GTPF1 Season 6: Suzuka Review/Interlagos Preview
Suzuka was, depending on who you asked, either boring, exciting, heartbreaking, or exactly what Japan's hero needed.
By the numbers, Japan's GP was an uneventful race, with only one retirement and not a lot of passing in the front.
Then again, by the numbers, Beyens's season lead is now only one point.
The lone casualty at Suzuka was Lee Davidson, continues a 3-race pointless freefall. This time it was not his fault, with the car shutting down under him. This resulted in the lone safety car in the race.
Up in front Midland had one heck of a day with Yuuji Kawasie, title hopeful, leading a majority of the race and Pete Reynolds running very well until a technical glitch dropped him into the lower half of the points.
Then again, it was a very exciting day for Toyota powerplants, with the Toyota A-team finishing 2nd and 3rd in an amazing double-podium at home. Machiels in particular came extremely close to a win, cutting the gap to P1 to within 1/4 of a second in the closing laps.
Certainly the fans had something to cheer about.
Shepherd had a pretty mediocre day, finishing the final lap in the same position he ended the first lap - P5. This was worth a decent 4 points, which is 6 less than what Kawasie picked up but also 4 more than what Beyens brought home.
Ferrari's championship leader has been in sort of a rut of late, starting from the rear of a field, making a poor start and only managing to fight up to a 13th place finish. A valiant fight, but no points, which means that Beyens's once 25-point lead has been reduced to a mere 4-percent of that (1 point).
In other valiant fighting news, Domingues had a fairly entertaining time in the Renault, clawing his way from the rear of the field to a point. It seems he drives his best when starting in the back - which he seems to do often. Unfortunately for the Season 5 champion, he has not been the most reliable man this season and will not be able to take home the 18 points he needs for a championship in one race.
Chang, his partner at Renault, also saw the final strands of title dreams crushed as he had an uneventful race that ended in 6th place. While he is currently 13 points back of the lead, Chang should still be commended for having an excellent season, being on track to finish 4th overall. Plus, Renault is still close to the constructor's championship, needing to make up 4 on Williams in the last race.
Speaking of the team championship, Honda is also mathematically in it, requiring a 1-2 and no points from Williams to win. However, I doubt they will be dissapointed with 3rd place. Also in the podium fight are Ferrari, 5 off of Honda, and Midland, 13 back.
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Qualifying in Interlagos was quite entertaining, with all of the title contenders having issues. If you looked at the timecharts, however, one would not be able to tell.
Shepherd is in just the position he needs after just 2 out of 3 successful runs. Despite having only one clean lap the Williams driver will start 1st in what could be his final race. Will he go out with a championship?
Kawasie also had a poor final run, but still will manage to start 2nd, albeit nearly 2-tenths of a second back. He will certainly either need to get a good start or smash the heck out of Shepherd to have a shot at this title.
Beyens continues what could be a very dangerous freefall by botching his final run and qualifying 10th. It is not a hopeless cause but Beyens will need some luck to catch up to his rivals.
Chang will start 3rd after a miracle first run (given that his next two failed to happen), and Dubois will start 4th, Haswell 5th, Machiels 6th, Davidson 7th, and Hutchinson 8th.
Who will take home the driver's and constructor's championships? Only time will tell - because I certainly can't be sure of anything!
