FRL Fridays: Issue Five
Pole Position
After the disappointment of last week this weekend’s result in WSC was a really hope raiser. This week’s issue contains WSC report and the news from across the motoring globe of FRL! – Editor, Rob Adams
The Big Picture
As predicted, rain thwarted several drivers’ efforts at the British GP venue on Sunday. Even SnowCrash struggled!
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!
Joe Dominates But SnowCrashes Grasp Loosens!
Qualifying saw yet again the pairing of
@DrifterJoe and
@Ninners on the front row followed by the blue ovals of
@Furinkazen,
@gtpanoz and
@jammy21 respectively. For the second time this season and two meetings in a row the utterly dominant
@snowgt was piped to the post by his fellow Ferrari drivers of
@raceorama123432 and
@Yeratel84. The 3 Mustangs of
@R0ssingt0n,
@Siggers and
@RyanRacer were split by the BMW of
@MatheusBond with
@chrisjohnson93 heading late addition and non-qualifier
@Andil at the rear of the field.
A good start all round saw Joe lead from Ninners and the Fords. However, drama through turn 2 saw Panoz make contact with Furi spinning the American driver across the infield. Luckily Panoz was able to catch the car and bring her to a halt before reaching the track again and causing a massive incident. That would have been a game changer for sure! Ninners slipped past in the Daytona Coupe to take the lead by the end of the second lap and held it. Panoz later repassed jammy after his prior off. It was almost exactly 30 minutes into the race that the heavens opened and Silverstone made it onto the list of British Olympic swimming pools. This handed the advantage and with it the lead to Joe. Furi then moved up to second and was lapping faster than the race leader. For a while it seemed as though Furi would catch and pass Joe to take two wins in a row at the Northamptonshire circuit. However as the rain stopped and the drivers switched to dries and Ninners once again showed superior pace, but only just. After a side by side battle from the start of the lap through to Stowe saw the Daytona driver out ahead. This was the final bit of GT-P action with Joe adding yet another win to his belt from Ninnners, Furi, Panoz and jammy!
American brute, Ninners vs Furi in the closing stages!
In GT-O O’rama led Yera from a fast starting Matheus, having made up 3 positions in 2 turns. Andy dispensed with Siggers and Chris before the Hangar Straight, before passing a further three cars by the end of the fourth lap! Ryan’s Mustang blew its engine by the fifth lap seeing his trip across the pond end sooner than hoped. A great battle at the front saw Yera and O’rama exchanging the lead over the course of several laps, with Snow lurking behind ready to pounce on any mistakes by either driver. A spin into the gravel at copse saw Ross 6th in GT-O. However, it was at this moment that the rain came catching the leader (Yera) out rounding Stowe as he spun on the wet surface. In the frenzy of the pit stops, the Ferrari team made the same crucial mistake twice! They sent their lead two cars out on dry tyres! They had to endure a further lap at around 50mph which saw O’rama drop to 4th and Yera lose control ending the Portuguese drivers’ hunt for the win. Siggers also had a race ending incident with a holed radiator after a trip through the gravel. Out of all this saw Andy at the head of GT-O despite only having the pace-lap to learn his lines with an ailing Snow in second from a recovering Ross in third. Ross and O’rama later caught and passed the championship leading Ferrari and set about chasing down the lead Mercedes. O’rama, determined not to miss out on a win again, passed Ross and then set about closing down on Andy, but both drivers were exchanging fastest (wet) laps and the gap ebbed and flowed. The track then dried, this time the teams didn’t change and the order remained the same. Chris and Matheus had a race long battle in two cars which will end their service this season, the Jaguar finishing ahead of the BMW. However, the tail didn’t end there. With only 3 laps to go the lead driver signals to the team on the pit wall, and next lap the car doesn’t come round. Andy was signalling because he’d just realised that either the fuel gauge wasn’t working, or he was running on fumes. As it turns out it was the second option after a miss calculation by the team. This promoted every GT-O drive by one position. Including out erstwhile race leader O’rama. This time the luck had swung in his favour and the 250GTB took its first win of the season. Another driver who’s had no luck this season is Ross, and he was happy with his second place finish. Despite having a ‘bad race’ compared to the rest of the season, Snow finished in 3rd narrowing the gap at the front of the table to just 16 points (with drop scores factored in).
First Race Of WSC IX Calendar Confirmed
WSC IX Calendar is gradually being unveiled. 8 races on the schedule for the season, with the first being the return of the LIQUI MOLY BATHURST 12 HOURS after a successful first running this season. It will be Round #3 of the championship. The Australian track was a late addition to the WSC VIII calendar but was a much loved event.
@Ninners and
@Roflwaffle were the winners of their respective classes, for a full report of that meetings events see FRL Fridays: Issue 3.
What’s to come this week?
As you might have guessed, ToCA gets back underway as of this Saturday with the opening round of the championship at Brands Hatch (Indy) with support from the Clio Cup!
Elsewhere, WSC heads off to the picturesque ardent valley and to Spa-Francorchamps! No rain forecast, but excitement a plenty!
I couldn't remember which it was.
