Istanbul Race Report, Season 5: Now it's Davidson, not Domingues
Why did Domingues got the works?
That's nobody's business but uh...his gearbox's.
The momentum has swung to Ferrari after two straight wins by championship runner-up (currenly) Lee Davidson to close the gap on leader Bruno Domingues by 20 points. The Reanult driver has DNF'd twice in two races.
Why it changed I just can't say
People just liked it better that way
As usual, the lights went off and a Renault went the wrong way, this time Beyens dropped 13 places while Davidson jumped to a 2-second lead over Chang. Domingues lied in 5th and the 2 Midlands were mired in dead last after Kawasie and Mason got together and spun.
Promptly the next lap Mason made another error and damaged his car, impairing his lap times. His teammate Graham suffered a similar fate on lap 5.
Lap 8 saw a good battle for the lead as Domingues got around Davidson. The Toyota execs noticed their lack of TV time and the next lap Mason promptly lost his brakes, spun, and was forced to pit the next lap. For new brakes.
Lap 13 saw the first casualty as Beyens stumbled into Weiland, forcing the Renault to the pits and the Aguri to the sidelines. Weiland was her usual bruight, chipper, entirely-not-my-fault self. Or maybe not.
Then came a bunch of pitstops punctuated by a couple bobbles by a few drivers, forcing some slowing-down which was hardly noticable. Lap 30 notably saw Chang's engine fail to not work, which alarmed the McLaren engineers enough to call him to the pits.
And then the storm hit.
Davidson and Domingues were having an exciting duel for the lead on lap 32 when suddenly, the Renault pulled off to the side. Gearbox broken. Game over.
Just in case anyone was thinking of chasing down Davidson, the newly second-place driver Shepherd of Aguri promptly spun off the track and retired. Double DNF for Aguri. Suddenly Davidson had a 30-second lead.
As a bit of karmic retribution Dubois drilled Allman the next lap and got one Ferrari out of the race, while the Williams continued unharmed.
3 laps later Horton who was having a points race in the Honda got a turn wrong and ended up in a heap on the side of the track. 4 cars, 4 laps. What can you do?
Lap 42 saw Renault's day end as Beyens pulled off the track with fuel problems. Certainly this suddenly lack of Renault's famed reliablity is causing more than a few heads to be rolled at Renault HQ.
4 laps later Dubois was to be hit by Williams engine troubles, but luckily he continued on, although not before giving up 4th place to Chang.
On lap 53 Syme's Red Bull showed a noticeable lack of wings, and he flew into the barriers, retiring from 10th.
And so Davidson pulled another easy 40-second win and cut 10 points off Domingues's lead to a slim 14. Hutchinson finished 2nd and Whitcomb got a taste of champange also. Chang was 4th in a strong McLaren finish. Dubois was 5th, Kawasie was 6th, Mason 7th and LeSabre 8th in a double points finish for Midland. Yes, you read that right.
Suddenly, with the land of Ferrari looming ahead, Renault may have cause to be a little frightened. Domingues still has a convincing lead in the championship but he has no reason to cut it this close. Renault needs to get serious and shut the door before Davidson can get any more of his foot in.
This may be an interesting finish to the championship after all...
on lap 7.
