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Message: [QUOTE="Clayton Hardy, post: 13372907, member: 267319"] [SPOILER=Winners and Losers: Phillip Island] The season opener is now in the rearview, and that means we now have a full race to look at those who scored big and those who left Australia with a bitter taste in their mouth. Without further delay, the winners of the weekend were... 1) Eastern Atlantic Motorsports | After what was an extremely dissatisfying qualifying, the EAM team were keen to make up ground, but nobody expected the team to start its sophomore season with a win and then some. Esther Hoffson, from the drop of the green flag, made it known she had thoroughly shed her rookie stripes. Slicing through the field, making the most of her alternate strategy, the 33 year old spent the better part of a decade waiting for an opportunity like what we saw at the end of the race. On the outside of turn 6, she swept around both Isabel Espinoza and Stephanie Porter-Kelley, and never looked back, taking her first career Champ Car race win in triumphant fashion. Patrick Marcelli, who was nowhere most of the race, did his job. After a year where he suffered more DNFs than anyone else, to see the finish in 9th place was a welcome change of pace, and a spark of relief and confidence the Miami-based team sorely needed. Hoffson heads into Motegi now as the World Championship leader for the first time, and in Honda's home turf where results are expected more than other places. 2) Red Bull Highlight Racing | Much noise was made when Red Bull returned to becoming a Champ Car title sponsor, pairing the energy drink giant with one of the sport's more historic teams. Led by Rita Liechti, the rebuild looked to be more of a slow build after qualifying, with Simona Leroux starting in 25th. But the Red Bull machine would not stay there, and by the halfway point, Leroux was a constant talking point. At the end, Leroux finished one position short of her first career win in Champ Car, and finally, after almost 4 years, Simona started to look the part of the 14 F1 Grands Prix winner the world knows her to be. Highlight could be on the cusp of blossoming back into contention, blurring the lines between front runner and midfield even further. 3) Ryan Stevens | How to impress the world on your Champ Car debut? How about going from the last row of the grid to finishing fourth? Not enough? Okay, how about battling over 40 laps against the reigning two time World Champion and winning? Still not enough? Well, not everyone can show up at a track for the first time, learn on the fly, become an anchor for an underdog team, and come out looking like a million dollars, but Ryan Stevens did just that. The 26 year old Orlando native looked confident, and collected, despite the constant barrage he endured from Andrew Draco, and was just shy of a podium on debut at one of the series' most difficult tracks. Well done, Ryan. Way to put on a show. 4) Cody Blackman | Four drivers called the race on Sunday their home event, two from Australia, and two from across the sea in New Zealand. Only one of them finished in the top 10, and it wasn't the odds on favorite. Cody Blackman drove as perfect of a race as we've seen him run. An overlooked figure most of the race, Blackman was on the same strategy as Leroux and Liechti, and used 10 lap fresher tires and a healthy serving of patience to slide into 5th place at the finish. Not only did Blackman outqualify his teammate, he ended up 11 positions higher than him in the race as well. Whether or not this is a flash in the pan remains to be seen, but for now, the youthful Australian hotshot has a nice points haul to enjoy for two weeks. And the biggest losers were... 1) Cat Devil Racing | All three of the Cat Devil Racing Hondas had very early exits. By lap 15, none of them were left. Camyron Jackson and Diego Jaramillo were collected in accidents, and Kuni Kino****a suffered what the team diagnosed as a complex suspension failure. After all three started in the top 12, finishing in the bottom 8 is a disaster for the Kyoto-based team, who looked at 2021 as a chance to finally reach the top of the mountain. The team's home race is in two weeks, and they desperately need to regroup. 2) Panasonic Team Impulse | What could have been is the motto for the team's race. A front row lockout was for nothing as both Sakura Ishibashi and Hazel Lacasse were skunked at the very start. Neither led a lap of the race, despite being the heaviest favorites. Whatever issues plagued the team, it affected both cars, as they struggled mightily in traffic once they were in it, and it was a slippery slope that landed both cars outside of the top 10 at the end. As with CDR, Team Impulse have their home race next to figure out what in the world went wrong and how not to repeat it. 3) LM Competition | 2020 saw the team post a double podium. 2021 saw all three of the team's cars fail to see the checkered flag. Mildred Moon fell out on lap 1, overly ambitious in the dangerous turn 11 and into the tire wall. Gerard Perth would repeat the feat just 8 laps later, leaving Ray Taylor as the team's last hope. That fell through on lap 67 when an ambitious move went wrong, leaving him 18th at the end of it all. The team struggled often in the 2020 season. Phillip Island did not show a change of that trend in a positive way. 4) Escuderia Aguila | When you start 28th, the only way to go is up, which is the only positive thing you can say about the weekend Cristine Espinoza and the Aguila team had this weekend. After starting last, Espinoza had clawed herself into the top 10 conversation, a testament to how talented the 33 year old has always been on race day. But it all fell apart just shy of halfway. A tire failure exiting turn 10 left Cristine backwards and against the tire wall, ending her day and leaving her 19th. With the skeleton crew also having to make due for Motegi, miracles will be needed in bundles in two weeks.[/SPOILER] [/QUOTE]

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