FRL Fridays: Issue Three
Pole Position
Back to racing again this past weekend, and I’ve certainly missed it! But it wasn’t without its drama! – Editor, Rob Adams
The Big Picture
The field accelerates up Mountain Straight for the first time jostling for positions!
In The Paddock
Reports from the inside as we bring you the news announced this week, interviews with drivers and the reports from the weekends racing!
ToCA12: More Laps Chalked In The Books
More tests at Silverstone National and Brands Hatch. Competitive lap times put in by many drivers’ shows that this season will be more action packed than ever! Expect a season preview for both ToCA12 and Clios’ in the next few weeks!
Ninners Wins Down Under!
“The hills of Panorama were left still and quiet” was how I opened my WSC article last week. Well that was all change this weekend after
@Ninners took the win after a late, race changing pile up that saw erstwhile race leader
@DrifterJoe with a late stop in the pits.
A fairly routine start saw pole sitter Joe convert his fastest qualifying lap into an early lead from Ninners and
@Furinkazen with
@Pluxtheduck slipping to 4th from 2nd. However lap two disaster saw both the #54 and #5 car tangle and enter The Chase in a cloud of smoke. Furinkazen was able to recover to the pits but last rounds winner was unable to continue leaving Australia as a weekend to forget. 15 laps later and Furinkazen was back up to 4th place lapping faster than his fellow Ford Mk IV team mate
@gtpanoz. But it was clear that the battle was going to be up front as by the time that the sun began to rise Joe had put all but the Shelby Cobra driver in second position a lap down. A race long battle between
@jammy21 and
@Phouchg making his first start thrilled the fans as a battle between two very good looking cars. Moving up to GT-P from this round onwards was
@FlyingFox after securing the budget to run his Shelby Daytona. However, like
@RACECAR last time out, the second Shelby seemed doomed to a pit stop filled race. With around 40 minutes left Furinkazen had a tyre blowout on the Conrod Straight damaging the car and meaning he dropped to 6th in class and had to work his way back past his rivals in a thrilling finally finishing 4th. It was a weekend of ‘what ifs’ for the driver from Blackburn. A late race incident saw Joe being caught up in a pile up with 25 minutes left to go! He gave a valiant effort to catch back up to Ninners but it wasn’t to be and for only the second time this season it wasn’t a Jaguar driver taking the overall honours!
After another enthralling qualifying session for the second time this season
@Yeratel84 stole pole from championship leader
@snowgt. Usual 3rd placed Ferrari
@raceorama123432 took third making it a 1-2-3 for the Italian marque. The first non-Ferrari driver was
@Roflwaffle ahead of
@R0ssingt0n,
@Siggers,
@MatheusBond and
@chrisjohnson93. But after a flying start it wasn’t a Ferrari out front! It was the Gullwing of Rofl taking the lead by turn two, before swiftly losing two places by missing his braking point. Snow was then leading for another two corners before disaster struck and he lost control leaving nowhere to go for second position Orama leaving them both with damage. This shook up the whole field with Year from the two Mustangs of Lout and Sig with the sole BMW Matheus in forth. After a brief leading spell by Lout yet more issues with the Mustang saw him out of the race before the half hour mark. Yera also suffered issues dropping to second from last leaving the other Mustang of Sig out front and the recovering drivers of Rofl, Orama and Snow. Soon after Rolf and Orama were 1-2, but yet another off for Snow dropped him behind Yera. He then passed a slow Sig who had the crash that caused the collision involving overall leader Joe! So no Mustangs finishing this time. Yet another off for Snow saw him finish 5th ahead of Matheus. This ended his almost faultless streak so far. A not bad result for the sole E-Type of
@chrisjohnson93 in 4th. However, it was a momentous win for the Mercedes of Roflwaffle to end the Ferrari reign! Orama finished a season high second winning the GT-O Pro class ahead of pole sitter Yeratel.
Street Racing For FRL!
After the recently opened Sierra Zahara, or dubbed Circuito de la Sierra, FRL boss Furinkazen has confirmed that the track will be raced on by the Leagues’ drivers’ at some point in the near future! What vehicles are yet to be known. It is rumoured that Sierra will be the replacement to Pescara, which has been off of the WSC calendar for 2 seasons now, and could now replace the likes of Matterhorn due to its tight nature. Expect to be heading to this new road course in the near future if you’re an FRL fan!
AMD Announces ToCA12 Plans
It was only earlier today that we heard the news for the AMD garage about the Scotsman’s plans for the up and coming ToCA12 season. Here’s what he had to say:
“This season due to budget issues I'm not able to complete a full season to defend the Indy championship.
Over the last 2 season due to being the only person running the Range Rover then the Alfa I’ve been able to enjoy more help from the manufacturers in getting the cars competitive. Due to nearly all the cars having at least one car entered it’s been difficult to source the technical support required as their time is taking up by the other entries.
To help fund the season I've had to take on other projects which means that for the first round i will miss as i will be at Donington Park instead with the GTCup, the 2nd round I’ll be at Spa in Belgium with the MSA race and for round 13 i will be at brands hatch.
Car choice hasn’t been decided yet but in light of this may look at teaming up with someone possibly another Indy.
In other news I will be entering the Clio cup as well to spot any new talent with the possibility of one of the drivers being offered a scholarship into t13 and hoping to gain full manufacturer support.”
Dark Horse Sports Team Announcement
Team line up for DHS this season is certainly impressive! Two time champion
@DK joins
@gtpanoz in Nissans ahead of ToCA12! These two will certainly be a force to be reckoned with! Can DK end his bad luck? And will panoz be able to put his WSC form into touring cars?
Lancer Has ToCA13 Plans
Lancer, as I understand it, you're going to be making a few brief appearances this season. Care to elaborate?
I'm planning on maybe making 1 or 2 rounds if my schedule allows for it. But don't worry, I'll still be around for the banter.
You've had a long and illustrious career in ToCA. Any particular highlights that you want to share?
I think the entire ToCA8 season is the highlight of my career. I was the only one who ran the Peugeot that season, and I nearly won a race in the rain at Monza early on, unfortunately, I got rolo-trolled, but I managed to get my (and Peugeot's) first win at my home race in Indianapolis with some help from
@chrisjohnson93. I also was able to take the independent's championship battle to the final round, but lost it after some issues.
Do you think that you might ever return full time in ToCA?
I highly doubt I will as a driver unless Furi keeps the series going for a few more years. Now, as a team, East Coast Motorsports will be running full-time starting with ToCA13. We already have two drivers confirmed, and I think they'll be a force to be reckoned with.
What lead you away from ToCA, and made youpursue other interest?
Firstly, I start college soon, so that's led to my hiatus from GT6 racing. I had quit ToCA a bit early because I felt racing pretty much exclusively in it had had a negative effect on my racing ability.
And finally, what are your predictions for this season?
Well, I think the return of suspension and drivetrain bits will help drivers adjust to the cars betters, but at the same time I think it's been a bit over-hyped. It'll be interesting to see how everything works out. I think it'll be the usual suspects at the top though.
Also,
@Furinkazen is a lamp.
What’s to come this week?
More World Sportscar Championship this weekend and it’s the high speeds of Monza! Get your ear defenders ready, it's gonna be noisey!
