHA BENZ CUP

QUALIFYING CUP

Posted: **06 Mar 2013, 17:08**

Sophie Fabron wrote:I wasn't expecting much from the Stefan chassis, so this is a good result. We'll be back for more in 2016!

Filles sur Roues will have an open tap for sherry at their motorhome tonight.

Posted: **06 Mar 2013, 17:24**

YES! First and penultimate in the championship! Roll on next year! West Cliff really have had a consistently better season in their championships than their parent team, Foxdale, and even then, Foxdale are still solidly midfield...

Posted: **06 Mar 2013, 18:37**

...aaaaand the Wiki's done. Presumably it's all correct.

Posted: **07 Mar 2013, 00:58**

Daniel Melrose, making yet another abusive phone call to Pierre Depault wrote:PIERRE! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON DOWN THERE!

Pierre Depault wrote:What the bathplug do you think, boss? The car's shite, Mihara's shite and we've got a lead driver whose annoyed as hell at us.

Daniel Melrose wrote:Oh for the love of God Pierre, Jamie and Enoch personally promised me that the car they gave us would be a world-beater this year.

Pierre Depault wrote:Yeah, they let us down in that area badly this year boss. We did the best we could with it but we couldn't extract the maximum potential out of the car on a regular basis

Daniel Melrose wrote:You idiot, your job is to get the best out of the car 100% of the time

Pierre Depault wrote:Boss, the car had far too small an operating window and we couldn't work effectively with a car like that

Daniel Melrose wrote:Urgh, fine. Get on the phone to them right now, return the cars to them, and tell them EXACTLY where they can put them. And tell Mihara her services are no longer required.

Pierre Depault wrote:R... right away, boss. What about that appeal against Phsyco Soldiers who you seem to hate so much?

Daniel Melrose wrote:Oh, those f***wits. I don't care about those clowns, as long as someone wipes them off the face of the Earth. And send them the compensation bill for how badly the JLD Hungarian GP Pre-weekend party went thanks to their incompetence. That shitestorm was an absolute mess to clean up. Nearly cost me Tropico's bilateral trade deal with Japan as they thought for a while our top-quality rum was cursed or some shite like that. Now excuse me, I've got a race at Brazil to attend to *hangs up*

Pierre Depault wrote:Shite, I hate this job

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