Nurburgring Race Report: Something to Cheer About
And a lot of teams had something to cheer about after the checkered flag waved at the Ring in Germany. Both Aguris finished in the points. Midland finally got some points. There were a total of 7 different teams in the points.
Oh, and Lee Davidson took his 2nd win in a row, and 3rd in the 5 races so far this year.
When the lights went out Kawasie of Midland shot out in front like...someone on a light fuel load. Because he was on one. 2 seconds back Beyens and Shepherd occupied the podium positions at the end of the first lap. Davidson was up 2 spots to 4th in the first lap.
At midfield LeSabre (Midland) gave Whitcomb (BMW) a little flick into the dirt which dropped the BMW to the back of the pack.
Lap 2 saw Kawasie continue to add to his lead, but there was strangely no passing. However, midfield there was another collision involving a BMW, this time Dubois's and also Mason was involved. Dubois had some damage to the suspension of his car and thus his pace dropped, but Mason was called in to the pits next lap to replace a broken nose. Of the car.
But if Mason had his way, Dubois would have a broken nose of the face.
By lap 6 Kawasie's lead was an impressive 7.8 seconds. But more impressive was the pass of Beyens's Renault by Shepherd in the Aguri for second place. Certainly the Aguris have been strong this season.
On lap 9 Toyota continued to have an unhappy day when Graham bobbled the car into and got some sand into the car, hampering it's performance.
Lap 10 saw another exchange of second place as Allman moved up into 2nd, after starting from 10th on the grid. Kawasie's lead was still 8 seconds and certainly he was starting to sweat.
Back in the field on the same lap Syme in the Red Bull and Domingues in the Renault had a spatial disagreement. Domingues spun and carried on, but Syme's car was terminally damage, resulting in his 3rd retirement of the season. Certainly the rookie has pace, but perhaps patience is needed also.
On lap 12 Allman dived into the pits on schedule, being the first to pit. The Midland mechanics breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that they weren't the ones with the lightest load today.
But Allman still had a shot at claiming the lead for about half a lap before he beached it at Ford corner on his out-lap. And that was the end of his race.
Lap 14 saw Kawasie give up the lead when he pitted, and the pit stop cycle ensued.
Somewhere in the middle of it all Davidson overtook Shepherd on the track for the lead on lap 19, one lap before the Aguri pitted anyway.
Beyens held the lead for about 8 laps before pitting on what appeared to be a one stop strategy, handing Kawasie back the lead. But now Davidson was only 1 second back...
Lap 31 saw Domingues in the Renault make a costly error, going for a trip to the beach at Ford corner. Luckily he was able to continue on, but he lost 9 seconds and third place. Frustrated, the next lap he made an error that forced him to the pits...luckily, for a scheduled stop. And then he stalled exiting.
On lap 37 Mason spun it into Veedol Schikane as part of a Toyota-planned PR stunt, since they were in the back of the pack anyway. Unfortunately his car was damaged and his pace would become further irrelevant.
Lap 41 saw the antics continue as Chang went offroad and damaged the car's suspension, slowing him down, and tripping him up as he spun the next lap and lost time also. But Toyota was not to be outdone so they had Mason smash his car to pieces and retire from the race.
Kawasie dived into the pits before Davidson, and by the time the Ferrari pitted, it was already far far ahead and driving into the sunset.
On lap 47 LeSabre in the Midland, like the BBC in 2001, suddenly dropped top gear, slowing his progress. Meanwhile, Domingues spun off from P7 to cap off what was ultimately a frustrating race.
Lap 51 saw BMW's Whitcomb spin off. Everything was ok...just kidding, as his oil pressure suddenly tanked for no apparent reason. And so he had to pit again.
The final incident of the race was much like the first. On lap 58, Whitcomb and LeSabre got together again and spun. Something bad probably happened to their cars, but they were both still running and there were only 2 laps to go.
And so the checkered flag flew and Ferrari had yet another win. Surely this will drive the tifosi mad with ecstasy but with Ferrari capturing 4 of the first 5 races it seems a bit one-sided.
Midland and Super Aguri beg to differ as the supposed backrunners both had a driver on the podium, Kawasie and Shepherd in that order.
Beyens was 4th in a typically strong finish for the Renault driver, and Weiland, Hutchinson, Graham, and Horton rounded out the points.
By now Davidson has a whopping 35 points and his next rival is 11 back. The lead looks pretty large now, but remember - it only takes a DNF by Davidson and a win by Domingues to close this race up.
As for the rest of the field...shape up.
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Good races:
Davidson: 2nd win, 3 out of 5
Kawasie/Midland: Some points, about time
Aguri: Both cars in the points
Bad races:
Chang: Seems to be cooling off? (3-3-7-7-10)
Syme: went clunk, again
Allman: got pwned after the pit stop
Whitcomb vs. LeSabre: highly entertaining, extremely midfield
Butler: won a race, all other finishes in the tens
Ugly races:
Mason: A series of unfortunate events
Domingues: Except moreso (oh, and 2nd place or crash? eep)
- I was too exstatic on the podium getting smashed on the champaigne!!! 👍
) I'm not slowing down!
